Episode 251: Lessons From Leaders - Purple Patch Kona Camp 2023
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From the 2023 Purple Patch Training Camp in Kona, Matt delivers a special on-the-road episode exploring the vital role of training and supporting habits in broader life and work performance.
Matt sits down with Purple Patch executive athletes attending the Hawaii training camp to discuss the parallels between their individual athletic journeys and their journeys in leadership within their own organizations.
They share the personal challenges they face as time-starved athletes and provide insight into how they apply performance habits in training, sleep, recovery, and nutrition to set up a framework of success to thrive as a business executive, parent, partner and athlete.
What emerges from the discussions are individual portraits of sustainable high performance and the supporting habits each uses in their athletic and leadership journeys.
Guests include:
Carmel Galvin - Head of People at Stripe
Carmel Galvin is a global human resources leader and CHRO who offers 20+ years of strategic HR leadership, consulting, and executive experience in fast-growing global software and financial technology organizations including Autodesk, Deloitte, and Glassdoor.
Ronald Porter - Senior Partner at Korn Ferry
Ron recruits Chief Human Resource Officers and assists them in building high-performance organizations. Ron is based in New York where he also helps clients design talent strategies to drive business results through Korn Ferry's Leadership and Talent Consulting organization.
Pasquale “Pat” Romano - CEO of Chargepoint
Pasquale ‘Pat’ Romano has 30+ years of technology industry leadership and executive management experience. Pat has an undergraduate degree in computer science from Harvard University and received his Master of Science degree from MIT.
Maury Blackman - CEO Premise Data
Blackman is a tech executive with more than 25 years of experience leading high-growth enterprise software companies. Maury was a commissioned field artillery officer in the United States Army, serving on both active and reserve duty for 10 years, and is an eleven-time Ironman finisher, including the 2008 and 2013 Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona.
Tom Hennessy - CEO of The Challenger Group and Challenger Homes
Tom Hennessy is the president and CEO of The Challenger Group based out of Colorado, which specializes in Commercial Real Estate, Real Estate Development, Modular Manufacturing, Residential Construction, and Commercial Development.
Episode Timestamps
00:00 - 03:06 - Welcome and Episode Introduction
03:14 - 08:32 - Matt's News-ings
08:39 - 48:00 - The Meat and Potatoes - Episode 251: Lessons From Leaders - Purple Patch Kona Camp 2023
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Full Transcript
Matt Dixon 00:03
I'm Matt Dixon, and welcome to the Purple Patch podcast. The mission of Purple Patch is to empower and educate every human being to reach their athletic potential. Through the lens of athletic potential, you reach your human potential. The purpose of this podcast is to help time-starved people everywhere, integrate sport into life.
Matt Dixon 00:25
Hey guys, Matt Dixon. And just before we get going with the show, which today is a very interesting one, I've got five guests on the show. Yes, each of them are C-level executives. And all of them were a perfect example, at least in my book of what I might label a performance executive. And what I mean by that is those that are successfully integrating an athletic journey into their life to actually help and provide not just their health, not just their fitness, but also how they show up in the workplace. We've got some fantastic guests to join us in here, as I am actually stationed at the Hawaii training camp, that are put on by purple patch every year. And these are some of my victims, as we might say, Well, each of these guests, each of these executives, as a part of their performance journey, all of them leverage the insights from InsideTracker. By getting a little bit of a look inside and taking a snapshot of the biometrics as well as some of the guidance and counsel from the team of experts at InsideTracker, we get to get specific and focus on yields, of what actually will apply with some great focus. And you can too, you don't need to be a purple patch athlete to do so all you need to do is head to insidetracker.com/purplepatch. And there's even a code for you use purple patch pro 20. And that gives you 20% of everything at the store. If it's good enough for these folks, you know, listen to today. Well, I reckon it's good enough for you. Now, let's get on with the show. It's a cracker, I hope you enjoy.
Matt Dixon 01:54
And welcome to the Purple Patch podcast, as ever your host, Matt Dixon, and I join you today from the big island in Hawaii. We are on our annual training camp here and it is based out of the wonderful Mauna Lani resort just north of Kona. Now we've got a full range of ages and abilities that join us in that camp. And the focus is of course on self-improvement in sport. We do a lot of swimming, a lot of cycling, a lot of running, but also in the performance habits that can help promote your health, your productivity, your global performance across both life and work. Now, these include, of course, include the basics, sleep, nutrition, hydration, navigating several stressful situations, and more. And as is typical, several of the attendees at the camp are not just passionate about fitness and health but are also really high-performing individuals in the workspace. We have CEO, CHROs, surgeons, business owners, and they all come together in this -- well, let's face it -- wonderful environment to make sure that they are getting grounded and setting off the year for their performance journey ahead. So what I thought I would do something that would be interesting, is invite a few of them a handful. In fact, we have five guests today that can join me on the show. And I want to explore a very simple concept, which is sustainable, high performance, sustainable, high performance, what does that mean? Each one of our guests is a C-level executive. And they have in my mind successfully integrated what we label the athletic journey in their life so that they can amplify performance across all other aspects of their life. Now, what the athletic journey means it's really unique for each person. We've got a couple of guests that are Ironman racers, and that sounds very ambitious, doesn't it? We also have a CEO that just loves to ride his bike. We have a couple that don't chase any types of events whatsoever, but they really do embrace what we call the journey of an athletic mindset and of course practice and of course, really value coaching and want to get into that into the show a little bit. All the unified under what I would label a performance mindset and approach. So who are these people? Well, our guest today we have Carmel Galvin. She is the head of people at Stripe, one of the major tech companies out there. Ron Porter, who's a senior partner at Korn Ferry, mostly specializing in the Human Resources area. We have Pat Romano, who is the CEO of Chargepoint. Maury Blackman, who is the CEO of Premise Data. And finally, Tom Hennessy, who is the president of Challenger group and also the CEO of Challenger Homes. Now, this is a subject that we're going to tackle today through the perspectives of these five great individuals. But before we go on, I think that it'll be helpful to the whole audience if I had a little bit of context here. And to do so I've got to frame my own athletic journey a little bit because ultimately, it relates to these folks that are joining us on the show today. After all, look, I work with a lot of executives and executive teams who come to me with really the same issues that I actually had as an athlete. How do we nail sustained high performance? Well, guess what, and you might have heard this before, but I was a prime example of how to do a professional triathlon career very poorly.
Matt Dixon 02:20
At peak levels, my weekly training, just to give you a little context, my weekly training that I would do would include more than 30 hours a week of swimming, cycling, and running. So that would be something like about five swims each week, at least to five kilometers in duration, somewhere between 250 and 350 miles of cycling, sometimes much bigger than that. But that was pretty much the average. And between 50 and 75 miles of running. Yes, that was a lot of time outside in the sun. And a lot of it, I've got to be honest, was done at a pretty high effort, I can be very proud of my rather performance stupid, great work ethic that I had. And all the way through this training, what I failed to do is integrate anywhere near enough sleep recovery, downtime, supportive calories of quality nutrition, and so many other aspects that could have supported my training. So while I had what you might label a world-class work ethic, I absolutely failed to achieve high sustainable performance. And ultimately, that was the nail in the coffin of my overall professional triathlon career. Now, this personal experience, for me was really a catalyst. And that catalyst was to try and build a smarter and more strategic approach to training athletes. I think this is an important starting point when we think about high sustainable performance because I understood that world-class performance in athletics just simply never comes easy. It is hard. It requires commitment, dedication, and of course, some suffering. What I chased was to help athletes achieve high performance in a predictable fashion that could be sustained over time. And to do this, I realized that I was absolutely committed to have my athletes support that hard, dedicated training effort, with an equal focus on really high-quality sleep, integrated sensible blocks of recovery, quality fueling to support the training, and a bedrock of really great nutrition.
Matt Dixon 07:44
I also for them, as athletes realize it was important to be structurally sound their muscles, tendons, and ligaments. And so we embedded into every athlete's program, a complete commitment to resilience in tissue health through strength and conditioning. And so by taking on this more, what you might label balanced approach a little bit more pragmatism, while like looking to actually support the required hard, hard work and suffering. It wasn't about doing less, it wasn't about some utopian well-being. It wasn't about some magic quick fix. In fact, it was a means to get more to drive to more performance to being better. And so when you integrated, these are really important supportive habits with the dedication and hard work, boom, that was the gasoline and the catalyst to great sustained performance. And guess what it turned out really well.
Matt Dixon 08:44
First of all, with elite and professional athletes, that was really where I started this, and we ultimately I can proudly say built one of the most, the sports most successful pro squads across Ironman athletes, including multiple world champions. We then decided to apply this model and methodology to really committed amateur athletes and the same great success began to occur. From this point, now that we had a proven model, I decided to branch out and I began to adapt this model to apply it to very busy time-starved professionals who were still equally passionate about competitive sport. Now, there's no better example than the profile of Sami Inkinen. Sami was the founder of Trulia. And as the CEO of that company, going on that classic entrepreneurial drive towards building a business, now a CEO of Virta Health throughout his first real business development, he went on all the way to take in truly a public but at the same time was a committed triathlete. And while he was, quote, time-starved, we're still still achieved massive success, ultimately becoming multiple amateur world champion at the Ironman distance, including going under nine hours at the Hawaii Ironman all on a weekly regimen of only 10 hours a week or so. And that is if you know anything about the sport, highly impressive.
Matt Dixon 10:10
Well, the last evolution has taken this model beyond competitive sport. You see, it turns out that the same model equally applies while adapted to sustaining high performance. And executives and leadership teams. Just like the lessons of my own athletic mistakes, sustained high performance doesn't occur just by going hell for leather day in and day out. Ultimately, there's going to be cliff erosion into lethargy, and underperformance. And so the catalyst, the recipe, was all about finding a better way to excel. And while it started at World Class athletics, now, we realize that it applies to many aspects in life. And as we drive in, I want to be clear, I never want to compromise on standards, there is no compromise. Instead, this model that these executives are going to discuss today is about finding a better way to achieve. And that's the really important component. I've been thinking a lot about how executives and executive teams can learn from me to adopt the practices and strategies that will help them excel and improve performance.
Matt Dixon 11:28
In fact, so much so that at Purple Patch, we are currently in development of an upcoming dedicated program that is tailored specifically for folks like you're going to hear from today, leadership teams, and executives, that will ultimately by applying these model and practices will achieve greater performance. We've proven it. And so now, we're actually gonna make it into a real product. But while I'm hear in Hawaii, and I'm enjoying it, I thought, you know what, we've got a lot of executives here, and why don't we hear from them their perspective, because it's no point me just saying this is really important. I want to hear it from the folks that are actually applying it in their daily lives.
Matt Dixon 12:10
And so we go through five guests, we have got each personal perspective. And it's all anchored around three questions each. Of course, with a few little Dixon rabbit holes thrown in just when I found things interesting. And I couldn't help but add a couple of questions, give or take it is about 10 minutes per guest. And I think what emerges out of it is just over an hour of absolute performance gold. I hope that you find it useful and of course insightful on your own athletic journey. And so I give you without further ado, five executives that are high achievers, I hope you enjoy. Barry, let's do the meat and potatoes.
Matt Dixon 12:59
All right, here we go again, and we have a special guest in this category. Because ladies and gentlemen, I believe for the first time ever. Carmel, you are now a three-time guest on the purple patch podcast.
Carmel Galvin 13:12
It's a record.
Matt Dixon 13:13
It is a record. What more can you dream of. Carmel Galvin, head of people at Stripe, thank you very much for joining us.
Carmel Galvin 13:20
You're welcome. Glad to be here for the third time.
Matt Dixon 13:23
For the third time and this time on destination the Hawaii training camp.
Carmel Galvin 13:27
Yes, it's fabulous.
Matt Dixon 13:29
You're being very brave. So we're going to be a little bit more succinct. For today's show. We are investigating the journey to high performance and through the athletic journey and sustained high performance in the workplace. Something that you have a little bit of personal experience around.
Carmel Galvin 13:45
I do I do I think about this a lot.
Matt Dixon 13:47
So we are going to, I'm going to try and just ask you three questions. It'll probably be 15 knowing us to go down the rabbit holes, and we'll see what happens.
Carmel Galvin 13:57
That sounds good. I'm ready.
Matt Dixon 13:58
All right. So let's get going. And as I've done with everyone, so far, I'm framing what we think about as the program training, the athletic journey, as we like to call it, but we call it with that emphasis on journey, which is more than just your endurance exercise, its endurance, its strength, its habits around the big bucket nutrition, and of course, sleep and recovery, something that's very trendy. So first question for you is how do you view the role or the value of that program, the athletic journey in broader life, specially in leadership and your role at work?
Carmel Galvin 14:33
Yeah, I mean, you know, we've talked about this before but it plays a huge role for me. You know, I'm not trying to do events, per se, but over the years, I've developed a ton of different, you know, what I think are healthy practices and routines, biking, swimming, running, whatever I can do, and it's actually directly relevant and increasingly more so at work because at the end of the day, a lot of it's about, you know, performing and doing your best work. And, for me to do that in a work context or in the office, I've got to be good at, you know, learning how to use my time efficiently, how to prioritize what's most important, how to focus when I need to, on the heart of the matter, and how to have, you know, learn how to use my energy cleverly. And a lot of those things are actually, you know, what I hadn't realized a long time ago, they're actually skills that you can develop, and habits that you can learn over time, and I have found a lot of the stuff that I do with you, and with purple patch directly helps me think about the way I show up at work. And so I'm able to deploy those skills every single day. But also, they support me. So I get a lot of energy. From the work that I do with Purple Patch, I get a lot of the extra benefits from all the different rituals that go through sleeping, hydration, nutrition, etc. But more than that, it's it's what they do to help me routinize a lot of those things into daily habits that are directly transferable into the work context.
Matt Dixon 16:11
So that's it, I just want to dig in there a little bit, because that's the obvious stuff that that most people, at least intellectually acknowledge as being important is Oh, yes, I can see how being healthy being fed etcetera, can help me because I, you know, higher performing so far as having better energy and stuff, but But where, where you started was, yeah, that part of it is part of it. But it's actually the strategies and the toolkits, and the lessons from it all that is the real value in many ways.
Carmel Galvin 16:46
Yeah, I mean, probably because of the specific work that I'm doing, I think of a lot about, I think of a lot of this stuff as a framework for how to tackle any problem. And the work that I do is about how to help the employees at Stripe perform better, and how specifically to get the leadership team performing optimally, which is what you're doing all day long. And I think a lot of the practices that you have naturally evolved over the years with your athletes, and then me being able to benefit from that wisdom, are directly applicable, you know, perhaps in a different context, but the framework is essentially the same. And it's a great set of tools actually to deploy. A lot of it's mindset based. So it's actually been really helpful, it's a good set of analogies as well, but performance is performance at the end of the day. And I have definitely found that a lot of the same things that I think about when I'm riding my bike or whatever are actually extremely relevant when I'm thinking about what I'm doing on a daily basis at work.
Matt Dixon 17:51
Well, when I think about your journey, and your athletic journey, you know, that the the the improvement is never linear. And but but I think that you're you're a really interesting example where when we started working with each other, you are directly and, and we did a whole podcast on this but fearful of water, not just that I couldn't swim, you were fearful of water. And now you're swimming really consistently swimming out to a boat, that was several hundred meters offshore, etcetera.
Carmel Galvin 18:24
It's very scary.
Matt Dixon 18:25
And it was very scary, but you overcome that. But if the link of navigating adversity and stressful situations, do you see that those your own personal experience of what you've gone through athletically, does that apply into the work? Space (inaudible) directly.
Carmel Galvin 18:48
Yeah, 100%. I mean, this swimming thing is actually a really good example, I was genuinely terrified of putting my face in the water. So I had a lot, I had to break that down, with help from a lot of people, and basically figure out that not just the skill, but actually just how to frame it in my own head and tackle it directly. And I continually do and build on that and be patient and all of the sort of things that I did to start to develop a swim habit or a practice. And I am not by any stretch, a great swimmer, but I swim a lot. And I love it. Every single day, I use something that I deployed or used in that journey in my daily work practice. And I also talk a lot to my team about that. Because, you know, at the end of the day, if you break it down, it's about being getting comfortable being very uncomfortable. Adapting because there's a lot of changes that happen that you don't control, all of the things that I have had to deal with when I was learning to swim happen every single day at work. So it's really helpful to have a an example from something that's outside of the work to help you frame whatever problem you're tackling, um, you know, being good at failing and not being, you know, not sort of then opting out, you can't do that. So you have to start to learn how to, to leverage those skills and, and kind of ways of thinking every day at work. So it's directly applicable.
Matt Dixon 20:19
It is funny, I think about your swimming journey just today at camp I was talking about to one of our athletes, and another one of our executive athletes that has a tendency where just wanting to get to the destination of where they want to get to, and I was explaining it as this huge valley that you actually don't need to jump across, you know that that because ultimately, that comes with high risk of dropping, but you have to build a bridge of many victories. And so there's, there's very much a process to go through. That, for him, is a process of building really smart habits and consistency that over time, suddenly, he's gonna get if he can listen, and he can coach and can adapt. He's going to look back and say, Actually, wow, I've evolved, I've actually done this, this is where I want to be. And I guess that relates to anything in life in many ways.
Carmel Galvin 21:10
Yeah. And I think, you know, if you think about what makes great performance in a work environment, it's, you don't spike spikes in our individual heroics, or like, you need sustained good performance. That's what makes great teams, and great companies. And a lot of the things that you teach your athletes and all of us are the things that every day we're banging the drum about at work and talking to, you know, the different teams that work about just making sure that we have sustained good performance. And so all the healthy habits help you do that, obviously, you show up better to work. But also those frameworks just give you a great way of thinking about how to break down the work and how to attack it. in a thoughtful way.
Matt Dixon 21:55
It's fantastic. All right. So the second sort of major question I want to talk about is challenges big challenges. And as you know, I absolutely love really encouraging very busy time-starved leaders like you to, take on as I call it, a BHAG a big, hairy, audacious goal, but something like a challenge. And some of the folks I've talked to already, that might be an Ironman that might be a 5k, for someone, whatever it might be, but something that provides the compass and direction and you mentioned the framework, the framework, and driving towards it. From your perspective, have you seen as you've taken on challenges, and you've gone on the journey towards something, how does that benefit you as a leader?
Carmel Galvin 22:38
Oh, massively. I mean, it's quite funny. So I have more going on, than I've ever had, like, I've got three kids, I have a very, very full-time job, I have just a busy busy life. And trying to figure out how to fit a challenge that is outside of that into that, you know, many people have these issues seems overwhelming when you think about. The irony and maybe the paradox is actually I'd become a whole lot more effective and efficient when I take on those challenges. Because you have to put together a plan, you have to think about where you're going to block out the time you prioritize because it does help you and it bec-- you start to think about it not just as a challenge but the process of getting there helps you -- there's there's sort of healthy habits that you build around that to make them possible, that have actually made me on a daily basis, a whole lot more efficient. And I do believe more effective. The challenge at the end of like signing up for an event, whatever. You know, lots of times, I haven't actually even done the events. Because for whatever reason I didn't get there, but the process has been the sort of killer secret sauce. And I definitely believe it's an essential part of the whole commitment when it gives you the motivation for doing it every day. But actually, more importantly, it just allows you to think about how you structure your day differently. And how you focus where you focus,
Matt Dixon 24:08
You know that I'm full of very silly sayings and things that I like to sort of build the methodology around in many ways. One of them is embrace the journey. And I think that's really it where that these little challenges are almost stepping stones and they create the, the lightning rod, but by themselves that they're they're not the defining aspects, the defining is the process you go along to actually amplify everything.
Carmel Galvin 24:33
Yeah. And actually, you know, it's an interesting things, lots of people and certainly in the work that I do, people don't how do I get more work-life balance and everything and actually something that we've talked about and, you know, push is this notion of integrating exercise and or training into or integrating your life into that whatever way and I believe actually, that is the critical thing here is you learn some habits When you're training for an event about how to integrate it into the larger spectrum, those things are things you have to do every day. You know, if you're working full time, and actually, you know, all the people who work for you helping them understand that seeking this holy grail of work-life balance is actually a bit of a fallacy, and it's a much smarter part of it is thinking about how do you integrate these things in a way where they become valuable aspects of your life, but they also help make you better in other ways as well.
Matt Dixon 25:29
It's so funny that that word balance and you know, that the straight jump that occurs is, okay, therefore, I have to work less because I'm going to spend more time walking the dog or riding my bicycle, it's actually no, it's, it's a means to an end to actually get more and do more. And because ultimately, you know, when I was coaching world-class athletes, there's nothing easy about that, you know, there's, there's no shortcut. It's, it's tough, there's no compromise, there's no hiding. But by us, integrating for a world-class athlete recovery, sleep, nutrition, it's the gasoline that accelerates and in many ways, that's that integration, I was talking about integrating sport into life. Because we can't think about these things in a mutually exclusive sense, you have to have this living breathing thing, another one of my cute sayings, life is not a spreadsheet. In other words, it ebbs and flows in times of more demand, less demand, but you have to have a set of habits and a toolkit that can actually dance along so that you can create the magic phrase of the show today sustained high-performance in many ways.
Carmel Galvin 26:42
Yeah. And the trick then is not being super talented or focusing on one particular thing, I think it's, it's about being smart about where you put your time where you invest, your energy, and where has all of those things are incredibly relevant to how you show up at work every day. So for me, all the things that I've experienced when I'm training for something, or like at this camp, are directly applicable on an everyday basis. But not only that, they're not just applicable, they actually boost my ability to do a good job every day and to show up well. And I think it's a really interesting, what look, it's an interesting thing to think about something like I just people who say, I can't fit this thing, I have no more space, I can't do that when actually, that's the key to unlocking more time for yourself. And so and that's been the epiphany I've had that actually, it's not optional. And more than that, it actually helps you be more efficient and focused when you need to be and learn how to prioritize.
Matt Dixon 27:44
In fact, that was going to be my third question. And we'll just we'll just go with it right here. But that's the paradox of it all. And it's very hard until you've actually gone through the process to actually start to get the yield from it, where there is a perception and understandable perception, I would say, if I just don't have any more time. And looking at someone, like you said, How does she do it? And, and in fact, it is the key to unlock more time, more performance in many ways.
Carmel Galvin 28:14
Oh, totally. I mean, I really believe that. And I think anyone who actually comes back and I mean, it's just another excuse, you let yourself off the hook. And, and I've done it myself, you'll find reasons not to do it. And I actually have discovered later in life, that you have to find the reasons to do it. Because actually, that's where you will find the space for those things and other things in your life. And it's all about what you prioritize, which talks about all the time. And so like, even, you know, a lot of people who I work with every day are struggling to figure out how do they fit? We've got a lot more flexibility in theory, post-COVID. So how do you sort of get control of being able to suddenly work from home when the work is plugged in into your daily life, everything that I've had to do in order to accommodate a space to do what my daily workout, whatever that is, has actually set me up really well for thinking about how to just build leverage that flexibility in a smart way. You just got to be smart and that way then you can do all of those things.
Matt Dixon 29:20
And well, I tell you, you mentioned COVID there one of the things as a coaching group, as I as I really noticed, obviously we have athletes all over the world of all different levels ages, obviously, we're about 45% female athletes 55% male and when the explosion of COVID occurred, that was the blending of all of our lives into basically one location doing it of home and the challenge for many people is suddenly it was rudderless because they lost structure. And I think that there was structure that was delivered from the workplace. There was also structure that was delivered for from our athletes for their training and their goals. And when that disappeared, some really, really struggled and others that leant into I think had built up a successful performance recipe for themselves and leveraged it beyond just getting ready for X, Y, and Z did really, really well and thrived. And actually, we really encouraged our athletes to lean into using this as the tent peg in the store using this as something to create structure and routine around your day of which then it could be a calming and be a route to better productivity.
Carmel Galvin 30:42
Yeah, I mean, I think it's really interesting. A lot of your athletes probably could teach a lot of people in the corporate environment, how to navigate this, because we have all been fed the structure and it's been created for us. And so stuff like COVID, or whatever, whilst it definitely delivered benefits, it also created this confusion around also how do I do all those things? And suddenly, how do I stop work from bleeding into my home life or whatever. And actually, I suspect your athletes have had to grapple with that problem a long time before that. The ones that did it well probably are the ones that have managed to navigate COVID, probably better than the rest of us. So there's something there. I mean, I really do believe that. That's the key is figuring out how to self-organize around the things that are important. And make space and you know, figuring out what times a day you do these things. And these are all things you have to learn how to do if you want to sort of build a good exercise habit.
Matt Dixon 31:44
That is very true. So Carmel, thank you very much once again, for the third time, I can say thank you very much for coming.
Carmel Galvin 31:51
Ready for number four.
Matt Dixon 31:52
Number four is going to be a cracker whenever it comes. All right, thank you very much. Carmel Galvin, head of people at Stripe.
Carmel Galvin 31:59
Thank you.
Matt Dixon 31:59
Take care.
Matt Dixon 32:01
All right, guys. Our next victim, as we might say, welcome Ron Porter, Korn Ferry, thanks so much for joining the Purple Patch podcast,
Ron Porter 32:08
man, very happy to be here.
Matt Dixon 32:10
So as you know, you have been primed with I'm just going to give you two or three quick hit questions. We're exploring the benefits of you as as an executive and as a leader, driving through your athletic journey and how it applies to your life. And so you're in the hot seat, your your seat belt is fastened to you ready to go?
Ron Porter 32:31
Think so. We'll find out I guess,
Matt Dixon 32:33
We'll find out. So so we are going to be short and succinct and hopefully meaningful as we go through. So my first question and I think I should frame this first, as you will well know, at least because you're directly coached by me, but training, when I think about training, of course, we think about exercise strength work, endurance work, as well as some of those habits that are really important to support that. So sleep, hydration, nutrition, all of those components, that sort of buoy, your athletic journey. The first question is, how do you as an executive, how do you see the role or the value of taking on this training program or athletic journey as it applies to broader life and work as well?
Ron Porter 33:15
Well, there's a number of lessons that apply. I think, if I think about things like resiliency, working through challenge and not giving up learning how to do things in the most efficient, effective way. And I think in sport, and in work, those things are pretty much the same. And there's a lot of overlap because there's times in a race where you think, Man, this is much tougher than I thought it was going to be -- about time to quit. But then if you keep going through it, you find you find your legs, so to speak. And the same thing with work, there are times when things aren't going quite the way you would hope or expected. And then so you don't give up though. You figure out well, there's gotta be another way.
Matt Dixon 34:00
Oh, I see, okay. Yeah.
Ron Porter 34:02
And so I think it's the persistency, resiliency, and then learning that it's important to have good process good form, in not starting to flail when you get a little pressure, and things aren't going quite the way you might have expected or hoped.
Matt Dixon 34:20
So that's an interesting point. When sort of the unexpected occurs, or when you're really met with adversity, is the sporting journey almost acts as a metaphor for you as a school of lessons to help you say, hang on this is adversity and we have to navigate and manage it manage through in a way.
Ron Porter 34:40
Yeah, you become confident that you can get through it. There's going to be a way may not be obvious at the moment, but don't give up. And don't just say well, this is going to be good enough. Okay. And you know that if you keep pushing, you'll figure a way to get to that next level.
Matt Dixon 34:58
What about a second question that I have is one of the things that that you know a lot because I encourage you to take this on but at Purple Patch, we really encourage executives like yourself to take on really big hairy goal. Like for you it's Ironman racing, which for many people is like, goodness me, how can you sort of succeed in life and in the sort of pressures of work and take on a challenge, like an Ironman? Last year, you did an Ironman and a marathon and more besides, so we really encourage folks like you to take on these big challenges. And I'd love to understand from your perspective how having that compass, that direction, that challenge, has actually been beneficial for you as an executive.
35:42
Yeah, well, I think it applies in the sense of you know, that you can get through almost anything. And there is a way, and you just need to keep looking and finding and pushing. And then you need to also take bring on more people as an example, I would say, I started this years ago without a coach. And I say, frankly, I made it so much more difficult than not having a coach. And I think I think about in the corporate world, it's, or in any work, even whether it's corporate or not, are there mentors out there? Are there people you can rely on to give you perspective, who maybe been there and done that? Who can say, here's a way of getting around that challenge, or a way to be more effective, more efficient. So I think in many ways, as I think about executives, the ones I see who are most successful, frankly, they have the best coaching. Whether it's formal or informal. People may not even know you're there -- you're a protege of theirs because you're watching them work and learning lessons, maybe not even having direct conversation with them. They're role models, so to speak. And then there's others where it's much more active. But I think what I've seen from a corporate standpoint, those who seem to be the most successful, they've got the strongest network of advisers, coaches, whatever you want to call it.
Matt Dixon 37:03
So that's really interesting, because that the when I think about high performers, and for me, some of the professional athletes that I've coached, the ones that have been most successful, and in fact, even beyond sport, if you think about like great champion, Serena Williams, Roger Federer, Tiger Woods, they're all -- Lebron James -- they're all highly coachable people. And it's interesting when I am lucky now to work with a lot of folks like you that are time-starved that are successful in the workplace. And there is a trend that the most successful executives tend to be the most coachable. And there are those that think, Oh, they've got it all worked out. And that you're you're a sponge of information, a sponge of seeking education to ultimately filter out some of the noise.
Ron Porter 37:50
Yeah, and that's one of the things that I've observed over the years from a corporate perspective. The senior most people seem to be the ones asking the most questions. The guys who don't perhaps and women who don't get to those senior levels oftentimes are trying to impress. They're not learning. And the guys at the top, I have found almost to a person, have that kind of open-minded I need to learn more, I want to learn more, always improving, and not concerned about is this a dumb question? They ask it and may learn. In the more junior people don't get to that next level, oftentimes, they're simply trying to have all the answers and trying to impress and at the end of the day, that learning a whole lot.
Matt Dixon 38:34
That's, it's very well put. What about one little follow on from the second question, I think is important as well as understand hinge with productivity a little bit. So I talked about getting your encourage you to drive towards a big challenge, setting a training program to move towards that program or or that challenge and be successful ultimately, but do you have any sort of personal feelings around the link between your personal fitness and productivity in the workday?
Ron Porter 39:03
Yeah, I think one the fitness element. Because as I think about it, it's how long you can you perform at your highest level? Your peak performance, so to speak, be that physically, or mentally. And I see far too many -- and there's a correlation at times, I think I'm in this kind of foggy zone of 80%. Because I'm not well rested. I don't take those breaks as I should. And that 11th or 12th hour of working. I probably should be resting because I'm probably goofing up as much as I'm solving. So I think one of the big things I see people fail to do is become fit and fresh, which is a Purple Patch...
Matt Dixon 39:49
A Purple Patch saying.
Ron Porter 39:51
And they're operating at a marginal level of 80, 90 percent maybe of capacity and they've forgotten what it feels like to be 100% because they never fully take a step back rest, and come back. Stronger.
Matt Dixon 40:04
Yeah, it's almost cliff erosion, you know, we're slowly there sort of, if you want to call it this optimal performance zone just starts shrinking and lowering, lowering. And they become sort of, you know, in this fog of fatigue, as it were. And, and I think that I think that's an important part of my quest with someone like you is to help educate and build strategies around so that you can make smarter decision making new say, or sometimes operate this level. The key is now you have really awareness and you know how to get out of it. And if this isn't about taking a break, and this isn't about sort of doing less, or finding that utopian balance in your life, it's really about optimizing performance.
Ron Porter 40:46
Yeah. And one thing that, listen, I've learned not that long ago, instead of trying to run through the marathon, on the Ironman, take a walk break. At the end of the day, that walk break, 30 seconds maybe per mile, whatever it may be, I end up being faster. Because that walk break was refreshing a chance to rethink my technique, and so forth, and to gather myself and then -- and it breaks apart the work a little bit too, versus just grinding through and slowly grinding down. So my pace is actually slower than if I take those walk breaks.
Matt Dixon 41:21
That's a wonderful analogy, and metaphor, so, fantastic. So we're ready. Like last question here is, what about, and I'm sure you have these conversations all the time, co-leaders or, or workers that just say look it all sounds great. I don't know how you do it. And I'm just too busy. I can't do this. You know, I got work. And I got family. And I don't know how you're squeezing it in. So, you know, I can't imagine taking on my own athletic journey. I know, that means very different things for different people, depending on their levels. But what would you say when you hear that sort of thing?
Ron Porter 41:52
Yeah. And I hear a fair amount, because, you know, maybe I'm at the extreme. But I would say to those who asked that question, say they don't have time, I would say, well, you don't have time not to. Because you're probably goofing up and inefficient if you don't have proper balance. And I think more and more senior people more and more executives are understanding the importance of that, for your perspective, building for your efficiency and effectiveness. Because I don't know how many times I've heard people I work 12, 13 hours a day and, and years ago, I was in a session where we with Fortune 15 company and the top 400 executives’ value statement was out and the notion was balance was one of them. And the senior guy who was giving the presentation said, that's my weakness. And I said, there's not a soul in here, who would want balance to be their strength. And I'm thinking, and that's just that was a few years ago, I didn't people have progressed. But there's still a little bit of that. But again, I would say a good effective 8, 9 hours is probably going to be far better than an ineffective 12, 13 hour. Exactly. And if you put in a little bit of physical element in there, I think you come out stronger and more effective in those eight, nine hours and probably more a little more time to balance as well. And your probably again, more effective because you get better perspective. Then going down the rabbit hole of, you know, I don't have time to do anything but work and then occasionally maybe see my kids I'd say to that, again, you're in that 80% of fog and not effective and efficient and probably not happy ultimately.
Matt Dixon 43:35
That's ultimately it. And if you're not happy, you're not productive. So well Ron what we're going to do is we're going to treat this little session right here as your recovery. You're at training camp in Hawaii, and I'm just gonna get back in and go and beat you up again.
Ron Porter 43:46
Yeah, I was trying to extend this.
Matt Dixon 43:48
Exactly. So that's -- I really appreciate you coming on the show and really appreciate the perspective. And of course, it's fantastic.
Ron Porter 43:55
Thanks for having me. Matt.
Matt Dixon 43:56
Cheers.
Ron Porter 43:57
Bye bye.
Matt Dixon 43:59
All right, folks. Well, our next victim on the carousel of performance leadership, Pat Romano from ChargePoint, welcome back.
Pat Romano 44:07
Thanks, Matt.
Matt Dixon 44:08
We have been with each other on a journey in athletics and sport and performance across life for how long now?
Pat Romano 44:16
Since 2010. In fact, I remember this distinctly a while back You said I was the five year -- I was the two year project that took five.
Matt Dixon 44:28
and we still get - now it's just a life. Now we're just shackled to each other basically. So so we want to -- thank thanks so much for joining the show. We want to explore the connection between really what I help you with in many ways your-- and you love to train and race in triathlons and in half Ironman races in marathon races, sometimes with your daughter as well. And that athletic journey as we like to label it and the link between you as a leader, your productivity, and some of the lessons that you draw from that and we want to keep it as simple as possible, we're going to keep it as succinct as possible. I've got three main questions, although knowing us we'll probably end up with with a lengthy conversation and lots of rabbit holes, but are you all shackled in and ready to go?
Pat Romano 45:12
I'm already Matt.
Matt Dixon 45:13
All right, good stuff. So um, so to frame that the athletic journey, as you call it, when I when I think about training, as you know, we don't just think about your swimming, cycling and running, we think broader than that, and strength and conditioning, all of the elements that fall undernutrition, including fueling and hydration, something that's very important for you, and of course, recovery, downtime, and sleep. So we think about that as the training program. First sort of simple layup question is, how do you see the role of that, or the value of taking on that journey as it relates to broader life and your role as a CEO?
Pat Romano 45:51
So I think, you know, it, it's all about habit, correct. habit forming and accumulation of tools, right tools, and understanding a little bit of why things feel the way they do in the situations that you're in. So if you look at the role and value of, of training, and I think, racing, because racing is different than training. It's a harmless laboratory that let your brain experience a whole bunch of uncertainty that you wouldn't, you wouldn't necessarily encounter under normal circumstances. So you get another bite at the apple so to speak, is you're going to encounter that uncertainty and your work and your life and things like that. And then you encounter it in racing, and then you apply the tools that you developed in training, to cope with that, and also the mentality. So there's a there's an element of the famous adage in triathlon of "control what you can." So you control what you can you do the best planning, and then life has more imagination than we do. So stuff happens, and that happens in your personal life, and it happens in racing, and you just become mentally acclimated to the uncomfortable situation of having to deal with an unplanned thing that isn't going well,
Matt Dixon 47:06
You sort of, you know, the old saying of sport is a metaphor for life. That's really what you're saying there where it's like, you have this this hobby in many ways, it's very important to have a hobby that is a free hit, actually experiencing and then out of that developing a lot of the tools. What about the the physical side of it? Because you're also developing fitness and health and Have you have you experienced yourself -- sort of better resiliency, clarity, focused decision making because of productivity, I guess I could I could put in there. because of your journey in sport?
Pat Romano 47:49
Yeah, I mean, I think there's a couple things. First of all, you know, and you love to make fun of me for this, I'm an engineer by trade. Not, having written a line of code in way too many years so I don't think my brethren would still call me an engineer. But one of the things in my generation when we were coming out of school was the badge of honor was how little sleep you could get. And what I've learned, especially doing what we do in the preparation for race, or training in general, and how you structure your life and, and food and everything and fueling and everything about racing, is that you really need to take a step back and make sure you're investing in sleep. Investing in nutrition, investing in all the things that make the rest of the hours better. Because accumulation of hours, It's like accumulation of hours and training, if, without a proper prescription, you're not going to get any faster. And it's the same thing in life without the proper prescription of how you're applying yourself to all of the hours that you have in a day, you're not going to get the best outcome.
Matt Dixon 49:03
What about and I'm going off my three questions here. But I wanted to make that just because I think that that you and I are sort of a great example of a coach-athlete relationship where I've coached you literally for 12 years, and that's a really long arc of a journey. So I want to explore for you the value or the importance of having a coach in that journey as well. Because I think many people can listen and think, Okay, it's, yeah, I get that fitness is good and I understand now that sleep is important. And, you know, but building that recipe together, how has coaching helped you?
Pat Romano 49:40
Yeah, that's, I don't think -- I don't care who you are. You can never see yourself and you can never you can never guard against your own tendencies that are not optimal. So a couple of examples. Left to my own devices I'll feel guilty about volume of training. I'll feel guilty about volume. And you know, I know intellectually, if I were giving a friend advice, I would give them the same advice that I've learned from you. Which is volume is not your friend necessarily. Right. But even but even though I would literally today, give that advice to someone, if I'm traveling, and you're managing my work stress against my training, stress, and we've got a race coming up, if I didn't have you to pull back on the stick and say, no, no, you got to you, you've got this workout cannot be a hard workout. Yeah, if I didn't have you doing that, I would likely go too hard. Even though if I were to give the same advice to someone else, I would say exactly what you said.
Matt Dixon 50:43
Exactly -- it it's sort of that T shaped where you as the in the athletic sense, and including, by the way, all of the stresses in your case of work and demands and traveling everything else, you're existing down here. And it's impossible to actually see the higher, higher perspective, basically, it's very, very challenging. So I guess, a coach should bring you up, help with perspective and then help with decision making.
Pat Romano 51:07
Yeah, and I think I think the coaching does one more thing, or a couple more things, but a lot more things. But the one other thing is it in ft you build a relationship with someone, you don't view your coach correcting a fault that they see in you as criticism, you stop seeing it as criticism. But then in your work life, you stop seeing feedback from your peers, and other people around you as criticism as well. So there's a bit of mental training there where you actually embrace feedback regardless -- and it doesn't make you it doesn't give the give you that emotional kind of defensive reaction anymore. It really kind of tamps that down, so I think people need to get getting used to being coached. And the other thing it does for me at work, in particular, and I say this in meetings to get people used to it to try to model a behavior is, you have to decide in any scenario, whether you're a player or coach. It does not matter what your rank is. If I walk into a meeting, and we're talking about a press campaign, I tell everyone, I may get I may have an idea, but I'm not the coach here. I'm the player, okay? So you have to tell me what you want me to do or what you suggest that I do, I may debate with you, but that's okay. And so I think, you know, the coaching relationship helps you attitudinally outside of just yourself and, you know, managing your own demons. Basically, it helps you deal with other folks.
Matt Dixon 52:46
Earlier I was chatting to Ron Porter from Korn Ferry, he was talking about his perspective that, you know, the, almost the, the higher the achievement level, the more coachable people are, and that's my experience, the best athletes that I've ever coached tend to be the most coachable. And the highest performing executives tend to be really great sponges of almost demanding coaching, wanting feedback, accountability, education support that so, I think it's I think you're spot on. I just think it'ss very interesting. I want us to get us back on track because I know we could easily talk for two hours here and we're trying to keep it very succinct. Second major question that we had this is around something that you know, which I really really love, very busy time-starved people biting off really big challenges. For you it's it's been Ironman in the past, it's tends to be more Ironman 70.3 or the Half Ironman right now in marathons, as we talked about, I'd love your thoughts on how you see these challenges benefiting you as a leader.
Pat Romano 53:50
So I think it's, first of all, all of those challenges are a laboratory for your to it basically reinforces that you're your own limiter. Right. So there's, there's, there's, it desensitizes you to rip that, to, it desensitizes you to risk in the context of appropriately managed, acknowledged, researched risk is something you're willing to take because you know what you have to manage and work through because you have unknowns associated with something but it doesn't scare you anymore. So learning how to not be afraid of walking into something and learning how to pivot when it's not going as it was supposed to go, which as you know, Ironman racing never goes as...right?
Matt Dixon 54:42
It's it's guaranteed adversity.
Pat Romano 54:43
It's guaranteed adversity, right? It could be weather, it could be how you feel that day. It could be a lot of things. And so the the same thing has to happen. It actually allows you to take bolder steps because you've got that you've got that analogous laboratory. And I think it also if you look at and, you know, we recently took ChargePoint not recently, two years ago now, took charge point public.
Matt Dixon 55:06
I remember the chapter very well, yeah.
Pat Romano 55:08
And so when you take a company public, you know, I'm not complaining about my job, there's just a period of time where everything goes to hell in a handbasket, and you're just working 24/7, 365, not that you're always not working hard, but you're just going to an extreme level where it's it's encumbering, there's no room for anything in your life.
Matt Dixon 55:28
It's sustained pressure and amplified pressure. Anticipate for
Pat Romano 55:35
like, two months
Matt Dixon 55:36
for two months.
Pat Romano 55:37
Yeah, right. For two months, you're going to basically turn yourself inside out. And, and so you immediately if you're used to it, you retreat to your structure. So you, at least that's how I respond to athletics. It's I, it's my retreat to structure instead of retreating to chaos, which is what I would have done if I didn't have all of the years that I have. And so you immediately begin to okay, how am I gonna manage my sleep? How am I gonna get some physical activity? And how am I going to manage my energy during the day with proper eating? Right? You don't want to turn to DoorDash at that point, that's the worst thing that you can do. So you pre pack your meals the night before, like, in your fridge, we had to do it during COVID. So hence, we went public during COVID so we weren't, you know, traveling, which would make it even harder to manage your food. Yeah, manage your sleep, you know, still do your day job in the afternoon, when you're off of New York hours, all of those things became incredibly natural. Because of everything that I have been through with respect to athletics.
Matt Dixon 56:48
It actually created the framework to -- you had the ultimate optimization challenge. You know, it was like, hang on, and, and all of the tools and lessons you could now apply in a different way. And we work very, very hard through this and not not just say, Okay, this is gonna be like this really sustained period. So let's throw the athletic journey away. In fact, let's use that, to actually help us manage. And I think that that's, that that really, that little story there vignette really, really strikes at the heart of what it's about, which is integrating these habits, this developing of a toolkit and all of these strategies, not to find harmony and balance, but actually, to actually get more out of it. Accelerate, use it as the gasoline to create ultimately sustained high performance.
Pat Romano 57:40
Yeah, yeah, the way I look at it is this is my way of, not ultimately, when I'm old and gray, much older than I am already old and gray. Not having regrets. Yeah, this is the insurance my -- I'm buying insurance and not having regrets because it didn't, it's enabling me to go attack more of what's available to me and, and enjoy it and benefit from it. And, you know, incorporate it into life and have good experiences.
Matt Dixon 58:11
It's great. I'm very expensive insurance.
Pat Romano 58:16
You can change that. Anytime.
Matt Dixon 58:20
Last one, just a quick thought that I that I do want to ask with everyone here because this is the most common thing that that I hear from very busy executives, and I'm sure you do too, which is, let's imagine co workers it co leader says to you, it's amazing. How do you fit it? I tell you what, I just don't understand with all of the commitments of work family as well. I just don't have time for this. There's no way I can squeeze it in. What would you say that someone that says that?
58:50
So well. So I have to appropriately credit a good friend of mine and fellow Purple, Purple Patcher, Joe Terry. And so Joe taught me one phrase, he's taught me a lot of things, but one phrase, we all have the same 24 hours. So now it's what you do with it. And so they're the big rocks that you have to not move: sleep. You can't move it that often you flex it, but you can't move it that often. You've got to eat correctly. You've got to get your exercise in. You've got to get your you've got to be very engaged at work. And those other things help you be very engaged at work. So you get the most out of it. You got to be focused, you've got to be on it. The last thing you put in there is social media. Netflix. I know it sounds boring. All those other things can flex arbitrarily. You may have a weekend where you don't have much to do and yeah, you don't have a lot of work to do sure binge watch a bunch of net-- but delete all of the filler. It's kind of like when they bring a loaf of bread before dinner and you eat the whole loaf of bread and then you're not hungry anymore. Don't eat the loaf of bread first. Netflix and social media and all of that fluff that's variable - that's the loaf of bread. Just set that aside.
Matt Dixon 1:00:00
It it even resonates as well as I sort of think about so much of what we talked about with all of the distractions, even around those pillars training, nutrition, sleeping, and there's all these tools and gadgets and distractions. And it's like actually focus on the boulders don't focus on the sand. And once you get that, right, you're 90% of the way there. And then of course, it improves your productivity and your capacity and everything else that goes along with that. Yeah so.
Pat Romano 1:00:24
Exactly.
Matt Dixon 1:00:26
Well, Pat, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. I really appreciate you coming on the show, but also, more importantly, being a massively valued part of the Purple Patch family. So I appreciate it.
Pat Romano 1:00:35
Thank you, Matt.
Matt Dixon 1:00:36
Take care.
Matt Dixon 1:00:38
Alright, guys, so here we go, again, another little chapter of excellence. And this time we're coming with Maury Blackman, the CEO of Premise Data. And also I should add a longtime friend, and of course, Purple Patch athlete.
Maury Blackman 1:00:52
Thank you, Matt. It's really great to be here. And, you know, not only can I say that you're an amazing coach, but you have been an amazing mentor and friend of me over the past 10 years. I don't know if you realize this, but we first met 10 years ago, in here in Hawaii at this camp.
Matt Dixon 1:01:09
Here go.
Maury Blackman 1:01:10
Who's counting, right?
Matt Dixon 1:01:11
Who's counting? And we still look as young as we ever did.
Matt Dixon 1:01:15
I don't know about that get to you, as
Matt Dixon 1:01:17
I tell you what, and every day in life, we're always dressed the same dress, right? So we'll, we'll take it from here. So we have three questions for everyone that is very kindly participating in today's show, of course, what we're doing is investigating the link between your athletic journey, and you have quite an accomplished athletic journey. You've done multiple Ironman races, and much well beyond that. And your role as a leader, and as a CEO. So is your seatbelt fastened? Are you ready to go?
Maury Blackman 1:01:46
I'm ready.
Matt Dixon 1:01:46
All right, let's do it. So. So first question, very, very simple. We we have been sort of framing the program training, the athletic journey is not just your swimming, cycling and running that you do as a triathlete, but also your strength training, your habits around nutrition, and of course, sleep and recovery, something that that you know, that I'm very passionate about integrating into sport, how would you see that athletic journey? What's the role of that? Or the value of that, as it relates to broader life, particularly in leadership and work?
Maury Blackman 1:02:18
Yeah, great question, Matt. You know, broadly speaking, and this is actually deeply personal thing for me, because it's something that I've struggled with pretty much my entire life, and that word is procrastination. And, you know, I tend to, you know, always put, you know, put off that workout or put off, you know, whatever it is that I should be doing. Yeah, and, you know, I tend to find other things to do, whether it's watching TV or reading a book, I have a tendency to just kind of push those things out and focus on that moment. And one of the things that sport and triathlon and Purple Patch has given me is a very tight structure around my life, so that every morning, I know, I have to wake up, I know, I have to go through this process, whether it's, you know, proper nutrition and hydration before workout, nailing the workout, and then the recovery. And then there's the rest of the day. And, you know, one of the amazing things about training for an Ironman, and you definitely taught me this is that most of us really only do one Ironman a year. Okay. It's not like, you know, there are, of course, those outlier people who do five, six seven a year. But for us, we pick one, and we train for that one day. And so you have to structure your entire life around that one day. And when it gets there, it gets there, and you've got what you got. So you learn very quickly that I have to make the most of every single day. In that beginning workout that begins, you know, starting your day off fresh, and having a structure to it really enables me to focus on the rest of my day.
Matt Dixon 1:03:55
Okay, so it's almost it creates the framework for you to then operationalize or optimize, when you show up and you're, you got to do everything else that the more important stuff. And anyway,
Maury Blackman 1:04:07
That's correct. And it just, you know, for me, it gives me that the start of that day, with a structure and process around it. So you have to plan your day, you have no choice.
Matt Dixon 1:04:18
It's funny, because you mentioned that Ironman what you are registered and I'll keep it quiet, which one we're getting ready for but you are registered for for an Ironman this year. And so, and you're incredibly busy yet you're leading a very large organization, you know, that I love folks like you putting a stake in the ground and saying, boom, we're gonna go on this challenge as you talked about it this one day, and it becomes the lightning rod of how we frame every day of exercise and all of the habits around it. So how have you seen that? From a personal standpoint, I'm interested if you've had any links of the lessons that you've drawn from beyond the health beyond the fitness and beyond the structure, any of the lessons that you've drawn of all of the ups and downs, the adversity, the challenge, the little injury setbacks around your calves, etc. How can any of those the way you can take and apply to your life as a CEO?
Maury Blackman 1:05:17
Well, I go back to a story that you told me back when we were doing our first Ironman together. And you probably don't even remember this. But it was great advice, not just for the race, but I think for life and business in general. And I was very nervous about doing doing the race, and I hadn't done a race in a while. And you said to me said, listen, it's a long day. Okay, lot's -- we've trained really hard, we, you're very prepared for this race. Lots of things are going to happen. It's not going to go as we planned it, there's going to be little things along the way that happen, that can kind of throw you off course. But how you deal with the adversity, how you deal with those events is important. And I think the most important part of that speech you gave me, we said, just keep moving forward. Every swim, stroke, every revolution of the wheels, every running stride, just keep going forward. Don't look back, don't think about the mistakes you've made. Just think about what's in front of you, and what's next. And then when you get to the finish line, everything will just come together. And so if you frame that in a business perspective, it's like in business, we make mistakes every day. We have to try we have, particularly if you're in an entrepreneurial setting, like like, that's really what my specialty is, is really working with startups and being an entrepreneur, you have to try things. You have to experiment, and you're gonna make mistakes. Yeah. But you can't look back, you can just learn from those mistakes. But keep going forward. Think about what's next. Don't think about what's in the past.
Matt Dixon 1:06:59
It's funny when you talk about sort of great athletes, and we can pick Tom Brady, who, whoever it is Cristiano Ronaldo, bla bla bla bla bla, it's like, it is always the great metaphor. They're the people that have really learned how to fail. You know, and that and that, because that's a part of it, every athletic journey, I think. It's just growth that comes from that.
Maury Blackman 1:07:19
You know, one thing that I think is really great for executives, or anyone who does a triathlon or an Ironman, I think it's great -- from my standpoint, most parents don't do events like this, and have their kids see them succeed or fail. Yeah, you know, and so my kids are seeing me fail plenty of times. And I think it's really important for them, as they're adults now to have seen that, hey, my dad failed. You know, he picked it up and went again. I mean, you know, not every race goes, well. Some of them, some of them, I've fallen flat on my face and you just have to pick yourself up and re motivate yourself and go after the next one.
Matt Dixon 1:08:04
It's really interesting is that because you you, we sort of just explored really, really briefly, but I think something that's really important to highlight, we explored the value that you get on a day to day basis, by taking on this challenge of which the destination, there's no guarantee that is going to be a success -- the ones -- and but actually, that's not where the biggest rewards are, you know, it's the reward is this process that you go along. And, and then actually, when you string together all of these races and and hopefully by being coached by me you have more successes, on most days, than you do failure, because not every race is is fantastic, though. But though when when you build the catalogue of racing, suddenly you look take a step back and say, Wow, I'm improving my performance. I'm actually higher performing. So there's this sort of destination component to it. But there's the journey component to it as well. I
Matt Dixon 1:08:59
think there's one other thing that's really important about this body of work is that in the in the athletic sense, one of the things that we do after each race, and a lot of times after our key workouts, is we evaluate. Oh, kinda wish you would have done this or done that I couldn't, I could have done this better. But in a business sense, we rarely do that. I rarely come back and say, god at this meeting, I should have done X, Y, and Z. And that's something that I've built into my own personal framework from a business perspective. Is it every day, I spend 10 minutes on the way home just driving and I think about the day and I think about the interactions I had with people that have with customers. And I evaluate myself. Yep, almost the same way they'd be racing. And I think that is a real important takeaway that I came, came away from from all the racing and all the events that I've done.
Matt Dixon 1:09:57
And I'll add a couple of things that are interesting in a in an athletic sense, and I think that this happens across aspects of life is athletes are really good when things have gone wrong at wanting to find an answer and assessing. When things are gone, right, they fail to assess. Oh, great, and they don't actually take any lessons of what actually worked either. So it's so in fact, in an upcoming episode, I got a couple of fantastic PhD women that work for British sport, and the theme of the show is going to be all about decompression. In other words, the process and the model that they use in British athletics for their Olympians afterwards of how important it is, and they take them through a four or five step process of, of a little bit of space before Win, lose or draw at the Olympics, but then also how do they assess so that they can grow to the next part of the journey, which is going to...
Maury Blackman 1:10:50
And those lessons, those life lessons are very important, not just in sport, but they cross apply over in business as well.
Matt Dixon 1:10:58
Really, really valuable. So one -- the last question I have for you. The many people that I work with say my most precious commodity is time. And of course, the biggest complaint I have is got a look at Maury Blackman, he's CEO is really busy family, etc. I just don't have time for that nonsense. I don't know how he does it with Ironman and everything else. So what what would you say to a leader or a co worker that just said, Hey, it's great, I get it, it's healthy. But that's not for me. I don't have time to do this?
1:11:31
It's not a race. It's a lifestyle. It's, it's a lifestyle that you choose to live. And it's a healthy lifestyle. It clears your mind. It provides more perspective. And I you know, triathlon in an Ironman literally saved my life, because I was going down a path where I was just working all the time, and not taking care of myself. And, you know, I could, you know, I could show anyone pictures of what I looked like before this started, and they couldn't believe it was me. It was just a totally different person. Yeah. And so I think that it's not that you don't have the time. You just have to have the commitment.
Matt Dixon 1:12:18
That's it. That's that magic word. It's it's making it a priority, and then building it around and ultimately amplifying it.
Maury Blackman 1:12:25
And don't think about it as a job. It's a lifestyle. Yeah, it's just like vacationing or watching football or being a basketball fan. Whatever it is. It's a lifestyle that you're investing in yourself.
Matt Dixon 1:12:36
Yeah, that's it. I'll tell you what? It doesn't really look like a job.
Maury Blackman 1:12:40
Yeah, not bad. Not bad at all.
Matt Dixon 1:12:42
Very nice here as well. So, Maury, two things. Firstly, the most simple thing, thank you very much for being on the show and taking your time out. That's your recovery on we're going to get back and get back to work right now. But more importantly, thank you for your friendship, and also being a great part of Purple Patch.
Maury Blackman 1:12:58
Thank you, Matt.
Matt Dixon 1:12:58
Yeah, cheers mate.
Matt Dixon 1:13:01
All right, here we go again, and I get to welcome my next, well I've been calling everybody victims, Tom. So Tom Hennessy, CEO of Challenger group, and thanks so much for being on the Purple Patch podcast.
Tom Hennessy 1:13:15
My pleasure. It's great to be here.
Matt Dixon 1:13:16
It's well, it's great to be here, as well as
Tom Hennessy 1:13:18
It's beautiful, sunny. It's snowing in Colorado, so this is fantastic.
Tom Hennessy 1:13:24
It's fantastic.
Matt Dixon 1:13:25
Well, what we're doing is what I'm titling lessons from leaders. And we're looking to tie the connection between a lot of what we're learning about and busy working hard at right now our physical performance, with your role as a leader, a challenge group. And so I've got three main questions as ever with me, we might go down some rabbit holes, but is your seatbelt fastened, are you ready to rock and roll?
Tom Hennessy 1:13:49
Ready.
Matt Dixon 1:13:49
Let's do it. Alright. So the first question I have for you is, you know, at Purple Patch. You know, when we think about training, its endurance, its strength, its habits around nutrition, sleep and recovery. And all of that packaged up is the program. And so we think about your sort of training program, as it were. How do you see the value of taking on that athletic journey, that program as it relates to your performance in the workplace and broader life?
Tom Hennessy 1:14:18
Yeah, it's, there's a very direct correlation, there's a very direct connection between what I do athletically and how I approach work. It starts with consistency. It's making sure that I'm a consistent person in my training. I'm doing the program, I'm doing it as I do it at the same time every day so I can stay consistent and have that slot programmed within it. And then I take that approach to work. I have to be consistent with my demeanor, with how I treat people how I lead people, coach people. I was once told by a leader that I work with is, as a as a top leader, I couldn't have a bad day. And what she meant by that was I couldn't walk in the office with a scowl on my face just because I woke up on the wrong side of bed. And so that's how I approach work, I've always tried to approach it with a smile with a level level-headedness that comes with just being comfortable with who I am and how we're approaching work. And I take that same approach with training, there's days where I get out of bed, I get up early, as you know, and I don't really want to roll into that bike training. However, I remember the consistency part, stay on stay focused, to maintain that kind of levelness. And I always tell myself, do for do it for 15 minutes, and then, then you'll do the rest. And so I do that will work. Also, if there's something that I just really don't want to do, I'll say, well, I'll get it started. And maybe it's a tough conversation that I'll I'll get started initially with somebody and say, well, I'll do the first part of it today, and then we'll pick up the rest, I generally just end up getting it all done at that point.
Matt Dixon 1:16:13
It's funny, I've seen athletes a lot a one of the traits, whether it comes to sort of racing, whether it comes to sessions that look really scary, and and there's a natural sort of athletic fear around it. So this is going to be really good. And once someone gets into it, nine times out of 10, they realize it's actually not as bad, it's not as challenging. And so it's interesting that you sort of you correlate that to some of the experiences in the workplace as well. And you sort of it's almost a parallel experience.
Tom Hennessy 1:16:46
Absolutely, that comes down to, you know, take holding on to the fact that you've accomplished things in the past that were very difficult. And taking risks and so in, in training and training for races that are long term goals, you're taking risks by by doing so, and you can be successful or you can have setbacks and setbacks in training are the same as setbacks at work, you've just got to rise up again, figure -- sometimes you have to figure out what you did a little bit wrong, use the coach to, to understand maybe what you could have done a little differently. And I do that in my business, and I do that for my leaders is if they make mistakes, we're encouraged to take risks, but to learn from our mistakes, and a little bit of coaching on why something didn't go the right way, is part of that journey and I think it's the same thing with athletics, you're constantly testing yourself and constantly learning from mistakes and success.
Matt Dixon 1:17:48
Which really relates. Early earlier on I just want to dig into one thing that you mentioned there, you said that you tend to get up early and exercise or train at the same time every day. So does the athletic journey help you with an organizational framework? For for broader life where it creates the structure in many ways.
Tom Hennessy 1:18:09
Absolutely. I am a creature of I’ve become a creature of habit. Yeah, and maybe athletics as background has made me that. But to structure our organization in such a way that we approach our customers in with consistency. We approach our employees with consistency, you know, whether it's set meetings or usual regular communication, I do a weekly monthly communication with their entire broad team just to keep everybody in knowledgeable, including on what we're doing. And I think that that would training it's the same getting that feedback from the training to understand on a daily and weekly basis, how I'm progressing, and I can get that feedback also from my business.
Matt Dixon 1:18:57
What about productivity? You're very very busy you got a demanding role and your own personal fitness and and the supporting habits that we talked about that we talked about sleeve we talked about nutrition and hydration that we spent a lot of time at this camp talking about, you got any sort of direct personal experience or viewpoint on the link of really embracing and developing those habits in your athletic journey and your productivity how you can show up in the workplace.
Tom Hennessy 1:19:30
Yeah, I -- ever since I started triathlon, I've become much more productive. Just my energy level is higher. My body is just in a better obviously condition and yeah, my brains more engaged and right from the get go in the morning, I'm ready to take on the world and take on whatever challenges we have that day. Same as I would get into training ready to take on whatever the pro grande prescription is calling for. And I take it all with the same gusto. So I, I look at not only the prescription for what we're doing and what we're doing for that day, and how it relates to how I'm set up for the day for the week, but also for the long term, and how that's going to be a building block for my long term goals.
Matt Dixon 1:20:21
Yes, fantastic. So I guess the last question I have then is, is one always like to finish it like this, it's, I think, almost universally, everyone's gonna say basically the same thing, but other co leaders, members of your leadership team and co workers, some of the things that I hear always is, god that Tom, he's just a bit crazy, you know, he does all this stuff. He goes off, and he does these huge bike rides and right, but but me I'm, you know, I've got so many commitments at work, and I'm really busy. I just don't have time for all that say, so what would you say to that most common complaint?
Tom Hennessy 1:20:58
I started triathlon at age 55. And within a short period of time, it correlated to my performance at work and my success at work. So I was at, I was doing well, I was the vice president position. But by taking on triathlon, having success, having long term goals for Ironman and, and really the process of the training for Ironman, it, it moved kind of, you know, with really out me thinking into my work life and how I approach work. And I just became more aggressive, maybe he's not wrong word, but it just became more engaged with how I would treat every day at work and how he would treat people and customers. And it just, my success just went from there.
Matt Dixon 1:21:53
So it's almost a parallel.
Tom Hennessy 1:21:54
It was an absolute parallel. I felt like I went from this kind of well, you know, decent leader. Yeah. Like, I was doing fine, too, I think really high-performing leader. And it was directly a result from my training.
Matt Dixon 1:22:10
Well, I asked Pat from ChargePoint, this and I want to ask you, because you've, you've joined us at many camps here in Hawaii and elsewhere, and I just want to finish on coaching. And, and you started your journey in triathlon at 55. Over the last 10 years or so, we've been every January coming out here and these are very immersive camps, a lot of education. It's not just going out and bettering yourselves out in the winds of Hawaii on the bicycle, but it really is about education around broader elements. And so your a leader, you it's interesting, you sort of took the traffic journey and elevated your, your leadership, traits, characteristics and success. Can you talk to me about the role of coaching and how that has or has been valuable and or hasn't been as valuable?
Tom Hennessy 1:23:06
Yeah, absolutely. The thing about coaching, particularly in something that you're, you're new, or you're trying to progress, or you have long-term goals is, you know, there's lots of information out there. But a book doesn't know you. A website doesn't know you, it when it comes to these camps, obviously, you and your coaches get to understand me, the person, what's driving me, and what I need to have to be successful. And it varies from person to person. And so you understand how much time I have available, how much I can put into it, what my long-term goals are. And I see the same thing at work. I've had executives coach me that understand who I am, have provided me insight, you know, what's worked for them, what habits worked for them. And it's been hugely impactful on my career. And I do the same with my direct reports on my team. It's like, these are the types of these are the types of habits these are the types of strengths that you should look for as you progress in your, in your career. And it's been to -- I have a coach I think, I have mentors and coaches currently in, in business and I wouldn't be successful without them. Just as I wouldn't be as successful in athletics.
Matt Dixon 1:24:30
It's funny, what you said there was really music as a coach music to my ears, because one of I think, the way that I view coaching is, is almost a filter. There's so much information out there and so yeah, you could go and then one could go and find it all in clay, but, but it's really, really difficult to understand of everything out there, what's appropriate for me, and what should I focus on? Because they're always 50 things You could focus on. But Tom, these are the two or three things that are actually going to move the performance needle for you. And that's a big part of coaching, to be honest, goes well beyond the prescription of a plan, as it were, in many ways.
Tom Hennessy 1:25:11
Yeah, absolutely.
Matt Dixon 1:25:12
Well, I want to say that -- firstly, thank you for joining us on the show, but much more. Yeah, much more important than that, though. Thanks for being such a wonderful part of Purple Patch. You're a great addition, we really appreciate it.
Tom Hennessy 1:25:23
Oh, thank you have enjoyed almost every second, every second of it. No, it's been fantastic journey, and I wouldn't give it up for anything.
Matt Dixon 1:25:32
Fantastic. Thanks so much Tom.
Tom Hennessy 1:25:33
Thank you.
Matt Dixon 1:25:36
All right, guys, here I am back alone. And thank you so much to all of our guests Carmel, Tom, Maury, Pat, and Ron, fantastic insights. And of course, all of the answers started to weave around the same concept that you have time. It's about prioritization, it's about commitment. And most importantly, it's not just about finding well-being. It's not about finding utopian balance. This is about performance. This is about integrating smart strategies so that you amplify, and you can show up a better version of yourself in no matter what your quest is in life. And so final word, if you love the show, feel free to give us a like great review. But most importantly, please, please, please share it with anyone that you might feel might benefit. And so that's the end of the show, it was a pretty meaty one today, Barry, but I thought we did pretty well now. Well, I think it's time for a mai tai, don't you mate? All right. We'll see you next week back on the mainland. Take care.
Matt Dixon 1:26:40
Guys, thanks so much for joining. And thank you for listening. I hope that you enjoyed the new format. You can never miss an episode by simply subscribing. head to the Purple Patch channel of YouTube, and you will find it there and you could subscribe. Of course, I'd like to ask you, if you will subscribe. Also share it with your friends, and it's really helpful if you leave a nice positive review in the comments. Now any questions that you have, let me know, feel free to add a comment and I will try my best to respond and support you on your performance journey. And in fact, as we commence this video podcast experience, if you have any feedback at all, as mentioned earlier in the show, we would love your help in helping us to improve. Simply email us at info at purple patch fitness.com or leave it in the comments of the show at the Purple Patch page and we will get you dialed in. We'd love constructive feedback. We are in a growth mindset as we like to call it. And so feel free to share with your friends. But as I said, let's build this together. Let's make it something special. It's really fun. We're really trying hard to make it a special experience. And we want to welcome you into the Purple Patch community. With that, I hope you have a great week. Stay healthy, have fun, keep smiling, doing whatever you do. Take care.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
coach, people, athletic, journey, athletes, ironman, training, life, day, performance, important, triathlon, question, executives, work, patch, habits, integrating, purple, leader
SPEAKERS
Matt Dixon, Maury Blackman, Pat Romano, Ron Porter, Carmel Galvin, Tom Hennessy