Kyle Davis: Okay, with us on today's episode of GDA Podcast, we have Ty Bennett. Ty Bennett is a pretty awesome guy. He's built a phenomenally expansive and aggressively profitable [00:01:00] company in his 20s and sold it and now does speaking engagements, telling people how to be more influential and to tell better stories and to be better leaders. With that, let's welcome Ty to the podcast. How are you doing, man?

Ty Bennett: Thank you. I'm great. Thanks for having me.

Kyle Davis: Well, thank you for having me and thanks for joining us. Now, kind of like I said prior to going to record, one of the things that I like to do is let individuals like yourself tell your story. If you could for those listeners who [00:01:30] aren't maybe so familiar with who you are and what you talk about or maybe even your background, if you can just give them your story, that'd be great.

Ty Bennett: Absolutely. Yeah, you mentioned my background is really as an entrepreneur. When I was 21 my brother Scott and I started a business together. He and I were both very entrepreneurial growing up and I think pretty ambitious and we liked ... For me I know I really liked working with people, and so we started [00:02:00] a business in direct sales which long story short, we grew to about 20 million in annual revenue while still in my 20s. There was lots of ups and downs in that process and strong learning curve. It didn't take off like a rocket, but we were able to build a great business.

In the process of that I feel like I learned a lot in terms of leadership and sales. I did a lot of the training for our sales and leadership team and found in the process that I truly loved the speaking aspect and the teaching, and [00:02:30] so that led me to what I do now in terms of speaking and writing. As we fast-forward, I sold my half of that business to my brother and I started a speaking and training company, and I've written four books, and primarily now I do keynote speeches for companies around the world. That keeps me very busy.

Kyle Davis: What does a 20-something ... I used to be a 20-year-old who owned a direct sales company too, so that's kind of fun.

Ty Bennett: How awesome?

Kyle Davis: [00:03:00] We can chat offline about that later. What was it that drew you to being an entrepreneur and what did you learn and what mistakes did you make, and in hindsight being 2020 what can you do better? All those kind of little things that when you were young.

Ty Bennett: Yeah. Well, the mistake list would be very long, right? I mean, there are so many lessons that you learn and in part that's what I've been able to share in the books and speeches that I've put together is I [00:03:30] think in some ways with that experience, I was able to condense time, right? I'm 35 years old, but I had a lot of business experience in maybe a little bit more condensed time period. What led me to be an entrepreneur, I think more than anything else was I just want to make my mark on the world. I don't know if that sounds cheesy or if it sounds lame, but I felt like ...

My parents used to always say this phrase to me. They would say, "Where much is given, much is required." [00:04:00] I always felt like for me they were saying you've been given a lot of opportunities and talents and things that you need to use, and you need to go and make an impact. I've always felt a drive to do that. I am not the kind of person who just wants to sit back and let somebody else take the lead. I want to get after it, and so that kind of led me towards entrepreneurial people and I had some great mentors and kind of got engrossed in business [00:04:30] and I've always really loved the sport of business, the idea of it, just breaking it down and dissecting it and learning about it.

I was actually studying entrepreneurship in school when I started the business and so that was kind of my pursuit is I knew I wanted to do something on my own where I didn't have a ceiling, where I could go and create and try and make a difference. In the process of that, there are so many learning experiences, so many things I did wrong, but [00:05:00] a lot of those lessons I've tried to encapsulate in some of the things that I teach because I think what set me apart or what I learned and became very good at is I learned how to connect with people and influence people. I learned how to build relationships.

I think business is all about relationships. I think that's one of the biggest keys I've taken away and I've found that to be true in every industry, those relationships if you can build true relationships and true connection with your customers, with your [00:05:30] people, with others who business keeps coming back around it long-term, right? It's not based off of transaction. It's based off of consistent relationships and loyalty and ongoing history. I talk a lot about that and in that, I found one of the things I do well is I learned how to tell a great story when checked in because one of the most underrated skills in business. So that's one of the things I teach as well.

Kyle Davis: There was a lot there, [00:06:00] and I like them. I like the fact that you are talking about learning how to connect better with people, how to have a relationship, getting away from ... One of the pitfalls I see for a lot of people, for a lot of companies or a lot of sales teams and sales leaders is this transactional nature of selling or this transactional nature of customer support or whatever the interaction may be, versus fostering and cultivating a culture of relationship building. I definitely want to hit on all [00:06:30] that, but you mentioned something that was a phrase really that kind of like piqued my interest so to speak. That was the "sport of business". I'm curious as to what you meant by that and I wonder if we could scratch the surface on that.

Ty Bennett: Yeah. I don't know if actually I've ever used that phrase before, but I think business really to me it feels kind of like a sport. You have the opportunity to jump in and play. To me it's fun, it [00:07:00] engages you. Maybe not physically the same way some other sports do, but definitely mentally, right? I work myself to the point of exhaustion. I understand what it's like to give absolutely everything and leave it all out on the field, so to say, and to just get after it. I think there's a sense of fulfillment in that, and so I guess what I meant by that more than anything is just that's how I approach it. It's fun. It's engaging. I want to put my whole [00:07:30] effort into it. I want to be playing full out, and that's when business becomes fun to me.

Kyle Davis: I had a feeling that that's what you were talking about. I like that people can just be honest about it. If you are really giving it your all and it's something that you're passionate about, I mean giving those 19, 20 hour work days and putting everything that you've got into it and risking it all, but more importantly making it fun is what's important. It shouldn't be this like nine to five grind [00:08:00] that just sucks the life out of you.

Ty Bennett: No, I think everybody wants to find a sense of fulfillment in what they do. I think for me I've found that there are certain spaces or certain roles that we find the most fulfillment or the most happiness and get the most out of. I personally call it the core four. I think we're creators, right? When we're creating, when we're working to do something, when we're coming up with ideas, when we're innovating, when we're creating something out of nothing, when we're problem [00:08:30] solving, I think we find great fulfillment and happiness and a sense of purpose out of that.

I think that we're contributors, right? When we serve others, when we add value, I mean that's what leadership is all about. That's what business really should be about is contributing in some way. I think we get a lot of purpose out of that. I think we're connectors. We talked a lot about where we mentioned this idea of building relationships and businesses long-term, but when we have real connection we [00:09:00] gain something out of that.

I think we're coaches. We mentor, we teach, we help, and there's huge satisfaction from a leadership standpoint when you can mentor others and see them succeed, when you can grow a team, when you can help people understand where we're coming from. I try and operate as much as I can in those core four because I think that's where you find fulfillment.

Kyle Davis: I really like that idea of having these core four things. These are all things that when I look at [00:09:30] my daily life and the aspects of the business I run and different things like that, I'm constantly thinking about okay what am I creating today? If it's this podcast, who am I talking to? How am I going to approach this? This creative aspect of it if you will, then it's this contribution, to me that's kind of a no-brainer but I think so often people just don't think about adding value and different things like that. Those are kind [00:10:00] of ...

Ty Bennett: Even just the distinction in that and what drives you, do you do this because you want to pay off at the end or make money or do you approach it in saying, how do I add value? Because in the end you make more money that way, right?

Kyle Davis: Right.

Ty Bennett: I think part of it is just motive and where you're putting your focus to.

Kyle Davis: Going to the coaching aspect of that, when you're coaching and you're mentoring and you're leading other people, how do you go about, [00:10:30] if you will, identifying maybe the core four in an individual to elicit more engagement or productivity, or really just to get them excited about doing what they're doing?

Ty Bennett: Yeah. I think one for leaders, I think focusing your time and attention to these core four is vital. That's where you're most effective. That's where you're purpose driven. That's where you find fulfillment. Part of that is then to harness those in your team [00:11:00] to help them find their strengths and make sure they're focused on those areas. For me the mentorship and the teaching aspect, as a speaker and an author obviously I'm drawn to that. I have a huge love for it and I get great satisfaction out of sharing ideas that help change people or help them see things differently and then they put those things in place.

I think that in our world, I think all of us gain some satisfaction to that, but I think [00:11:30] we need leaders who are authentically helping mentoring, sharing the experience, and helping to teach those around them. You think about any team and what they look to their leader for, I think they look for some of the vision and for the example and some of those things, but they also want that insight and they want that experience. I think that's one of the focuses that leaders need to have.

My take [00:12:00] on that, one of those aspects is that I think leadership is very individual. What I mean by that is you don't lead a team of people. You lead individuals that make up a team. Teaching sometimes is broad based across a team of people. You have a group of meeting, that type of thing, but mentoring is a one-on-one process. Leaders need to find time to be one, accessible to their people and two, approachable [00:12:30] with their people so that they can be authentic and truly connect and have those mentoring experiences where they can help move those people forward individually.

Kyle Davis: Yeah. I think having like a one size all fits approach doesn't really work, having a more individualistic focus towards your mentoring and what you're doing really makes a lot of sense. I'm reminded of a mentor of mine who said, and I'm [00:13:00] paraphrasing here, but he basically said that a common misconception is that all salespeople are just salespeople. That he went on to say that you would never say that all football players are just football players. You have the quarterback, you have an offensive linemen, you have a safety, and you have a linebacker, and you have everybody's position. An offensive lineman may make a good quarterback, but the reality is it's not going to happen.

Ty Bennett: Probably not.

Kyle Davis: You can almost be certain that a kicker would not make a good center. Thinking about it like that [00:13:30] really kind of opens up your mind's eye as to how to be more prescriptive in what you're doing for those individuals.

Ty Bennett: For sure. I've found I've gained a lot from that. There's this idea of the Platinum Rule which is to treat other people the way they want to be treated, a step above the Golden Rule instead of treating other people the way you want to be treated. It's just individually using that approach to see people for who they are because I think as leaders one of the keys to our effectiveness, [00:14:00] I like to teach leaders that motivation is important but it's overrated.

What I mean by that is often leaders just want to be that motivational cheerleader, right? Go get them, go and cheer their people on, which is great, but our bigger job is to help remove the obstacles and the inhibitors that keep people from achieving their job to moving them forward. That's when motivation becomes great is once we've cleared the runway, if you will, then our people can run and we can cheer them on in the process [00:14:30] of that. The only way you really figure out what those obstacles and those inhibitors are to help remove those is on an individual basis, right? Is it specific skills they don't have? Is it a knowledge that they need? Is it a fear that just holds them back individually? Those things are where you partner with your people and really figure those out.

Kyle Davis: Yeah. I like that concept. One of the things that I was introduced to about your management style when I was introduced to your work [00:15:00] in technology was this idea of you could call it a dev meeting, but the meetings may be titled "yesterday, today blockers", and so what did you do yesterday? What are you going to work on today? What prevented you from getting those things done? That's the thing that the managers would work on with the individual on the day, hey let's remove those blockers. Is it talking to somebody? It started from like computer programmers but it has wide applicability whether it's in sales or elsewhere.

Ty Bennett: For sure. [00:15:30] I like that. That's really cool.

Kyle Davis: Yeah. It was the best 50 minutes standup meeting you've ever had, just super quick, onto the point, top three, move on.

Ty Bennett: Nice.

Kyle Davis: Talking about being a connector and building relationships and getting away from this transactional kind of a world that we're living in or we maybe were living in, what's important to build those relationships and to create loyalty, not just within your customers, but within your employees, and [00:16:00] maybe even loyalty within yourself?

Ty Bennett: Yeah. Again, big question which I think is great. I think part of it is that you approach business long-term. I was thinking about that just earlier as we were talking. I don't know if because I was so young when I started in business that I realized that business wasn't transactional. It was long-term. Because I mean I was 21, I was going to be doing this for a long time, right? I wanted to build relationships. I don't know if that's what triggered it for me [00:16:30] or maybe it was the mentor that taught me that, I'm not sure.

I think thinking that way, thinking long-term, I have people who now hire me to come in and speak for their group that I became friends with 10 or 15 years ago. I'll give you an example. I just spoke up in Canada for a group that was a cool event. I shared the stage with Martin Luther King III and with Mark Messier, and just really cool experience that came from a friend [00:17:00] who recommended me and I hadn't seen him in 19 years. We're friends on Facebook. He knows what I'm doing. We interact every once in a while, but I went to dinner with him and we were sitting there going how this has been 19 years since I've seen you. I mean, that's where business comes back around. I think it's so key that we do that.

There are so many aspects to building relationships. I think part of it is just the approach. I think we have to really get to know people. I think we need to learn more [00:17:30] about people, to focus on being interested rather than interesting. I think so often in business especially we do all the talking. We approach that conversation where we want to come across as unique and engaging and interesting.

One of the big shifts, going back to your earlier question where you said what's a huge learning experience you had as a young entrepreneur, I would have told you as I started at 21 that the person who is talking controls the conversation. Then I had some really cool [00:18:00] experiences where I watched very influential people go into sales presentations and I was baffled at how they acted, because I realized that the person who is asking the questions controls the conversation.

I was way informed to just like jump down their throat and tell them what it was, and they just sat there and they were calm and relaxed. They kind of have this relaxed intensity about them that they were truly interested and engaged and asked questions and got to know people and followed up with [00:18:30] that. They just did those little things. They invested in people in little ways and built those relationships over time, and I think that pays off big time in business.

Kyle Davis: You're talking about one, you may say he who controls the conversation is running it, but I think the brilliant thing that you said is the person asking the question is really dictating the conversation. Kind of with that, [00:19:00] one of the things that my mentor taught me was hey, you've got to shut up and listen.

Ty Bennett: Yeah.

Kyle Davis: Moving beyond that, it's like the intentional act of actually listening and asking the right questions. Not questions that are salesy SPIN moves, if you will, but more to the core of what their hopes and desires are, if you will.

Ty Bennett: Yeah. I think in that you kind of get personal and you find those places you connect. I think [00:19:30] you think about any sales presentation and I think most people go in with the goal of perfection, right? We want to knock it out of the park, but one of the obvious things is if you think about it, have you ever seen a perfect presentation? I mean, they don't exist, right? It's never happened, but you still win business quite often when you make a connection.

I think it's about connection, not perfection. I think when you do that, all those imperfections really don't matter. They don't make any difference to people. That's my goal [00:20:00] is when I meet with people, when I get a chance to interact with them, I really want to try and make a connection because I think I gain the most mileage that way.

Kyle Davis: When you're consulting or you're going to speak to a new company and you say something like, "It's about connection, not perfection," do you see some people who are like, "What? What are you talking about," and maybe they miss it for what you're trying to actually convey? [00:20:30] Because I can see ... I know what you're talking about but I can see somebody who is like if it's not a perfect sales pitch, then it should never really matter, versus really fostering this connection to really build you some equity for mistakes that you may make.

Ty Bennett: Yeah. I think one of the things I love it when people kind of will push back a little bit and come and either talk to me about it or sometimes if it's a smaller group presentation, we can have some open dialogue and forum. [00:21:00] Because I believe in the principles, I live these principles, I've seen them work, I've been able to teach them to hundreds of thousands of people. I want to dive into it.

I think that those objections or questions or different point of view is great, but I think the more you dive into it, I find most people really agree that as great as a sales pitch seems, there's always little things that you do wrong. There's always little things that don't go perfect, but [00:21:30] if we go in with the goal of we want to connect with them, we want to win friends as well as win business, because that's when business becomes real, and it becomes sustainable, and it becomes long-term.

I think part of it is the context. There's a lot of set up to that to the understanding of it. Yeah, I'm sure there's a lot of people who would push back against the principles that I'm talking about and that idea specifically. My retort to that I guess would be okay, well then see [00:22:00] how long-term that lasts. Come back in three years and tell me if you completely agree or disagree in the fact that if you build relationships with your clients, your business is just going to last longer. It's going to be more real. It's going to be sustainable.

Kyle Davis: Yeah. I'm just thinking of someone that I know who will remain nameless, but he was all about the perfect sales pitch deck. Whenever he emailed or talked to a client, they would say, "Send me the deck." It was the perfect deck. He would [00:22:30] just change the logo out for the new logo of the new company, but make it work, very like, "I've got a deck for you. It will be there in five minutes," but it's like 30 pages long.

Versus this other person that I know, same company, who will go and custom. It may take an hour and a half to do it and you just saw more closes happening with the guy who took the time. You saw more what we would call recurring revenue or longer and [00:23:00] larger contract sizes. It was really interesting to see the two different perspectives and to see it worked for the one guy, but it just wasn't working as well as it did for the other guy who really was intentional with what he did.

Ty Bennett: Yeah. I mean, obviously there's varying levels of success. I think sometimes we say we'll see how this works, and the truth is some people are going to have some good success but maybe they could take it to the next level, I don't know. I've just [00:23:30] found for me that I think the more I personalize, the more I connect. The more I can do that the better it can be. I'm not against having a basic set presentation that you give and you feel comfortable with and you feel like you can do it well, but I still think you get in front of a certain audience and you're going to make some adjustments because you know your material so well and because you care more about the person sitting in front of you than your own agenda and what you want to share.

Kyle Davis: You did your homework.

Ty Bennett: [00:24:00] Yeah, exactly.

Kyle Davis: Kind of with that and for people who are thinking like, "Why are we talking about sales and everything else," just kind of looking over your brief, well it's long, but briefly looking over your bio, you have trained something like 500 sales managers in 37 different countries to really go out there and do all the right stuff. You clearly know what you're talking about and it's easy for you to convey to those individuals. But when [00:24:30] you're going to an audience and you're speaking to them, are you just giving it all you have and is it tailored? Is it specific to the company or the wants of the client or are you just kind of feeling the room out and asking as you go? I'm just curious since I've seen both styles of sales training before.

Ty Bennett: There's a couple of factors to that. One, [00:25:00] I'm going to share with that audience based off of certain expertise and content that I've created that are principles that I know work, right? Typically somebody hires me and they are having me speak on one of my books. They say, "We want you speaking on The Power of Storytelling," then there are certain ideas in that that I'm going to share, but I try and do as much homework as I can beforehand in terms of the conference call with the group and diving into a lot of those things. Sometimes that takes me beyond to say like to talk to some of their advisors [00:25:30] or some of their key people or some of the top salespeople to try and flesh out what are the sticking points and where are they good, and where can they improve, and where do some of the ideas that I bring to the table apply?

As an example, if I think about my last month, I've shared storytelling concepts with mortgage brokers. I've shared them with residential realtors. I've shared them with commercial realtors. I've shared them with financial advisors. I mean, all sorts of different areas [00:26:00] same content ideas, but different applications, right? Then I'm also the kind of person who I'm going to sit in an audience, I'm going to hear what's being shared before, and I try and tie some of those pieces in so that it's relevant to them. Yesterday I spoke for a mortgage company and the three presentations before me by their executive team, there was lots of key pieces that we could tie into what we were talking about, so I think that's important.

I feel like I know my content well enough [00:26:30] that I can flow with it in different directions. If it's a smaller group and it's pretty interactive, who knows where it will go and sometimes it will take different directions based off of the audience. I try and be as customized as I can, but it's still based off of content that I feel like I own very well.

Kyle Davis: Speaking of content as you teed up the best softball or whatever, you're an author and you've written a number of books. One of them is The Power of Storytelling. [00:27:00] Let's talk about that and let's talk about the other book as well.

Ty Bennett: Okay. Yes, storytelling kind of it came out of my experience really. As a young entrepreneur, I was struggling to get people to take me seriously. One of the things a mentor encouraged me to do is record every presentation I gave, and so I did. I carried this little recorder in my pocket before you could do it on your iPhone and I recorded [00:27:30] every presentation. I'd go back and listen to it, and one of the questions I asked myself was, what caused them to engage? Inevitably when they would laugh, when they would ask questions, when they seemed to be engaged was when I was telling stories. They just worked. They resonated, right?

I started to study storytelling. I started to learn more about it and practice it for myself. I became I think a pretty good storyteller and as a speaker, I became known as a storyteller. Then I had people [00:28:00] ask me if I would teach them how to tell stories the way I did, and that caused me to actually step back and try and dissect it, break it down and really flesh out what was I doing and why was I doing it and why? I mean, real detailed stuff, like I wanted, where do you bring dialogue in versus narration, and is there a flow to a story? Is there a structure to it? How do you bring the audience into the story? What kind of questions do you ask? I mean, just the nitty-gritty if you will, and that's what led me to writing the [00:28:30] book.

Kyle Davis: What are the keys to telling a good story? I can imagine you give three or four people the same concept or the same story to tell, but you're going to have three different, four different versions of it.

Ty Bennett: Yeah, for sure.

Kyle Davis: What are some takeaways to telling a good story?

Ty Bennett: Well, several. I'll just give you a couple of key ideas. One big mistake I think we make, especially salespeople and leaders, [00:29:00] I think we talk too much. I think we typically make stories way too long. My number one rule in storytelling is if it's not necessary to say, it becomes necessary not to say. You've got to trim the fat and cut it down. The only way that you effectively do that to be honest, is to actually practice it, to script it, or to role-play it, to record it, to flesh it out.

All too often, especially the salespeople that I speak to, if I ask them [00:29:30] and when they're honest, most of them wing it. When you tell a story for the first time, you just make it long. You put in a lot of unnecessary information. That's one piece is, is spend the time to actually flesh that out so that you can make the story as good as it can be because the more concise you are, the more compelling it becomes.

I think another key aspect to it is there's an actual model that's pretty simple to an influential story, and the model is struggle to solution. What I mean by that is you [00:30:00] hook people with the struggle and you help people with the solution. You think about most of how people tell stories in business, take a financial advisor for example, they want to separate themselves from everybody else, or a realtor or whoever. Most stories in business all sound the same. They say you know what, we're great. We've always been great. We'll always be great. If you work with us, that will be great. That's kind of how they come across, and most people are just sort of like well great, I'm moving on. There's nothing emotionally engaging about that.

There has to [00:30:30] be the struggle to solution where you can grab them and give them something that's real and that's authentic and that they can connect with. The truth is, we exist in business because of struggle. We solve problems, right? Whether that's our own struggle or that's a client's struggle that you help them to solve or your product solves that problem or whatever it is, I think we need to be a little bit more vulnerable in how we tell the stories and tell struggle to solution stories because it makes the story that much more emotionally impactful, which is why you tell a story. People take [00:31:00] action based on emotion. Stories are one of the best ways to evoke emotion in people as you're talking to them.

Kyle Davis: I like that idea, struggle to solution. I'm going to steal that.

Ty Bennett: Go for it, my friend. That's awesome.

Kyle Davis: But only after I buy the book and read it.

Ty Bennett: Okay.

Kyle Davis: That's awesome. I think so often it's missed the power of storytelling. I'm only thinking of myself it's like you're right, when I'm winging it, it's just a bunch of fluff. I'm [00:31:30] trying to like trim it down and then in hindsight I look back and I'm like, wow you know, that took 20 seconds to say it. I probably could have got that done at five.

Ty Bennett: Yeah.

Kyle Davis: That's interesting.

Ty Bennett: No, for sure. We all do it. It's just practice. I was filming some videos today and we were trying to do this video in one minute. The first take was like a minute twenty, the second take was a minute five, and the third take I finally said it in the way that it should be said and the guy filming it goes, "Perfect, 53 seconds." It just was [00:32:00] doing it three times that allowed me to break it down and get rid of what I didn't need to say.

Kyle Davis: Yeah. I'm reminded of this YouTube channel that I think it's called 5-Second Films.

Ty Bennett: Okay.

Kyle Davis: Everything is in five seconds.

Ty Bennett: Wow.

Kyle Davis: I guess the concept is putting yourself in parameters, how fast can you tell a story and can you do it in five seconds. They've produced some fascinating stuff. You have to watch it. It's only five seconds so you can rewatch it four or five times like wow, that's the most interesting thing [00:32:30] ever or conceptually you can convey something very quickly visually and auditory.

Ty Bennett: I have to check that out. I haven't seen that.

Kyle Davis: You've got to watch the one that's called Paul's in the CIA.

Ty Bennett: Okay.

Kyle Davis: It's a good one.

Ty Bennett: All right, cool.

Kyle Davis: Let's talk about the other book that I have on up here. It's The Power of Influence.

Ty Bennett: Yeah.

Kyle Davis: Go ahead.

Ty Bennett: No, go ahead.

Kyle Davis: I was curious as to, you know, [00:33:00] the subtitle is Increase Your Income and Personal Impact, so I'm curious as to I mean I'm sure we've been touching on it throughout this conversation, but how are you improving your bottom line by increasing your personal impact?

Ty Bennett: Well, I mean you think about the role of any leader, any salesperson, if they lead effectively and their team is more effective, they're going to be more productive and obviously that's going to increase your bottom [00:33:30] line, right? If a salesperson has more impact on their client, adds more value, they're going to have more sales, they're going to increase their bottom line. I think it's all very connected. That book, that was my first, The Power of Influence. I talk a lot about building influential relationships. That's probably the biggest piece of that book is how as leaders or salespeople, influencers, how do we build those relationships? What are some of the actual strategies [00:34:00] to use to do that?

A follow-up to that book, I just came out with this last year, is called Partnership Is the New Leadership. I think for me the evolution of being influencers from a leadership standpoint really led me to an understanding that I think partnership is the new leadership. I think it's the approach of really the most relevant influential leaders today is to partner with your people and the nuances that obviously are bringing [00:34:30] in a lot of that with relationships, but there's other facets that I think are more important for us to understand how to lead effectively today.

Kyle Davis: When you look at partnership is like one of the new buzzwords right now in business, especially in like startups. You hear it a lot, "We're partnering with so and so. We've established this partnership with blank." More often than not it's putting your resources together to develop something to benefit both parties.

The most salient [00:35:00] one that comes to my mind is this partnership between Ford and General Motors to develop a 10-speed truck transmission, which sounds ridiculous but they're doing in a partnership. Now, borrowing the glaring obvious thing that we're talking about businesses versus individuals, how is it that people probably shift their perspective to go from an individual contributor, I'm a man by myself on an island, to really [00:35:30] adopting and embracing the partnership. I guess the same can be said towards businesses.

Ty Bennett: Yeah. I think our world is moving in that direction and maybe I wrote the book at the right time, I don't know. But for me it was really from a leadership standpoint. Like you said, those individual contributors have to see that they are part of a partnership, part of a team, and be willing to be more collaborative than competitive, and come at it that way. I think business is moving that way, but I also think [00:36:00] from a leadership standpoint, the leader has to start to look at it differently. It's not leadership based on title, position, and authority anymore, right?

If you're a partner with your people, you see them differently. You lock arms with them differently. You get in the trenches with them differently. You give them a voice differently. You realize that title doesn't give you the right to be heard, value does, right? You approach it with a different standpoint. I think all around businesses, individual contributors, and leaders, this partnership idea is so vital.

Kyle Davis: [00:36:30] I love that line, "title doesn't give you the right to be heard, value does". That's a good one. Now, I just have to learn how to use it and say, "Hey man, you know, your title." Maybe not, maybe not. Well, hey I think that's a ... I love that little quip. I love it. It's great. I also think that's probably a good place for us to stop.

There's just a lot here and we can have one of these conversations where we can just go for hours, but I'm sure [00:37:00] that the podcast listeners would probably rather have you come speak for their company. They can do so by contacting GDA Speakers at 214-420-1999 or by visiting gdaspeakers.com. If you go to gdapodcast.com, you'll be able to see today's transcript with Ty Bennett, but as well as we'll make sure that we'll provide links so that you can purchase his books as well. With that being said, Ty, thanks so much man.

Ty Bennett: Absolutely. This was fun. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Kyle Davis: [00:37:30] Thank you.