Hosted by Quint Studer with special guest Harold Griffin, Jr.

Five years ago, Harold Griffin, Jr., left a comfortable corporate job to go to work in his family business.  At the time, the limousine and transportation company had four employees and $100,000 in revenue. Today, the company has a yearly revenue of $3.8 million and has 73 employees.

On this week’s podcast, Griffin shares with Quint how he achieved this unprecedented growth. He talks about how having a mentor (Bert Thornton, former Waffle House CEO) and how being part of a business roundtable (other company owners who meet regularly) changed his life. His mentor and the other business owners talked openly about their mistakes, from which he learned so much. They also encouraged him to seek out training on all the things he didn’t know. This led to a major revelation and a pivot in the services the company offered. Griffin and his family successfully built a business  and created a solid brand that differentiated them from competitors.

He talks about the role great employees played in their success and how they implemented a hiring and onboarding process that is the gold standard in finding and keeping the best talent. He also shares how he transitioned from working “in” the business to working “on” the business (book referenced E-Myth Revisited) and all the valuable lessons he learned along the way.

About Harold Griffin, Jr.

Harold Griffin Jr, was born and raised in Pensacola, FL. In 2009, Harold graduated from Tate High School. After graduating, Harold moved to Tallahassee, FL to attend Florida A&M’s School of Business. While in college Harold worked full-time and went to school full-time year-round. In the Fall of 2013, Harold graduated with honors from Florida A&M with a Bachelors in Accounting and a Minor in Business. After graduating Harold turned down a promotion at First Commerce Credit Union and returned home to Pensacola to be with his son Cayden and his family. Once back in Pensacola, Harold applied and was hired by Navy Federal Credit Union. In September of 2015 Harold resigned from Navy Federal to build & grow his family’s transportation company with his father (Harold Griffin Sr.) and his brother (Braxton Griffin). In the first year they doubled the size of the company and became more profitable. In year 2 the company exceeded the $1 million mark in revenue.

Harold, is the Director of Business Development and Co-Owner of ITL Solutions. Over the past 2 years Harold and his brother Braxton Griffin grew ITL Solutions from 5 employees to now employing over 75 people. During this time, Harold has successfully managed and negotiated contracts & projects for ITL totaling over $15 million.  ITL Solutions is a transportation management companies that manages, coordinates and provides non-emergency transportation services for both private and public entities.

Hosted by Quint Studer with special guest Joe Tye

When we think of courage, we often think Medal of Honor kind of bravery. But according to Joe Tye, this week’s podcast guest, there are many examples of everyday courage to be noticed and celebrated. Think of the courage of a housekeeper who goes into a hospital room to clean after a COVID-19 patient has been there so they can bring in another patient, the courage of a nurse who sits with a dying patient and an iPad while they say goodbye to their family, the courage of a grocery store clerk who checks out the person not wearing a mask. There are countless examples.

From all his work inside hospitals, Joe could see that COVID was pushing them to the brink. Depression and anxiety were rampant. He started to think about what he could do to help, as he could see they were struggling. Joe’s latest initiative, Everyday Courage for Extraordinary Times, provides some answers.

The program consists of videos, e-books, and supplemental materials designed to help employees navigate today’s challenging world. It features 21 videos (11 minutes each), which are short conversations on courage and perseverance. The videos show people that they are doing extraordinary things and encourage them to keep pushing forward. Video and e-book themes include:

• How to manage anxiety, fear, and worry, which are three different emotional states
• The difference between fear and courage
• How to confront irrational fears and choose emotional battles wisely
• How to reprogram negative self-talk
• How to leave behind negative emotional baggage
• Staying on top when the world is upside down

Joe Tye is the leading authority on values-based leadership skills cultural transformation. He is the author or coauthor of 15 books, including his newest release, Building a Culture of Ownership in Healthcare.

Resources:

•  “Everyday Courage for Extraordinary Times” Nursing Management, January 2021
• Everyday Courage for Extraordinary Times program flyer

Hosted by Quint Studer with special guest Regina Herzlinger

This week’s podcast features an interview with Regina (“Regi”) Herzlinger, the Nancy R. McPherson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. (She was the first woman to be tenured and chaired at Harvard Business School.)  She initiated the courses in healthcare at HBS and was the first faculty member to be selected by the students as their best instructor. In 2018, she was awarded the prestigious ACHE Honorary Fellowship, which represents the leaders of America’s hospitals, and was one of the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare—World Edition by Grupo Midia.

Her new book, Innovating in Healthcare (Wiley, May 2021), focuses on how the healthcare industry (from hospitals to start-ups) can better implement new solutions that lower costs while increasing quality and access.

(The first 100 people to email Quint will receive a copy of the book. Email Quint@QuintStuder.com.)

As one of the world’s leading authorities on healthcare innovation, Dr. Herzlinger explains how innovation is the key to solving our biggest problems. Healthcare accounted for 18 percent of the 2017 GDP and will likely reach nearly 20 percent by 2025, while hospital-induced deaths have skyrocketed, and tens of millions of people remain uninsured. She says we need innovations in healthcare that can meet these needs.

She talks about why many past innovations have failed to cut costs or solve our biggest problems and why we have to rethink how we view innovation, and she provides a ton of real-life stories to showcase her point. She gives the framework for how to tell a good innovation from a bad innovation and provides a tool kit for how to successfully innovate (either a product or service), including the right questions to ask before you even get started.

This is a must-listen for healthcare execs, providers, students, or anyone interested in how to successfully innovate in any industry.

Hosted by Quint Studer with special guest Kevin Reichard

This week, Quint talks to Kevin Reichard, the publisher of August Publications, which does several sports, business, and active living websites. They are probably best known for publishing Ballpark Digest. Kevin unfolds the story of his wildly unpredictable career, the lessons he learned, and how some risky decisions he made paid off. (Luckily, he didn’t realize they were big risks at the time.) He showcases how every experience you have sets you up for the next chapter, as long as you make a point to learn from it.

This was a tumultuous year for baseball. The year 2020 was supposed to be a banner year for new ballparks, and they were excited to be covering it. While they missed out on that and on the award season, Ballpark Digest reports that visitors are up 26 percent (even with no games being played this year). The fact that they are a trusted brand, provide good (and diverse) products, and are known for excellence in their practices has allowed them not just to survive but to thrive. When times are hard, a history of excellence helps you manage change and weather storms.

Kevin also talks about how important it is to find your passion. While he didn’t grow up as a “baseball kid,” he got into it as a way to pass the time while he was traveling for his job. But it’s one of his breakout projects at August Publications that reflects his true passion: YellowstoneInsider.com. This site and the Yellowstone Insider for Families book helps visitors plan to have the best experience at Yellowstone National Park. It’s a great example of something that doesn’t seem to “fit” with the rest of his product offerings, but because he is passionate about Yellowstone (and the service journalism it provides), it has been very successful.

Hosted by Quint Studer with special guest Jake Poore

This week Quint welcomes Jake Poore to the podcast. Poore spent nearly two decades at the Walt Disney World Company in Florida helping to recruit, hire, train and align their 65,000 employees toward one end goal: creating memorable experiences for individuals. He has taken what he learned there and now teaches hospitals (and companies) how to create an incredible patient/customer and employee experience.  His book, 99 Lessons Learned from Disney To Improve The Patient Experience, is full of great ideas.

Poore is best known for helping organizations with easy-to-implement basics that lead to a first-class operation. On the podcast, he talks about how to weave safety, compassion, courtesy and excellent service into everything you do. He says the best way to do this is to ask your employees for ideas, as they are often masters of creativity and innovation. They are also close to patients and customers, so they see how the little things we hardwire can make a big difference. (Poore has great ideas on how we can show people we are happy, even though they can’t see our smiles behind our masks!)

As for leaders, he really drives home how important it is to stay connected to employees, patients, and customers with a good, solid communications plan and a good scout (who keeps you close to what’s happening in your organization). This not only keeps everyone informed in a highly fluid, stressful situation, but it also relieves anxiety. He says to treat your efforts to stay connected like a morning talk show.

Poore also talks about how he used 2020 to make his own company better. He’s a master at creating simple, easy to implement ideas and tactics that create big impact.

Hosted by Quint Studer with special guest Jill Miller

Hosted by Quint Studer with special guest JJ Cooper

Hosted by Quint Studer with special guest Tim Gronniger

Hosted by Quint Studer with special guest Peter Mougey

When Peter Mougey, at Levin Papantonio, decided to utilize the employee engagement survey with his department within the law firm, he knew it was a good investment. He thought he would learn how motivated and engaged his employees were and how they felt about their work experience and the firm in general—and he did learn. The big surprise was all the other insights revealed by the survey.

In this conversation with Quint, Mougey delves into the deeper truths the survey revealed about his firm: its strengths and weaknesses, where communication shortfalls lay, the flaws in how performance was assessed and progress gauged, and more. He also talks about how they used the findings to revamp their processes, create great new tools, and build a stronger infrastructure.

The culture that grew from this survey is one where people are more aligned and engaged, where collaboration happens on a deeper level, where performance and progress improve year after year. The changes have allowed the firm to work successfully on some of the biggest, most complex cases in the country. And as a bonus, Mougey has become a much better leader in the process.

If you’ve never considered the benefits of seeking real and honest feedback from your employees, this podcast will convince you that it’s a true game-changer.