Taking care of others means first taking care of yourself—spiritually, mentally and emotionally.
That’s the message from Keith Mercurio in the eighth and final webinar in ServiceTitan’s Growth Series, a masterclass for the trades covering everything from leadership to growth.
Mercurio’s focus is to help company leaders be the best version of themselves, which allows their team to be the best they can be, which allows the company to be the best it can be. Mercurio is ServiceTitan’s Director of Executive Success and the CEO of his company, Ethical Influence global.
“I feel like you show up inspired and the team becomes inspired,” Mercurio said in the webinar Channeling the Hyper Growth Mindset Across Your Business.
It seems most appropriate to conclude a series about inspiration with a webinar that inspires.
To bring life to his beliefs, Mercurio had Will and Shanna Blanton present their experience and work. Blanton is CEO of Blanton’s Air, Plumbing and Electric, which works in the Fayetteville and Raleigh areas of North Carolina. Shanna, his wife, is co-owner and Marketing Manager.
Mercurio started by asking the Blantons to give a brief tour of their new office building. The pair shrugged off their smallish offices, with Shanna merely saying she was happy to have her own space (she and Will had previously shared) and Will more excited to show the kitchen and eating/relaxation area.
“I’m not any more important than the accounts payable person or anyone else,” Will said. “We all have a role in the company. I also work here on a day-to-day basis less than most, so they should have a bigger office than me.”
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To Mercurio, that said much about how the Blantons lead, and drive growth.
“Listen to the intentionality of how they approach their growth,” he said.
Humble leadership—also called servant leadership—has been a driving force in the entire ServiceTitan series. Former four-star general Stanley McChrystal (“I’m Stan”) started with it, Mercurio and the Blantons ended with it, and just about every speaker in the series touched on it. The Blantons recognize each other’s strengths, and mesh as a team because of it.
They also are willing to acknowledge and discuss their personal journeys in self-development, which Will said started when he grudgingly attended Tony Robbins seminars.
“I wanted to say no, but I think the fact that I wanted to say no meant I had to say yes,” he said.
Mercurio pointed out that flipping a no to a yes and then doing something with alacrity, excitement, enthusiasm and spirit can open eyes and personal doors.
“It’s always recognizing the resistance, and where that comes from,” he said.
Now Will said he has several coaches, including one with Robbins, Nexstar, a business coach and two personal development coaches. Shanna has her own Robbins coach, a Nextstar business coach and personal coach. Both continue to work with Mercurio.
“They show up every day growing and therefore are creating a gravitational pull,” Mercurio said. “They grow because they show up asking, ‘What am I doing?’ Not, ‘What’s wrong them?’”
The Blantons are not boastful or showy. They do not bang desks or make loud proclamations. They speak with a reserve that subtly shows their belief system.
In showing the company growth that followed their personal growth, Will detailed how the business grew from $5 million in 2015 to $11.5 million in 2018 to $14.4 million in 2020 to a 44% increase this year.
“Our team is so motivated,” he said. “They’re just killing it. At 44% they almost feel like they underachieved. It’s just awesome.”
As to reaching the goal of $22 million the business set for 2021 when the trend points to $20.4 million, Will merely said: “We’ll figure it out.”
When hiring or examining his team, Will said he asks himself a question: “Am I offering a true path for growth. Is the growth opportunity about me or about them? Am I looking for something in return, or am I truly trying to grow them as an individual?”
That gets to Mercurio’s term “intentionality.”
“If my business isn’t growing,” Will said, “It’s probably because I’m not growing.”
Shanna said that prior to self-examination she was walking around with the belief that if she wasn’t perfect there was something wrong with her. She came to realize she did not need to believe that about herself.
“Walking around with a belief system that I’m not doing it right, getting it wrong, that really and truly robs me of my own personal joy,” she said.
Will said he believes that any investment in his personal growth will be re-paid at least tenfold. Extending that belief to the team benefits everyone.
“Leadership,” Mercurio said, “isn’t about delivering the product to the customer. Leadership is about developing the team that delivers the product to the customer.”
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