Speaker 1 00:00:05 Hey there, thoughtful listener. Are you looking for introductions to partners, investors, influencers and clients? Well, I've had private conversations with over 2000 leaders asking them where their best business comes from. I've got a free video you can watch with no opt in required, where I'll share the exact steps necessary to be 100% inbound in your industry over the next 6 to 8 months, with no spam, no ads, and no sales. What I teach has worked for me for over 15 years, and has helped me create eight figures in revenue for my own companies. Just head to up my influence. Com and watch my free class on how to create endless high ticket sales appointments. Also, don't forget the thoughtful entrepreneur is always looking for great guests. Go to up my influence. Com and click on podcast. I'd love to have you. With us right now. Jerry Godfrey Jerry, you are the founder managing director of Red Beard Solutions. I wonder why you got that name. We'll talk about that second.

Speaker 1 00:01:17 you're also an author and speaker with Destination Employer, which is the name of your book and your website. The website is Destination Employer dot SEO. Can't wait to learn more about what that means. Jeri, thank you for joining us.

Speaker 2 00:01:33 Thanks for having me, Josh. I really appreciate the opportunity.

Speaker 1 00:01:36 Yeah, well, we'll give us an overview of your work and impact in the world.

Speaker 2 00:01:40 Absolutely. So I'm a former United States Marine Corps sergeant. I fell in love with technology early on, moved out to the business world, started my business career about, gosh, almost 30 years ago. This probably should have named my company Gray Beard, not Red beard, but, started off as a technical recruiter and moved from that into management consulting and helping businesses grow. And it's really the the hundreds of companies that have had the opportunity to work with that brought up Destination Employer as both a methodology and a book.

Speaker 1 00:02:13 You know, I just realized that you and I both worked for the Department of the Navy.

Speaker 1 00:02:17 So thank you for your service. And by the way, hitting Sergeant, within five years, you made rank pretty well. You must have been doing some good stuff back then as a kid.

Speaker 2 00:02:25 Awesome. I'll tell you, I would have stayed the full 20 if not for the fourth knee surgery. I destroyed my knee, but I love my time in the Corps. I'm one of those folks that got more from the Corps than they gave, I think because it was a life changing experience for me. I wouldn't trade it for nothing.

Speaker 1 00:02:41 Yep, I it was my same experience with the Navy. Now, what I will say is that you had a busted up knee. I got lifelong tinnitus, and it was only because of some exercises and drills we did with the Marines. I had a I had a sergeant that they were doing a paintball exercises. and they had some, some other elements, involved in the, in the training exercise as well. And what happened was and I'll just share this story because I think it's, you know, you'll appreciate this, but.

Speaker 1 00:03:13 So I'm out there. I was a journalist. I was doing broadcast journalism, I had a camera, so I had a big, big video camera on my shoulder. I was getting footage of everything, doing interviews and so forth. And this marine sergeant says to me, hey, you want to you want to get some really good footage, some really funny footage. Go in that little cement building over there. This someone's going to hit a tripwire. They're going to walk into this building, check it out. But you're going to be in there with the camera and it's going to surprise him. It's going to be so funny. All right? And it's apparently it was going to. It was going to hit this flash bang. Okay. Guess where the. It's a little cement building. It's about eight by 12. I'm inside this little cement building. Guess where the flash bang also was just.

Speaker 2 00:03:56 Going to say that you don't want to be that close to a flash bang.

Speaker 1 00:04:00 Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1 00:04:01 So listen, anytime. I mean, the Marines are just crazy to begin with, you know? So it was just part of the the culture or whatever. But yeah, that was my that began my lifeline tonight is so. Well, I got a little bit of disability today, so, Hey, Jerry, tell me a bit, about, like, who you serve and and what is the transformation that you're looking to create, with your clients?

Speaker 2 00:04:26 It's a great question. So I will say this, loud and proud to anyone that wants to hear my passion is startups, early stage companies, and small business. We are the engine that drives the economy. We are the brain that brings the innovation and the disruption. It all starts with us. And yet, if I'm being honest, we're not the best leaders and hirers in the world. Yeah. So I created a destination employer methodology as a way to help leaders to improve at being a leader and frankly, to be much better at attracting, recruiting and retaining top talent.

Speaker 1 00:05:02 Where do you see Jerry? Most leaders learning the skills and you know, all of the the aspects of leadership. I you know, I think we we pull at it. We get it from so many diverse areas but yet, you know, it could be such a grab bag of what it is that we assemble over the course of our life. And that might be ultimately the best strategy and, you know, kind of making us who we are. But what I find about leadership, too, is there is no destination, as it were, from the sense that, okay, congratulations, you have now become the you have gotten to the pinnacle of leadership. It's leadership to me. Is this never ending your naturally never ending journey? I wonder how you look at the typical life cycle of leadership development and where you see yourself embedding.

Speaker 2 00:06:00 That's a great question. So let me say this. The first challenge is this. Unfortunately, most people think that leadership is something that's automatically bestowed on them as they climb through their career.

Speaker 2 00:06:12 Yeah. I'll give you a very quick example. My first job as a sales manager, my boss brought me into her office and said, Jerry, I think you're doing great work here. How would you like to lead a team? I said, that sounds great. She handed me a box of business cards that said sales manager and said, go lead your team. That was the beginning and end of my training.

Speaker 1 00:06:32 Figure it out.

Speaker 2 00:06:33 Exactly. You got this.

Speaker 1 00:06:35 so go get em, tiger. I know.

Speaker 2 00:06:37 So the first thing is to find a leadership style that resonates with you and then own it. Don't read 100 books. Read one and own the material.

Speaker 1 00:06:47 Yeah. so, you know, obviously you talk quite a bit about, you know, kind of building and leading that your teams of, you know, its leader, people, leadership. and one of the, you know, kind of the early things I know that you talk a lot about is attraction. and you talk about a very specifically a candidate attraction engine.

Speaker 1 00:07:10 So I think all of us, you know, as leaders, we want the best people on the team. and, you know, we may be constrained with what we can pay, you know? listen, I can't give you full, you know, full remote work or. Yeah, I know, it's like, you know, we're we have constraints that we have to work with, but yet we want the best people. So how does the candidate traction engine work?

Speaker 2 00:07:34 Yeah. Great question. First of all, every job is easier to fill with extra $100,000. It's just not really.

Speaker 1 00:07:39 Yes.

Speaker 2 00:07:40 So let me explain the destination and employer methodology, because attraction is the piece you're focusing on. But it's one of four pieces. So we define a destination employer as a company that's developed the reputation, the marketplace where top talent can go to ten x their careers. So if you're a technologist, think companies like OpenAI and Apple and Alphabet, if you're a business consultant, McKinsey, Deloitte, if you're an academic, Harvard places like that.

Speaker 2 00:08:08 And the way that we break that process down is in the three phases attract, recruit and retain. And then the the red thread that ties it all together is our ESG leadership framework. Now the attraction phase that you're talking about, that's what you alluded to. It's how do I present my most attractive face to the marketplace. But much more than that. How do I represent my company accurately so that when people do come aboard, they stay? They don't just bounce off because they realized or sold a bill of goods? Where do I put that? What platform makes sense for my target candy intended audience? And am I including the people that I want to hire in that? As crazy as it sounds, for example, from a Dei perspective, if we're not showing the people that we want to hire in our marketing and they don't feel represented, they're not going to be inclined to engage. So that's that first piece. The second piece, the recruiting part is, you know, now that I've got their engagement, now that I've got access to talent that most of the market doesn't even see, because they're getting crushed with garbage outreach and have no inclination to to engage.

Speaker 2 00:09:15 Now that I'm engaged in these folks, how do I not screw it up? How do I get them aboard? That's what the recruitment piece says. And then retention very simply. Heck, it's easier to fill buckets than it is calendars. Yeah. How can I make sure that these folks stay with us for as long as possible? And the answer, very simply, is engage with them so they feel heard and valued. Make sure that their personal mission and values align with your companies, and make sure they're growing and skills and responsibilities, and ideally can continue to do so well, you know, once they've grown out of their current role, as long as those final three things are in place, people are disinclined to leave.

Speaker 1 00:09:51 Yeah, yeah. and so where do you think most employers get it? Most leaders get it wrong when it comes to retention. So if someone's listening and saying, yeah, you know what, we've lost some really good people over the past year and that just hurts. It sucks.

Speaker 1 00:10:06 And you know. It sounds like you've got some opinions on that.

Speaker 2 00:10:17 Yeah. For sure. So the most important thing when it comes to retention is the beginning. Are you bringing people in where the job you're hiring them for is a logical next step for them? Not they're 100% qualified and they can do it because if they're 100% qualified, they probably have very little growth opportunity. The second thing is do your cultures align? Do what does what makes Josh Elledge tick align with Redbeard solutions? If they don't, there's going to be constant conflict. If those things are working for you, it's up to you as a leader to engage with them as much as is possible. You need to understand their goals and aspirations so you can tie those to your company's success. A real, real quick example. Many years ago, I hired a sales person that was recently married, looking to save up for his first house for his family. So rather than sit down with him because I understood that rather than sit down with him and go over KPIs that I needed from a sales performance, we aligned everything with the amount of money that he needed to save for a down payment, and what that meant from a production level.

Speaker 2 00:11:22 And every week we looked at it from that perspective. He got that house in a year, and invited me to the housewarming. So I guess I guess I got some credit from that. But that's a very easy example because sales is easy to track. But that's an example of how to engage with people he felt heard and valued. He knew that I cared about his outcomes. And I'm here to tell you if your team knows that you care about their outcomes, they care about yours. If they don't think you care about them, why would they care about you?

Speaker 1 00:11:53 Yeah. and you may have defined this and maybe I missed it, but tell me about the importance of the word destination employer. What does that mean, exactly?

Speaker 2 00:12:01 When you think of, let me change venues for a moment. When you think of a destination vacation, you're thinking about the most beautiful places in the world, places we can really go and cut loose. A destination or employer is a company that's established a reputation in the marketplace, where top talent continue their careers.

Speaker 2 00:12:21 In other words, they know if they go there, they're going to hit their golden ticket. I know if I'm a technologist and I join OpenAI today that my career is going to explode. Let me give you an example of this. If you look on LinkedIn, you'll very often see in people's bios ex Googler, ex McKinsey, ex Harvard, because they're letting people know right off the bat, I was at this incredible place. And you can catch some of that magic if you work with me.

Speaker 1 00:12:49 Yeah. and so the book specifically is called Destination Employer. and so it's on Amazon. It's everywhere else. and by the way, you have it in Kindle, it's on Kindle Unlimited. You have the audiobook that's available as well. So thank you. and you have stellar reviews on Amazon. you're at a 4.7 with, you know, I mean, with, so many, many reviews here. Jerry, so obviously you're striking a nerve here. what would you expect? you know, for someone who's like, I'll read that.

Speaker 1 00:13:26 What would you hope that the, what transformation would you hope would take place when someone reads destination, employer, attract, recruit and retain the top talent in your market?

Speaker 2 00:13:36 That's a great question. This is not a book of philosophy. In theory, this is a how to guide. When you're done with this book, you'll have the tools to be able to consistently attract, recruit, retain the top talent in your marketplace. And now I keep saying the same words, but I can't stress this enough. The gulf between the top 3% performers and the top even 15% performers is night and day, and that top 3%. They don't engage with just anybody. You've got to do it right. It's not rocket science. I'm here to tell you I'm a former marine sergeant. I've been hitting the head too many times to be too smart. But, but, but there is a path. And this. This book will take you there.

Speaker 1 00:14:16 Yeah. okay. So your website, destination employer SEO, and you've got obviously.

Speaker 1 00:14:23 Oh, and by the way, you're you're a podcaster. Your podcast is called Business Mastery. Sorry for not bringing that up earlier. and, that's a really great. So for our friend that's listening. So what a great resource this is for a friend that's listening to a podcast right now. Just search for Business mastery. and you should see, you'll see Jerry's, smiling face right there on the cover. it's black background with, yellow writing. but but aside from that, Jerry, when someone goes to your website, what would you recommend they do next?

Speaker 2 00:14:58 For sure. So I recommend, much like the question about leadership at the beginning, picking a path and running with it, I have a specific way of doing things. And before you engage fully and decide that I'm your particular cup of tea, do some research. Listen to the podcast on the podcast page, read my daily LinkedIn posts, go to my YouTube channel. Jerry Godfrey get a feel for me. But on that page there's a program that we have.

Speaker 2 00:15:26 That's all the information from the book, but in video format with downloadable that will allow you to to implement this step by step. And heck, if you want still more help, there's an opportunity there to to book a call with me and my consulting company can get involved as well. I work with everything from five person companies up through Mega Corp's.

Speaker 1 00:15:50 Yeah. Jerry Guidry, your website, Destination Employer CEO. It's been a great conversation. Jerry. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you.

Speaker 2 00:15:59 Josh, I truly appreciate the opportunity.

Speaker 1 00:16:08 Thanks for listening to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur Show. If you are a thoughtful business owner or professional who would like to be on this daily program, please visit up my influence. Com and click on podcast. We believe that every person has a message that can positively impact the world. We love our community who listens and shares our program every day. Together, we are empowering one another as thoughtful leaders and as I mentioned at the beginning of this program, if you're looking for introductions to partners, investors, influencers, and clients, I have had private conversations with over 2000 leaders asking them where their best business comes from.

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