Mar 3, 2020
Michelle Oates:
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." by Maya Angelou. I am Michelle Oates and I am a Tri-Cities Influencer.
Paul Casey:
When we live a little bit off, we actually reduce our chance of longevity in our job, we're closer to burnout when we do that and we just live an unfulfilled life.
Michelle Oates:
Raising the water level of leadership in the Tri-Cities of Eastern Washington. It's Tri-Cities Influencer podcast. Welcome to the TCI podcast, where local leadership and self leadership expert Paul Casey interviews, local CEOs, entrepreneurs, and nonprofit executives to hear how they lead themselves and their teams so we can all benefit from their wisdom and experience. Here's your host, Paul Casey of Growing Forward Services. Coaching and equipping individuals and teams to spark breakthrough success.
Paul Casey:
Thanks for joining me for today's episode with Brian Ace, the executive director of the Boys and Girls Club. "So Brian," I asked him, "what's something quirky about you, Brian?" And he said, "I better have to explain it myself." So Brian, tell us.
Brian Ace:
It's food. It's definitely food. So I view food as entertainment and so obviously we love to eat as a family and sit down with the kids and that's great. That works perfect for me. But if we're not doing a family meal and we're just watching a movie or playing a game, or I'm reading a book by myself, I actually don't like to eat until I start the activity. I would actually rather let my food get cold than start eating it before the movie starts. Or at movie theaters, it's the worst with popcorn. Trailers don't count. I can't eat that first bite until the movie begins. So my wife gives me lots of grief for this.
Paul Casey:
I'm going to be watching next time in the theater. What we're going to dive in after checking with our Tri-Cities influencers sponsors.
Neal Taylor:
Hello, my name is Neal Taylor. I am the managing attorney for Gravis Law's commercial transactions team. The CT team helps business owners, investors and entrepreneurs accelerate and protect their business value. Today we're talking about employment law and alcohol and cannabis licensing. Josh Bam and Derek Johnson are both here with me now to describe those practice areas. Take it Derek.
Derek Johnson:
Thanks Neal. I'm Derek Johnson, partner at Gravis Law. We find that many employers in Washington state simply don't have handbooks, employee policies, or any other written materials to protect themselves and their employees. Without having these types of policies in place, an employer can run into trouble by firing employees even if the employee isn't properly performing or are causing issues at work. Even if an employer fires someone for performance issues, for example, but fails to take the proper steps, they may run into trouble by inadvertently exposing themselves to a wrongful termination suit. We build strong, predictable and protective employee policies to protect our client's business.
Josh Bam:
That's true, thanks Derek. And having employment policies in place when you're dealing with cannabis or alcohol licensing is especially important. We know that clean employment policies, clean corporate structure, and having an attorney that can work with the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board is critically important to protecting your business through licensing. The attorneys at Gravis Law have this experience. Visit us today, www.gravislaw.com
Paul Casey:
Thank you for your supportive leadership development in the Tri-Cities.
Paul Casey:
Well, welcome Brian. I was privileged to meet you. Boy, I want to say 12 to 15 years ago probably been now. I was working at a church, I think you were working at the chaplaincy, which was then called Tri-City Chaplaincy.
Brian Ace:
A little change there, since then.
Paul Casey:
Yes, yes. We were trying to figure out how churches can work with nonprofits together so that it would be volunteer labor helping good causes. That was a great first contact. Then through Leadership Tri-Cities, I'm class 11 you were class?
Brian Ace:
I was class 13.
Paul Casey:
Brian Ace:
Well, it's been fun to watch your journey too. You've had some changes since when we first met.
Paul Casey:
Absolutely. Absolutely. We just run with those open doors. So tell us a little bit about your past positions that led you up to what you're doing now.
Brian Ace:
Yeah, it's not an overly complicated journey. So I actually went off to, I was born and raised here in Tri-Cities, but then headed off to school in Seattle at Seattle Pacific University. And I was going to be a pastor of all things. So my degree is actually in theology. I kind of felt this call and still do. My wife and I did care for widows and orphans, and widows and orphans look a little different today than they looked 2000 years ago. You know, orphans sometimes have two parents at home, but for a variety of reasons, they've lost a parent to addiction or to busy-ness or to divorce. Widows look different. Sometimes it's just that single mom that's struggling to make ends meet. But that's kind of the root passion for my wife and I and we were pursuing that through the church.
Brian Ace:
Then I got a job as a part time janitor and program person at the Boys and Girls Club in [Boward 00:05:19] And just fell in love with it and realized that I could serve widows and orphans, today's widows and orphans, through the Boys and Girls Club. And that's kind of been that journey since is doing nonprofit work, kind of focused on serving young people in the community that need that positive adult relationship, that additional connection point to really enhance what their families are doing.
Paul Casey:
Fantastic mission. What do you think was that a-ha moment that it's like this is what I want to be doing?
Brian Ace:
So I think it was, it's connecting with kids. I mean that's what it ultimately comes down to is some of those early experiences at the club in Seattle of getting to know families, getting to know their stories, getting to know kids, their challenges, what they've overcome, what trips them up, how to be a support is part of that. You build relationships that have value and longterm value and that hooks you on that. It's relationships are the hook.
Paul Casey:
And how many children does Boys and Girls Club here in Benton- Franklin counties do you serve?
Brian Ace:
So we have a annual membership of about 3,500 youth. However, lots of people have gym memberships. It doesn't mean they use them, so I think the real number to really track is average daily attendance on any given day. Today, how many kids are in a Boys and Girls Club throughout Benton-Franklin counties and that's close to 1700 youth any given day are at Boys and Girls Clubs in our community.
Paul Casey:
And how many locations?
Brian Ace:
So we're at 25 locations. Yes. So it keeps us a little busy. We've grown a lot the last couple of years with Kennewick Club and then some licensed childcare programs and early learning programs here in Richland. It's been a few years of a journey to be sure.
Paul Casey:
In your work, what are you very good at? Your talents, strengths, to get to brag on yourself here for a minute. How are you using those strengths to help those around you be successful?
Brian Ace:
It's always hard to identify your strengths. I think others usually identify those for you, but I think some of the feedback that I kind of hear on that and see is, is critical thinking and data. That's a piece that I was just wired to process data relatively quickly and that works great when you're looking at financials. It works great when you're looking at metrics, on kids and data and survey pieces and all those fun things. So that's a true strength I think. And I think also helping others to understand the underlying pieces of an issue. Sometimes when we're processing an issue, we get caught up in what we see in front of us. What's the immediate, what's the pressing? And it's a matter of kind of looking for what those foundational challenges are that's now bubbling to the surface in the current issue we're dealing with. And I can have a tendency to dig with people deep enough that we can really try to get to those core issues.
Paul Casey:
Micro and the macro.
Brian Ace:
It's both at the same time.
Paul Casey:
So the flip side, what's one of your biggest liabilities and how do you mitigate that weakness so it doesn't limit your influence?
Brian Ace:
Yeah, so I think you actually presented this topic to me, I believe, on A side B side, maybe it was somebody else, but you know, this is kind of stuck with me from years ago during Leadership Tri-Cities that oftentimes your strengths can have this counterside of this large weakness. And that's similar to me.
Brian Ace:
So from a data side, I get caught up in data and that's great. That's a great A side. But the B side of that is I have a tendency to go down those rabbit holes in a way that leave others behind. And I have to be really cautious as a leader in Boys and Girls Club in our community to make sure that I slow down on some of that data processing so that everybody becomes part of that process. And it's not just me disappearing by myself. So I think that's definitely a weakness that I have.
Brian Ace:
You know, another piece that actually came out of leadership Tri-Cities when we first met was in, you're going to have to remind me of this, the book at the time that we were doing in Leadership Tri-Cities was I think the-
Paul Casey:
The leadership challenge.
Brian Ace:
The leadership challenge. That's written by-
Paul Casey:
Kouzes and Posner.
Brian Ace:
Okay. So that really identified those five traits of an effective leader. One of those traits is encourage the heart. I'm terrible at this. This is where the assessments, the 360 feedback, everything is clear for the last 20 years in my life. Encouraging the heart is not good. My wife will be the first to tell you I am terrible at encouraging the heart. So that is by far one of my biggest weaknesses and the frustrating part for that is I've known it's my weakness for a lot of years. I've put different levels of energy towards that on a regular basis. And I have yet to find success. I'm still struggling to this day after 20 years of awareness that encouraging the heart is a challenge for me.
Paul Casey:
A weakness is a weakness for a reason, right? Because I mean it's just not a strength. So how do you ... do staff around that? Do you surround yourself with people who are good at that?
Brian Ace:
And I think that's the critical piece is when you're looking at building a team, your team ultimately needs to have people that compliment your weaknesses. I have some great team members that I work with that are encouragers and they can really kind of carry that flag, but that only goes so far. Ultimately what they have to do is they have to pull me along, they have to spoon feed me at times on what-
Paul Casey:
There's a thank you note Brian.
Brian Ace:
Exactly.
Paul Casey:
Sign it.
Brian Ace:
Put it on my desk and I'll need to set it off and I'm okay doing that. I can execute, but it's the initiate that is hard for me. So having those team members that do that is critical.
Paul Casey:
Sure. Yeah. For listeners, the A side B side activity very quickly is the, there used to be a thing called records, sorry, millennials-
Brian Ace:
They existed at one point.
Paul Casey:
You may not remember that. It's like a big CD, right? And so on one side was the A side, which was the hit and the B side was the filler. And so we use this as an illustration to say that we often look at others through our B side lens and say, because of their behavior there, they must not care and they're all about themselves, they're narcissistic, all that stuff. We look at ourselves through the A side lens and go, wow, all my intentions are pure. I was late today. But it's because of these other things which are noble causes and how we need to probably flip that a little bit and look at others through an A side, assume positive intent of others. Then sometimes you need to be a little bit more, not self critical but self evaluative of the B side and say, I'm really not good at this. I need help.
Paul Casey:
So in your opinion in leadership, what is one of the most difficult parts of leading a business? Leading a nonprofit, leading a team?
Brian Ace:
Employee performance. It's the piece that keeps me up at night. We all have those experiences. We have team members that are just not being successful for a variety of reasons. It might be the skill set that they have. It might be the clarity of expectations, but people not being successful. I find it very difficult in times when we have to separate from that team member, terminate that team member, go different direction every single time it hurts. I've had multiple examples where I've hired somebody and it's my fault. It was a bad hire. I looked past things that I should've paid attention to and it wasn't a good fit. And at the end of that I put somebody in a terrible position where they now don't have their job and they left something else that they were great at to come work for us and it didn't happen. And I get caught up and stay up at night. I'm thinking about those examples.
Paul Casey:
So what hiring advice would you give, because you've taken some punches on that one, like you said-
Brian Ace:
Sure, I failed multiple times.
Paul Casey:
You've ignored some red flags or whatever it is. What counsel would you give to leaders who are in the hiring process?
Brian Ace:
So it's this hard tension. Part of it is getting the perspective of others. That is critical. Don't make hiring decisions in a vacuum. And so you want to have a team of people that are part of that evaluation, that dialogue process. So that is incredibly important. However, at the end of the day you are making that decision. And so how do you set up that team dynamic in a way where people are giving input that you can listen to and it's they're given permission to tell you things that you don't want to hear, but you still have to make that ultimate decision at the tail end of that. Even if you have great feedback and a great team of people, I still make the wrong decision at times.
Paul Casey:
So then you also mentioned like when an employee fails or doesn't make it and you have to let them go, you feel some personal responsibility there along the way. What would you say are some slip ups that leaders make that they really are a partially responsible for that employee not succeeding?
Brian Ace:
So, I think it's making the assumption that the onboarding process, the team culture that's already in place, the great work that's been done before is going to provide enough of a foundation that a struggling person can take it to the next level. That's just usually not reality. Someone that's struggled in certain areas is going to continue to struggle in those areas. You can try to bolster them and build a support system around them and sometimes that will work. But to start a team relationship that way is a challenging way to start. But you're right, each one does hurt and there is a level of responsibility.
Brian Ace:
You know, I'll tell you a quick story that I think is funny on this. I go home and we have family dinners and when we do dinner as a family, which is important to the Ace family, it doesn't happen as much as we'd like it to, but it happens. We do a little round table sharing where we talk about our highs and our lows. And so each of the family members, the kids and the adults, get to share their low for the day and then they're high for the day. We always end on the high.
Brian Ace:
So one day I'm sharing the low and I was talking about having to fire a staff member that day, which hurts when you do it. We're talking about this a little bit around the dinner table and my daughter Juliana, who I think was probably like three or four at the time, starts to cry, hysterical crying. It was the hardest thing to see as a dad. We finally said, "Juliana, what's wrong? I don't understand. Why are you crying?" And she proceeded in her whup, whup voice to kind of say, "Dad, it's not okay to light people on fire." It gave me a great image of how painful that experience is for me and how kids can perceive that as well. It feels like that sometimes that you're just burning with guilt on making these hard decisions.
Paul Casey:
Let me keep following that rabbit trail. So how do you let somebody go in an honorable way?
Brian Ace:
So intentions matter, but ultimately people hear through the hurt that they experience. So I think it's a matter of affirming and apologizing as a piece of that while still being confident that the decision you're making is the right one for your organization. I think a lot of it is being willing to admit that you had a role in that. That might be a generous severance package. It might be a continuation of employment for a time so that they can find a way to land on their feet. But I think we oftentimes have to be willing to have it hurt us too, because we're part of that tough decision. I think employees feel that when it's done right, that it wasn't just them. It's also us as a team and we're willing to be hurt a bit through that process too.
Paul Casey:
Good stuff. So we want our people to be engaged. We don't want them to leave. We don't want to let them go. So how do you think leaders can value their people, even though you might not give yourself an A+, you've kept self-confessed that, but you would say you probably know employees that feel valued and others that don't. They feel devalued. So what can organizations and leaders do to make their people feel valued and stay engaged?
Brian Ace:
Yeah. I think ultimately it comes down to what are you willing to do to make their lives easier. I think some organizational leaders can fall in the trap of delegating to the point where all of this stuff that's not fun goes down and all this stuff that's enjoyable stays high.
Paul Casey:
I want to pass out the paychecks, but not the-
Brian Ace:
Not show up on a Saturday and work [crosstalk 00:17:29]. So I think some of it is we have to be willing to encourage people by doing for them what frees them up to do other things. That's not the glamorous stuff. It's the taking the van in for an oil change. It's the working a Saturday event. It's doing these evening meetings that no one wants to miss their family time for. Or in the case of the people I work with, the early morning meetings, they are glad to surrender those to the early riser that I am. But I think a lot of it for staff is being willing to do whatever it takes to support them even if it's inconvenient for you. I think people see that.
Paul Casey:
That's servant leadership isn't it? And it's enabling others to act, which is one of those five principles in the leadership challenge.
Brian Ace:
Just the appreciation, recognition, Encourage the heart that I'm not. Yes it is one of the five.
Paul Casey:
You get a four out of five. Well, before we asked Brian about his life hacks for success, let's check in with our sponsors.
Paul Casey:
The C12 group is a national organization focused on spiritual and professional development of Christian CEOs and business owners. Members participate in professionally facilitated monthly meetings during which 12 experienced Christian CEOs exchange ideas to solve business issues Biblically. Additionally, members receive a 90 minute personal coaching session each month. Information is available from Tom Walther at (715) 459-9611 or online at c12easternwa.com.
Paul Casey:
So Brian, what are a few of your life hacks that help you be successful on a daily basis?
Brian Ace:
So I have some that worked for me, but I don't want to pretend they work for everybody. The one that works best for me is I email myself regularly. So my email is my task list and that is good and bad. Sometimes I get so behind on email, I'm also behind on tasks. But nonetheless I will forget if I don't email myself. So I'll be driving and I'll think of something, email myself, I'll be in a conversation with somebody, I'll say, sorry, one second, I need to email myself. But emailing myself is absolutely a life hack that's worked for me and I see great value in that.
Brian Ace:
You know, another one is just getting up early and showing up before others arrive. When I'm at the Boys and Girls Club office or out at our club locations, I need to be accessible to people. They need to feel that if there's a question they have, a conversation they want to have that I'm approachable for that, but I also have stuff I have to get done. So if I can arrive early, beat everybody in, then I can get caught up on emails, phone calls, and kind of the day's plan before anybody else ever sets foot in the office.
Paul Casey:
So many leaders have that as a success strategy. Before the cumulative stress of the day overtakes you, you get ahead of it. And that's the only quiet time that most leaders have because they want to be available.
Paul Casey:
Well, how about decision making? That's huge for a leader because I think leaders are known by the decisions they make. So what process do you think through before making decisions generally?
Brian Ace:
Yeah, I think there's just some questions that I ask myself. You know, the first one is who will be impacted by this decision? And we have to look at it through the lens of each of those stakeholders. Kids, parents, community members, community partners, donors from a stewardship perspective, our staff are a critical part of who's impacted. So I think a lot of it is asking the question who is impacted by this decision and being willing to flush that out.
Brian Ace:
Then I think there's one that is that nonprofits have an advantage on that. I think a lot of for profit businesses maybe don't, and it comes down to whether you have clearly defined what your mission is. So we have the advantage at most nonprofits that our mission becomes a very key piece of who we are. And if we're wise enough to keep it at the forefront, to have it at top of agendas and starting each meeting, that becomes a real critical part of making decisions. Is it consistent with our mission and that mission consistency, that avoidance of mission drift is a great way for us to ensure that decisions are made for the right reasons.
Paul Casey:
I love both of those. The first one you described, I've heard it's called the View of Six, where you look at a decision through six different lenses and like you said, the student, the staff member, the community member of the donor, the board member, you're probably going to make a pretty good call if you have empathy and looking through each one of those lenses and not just one. So that is really good.
Paul Casey:
So who influences you, Brian? Who do you surround yourself with so you keep growing yourself? They can be live people or afar people.
Brian Ace:
Sure. Yeah. You know, I think there's some local ones and then there's kind of the thought leader part of that. I'm blessed with a great board and some of my most challenging people that challenged me from a leadership perspective that I work with are my board members. Not every nonprofit person can say that.
Paul Casey:
True.
Brian Ace:
But I have a great board and a board that I can be vulnerable with that can challenge me and can push me, but can also listen, advise and offer support. And so that's quite a blessing. I would encourage everybody to surround yourself with those people that you can be vulnerable with. And I can't do that with all my board members, but there's enough that I can, and that gives me an outlet that is incredibly helpful. So I think that's a key piece for that.
Brian Ace:
The other one are those thought leaders. Who are those people that you feel push the envelope for you? This is seasonal for me. You know, I'll go through a season where education is kind of a topic that I'm interested in. You know, I'll have Sal Khan is one of my favorites. That is the individual that developed Khan Academy. Wrote a great book that is just phenomenal to challenge educational assumptions. Or it might be leadership and you'll read a leadership person or fundraising and an individual that speaks to you there. But I think finding those authors, those industry thought leaders that for a season become almost your impersonal challenger, someone that you're engaging with, but just not necessarily through dialogue.
Paul Casey:
Yeah, you're mixing it up for a season on a theme. I really like that, I haven't heard anybody else to do that. That's pretty cool. And I think with your board, not everybody has a board, obviously if you're an entrepreneur out there, a leader, but you could set up your own personal board of directors. That's what one leader calls it. These are the folks that speak into your life. They love you for who you are. They are for your success. Some call them accountability partners, success partners. I think we all have to have those in our life.
Brian Ace:
Well, and I think one of the experiences I've had, because I work with a lot of donors in the community that have successful businesses, that they're in the process of transitioning to their children. One thing they do is they set up advisory boards for that business transition. A group of committed, dedicated people that their son or daughter can call and bounce ideas off of in a safe way. And I think that's a way of replicating that process in a business setting.
Paul Casey:
Yeah, so smart. So when you've lived your life, Brian, you look back and think back on your influence, how do you want to be remembered?
Brian Ace:
So I think I would love to be remembered through the lens my wife and I have established of kind of our personal mission that care for today's widows and today's orphans. I think that would be a key piece.
Brian Ace:
You know, I think the caution that I always have is what I don't want to be remembered for. You know, sometimes for folks that are super involved in the community, either as someone involved in a nonprofit, a business leader in the community, a political leader in the community, we forget that our number one service group should be our family and that is a piece I'm guilty of. I don't want to be remembered as that person that helped others, but sure didn't do a lot for his own wife and kids. And so that's a constant concern I have that I have to be cautious to, because my natural tendency is to say yes, yes, yes. And those that I love the most get a lot of nos.
Paul Casey:
Yeah. One author says if you have to cheat your work or cheat your family, don't cheat your family.
Brian Ace:
That's fair. And it might be easier to cheat them in the short run, but from a longterm perspective, it's better to give them your best.
Paul Casey:
Absolutely. And it's a good for Tri-City Influence listeners, it's good for you to do the eulogy activity, which sounds a little morbid, but it's really, who do you want to be there at your memorial service someday? What do you want them to say about you? What do you want your family to say about you especially? And then you live into that. Once you've established what you want your legacy to be.
Paul Casey:
So Brian, finally, what advice would you give to new leaders or anyone who wants to keep growing and gaining more influence?
Brian Ace:
So I think make time to learn. Schedule time to learn. I have seasons where I don't do this as well and I have seasons where this is a critical part of what my day looks like. But it might be books you're reading, podcasts you're listening to, people you're connecting with. Just sitting down with somebody over coffee, not with an agenda but just to bounce ideas and learn. But make time to learn. You have to schedule it and it's worth it when you can pull that off.
Brian Ace:
You know. I think another one is just work ethic. You're going to have to work harder than anybody else. Sometimes that can be compensated for by working smarter. And we all have those. We see that they make it look effortless. But for a lot of folks it's a matter of just putting in the hours, the focus, the dedication to push yourself to do better on behalf of those you serve and that's a great principle as well.
Paul Casey:
Wise words. So how can our listeners best connect with you?
Brian Ace:
Well, you know Boys and Girls Club is an organization that serves our community and website is probably the best way and that's greatclubs.org. With great information on programs but just reach out via email, phone. We're always glad to answer questions about our work but also I'm always glad to just share with people personally as well. I like to meet people, I like to be in relationship with people. I like to be challenged by people.
Paul Casey:
And you'll probably take a volunteer or a donor as well.
Brian Ace:
Volunteers and donors never hurt. Volunteers who are donors are the best.
Paul Casey:
Ding ding! Well thanks again Brian for all you do to make the Tri-Cities a great place and keep leading well.
Brian Ace:
Right. Thank you Paul.
Paul Casey:
Let me wrap up our podcast today with a leadership resource to recommend. More of an organizational one, it's called Followupthen.com, so it's for email. You set it up for free and if you want to not use your inbox as a waiting for list for all the people that you've sent the emails to, what it will do, Follow Up Then, well you can set a time for it, sort of boomerang back into your email box so you can go, Oh yeah, I never heard back from so-and-so. It can be days later or just later in the day. There's another tool called Boomerang, so followupthen.com or Boomerang might help you in your email management.
Paul Casey:
Again, this is Paul Casey. I want to thank my guest, Brian Ace from the Boys and Girls Club of Benton and Franklin counties for being here today on the Tri-Cities Influencer podcast and we want to thank our TCI sponsors and invite you to support them. We appreciate you making this possible so we can collaborate to help inspire leaders in our community.
Paul Casey:
Finally, one more leadership tidbit for the road to help you make a difference in your circle of influence. It's Mario Andretti. He says, "Desire is the key to motivation, but it's the determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal, a commitment to excellence that will enable you to attain the success you seek." Until next time, KGF, keep growing forward.
Michelle Oates:
Thank you to our listeners for tuning in to today's show. Paul Casey is on a mission to add value to leaders by providing practical tools and strategies that reduce stress in your lives and on their teams so that they can enjoy life and leadership and experience their key desired results.
Michelle Oates:
If you'd like more help from Paul in your leadership development connect with him at growingforward@paulcasey.org for consultation that can help you move past your current challenges and create a strategy for growing your life or your team forward. Paul would also like to help you restore sanity to your crazy schedule and get your priorities done every day by offering this free Control my Calendar Checklist. Go to Www.takebackmycalendar.com for that productivity tool or open text message to 72000 and type the word 'growing'. Tri-Cities Influencer podcast was recorded at Fuse SPC by Bill Wagner of Safe Strategies.