Mar 16, 2020
Brandon Anderson:
"The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers." Ralph Nader. I am Brandon Anderson and I'm a Tri-Cities influencer.
Paul Casey:
You use I-messages, not you-messages, but a you-message again puts us on the defensive and someone that's already aggressive, oh boy, that's just like bringing gasoline to the fire. It's going to make it a whole lot worse.
Speaker 3:
Raising the water level of leadership in the Tri-Cities of Eastern Washington, it's the Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast. Welcome to the TCI Podcast, where local leadership and self-leadership expert Paul Casey interviews local CEOs, entrepreneurs and non-profit 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 Cameron Derrick. He is the general manager of KNDU/KNDO in the Tri-Cities and Yakima. And a fun fact about Cameron, he said he traveled around the country before this job, training show horses. Oh yeah, oh yeah. Well, we'll dive in after checking in with our Tri-City Influencer sponsors.
Speaker 5:
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:
Thank you for your support of leadership development in the Tri-Cities. Well, welcome Cameron. I was privileged to meet you, boy, it was probably about four years ago, I think. I was with the West Richland Chamber doing business development very part-time in my first year of being an entrepreneur. I needed a part time job and that fit in line with that, where I got to meet lots of businesses in town and I delivered a little gift I think, to you from the chamber and that's when we got to meet.
Cameron Derrick:
That's right. Yeah, exactly.
Paul Casey:
Well, tell us a little bit about you, so our Tri-City Influencers can get to know you. Maybe some of your past positions, maybe the horses and what sort of led up to you becoming a general manager?
Cameron Derrick:
Well, that's a good question. Well, born in Spokane, raised in Sandpoint, Idaho. My family grew up on a farm, my family had horses and like I said, we trained horses for a long time and what got me in the position I'm in now, is I love advertising. We would show horses back when I was a young man, we showed horses against some really big stables like Kohler Stables and Levi Strauss had a stable and some big time people who had horses. And I remember, advertising does make you bigger than you are, it helps promote yourself and so, that's how I got into advertising and that's how I kind of led my segue into...
Cameron Derrick:
I was in the radio for years, started in my first position and worked in radio and advertising and then I worked in LA, worked in Portland at KUPL big flagship station there, a big country station. And then I moved to Spokane, took a position in Spokane, KXLY Radio Group and the director of sales in radio and they had television. So I got inundated with TV and that's how it kind of led into TV. Then I was in the UG market for two years and then I moved back to the Tri-Cities. These folks called and said, "Hey, you want to get back up to Washington?" And I do, I like it here and I love it. In fact, the weather's perfect in the Tri-Cities.
Paul Casey:
Oh, yeah.
Cameron Derrick:
Much nicer than Spokane and I hope Spokane doesn't get mad at me for saying it, this is a local podcast, so.
Paul Casey:
Well, Cameron, was there an aha moment along that journey that made you say, "I love this, this is going to be the career for me?"
Cameron Derrick:
Well, I tell you what it is. I think, it's of course being an advertising and like I said, I was in radio for years and I was always amazed by the power of local television. How many people watch television and especially in smaller markets, I mean, it's much higher viewerships in smaller, as opposed to bigger cities. Smaller towns with less to do, people watch, they consume more television and I was always amazed that you put something on television, people saw it and they did it and they bought it or they went and tried it. And I just love the power of local television.
Paul Casey:
That's really cool. So in your work, what are you very good at? What do you think are the talent strengths that you bring to the table every day? And how do you use those to help your team then be successful?
Cameron Derrick:
Great question. I'll tell you what it is. I am an eternal optimist and the glass is always half full and I really am. I really look at life that way, I generally look at life, that basically we can do this and not that we can't and that's one thing I bring to the table, every day at work. I mean, I come to work and I mean, we have a monumental task or big budgets to hit and ratings to get to achieve and how do we do this stuff? We just start, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. So basically, I'm a real positive person and I think I instill that with my staff and then the people around me, I mean, I think they pick up on the positivity that I bring to the table and if they don't, they're not around me very long. I'm just teasing, but I really like team players. I like people that really are, that we-can attitude, we-can-do attitude.
Paul Casey:
How does optimism help the staff then, the team around you?
Cameron Derrick:
That's a great question. You know what it is? It's like there again, I have a staff of news director, I have producers, I have sales staff and how do we get this stuff done? What do I do? How do I do this? And basically, how do we become the number one station in town? Or how do we become the number one building station in town? Well, we set up a game plan and if something doesn't work, we'll try something different, but the point is we think we can do it and I think that we can win the game. If you go into a game, I use a lot of sports analogies at my work and I say the same thing, if you don't think you're going to win, you're never going to win. If you don't think you're going to beat New England Patriots, you're never going to beat them.
Paul Casey:
Will somebody please beat them?
Cameron Derrick:
Exactly.
Paul Casey:
Sorry. No, that is really good. I mean, I'd want to follow you into battle. I mean, because I want to follow an optimistic leader. We've already been around negative Ned's and Nellie's and it just sucks the life out of you.
Cameron Derrick:
It does.
Paul Casey:
You've probably been in workplace situations where you've been around people who just are negative?
Cameron Derrick:
Yep. I've had managers who are negative. I've had people that have worked for me and people... It brings a bad vibe in the whole building and honestly, I just like the same thing, no excuses but just get results and that's what happens. If something doesn't work, we'll change it up to see what works next time. Yep.
Paul Casey:
Yep. Somebody said, excuses are the loser in you talking. Bam, there we go.
Cameron Derrick:
That's true, yep.
Paul Casey:
So on the flip side, Cameron, what's one of your biggest liabilities? How do you mitigate that weakness so it doesn't limit your influence as a leader?
Cameron Derrick:
Honestly time, this is my biggest challenge at my job. I don't have enough time for everybody and I wish I had more, but I really have to stop and have to kind of... I delegate a lot as far as my, I mean, I've learned to do that and I probably needed to learn to do more as everyone probably does. But I really have to prioritize my time and unfortunately I can't see everybody at every minute of the day and some things I'm going to have to put off to tomorrow. If there's a fire here, I got to put out this fire. I mean, I'm in two different markets, I'm in Tri-Cities and Yakima and I wish I could be in both all the time.
Paul Casey:
How do you do that?
Cameron Derrick:
I work five days a week and I usually spend two days a week in the Tri and... Excuse me, two days a week in Yakima and three days a week in the Tri-Cities and I split my time back and forth.
Paul Casey:
So if you had more time, where would you direct it?
Cameron Derrick:
Probably in training of staff members, really as far as just knowledge of the business and sharing my knowledge that I've learned in the past 20 some years. Those are young people and I think with, as we know, we work with a lot of younger folks, they're not raised the way I was raised, because the way I was raised, they say the second place is the first loser. And that's necessarily how I was raised back in the 80s and 70s, and today it's more of a community, it's more of a team and so I think that's something I would love to instill in more.
Paul Casey:
Speaking of that. So anybody in sales, there might be a lot of listeners that are, well I guess we're all in sales at some level, right?
Cameron Derrick:
Yeah, exactly.
Paul Casey:
No matter what business we're in-
Cameron Derrick:
We're all selling something.
Paul Casey:
Yeah. What are your best tips for sales?
Cameron Derrick:
Well, I think the best tip for salespeople is, think about the benefits that you can help somebody out. If you're selling a product, it's not about sales, it's about helping the client achieve something. And our saying at the station, our business is growing your business and that's what we kind of believe in at the station and I hope I instill that in my staff. I mean, it's on all of our outgoing mail and it's something that I believe in, because if you're successful, we're successful and I think as a sales person, if you can get that across, they are talking to people. How can I help this person? He has a need and I think I have a product that can fill the need and think like that, as opposed to just starting to sell something, because honestly, all good salespeople can sell anything. The challenge is selling it a second time.
Paul Casey:
Oh that's a good line. So in your opinion, what is the most difficult part of being a team leader, being a business leader? Why would you say, other than not having enough time, what would you say is one of your biggest challenges?
Cameron Derrick:
The biggest challenge I have is basically, like I said, always goes back to the time. But another challenge I have, is finding good people, because there's so many different ways, there's so many different avenues than there used to be in the business, in advertising and sorts of things. But finding good folks is a full-time job.
Paul Casey:
Why is it so hard nowadays? I hear that all the time.
Cameron Derrick:
It just seems to be, it just seems that people I think, I don't know. I mean, I'll knock on the table here. I've found some really good folks, I've replaced some good folks who've left, but it just seems that people are... I think, especially in the sales position, sales is just not sending an email, sales is running out and seeing people.
Paul Casey:
Yes.
Cameron Derrick:
And that's something that's probably hard for people to do. Some they just send a text or send an email, that's not really sales and it's not really touching the client and getting to know the client, look in the client's eyes. I'm a communication major, graduated from Portland State University, that's my Portland State plug. Anyways, so communication is not what's said, it's what's perceived as a communication. Talking to people and you can't see that through an email and a text and I think what happens, you've got a younger generation. That's how they're raised, with text and an email through Instagram and stuff and I think that's why it's a little tougher to find sales people that just are true sales people, because like you said, we're all selling something.
Paul Casey:
Yeah and I've heard it said that, even if you're an introvert, you can step up your game. If you're a typically a letter person then send an email, if you're typically an email person, send a text, if you're a text person, make a phone call, if you're a phone call person, go live and of course, live is the best, like you're saying for a salesperson. But we can all decide to level up to one of those, which is going to get you better results.
Cameron Derrick:
Yep, exactly and challenge yourself. That's the biggest thing, is you know what you're good at. I mean, you know what you're good at, try to be good at something you're not good at.
Paul Casey:
Yeah. So as an employer, you're looking for that in a salesperson. What else are you looking for when you're hiring?
Cameron Derrick:
There's different departments, of course, news folks, but let's go back to the sales. I mean, I wasn't outgoing, that someone that cared, that could be empathy toward clients, empathy toward people and driven. They are competitive, because good sales folks are competitive. I think all great people are competitive, none of us like to lose, but I think that's some of the skills that we're looking for. But just, we're people, folks that can go out and talk to people and just, they don't mind that. They just likely don't like to visit with folks and find out what they have going on.
Paul Casey:
Now one of a Patrick Lencioni's new book books is called The Ideal Team Player and it mentions two of the three that you just said, that it's someone who's hungry, humble and smart. Hungry mean that driven person, they come to work like, "Roar, I'm going to meet my goals today. I'm going to please as many customers as I can." Humble, so that they're not arrogant jerks, because no one wants to deal with that and smart meaning people-smart, which is what you're saying about having that emotional intelligence to have empathy towards the client. So it sounds right on.
Paul Casey:
Well your people don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care. You might have heard that quote before. How do you show your people, whether that's your team or it's clients in the community, that you value them as people?
Cameron Derrick:
I'll tell you what it is. The one thing I get, I came up through advertising and sales and one thing I get from my sales folks especially, is I've been in their shoes, I've sat at their desk, I understand what they're going through, because sales is an up and down. Sales is like sports, you win some, you're going to lose some... That's great, it's another sports analogy. Great teams, they come back from a loss, it doesn't affect their life or their career. I always tell people that tomorrow's a new day, it's five o'clock, eight o'clock tomorrow is a new day. So forget what happened today, start fresh tomorrow, wipe your slate clean and go.
Cameron Derrick:
So I think that's one thing I bring the table, I've done their job and I think as far as the news folks, what's kind of helped me out there, is I am an absolute news junkie. I love news and being in charge of the station, station manager in charge of the news. I have a wonderful news director, Janet Gray, who does an outstanding job. I have a great staff, but I think what it is, is what I bring to those guys, I love news and I'm a news junkie. So I go to different markets, I travel a little bit with my job, I watch other news, like all great ideas are stolen. It's called R and D, rip off and duplicate it.
Cameron Derrick:
So I think that's what I bring them, I love news and I respect and then I think, is I have great managers that I have worked for were very respectful and that's one thing I try to be with my employees. I'm very respectful and I think they know I care about them, because I do, I care about them. As I learned a long time ago, it's very expensive finding good people, you have to train them-
Paul Casey:
Oh yeah. Turnover costs are brutal.
Cameron Derrick:
It's brutal and plus energy cost just takes a lot out of you. I let them know, "Hey, your job's tough and I understand, my door's always open. What can I do to maybe help them?" Because I tell them, "You're successful, I'm successful."
Paul Casey:
So good retention strategies you just heard Tri-City Influencers, so you can hear Cameron exuding passion, because everybody wants to follow a passionate leader, not a, I'm a bored kind of a leader. Respecting your people, treating them with true respect and also picking them up when they fall down and saying, "Hey, tomorrow's another day. Let's sleep that off." I think Colin Powell said, "Everything looks better in the morning." When you've had a failure today, you're going to fail forward and you're going to win some and lose some. So those are good retention strategies. Well, before we head to our next question, on some ways that Cameron's successful, a shout out to our sponsors.
Speaker 5:
If you could trade one day each month for targeted application of biblical business practices, purposeful accountability and godly pure counsel, would you consider it a wise investment? 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 where 12 experienced Christian CEOs exchange ideas to solve business issues biblically. Information is available from Tom Walther at (715) 459-9611 or online at c12easternwa.com.
Paul Casey:
So Cameron, what are a few of your life hacks that over the years have helped you be successful on a daily basis?
Cameron Derrick:
Well, the number one thing is I delegate always. I find good people, hire good people and I delegate jobs and I don't micromanage them. I always try to say, "I need you to do this. You can do this." I can't do everything, there's no way I can do everything. So I really delegate, that's something that I've learned to do and hire good people, because good people make you make you look good and make you a better manager.
Paul Casey:
So what are some principles of delegation that you've learned to do it well, because there's always dumping, and delegation is not dumping, right? So what are some things that you've learned about delegation?
Cameron Derrick:
Well, I mean, try to find the person that has a strength in that field. I mean, if it's a news problem or if it's like our dot two or we have an SWX sports and I delegate a lot of stuff to our producers, I'm like, "Hey, can you call this person?" Or, "Ted, set up the show." And stuff that I just can't do it all. I find people that are really good in that position to help me out. Although they want me to be there, I can't be two places at once and so I've learned that, it's something that I've learned and just, that's something that you just have to do as a manager, you can't do it all. There's no way, there's 50 employees and I just can't be everywhere all the time.
Paul Casey:
Yeah. Success through delegation. Another good tip I heard on delegation, was delegate vision, not just the task. In other words, give them the backstory, give them what the overall end game looks like, not just this little task. So that when you're not around, they can make a decision almost as if they were you.
Cameron Derrick:
Well, that's a great point. I was at one of my SWX producers, we want to talk to people, we would do a lot of sports productions. I think we did last year, we did 114 live sporting events on SWX or dot two. A basketball, you name it, we covered it, football, soccer. Anyways, but we were talking to some promoter, the person who's head of this sports thing. I said, "Hey, can you run out and talk to me?" He goes, "Cameron, I know I can, because I've heard you talk. I've heard you say it 300 times." But it's nice that you are able just to hand it off, "Hey, can you do this?" And they can do that kind of stuff, because you've worked with them and they understand your philosophy and stuff, how to do things.
Paul Casey:
They're thinking, what would Cameron do?
Cameron Derrick:
Well, I hope they're better than Cameron.
Paul Casey:
Well, that's a good point too, right? You need to hire up.
Cameron Derrick:
Yeah, that's exactly it.
Paul Casey:
There are many insecure leaders that hire low, because they want to seem like the most important person in the building.
Cameron Derrick:
Exactly.
Paul Casey:
Well, leaders have to make a lot of important decisions and when you're at the top, you have to make important decisions and leaders are known by the decisions they make, it's been said. So what process do you think through, when you have to make, everybody's looking at you like, "What are we going to do, Cameron?"
Cameron Derrick:
Well honestly, we have to have a clear vision, like any sort of a team, that you have to have a clear vision. What the goal is, what their goals are and each person has a goal. The news people have their goals, to have a good news story is great ratings, our sales folks have goals, individual goals on digital properties and the SWX and then the KNDU/KNDO on the broadcast side. And I think, that just clear goals and just a vision as far as how do we get there and show them. We've shown them ways in the past, how we've done this and like you said, if they have a better idea, I'm all for it, please let me know what we can do better. I mean, I'm all ears, but like I said, it's like winning a football game. The scoreboard tells at the end of the day.
Paul Casey:
Yes, so a visible scoreboard is important for everybody.
Cameron Derrick:
Exactly.
Paul Casey:
Their job to know what they're shooting for.
Cameron Derrick:
Exactly.
Paul Casey:
It's been said, if you don't have a scoreboard, we're just kicking a ball and then we're just going to pick up and leave, right? But the scoreboard is that thing that makes it purposeful.
Cameron Derrick:
Yeah. And it might be a little cliche, but not everybody gets a trophy. I mean, that's something as you know, not everybody wins all the time.
Paul Casey:
So is there an overarching vision at the station as well? Or are you talking smaller visions for each department?
Cameron Derrick:
The vision, we are a locally owned station. Our owners live in Spokane and we're locally owned, locally focused and so what it is, we're here to help the clients, we're here to help the community. We're like broadcast used to be in 1950, I mean, because we're not corporately owned. There's not a lot of corporate mandates and so I tell people, I meet with advertisers, I meet with people like that all the time. We do a lot of things locally that other people can't do, because we don't have big mandates, I have to do whatever the mandate is. What makes best for the community and I think that's something that makes us a little kind of stand out and that's in all aspect of it, as far as news, sales. What's the best for the viewer and what's best for the advertiser.
Paul Casey:
Well Cameron, who influences you? Who do you surround yourself with so you can keep growing? I heard you say you go visit other news places, because you're a news junkie on that, maybe you read or you look at blogs or listen to other podcasts. Who influences you?
Cameron Derrick:
Well, who has influenced me a lot, good managers that I've had in the past. I still have a lot of people in the media business I know, I call and ask them questions, I still communicate with them. I read a lot, I read a lot of trade magazines, I like trade articles. I'm always trying to better myself. I'm not perfect, but I want to be there someday. I don't think I'll ever achieve it, but that's something that I work at all the time. But I'll tell you what, you know what? I was talking to the owner and my president of our company and I was talking about a place I used to work at years ago. I won't mention the name, but I learned from bad managers as much as I've learned from good measures.
Paul Casey:
Sure.
Cameron Derrick:
And I remember things that I've learned on what to do and what I would do in different situations and I learned, like I said, I've learned a lot from some managers that I didn't think was the best managers. But I learned, I watched them do things and I'm a very observant person, so I take a lot of notes. I am a note freak, I take a lot of notes and talk. So that's kind of how I try to better myself.
Paul Casey:
And I talk a lot about Leadership Tri-Cities on this podcast, because it was a part of my formation as a leader and what we say to the class is, you're going to see a lot of leaders in these 12 months in this program and you're going to learn about what to do and you're going to learn about what not to do, after listening to some of our community leaders. So it is a good point, that we can learn from everybody.
Cameron Derrick:
Everybody. Just be observant, I try to find it at the stations and even in life I try to find people, their skill sets and what they're good at, because we're not all good at everything. I mean, sometimes turning a computer on is some of my challenges, but I know how to do it, but I'm just saying, but that you find people that are strengths.
Paul Casey:
That's that delegation again.
Cameron Derrick:
That's exactly it.
Paul Casey:
Of surrounding yourself with qualified people and weaknesses you don't have, but then also filling in those gaps with learning. You said you read trade magazines.
Cameron Derrick:
All the time, yeah.
Paul Casey:
I know for my industry, I've got Speaker Magazine for speakers, I've got Choice Magazine for coaches, so I'm always trying to learn and grow to fill in all those gaps that I don't have.
Cameron Derrick:
Yep, exactly.
Paul Casey:
Well, when you've lived your life and you think back on your influence, it's a legacy question for you. How do you want to be remembered? What's going to be on your tombstone? I remember that pizza commercial-
Cameron Derrick:
Our business is growing your business.
Paul Casey:
That's a tagline.
Cameron Derrick:
You know what, I want people to remember... I mean, I may have been in this business for what... I want people to say I'm fair, I'm firm but I'm fair and I listen. I don't make a lot of rash decisions, I try to be, I listen to both sides. I learned a long time ago as a manager when I first got promoted, when someone comes in your office and tells you something, don't just run with that. You got to-
Paul Casey:
There's two sides, yes.
Cameron Derrick:
There's always two sides, because it's my nature to just trust people and I learned as a manager, not that you shouldn't trust people, but you got to... There again, what one person's perception was, the other person, they didn't perceive that. So I think that's something I want to be fair and just be fair minded and just want to win. I love winning and winning is in ratings, winnings in revenue. I like to be able to be successful and I pride myself that we've had some, knock on wood, we had some good years and I look forward to having some more good years and I just like to win. I think there's lots of different ways of winning, but I take small wins with big wins too. That's important too, especially to keep the team motivated, have those small short term wins.
Paul Casey:
Exactly, it's very important. Well finally, what advice would you give to new leaders or anyone who wants to keep growing and gaining more influence?
Cameron Derrick:
Well I mean, the first thing you do, we don't know everything and we just don't know it all and just the point is, we want to know it all, but we just don't. And I think the things is with young people coming up to the industries, surround yourself with good folks and ask a lot of questions. My dad used to say, "God gave you two ears and one mouth and there's a reason why." Ask a lot of questions and then just listen a lot and sometimes you can just learn. I think that's something that I pride myself, I ask good questions, I think, and I listen and I love listening to folks and listen to them talk as far as what, how they've done in their career. It might not always, what I'm going to do it the same way, but basically I can learn from what they've done. Sometimes you can learn from their mistakes too.
Paul Casey:
So lead with your ears Tri-City Influencers and lead by asking questions and being curious. Maybe no question really is a stupid question.
Cameron Derrick:
No.
Paul Casey:
Because if you just don't know it, you're going to be hampered until you get that answer.
Cameron Derrick:
Exactly.
Paul Casey:
Well, how can our listeners best connect with you if they wanted to follow up?
Cameron Derrick:
Well, I'm at KNDUTV or KNDO Television here in the Tri-City, Kennewick and in Yakima and it's Cameron. Want to give my email?
Paul Casey:
Yeah, sure.
Cameron Derrick:
Cameron.derrick@KNDU.com, it's C-A-M-E-R-O-N.D-E-R-R-I-C-K@K-N-D-U.com.
Paul Casey:
Well, thanks again for all you do to make the Tri-Cities a great place and keep leading well.
Cameron Derrick:
No, thank you.
Paul Casey:
Let me wrap up our podcast today with a leadership resource to recommend and it's my new book. We talked a little about vision a few minutes ago and my new book just was released and it's called Leading with Super-Vision and it's a book about being able to craft a compelling vision to cast that to your team and also to carry that over the long haul, which becomes really the hard part. So Leading with Super-Vision, you can go to my website, paulcasey.org to pick that up or contact me at growingforward@paulcasey.org.
Paul Casey:
Again, this is Paul Casey and I want to thank my guest, Cameron Derrick from KNDU/KNDO for being here today on the Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast. We want to thank our TCI sponsors and invite you to support them. We appreciate you both making this possible so we can collaborate and help inspire leaders in our community. Finally, one more leadership tidbit for the roads and helping you to make a difference in your circle of influence. Quote from Aristotle, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence therefore is not an act, but a habit." Until next time, KGF keep growing forward.
Speaker 3:
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 their lives and on their teams. So that they can enjoy life and leadership and experience their key desired results. 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.
Speaker 3:
Paul would also like to help you restore sanity to your crazy schedule and get your priorities done every day, by offering you his free control my calendar checklist. Go to www.takebackmycalendar.com for that productivity tool or open a text message to 72000 and type the word growing.
Paul Casey:
Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast was recorded at Fuse SPC by Bill Wagner of Safe Strategies.