When Dave had this topic and episode in mind he knew that it would be an easy sell to Mat since the initial concept was around Tom Brady. So for a rare episode we do focus a bit on sports but even for those that arent into football or know much it will still be a worthwhile listen we promise!
During the Leadership Series we did earlier this year, Lauren Vaccarello brought up the topic of moving companies and bringing past coworkers with you.
Lauren walks through how to build credibility, attract talent and how she has handled doing both over the years.
Tom Brady and the recent flood of players coming out of retirement or taking small contracts to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is a real life example of this playing out.
Then there is one of the best Tight Ends ever, Rob Gronkowski who retired and then signed to play – mostly because Tom Brady went to the Bucs.
We of course often see this with CMOs and CEOs bringing people along with them from one company to another as they move for good reason. These are people they trust, know what they are doing and that can get the job done.
Lebron and Jordan
If by chance you are a fan of the NBA instead, think of when Lebron James moves teams and all those that try and play with him. Or years ago if Jordan was to go somewhere – people would follow knowing the was going to lead the team and have a high chance of winning.
Company Alumni Groups & Support
Avalaunch and Seer Interactive both have some alumni group that looks at the long term of helping employees. The example Dave recently found was by John Faris of Red Door Interactive.
Full Transcript
Matt Siltala: [00:00:00] Welcome to another exciting episode of the business of digital podcast, featuring your host, Matt and Dave roar. Hey guys. Thanks a all for joining us on another one of these episodes as always we have Dave, I was going,
Dave Rohrer: [00:00:17] it is going so
Matt Siltala: [00:00:21] national cat .
Dave Rohrer: [00:00:23] I think it’s national cat day
Matt Siltala: [00:00:25] national cats annoyingness day is what it is
Dave Rohrer: [00:00:27] in our houses.
Matt Siltala: [00:00:29] Well, um, something else that usually annoys you, but you’re letting me talk about today, mr. Tom Brady, are you going to regret this
Dave Rohrer: [00:00:39] maybe,
Matt Siltala: [00:00:41] but, uh, the idea that
Dave Rohrer: [00:00:43] you don’t win the super bowl, I won’t,
Matt Siltala: [00:00:46] Hey, threatened to play pretty good, but, uh, better than my Patriots off. Let’s not talk about that.
Dave Rohrer: [00:00:52] We can talk about that.
Matt Siltala: [00:00:55] But, uh, the, uh, the title and question today, we’re going to talk about [00:01:00] leadership and, um, like of course, you know, this is why, you know, Tom Brady, and this is why it pains you because you have to admit the Tom Brady is a good leader, but why don’t you share with us, uh, you know, your idea on the direction of this one and we’ll go from there.
Dave Rohrer: [00:01:16] So Lauren had mentioned it during our leadership series. I think she was the only one that mentioned it. Um, and talked about this topic and it’s the topic of when you move from one company to another, or from one role to another, you often work with people you like, and there’s probably some people that we all worked with that we don’t like bosses.
We like, or don’t like subordinates. Cheers. What’s
Matt Siltala: [00:01:40] that? No comment,
Dave Rohrer: [00:01:42] no comment. And. But as you move up the ladder and you ha you know, you have more staff anymore and have more people that report to you, there might be more people. That you like working with, or that you’ve found are [00:02:00] very good at doing X, Y, Z.
Is there someone that’s just awesome at Salesforce? There’s just someone awesome with HubSpot. And any time you have a question about whatever that tool is, that provider, that, that, that thing, they always can either figure it out or know it. Yeah. And as you move from one company to another, and this is kind of what, um, Lauren talked about, she at first felt bad, you know, Going to this company and then bringing in people and to hire into argument the team, but then as she talks true, it, um, she talked really about the fact that she was hired as VP of marketing, CMO, whatever this leadership, whatever this management role was to do a good job to fix a problem to drive leads, to do X, Y, Z.
And for her, she knows. That this person and that person, then this other person are the components that the current team needs to do that job.
[00:03:00] Matt Siltala: [00:03:00] Yeah.
Dave Rohrer: [00:03:01] And so, as I was thinking about a leadership topic, we could talk about as we kind of round out and end of the years, since we talked about it so much earlier in the year, I thought there would be one more thing we could talk about for leadership.
And this made sense as I watched, I don’t know how many people over the weekend. Talk about AB signing a one year deal with Tampa Bay. Yeah. So, so far, correct me. Gronk came out of retirement. Yup. But you’re not assigning. Okay. Maybe
Matt Siltala: [00:03:36] who he’s already got rapport with.
Dave Rohrer: [00:03:38] Well, he’s already got some rapport with and who some would say is one of the best receivers out there.
Um, he’s also one of the most difficult to tell with. Yeah, exactly. Um,
Matt Siltala: [00:03:48] If anyone can do it, Tom Brady can do it. And then who else,
Dave Rohrer: [00:03:51] who else followed down from the Patriots or somewhere from Tom’s working with? I think there was, there was like another [00:04:00] receiver or running back or someone that fine. I wish it was
Matt Siltala: [00:04:05] Edelman.
I can’t
Dave Rohrer: [00:04:08] read. I was like someone else. And there was like three big, like any team would love to have these three people. And they all signed smaller, probably contracts than they needed to, to go play
Matt Siltala: [00:04:22] with them because they know they got a chance
Dave Rohrer: [00:04:24] and here’s a chance.
Matt Siltala: [00:04:26] Well, here’s the thing too. And I was trying to, you know, our good friend, Melissa, you know, she was skeptical at first because she’s been the biggest Tom Brady hater that I’ve ever known, except for.
You know, once it, once he’s on your team, then all of a sudden things are different. And I, I told her this way he can come play for the
Dave Rohrer: [00:04:42] bears. Lord knows we need I’m like falls with my
Matt Siltala: [00:04:45] kid. But I told her this way before, um, you know, before the, uh, the season even began, I said, I said, give him a little bit of time, like.
They’re going to look rusty for [00:05:00] the first couple of weeks or whatever. They’re, they’ve never played with each other, like real games. We didn’t have any preseason, obviously. So they haven’t really played. And I said, just wait, he’s going to grow on you. And she was like, no, I don’t know. And she like was pretty skeptical.
And then a couple of weeks ago after I think it was one of the, the win over, um, the chargers. I think it was, but she was like, all right, I might have to get a Tom Brady Jersey. I’m like I told you. And I, it was funny cause I told her I, cause I got one from, I got one from the kids here and, uh, that would fit her and it was, uh, the new England one.
And I was like, I got a Tom Brady Jersey for you. And I can’t repeat what she told me, but, um, anyway, so, well, and that’s the thing too. It’s like, just going to your point, like let them have that time. He’s got the leadership. It’s like you said, he, he knows, you know, like with GRA coming back to like, he wasn’t in football shape, you know, he hadn’t played for a year and now [00:06:00] he’s starting to come back.
These last couple of games, he’s been playing lights out, Tom Brady’s killing it. I just saw that he got the offensive player of the month in the NFL for the last one. And, and
Dave Rohrer: [00:06:12] so plan to,
Matt Siltala: [00:06:13] yeah, I mean, he’s my age. I’m, I’m proud of him. And, uh, I, I wouldn’t want to be taking hits from 20 year old, you know, 330 pound lineman like he is.
But, um, anyway, the point is like, he he’s, like you said, he’s, he’s got that kind of leadership that people know that, Hey, I have a better chance of going to the big dance. I can, I have a better chance of, of going to the game that, you know, that’s most important to us here in this game, um, with this guy and I can get behind him.
And I believe he can make the kind of people I can tell you a Brown, um, fall in line, so to speak and, and, and be on their best
Dave Rohrer: [00:06:55] ways possible.
Matt Siltala: [00:06:56] Yeah. As much as possible because he is that leader. And, and [00:07:00] if you’ve watched them, how they started to where they are today, um, they’re rallying around him. And, um, it’s, it’s kind of fun to, to watch them play actually.
I mean, I’ll always be at a Tom Brady and grump fan. I mean, they brought so many championships and good times and memories to new England that. I’ll never forget them. And you know, I, I hope that they do great, but it is interesting on the leadership side of it. You know, that you’ve, you’ve talked about like how people will give up money, they’ll give up whatever, and they’ll go to try to be a part of this.
And you only, only someone like Tom Brady can assemble you with with something like that.
Dave Rohrer: [00:07:38] Well, and there’s other players. I mean like when, whenever LeBron goes,
Matt Siltala: [00:07:41] yeah,
Dave Rohrer: [00:07:42] people want to go or when Jordan like. If you could go and play with Jordan back then was like, okay. Cause we’re pretty sure we’re going to be, you know, winning a championship with him.
Matt Siltala: [00:07:53] Think that’s the wrong way they Rodman to, to calm down for those three years.
Dave Rohrer: [00:07:58] Well, Rodman, I don’t know if he actually calmed [00:08:00] down, but
Matt Siltala: [00:08:00] they got him to fall in line enough to win championships.
Dave Rohrer: [00:08:03] Yeah. He didn’t get arrested or in big trouble, but I mean, think about the Miami heat when they built their little super team, the very quote unquote, first one.
With LeBron and, um, uh, what’s his name? The CR the good what? Dwayne.
Matt Siltala: [00:08:18] Wade.
Dave Rohrer: [00:08:19] Yeah, Dwayne Wade. And, uh, who was the forward? There was another,
Matt Siltala: [00:08:23] he looked like I forgot. Um, yeah, like he looks like Snoop dog to me. Um,
Dave Rohrer: [00:08:29] there was someone else, but they went there because LeBron went and recruited key people to help him win.
Yeah. It’s like, these are the pieces we need. I’m going to go talk to them. Oh no. I think legally, according to the NBA rules, he can’t, but you know, he could say, Hey, we’re building something here, come join us. And I think for companies, businesses, whether you’re a restaurant and a law firm agency or whatever, I think your [00:09:00] leadership, the people that lead everything and that are visible or not internally or externally, I think give, can give off that vibe of.
We’re a winning team. We’re a good place to work. You can talk to people. Um, I just saw what was it on LinkedIn? There was someone that left a company and I’ve known, I’ve had a manager like this too, before that if you are leaving and you’re moving up or you’re taking on more responsibility or you’re going to work at a bigger company or a bigger agency, or have a bigger team.
And he, and he, or she knows that they can’t give that to you at this company or that clearly you’ve learned some, you’ve grown some while working on with them or under them, they’ve done their job. They’ve led you, they’ve let you grow. And now you’re stepping out to maybe even have their job,
Matt Siltala: [00:09:56] you know, and that’s it.
And you bring up a thing and that’s kind of why one of the [00:10:00] things that we’ve done at avalanche over the last couple of years is. We’ve transitioned the whole moving on to something better, um, from being a bad thing about always negative. Aw, you hate losing that and you do always hate losing a good person, but, but instead of it being like a, a bad thing, we we’ve started turning it into almost like an alumni, an avalanche media alumni.
Now you’re a part of this group. That has gone on and you still keep in contact. You let people know what’s been going on and, and, uh, good things that have happened. And you become part of this family, this, uh, fraternity, uh, this group of, of people that have worked at avalanche and, and it’s actually gone quite well.
And it’s been fun to see because, you know, I, uh, I hated, uh, you know, uh, you know, Luke alley, one of my. Really good buds. Um, one of the first employees that we had been around with us forever and, uh, I hated seeing him go, but he left because he wanted, he had an opportunity [00:11:00] to pursue one of his lifelong dreams, which was being a professor at, uh, at a BYU.
And so that’s why he went and did that. And, you know, um, how can you not be happy for someone that has done so much for you? And, um, You know, being able to go on and pursue their dreams. It’s, that’s one thing, one of my business partners always joked about, um, he would always say, you know, Newport for 5,000 Alex, like what could get you to move away from this, uh, job or position so to speak?
You know, it’s always, if I had an opportunity to, with him, it was like, if I had an opportunity to be a surf instructor at Newport beach and live there, full-time making 500,000 a year, whatever it was, it was like just a running joke. That we would say Newport for 5,000 Alex, but, um, you’re always happy with people moving up with stuff like that.
Anyway, that those are just thoughts that I had Dave.
Dave Rohrer: [00:11:56] Well, and the one example I just saw was John [00:12:00] Ferris, and I think the CEO he’s president or something, and there was another person over at red door interactive out in San Diego. I’m going to kill my cat, the, uh, and I often see a similar alumni to what you’re talking about.
With will over at sear. Like they’ve actually had people come back and I’ve seen him talk about it somewhere. Um, and I’ve actually have multiple Facebook groups with some people I used to work with like one from college, just cause, you know, we, we got, we all worked together for multiple years and just always had fun and got in trouble.
Um, but then I have like another one or two with people I used to work with just to keep connected and. Pass business back and forth, you know, and do anything. Or if anyone’s ever in town or need something or questions about digital marketing or something like these are little families, little groups that whether there was good leadership or bad, um, we took it upon [00:13:00] ourselves sometimes to create our own little, you know, family and groups.
Matt Siltala: [00:13:04] Well, I think about all of us, you know, thinking about all the people that you and I have spoke with over the years, And all the people like our little pub con family group where it doesn’t even have to be just Pubcon. But, um, most of these people, even though we’re all in the same industry, we’ve all sent each other leads.
We’ve all sent each other business. We’ve all helped each other out. You know, you’ve sent, um, me leads sort of avalanche media, uh, vice versa. And that’s just what, that’s just what we do. But anyway, so I don’t know if, uh, If there was some other ideas or directions you were thinking of with this leadership, um, any, any, any more thoughts on that?
I don’t
Dave Rohrer: [00:13:47] want to make too many sports bench references. I think we knocked out. And we knocked all of those out of the parks that we needed to. Yeah. I
Matt Siltala: [00:13:54] don’t want to talk more about Tom brave and I don’t want you to unfriend me.
Dave Rohrer: [00:13:57] I, I don’t need to talk about Tom Brady [00:14:00] anymore. We don’t need to mention his name anymore.
I’m just going to like, edit it out with like a weird noise that’s
Matt Siltala: [00:14:06] too. Except you do have the quarterback that’s to and O against him, even though you’re not happy with his performance right now.
Dave Rohrer: [00:14:12] I don’t. Which one is that for the one that’s plain or, Oh, okay. Um, Oh no, he’s not bad. He’s just. It’s not, um, it’s not, it’s not the long-term, I don’t think direction, but, um, I think it’s just, if nothing else from this rambling sports reason, excuse to talk about Tom Brady and sports episode, we’ll just, that’s, that’s the name?
That’s the official, that’s the official name for this one? It’s I think to talk about just your culture and your leadership and V like. Externally how it’s presented. Um, like we just named off a couple of examples where I did and, you know, Matt talked about what they do and then internally what that looks like.
And if you were to move, [00:15:00] who, who do you think, or if someone was to, you know, leave, would, what would your relationship with them positive? Would they want to hire you? Um, what does your standing look like in your own company when you are in the leadership role? What does that look like? What can you do more?
You know, especially like now with teams kind of scattered about and remote, if you’re not used to remote, you know, Lauren and Mark all during our leadership talks talked about things that they’re doing specifically. Um, and I think Sean even talked about one thing that they had started doing. And I know this is like what four months ago, but if you’re still not doing things to try to keep your team together, um, or create, you know, create.
Just more happiness. Go give a listen to those again. Or do you know, just skim, skim the transcripts. There’s that’ll be there too, but I think our goal should be to try to build happy. Good teams. Good culture. And, and, and just basically just [00:16:00] lead,
Matt Siltala: [00:16:00] you know, I’m glad, I’m glad that you said that with the culture, because that’s, that, that was going to be my final thought.
So you stole my thunder, but I think the under the underlining theme in all of this is, is culture. Whether you go again, I’m sorry, Tom, Brady, you go back to what he’s building and what they’ve built in or what they’re trying to build in Tampa Bay. And what’s looking like, you know, it’s that culture people wanting to be a part of it.
And so I think you applied that, you know, it’s like what we focused on an avalanche. We want, you know, we, we might’ve been doing it wrong at first. We might’ve been hiring the people that on resume looked the best people that were the most awesome. Um, as far as like on paper, but when it came down to it, we’ve learned over the years that the person that fits best is the one that fits in with the culture more than anything.
Dave Rohrer: [00:16:47] Well, and I also think it says something about the leader, that person like Lauren, if she goes off to a new role and talks to people she’s worked with in the past and they’re willing. [00:17:00] And even if they’re in a happy, good spot, but they know that whatever she’s talking about, shin shield and I even know, or, you know, or you might know where someone’s at and know, it’s like, Oh, I know you, you like what you’re working on.
You like these projects, you like your team, but. I think we’re really going to be winning. You’re really going to do well. You’re really going to grow here. You know, you’re going to get more pay, whatever it is. I know you’re going to be happy or happy you’re here, and we’re all going to win the fact that they trust someone and they like working under or with that person.
I think it does also say a lot about someone’s leadership
Matt Siltala: [00:17:40] and that’s the key right there. So you
Dave Rohrer: [00:17:43] have good leadership long-term will pay off and way more than even in the short term.
Matt Siltala: [00:17:49] All right guys. Well, we appreciate you joining us on this one. As always remember we are on Google play. And so, uh, if you can take some time, go and give us a [00:18:00] review.
Um, we’ve talked about this before in the past. If you want to send us an audio review of a and B featured, please feel free to ping us and reach out and do that. Um, but, uh, as always for Dave Roth, Northside metrics, I met sold with them. Lunch media. Thank you for joining us all. Bye-bye.