Keep Leading!® Podcast 126 | The Velocity Mindset® for Leaders | Ron Karr

Eddie Turner:

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Keep Leading!® Podcast, the podcast dedicated to leadership development and insights. I’m your host Eddie Turner, The Leadership Excelerator®. I work with leaders to accelerate performance and drive impact through the power of executive coaching, masterful facilitation, and professional speaking.

In the world of leadership, there are no shortage of “mindsets” a leader needs to succeed. For example, there’s the leadership mindset, the learning mindset, the winning mindset. Here on the Keep Leading!® Podcast, I interviewed LinkedIn’s top global influencer about the disruption mindset. In this episode, we will explore the velocity mindset. To explain the velocity mindset, I’ve invited a giant in the sales world and in the world of professional speaking. He is the author of the book The Velocity Mindset: How Leaders Eliminate Resistance, Gain Buy-In, and Achieve Better Results Faster. His name? Ron Karr.

Ron Karr has worked with leaders of organizations on six continents to eliminate risk, gain buy-in, and achieve better results faster using the velocity mindset. For the past 30 years, Ron’s presentations and advisory services have generated over a billion dollars in revenues for his clients.

Ron, welcome to the Keep Leading!® Podcast.

Ron Karr:

Eddie, my friend, thank you for having me. It’s such a pleasure to be with you.

Eddie Turner:

It is an absolute honor for me to have you here, Ron. I’ve been looking forward to this interview. I got a chance to watch you from afar when I joined the National Speakers Association. You were the president when I joined and later on, I got a chance to get to know you a little bit better when I joined the National Speakers Association’s New York City chapter. I got a chance to work with you a little closer.

Ron Karr:

And that was a privilege of my part too.

Eddie Turner:

Ron, what did I miss about your amazing background?

Ron Karr:

Really nothing. I mean the only thing that I would just add to it is that I’m no different than anybody else who is listening to your podcast. I’ve had my own challenges, made my own mistakes. A lot of what’s in The Velocity Mindset just came from being on this earth for 65 years and having lived through it so they call you a wise man but the wisdom only comes from experience. So, that’s really the only leg up I have on anybody else. The one thing I want your listeners to understand is while you gave some impressive stats that we had, it wasn’t me that was the heroes. The clients were the heroes. They’re the ones who went out and did it, learned and that took some risks. So, they’re the ones who actually created those results.

Eddie Turner:

Well, that’s admirable for you to share that but I’m certain that your wisdom and insight was the impetus to get that done.

Ron Karr:

Yeah. I mean, I was a facilitator. It was my job to help them see things that maybe they haven’t seen, ask questions and get things out of them where they started believing certain things and then they started moving forward.

Eddie Turner:

And that’s the work of a good coach, right?

Ron Karr:

Yes, not needing to take the credit but helping people get out of their own way so they can get to where they want to be.

Eddie Turner:

Indeed. In fact, that’s the title of one of your bestselling books, right?

Ron Karr:

Lead, Sell, or Get Out of The Way?

Eddie Turner:

Yes, I love that title.

Ron Karr:

Yeah. Well, the reason we came up with that title and it was a title on purpose, when I was selling in the ‘80s and we were really selling because you didn’t have the internet but now everybody has the internet, so they already know what you’re doing by the time you come to them, so all you’re doing is “selling” which we all refer to as talking. You will be pushed out of the way. When I’m speaking on stage and I ask the audience “How many of you can’t wait to meet that next salesperson who’s going to bore you to death with 20-feet [inaudible] where 18 mean nothing to you, raise your hands,” not one hand goes up but when I say “How many of you when you have to make a big decision would value the help of someone to lead you through a process so you make the right decision?”, well, all the hands go up. And that’s why we came up with that title. If you really want to sell, you better lead and if you don’t, you will be pushed out of the way.

Eddie Turner:

Interesting. I really like that and it is so true and it’s about the difference in the framing and the mindset that you bring.

Ron Karr:

Absolutely.

Eddie Turner:

You said 65 years of experience led to the framework that is the velocity mindset. So, what does it mean when a leader has the velocity mindset?

Ron Karr:

Well, Eddie, when you hear the word ‘velocity’, what’s the first word that comes to your mind?

Eddie Turner:

Speed.

Ron Karr:

Yeah and that’s what comes to everybody’s mind but that’s not all that it takes to have velocity. If that’s all you think it is, then you’ll probably have burnout. The physics definition of velocity is speed with direction. So, if you look at direction as being the end result and you start with that first, that will drive all your decisions so you’re making the right decisions and doing the right tasks. Now, there’s two ways that you can live your life. You can be task oriented or purpose oriented. Most of us are task oriented. So, we’re running around all day trying to get all the tasks on the to-do list done, we’re exhausted at the end of the day, had no time for lunch and then sometimes we sit down and ask ourselves “What did we really do? How did we really move the needle?” And most of the time we can’t say we did. What you want to be is purpose driven. The purpose driven, that direction where you want to go is what’s going to drive the tasks you need to be doing and help you make the best decisions.

So, I’ll give you an example. You get into an airport, let’s say, in Houston and you get into Bush Airport and you want to go, let’s say, to Newark. And you get on a plane you ask the pilot “Where are we going?” and he goes “I have no clue. Wherever the winds take us, we just stay on that plane.” And the answer is probably no but what the pilots do is they start to decide first. They want to go to Newark. So, then they backtrack their way to Houston, they look at the three waypoints that they have to get to because they know they have to hit those wave points going the right way. Then they start looking at the potential obstacles, wind, storms and they start making some changes for that. At the end of the day, they now have a flight plan that gives them the best cost to get to Newark safely and as fast as possible. That’s velocity.

So, what we’re asking our clients to do is stop worrying about the tasks. Start with the end in sight, what is it you want to accomplish. Work your way backwards and forget how you’re going to get there.

Eddie Turner:

Interesting. And I like how you tie in the need to have purpose with this speed and direction.

Ron Karr:

Well, that’s because purpose is passion. And if you don’t have the passion, then … look, we’re going to have the best laid plans. There’s an old phrase “Man plans and god laughs.” We’re going to have the best plan but things always come up and hit us where we don’t expect it. So, look at it like you’re on the track going to your destination and then unforeseen obstacles force you up the track. Well, you’ve got to have a really strong purpose or a lot of passion because that passion is going to act like the magnet to bring you back on that track so you keep going. If you don’t have that passion, that sense of purpose, anything that derails you, you’ll never get back.

Eddie Turner:

Okay. Now, as a leader listening to this conversation, what if I have the passion, what if I have the purpose but it’s difficult for me to stay focused with everything that’s happening in the world of work right now and a disruption, how can the velocity mindset help me?

Ron Karr:

But if you’re passionate and you have the purpose, that’s focus, because you’re heading towards one thing … I did a speech one time for the CenterBuild Conference which was a big conference for the International Council of Shopping Centers. It was in a Biltmore and a tent in Phoenix. It was the opening luncheon and there were a thousand mall owners there, big real estate tycoons, heavy hitters and I was doing on negotiation. The first question I asked right as soon as I opened up the conference, I just said “Hey, why is it that all of you are late on your particular projects? Even though that mall is supposed to open on July 12th come heck or high water, that mall still opens on July 12th because all of you have that purpose. You’re all dedicated and focusing on that one thing and the energy just makes it happen.” That’s what we’re talking about.

Eddie Turner:

Okay, that’s an interesting way of looking at it. Well, what makes velocity important especially in this COVID world that we’re living in right now?

Ron Karr:

Well, when COVID hit all of us, we all started realizing whether or not our purpose was strong enough for us or not. And for those that it wasn’t strong enough, a lot of people redid their purpose and started making some life-changing changes, if you will. Some people like me decided to move. After I was done with the presidency of the National Speakers Association, I had nine surgeries, most of them on my back and I was down for three years and I lost a lot of money. So, my plan was to speak to all 70 and make the money and then retire. When COVID hit, I just started saying “Well, why am I going to wait then to retire? We just learned that you never know how long you have. So, we all know that virtual now has become acceptable. Why can’t I go to Florida now, live the life that I want to live and does readjust my business?” So, a lot of us started making those kinds of plans but all we were doing was readjusting our purpose and then looking at the actions that we’re going to use to get there and those actions change based on our purpose being changed.

So, with COVID, it’s changed the world for a lot of us. A lot of us also felt out of control because we thought we had a life in control but it wasn’t. And now, we’re all facing a lot of shortages in labor and in materials and all that was just creating a whole new level of problems but for those that are focused on the end result of where they’re trying to be no matter what problems come their way, they will find the opportunities and find a way around it as long as they have that passion and as long as they’re concentrating on that end result.

Eddie Turner:

Now, that’s an interesting point that you make because people have had to rediscover passions they once had or, to your point, they have new passions.

Ron Karr:

Right. Yeah, absolutely. And so, that changed their plans a little bit.

Eddie Turner:

Yeah. And we see articles about people changing careers, people leaving jobs they never liked in the first place and they didn’t realize them until they’ve had this time to reflect during the pandemic.

Ron Karr:

So, what you just said was people started changing jobs and leaving careers they didn’t like and then pandemic helped them see that. Well, imagine now how much velocity they’re going to gain when they get to something they do like and they can’t wait to go to work every day. So, in a sense, I hate to say it this way, so I hope your lessons don’t take it the wrong way, a lot of people were hurt, a lot of people died, so I’m not saying it the way it’s going to sound but for some people, it was a blessing.

Eddie Turner:

Yeah, I understand what you mean.

Ron Karr:

Because it allowed them to see things differently and make better decisions.

Eddie Turner:

And it allowed businesses to grow in ways that they would not have grown in some cases for 10 more years.

Ron Karr:

And there’s going to be big changes. I mean, now with labor shortage, all of a sudden, employees are realizing they do have a say. So, if your employers, number one, are raising the compensation just to attract people but it’s not just the compensation they have to raise. What’s also happening is if someone gets a job now for 15 dollars and is more stressed or there’s just too much risk or the culture is not right, they can go down to a totally different company in a different industry with less stress, better culture, making the same kind of money and they’ll be happier. So, the point is, is that while years ago it was easy to find labor, today it’s not and it’s forcing companies to do what they should have done before, which is to worry about their employees, worry about their culture and create an environment that has opportunities and create an environment that basically rewards success and celebrates success and create an environment that, at the end of the day, people just can’t wait to get up and go to work.

Eddie Turner:

Indeed. And that is, to your point, more than just the external motivation of the paycheck. Now, people have an internal motivation where they want to live that purpose and have that focus with the job, with that compensation.

Ron Karr:

Absolutely.

Eddie Turner:

Good.

Well, I am enjoying talking to Ron Karr. He is the author of The Velocity Mindset: How Leaders Eliminate Resistance, Gain Buy-In, and Achieve Better Results Faster. We’ll have more with Ron right after this.

Eddie Turner:

We’re back. I’m talking to Ron Karr. Ron is the author of The Velocity Mindset: How Leaders Eliminate Resistance, Gain Buy-In, and Achieve Better Results Faster. Using the velocity mindset, Ron has helped his clients generate over a billion dollars in revenues over the years.

Ron, before we went to break, you were explaining about the need to create the right environment for the velocity mindset where people can have that sense of purpose and be focused. Can you explain to our listeners how organizations go about creating that type of environment?

Ron Karr:

Yeah. So, think of it this way. When I’m speaking, I like to do a leadership example on stage or a sales example, I’ll bring two volunteers up. When we call somebody up, whether it’s an existing client, a potential new client, when interruption. And when you interrupt someone’s day, your cortisol goes up. That’s the fight-or-flight hormone. The first thing a leader has to do is understand the environment for which they’re going into. So, if you know that when you need to talk to an employee about a performance issue or you’re talking to a customer about selling them something, you have to recognize that the environment is their cortisol is up, which means that they’re not at a 5 or 6 out of 10 where they’re really engaged. They are a little stressed out, they’re a little hesitant, so they’re not really listening to what you’re doing or what you’re talking about. Your job is to reduce that cortisol to that 5-6. If it gets too low, 1 or 2, then they’re not even listening to you, they’re just like comatose, and I was wrong, you want to get to the 3 to 5. Anything above a 5, they start getting a little stressed out. So, as a leader, you have to think ahead and be empathetic to the environment your people are in and understand your number one job is to create a kind of an environment which they want to participate in a great conversation.

So, the way we do it is I’ll have two people play sales and a customer on stage and I’ll just have them start doing in 20 seconds. I’ll stop it. I’ll interview the person playing the customer and I’ll show up this cortisol slide and I’ll say “Where were you when they first started talking to you?” He goes “I was probably at 6, you know. They interrupted my day.” And based on the conversation where now they’re going 8 and I go “Why?” – “Because they’re talking to me about features that are not of interest to me.” I said “Great.” I’ll take the salesperson aside and this time I start a one way differently and say “Look, just go up there and say, you know, “I’m here today to discuss this with you and all I just need to do is ask you a question. Do you mind?” and they’ll say yes and they’ll ask the question. They’ll say “When it comes to X, what are your three biggest issues?” Well, the moment they asked a question like that, all of a sudden, that cortisol drops. And I’ll interview the person playing the customer and I’ll say “Where is it?” and he goes “Now, it’s a 3 to 5.” I go “Why?” – “Because it wasn’t about them anymore and I wasn’t worried about them selling me. They got me into my own headspace and emotionally involved because they’re asking me what are the three things I want to develop or what are the three challenges I have.” – “Well, what changed in your brain?” I said – “Well, actually, it became less stressful because it was all about where I was trying to go and they had my attention.” I said “Okay, did you give them the three answers?” and they go “Yes.” And I said “Why? Did you trust them? You wouldn’t have given that if you didn’t trust him.” They go “Yeah, I trusted him a little bit.”

Now, trust, Eddie, we know is earned but already they got three answers from the individual as to what they’re worried about or what they’re trying to achieve because they started trusting them because they shifted the conversation to the person, not about themselves. So, I started explaining that this is oxytocin, the love and trust hormone. We know that trust is earned but you had to develop a little bit of trust to give those three answers and they said “Absolutely.” And then I said “Did you feel good about the conversation?” Now they said “Absolutely.” And I said “That’s the dopamine effect, feeling good, but the dopamine only travels with the oxytocin. If you didn’t start feeling a little trusting of the situation, you wouldn’t have had the dopamine.”

So, we explained these three hormones, which we do in the book in a very simplistic way that everybody can really understand it and now they have a different viewpoint of what it really means to influence somebody and that’s when they gain true velocity.

Eddie Turner:

Well, Ron, you are taking me back to my Psychology and Neuroscience classes there.

Ron Karr:

That’s exactly what it is.

Eddie Turner:

Well, when this happens at times, Ron, it gets people feeling a little bit resistant to change. And part of your book is about how leaders can eliminate resistance.

Ron Karr:

Well, the resistance only comes up when they feel they can’t do it. So, when I do that on stage and they can see it happening, they see the results and it’s organic, then they’re more likely to take the risk to try and do it but what’s really going to make someone want to go through that change is when the results that they’re doing right now is not working. Every action creates a reaction. You don’t like the reactions? You can change the actions.

So, to give you a case in point, I was in the CEO’s office of a company that I’m going to retain with for a few years and a production manager from the plant came in storming angry, upset that this guy was 20 minutes late in the job and upset that he was on a cell phone. I said “What did you do?” – “I told him to get off the cell phone,” he said. – “What did the guy say?” He goes “Why should I? Everybody else in their cell phone.” – “What did you do?” – “I yelled at him to get off the cell phone and stormed out of there.” And I said “How well did that serve you?” And I said “Look, you know, what does the guy want? You know, what motivates him?” – “He wants to be a master welder.” – “What does it take?” – “Great quality and timeliness.” – “How’s his quality?” – “Great. That’s why we love him.” – “How is his timeliness?” – “Well he’s 20 minutes on his job late and he’s affecting everybody else.” – “Why don’t you go back out there and speak to him again but forget the cell phone? Go and speak to him and say “Look, you want to be a master welder.”” He goes “Yeah.” – “You know, you need two things. Quality and timeliness. Your quality is perfect. We love you. Your timeliness is pretty good except on this one job where you’re 20 minutes late. How do we get you back on time so you stay on target to becoming a master welder?” Miraculously, Eddie, that person started coming up with his own ideas of what he could do differently and he executed and he got back on time.

So, what happened? It wasn’t the issue about the cell phone. It was about relating to the individual’s motivation. And the cell phone is what we call know are you going after the battle or are you going after the war. He made a battle out of a cell phone that had no impact on the war, meaning the end result. When he changed it, it was a totally different conversation. So, he was basically doing the same thing with the same three hormones we talked about but he was changing the context to which … when you think about influence, there’s two parts of the body that are critical to heart and mind. If I start telling someone what to do, get up off the cell phone or whatever, I’m going straight to the mind. And if it doesn’t compute, they’re not buying into it but they’re missing the emotional connection. If I get them emotionally involved first, which is about what they want to accomplish and where they want to be, and then I present in context as to how they can get there, I now have the undivided attention. That’s what people have to do with their leaders and that’s what they have to do if they want to gain velocity because at the end of the day, you can’t achieve what you want by yourself. We have to achieve things through the efforts of others.

Eddie Turner:

Indeed. And sometimes when we talk about achieving through the efforts of others, this concept is important because sometimes people feel like they’re just a victim, if you will. How does this mindset help if a person is locked into feeling like you’re a victim of circumstances?

Ron Karr:

Yeah, great question. So, the main premise of the book The Velocity Mindset is what would the world look like if everybody acted like a leader and not a victim of circumstance. So, when I mean a leader, in that respect, personal leadership, leadership will be alive, lives over your actions. So, when something happens like you take that production manager, he didn’t like the way that job was going, what was the first thing he did? He blamed the other guy, the employee. What a true leader does before they start blaming anybody else, they look at themselves and they say “What could I have done differently?”

Eddie Turner:

Exactly.

Ron Karr:

And that’s what he did through my facilitation because when I played back what he said to the other guy, he goes “Yeah, I wouldn’t listen to myself either.” And then I helped him do it differently. That’s when he found the real magic.

Eddie Turner:

Very nice. And you’ve used the word influence a couple of times in our conversation, Ron, and I can’t hear you say influence without reflecting back on the work you’ve done as an international leader of our speaking association and our biggest conference is Influence every year. Tell me how you use the velocity mindset in the world of speaking and that connection to leadership.

Ron Karr:

Well, whenever a client calls me up about possibly speaking at an event, it’s not about me. It’s about them. So, I just do what I teach. I say “What are the three things you want your audience to think about when they leave the event? And how important is that to your success this year?” And I find out as much as I can about the client and the goals and what they’re trying to achieve and then when they ask me what it is that I do, then I present the type of program that I can give them in context to what they’re trying to achieve. I do it the same way as I write about it. At the end of the day, we all have to remember one thing, Eddie. People do things for their reasons, not yours. So, you better find out what their reasons are.

Eddie Turner:

And not only have you written five bestselling books, you’ve written and appeared in national media and in over 250 national publications. If someone wants to follow your work, where would you point them to as a source?

Ron Karr:

Well, one thing they can do is go to VelocityMindset.com. We have a free leadership assessment they can take in five areas. They can score themselves. The good news is, is that in each area they have tips and best practices and how they can move forward. We ask them just for the email address so that now they’ll get on the list so they can get the Velocity Mindset videos every Friday so they can stay in the conversation. And if they want to, there’s a link there for them to purchase the book.

Eddie Turner:

Excellent. And we will put that link in the show notes as well as a link to all your social media profiles because folks, you want to follow Ron Karr. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. Connect with him on LinkedIn. And when you do, tell him you heard about him on the Keep Leading!® Podcast.

Ron Karr:

Yes, please. let me know where you heard about it because it will make me feel better, number one, but more importantly, I can share it with Eddie and make him feel better.

Eddie Turner:

Absolutely.

Ron, as a leader, I stress on the Keep Leading!® Podcast different stories that you share with us or quotes that help a leader keep leading. Is there a quote that you often refer to that helps you to keep leading?

Ron Karr:

Yes, it’s the one I shared with you – “People do things for their own reasons, not yours.”

Eddie Turner:

All right. People do things for their own reasons, not yours. And so, leaders, remember that. That will help them to keep leading.

Ron Karr:

And the only other thing that I think about often is empathy. When CEOs come to me and say “Hey, we need a good salesperson. We need a good executive,” one of the traits that we look for high score is empathy. And why is that? If you have empathy, that means you have an interest in learning about somebody, you’re interested in the world where they’re coming from, you’re interested in what they’re dealing with, you’ll ask questions. If you don’t have empathy, then you’ll likely become more self-focused versus what I call customer focused.

Eddie Turner:

Excellent. That’s wonderful advice. Thank you, Ron.

Ron, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed talking with you.

Ron Karr:

Me too, not talking with me but talking with you because you always stimulate the conversations when we have it. So, thank you for having me. It’s an honor.

Eddie Turner:

It is an honor as well, Ron. Thank you for teaching us about the velocity mindset so that we can keep leading.

And thank you for listening. That concludes this episode, everyone. I am Eddie Turner, The Leadership Excelerator®, reminding you that leadership is not about our title or our position. Leadership is an activity. Leadership is action. It’s not the case of once a leader, always a leader. It’s not a garment we put on and take off. We must be a leader at our core and allow it to emanate in all we do. So, whatever you’re doing, always keep leading.