Weekly Impact by Lay of The Land

Jim Haviland [00:00:00]:
Yeah.

Kris Snyder [00:00:01]:
Alright.

Jim Haviland [00:00:07]:
My action back on again. Okay. Welcome, everybody. We are here for lay of the land weekly impact. Today is 24th June 2024. Kris, you are far away and in a booth somewhere.

Kris Snyder [00:00:20]:
I am in Salt Lake City at a WeWork gym doing some work remotely. You know how that life goes.

Jim Haviland [00:00:25]:
I do. I knew all too well. I have my black WeWork card and have used it in, I don't know, a couple dozen different places. But today, we have a couple things to talk about, Kris. We have to talk about, Humberto Fedeli, a great 2 part episode. I wanna ask you about EO, and I've got some I I got a little foods food service story to tell you. So let's get right into Umberto. Umberto was, this was, episode number 171, and, he was also on episode 135.

Jim Haviland [00:00:52]:
And there was so much content that, our our good friend, Jeffrey, spread over 2 2 episodes.

Kris Snyder [00:00:58]:
Yeah. I think we've had, 2 other 2 parters, but they were really kind of the the journey, and their stories. Right? So the early on episode, later on episode, and kind of catching up to them and where they're at in their journey, this is different. Right? This, I think, is just there was so much to unpack, so much story to be told that Jeffrey wanted to make sure that we got as much of it out there as

Jim Haviland [00:01:17]:
You know, I have a lot of compassion for that. I had once had a chance to interview, Gloria Steinem for a show that I did, and every word out of her mouth was pure gold. There was nothing to edit it. So, we just gotta run the whole thing.

Kris Snyder [00:01:29]:
I don't know. So so, Humberto, 1

Jim Haviland [00:01:32]:
of the things that Kelly, struck me, Kris, is that he, he really has a business operating system. He has a a set of things he does that looks just like what we do, for smaller companies, but he's a pretty big company. He's been very successful. So he's climbed that ladder of the stages of a a business growth, and he's at the pinnacle, and he's got his own way of doing things, and it works.

Kris Snyder [00:01:53]:
Yeah. I think as much as we wanna talk about the 5 stages of business building. Right? Like, you start off with survival, then you go to sustainable, then scale, success, and stewardship. The entrepreneur goes with them. Right? Like, it's your your business that you almost won at times. I think he's really in that stewardship, that 5th portion. And in that 5th portion, as you you get to think more holistically of of the learnings that you've had, the people you've impacted, things you would pass on to others, and he's really kind of in that stewardship, and it shows in all all of his endeavors and his wisdom that he's that he's really actively working to share.

Jim Haviland [00:02:25]:
Well, you know and, Kris, I actually you know, when I when I have my 1 of my clients are are stepping up when whenever I'm I'm leveling them up, I always talk about it. This is a choice. Do you wanna be the leader that you have to become for this next stage? And here's what because here's what it looks like. We know what it looks like, but you're gonna have to go learn things. You're gonna have to go, change the way you you behave. You're gonna have to, there's gonna be new challenges ahead of you, and but you don't have to do it. You can I mean, certainly, you know, you can you can exit? We've seen that with, a good friend, Kevin. He left Keyfactor.

Jim Haviland [00:02:58]:
We talked about it last week when we talked about, the the new CEO taking over there and, you know, being an entrepreneur of the year, whatever. But the, that business is gonna become, a stewardship kinda company, but, you know, Kevin's like, hey, man. I'm good.

Kris Snyder [00:03:12]:
Well, it's funny funny you say that because I actually was at the airport in Cleveland headed to Salt Lake, and he was in the United Lounge. So we got to hug it out, say hi. And those who don't know, Kevin's at it again. Company's called Ready Set Surgical.

Jim Haviland [00:03:25]:
Yes.

Kris Snyder [00:03:26]:
We definitely gotta get Kevin on the podcast because he's got stories for days to decide. Right?

Jim Haviland [00:03:29]:
Because he's he's he's a guy that he loves that early stage, and that's really who he is. He's not gonna be the he's not gonna be the, the guy that takes it to 500 people.

Kris Snyder [00:03:38]:
Anyway, so let's look. Look at Fidelity.

Jim Haviland [00:03:40]:
So the things I loved about this, I loved, you know, first of all, his his thing about you have to have the right people and his definition for that. You gotta have these commitments. What were they? Lifelong learning, being proactive, being cooperative, and you have to have the 3 i's, integrity, intelligence, intensity. That's a great way of breaking it down. It's not the core values. It's a it's a level up from that. It's like a this is the way we think and talk about it.

Kris Snyder [00:04:00]:
Yeah. But there's still focus filters. Right? So you could call them pillars. I mean, different operating systems, but it's just another focus filter that you've added to the equation beyond core values that you start. Right? You have to you have to begin in a very simplistic form so you can grow and scale, and he's just adding some more wisdom and, hey. These are filters that we've used, and I'm sure there's a lots of applicability for other folks that are coming through the different stages of this.

Jim Haviland [00:04:21]:
He has the 5 c's. You know? But but

Kris Snyder [00:04:23]:
the thing that's the thing.

Jim Haviland [00:04:23]:
I mean, he's exactly as we as we teach people, you know, as you get to that level, you're gonna have your own operating system, and you're gonna have to apply your own thoughts and feelings on how to do all these things. You start with this this published operating system with some best practices. Might as well start here because you don't have anything because you don't wanna be accidental. You wanna be intentional.

Kris Snyder [00:04:40]:
But when

Jim Haviland [00:04:41]:
you get when you get to the top, you have to you have to have your own your own journey and and and be but still be intentional about it, but know enough to break the rules right away.

Kris Snyder [00:04:49]:
Yeah. And and the 1 of my favorite parts, and you and I've witnessed and talked a lot to talked to a lot of entrepreneurs building. But 1 of my favorite parts about his story is is the struggle that comes with it.

Jim Haviland [00:04:59]:
Right.

Kris Snyder [00:04:59]:
The humility, the humanity that, like, it's not it wasn't just a straight line. Right? Like, it doesn't go that way. We grow in spurts. We get challenged. We figure it out. We grow again. We risk. Like, those are that's that's the journey for entrepreneur purposes.

Jim Haviland [00:05:13]:
His humility around, you know, we've made some mistakes. And some of those mistakes were, like, we thought we knew what we're doing when we didn't. Right? It was just the most important

Kris Snyder [00:05:22]:
Well

Jim Haviland [00:05:23]:
humility to have. Right? You know, to

Kris Snyder [00:05:25]:
Because and and and because you you you take a small set of of you had a couple I think it was 2, maybe 3 investments that they made, and maybe it's more on the venture side of the house. Right? They were correct. And so then you think, well, I know how to do this. And maybe you're, you know, just as lucky as you were good. And so that's, you know, the the the pattern recognition. Right? And I think there's some conversations around that. And

Jim Haviland [00:05:47]:
that's that's

Kris Snyder [00:05:49]:
100%. Well, that's

Jim Haviland [00:05:49]:
I mean, that's his and it's his thing with the rational targeting, his, you know, his you know, being a big fan of of the, like, Charlie Munger, yeah, who who recently passed away. And just understanding with that, we have to look for that pattern recognition to look for what we're doing well and, and really lean into that, acknowledge that, and acknowledge what we don't do well, which is the other side of that, and that's a place where people get get wrong sometimes.

Kris Snyder [00:06:11]:
Yep. But I do wanna call out the right people conversation with Jeffrey around, like, you know, we all have biases. Right? And we like to hire people that look like us, that we're familiar with, that we can recognize. And he was actually advocating for really kind of, you know, multiple sets of interviews, multiple perspectives. How do you get rid of biases through diversity? Right? And so don't and I was caught out that, you know, through that diversity, I think you're gonna make better hires. And, you know, big big fan of that because I know

Jim Haviland [00:06:37]:
a lot of the

Kris Snyder [00:06:38]:
biases, and I'd like the other opinions and people who who think differently than I think, to see things that I can't see at times. And so I was a big fan of that. I'll also love, you know, this, you know, fan of the impact moments, Jim. We both coach to it.

Jim Haviland [00:06:51]:
Loved impact moments. You

Kris Snyder [00:06:52]:
didn't recognize

Jim Haviland [00:06:53]:
the impact moments. Yeah.

Kris Snyder [00:06:54]:
Yeah. So III don't know if our definition is exactly the same as is, but I I do love the thought of it. Right? And recognition that don't walk by that moment, that there's probably something there and how it lands, how you learn from it, and, you know, absorb it. Right? So impact moments came out as well.

Jim Haviland [00:07:08]:
And and the and the focus on having impact. I mean, you talked about having impact on your, on on your community, on your on the business, on your own learning. I mean, I think it's you know, he he obviously it's bigger than just building business. You know, wanna make more money. He's a capitalist. There's no question about that. But he knows he also wants to build a community of people that are happy, and that's the last the other thing. He he leaned into his conversation about happiness.

Kris Snyder [00:07:32]:
Yeah. Well and and I think when you start to tie it all out, right, you go back to, again, Maslow's hierarchy of need, which we're fans of, and you think about as you go up into that self actualization, you start to think beyond yourself. Right? You start to think into your community. You start to think about, you know, legacy, but not as a as a building has your name on the legacy from the ripple effect that you can create. Right? The generations of those that can have more because, you know, you gave. And I do wanna point out too. I'm a big fan of, like, and my family was like this. It was like, you give when you don't have enough.

Kris Snyder [00:08:03]:
Right? And that the lessons of you don't give because you because you have enough now. You start that habit. Right? And we've definitely, you know, tried to do that with our our kids. Almost a flaw, I think. But but but but, you know, from the standpoint of we made them clean out their closets once a quarter, right, and donate things and and start that whole like, it's not just to be getting rid of something. It's understand that what you're doing is in service to others that need things, probably have some things more than you need.

Jim Haviland [00:08:29]:
Acknowledge acknowledge your the the what you've got going for. I love that. So what work has has earned success, you know, that, like, that that notion of work 9.0 that we I know that, Mark Abbott talks about with this. I have, you know, work with a capital w, work with purpose, work with, in service, all covered in there. And it was just such a dense thing, Kris. I mean, that's when I could not listen to it at at higher speed. I used like, you know, I tried, but then I keep going back. Wait.

Kris Snyder [00:08:55]:
Wait. What did he say? What did he say? It gets all Yeah.

Jim Haviland [00:08:57]:
It's all just just just pure gold the whole time.

Kris Snyder [00:09:00]:
Yeah. My my last 1 just because, you know, a little homage to to Dan Sullivan and really understanding your unique ability, and they carry that into the US framework as well. But Dan's just great. And that whole rational, rational targeting. Right? Understanding that you're doing the right work and bringing lenses to the work. And, obviously, of course, purpose falls into place when we start to do that as well, but that's where I think people really thrive. Right? And and that doesn't mean you get start there. Sometimes you have to you have to know what you don't wanna do along the way, which you're not good at, and those are just lessons learned.

Kris Snyder [00:09:29]:
But that's what you're in pursuit of is is finding that unique ability, finding in that through rational targeting that you're doing the right work. And and making progress towards that is

Jim Haviland [00:09:37]:
a source of happiness in and of itself, and there's good research behind that. Alright. So don't miss those those couple of interviews. Really, really gold stuff for for anyone that wants to have a purposeful approach to their business. Number 2, Kris, I wanted to talk about EO. EO is beginning their new year, with the with the end of end of June. And, I know we we always talk about the the value of peer impact, how important it is for people to have peers, and EO was a great peer organization. I know you were a member for a very long time, and, and and the local chapter here in Cleveland, actually 1 of the best chapters in the country.

Jim Haviland [00:10:11]:
You know, you've done a great job. You know, everyone's done a

Kris Snyder [00:10:14]:
great job building it. And we've had a whole bunch of them on the show. Jim Pishak and, from 152, Aaron Singh for 147, Mark Augusteo, 76, David Edelman for number 32, Laura Steinberg from number 25, Cal from Pandata at number 60. I mean, there's a you

Jim Haviland [00:10:32]:
know, and Aaron Grossman. You these are all these people have really gone far, and they'll all, I think, to a person, would tell you EO helped me get there.

Kris Snyder [00:10:41]:
And I can think of 2 or 3 more that we didn't catch on that long list, so no no offense to anyone. It's incredible.

Jim Haviland [00:10:46]:
There's, of course, you episode 98.

Kris Snyder [00:10:49]:
Yeah. But but but I think the the reason we're fans of it is because, you know, it this is hard, and we're not going you're not entrepreneurs do not, you know, maybe run off to take a couple classes sort of out over weekend leadership. But, you know, think about these as your folks that you can go to a very safe place that are in the same place that you are. They're sharing experiences with you. Maybe they've been through it before. Maybe they're going through it now. And and it's a different board of advisors than if you had a board. Right? Like, it's different because they also don't have stake in the game.

Kris Snyder [00:11:18]:
Like, if you go home to your spouse or people or your investors, they they have a perspective, and it's not the same. So it's really that that peer group and especially I'll just call it EL 4 because they they catch the early stage entrepreneurs. Right? They have the accelerator program, kinda like, you know, 250 to a1000000, and then a1000000 on is kinda when you're inefficiently in EO, and it it just it just makes a difference. It really does.

Jim Haviland [00:11:41]:
Yeah. And there's and there's more places to go beyond that, but but certainly having that, getting it together, and, I mean, they've got, and they've got a great education. I know I went to the something called last week. But it but it but it's all ties back to being really healthy in yourself. You know? What's a healthy way to do entrepreneurship? What's a healthy way to to be building a business and and being really intentional about it knowing you're not alone. That that's really the the the great part of that. So and, Kris, you had a you had an amazing experience. Do you still get you get together with your forum still?

Kris Snyder [00:12:09]:
Yeah. So formates are almost for life. Right? Like, if if you do it, I was in for 13 years and and still obviously love love seeing seeing my forum. There's an alumni scenario here that doesn't get really talked about. Like, some of those names you said, you know, weren't for a long time like myself, and I like to think about them as really just being alumni. So the alumni, I think last time I knew in Cleveland, it was, like, 360 some people had come through successfully the program. They they stopped because their business was in a different place. They were in a different place.

Kris Snyder [00:12:35]:
Yeah.

Jim Haviland [00:12:36]:
They transitioned out. Yeah.

Kris Snyder [00:12:37]:
Because it's no. That doesn't mean you're done supporting the community of entrepreneurs. Right? Like, there's still a community here to be supported, and I think there's lots of there's the mentorship program for EO. I ran that program, and I reached out to the alumni community to to try to get support for the existing folks that were actually in the program.

Jim Haviland [00:12:53]:
Yeah. And it's very, very fulfilling. I I participated in the Menship program a couple times, and I'll be in this year as well. And, yeah, so so if if you've if you're looking for some peers, EO is a

Kris Snyder [00:13:03]:
great place to go. Well, great.

Jim Haviland [00:13:05]:
Well, Kris, the last thing

Kris Snyder [00:13:05]:
I wanna talk about a little

Jim Haviland [00:13:07]:
bit of, the food scene. You know, when people talk about, you know, the the hidden gems in Cleveland, the food scene often comes up. Yeah. And, I was at, the local farmer's market, the, in here in in Shaker Heights, this last weekend, ran into, to Bridget, from Luna, who's also in, in EO, by the way. And also Todd, Fetterman, he was always there. And so it's, you know, it's a community place. It's really, you know, people dedicated to, to healthy eating. But here's the thing.

Jim Haviland [00:13:38]:
Bridgette, she runs Luna. She, but I'm connected to her first because she took over from my sister at Doug Katz restaurant Fire, which was in Shaker Heights Shaker Square there. He was on show number 94, an entrepreneur of long standing here in Cleveland, building food businesses, doing a great job right now, by the way. And, Doug, is, you know, 1 of those people has been around building stuff, for for a while. He's trying to find new new ways of doing things. He was part of a wave of people that came up with himself and, Michael Simon, and and my sister, my sister Heather, who runs who runs Lucky's. And they were all friends, and, Michael Simon and Heather were, both in, Tremont when it was not safe to be in Tremont after dark, and building the restaurants there, and both had great success. My sister with, Downers Drive Ins and Dives and then building that business.

Jim Haviland [00:14:32]:
And Michael Simon obviously became the iron chef. Chef. He was you know, he's a an amazing things. And he moved into a place on East 4th that be you know, his the the his his, flagship restaurant that was downtown in Tremont moved to East 4th. He got convinced to move to East 4th as part of, work that Nick Katzis, who's won recently got the, 8 over 80 award at at Cleveland because he built up he was the owner of the pick Pickwick and Fowl Frolic and had a vision for turning Eastforth into something that was like his native Brooklyn Right. Which he did. I mean, Eastforth, fabulous scene. Right? I mean, who doesn't like to go go anywhere in Eastforth? And the new restaurant where, Lola was,

Kris Snyder [00:15:18]:
on East 4th is now called Cordelia. Andrew Watts started that 1, and, Vinny, Cimino,

Jim Haviland [00:15:25]:
who's the chef there, just got recognized by the James Beard Foundation as 1 which is like the Oscars for for for for restaurants. So, you know, there is this vibrant, community of entrepreneurs in Cleveland building very interesting, restaurants, and it's and it's really based in that very pure notion of, you know, restaurants are the center of things. When you talk to any of them about their food, it isn't just about, hey. I'm trying to slap out as many things as possible. They're trying, like, I'm trying to click create this meeting place, this community place, and, and gosh, I know what can,

Kris Snyder [00:16:01]:
I support those people when we

Jim Haviland [00:16:01]:
when we have to go somewhere or we have to order lunch? I get a lot of lunches from Luna. I mean, because I wanna support them because I could they believe in

Kris Snyder [00:16:10]:
not just the food,

Jim Haviland [00:16:11]:
but also the the community aspect of it and the building of a business and creating opportunities for other people to succeed. So that's my my my fairy tale about about foodservice, but it's a real thing.

Kris Snyder [00:16:20]:
It's a

Jim Haviland [00:16:21]:
real thing.

Kris Snyder [00:16:21]:
And I'll call out you and I both went to the Cleveland Magazine Silver Spoon authorized foundation event in May. Yep. I think it was 50 plus local chefs were there being highlighted.

Jim Haviland [00:16:33]:
Lost count. Yeah.

Kris Snyder [00:16:34]:
You could just walk place to place, and, obviously, they had pairings with, different drinks and wine. And when it's a really good representation, if anyone ever has the opportunity to go to that, I know I think my wife and I bought 4 different packages we were talking about last night. Yeah. Those

Jim Haviland [00:16:49]:
Yep. We

Kris Snyder [00:16:50]:
we just got a a bunch of them to go through just because we're excited about the food and wanna support, you know, those those folks that are continuing to build great in Cleveland. Yeah. I mean, they're they're all building great, and some of them,

Jim Haviland [00:16:59]:
I'm sure will be will be joining the show as well. Alright, Kris. That's what I got for this week. Anything I missed? I'm sorry. It's a lot.

Kris Snyder [00:17:08]:
It's a lot, but I appreciate the weekly impact.

Jim Haviland [00:17:11]:
Alright, folks. Thanks. This is, been Kris and Jim, from Lay of the Land Weekly Impact. We'll see you again next week. Bye now.

Kris Snyder [00:17:17]:
Bye bye.