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- [00:00]
A
I created vehicles that would allow me to communicate and inspire people throughout the year. Every leader should do that.
- [00:13]
B
Welcome to another episode of How Leaders Lead. And happy New Year's, Everybody. David, it's January 1st. I know you love the beginning of the new year. How you feeling about 2026?
- [00:23]
A
Happy New Year, Kula. I'm feeling great. 2025 was awesome. 2026 is going to be even better.
- [00:30]
B
I believe it. I believe it. You know, as we head into the new year, there's always a lot of noise around resolutions and fresh starts and big goals and a lot of time. David, leaders feel this pressure to come in really hot back from the holidays, to move faster, to push harder, to set bigger goals. Like, they have this kind of energy about them that's like, let's go, let's go, let's go. But, you know, I think as we've interviewed so many leaders, what we've learned over time is that strong leadership doesn't always come from doing more. What it really comes from is getting clear on the things that matter. And David, I'm so glad that this episode is airing on New Year's Day because you have a number of core practices that you've relied on year after year that help you stay focused and really lead with intention. And these practices we've talked about a lot on the show, you've written about them in your books. But what we want to do today for everybody listening is give you a snapshot of these kind of core practices that you can start your year with so that you start strong and you keep your focus and clarity on the things that really matter. So, David, I'm putting you in the hot seat today to give our listeners five key practices that they can do today on January 1, 2026, that are really gonna help them start the year off strong with a ton of clarity about focusing on the things that really matter.
- [01:49]
A
Well, it's gonna take me a while maybe to come up with five. Okay, but I'll give you a shot. So I'm gonna stall. I'll stall a little bit by saying, you know, it's like process and discipline around what really matters. And, you know, so I think as a leader, you have to put process and discipline around what really matters and think that through as you go into to each and every year. So I think the first thing I always do is I do what I call my three by five exercise. And, you know, self awareness is critical. You have to know who you are. So I do this three by five exercise where I actually get out a card and I write down on one side of it, you know, what am I today as a leader? Then I write down how can I be even more effective tomorrow? And so I do a self assessment based on all the feedback that I've gotten based on my own assessment of how I think I am today. And then I write down what can I do to be even better tomorrow? And that tomorrow being 20, 26. And then I posted on my, my refrigerator. So I keep it front and center. So I, you know, I go to that refrigerator far too often. So when I go there it reminds me of my three by five card. So, you know, I think having a high self awareness and going through the process of, you know, who you are today and how you can get better, how you can improve, you know, what you got to work on to sharpen the ax, I think is really, really important and at the same time, you know, leveraging the skills that you have.
- [03:21]
B
I love it. That's a practice that I've adopted from you. And I love seeing that 3 by 5 card on my refrigerator because I too visit the fridge probably more than I should. But it's just such a good reminder of not only what you set out to do for that year, but how you really want to show up in the world. It reminds me of that episode that we did recently with Demola, who's the CEO of Red Lobster. He says leadership is all about self improvement. And you're so right. You can't really do anything for others unless you truly know yourself and how you're going to grow yourself.
- [03:53]
A
Yeah, and I think that that 3 by 5 card really drives your self awareness. But then I think you also have to build awareness of what your organization has to really address to be successful in the coming year. And that means I ask myself as a leader, have I defined the reality that we face? Because I think the first responsibility of leadership, as other people have said, is to define reality. So you know, have I defined that reality for, for my team? And as I go into the year, you know, how am I going to express that so that everybody knows what the challenge is we face as we go about growing the business? So that would be the second thing.
- [04:39]
B
I've heard you talk about the different categories of reality that you feel are most important to define. What are those categories?
- [04:46]
A
Well, I think you want to define the financial reality. You know, what are the economics of your business? What kind of shape are you in? The customer reality, you know, what are your customers telling you about your business? And then Your team member reality, you know, you've got. Everybody has their employees, and, you know, what are your team members telling you and how are they seeing the world? And I think if you define the reality from. From the financial side of the equation, the customer side of the equation, and how your team members are thinking about it, you've got a real understanding of what you have to address to be successful.
- [05:24]
B
I also think, coupled with that, David, the defining reality is you don't need to be the only person in your business who knows that reality. So a big part of that is also communicating it to your team. And the third practice that I know you do at the beginning of every year, as you think through how you're gonna communicate these things to your team. So talk a little bit about that third principle or practice around communication plans.
- [05:48]
A
Well, I think, you know, you have to have a plan, and you have to work it. You know, people say communicate, communicate, communicate. They're right. And the best leaders do communicate. And the reason is the more, you know, the more you care. And so, you know, I think that was a phrase that Sam Walton had, and I've used it and ripped it off for many years. Sometimes I forget to give him the attribution. But I realized that that sounds way too smart for me to come up with anything like that. But communication is just such a powerful thing, and don't leave it to chance. So I would come up with different ways that I was going to communicate. So I would always have my. I had global webinars, as technology enabled those kinds of things. And whenever I went on road trips, I posted what was happening real time, you know, with emails and other communications where I would send out pictures of restaurants that I saw around the world. But I created vehicles that would allow me to communicate and inspire people throughout the year. Every leader should do that.
- [06:57]
B
I love it. I also love, you know, I've had the privilege of touring the YUM headquarters in Louisville a couple times. And I love all the letters that you've written to all the employees that are framed on the wall.
- [07:08]
A
Recognition is a very important thing. And that's another thing that I do. That would probably be the fourth thing that I do every year, is I really decide what do I want to recognize most this year. I would always try to recognize the leaders, who we're exhibiting, our. How we work together principals or how we win together principals. But then each year, I would try to pick one that I would really try to hone in on. Like, you know, one year we were focused on being Customer maniacs. So I'm going to try to recognize the heck out of every customer mania. I got people that were just going above and beyond to make sure they could do everything to satisfy our customers, understand what our customers want, and then, then please them, you know, so another year was execution. I really wanted to get at execution, you know, who's, who's really driving the kind of execution that, that we really need to have another year was just building know how, who's really, who's really seeking knowledge wherever they can find it. And so I would try to hone in on, you know, particular behaviors that, that, that I really wanted to accentuate as we, we went into the year. And every year I tried to find that little next thing that would take our company forward. Whether it was customer focus, building, know how, you know, getting better at execution. Those are just three examples. You know, every business is all about people and every leader needs to focus on people. And you can't really, you know, coach everybody in the organization, but there are people who you can coach and you can take the time to coach. I would always develop my coaching plan. Who are the people in 2026 that I'm going to really go out of my way to make sure they get my personal attention and coaching and then I would develop a way to do that. And one way I did that, going back to the beginning of our conversation, is I had everybody, all the leaders in our company develop their own three by five cards. And I would set up one on one coaching sessions with a number of leaders. And the first thing we do is go through that, that three by five card. And then we get into key performance indicators, et cetera, et cetera. But I think having a plan to do that really makes a lot of sense. You just can't really leave things to chance. And so I think the 3 by 5 card really helps you define your personal reality. I think then you need to make sure that you define the reality, the customer reality, employee reality, the financial reality that you're facing. Make sure people know that, then have a communication plan that really just keeps laying it out. You know, what you're learning, how you're doing, you know, really sharing with people what you know so that they're going to care even more. And then, you know, I think it's, it's, it's so important to, to develop your coaching plan. Who are you going to coach in 2026? And then last but not least, you know, who are you going to recognize? And let me not forget one other thing. About that recognition. Have fun doing it.
- [10:20]
B
I was waiting for it. I knew you were going to say it.
- [10:22]
A
Hey, recognize people and have fun doing it. So those are some things I think can help any leader, you know, get off to a good start. But most importantly, you need to put process and discipline, discipline around those five things to make sure that they happen for you and your piece of whatever company you happen to be leading.
- [10:41]
B
I love these practices because they're really so simple and they're the things that we, as leaders and members of an organization should get into the habit of doing on our regular basis. And you don't have to pull up a spreadsheet, a sales report, I mean, maybe to define your financial reality, but these are things that you can just get into the process of doing yourself. And I know that as I have incorporated some of these habits into my own life, I. I just find that I think so much more clearly, and I have a tremendous amount of focus on the things that matter most because of this process and discipline around just spending time thinking about these things.
- [11:20]
A
Well, that's great, Kula and I, I want to go into this year, first of all, by recognizing all our listeners for tuning in. Appreciate, appreciate the fact. I also want to recognize you for telling everybody about this podcast because it is taking off. I mean, it is an extremely popular podcast and we're doing a lot of good in the world. And the more. More we can have people hear the message of what great leaders are telling us that we should do, I think that the better off we're all going to be. So thank you very much for your support out there, and let's have a great 2026. And I can assure you that we are going to keep bringing fantastic leaders to you each week, and we're going to do our best to really hone in on the insights that we learn from each one of them, and we appreciate any feedback you want to give us.
- [12:11]
B
Thank you so much for listening and happy New Year.