Priscilla Rice (0:00)

Hello, this is Priscilla Rice, and I'm coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio. This week we're going to have a rebroadcast of one of our earlier classic podcasts. We hope you enjoy it, and thanks so much for listening. Episode number 700. Passion people process.

Dr. Ivan Meisner (0:21)

You're listening to the official BNI podcast with BNI founder and chief visionary officer, Dr. Ivan Meisner. Stay tuned for networking and referral marketing tips from the man who's been called the father of modern networking, along with suggestions and insights into getting the most from your membership in the world's largest networking organization, bni.

Priscilla Rice (0:43)

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the official BNI Podcast. I'm Priscilla Rice, and I'm coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, California. And I'm joined on the phone today by the founder and the Chief Visionary Officer of B and I, Dr. Ivan Meisner. Hello, Ivan, how are you and where have you been?

Dr. Ivan Meisner (1:03)

Well, I still zoom in around the world, but most recently I've been to Tennessee for a speaking event, a non BNI speaking event, where I was hired to come in and do a keynote, which is always fun to do.

Priscilla Rice (1:15)

Oh, cool. What are we talking about today?

Dr. Ivan Meisner (1:17)

Well, we're talking about passion, people, and process. And after four decades in the business world, I found that these three concepts truly summarize an entrepreneur's recipe for success. People are always telling me, you know, what's the secret to success? Well, it's. It's. There's no one thing. It's always a recipe. I think these three things are critical. First, you have to be passionate about what you deliver to customers and clients. Nothing great in life has ever been accomplished without passion. And this starts by making sure that you and your team are working in your flame and not in your wax. I've talked about that a lot in my podcasts. And when people are working in their flame, they're on fire. And it shows in the way they act. When they're. When they're working in their wax, it takes all their energy away. And that shows in the way they act. Not long ago, I had someone say to me that they were training people in their company on how to do something very important. And after they did the training about 10 times, they were getting bored. And that really worried me at first because it sounded like the training was this person's wax. And I asked him about that and he said no. He really enjoyed the training and he wanted to get past this sense of boredom when doing the same material over and over. And so I told him two things. This is all about passion. The first thing I said was, the next time he does the training, recognize that this might be the 11th time he does the exact same presentation, but it is the first time his audience will ever hear it. Think about how excited he was when he was the one learning this content for the first time. Embrace that feeling and make sure that the team feels the excitement of learning this content for the first time as well. The second thing I told them was storytelling is an important part of teaching your team new ideas. Make sure to relive the story. Don't just retell a story. All too often, people just retell a story. Well, then I did this, and then I did. No, no, you got to relive the story as though you were experiencing it again. It makes all the difference in storytelling. Reliving the story gives you that same kind of excitement as when you first experienced it or heard it. It's that kind of passion that you need to apply to your business. I saw him about a year later, Priscilla, and he had now done the training dozens and dozens of times. And he told me that my advice completely changed his approach and that the people in his company who went through his training came out supercharged about the organization. It gave him great joy to see the lights turn on when he trained employees of the company. This is what happens when you're passionate about the service that you have to offer. So people are the next piece of the formula. They're the most valuable asset for virtually every company in the world. People drive the engine of business. To me, this means at least two things. One, you've got to constantly be pouring into your team. Help them improve their performance by supporting them through training and through mentoring. Entrepreneurs who make sure their people receive proper mentoring are going to be more successful. We've all had people in our lives, and I've talked about this in the podcast before, we've all had people in our lives. There are people in our story, and these are people who've given us little nuggets to help us in some major way and to support us in some way. These are people who helped us be a better version of ourselves, and they're in our story. But a great entrepreneur recognizes that the true measure of mentorship is not who's in our story, but rather whose story are we in? Whose life have we changed in some way to help them be a better version of themselves? The second thing in this area of people is that you've got to be a culture champion. An organization's culture is the secret sauce to great companies. It is the DNA of an organization. You want to make sure that the core values of the business are infused into the hearts and minds of the people throughout your organization. If you have healthy organizational core values and you strive hard to share them and live them, you will help to form a team of people who will be loyal to the organizational values as well. And when this happens, make sure to treat that loyalty to the core values like royalty in the organization. That's really important. And I think that begins in bni. That begins with our visitors. And right now we're still doing most of our meetings by Zoom. And I think it's really important that when you do breakouts and you're in a breakout and you've got a visitor, rather than you chitchat with the other member, you need to make that visitor feel like royalty. Ask about them, make them feel engaged, make them go, wow, this is really a great networking organization. They care about people. And that's if you know you want to get visitors to join on Zoom, you make them feel unbelievably welcome before a meeting, during the open networking, of course, during the meeting and after. Lastly, it's about process. Having good systems in place allows people to engage in their passion to deliver quality performance. Process is important. Systems are important. I have two thoughts about process. While process and systems are important, it's also important to understand that you have to apply processes more like Mandela than Attila. And I know I've said that in the podcast before. It's got to be tough love. You got to really show you care about people. In other words, be a tyrant in the application of your systems in your business and in bni. Don't be a tyrant about it. Do it in a way that cares, that shows you care. I mentioned before that When I was 13, my mother gave me a paperweight that I still have on my desk today that says diplomacy is the art of letting someone else have your way. She told me it's about collaboration, not manipulation. And it was about working with people to achieve success for everyone. And so coaching and guiding people on the processes is the way to get them to where they need to go to have your organization be successful. And I'm talking about your company, and I'm talking about bni. They both have the same needs for success. People, Passion. Passion, people and process. Check your processes regularly. That's the second item under processes. Don't be enslaved to old practices. Many times I've seen companies create incredibly cumbersome Processes which are demoralizing to people in an organization. It's important that the entrepreneur listen to their team when the process is too complicated, have mechanisms in place to ensure communication. I found that having advisory bodies and in bni, we've got more than a dozen different advisory bodies to help us navigate this world we live in. And we, these, these bodies give us, truly help us to deliver, I think, a better product. I also recommend that you go in and actually perform the processes yourself and see what they see, see what kind of experience they're having. It's one of the reasons why at BI Global, all of our employees are required to go to B and I meetings to see them and to experience them in person. I think that's incredibly important. And be prepared, be prepared to change as necessary. Look at what BNI has done. My goodness. A year ago, we were just transitioning to online. And we were not only able to save B and I by making that transition, we have thrived. BNI members have thrived. We did over 16 billion US dollars. And thank you for closed business during COVID And that's happened because we were able to adjust the processes to fit the situation. And that's really important when you're doing or focusing on process. So, Priscilla, it's passion, it's people, it's processes. And if you create an organization that executes well in these three areas, you will be a force to reckon with in any business you run. You will become a leader in your industry and you will help to create an amazing enterprise that makes a difference in more people's lives. What are your thoughts, Priscilla?