Fostering Growth and Resilience in Advertising Agencies with Andrew Palosi

Buckle up as Andrew Palosi, the marketing maestro at the helm of AdLeverage and DataCubeai, takes us through the ebbs and flows of agency leadership. From his humble beginnings to the upper echelons of advertising, Andrew's journey is a masterclass in blending the boldness of traditional media with the innovation of digital strategies. His tales aren't just about personal triumphs; they're blueprints for anyone dreaming big in the competitive world of advertising. As we delve into the essence of media evolution, Andrew's narrative will ignite your passion and set your aspirations alight.

When the pandemic hit, it wasn't just about staying afloat; it was about leading with heart and gumption. Andrew's candid recount of the sacrifices he made for his team, from refinancing his home to securing his staff's future, exemplifies the mettle of true leadership. His dedication teaches us a crucial lesson: when times get tough, the tough don't just get going—they lay the foundation for a nurturing and optimistic work culture that stands the test of time.

Managing one company is a feat; steering multiple is an odyssey. Andrew Palosi unfolds the map to navigating multiple ventures, focusing on the real problems that spur organic growth and spawn new businesses. From fostering trust to equipping teams with the tools for victory, he stresses the significance of continuous learning and agency contribution to broader business success. Join us as Andrew imparts the wisdom of transparency and accountability in leadership, proving that the path to high performance is paved with honesty and the courage to face uncomfortable truths.

To learn more about the work being done at Ad Leverage and to connect with Andrew, visit Ad Leverage or email yo@adlev.co to discover their SaaS tools like datacube.ai or CxC.ai.

Transcript

Dr. William Attaway: 0:00

I'm so excited today to have Andrew Palosi on the podcast. With 20 years of experience working in various positions in marketing, Andrew is the CEO at AdLeverage, a full-service media and tech agency. He leads a cross-functional team of over 80 people building unique traditional and digital campaigns that help fuel efficient revenue growth for their partners. That help fuel efficient revenue growth for their partners. He's deeply passionate about creating an environment of growth, accountability and seamlessly integrating trusted products and processes that help make complex marketing decisions just a bit easier. He also currently serves as the CEO for DataCube. ai, a data visualization SaaS tool incubated within ad leverage. This leverages artificial intelligence and automated cross-platform computations to create custom performance dashboards for just about any KPI tracking department within an organization. And, Andrew, I'm so glad that you're here. Thanks for being on the show today.

Andrew Palosi: 1:00

Awesome to be here. Thank you so much. I didn't realize I did all those things until you said it again.

Intro / Outro: 1:06

Welcome to Catalytic Leadership, the podcast designed to help leaders intentionally grow and thrive.

Dr. William Attaway: 1:19

Here is your host author and leadership and executive coach, Dr William Attaway. I would love, Andrew, for you to begin by sharing just a little bit of your story with our listeners, particularly around your journey and your development as a leader.

Andrew Palosi: 1:34

It all started out of passion. I have always had a passion for advertising and marketing, you know, and a passion for helping people. And you know I was always fascinated with advertising. So in college I studied it, graduated with a degree in business and specialization in marketing and advertising, and then ended up moving out to Southern California and got an advertising sales job right out of college and so knew nothing of the advertising business the real business, not the textbook business and knew nothing of the Los Angeles market. So thankfully I was able to work with some very smart folks. I was able to find a mentor in the business rather quickly, but it was legitimately the traditional idea of a newbie in sales. Here's the phone book. Here's the media kit. Best of luck, kid, you make nothing until you go. You eat what you kill around here. So that's legitimately how it started.

Andrew Palosi: 2:38

It was unbelievably daunting and scary, but I had a wife and a little one and so I needed to figure it out and so I put in the work and worked longer hours than anybody around me.

Andrew Palosi: 2:53

I never went out to lunch. I, you know, literally was tied to the desk for, you know, the first several years of my career, career, and I just grew an affinity and a love when I put a particular campaign out there. I'll never forget the first campaign I did that was successful and created from nothing and launched on a Monday and the client calls and it was like, hey, whatever it is that you're doing, keep doing it. Our phone's ringing off the hook, we're getting a lot of bookings it was a LASIK surgeon and that feeling of being able to create something from nothing, just some ideas on what we think would work and what we think would really benefit their business, and then it delivers. I was hooked and so that really started the journey in sales and then led to sales management and about two years into sales management I was fortunate enough to be able to start the agency. So that was about 17 years ago now, so roughly a 20-year journey, but 17 years at this point as an agency owner.

Dr. William Attaway: 4:00

My goodness, what a journey. I think, I look at what you're doing and it's unique because you're doing both traditional and digital. I find people typically are going to specialize in one or the other. You do a full service thing.

Andrew Palosi: 4:16

You know I love radio, love TV. You know that was our first department that we folded in was media planning and buying and then production. So we have our own production facilities and studios and you know it's we were. Frankly, it started with TV because we were, you know, tv production, rather because we, if you don't have the spot that is supposed to run for the buy, your buy is not running, which means that the agency is not billing, or if you have a spot that is not the quality it needs to be, then it doesn't get the results and nobody's happy, right?

Andrew Palosi: 4:58

So we folded in TV production and that department first, and then, as the media landscape evolved, I felt remiss to not evolve with it. I felt like it was just an absolute must and I didn't want to A give up control of such a pivotal piece of performance media on the digital side, depending on where in the funnel we're focusing. But B I just felt like, hey, the better service we can provide, the more we can add value at every step of the way, the deeper our relationship is going to be and the better of a partner we can be. Because we know that we do have visibility into all of it. We do have, you know, real line of sight into what's working and what's not, sight into what's working and what's not.

Andrew Palosi: 5:47

And you know that as the media landscape and viewing habits have changed and evolved, you'll see a tremendous amount of what would be considered your offline media results showing in online trackable ways. Right, they're going to the organic search to do the research. They're going and Googling the company once they see the TV spot or hear the radio ad. So having that be disconnected in my mind left a lot to be desired. So slowly but surely started folding it all in-house and that was kind of the mantra from day one is as soon as we could afford and in a lot of cases not afford to do it we did it anyway and just did our best to make it all work and do what we felt was going to benefit the client at the end of the day.

Dr. William Attaway: 6:30

That's just remarkable, Andrew. I watched my dad start a traditional advertising agency back in the early 70s Right, and you know, back then there's no digital, right, it's all TV radio, newspapers, mailers. It's all TV radio, newspapers, mailers. And to watch that industry change so much over those years and watch agencies that start up digital but don't really take into account the other side or that stick with the traditional and don't really envelop what's coming out new, I would imagine this requires you to stay on your game all the time when it comes to learning, because this is a field that changes every day.

Andrew Palosi: 7:13

Oh, I mean, look, I think that too.

Andrew Palosi: 7:17

It's funny when you see some of these job posts that are supposed to be a marketing director or a marketing coordinator and they're supposed to be savvy in about every discipline possible and they're supposed to have in-platform knowledge of the ins and outs and the latest and greatest in all these platforms, and I would say that it is next to impossible for any one person to properly keep up with how quickly it is moving and evolving within these platforms.

Andrew Palosi: 7:47

And so I think that, as soon as we could, we developed a structure where we have independent directors that are responsible for the ins and outs of their platform and they do run their teams that are only responsible for the ins and outs of their platforms and I think that, while we have account directors that absolutely have some knowledge of how all platforms are evolving and changing and working for the client, it's an impossibility for one person at this stage of the game to truly be an expert in their craft in multiple digital disciplines, and so that's why it very quickly became obvious, as things started evolving quicker and quicker and now they're changing faster than ever that you truly have to have people that are living and breathing their platform on a daily basis to be able to keep up.

Dr. William Attaway: 8:37

Strategic thinking and intentional delegation. It seems like that's not optional for you.

Andrew Palosi: 8:45

Yeah, absolutely not. I think that the media landscape is changing so quickly that if you can't have a team around you that you absolutely trust to be experts in their craft and, you know, as we just mentioned, within their platform, you know you have to have people we always say is this somebody you want in the bunker with you. People we always say is this?

Dr. William Attaway: 9:06

somebody you want in the bunker with you.

Andrew Palosi: 9:07

That's kind of our go-to saying around here and we love and respect our teammates that we absolutely want them in the bunker with us because you have to be able to let go and allow them to be that real master of their craft and come to the table with the action that needs to be taken for the client and know that they're going to own that piece of it on behalf of the agency and on behalf of the client.

Dr. William Attaway: 9:30

That's good. One of the challenges that I hear from a lot of agency owners is finding the right people, and there's so much churn and difficulty around retention because they're not a good fit culturally, they're not a good fit chemistry, they're not a good fit competencies that are needed. How do you find the right people for what you're doing?

Andrew Palosi: 9:51

I would say, as we've grown as an agency and as we've learned more and more, we hire much slower.

Andrew Palosi: 9:57

I would say that you know our process of identifying the right team members that are the right cultural fit, that are the right fit from an experience perspective and just a general capabilities perspective.

Andrew Palosi: 10:11

I think that that process has gotten longer and longer as we've evolved as an agency, and I think that we've been very blessed, though, that some of the top talent that we have here is very quick once they join the team and really get to understand how we operate in the culture at the agency, is very quick to bring other folks over, and so we've been very fortunate in that regard, as we've continued to grow and evolve, that the true leaders and thought leaders in their space that we have on our team. They've worked with other great colleagues in the past, and so a big source of the talent that we're fortunate enough to call our teammates has come from being teammates of other team members of ours in the past, which is always great, because when you have full trust and faith that somebody is going to show up and be a great teammate and get the job done at an impeccable level and they're vouching fully for someone. That means an awful lot.

Dr. William Attaway: 11:07

So true, I love that type of intentional networking. You know who do you know that we should know who do you know that would be a good fit here. I love that Absolutely. I think that's so useful. You know, somebody can look at you from the outside, Andrew, and, I imagine, be thinking, wow, well, you know, yeah, he moved out to SoCal and everything since then has just been up into the right. Like you know, he doesn't have any of the challenges that I have as an entrepreneur. He hasn't faced what I face. If somebody were to say that to you, what would your response be?

Andrew Palosi: 11:38

I'd get a great chuckle like I just did. You know, I'll tell you, man, there have been more sleepless nights and stomach aches, and still every day. Right, the challenge is they're always there. They're just different as you grow and very early on the entire business was reliant on just a couple of clients, and if one of them went away I really wouldn't be able to make endsimate. I didn't know what I was going to do.

Andrew Palosi: 12:05

But I believe that we could do a better job than what we were seeing out there. I believe that if we stayed working hard and grinding for our clients and protecting our clients and staying creative, that we could keep them evolving, and we've been very fortunate to grow very organically as a result of that. But I think that in the early stages we had maybe six or seven people working out of a bedroom in my house before we made the jump to get an office, and that was a big, scary thing. And so we've gone through all the ups and downs. Covid hit 90% of our billing went away overnight. I legitimately had no idea what I was going to do or how it was going to all come back together after that, but that was where we were left as an agency and I didn't want to lay people off.

Andrew Palosi: 12:56

We did not lay people off as a result and it made for some pretty brutal personal circumstances financially during those times where I had to make some really rough decisions Emptying 401ks, refinancing the house, doing all these things to not lay people off and to make it work until we could get onto the other side. To make it work until we could get onto the other side. And as an entrepreneur, I have a deep-seated commitment to my team and I feel like that's the only way this works long-term is they see that, they feel that, they know that and I make commitments and they mean the world to me to keep. And so if that means that I go through some personal struggle and personal pain and I'm fighting the good fight that very, very few knew or know at the time, right, but I feel like that's the obligation that we take on when we assure our teammates that they're gonna be protected and that this is gonna be a great opportunity for them. That's the obligation that I feel.

Dr. William Attaway: 14:06

I think that is fantastic leadership and I hope our listeners don't run past this because, Andrew, that's something not a lot of people would do. You know, sacrifice personally for the sake of the team. Sacrifice personally to make sure that you're not going to lay people off, because you know that the culture that you've built matters and you want that on the other side of the crisis.

Andrew Palosi: 14:29

That's right, that's right. I just felt there is going to be another side of this, right. This is just, you know, one more down on the proverbial roller coaster of small business life, right? And I always say I may not know how, but I know it's going to be okay right and I think that it's our job and my job to lead by continuing to move through the most difficult situation right.

Andrew Palosi: 14:54

And I think that that is the one thing that I've made the commitment to myself and, much more importantly, made the commitment to the team that, hey, irrespective of what percentage I feel I'm at for the day, you can bet your ass, I'm showing up and I'm going to put one foot in front of the other and we're going to figure this out together. And I feel like that is the true meaning of a team is, you know, we serve alongside each other. I'm the first one when a situation starts getting hairy with a client or whatever it is, I say blame me, put it on me, put me on the call, let's get together and figure it out Right. Support nothing's perfect, but I feel like they're able to really focus on what they can do to make a positive impact in the situation and know that they will have the support and the resources to do the best job possible.

Dr. William Attaway: 15:49

I think that is such a fantastic example of what Jim Collins calls a level five leader. That's the blend of humility, right Understanding that, hey, I'm going to serve the team, I'm going to operate from a place of servant leadership and incurable optimism that the best is yet to come. That doesn't mean you deny reality what is, but you believe the best days are still ahead, and that's what I'm hearing from you.

Andrew Palosi: 16:16

Absolutely.

Andrew Palosi: 16:17

Look, I think the definition of toxic positivity is saying there is no problem when there's an obvious problem, right?

Andrew Palosi: 16:22

So you know, I feel like you know sometimes it's a fine line, but I absolutely believe that I'm blown away if I take a step back which I rarely do and I know I need to be better about doing at how far we've come. People ask the question all the time what's your three-year plan, five-year plan, whatever it is right, and I think that I've always been obsessed with the process and I've always found a lot more peace of mind in the process. Right, let's focus on the right things. Let's focus on ensuring that we're doing everything we can for the client to win and as long as we're centered around that and focused on that and we've got the right team in place to focus, that has the technical capability, the mindset, the attitude that we're going to do everything it takes for that client to win and we come together as a team to do so, I'm blown away by what we've accomplished to this point and do really believe that we are just getting going as an agency because we continue to be stronger and stronger as a team.

Dr. William Attaway: 17:27

So good. A lot of people listening may be looking at you too and saying, wow, he's leading multiple companies as CEO. I struggle enough just to lead one, but, man, I think I'd like to move that direction. If you were talking to somebody over coffee and they really want to move in that direction of being a multi-company CEO, is there any advice that you would give to them?

Andrew Palosi: 17:55

I would start with why. I mean honestly. I would like to build an understanding of why that is appealing, why they feel like that is the route they want to go. And the reason I say that is because, in this instance, this was a very natural evolution, a very natural incubation of the second product within the agency first. And so we've got some very creative, very savvy folks that saw an opportunity to build something that would be a phenomenal solution for a lot of our clients, and so they set out to just build a proper solution for a problem that an agency client was facing, and ultimately, another company was birthed as a result of that.

Andrew Palosi: 18:40

And so I think that it wasn't my intention to be a multi-company CEO. It was my intention to build a solution for a problem we knew was very pervasive, and so when I look at it, it's like a second child to me, because that's ultimately how it came to be. A second child to me, because that's ultimately how it came to be, was we felt we could come together as a team and solve a problem that a lot of companies faced, and we were successful in doing so, and the natural evolution and the natural trajectory of that project took it to be a separate company with a completely separate team and all that comes along with it, and so I would say it was a very natural progression and not something that I set out to be a multi-company CEO. It's legitimately something that took on a life of its own, and I'm grateful that it did.

Dr. William Attaway: 19:29

I love the organic nature of that, that this was not something where you're like, hey, I want this to build yourself up, to build your kingdom, so to speak. This was organic. And I think there's a lot of wisdom there for people who are listening.

Andrew Palosi: 19:44

Yeah, and look, I think that you know there is um it it.

Andrew Palosi: 19:48

To me it was never really the mission to build a separate company, it was the mission to build a solution, and the solution just ended up being a separate company, right, and I think that agency life kind of lends itself to.

Andrew Palosi: 20:01

If you're a good agency partner, you're talking about the problems your clients are facing. You're talking about the issues that are hindering their operation or hindering progress or conversion, or closes or increased revenue. We want to identify what the things are that they're struggling with and see what we can do as a real business partner to help solve real business problems. Because what it comes down to is, if that handoff between marketing and operations isn't as seamless or efficient as it can be, we're never going to optimize to the fullest of our ability. And so I look at our job as an agency as well, beyond the marketing and advertising side through to the operational side. Because if we are not in there trying to focus on how these spots or these ads, or whatever it is, are driving additional opportunities for their team but further driving additional revenue for their business, that's how we can be the best possible partner. So we go beyond clicks and conversions into real revenue, real opportunities, real business increases. That's when we feel like we're doing the job we need to do.

Dr. William Attaway: 21:16

Almost like a strategy partner a growth partner. You're going to come alongside and help them see what they can't see, to help them go where they want to go.

Andrew Palosi: 21:24

Absolutely yeah. So we've built platforms that show that real end-to-end journey as a result of just needing something better to be able to see everything in one place and not all companies have that level of visibility into that handoff between marketing or advertising and operations to really see the net result at the end of the day. And it's important to us to know that we're not only running healthy campaigns but that they're making a real positive business impact.

Dr. William Attaway: 21:50

Well, I think you measure what matters. It sounds like you are doing a fantastic job of helping your clients do just that.

Andrew Palosi: 21:57

William, just trying to be better every day, man. That's our mantra around here, is students every day.

Dr. William Attaway: 22:02

That's it every day. Let's talk about that for just a minute around your leadership. You know, a year from now, three years from now, five years from now, your companies are gonna need you to lead at a higher level. They're gonna need more from you. What are you doing to stay on top of your game and continue to level up with the new leadership skills that your teams and your companies are going to need you to have?

Andrew Palosi: 22:28

Well, I think that any good relationship really starts with trust and has a lot of accountability in the mix, and so what we are trying to do as companies and our leadership teams within the companies is have a lot of open dialogue and healthy debate about where we're going as a company and we all need to be held accountable for the work that we're doing, to continue to advance as people, as leaders and collectively as a team and company.

Andrew Palosi: 23:02

That is trying to be that better every day, right, and so I think that I come in and one. I think that it's my job to ensure that each leader within the company and, ultimately, each team member within the company has the resources and the knowledge they need to do a damn good job and feel like they are able to do the job they want to do. Because I think that as you level up as a team and as you get team members that actually care about the job they're doing and really, you know, detest the idea of phoning it in, those are the types of people that we love having on our team, and we're blessed with an unbelievable amount of them. But it starts there, right? Do you have the continuing education, the training, the tools, the knowledge to be able to operate at that next level? Right, and so that's where it starts. But then I think it goes a layer deeper into creating an environment where it's safe to talk about the problems right.

Andrew Palosi: 24:01

I think that when you mentioned a level five leader and we're actually it's really funny that you said that, because as a leadership team, we're reading good to great together right now, and so we're talking about all sorts of leadership styles and the ultimate rise and fall of a lot of that. One time great companies, right but I think what that brings about is being able to acknowledge where we're doing a great job and also have an open conversation about where we're not, about where we need to, where we need to put in more time, effort, energy, where we feel like we have the largest opportunity to improve, and that absolutely starts with me, and I have open dialogue with my leadership team and my company and my full company meeting as recently as yesterday, talking about how we have to have an environment where good, bad and different you have a vote if you raise your hand.

Andrew Palosi: 24:59

And let's deal with problems early, before they escalate, just like any relationship. Let's not let things bubble up. Let's not let things go from just a little bit upsetting to toxic right. Let's deal with them early. Let's come together and build solutions. That way we don't get to that point where we're ultimately not performing at our best because we're so frustrated or because a process isn't working or whatever. We don't have a given tool. Whatever the case may be there's a hundred things that go on in the business any given day for any given team member but just cultivating an environment where we can talk about those things and know that it's safe to deal with them together and to raise your hand and talk about what's not working, just like you do what is.

Dr. William Attaway: 25:40

Hmm, I think that openness and that transparency is one of the secrets of your success and, while your team is operating at the peak performance level, that it is because you invite that type of feedback. You don't just tell them I want this once a year when you do a review. Right, you're asking for it all the time.

Andrew Palosi: 26:02

These are everyday conversations, my friend. It really is, and it's always an interesting dynamic when you have people that are coming from environments where it was absolutely not that way. Don't you dare disagree with a leader or a manager, right, like, definitely don't do it in public or in a group setting or whatever it is. So we have a command within the agency. It's direct with respect, right, so we have to be able to speak to each other directly.

Andrew Palosi: 26:32

Let's not mince words. Everybody's busy. We're dealing with real problems, trying to solve real problems. We've all got personal and professional things that we're dealing with as humans at the end of the day. But we better do it with respect, and so I always invite the direct conversation, but it needs to be like you are having that conversation with the person that you respect the most, irrespective of who you're talking to. So direct with respect is a very big thing around here.

Dr. William Attaway: 26:59

I love that phrase. I've never heard that before. Direct with respect.

Dr. William Attaway: 27:03

I talk about the last 10% of honesty, and this is something that before Direct. With respect, I talk about the last 10% of honesty, and this is something that I've talked with our team about for many, many years. The first 90% of honesty is so easy to give to one another, but we often hold back the last 10% because that's the part that might make people feel uncomfortable or might run across somebody's toes or might damage or even break a relationship. The problem is that last 10% is where the magic lives. That's where transformation is, and so we have conversations where I say I don't just want the last 10% from you, I need it. We need it to get better organizationally. That's what that sounds like to me direct.

Andrew Palosi: 27:57

With respect, that's right yeah to me Direct with respect, something that needs improvement or that someone did that had a real negative impact on another team member or whatever it is. Nobody likes having those conversations, but I think that over the years you see how much more important it is to be able to have that openness and that open dialogue about what somebody is doing great and really excelling with. But then where do we need to work? Where do we need to put in the work? And I am not immune to that. I want that feedback.

Andrew Palosi: 28:28

I need that feedback, and so I think when people just see it, um, you know it's, it's through and through within the agency. If there's a problem, we're going to come together as adults and we're going to talk about it. And we're going to talk just like this and we're going to speak out of respect to another professional and to a peer and to a teammate. But we're not going to let it fester, we're not going to let it continue to simmer, and I think that dealing with those things professionally and respectfully has made us so much stronger as a team. As a team, that last 10% that may be viewed as a little bit unpleasant is essential to move forward as connected as you need to to really operate at the level that we want to.

Dr. William Attaway: 29:12

And you set the tone for that as the leader. If you receive that well, when somebody gives you that direct feedback, if you respond well and people see that they're going to be more apt to follow, that's more caught than taught. So kudos to you for that.

Andrew Palosi: 29:32

I hope that this is okay for me to say. If not, you can bleep it out, but we have another commandment at the agency that says if you're going to eat shit, don't nibble. I will be the first to raise my hand and say guys, I made a mistake. Right, I blew it. I did not do what, what you know, I did not handle this situation. Well, here's the mistake I made.

Andrew Palosi: 29:59

I was thinking this, this did not happen. I did not make the right decision, right, but here's how I'm going to move forward better as a result. Here's what this means to me. Here's how we can be better. Here's how I'm going to be better for you and not make the same mistake twice or make a better decision next time. And so I think when you have people that are willing, especially in a leadership position for us in the leadership team and I think that that's where that ultimate accountability starts but that doesn't always have to be one person trying to bring the accountability out of somebody else I think that when you can raise your hand I made a mistake, here's how I'm going to be better, moving forward and I think that that ultimately, uh, really harvest the environment we mentioned earlier, where you can move forward much quicker when mistakes are made.

Andrew Palosi: 30:51

You can move forward better when mistakes are made. You can move forward with more people being involved in crafting an appropriate solution and in in correcting that mistake much quicker when you raise your hand and say this is on me, I blew it. Here's what I think we should do. What do you guys think Right?

Andrew Palosi: 31:09

It's a lot easier conversation to have when you start there, when you start to have a conversation with somebody about hey, this is what happened, Do we know why this happened? And they start blaming Tom, Dick and Harry and no sleep the night before.

Andrew Palosi: 31:25

And they're cat sick or like whatever. It is right, Like we all have those things. But it gets so much easier when you just raise your hand and say, yeah, I blew it, I'm a human, I made a bad decision or I didn't see this consequence coming, but it did. Now we're here, let's go ahead and let's get to fixing it right. That way we can have conversation with the client and say client, this happened, we didn't intend for it to happen, this was a consequence. Here's the solution that we think makes this right. That's it right. You hit it straight on. You talk about the problem, but you talk about the corresponding solution immediately, and so I think that's the biggest thing that I think you know it makes such a massive impact on our ability to move forward quicker as a team. Just admit it, own it, let's go.

Dr. William Attaway: 32:10

I love that you know. You mentioned earlier that you're going through a book with your team right now Good to Great Classic fantastic book. Absolutely. Is there a book that, for you personally, has made a big difference in your journey that you would recommend to the leaders who are listening?

Andrew Palosi: 32:26

Oh man, I mean I would say honestly, good to great is one that I mean it's funny that we were talking about it, referenced it a couple of times, but I think their presentation of unequivocally valid data is something that is just so unbelievably impactful, you know, as it relates to so much of the journey Right, and it debunks so much of you know, what people kind of see and hear and envision when they think of some of the companies that have gone on that journey from good to great. But I also think that another one that comes to mind for me is atomic habits. It's not going to be a big surprise to anybody, but I think that was one that was very meaningful to me, just in terms of relatability and how the micro decisions of who you want to be all add up very quickly and stack very quickly to who you become right and making those micro decisions through the lens of what does the person I want to be do in this situation right.

Andrew Palosi: 33:35

And I think that's just. The parallels from life and business and personal are so strong that I feel like that book just connects on so many levels.

Dr. William Attaway: 33:46

Both fantastic reads. Definitely great recommendations there. Often, Andrew, people are going to walk away from a conversation like this with one big idea. If you could define what you want that takeaway to be, what would you want that to be?

Andrew Palosi: 34:00

The big idea for us and I think, for me and everybody that is part of our charge, I feel is how are we going to create more value tomorrow than we are today for our clients and you don't have to sacrifice being there for your team to do it?

Andrew Palosi: 34:26

And I feel like so many people envision this kind of crazy, cutthroat environment where that can be a pervasive thought in a lot of instances, and I think that we wanted to go about it the opposite way, where we can have awesome team members that we love and want to be part of what we're going through as team members, because they're unbelievably talented but that we love as people and that we appreciate and respect as people.

Andrew Palosi: 34:56

And so when you're coming together, feeling like we are not wasting time, energy on things that don't matter for our clients, we focus on what matters, we focus on moving the ball down the field in a very business aligned way, but we're able to do it with people that we believe in, that we want on our side and that are really awesome people. And I think that those two things coming together when you focus on what matters to your clients and when you're working with people that have that same passion and fire and talent, but a level of inherent respect and appreciation. I think that combination over time is just so meaningful. So I think those are the things that have been the biggest as we evolve as an agency, really the biggest pieces of our journey and the most meaningful pieces of our journey.

Dr. William Attaway: 35:48

So good. I know folks are going to want to stay connected with you and continue to learn from you, Andrew. This has been so incredible today. What is the best way for people to do that?

Andrew Palosi: 35:59

Always on social Andrew Palosi that's P-A-L-O-S-I. Always on social Andrew Palosi that's P-A-L-O-S-I. I have promised myself as uncomfortable as it is for me personally that I am going to get out there a little bit more aggressively and show people a little more of the work that we're doing, who we are as a team, our belief system, and I was terrible about it and fought it for so many years, but I'm forcing myself to do it. So social is great. I'd say it's the easiest way to stay connected.

Dr. William Attaway: 36:28

I love that. I would encourage our listeners to check out what they're doing, because obviously something amazing is going on there and I believe you can learn from anybody and sometimes you learn exactly what you need. And I think today, Andrew, you have shared so much that has been so practical, and I'm so grateful for that.

Andrew Palosi: 36:48

Thank you so much for your time. Thank you for having me. The conversation's been awesome, so truly appreciate it.

Dr. William Attaway: 36:55

Thanks for joining me for this episode today. As we wrap up, I'd love for you to do two things. First, subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss an episode, and if you find value here, I'd love it if you would rate it and review it. That really does make a difference in helping other people to discover this podcast. Second, if you don't have a copy of my newest book, catalytic Leadership, I'd love to put a copy in your hands. If you go to catalyticleadershipbookcom, you can get a copy for free. Just pay the shipping so I can get it to you and we'll get one right out.

Dr. William Attaway: 37:31

My goal is to put this into the hands of as many leaders as possible. This book captures principles that I've learned in 20 plus years of coaching leaders in the entrepreneurial space, in business government, of coaching leaders in the entrepreneurial space in business government, nonprofits, education and the local church. You can also connect with me on LinkedIn to keep up with what I'm currently learning and thinking about. And if you're ready to take a next step with a coach to help you intentionally grow and thrive as a leader, I'd be honored to help you. Just go to catalyticleadershipnet to book a call with me. Stay tuned for our next episode next week. Until then, as always, leaders choose to be catalytic.

Intro / Outro: 38:21

Thanks for listening to Catalytic Leadership with Dr William Attaway. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss the next episode. Want more? Go to catalyticleadershipnet.