The Power of WOO: Kimberly Crowe on Influence and Connectedness in Leadership | 005

Consuela Muñoz: Welcome, everybody. And in today's episode, I'm super excited to be bringing in Kimberly Crowe. She is the CEO of entrepreneurs rocket fuel, and she has done an amazing job with her team and rallying the people around her. Welcome, Kimberly. I'm

so glad to be here. Consuela, it's an honor. Yay.

Consuela Muñoz: So today, we want to talk a little bit about how you have led your team to do amazing things and the strengths that you've used to get to that place. So I know, I know, Kimberly, for a couple of years. Now, I know that she has taken the Clifton Strengths Finder assessment. So I'd love it if you could share with us. What are your top five strengths?

Absolutely. So it's Woo, connectedness, strategic Maximizer and ideation. Wow,

Consuela Muñoz: what a very powerful set of strengths, especially as someone who wants to lead individuals, I know starting off with that, whoo, you've got a lot of influencing. And that's not always where people think about leaders having that strong influencing they think about leaders as executors or strategic thinking. So amazing that you lead from influencing, I'd love to hear a little bit more about I know you have a great team that does amazing things for you, I'd love to hear about how you use your strengths to get them motivated to give their all

awesome. So yeah, I think some of the strengths of a leader are are being able to leverage your strengths and be able to supplement your what you're really good at with people around you who are good at other things have other strengths, so that you can have sort of a complete team, as it were, when you all work together. Because there are things that you're right, you know, I have a very high influence. But that doesn't mean that I'm really strong in areas of like attention to detail. And that's really important for a company to succeed. So I've got to be able to have people on my team that do that. I think the one thing that's important, we all know that we work for the people that we work for, not the company that we work for, necessarily we work for the people that we work for, and the number one reason somebody quit a job or be disengaged, is because they're not enjoying the relationship they have with their supervisor. And so I would encourage, I think one of the things that I do, that attracts people in to me that works really well is that I show up as me as real as authentic. And, and I don't try to pretend to be all the things I don't try really to pretend to be super organized. But I also I'm not I'm not just a completely disorganized person either. So I don't throw up my hands and be like, Oh, well, somebody else has to take care of that. I'm somewhere where I'm I'm really focused on making sure that I'm inspirational. But on the day to day jobs, I usually hand those over to somebody else. So when I'm hiring a team member, I want to show up as me because if I show up as somebody who's totally organized, who's into the details, then they're going to be expect to be able to work for somebody who's like that. So when I'm hiring, I have to show up as authentically as possible. And not one not swing pushed one way or another because I want them to continue to work for me working for somebody that they expected to work for. Wow,

Consuela Muñoz: that that's really important. And I and I want to stress that again, you are saying that you want to work for the person you want to work for. And so the golden nuggets, I feel like you had in there are showing up on day one as your authentic person. So people know what they're getting. So they're not surprised on the road, right? It's kind of like, if you think about the dating analogy, you don't want to like put on this face, send these pictures. And then they get they're like, what what what happened because that that is one of the number one reasons people will leave work is they don't get along, they have a good relationship with the person they report to. The other thing is that having that balance, so I like that you're you're you know when you know your strengths as you do, knowing like, yeah, attention to detail, I can do it if I have to. But that's not where you drive from. You can do it, but it's not your thing. And it's not where you drive from. So you want people on your team that are going to be able to do that that are going to balance you. And I think that is really important for a team. A lot of times you hear about you know being well rounded. And I've always ascribed to you shouldn't be well rounded. Your team should be well rounded. But you should

agree with that. Consuela you're absolutely right. Yeah, I

Consuela Muñoz: love so I love that that's something that you've done with your team that you've really sought to get people and bring that balance for your team. So as you've rolled in your business, I know you've done a couple of businesses. What are you Find that's also really important when getting your team energized to do all the things. You said you have ideation, I know you have a lot of ideas, how do you keep your team motivated and energized when all those ideas are populating for you?

Well, a couple of things there, I my motto in life is, if it's not fun, it's not worth doing. And so I want to create a fun and high energy atmosphere around me, where people look forward to doing whatever it is that we're going to do today, and keeping the tasks buried and creating new stuff. And always having something new and edgy that we're looking into in the future, about creating that fun environment that I that it's really important to me. And if people don't embrace that, they may not be, they may not enjoy working on the team. So they may not be a perfect match for us. So creating that fun, high energy and environment is is natural for me, but also very, very important to me.

Consuela Muñoz: I love that. So and she is out and about, you know, with your motto, right? I want to share your matter with all of us. It's not fun, it's not worth doing. And and that is not only who she brings to her on her team. But as far as the work she does, that's who she tracks to her as well. All the people that are going to hang out with Kimberly like to have fun as much as she do. So I can see how that's just built in with who you are and your authentic self. So that's part of how you're showing up. So are there any struggles that you feel like you face when working with a larger team that you could share?

Or those with a larger team, I think really just making sure that everybody feels heard that their contributions are all very important. I do have a large team, I've had people that have worked for me currently, I've had people that were and worked for me for eight years, and enjoy continuing to grow the team. But we have had people come and go, and I'm very, very proud of my turnover, I my team is very, very loyal, and they really enjoy it. But I also create an environment of safety around that that group. So as the team grows, I want them all to know that their contributions are important, and that their jobs are not in jeopardy on a moment's notice kind of thing. I want them to feel like it's a, it's a family. And we all contribute in different ways. Now, if there are people who are just truly not contributing, and they're just truly don't feel like I'm a member of the team, and they're not, I hate the term pulling their weight, but we'll use that for now. They just, they're not adding value to the team, then that definitely has to be looked at. But if you create an game of high energy and higher excitement, a lot of opportunity for people to grow and expand and feel safe at the same time that their job is not being threatened. I think I think it creates loyalty in a way that loyalty shouldn't have always been. I remember somebody told me a long time ago, while you've worked, when I worked at corporate, you've worked at corporate this same company for a long time, you are very loyal. And I thought, I don't know if that fits, I'm not, I'm not really loyal. I'm here because I want to be here and I will be here as long as I want to be here. And they have created an environment for me to continue to want to be here. And but I wouldn't like if something went wrong with the company. And when eventually I decided I didn't want to be with that company anymore. That was a choice. It wasn't because I was loyal. And I was going to stick it out. Although that is that's I guess that that's probably a strength for other people. It wasn't one of mine. I'm not loyal for the sake of being loyal. And I think we should create an environment which allows people to choose to be here on a regular basis because they are enjoying the job because they are enjoying the leadership. And because they feel personally valued for what they bring to the group. And I think that's really important.

Consuela Muñoz: That is so wildly important, right? I know, as you were saying that in thinking about this loyalty aspect, and whether people should be loyal. One of I don't know if it's full level of pet peeve is when leaders will say they should be happy they have a job, they should be happy to work for me that that always is like, like I seen the reaction you had right that that not wanting to have blind loyalty, knowing that you're doing for them so that they enjoy being there creating that environment where they want to be there. And really for me operating from this place of I choose to be here or don't choose to be here. I'm working here for me. I'm not working for you. I'm working here for me, and they're creating that atmosphere. I think the opposite right where they're saying that doesn't work and doesn't is not going to bring that loyalty in the way they would like versus the way that you've approached it. So I really appreciate that loyalty. Now when I hear this as a strength coach, I can't help but hear that connectedness as part of your strengths coming out. I know you talk a lot about fun, but that connectedness and knowing that it's all connected, if your your employees are happy, if they're feeling secure, if they're feeling heard, then they're going to give their all you've created that environment that brings about the results that you're hoping to have, versus trying to come and dear someone into giving you the results, because as we know, in the end, that's not going to work nearly as well. Right?

I agree. I think one of the other strengths that I have a chance to leverage as the owner of the company, and maybe what's made me successful, is the whoo aspect, right? The winning of others over. And I think that aspect is really important for leadership. Because you're the head of the organization, people are following you. And I'm not saying the other strings are not important. And we know they're all important, right. But in leadership, I think being able to convince people to come into the fold is very important. I've seen a lot of a lot of businesses fail, because although the leader has a really good idea, they don't have a really good presence out there in the world, where they can bring people into that idea. And if they don't, they need to have somebody that can that complements them, because you can have the best idea in the world. But if you don't have a sales team, if you don't have a group of people that are nurturing the internal group, if you don't have people that are nurturing, and loving on potential people that could be clients in the future, then long term, I feel like even if you have the best product in the world, you're not going to necessarily win the game in the long run.

Consuela Muñoz: No, definitely. I love that. And and what I'm hearing from that, obviously, is someone who has Woo, like, yes, yes, yes, yes. And yet, a lot of people don't see that as a thing. But more importantly, I think for you is that it is your number one strength, it is where you drive from. And you realize that and you use that purposefully, to build your team to motivate your people. And that is the real key, right, and knowing where you you drive from, and how that can help you get to the success that you want. So we're almost done here today, Kimberly, and I just wanted to ask you, I know that your team has achieved some amazing, outstanding results. And is there one strength or in a way that you feel that your strengths specifically got that outstanding result that you wouldn't have had if if you had not used your strengths? Well,

we talked about, we talked about connectedness, there's three other strengths that I have that kind of that we've together really, really nicely. I think one is strategic, which is looking at all the possibilities and figuring out how to get us there the quickest, right? So if you have a problem that comes up, you can, you know, look at what, what do we need to fix for the future, which I'm famous for saying, all right, this is a problem. Like let's say we lost a ton of money at something right? Alright, thanks it for the future, what can we do to fix it for the future, and then we'll clean up the past. But right now the first thing that we need to do is fix it for the future, and figure out how to get us there the quickest. And don't worry about like we lost the money or we lost the job or lost the client or whatever it is, just figure out what we should do instead, next time, and then go back and clean up the past. The second one is Maximizer, which is if somebody has a great idea, let's figure out how to make it even better, right? Let's figure out how to make it amazing. And and honoring the things that other people have brought to the table and not feeling like I have to do it all myself and be the one to create everything. But then the last one is ideation which is a creative aspect, right? To be able to not just rely on your team to bring you all the ideas, but to bring them yourself and leveraging those five skills. I think it's been super powerful for me over time. And so I think being enlightened by somebody like you, you were the first one to talk to me really in depth about instincts that I had, I went through the Marcus Buckingham thing or I went through the StrengthsFinder thing. And when I did, it was very helpful, but I really didn't. I was like, Oh, interesting. And that was it. Right? And so working with somebody like you has been transformational where I'm like, Aha, I see how I'm leveraging this. I see how I can leverage it, I see that I can step into it. Rather than try to be all things to all people step into the strengths that I have and leverage those for a better outcome for everybody.

Consuela Muñoz: I absolutely love that. That is that is the power of strengths. Right? That is how strengths can help you Be more of the leader that you are meant to be thank you again Kimberly for being here today I really appreciate your insights and I know that other leaders are going to be able to take this and find a way to use it for themselves