Inspiration, Motivation, Enablement and Empowerment Pt. 4

You've joined Leadership Sovereignty, the podcast with Terry Baylor and Ralph Owens and special guest, Andrico Spates, where they discuss how relationships are crucial to unlocking opportunities, how networking is about mutual benefit, and how intentionality and networking leads to greater success. Enjoy the show. But here's the thing. Let me let me ask Ndrico this. Right?

Because Ndrico, got, you know, you guys you got the three letters. You got the four letters. You got the acronyms behind your name. Right? After you get those things.

Right? I got the whatever, whatever it is. When you go home at night, are you like, man, I'm so glad I them letters are making my it's been changed my life. Or is it the experience of getting the acronyms and getting the titles? Right?

What can you dig into that a little bit? Right? Because, you know, and Ralph and I'll share this. Right? You know, in our world, certifications and all that kind of thing is a big deal.

Now, historically, you know, I've been more of an experienced guy. Hey, you know what? I'm a do it. I do the work. I got I got I got the experience that shows.

Right? I haven't really chased a whole lot of those. It's there's no wrong or good or bad about But at times though, people get those and then they think I'm there, that's it. I don't need to, it's the golden grill, so to speak. And maybe, you know, they've missed the value of going through the process and the people and all of that.

So I'll tell you this, When I come home, you know, at night after doing everything that I've done, a vast majority of time, I don't even remember the degrees I have. Honestly, I just don't remember. It's like, it's nothing that's top of mind. I forget a lot. Unless I'm in a situation where I introduce myself and say, oh yeah, I do.

I have this, you know, degree and that degree, because it really doesn't mean anything to your point, Terry, at the end of the day. What was the most important in my opinion, it wasn't even the journey of what I learned going through that process. It was really the people. That's what I remember the most. I don't remember a vast majority.

Remember the people that's something that never goes away. The people, the moments, right, you know, that we have, the connections that we have, that's probably the biggest thing that I got from that. Now, obviously, I got skills, things that I can do. Right? That's the secondary piece.

Mhmm. But I'll tell you, those connections have taken me further. Those relationships have taken me further. Then I would put it right up against the skills that, you know, that were acquired there. So to me, that's the key piece.

It's I can use, I can activate those skills

Mhmm.

Through the relationships and the connections that I've built.

Mhmm. Okay. You gotta say that at the end of that. You gotta dive into that.

Activate the skills through the people

and relationships that I've met. I'd love that because, and I want to be very clear guys, I'm not diminishing the accomplishments. Because here's the thing that the accomplishments are, The accomplishments are are essentially keys. They're keys. Now let me get this key.

This key will unlock that door. Right? So there are certain rooms that Endrico can go in because he's got those keys. Right? I mean, would you say, Andrico, you wanna kind of dig into that a little bit?

I would say so. Yeah. I would agree to that. I would say that it's kind of the proof points, if you will. Those keys are the proof points that will get you into another spot, another place, right?

That success to your point, right? That success is a key that unlocks the next thing. Would say one thing to keep in mind is that you can use those to unlock doors, but where are you going? Like how many, which door do

you need

to go to? That's great.

That's good. That's So

that's why I've got to come back to that overall destination or overall outcome, if you will. So I'll give you an example. There's, I work with tons of businesses, tons of them. And I would say a lot of the businesses that I see, that I work with, a lot of them that are minority owned, black owned businesses, right, that I work with, a vast majority of them are have some sort of business with the government, vast majority of them. And in a lot of cases that's because of some of the, you know, contract vehicles to set asides, right, things like that that can help you kind of get started which is absolutely fantastic.

But what I challenge the businesses on is where are you trying to go, right? What do you want this to ultimately look like at the end? Because a lot of those things that you have available to you now in the beginning won't be available to you four or five, six years from now. And so if you don't have that in mind, you cannot leverage what you have in front of you the right way. So you can get a success, you can win the contract.

But what is that leading you to? Right? What is that ultimately leading you to and how are you setting yourself up for that ultimate accomplishment at the And if you're not careful, you can build what looks like a very strong high revenue business that can come crashing down the minute you lose one thing because you didn't look at the broader picture, you didn't set up that a better foundation for you to be able to, you know, grow from. Now, if that's not part of your plan, it's not part of your plan, right? Don't get me wrong.

But if your plan is bigger than that, then you have to have that mindset in the beginning to say, hey, I'm doing this because I'm gonna unlock that. And I'm gonna unlock this, then I'm gonna go to that. And ultimately, I'm going to get here. So that's that's the piece that I would say is extremely important that those doors have to lead somewhere or else you end up in a maze. Right?

That's just like, you know, the house the the the maze without the doors, you're just going in the door and then you don't know where you ultimately end up at. You may end up back at the beginning. Right? Versus ending, you know, ending the the end of the maze, if you will.

Andrico, can you touch a little bit more back on the the power of peep making connections with people that you talked about. Right. I think that's something Terry and I have discussed over and over again in multiple, you know, podcast shows, but it's good to hear from your perspective of how that played a role in your success.

Yeah. That this is as I mentioned before, that's probably the the biggest and the the the best thing, right, that that I've that I've had the pleasure of realizing over the course of the work that I've done. Networking is something that we all do, right? They tell you, hey, build your network, right? Like go out meet people, there's a million and one books and things written on networking and all those things.

But what I would say is that what's the point, right? What's why? Like why do we wanna do that? Especially this day and age when there's social media where you might have tons of followers and tons of people you're connected to and they could be in your circles, they could be this, they could be that, we call them all kinds of things And we can get lost in that. When you really look at people, relationships and connections, they need much more substance than a connection, just clicking a button or somebody viewing a post or you know, watching the story or whatever, right?

You know, it's really the deeper, the it's a deeper relationship, right? When you really get connected to someone and then you can activate that.

Mhmm.

I don't you know, it's really difficult to activate just someone that's you, just watching your content. Right? You want them to interact with it. Right? They're interacting with it.

But but what is what is the the mutual benefit within that that you're seeking? Right? And that's where you start to dig into relationships a little bit a little bit deeper. And so the way I look at it is relationships I can go back to the three e's. You have relationships to help you gain knowledge.

Mhmm. You have relationships that can help you gain experience.

Mhmm.

You have relationships to help you gain exposure. There's a there's a reason. Right? And I say this I say this all the time. People say it's not about what you know, it's about who you know.

You always hear that. Right? I say a little bit different. It's not about what you know, it's about who you know and why you know them. That's gonna take you to that next step, that next that next level.

Mhmm.

So if if we're connecting, let's say Terry's my coach for helping me get my swing together, right? He's helping me, that's a knowledge type of relationship, right? That we have, right? And there is a mutual exchange there. I'm learning something, Ralph, you're learning something.

But if we go back to what I said before, Terry might be actually learning something too, right? Even though he knows how to do it. Then on top of that, there's the there's the experience aspect of it. I'm actually not just learning it, like if we're actually doing it together, then I'm actually getting experience with my swing. Right?

And we might actually be, you know, playing a couple of, know, going a couple of rounds or whatever and there's interaction within that too, So I'm getting multiple benefits out of it because there's something that we're trying to accomplish. It's different than just showing up and just taking in some information and saying I'll see you later. Like that's totally different, right? You gotta dig in and really make those connections with people.

That's that's that's so good, man. I I hear a couple of different things out of that. I hear being intentional being intentional about making connections. And like you said, Terry all Terry, I think you coined it the best, you know, it's an exchange of value. Right?

It's not just you receiving. You have to be giving, you know, in order to to to properly make a connection, with someone. But the intentional piece is the part that that really speaks out to me is because in my life, I realized at some point that, hey, my successes are going to come through connections to people. Right? I probably need to get better with people.

Nobody's telling you this, but it's something that you got to come to a conclusion that, hey, if if if the the the the part of my ability to move in my career is through connections with people, then I probably need to get, you know, better with people. And going on this personal journey of personal development and, you know, learning how to talk to people, learning how to motivate people, learning how to, you know, get people excited about what it is that you're trying to do. All of those techniques that, you know, you let's just be frank, you know, after college, nobody's teaching you this. This is something you're gonna have to go out and seek this, this information yourself, right, in order to develop yourself so that you can get to the next level. I hear a lot of that in what you're saying.

And I think it's a very, very powerful point because it doesn't matter what industry you're in. You still want to deal with people. Right. You still have to, you could be in dairy farming. You still have to deal with people and you still have to be able to make connections.

Right. And it's, this, it's a principle driven thing that goes across all industries. But Terry, don't know if you had a point there. I'm sorry. Go ahead.

If

in real I can quick. That intentionality is something that is really key. If we can go back to the example, like if I were seeking out assistance, getting my swing together and I came to Terry and I just told Terry, hey Terry, I just, I wanna, you know, just be able to hit, you know, I wanna hit better. Can you share some knowledge with me, teach me how to do it? That's a little vague.

If I were to come to Terry and say, Terry, I just wanna be able to hit this ball straight. That's all I wanna do. I just wanna be able to hit it straight. The approach that Terry or someone may take may be different than if I came to say, hey, I wanna be great at doing this. Just wanna be great at golf, let's say.

Your approach may be different, right, with me. Also, for me, my approach may be different as well Because if I'm just if I'm only intending to just make this hit straight, that's all I'm focused on, that's all I'm doing. Once I've done that, that is my accomplishment. Right? Like that's it, right?

I can now move on to something else or right? Or I can, you know, I can continue. But also, I think an important part of that connection is also the follow-up.

Mhmm.

So my follow-up with Terry after he helped me hit get my my my hit straight

Mhmm. Mhmm.

I follow-up with him. Now I'm following up saying, hey. I hit 10 out of 10 balls straight today.

Mhmm. Right?

That's good.

That's my fault. And and and Terry's gonna appreciate that because that's what we worked on together. Right. Versus I'm not gonna follow-up and say, hey. My putting was good.

That's nothing. Unless I've made that connection over with Terry to say, hey, I'm moving over to this now. Right. So I say that because cultivating those connections are important because that's what Terry and I have in common. So now we can kind of continue that.

Right? Or if I say, hey, I hit five out of 10 straight.

Mhmm.

I was slicing it on five of them, know, whatever. His response back to me is gonna be a certain way because of what he knows I'm trying to do. You have to help people help you. Right? And be and the way you do that is be intentional.

Thank you for joining Leadership Sovereignty, the podcast. We hope you obtain something of value as you walk out your journey. Connect and grow with the community of LS pioneers on X, Instagram and LinkedIn under the handle Leadership Sovereignty. Thank you and God bless.