WayMaker Podcast #1 - Forging WayMaker

Jon MayoAlright. Well, welcome, everyone. I'm Jon Mayo. I'm the chief steward at WayMaker and the cohost of the WayMaker podcast, where we are building a brighter future today. And I'm joined by the indomitable Darren Terry. And, Darren, you're walking. So what is going on?

Darren TerryWell, in a past life, when we worked together... Before I came to work with you, I gave you a requirement list, and there was only one item on the list. And I will come work with you if you give me a pull up bar outside my office. And that happened. So I went to work with Jon. So working with WayMaker, I'm at a desk all day. We stand for excellence and I'm an endurance athlete. So I'm like, Jon, I'm gonna get a desk treadmill.

Darren TerryAnd I'm gonna walk on it eight to ten hours a day until I walk all the way across America, and then soon the moon. So there you go.

Jon MayoI love the jump from America to the moon, so we're committed for the next thirty years.

Darren TerryI mean, I'm really committed to the moon idea, but I have to be relatable. You know, you, you normal folk want to hear about me walking across America and you think it's a little bit more tangible, but I'm not even really concerned with that. I'm just going to the freaking moon.

Jon MayoAlright, man. Well, I'm here to do it with you, so good stuff. Alright. Where are we going, man?

Darren TerryWell, first of all, Jon, what has you fired up right now?

Jon MayoOh, I'm fired up by the team that is emerging at light speed with WayMaker. Over the last couple months, we've gone from an idea and a dream that we've been forging in the dark and in private communities and in other places to now having our team form around us formally and being able to invest all of our time in this idea that's bigger than all of us, this idea that we can be way makers.

Jon MayoWe can learn to lead and master the art of a maximized life, that we can progress freedom, build strong community, create immense value in terms of time, money, clarity, and freedom, and make a brighter future today so that our children are able to inherit a hard earned and protected freedom. And to be able to do that formally together after years of working informally to that end. It is electric. There is nothing that fires me up more than where we are and what we're doing right now and the path that lays ahead, period.

Darren TerryLong how long have you been building WayMaker?

Jon MayoLet's see. So I'd say back in 2018, the proceeds started. The idea of WayMaker was born around 2020 when be relentless was published. And around, in early twenty one, we started the first forge cohort. And with it, the WayMaker community, it's been a continuous movement to contact exploration, side... Like, primary adventure, but forced to be side quest by necessity, since then.

Jon MayoAnd with each year, with each learning, it's evolved and grown in strength. And now we're in a place where I get to ask you what fires you up as well because it was not very long ago that we were able to join up forces and begin this adventure together. To build WayMaker to what it truly can become.

Darren TerryI love it. Yeah. From my point of view, the last time I worked with you, you just went off on your own. And I've learned over the years, never doubt Jon Mayo. So as you kind of fell into silence, I was like, he's building something. And I knew what you were working on, but you were more silent than usual. And whenever I found myself in my last position where I was leading a whole team, Got to this point where I was starting the question, where do I go with my life now?

Darren TerryMy team that I had built was kick ass. They were living by... Not everybody because it's very uncommon, but we had guys on the team that had WayMaker principles embedded within their minds. And that was just through working with me, and everybody got... Everybody down the line got to become a leader themselves. I found myself in this position where it was like, I did it. I proved to myself that I could I could build an awesome high performing team, but like, what now?

Darren TerryIt felt like it was missing like this great sense of purpose And through all that questioning came fog. I started to feel like I was somehow off the path. Like I had lost the path. Like I'm meant to keep climbing up this mountain. And I kind of had an instinct that one day, we would link together again because our story And, we'll get that story out there, but, like, we've gone through so much together. You wanna talk about indomitable, that's our friendship.

Darren TerryIt's brotherhood. And you've got to really push me, and it's always brought out the best version of myself. And I believe that I've been able to keep you on task in a in a lot of moments and, it's kept you focused on the goal. So whenever I was in this moment of fog that actually lasted. Probably three or four months, all of a sudden, I get a hand that reaches out to me, and it was in the form of a phone call from you.

Darren TerryYou started talking about these team... Teammates that you have brought on who are incredible people that I knew about, and you started talking about this position called transformational intelligence architect. And I remember I had just gone through this crazy work week. It was on a Friday. And you're describing it to me. You're, like, so excited, but so much stuff was going over my head. And I got this instinct.

Darren TerryWell, is he laying out bait for me to come work with him? Or is he trying to see who I might know? But I was in this point of, like, a fork in the road. And I... Everything that you were saying to me, I started to have imposter syndrome about that being me. But my... The warrior within me Just said, sign me up. I didn't even know what I was signing up for, but I knew if it was a Jon Meehl project I was in.

Darren TerryAnd, you know, we had conversations that next Monday. Yeah. I was in such a, a smushy brain state that I was like, Jon, let's talk again on Monday because I can barely comprehend this. So we met. I got to meet this team that you have built because the last time I had seen you, you were by yourself. And all of a sudden, you have this team of Avengers. All uniquely uncommon in fortune in their own ways. People that I've known from past lives. I'm just like, I knew the team, the caliber of what you have built here, and I'm just...

Darren TerryEverybody's looking at me. As if they're looking for me to say, yes. Let's do this. And all of the dash lights that I had on in my life, You know, you think about your engine lights on, the tire pressure lights on, like all those were flashing for me because I was off path with My trajectory, they just turned off. I said, let's do this thing. I called my wife. I'm like, I'm going with Jon.

Darren TerryShe's never been so happy to hear that. She didn't even know what I was gonna do. She knew our relationship and how you bring out the best of me and I bring out the best in you. And she just knew it was the right call. And here we are. I'm walking across America, soon the moon. But I wanna use this pilot episode here to say thank you, Jon, because that's what WayMaker is all about. I was just telling you yesterday that I used to feel like I could go further and faster alone because I accomplished a lot like that.

Darren TerryBut it got to a certain point where it was almost like the universe was telling me that I had to be humble. And it was... I was reminded around every turn, I'm not invincible. I cannot do this alone. So whenever you reached out your hand and you brought me on, I've never felt so at peace with where I'm at in life. And peace doesn't mean sitting back and lazy. I've never felt, like, so genuinely on path towards what we're building because WayMaker stands for the principles that helped me forge my life, but it's also revolving around community and family and the idea that you cannot do this alone.

Darren TerryAnd we're seeing in our team, we are going at lightning pace every single day. I've been on the team for two weeks, and my brain feels like it's... It has expanded because of how quick we're able to move and how quick I'm able to learn whenever I'm in the right environment. It's like being in a Michelin star kitchen. That's the way I like looking at it. I am on a team of Avengers. So thanks, Jon.

Jon MayoMan, it's my absolute privilege. And I'd I'd raise it and say you're on a team of WayMakers. And there...

Jon MayoThere's two things that I think are super impactful. And, like, what the heck's in it for anyone who joined us on this adventure as we continue to explore through the WayMaker podcast, through the series that we have planned and want to engage in. And as we continue this great adventure, one, this is an invitation to join us so that we may all rise. That... That's the first thing. The second thing is that WayMakers do not have the same interface with reality that those who choose not to be waymakers have.

Jon MayoWhat we see when we have something go wrong, when there's an obstacle, a stumbling block, an issue, a threat, is an invitation, period. And that invitation is there to help us course correct or solve for something or ultimately move forward more strongly once we understand How to unlock the positive energy that's within that obstacle. Even if that obstacle is terrible and just tests our resolve, it still strengthens us.

Jon MayoSo there's this concept that way makers will do what others won't so that we become capable of doing what others can't so that we can call you forward and equip you to do the same. And by living in the breach consistently, we create footholds that allow us to push further. Into the unknown, which allows us to say with confidence, bring us your hardest problems, and we will work to empower you to turn them into opportunities so that we may progress and create immense value in terms of time, money, freedom, and clarity.

Jon MayoAnd that is one step in a iterative loop that allows us all to rise. And, you know, a lot of people talk about excellence and you can roll your eyes because it's overused. You know? It's thrown out there as a Nice to have cliche. At WayMaker, though, it's different because we extract excellence. We demand it. We torture each other until we have excellence as our byproduct to the best of our current capabilities, and then we move forward. And we continue to do that, sometimes with a laugh, sometimes painfully.

Jon MayoBut it's the standard we uphold, and we choose to continue to add weight to that standard so that we bend the bar with each step as we progress and climb this hill. You know, it's it's an Week because we stepped into the public eye. We're now on the adventure. We've been building, like you said, in the quiet. You can move fast alone, but you go far together. And this last week marked the moment where we've been navigating to the base camp to climb Everest. And we've stepped out of base camp, and we're now climbing.

Jon MayoAnd what's so beautiful about this climb is that when we get to the summit of Everest, that's not the end of this adventure because we intend to build Launch pad from the top of Everest to go intergalactic and inter interorbit in the universe. So the trajectory is now the engines are roaring, and we are forging forward.

Darren TerryIt's beautiful. You know, I was telling my wife last night that what's cool about this team, it's unlike one that I've ever worked with. I've worked for some pretty big companies where you're dealing with managers here, managers here, an owner, the whole... Each individual department team, and the amount of disconnect that there is, a lack of communication. And as you're rising here, this guy's way back here.

Darren TerryYou know, thoughts don't go back and forth the way that they should. What's cool about this team is that we have... You wanna talk about excellence. We have tortured excellence out of ourselves for years, years. I wasn't fully formed when you met me, but I was forged. I was hardened by my own experiences. Me, striving for excellence in my own life.

Darren TerryAnd ever since meeting you, you know, you were the one that helped me get into leadership roles because you knew what I was capable of. You knew that the skills, the tools that I had, and you also knew my weaknesses that you wanted to see me hone in and sharpen. That's not just me. That's the others on the team too. And we're coming together as forged individuals that have demanded so much excellence out of ourselves.

Darren TerryWhat happens whenever all those people come together? That's what we're seeing now. It has never felt so invigorating. Every single day that we hop on our execute meetings to state our intents for the day, I've never been so happy to wake up and jump into those meetings because I know where we're heading, what our main goal is.

Darren TerrySpeaking of the forging, I found within myself, a life that I could have never imagined possible back in '18, 2018 whenever I just decided that I was gonna change everything about my life. And I just tortured myself to burn away all the insecurities, the flaws, all of that. And my goal, ever since learning that through that torturing of myself. That, oh, I'm gaining skills.

Darren TerryLike, I'm learning things about my mind that I never could have imagined. And then I was like, I wonder if I can apply that at my job. Actually, screw this job. Why am I at this job? Give me a harder one. Let me rise through the ranks here. Give me a harder one. It felt like I had this cheat code for life. And knowing who I was, it had never been more clear. People always say, if I can do it, you can too. Dude, whenever it comes to my own life, I was in such a dark spot going into young adult life.

Darren TerryAnd whenever I started forging, man, I started flying past people. And it became more and more clear that there is nothing special about me. It's just how I'm executing my days. How I'm dreaming, and not just hopelessly dreaming. I am executing, and I'm not just dreaming. I'm dreaming big. Things that might take me my whole lifetime to get there. But whenever you're you're going that hard for something, eventually, you start grabbing dream. And you start to think, man, I've been to the mountain top a lot.

Darren TerryI want others to see this view too. And then that's where the shift happened for me of, like, it's time to go back for the others. So my mission in life over the last, I'd say, four to five years has been, how do I give everybody else that cheat code? How do I put waymaker principles in people's heads? I know the blueprint and it first starts with them believing in themselves. So I think that's an important part of a leader. It's like you have to Even people, you have to see their potential before they see it in themselves.

Darren TerrySo the fact that that's been my mission, that is your mission, that is what WayMaker is all about. Making people better. Leaders,

Darren Terryindividuals, make yourself better for your family, for your community. That's why I said yes to you. And that's why the other said yes to you as well.

Jon MayoYeah. The concept of unleashing human potential and unleashing the exceptional are not cute words. It's it's what we live by. And what you just described, Darren, is the critical path to impact. You know, we're we're playing an infinite game here. The vision of what we wanna accomplish through WayMaker and this movement that we're building, and we'll get to explore in greater depth how we're creating value in businesses and how we're creating value in individual lives and everything else as time goes on.

Jon MayoAnd it's gonna be a lot of fun to get to do that and to evolve in real time and to build in public. And, you know, there's I think two things I wanna highlight. One is inward to outward. And two... The second piece is the invitation of this adventure. We don't believe we have it figured out, but we are confident that we can face each obstacle and learn how to overcome it. So when we say bring us your hardest problem, it's not a cheeky statement of we got you.

Jon MayoWe're something special. It's a let us jump into the trenches with you. And let's solve this so that we can create more. And it... It's that invitation for us to rise together, to learn together, to imperfectly apply our best next step. And with that, you just talked about your path of forging yourself, of climbing, and then you've realized as you're taking this breath and experiencing life at your fullest that you wanted to help to invest that into others so they could experience the same for themselves.

Jon MayoThe concept that I call is inward to outward. We start by putting ourselves in order so that we can live the life that we want to as individuals, which then empowers us to show up more powerfully for our families and then our communities and then our places of work. And all of that reverberates out as a signal into the world inspiring hope and motivation and capacity to ask a daring question. What if? How might I?

Jon MayoWhy not me? And then take the first step for yourself to experience what you want and trusting that if you allow yourself to aim small, you'll miss less, but aim aggressively with that aim and move forward. So that that compounds step after step into the point that your own self evolution as an individual, as a leader, reverberates into everything you touch, and that builds momentum.

Jon MayoAnd as you pour from a cup that's overflowing It pours into the next rung, the family, until the family's overflowing, and into the community, until the community's overflowing. And that allows a gushing of energy, life, opportunity, and hope to pour into the world. That's self regenerating. And that's what we're doing. And as we've combined and, like, I cannot articulate the gratitude I have for you saying yes. It's the greatest privilege and responsibility I've had for each person to entrust.

Jon MayoThemselves and their families to what we are building. And I get to say we because I just would say it has very little to do with me. I'm a conduit and a steward of this opportunity as are we all. And as we choose to step into the arena together, we forge forward. We rise. Yes. We will always torture that excellence from ourselves and continue to forge ourselves as we work to master our own maximized lives, but we get the compounding effect of doing it.

Jon MayoTogether. And as we do that as a team and we engage with our partners across different businesses to help them do the same in their companies and to transform them into way maker factories that are recognized for their excellent stewardship and immense returns in time, money, clarity, and freedom, that becomes another point of compounding alongside us even as we do within our own teams, even as we do within our own homes, even as we do within ourselves.

Jon MayoAnd that loop is fundamental to being a way maker, to this movement, to transformational intelligence architecture, and how we leverage technology as we continue to evolve and rise as a species. And what gives me an immense amount of hope to say, the future is brighter. And I know that because as long as I draw breath and as long as way makers are here to forge forward, we will make the future brighter. Not in some distant way, but now.

Jon MayoAnd that is what this is all about.

Darren TerryBeautiful. I literally couldn't have said that better myself. I think that it would be really cool. You know, this is the pilot, so we're just experimenting a lot. I think it would be cool every episode to...

Darren TerryOkay. We just went over, like, what WayMaker stands for, what we believe in, how we push ourselves. For me to forge myself, I've had to do a lot of introspective work, especially whenever I was the old version of myself and what it took to forge myself into who I am now. I know that you've done the same. Every high performer is Highly introspective. So I think it would be cool in this video to give the viewer some kind of introspection exercise so that they can look themselves in the mirror today and ask, how can I be better?

Darren TerrySo my thinking is, Jon, can you tell us one of the biggest spots, one of the biggest areas where leaders Or failing. What are you seeing? What have you seen across the course of your career? Where do leaders get it wrong?

Jon MayoOver complication of radically simple truths that, if truly embraced, are transformative. What... What's incredible, I work with a lot of CEOs and founders of immensely powerful organizations. And it's the noise that distracts and kills, and we are just as susceptible to it at WayMaker as anyone. I mean, this morning in our execute huddle, and...

Jon MayoSo that everyone knows, we have our daily sync. It's the only standing meeting we have. It's called execute. Execute. Execute. And we'll talk more about that on a roundtable on how WayMaker operates. But it's where we get aligned for maximum effectiveness and to confirm that everyone has crystal clarity on how they're going to invest their time to take the critical path today for maximum return on investment of every second for us to accomplish our goals and progress this vision.

Jon MayoAnd we keep it simple. For a very clear reason. So when I'm when I'm working with leaders, it's the same that I'd say with humans. Like, in general, just across the board for ourselves, how do we begin to learn to stop... To simplify so that we can take action? So, like, on the introspective exercise, let's say, let's get uncomfortable. You probably already had something jump into your mind that you knew if you'd started doing it or stopped doing it.

Jon MayoYou would experience a big... You would begin to experience a shift in your life. And what I would encourage is that you take a moment, walk to your nearest mirror, look yourself in the eye, embrace how uncomfortable that truly is, and allow in your mind to emerge. What is the first thing that comes from your subconscious to yourself that's saying, hey, if you paid attention to this and you took action, whether that's the stopping or the starting.

Jon MayoIn this thing, your life would be so much better, and it doesn't have to be grand. It can be simple. The very act of doing that and acknowledging what that thing is the first step. And that's the act... That's the challenge, I would say. Go to the mirror, look in your cell, shudder at how uncomfortable it truly is, and wait for that item to emerge. And when it does, acknowledge it and figure out what the smallest way you can take the next step because you've already taken the first. And beyond that, I'd ask you to continue to join us in this adventure as you continue forward.

Jon MayoAnd if you have an idea, share it. And if you hear something that impacts you, don't be a consumer. Get off your butt and share it with someone you think it would impact as well. And if we just do that, this will grow. We will grow. We will rise together. And that's that's what comes to mind for that.

Darren TerryThat's a great answer. Yeah. I've I've seen that across my career as well. The inability to look in a mirror.

Darren TerryThe, you already talked about our execute meetings. We also have a moment that we call the tactical pause, which I'm sure... Have you talked about the roundtable podcast yet?

Jon MayoNo.

Darren TerryOkay. Just so everybody knows, every single week or is it every month or every week that we're gonna try and do that one?

Jon MayoWe're gonna fill out the cadence, but at least monthly,

Jon Mayowe want to assemble for the roundtable.

Darren TerryIt's gonna be pretty cool. The round table will be all the members of the WayMaker team coming together, sharing what we're actually doing in here, what we're working on, what excites us, our strategies that are working that we can share with you guys. I'll go ahead and give you a little sneak peek. We have a moment in any day where we can execute a tactical pause. So if anybody is ever out of alignment, they lose what the critical path is.

Darren TerryThat we're working towards. We all hop into a tactical pause meeting, and we gain clarity. So if it is uncomfortable to look into that mirror because you don't like what you've become, maybe it's time for a tactical pause. Tactical pause with yourself and with your team. Share your vision again. Go back to what it was whenever it was pure.

Darren TerryWhen you cared about the people, you cared about the mission. It's so easy. You wanna talk about all the noise. Whenever So much noise. You get behind on this and that. This person certainly get discouraged because they're getting behind in work, and maybe you're you're going harder at them, which just makes them feel that much worse about themselves. Maybe it's time for a pause. That's what I would suggest to any leader that is watching this or individual. This works in your own life with your family.

Darren TerryHow are you interacting with your partner? Maybe it's time that you both take a tactical pause.

Jon MayoThe pause is the interrupt because motion can feel gratifying, but that does not mean we're progressing. And the... This goes back to the question as well, like, with leaders and people who are in these high speed environments. It gets complex because you're taking... You're doing the best you can. Everyone's doing the best they can. If they're not, that's a very simple thing to solve. They don't have a place in your life or on your team if they're choosing not to do the best they can. Otherwise, we can invite each other into RISE, but the tactical pause, we have a meeting Literally by that name.

Jon MayoAnd the expectation is if anyone jumps into that room specifically, we all know to stop what we're doing and join them so that we can, I? Like, course correct together and leverage our collective experience as leaders to be able to do that. And the expectation is not like, oh, I don't see the critical path anymore. It's like, it's starting to get fuzzy. Like, I'm just starting to grip on it. We stop. And the idea was actually borrowed because a lot of what we do is continuous process improvement. Engineering and architecture.

Jon MayoAnd anyone who studied Lean Six Sigma will have heard of Toyota. And in Toyota manufacturing plants, they have stations that allow anyone... And the expectation, not the idea. The expectation is that if you're the janitor on your first day and you see something that you don't think makes sense that could make the manufacturing plant run better, you hit this button or pull this cord, and it brings the entire manufacturing process to a stop. And all the leadership and everyone comes to that person and asks, what did you see?

Jon MayoAnd they talk through it, and they work to implement it as quickly as possible, and then they continue manufacturing again. Why? Because they know that the collective intelligence of the team is greater than any individual. And if someone can see something to make it better and they uphold the responsibility to hit the button and stop it so that they can implement it, that they're gonna improve much more quickly. Well, that same idea is what we do with the tactical pause, and it's the same idea and offering that's here. If you're like, there's no way I'm gonna look in the mirror. Why? And for the most of the time when things become unclear, it's because we're being sucked into more and more motion, more and more activity, more and more work, but we're losing the clarity of what helps move the needle the most for what we're working to accomplish and allowing things to just be stopped for a moment, to breathe, to look around, to see what's going on, and to ask the question.

Jon MayoIs the beginning of immense breakthrough. And, you know, one of the things I think there is imposter syndrome, and when you're leaders, sometimes there's an unfair expectation that you think you need to have it all figured out. And I just would challenge that upfront, especially in our own lives as individuals, and even equally so, I would say, I was gonna say even more so, but equally so when you're leading a team is having the courage to say, hey. Something's not right here, and I don't know what the solution is, but I do believe we can figure it out. Here's what I'm sensing. What resonates?

Jon MayoWhat does everyone I'll see. It's okay to create the space and lead with vulnerability and say, hey. Something's off. Does anyone else think this is off? Oh, yeah. A lot of people think this is off. Okay. What? Why? What can we do about it? Like, let's take this moment and see if we can take a better step forward. What's taking our time that we can cut out? What do we need to adjust? Or does no one know, but we all feel it? So now we're gonna just schedule and say, hey. Tomorrow, we're gonna meet again, and we're gonna engage in this so we can all think about it now that we all see it.

Jon MayoAnd that is progress. That's immense progress. To bring everyone together and have everyone say, yes. We sent some things off, but we don't know what to do. That's okay. And I think there's a freedom in that. The miss would be just to walk away and not do anything. So what do you do when you don't know what to do? You prioritize time to solve it, and that's where you can schedule that next day conversation. Say, hey. Meditate on this over the next twenty four hours as we as we continue to work and live. And when we come back, let's see if we can begin to crack this thing open.

Jon MayoFigure out what our next step can be so that it begins to become more aligned and clear. And that... That's the beautiful thing that I think is so true in so many components. We're gonna keep coming back to these simple principles applied in a lot of scenarios that when intentionally orchestrated or intentionally brought together, allow them to begin to build off of each other and compound. And that's Where the... There's this old arm, added from the military that slow is smooth and smooth is fast.

Jon MayoWell, when you do these things and you have awareness, you're making intentional decisions and you allow them to progress and compound, then you have the opportunity to pick up momentum and speed. And as you do it correctly in one area and that begins to just flow because of the intentional work put in, that further fortifies the next area and the next area and the next area. And that's what we're looking at here. Many different forms as we're talking.

Darren TerryEven to the tactical pause, that has never helped me progress so quickly.

Darren TerryYou know? I, I'm light years beyond where I would be if I was onboarding at a different company just based on my experience because most of them don't prioritize tactical pauses, radical candor, ownership, all these things. And it's just like, get this guy working. Get this guy working. Months go by, you find out I haven't learned something that I should have learned two months ago.

Darren TerryWell, maybe I wasn't conditioned to speak up because my leader wasn't enforcing tactical pauses. He wasn't encouraging me to speak up whenever I need to. I think that's in my experience, that's where a lot of leaders have missed the mark. They haven't embedded that into their culture. So by the time that usually You notice that you're in the fog, maybe as the owner, the leader of the company, or in your relationship.

Darren TerryBy the time you feel the fog, the other person, they can't see anymore. They're in the deep fog because you just realized that we need to take a pause a week late, two weeks late, a month late. That's been my experience. That's how I've seen leaders. Lower level leaders get left behind. That's how I've seen teammates get left behind is because it's not a part of the culture and they just learn to survive.

Darren TerryAnd every day, it feels like I'm just doing the best that I can. Screw that.

Jon MayoYeah. That's fair.

Darren TerryThat's not that's not how you win ever.

Jon MayoYeah. That's not how you win. And I'm starting to feel the itch to execute, but, like, something you highlighted, or something you just brought up, I think, is important to pause on. And that's another component of both how we operate at WayMaker, but as well as what we're working to empower in the in the team to work with and partner with, is we create leader cultures of stewards. And there's two things there that are really interesting. One, everyone is expected to be a leader even in the individual contributor role.

Jon MayoBecause they need to lead themselves, their peers, and everyone else on the team. So we don't ask for permission at WayMaker. We state our intent. Typically, in some form of, like, a one two one mental model where it's like, hey. I'm seeing this opportunity or obstacle. I'm seeing these two paths forward that I think have these pros and cons, and I intend to do this one. And that's how we operate. If, like, when folks first join the team, it's like... And they ask for permission on something.

Jon MayoWhat I say is, it sounds like you're intending to do something here. What is it that you're intending to do? So we can tweak... You know, so that we can tease that out some. And it's like, well, I'm seeing this, and I'm intending to do this. And it's like, that makes sense to me. Or I can ask clarifying questions, or I can ask them to get more information, or whatever the case is. But that's how we cultivate the beginning of a leader culture where we're all stewards. And stewards is a really important idea because, you know, corporate America is... And especially leading into, like, the eighties and nineties, management was the big deal.

Jon MayoAnd then servant Leadership began to form.

Jon MayoAnd then I think that servant leadership has brought a boon of beautiful things to how we operate as humans and strive to be better leaders. But where it falls short is the holistic perspective of not leaving yourself a husk as the leader because you're only expanding yourself in service, which is where steward leadership comes in. So all of us work to be stewards. That's why instead of being a CEO here, I'm the chief steward. All of us are stewards of what we do. Well, what is the difference between management, leadership, or stewardship? Stewardship is where we take holistic analysis of our environment, our time, our personal well-being, our energy, our resources, our environment, everything.

Jon MayoAnd we look at how do we align all of that. What needs deleted and added for the best possible outcome that compounds and creates an immense return and for a marathon of sprints because we're playing the infinite game. That's stewardship. It's the expectation baked into the word of growth, intentionally derived, holistically. And being steward leaders and all of us being... Steward doesn't roll off the tongue quite as well, but all of us being leaders in this environment expecting, upholding those standards with each other and holding those standards with each other and moving forward is something that, brings this all to life and is another step.

Jon MayoBecause if... You know, and this would be a bonus, like, free chicken thing. But if we're looking at, like, well, what can I do to start doing this in my team today? Right? Yeah. I looked in Bloody mirror. I see this thing. I'm gonna chew on it. Whatever. But what can I do with my team? Everyone's asking you for permission more likely than not. Start asking them a question before you just take the monkey off their back of that problem and say, okay. What do you think would solve this? What would you intend to do if you had my full support?

Jon MayoTalk through this with me. You have no idea because I've conditioned you to give you the answer every time or just take the problem. That's fine. Come back in 20. I'd be curious to see how you'd solve this. It's that simple. It's just uncomfortable, and it requires a little bit of patience as you're reconditioning yourself as a human being to also invite your team to rise.

Darren TerryYou're not inviting your team to rise, you're missing the mark as a leader. That's what it's all about.

Darren TerryThat's what it's all about. Alright, Jon. I think it's time to execute. Tell these people what they need to know.

Jon MayoAbsolutely. So if you found any value in today's exploration on this seminal pilot conversation on the WayMaker podcast, don't be a consumer, Be a practitioner. Share it with someone who you think will find value in it too, and join us for the next conversation. Forge forward.