Cooking and Leading from Faith at Soulman's Bar-B-Que

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There are some people that make their
work just another thing they have to do,

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and there are those that make their
work something that they want to do.

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Welcome to Working on Purpose with your
host Elise Cortes. In our program,

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we provide guidance and inspiration from those
people who have found deeper meaning and

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personal connection to their work life.
It's beyond nine to five. It's working

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on purpose. Now Here is your
host, Elise Cortes. Welcome back to

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Working on Purpose. Thanks for tuning
in again this week. I'm your host,

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Elise Cortez, joining you from Dallas, Texas, which is home base

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for me. This program is all
about helping people more meaningfully and productively connect

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with their work and equipping organizations to
do the same for their employees. It

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was originally inspired by the meaning and
work research I've been doing over the last

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fifteen years and now compliments the work
that I do at in Thesevednium, which

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is a global management consulting firm.
If you know this program has been around

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for a while, then you know
that might have to thank my media partner

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and sponsored jobbing dot com. They
are the leading locally focused job board in

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the nation and they're dedicated to helping
employers find quality talent in their own backyard

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while giving jobs control over their search
they can find work close to home.

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Great partnership. Thank you jobbing dot
Com. Last week, if you missed

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the show, we were on the
air with Jamie Hanson, the author of

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Expanding the Conversation Because real leaders leverage
gender differences to create a competitive advantage in

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business. We talked about how many
organizations still employ traditional gender speak attribution towards

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skills in the workplace and how doing
so limits the individual contribution as well as

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the overall team performance. Beliefs such
as women tend to be nurturing, empowering

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leaders while men are more results driven, which is not accurate and is a

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very limiting paradigm that needs shifting.
Very thought provoking conversation that invited us all

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to join the expended conversation and movement
toward more gender differences embracing dialogue. Really

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good stuff with us this week is
Brett Randall, the restaurant here who has

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been at the helm of Soulman's Barbecue, the beloved North Texas based restaurant chain

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that boasts low and slow cooking over
hickory. Is there a time honor tradition.

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Solman's Barbecue has fifteen locations and employees
two undred twenty five employees, and

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in fact is opening a brand new
location here in Mansfield, Texas, where

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Brett joins us today. Welcome to
working on Purpose. Brett, Hey,

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Elisa, thanks for having me.
Well, this is so much fun.

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I'm just getting hungry already thinking about
the conversation though right over here. Do

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something about that, all right?
Well, to get us into this here,

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I want to just start by hearing
you know, in our initial call,

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you talked about how you found your
way into the restaurant business, and

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I love this story. Will you
share that with us and our listeners?

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Now? Oh? Absolutely. You
know that's a that's kind of a long

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story, and I kind of backed
into the business a little bit, but

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it's a great story and it's a
sort of humble beginnings. But you know,

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I studied at the University of mississipp
and when I got out of college,

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my dad was kind of going through
a little midlife crisis and he was

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buying restaurants and bars. And the
only problem was that he was a surgeon

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and not a restaurant tour so he
didn't exactly know how to run restaurants and

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bars, but he wanted a place
to hang out, so he had them.

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Well, so I was I guess
I was twenty one, twenty two

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years old, and want a better
place for a kid to work than a

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bar that his dad owns. And
so that's what I did. I went

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to work in one of his honky
tonk clubs called Eastside Country Club with all

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things, and I went to work
as a bar back. So I did

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that for a little while, and
then soon after he bought a sports bar,

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so I kind of graduated over there
to that and then started bartending a

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little bit. And during that time
I really kind of found that I loved

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customer service. I loved interacting with
people, just talking with them at the

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end of the day, making them
happy. I guess probably a year after

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I got out of school, my
dad purchased a fine dining restaurant. As

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you can see the progression here,
Yeah, and so and so I moved

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over there, and that was a
little different animal, and so I was

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in a little more upscale environment and
and so that was a lot of fun.

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The only real problem was after a
period of time, the restaurant really

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was not doing well at all.
It was. It was losing a significant

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amount of money month to month,
and and so at one point they decided

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to close it. And so I
kind of had a back room discussion with

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my dad and his two partners and
said, hey, you know what,

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what do you have to lose?
Why don't you give me a shot at

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turning this thing around? And so
I did. We went, we went

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to work hard, and we did
a lot of a lot of cool things,

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and within about a year year and
a half, we had that place

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completely turned around. And h the
rest, as they say, is history.

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So I was in the restaurant business
from then on. You may remember

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from our first conversation, Brett,
that I grew up in the restaurant business,

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and I know what hard work it
is, and I also know how

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rewarding it can be. So all
the more reason that I wanted to have

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you on the show and showcase what
you've done, because I really respect and

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admire what you've done and are doing. You're right matter it is hard work.

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Well. One of the things you
also said to this end, and

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you said this in a very humble
way, Brett, is you said,

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you know, I had a little
success running around my dad's restaurant, And

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I've read a couple of our time
as I recollect, and so I want

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to understand to what do you attribute
that success? Why do you think you

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were good at that or are good
at that? Well, first of all,

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I would say that they say that
the success follows a happy worker,

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and in my case that was certainly
true. I was having so much fun

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and that my passion just kind of
fueled the business. But I think,

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to be fair, I think the
successtor in those days can really only be

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attributed to God's blessing. And honestly, I really didn't know much anything.

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It was mainly hard work and a
little common sense. I had a great

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partner in operations that I met during
that time as a great friend of mine

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named Brent Smith, and he handled
a lot of the food side of things,

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and I handled the service end of
the business. And we didn't know

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anything but to attack every angle.
We took the service, we took food,

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we took menu, we took the
decor. We did everything we could

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to try to upgrade everything. And
our hope that was that if we examined

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every aspect of the business, then
we couldn't help but improve performance, and

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it worked, and I really haven't
changed from that model. That's what we

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do. It's old man's barbecue every
day too, and so that's pretty much

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what I can attribute that early success
to because I had no knowledge of the

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restaurant business and very little knowledge of
business period, but I knew if I

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could improve at every single aspect that
I would get better. Wonderful response,

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Brett. The reason I wanted to
ask you that question is, and you

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kind of alluded to this early on, something about the worker being happy makes

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for a big difference in terms of
results. And of course what's my show

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called working on purpose? Well,
the distinguishing point here is that it's one

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thing, quite one thing to have
a passion, and quite another thing to

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turn it into a profit, to
find a way to make it into a

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viable business. So I wanted to
be able to have you share with the

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listeners just how you did that.
So thank you for entertaining it and answering

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it as completely as you did.
That was great. You're welcome. So

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the next thing I want to get
to that I also think is interesting,

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is you went to culinary school to
develop your talents, but this would have

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been well into your restaurant career.
So how did it happen that you made

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that decision and what did you get
from the experience? Another pretty good story.

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Let me go back to right after
we took that restaurant over, and

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it was called The Plantation Grill in
Aubany, Georgia, and it was a

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fine dining restaurant. Well, Brent
and I had had challenge the owners to

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let us kind of take it over
and see what we could do with it.

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Well, as I alluded to,
attacking every angle, we wanted to

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come out with a new menu.
Well we did, and we rolled it

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out on a Friday night to about
one hundred covers were booked for that evening.

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Well, at about five o'clock,
the entire kitchen staff walked out,

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So five guys walked out and left
Brent and I standing there holding the bag

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basically, so we looked at each
other. We called our wives. My

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wife came up and helped wash dishes, and his wife came up and helped

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wash dishes. And just to back
up for a second, I did not

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know how to boil an egg at
this point. I could not I couldn't

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cook a flat pan. If I
need too, So this was quite an

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undertaking, but Brent and I got
back in the kitchen and we gutted it

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out and we got through it,
and the best we knew how it was.

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It was a mess, but we
got through it. Well. What

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came of that is just this love
for the food in part of the business.

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So I started cooking quite a bit
at that point. And this is

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right about the time when Emerald Lagassi
was on the Food Network, you know,

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BAM, And so during my breaks, I would come out and I

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would watch Emerald Lagasi on the Food
Network out in the bar area and come

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up with new specials and all this
kind of good stuff and just really fell

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in love with food and the preparation
of food, how it made the guests

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feel, and so it really fueled
my passion for the business. And so

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after about two years of doing that, I was at a point in my

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life where where I could kind of
move on. I didn't have a whole

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lot of ties. I knew.
We married, my wife was pregnant of

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all things. But we decided that
I needed to go to culinary school just

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to learn and kind of hone my
skills, and so we did. We

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moved all the way over to Dallas, Texas, where I am now,

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and went to culinary school for two
two and a half years. That's how

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it worked. And what is just
a couple of little pearls. What did

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you get out of going to culinary
school? Do you think it was an

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amazing experience. I always tell young
young people that are going to culinary school,

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but it kind of is what you
make it. It's sort of a

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tech school environment. And I went
to school with a lot of people that

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probably still aren't in the business.
They were kids coming out of school that

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had no restaurant experience. I was
different because I had restaurant experience and I

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wanted to be in the restaurant business
afterwards. And so I was about the

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same age as most of the professors. So we hit it hard and I

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learned a lot. I learned.
Probably the most important thing that I learned

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was food science, and I still
use that every single day to this day,

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is how food reacts to different temperatures, how to fix different things that

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aren't right, and so it's very
valuable knowledge. Probably the second thing that

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I would say is probably the most
important thing that came out of my move

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to Dallas is I actually met the
founder of soul Man's during that time,

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and I worked for him part time
while going through culinary school, and so

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that kind of set the stage for
what I'm doing now. Mm hmmm hm,

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great, great, interesting. You
know, it's amazing what happens when

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you go to school a little bit
later in life. I didn't go to

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college until I was twenty four,
Brett, and so I appreciate very much

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what you're saying about you your professors
being peers. They weren't peers to me,

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mind you, but boy, it
was a different experience when you had

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skin in the game and knew why
you were really there. So I love

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that. Great you best. Well, the next thing I kind of want

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to get to here still kind of
talking about the business aspect of what you're

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doing here. You have fifteen locations, you're opening your brand new location there

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in Mansfield as we speak. You
got two undred and twenty five employees,

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which is a pretty big ton of
employees, and you've got I think you

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said ten or fifteen or so in
your corporate office. So I want to

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get to just if you can call
out for again for the sake of people

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putting their purpose around a business,
some key operational approach of the business that

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you've executed through executed through that you
think have helped make your business successful.

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Well, you know, you can
talk about different operational benchmarks in the restaurant

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business and different profitability benchmarks all you
want. We try to keep it very

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simple operationally. You know, first
off, my team and I have a

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passion for excellence, and I think
whatever business that you're involved in, you

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have to have a passion for excellence
with your product, with your service,

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whatever whatever it may be. Early
on in my career, I read a

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quote by Charlie Trotter, who was
a restaurant tour out of Chicago, and

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it simply read this, if you
strive for perfection, at the very least,

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achieve a high level of excellence.
And I'm already always lived by that.

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So I've always really shot for the
stars, and then at the very

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least, you know, you hope
for the moon. In our business,

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we're laser focused on doing three things
right each and every day, and we

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talk about this stuff all the time. Serving great food, friendly and sincere

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service. The sincere is very very
important, and of course an unmatched cleanliness

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in our restaurant. So three very
simple things. If we feel like we

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can consistently get those things right each
and every day, sales will continue to

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grow. And if we take care
of the cost basis of the business,

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our profitability is going to follow right
behind that. But as you know,

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in most businesses, sales cares off
and we keep it, we keep it

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very simple. M I love the
Christmas of that, Brett. I think

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that just having that laser focus on
what are we going to do today?

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What is our intentionality? I think
that is brilliant and a great lesson for

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our listeners just to kind of stuff
the takeaways that I was hoping for for

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them. Anything else you want to
add to that, I have one more

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question that I want to queu up
before the break, But anything else in

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operational that you want to talk about, I think that's I think that's pretty

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much got it. I mean,
again, keeping it simple, making sure

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to focus on the on the benchmarks
of your business, and making sure that

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you get everything right. I think
the other thing to call out is just

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the fact that you have because there
are three basic things that you focus on,

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then I got to believe that your
efforts are not diluted. Right,

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It's easier to focus. Those are
three things. You got to hit them

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right every day, all the time. I think there's something in that too

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for our listeners to be beyond.
Let's execute to this list of twelve things

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it will actually work. Yeah,
too many in the restaurant business. It's

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not rocket science. Sounds good.
Well, speaking of that, the one

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thing I wanted to also ask you
before we go on break here is it

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occurs to me as somebody who now
has spent a little bit of time with

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you and I know a little bit
about how important your faith is to you,

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that if there was anything to the
fact that the business being called Solmons

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that called to you when you met
the owner or is that your own creation?

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Did you call it Soulmans? No, Actually the name goes way back

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before me. We were founded in
seventy four and if I was born in

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seventy five, so I didn't name
the business. But there were two partners

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in the beginning, and one of
them was an African American and he named

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it. He named it Solman's.
Now, I believe that God has a

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purpose in everything, and I believe
it's named sol Man's for a reason.

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And so but I think there's definitely
divine appointment in that, but I had

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nothing to do with the naming of
it. I had to ask because certainly,

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for me, knowing what I know
of you so far, there seems

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to be a pretty good connection that
I like to call out. So thanks

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for entertaining it, you bet.
And that takes us to our first break

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already. I'm your host, Alice
Cortez. We've been on the air with

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Brett Randall, who is the restaurant
tour who has been at the helm of

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Soulman's Barbecue, the beloved North Texas
based restaurant chain, and who prides himself

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in the culture and purpose and faith
he and his team have created for their

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business. He joins us today from
Mansfield where they're opening a brand new location.

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We've been talking about how he got
himself into the restaurant business and has

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been training himself in it. After
the break, we're going to get into

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the culture that he's purposely trying to
create for the business. Stay with us,

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become our friend on Facebook, post
your thoughts about our shows and network

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on our timeline. Visit Facebook dot
com, Forward slash Voice America. Alise

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Cortes is a speaker and engagement and
development catalyst. She designs and delivers professional

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00:17:25.319 --> 00:17:30.480
development, leadership and engagement workshops and
can bring her expertise to your organization.

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00:17:30.720 --> 00:17:34.759
She will help ignite meaningful development within
your workforce that will increase employee engagement,

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00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:40.039
performance and retention. To learn more
or to invite Elise to speak to your

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00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:45.000
organization, please visit her at www
dot Elisecortes dot com. She would welcome

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00:17:45.039 --> 00:17:52.359
the opportunity to help get your employees
working on purpose. Have you friended us

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on Facebook yet? Why not?
Just go to Facebook dot com, forward

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00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:15.680
timeline. Just go to Facebook dot
com, forward slash Voice America or search

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00:18:15.720 --> 00:18:27.680
for Voice America. This is Working
on Purpose with Elise Cortes. To reach

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00:18:27.720 --> 00:18:32.960
our program today, please call in
to one triple eight three four six nine

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one four one again that's one triple
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00:18:37.400 --> 00:18:42.200
You may also send an email to
Elise A. L i Se at

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00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:51.319
Elisecortes dot com. Now back to
working on Purpose. Thanks for staying with

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00:18:51.400 --> 00:18:53.240
us, and welcome back to working
on Purpose if you're just joining us.

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00:18:53.240 --> 00:18:59.079
My guest is Brett Randall, the
restauranteur who is behind Soulman's Barbecue, the

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00:18:59.079 --> 00:19:03.079
beloved North Toxis based restaurant chain that
both low and slow cooking over hickory as

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their time honor tradition. Brett studied
business at the University of Mississippi and began

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his career in restaurant management before studying
the culinary arts at the Art Institute of

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Dallas. I'm your host, Alice
Cortes. Before the break, we were

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talking about how you got yourself into
this business, which was a great story.

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Now I want to focus on this
segment if we can on the culture.

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I know that is a really important
part of your heartbeat there, Brett,

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and that for your team that you're
purposely creating something. So you described

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the soul of your business, it's
culture as the heart of your offering and

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your success. So would you say
a bit more about soul Man's Barbecue.

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Soul. Yeah, you know,
the soul of our business is our people.

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Our people are the they're the headwind, They're the ones that's great.

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The customers serve the customers, and
it's all Man's Barbecue. We are committed

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to building and maintaining a strong people's
focused culture. We're like a big family.

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Our culture are culture revolves around the
premise that we're not just coworkers,

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but that we're brought together for a
purpose. And I think that's really really

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important. To serve people and to
serve one another. It really makes for

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a special atmosphere, at least for
us, where people can reach their full

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potential. That's all Man's. Well. You know that hits every one of

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my buttons, Brett, right,
you know that already about me? Yeah,

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And I love that and I really
appreciate And again, what I want

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to get across to the listener is
that you have been able to create a

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business for yourself that you get to
live, breathe, and express your values

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through your business in a way that
lets you serve not only its purpose,

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but for that of your employees.
And I just really want to call that

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out and I think it's beautiful.
Thank you for saying that. Yeah,

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and to that end one of the
other great things that you get to do

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that not all businesses get to do, maybe because there are they're a public

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or whatever else it is. But
you weave your faith into the way you

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run your business. Will you say
more about why this is an important part

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of your culture and just how that
shows up for you all. Absolutely,

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it's definitely you say. It hits
all your buttons. This hits all my

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buttons. We have a sign hanging
on the wall of each one of our

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restaurants that reads great barbecue, great
service, and great God. It's all

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man's. Our faith in God,
his providence and his love for people compels

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us to treat our customers employees like
family, you know. Put simply my

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team and I believe we are part
of something larger where they will graft it

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into a family or a company that
cares for people, both customers and employees.

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Most business professionals kind of as you
alluded to, Christian or not,

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they tend to compartmentalize their lives.
They're one way at home, one way

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at church, and then a totally
different person at work. We try not

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to do that. It's all mans. We aspire to walk out our faith

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no matter where we are most importantly, I think, is that we create

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a safe environment where employees are not
only safe expressing their faith, but are

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also encouraged to do so. So, yeah, it's it's very important to

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us. There's so many things you
said there that I can talk about.

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One thing I definitely want to call
out, Brett, is this notion of

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helping your employees to be very aware
and know every day that they're part of

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something greater. And what I know
about that, Brett, because of what

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I've been doing for my meeting and
work investigation, is that is one of

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the biggest things that can make people
feel really connected to their work and give

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them a sense of purpose and meaning
is to feel like what they're part of

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is way bigger than anything that they
can create on their own. And the

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fact that that you call that out
as swiftly and beautifully as you do,

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and that it clearly is you know
very much in the water that you swim

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in every day. It just it's
in fact, I will tell you,

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very very frankly, you moved me
to tears when you were talking about that.

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It was so beautiful. Well,
thank you. Yeah, we we

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just believe that that's the heartbeat of
everything that we do. You know,

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our belief in God, as I
say, it compels us to do the

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things we do, and we take
care of our employees and we take care

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of our customers. But it's it's
much much more than that, Like you

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said, it's part of being a
part of something. You know, everybody,

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anybody can come and just serve barbecue
every day, but who can come

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to work and pray for each other
and pray for customers? And you know,

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it's just something really special, you
know, And that may not be

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for everyone, and I understand that, but it is for us and for

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those that believe and those that are
passionate about their relationship with God. It

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just, like I said, it
gives them a safe environment to express themselves

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that way, and it just it
creates an incredible environment. Well, one

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of the things that I always tell
my students. I think I might have

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mentioned to you that I teach lots
of senior students at Southern Methodist University how

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to get and keep their first job. Yeah, And one of the things

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I tell them is that, you
know, look, when you're going through

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the interview process, you're going to
opt in to the company culture. If

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you like it, or you're going
to opt out if you don't. And

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the very fact that you are as
forthright as you are. This is who

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we are, This is our heartbeat. If you like it, great,

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come join us and pray with us, and play with us and serve with

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us. If you don't, cool, you know, it's all right right,

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00:24:26.720 --> 00:24:30.799
that is as good as it gets, I think for everybody. Yes,

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a one hundred percent agree, and
that happens sometimes, that happens both

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ways. Mm hmmm, hmm.
Well, I want to have you talk

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if you will a bit, Brett, because part of what another reason I

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want to have you on the show
is that you know, when it comes

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to the world of work, culture
is so important. In fact, we

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talk about how culture eats strategy for
breakfast. It's just so important and how

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important it is to be mindful and
intentional all the time about making it what

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you want. So you talk about
creating a work environment where employees really want

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to come to work. You talk
about how you pray for each other and

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for employee and for your customers.
Would you say more about what are you

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doing in practicing to encourage this creative
intentionality of your culture that is a great,

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great subject. It's what we talk
about all the time at least,

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how can we create an atmosphere where
our employees are excited to come to work?

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And that right there is just the
crux of it all. And if

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you'll remember earlier, the heartbeat is
our people. So again, having them

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excited to come to soul Man's Barbecue
to work, to serve barbecue and be

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part of our our vision is incredibly
important. Now we understand that in order

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to expect superior performance from our employees, we must create and maintain a compelling

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place to work, a place where
people can grow and learn enduring life skills.

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Our goal is to make working for
us more than just a job,

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but a place where people can realize
their personal and professional aspirations. Now,

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this is a huge undertaking, obviously, and my team and I have developed

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a strategic plan just to address these
things, and we call it a strategic

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culture Plan. Among others, we
tackle topics like our leadership and how we

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can improve team development, training,
quality of life, competitive pay and benefits,

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among many other things. Now,
being a small company, the challenge

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will always be scaling the additional costs
in for these programs, but in the

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end, we believe whatever we spend
to retain and develop top people who will

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return to us in abundance. So
it's very important to us. You know,

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one thing, one another thing that
I want to call out about what

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you're saying as I'm listening to you, Brett, and it's something that I'm

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00:27:00.200 --> 00:27:03.200
very aware of because of the work
that we do here at Insignium around breakthrough

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performance and organizational transformation. Is that
the way that anything occurs for us is

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you know, that's the context,
right, and that context determines then what

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it is that we tend, how
we feel about the situation, then what

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we choose to do, and then
the results that we get. Right.

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So the very fact that your first
or employees occur for you as these are

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people I love and I want to
grow and develop and they're part of our

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00:27:26.680 --> 00:27:30.200
bigger family. And your customers are
people that you want to serve in the

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00:27:30.200 --> 00:27:34.400
same way that you would serve God. That is such an enormous thing to

380
00:27:34.440 --> 00:27:38.240
call out about what anchors your culture
and the way that you go about creating

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00:27:38.279 --> 00:27:44.559
your culture. Yeah, that's exactly
correct. I mean, our belief in

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00:27:44.599 --> 00:27:51.839
God and our faith system again compels
us to love our employees and to want

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00:27:51.880 --> 00:27:55.960
to create an atmosphere where they want
to come to work. They just go

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00:27:56.079 --> 00:28:00.039
hand in hand. You can't have
one without the other. That's the important

385
00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:07.160
thing about what we do. And
again, we don't compartmentalize our culture away

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00:28:07.160 --> 00:28:11.880
from our work environment, and so
they all go hand in hand. And

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00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:18.079
it's all based on what we feel
God would want our employees, how he

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00:28:18.119 --> 00:28:23.079
would want them treated. M hm, well, let's talk next about your

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00:28:23.079 --> 00:28:26.400
customers. So, as I'm sitting
here listening to you, I have this

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very distinct, imaginative feeling that if
I were to walk into any of your

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00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:34.480
locations, that the very first thing
that I would get was a big,

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00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:38.359
fat, warm smile that said,
man, I'm glad you're here, right,

393
00:28:38.480 --> 00:28:41.480
That's somehow I just get that that's
how it would be. So I

394
00:28:41.559 --> 00:28:45.240
want you to speak to if you
would, what experience are you trying to

395
00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:48.400
create for your customers. I know
you want to serve them as as you

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00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:52.880
say, as God would expect you
to, but I'm guessing that there's a

397
00:28:52.960 --> 00:28:57.799
whole bunch more in addition to that
that you're trying to do. You know,

398
00:29:00.039 --> 00:29:03.920
this is something that we say all
of the time and it's very simple,

399
00:29:03.079 --> 00:29:07.839
but it's very profound. We want
to be their place to eat barbecue.

400
00:29:10.079 --> 00:29:14.319
And there's a lot behind that because
barbecue is very endearing to the soul.

401
00:29:15.519 --> 00:29:19.519
Everybody has their place to eat barbecue. There's a reason for it.

402
00:29:19.559 --> 00:29:22.680
That's the way they like it,
it's the way they're treated, you know,

403
00:29:23.680 --> 00:29:27.160
whatever, the reason. They have
a place that they go eat barbecue.

404
00:29:27.559 --> 00:29:32.319
And barbecue is a lot as different
from a lot of other foods.

405
00:29:32.519 --> 00:29:36.799
Like I said, it's very endearing
food. People have grown up with it.

406
00:29:37.799 --> 00:29:41.960
They tell stories all the time about
how people grew up with saul Man's

407
00:29:41.960 --> 00:29:45.319
barbecue and that's where they take their
kids to eat. And so put simply,

408
00:29:45.359 --> 00:29:49.000
we want to be their place to
eat barbecue. When family or friends

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00:29:49.000 --> 00:29:53.240
come to town, we want to
be the place where they take them.

410
00:29:53.759 --> 00:29:59.799
We achieve that by creating an atmosphere
where absolute customer satisfaction is the highest pri

411
00:30:00.039 --> 00:30:04.720
already every single day, and we
feel like if that customer is a priority,

412
00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:10.279
and just as you said, exactly
as you said, the way you've

413
00:30:10.319 --> 00:30:12.759
imagined walking into soul Man, that's
exactly the way we want it to be.

414
00:30:14.079 --> 00:30:17.200
And so again, but simply,
we want to be their place to

415
00:30:17.200 --> 00:30:22.680
come eat barbecue. I got to
tell you. So, I've only been

416
00:30:22.720 --> 00:30:25.680
in Texas for fifteen years. I'm
from the Northwest originally, and it's not

417
00:30:25.839 --> 00:30:27.480
really a place that's known for barbecue. As you probably know, we do

418
00:30:27.519 --> 00:30:30.960
have some of it up there,
but I have had some good barbecue up

419
00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.880
there. But I came to Texas
and I learned bought an old smoker off

420
00:30:36.039 --> 00:30:38.960
Craigslist and was taught how to fire
it up, et cetera. And now

421
00:30:38.960 --> 00:30:45.119
I make pretty darn good brisket,
if I can just say. And I

422
00:30:45.240 --> 00:30:49.920
take a tremendous amount of pride in
hosting people and feeding them my barbecue,

423
00:30:49.960 --> 00:30:55.319
my brisket. And you're right,
there's something in that. There is there's

424
00:30:55.400 --> 00:31:00.920
something special about the food that is
different and distinguished from other kinds of cooking.

425
00:31:00.920 --> 00:31:03.000
And I'd like to host lots of
parties, but there's something very different

426
00:31:03.039 --> 00:31:07.039
about barbecue. There is something very
different. You know, food in general

427
00:31:07.640 --> 00:31:11.359
a lease, you know, it's
it's very biblical. Breaking bread is a

428
00:31:11.480 --> 00:31:18.480
very spiritual event for friends and family, as it was for Jesus and his

429
00:31:18.559 --> 00:31:23.680
disciples, and so food in general
is very special. But barbecue, when

430
00:31:23.680 --> 00:31:27.440
you spend twelve hours smoking something.
It's going to be great and people are

431
00:31:27.440 --> 00:31:33.240
gonna love it. And so yeah, there's something very special about both food

432
00:31:33.279 --> 00:31:37.559
and especially barbecue. M love that
we're talking about it here in the summertime

433
00:31:37.599 --> 00:31:41.839
too. Although people will be listening
to this podcast for quite some time.

434
00:31:41.920 --> 00:31:45.720
You might have somebody fire this up
in December and then just be aching for

435
00:31:45.799 --> 00:31:48.680
summertime. But they could still cool
to be ready for so that's that's right,

436
00:31:48.680 --> 00:31:52.799
they could still come down to see
you. So well, you know,

437
00:31:52.880 --> 00:31:56.279
you've talked about what it is that
you're trying to do for your for

438
00:31:56.359 --> 00:32:00.680
your customers, and right, there's
always it's interesting as a I'm a business

439
00:32:00.680 --> 00:32:04.680
person, I'm a manager consultant.
I work with businesses to help them transform

440
00:32:04.920 --> 00:32:08.400
their businesses. And of course oftentimes
there's a disconnect between what an organization or

441
00:32:08.400 --> 00:32:14.079
a business wants to achieve for their
customers and what their customers are actually experiencing.

442
00:32:14.680 --> 00:32:17.680
So what do you actually hear from
your customers about their experience of dining

443
00:32:17.680 --> 00:32:22.920
with you? What do they say? We hear so many cool and inspiring

444
00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:29.359
stories that just continue to encourage us
each and every day. I'll tell you

445
00:32:29.359 --> 00:32:34.279
one in particular. This is a
really cool story. Some of our restaurants

446
00:32:34.359 --> 00:32:39.000
sit adjacent tow truck stops, and
because they sit adjacent to the truck stops,

447
00:32:39.039 --> 00:32:44.079
we have a lot of customers that
are long haul truckers. One in

448
00:32:44.119 --> 00:32:50.079
particular was named John Journelle, and
he stopped at soul Man's weekly on his

449
00:32:50.240 --> 00:32:54.960
route for twenty years or so living
in Ohio. Now he's disabled and no

450
00:32:55.039 --> 00:33:00.759
longer drives well. He contacted me
a couple of years ago Facebook and said

451
00:33:00.799 --> 00:33:08.799
that on his bucket list was to
have one last meal at Solman's. Now

452
00:33:08.799 --> 00:33:15.200
this is nine hundred and seventy six
miles away, So he and his wife,

453
00:33:15.839 --> 00:33:20.440
who are on a fixed income,
I might add because of his disability,

454
00:33:20.640 --> 00:33:24.680
made the nine hundred and seventy six
mile trek to Royce City eight and

455
00:33:24.839 --> 00:33:30.039
turned around the next day and drove
back. Now I met him at the

456
00:33:30.079 --> 00:33:34.799
store and bought his dinner, and
we talked for several hours about about his

457
00:33:34.880 --> 00:33:42.319
experiences with soul Man's. And now
isn't that amazing? It sure is that

458
00:33:42.880 --> 00:33:46.599
amazing, And to me, that
story tells it all about how good our

459
00:33:46.640 --> 00:33:52.920
food is and how well we touch
customers. And I still talk to him

460
00:33:52.920 --> 00:33:57.880
this day on Facebook. So great
story, great guy. But we hear

461
00:33:58.119 --> 00:34:01.000
so many cool stories about you know, how people grew up, you know,

462
00:34:01.079 --> 00:34:05.640
being a forty three year old brand. We now have grown adults that

463
00:34:05.960 --> 00:34:08.320
just grew up eating soul Man's all
their life and that's the barbecue that they

464
00:34:08.360 --> 00:34:13.840
eat. That's what nurtured their existence. That's right, that's right. That

465
00:34:13.920 --> 00:34:17.039
is is a great story. The
nine er in seventy six miles is nothing,

466
00:34:17.119 --> 00:34:22.159
just just needs it if you're not
disabled. For gosh sakes. Yeah,

467
00:34:22.360 --> 00:34:24.400
I when I think about what you
just said, I mean, for

468
00:34:24.440 --> 00:34:28.800
this man, I spent twenty years
of his life every week eating with you.

469
00:34:28.800 --> 00:34:35.639
You were an important keep component of
his livelihood. Right, that's right.

470
00:34:36.199 --> 00:34:39.880
And you know, truckers are just
by nature, they're lonely individuals.

471
00:34:39.920 --> 00:34:45.519
They spend hours and hours and hours
behind the wheel and when they get out

472
00:34:45.599 --> 00:34:50.320
they want somebody to talk to.
And at Solman's we have four truck stop

473
00:34:50.440 --> 00:34:54.480
location and we talk to those folks. We treat them. We treat them

474
00:34:54.599 --> 00:34:59.800
very well, and we give lend
and the ear to hear them out.

475
00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:05.400
And we love our long haul truckers. And there's the fruit from that,

476
00:35:05.559 --> 00:35:10.400
right there. MM. So every
human being craves to be listened to and

477
00:35:10.480 --> 00:35:15.280
understood, and if that's part of
what you're offering in terms in alongside a

478
00:35:15.320 --> 00:35:21.599
great meal, I think you've got
it made. That's great and that takes

479
00:35:21.679 --> 00:35:23.320
us to our next break. I'm
Alice Cortez, your host. We were

480
00:35:23.320 --> 00:35:25.599
on the air with Brett Randall,
who is the restaurant too, who has

481
00:35:25.599 --> 00:35:30.079
been at the helm of Solman's Barbecue, the beloved North Texas based restaurant chain

482
00:35:30.400 --> 00:35:35.719
that prides itself in its culture and
purpose of faith that he and his team

483
00:35:35.719 --> 00:35:37.960
have been building over the last several
years. He joined it today from Mansfield,

484
00:35:38.000 --> 00:35:42.280
Texas, where they're opening a brand
new location. We've been talking about

485
00:35:42.320 --> 00:35:46.119
how he's been purposely creating his culture
within soul Man's. After the break,

486
00:35:46.159 --> 00:35:50.119
we're going to talk about his leadership
approach and what he's doing there. Stay

487
00:35:50.199 --> 00:36:04.079
with us, become our friend on
Facebook, post your thoughts about our shows

488
00:36:04.079 --> 00:36:08.199
and network on our timeline. Visit
Facebook dot com, Forward slash Voice America.

489
00:36:08.360 --> 00:36:14.119
Alis Cortes is a speaker and engagement
and development catalyst. She designs and

490
00:36:14.159 --> 00:36:19.679
delivers professional development, leadership and engagement
workshops and can bring her expertise to your

491
00:36:19.800 --> 00:36:24.159
organization. She will help ignite meaningful
development within your workforce that will increase employee

492
00:36:24.159 --> 00:36:29.639
engagement, performance and retention. To
learn more or to invite Elise to speak

493
00:36:29.679 --> 00:36:35.199
to your organization, please visit her
at www dot Elisecortes dot com. She

494
00:36:35.280 --> 00:36:40.639
would welcome the opportunity to help get
your employees working on purpose. Have you

495
00:36:40.719 --> 00:36:45.480
friended us on Facebook yet? Why
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496
00:36:45.519 --> 00:36:49.599
forward slash Voice America or search for
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497
00:36:49.599 --> 00:36:52.360
are part of our Facebook network,
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498
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499
00:36:57.320 --> 00:37:00.000
Talk radio network, and you can
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500
00:37:00.039 --> 00:37:05.079
on our timeline. Just go to
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501
00:37:05.199 --> 00:37:16.800
or search for Voice America. This
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502
00:37:17.239 --> 00:37:22.079
To reach our program today, please
call in to one triple eight three four

503
00:37:22.159 --> 00:37:27.039
six nine one four one. Again
that's one triple eight three four six nine

504
00:37:27.159 --> 00:37:30.599
one four one. You may also
send an email to Elise A. L

505
00:37:30.599 --> 00:37:38.760
i Se at Eliseportes dot com.
Now back to working on Purpose. Thanks

506
00:37:38.760 --> 00:37:43.199
for staying with us and welcome back
to working on purpose if you're just tuning

507
00:37:43.199 --> 00:37:45.360
in. My guest is Brett Randall, who is the restaurant tour who created

508
00:37:45.519 --> 00:37:52.159
our Shouldn't secretity actually assumed soul Man's
Barbecue, the beloved North Texas based restaurant

509
00:37:52.199 --> 00:37:55.119
chain that boasts low and slow cooking
over hickory as their time honor tradition.

510
00:37:55.599 --> 00:38:00.639
Brett studied business at the University of
Mississippi and began his career in rest management

511
00:38:00.679 --> 00:38:04.480
before studying the Colony of Arts at
your Art Institute in Dallas. Great training.

512
00:38:04.920 --> 00:38:07.519
I'm your host at Least Cortes.
So before the last break, we

513
00:38:07.519 --> 00:38:13.480
were talking about culture and what you're
doing there to purposely create that and keep

514
00:38:13.519 --> 00:38:15.679
it alive there at soul Man's.
For this last segment, Bread, I

515
00:38:15.719 --> 00:38:20.800
want to talk about leadership. I
know that's a really important part and heartbeat

516
00:38:20.920 --> 00:38:24.039
of what you do there. So
first, how would you characterize your own

517
00:38:24.119 --> 00:38:31.000
leadership style? Oh, great question. The least you know. Leadership to

518
00:38:31.039 --> 00:38:36.760
me is such a tricky and deep
subject. I say that because I believe

519
00:38:36.840 --> 00:38:40.920
leadership is about achieving results. But
results can be quantified in so many different

520
00:38:40.960 --> 00:38:46.000
ways. For instance, we obviously
value a leader that increases sales, keeps

521
00:38:46.000 --> 00:38:51.920
the cost basis in line, and
ultimately makes the company more money. However,

522
00:38:52.280 --> 00:38:57.400
to us, it's just as important
how that leader achieves those results.

523
00:38:58.320 --> 00:39:02.360
I want to be a leader that's
known for having uncompromising, high standards,

524
00:39:04.800 --> 00:39:10.039
high morals, that is approachable,
one who listens before he speaks, one

525
00:39:10.039 --> 00:39:17.199
who's fair, patient, yet decisive, you know. Ultimately, I want

526
00:39:17.199 --> 00:39:22.400
to be remembered as a man who
loved God, loved others, and achieved

527
00:39:22.440 --> 00:39:27.400
his goals to that end. And
so I hope that that's the type of

528
00:39:27.480 --> 00:39:32.519
leader that I am and can be
well again, very Christmas is sinc And

529
00:39:32.559 --> 00:39:37.320
what I also like about that Breton
want to call out is that I'm often

530
00:39:37.719 --> 00:39:40.000
asked to speak about leadership to groups, and one of the things that I

531
00:39:40.119 --> 00:39:44.400
frequently say is for people to get
really clear on the kind of leader that

532
00:39:44.440 --> 00:39:49.800
they really want to be and then
authentically execute to that. And it's really

533
00:39:49.800 --> 00:39:53.519
clear to me that who you just
described yourself is how I've experienced you,

534
00:39:53.639 --> 00:39:55.840
and I have no doubt that's how
you show up as a leader as well.

535
00:39:55.880 --> 00:40:00.320
So the fact that you could you
could articulate that as a sink as

536
00:40:00.360 --> 00:40:02.119
you did. I think is part
is probably the very first part of the

537
00:40:02.159 --> 00:40:07.039
process, right, being able to
do that so gorgeous, thank you,

538
00:40:07.599 --> 00:40:12.679
Yes you're welcome, and then thinking
about how it is that you work from

539
00:40:12.679 --> 00:40:15.199
that vantage point. I know that
you write a monthly leadership email and I

540
00:40:15.199 --> 00:40:20.039
think it's called the Leadership Series,
So I want to I want to understand

541
00:40:20.039 --> 00:40:22.039
a couple of things. I want
to know what is your key message and

542
00:40:22.719 --> 00:40:25.519
what is your motivation to write it? What are you hoping to actually do

543
00:40:25.639 --> 00:40:30.199
through the series? Well, thanks
for the question. Uh, you know,

544
00:40:30.239 --> 00:40:35.960
the Leadership Series has been a lot
of fun and it's helped us all

545
00:40:36.039 --> 00:40:42.159
kind of galvanize the message together.
Now I infuse scripture in my life experiences,

546
00:40:42.239 --> 00:40:45.599
quotes, and quite a bit of
humor to get the point across.

547
00:40:45.800 --> 00:40:52.159
The message again being that we that
we do value results, that there may

548
00:40:52.239 --> 00:40:57.239
be another way to approach those results, and so that's always the challenge in

549
00:40:57.320 --> 00:41:02.679
those emails. My motivation for writing
him is really to inspire people to value

550
00:41:02.719 --> 00:41:08.960
their relationships and that through those relationships
you will find that result and fulfillment will

551
00:41:08.960 --> 00:41:20.360
follow close behind teaching that looking at
leadership through spiritual lenses is important. I

552
00:41:20.559 --> 00:41:24.920
always end each series with a simple
phrase, lead well, which hopefully sticks

553
00:41:24.920 --> 00:41:29.920
with them when they have a difficult
situation to handle that they may not know

554
00:41:30.159 --> 00:41:35.519
what to do. So, yeah, it's been a lot of fun and

555
00:41:35.679 --> 00:41:39.960
it seems to have really grown legs. The guys tell me that they forward

556
00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:45.239
them to their wives and their wives
for them to their friends. And you

557
00:41:45.280 --> 00:41:47.920
know, I'm not always great about
doing it on time, but they let

558
00:41:47.960 --> 00:41:52.079
me know when they're ready for one, so they'll say, hey, hey,

559
00:41:52.119 --> 00:41:57.320
hey, it's time, send it, and so they don't let me

560
00:41:57.360 --> 00:42:02.360
falter on it. But it's been
a lot of fun. This is related

561
00:42:02.360 --> 00:42:06.039
to what we've already spoken about,
but I think it's important to call it

562
00:42:06.039 --> 00:42:08.159
out here for this leadership part of
the discussion, Brett, and that is

563
00:42:08.199 --> 00:42:13.159
I want to know what are your
key operating values you draw from in your

564
00:42:13.239 --> 00:42:15.840
leadership. I know, obviously your
faith is right there front and center.

565
00:42:16.440 --> 00:42:22.880
What else, Yeah, yeah,
totally. You know. I developed what

566
00:42:22.920 --> 00:42:30.400
I call a pyramid, and I
call it the path the leadership and the

567
00:42:30.400 --> 00:42:37.239
pyramid and descending order list the following
leadership being the culmination of this pyramid.

568
00:42:37.280 --> 00:42:40.480
At the very top, it's my
relationship with God. Based on the scripture

569
00:42:40.599 --> 00:42:45.760
seek first the Kingdom, and so
I have to seek God first in anything

570
00:42:45.800 --> 00:42:49.920
that I do. Number two on
that list is being a good husband.

571
00:42:51.039 --> 00:42:55.679
Number three is being a good father, Number four being a good son,

572
00:42:55.840 --> 00:43:00.639
family member, and friend. And
then number five is is really interesting.

573
00:43:00.679 --> 00:43:05.639
It's called being a creative follower.
I don't know if you're familiar with a

574
00:43:05.719 --> 00:43:09.840
gentleman by the name of Jimmy Collins. He served as the president of Chick

575
00:43:09.880 --> 00:43:15.880
fil A for over thirty years just
under truet Kathy, and it just tells

576
00:43:15.920 --> 00:43:22.760
of a fascinating journey of his leadership
through following and so basic the basic premise

577
00:43:22.880 --> 00:43:25.880
is that you have to be a
good follower before you can be a leader,

578
00:43:27.840 --> 00:43:31.519
and so I really draw that.
And then last but not least,

579
00:43:31.840 --> 00:43:37.519
is if you achieve all of those
things, then you can be an effective

580
00:43:37.599 --> 00:43:44.599
leader. And so that's that's pretty
much my operating values with being a leader.

581
00:43:45.079 --> 00:43:49.920
I appreciate that there's structure around that. Sometimes people might have a harder

582
00:43:49.960 --> 00:43:52.679
time being able to articulate what are
they working from? And you did that

583
00:43:52.719 --> 00:43:55.760
gorgeously. I got to follow up
with this idea here of the creative follower.

584
00:43:57.000 --> 00:44:02.079
What makes for a being a good
creative follower. You know, probably

585
00:44:05.079 --> 00:44:09.679
number one are things like doing what, doing what makes the boss happy,

586
00:44:10.599 --> 00:44:16.880
doing the things that a follower does
and not necessarily a leader. So,

587
00:44:17.159 --> 00:44:22.360
for instance, I have a founder
and owned that still owns the company.

588
00:44:22.440 --> 00:44:29.079
He's retired, but it's still important
for me to follow his vision as well

589
00:44:29.159 --> 00:44:32.400
too, in order for me to
be a good leader to our two hundred

590
00:44:32.400 --> 00:44:37.480
and twenty five employees. What happens
so often as a leader gets so heady

591
00:44:37.960 --> 00:44:45.039
and they get so in tuned with
what they're doing that they forget about about

592
00:44:45.079 --> 00:44:50.320
following and doing the things that are
important for the business. And so for

593
00:44:50.440 --> 00:44:54.559
me in my role, it's important
that I follow the things that are important

594
00:44:54.559 --> 00:45:01.679
to him and then work everything my
vision around what's important to him. I

595
00:45:01.719 --> 00:45:06.239
almost get the sense there, Brett, that what I'm hearing from you is

596
00:45:06.280 --> 00:45:10.599
a way to describe that is you
being an enthusiastic follower. Is that fairly

597
00:45:12.159 --> 00:45:17.159
Okay? Absolutely? Yeah? So
how has your own leadership evolved over the

598
00:45:17.239 --> 00:45:21.360
years? Do you think when you
first started and you're just you're that young

599
00:45:21.400 --> 00:45:23.760
twenty two year old guy in the
bar trying to figure it out. I

600
00:45:23.760 --> 00:45:28.000
don't know if you were leading back
then, But how would you say your

601
00:45:28.079 --> 00:45:32.199
leadership has evolved over the years?
Oh man, A really good question.

602
00:45:34.639 --> 00:45:37.760
You know, how many people believe
that leaders are born. I don't.

603
00:45:37.840 --> 00:45:42.480
I don't really subscribe to that.
I tend to lean on the premise that

604
00:45:42.480 --> 00:45:46.440
they're that they're developed. I always
say to my guys that leadership is a

605
00:45:46.519 --> 00:45:52.079
journey, and I believe that it
is, and for me it certainly was.

606
00:45:52.400 --> 00:45:57.639
I started fairly young, as you
alluded to, and really failed miserably

607
00:45:57.719 --> 00:46:01.360
many times. Although I ended up
being successful. You know, I waffled

608
00:46:01.360 --> 00:46:07.159
between being too strict or being too
lenient. I lost more people than I

609
00:46:07.280 --> 00:46:10.159
kept, you know, dude,
just not knowing how to deal effectively with

610
00:46:10.280 --> 00:46:15.360
people. It wasn't really until I
realized that that being fair was really what

611
00:46:15.400 --> 00:46:21.960
people wanted. But I stumbled onto
some some success through the years. I've

612
00:46:22.000 --> 00:46:29.360
noticed that, you know, if
people respect you for whatever reason, they'll

613
00:46:29.360 --> 00:46:34.119
follow you. And for me,
I've just tried to become more respectable through

614
00:46:34.119 --> 00:46:37.920
the years, and that's that's kind
of that's kind of my journey, and

615
00:46:37.960 --> 00:46:44.440
it's it's not over yet, trust
me. I learned every day and hopefully

616
00:46:44.480 --> 00:46:49.039
I'll continue to learn for for years
on years. Yeah, I don't think

617
00:46:49.079 --> 00:46:52.800
it ever ends, this journey of
leadership or anything else of being a human

618
00:46:52.840 --> 00:46:54.760
being. But a couple of things
I want to peel back on there.

619
00:46:54.880 --> 00:46:59.079
How do you work at being more
respectable? What are you what are you

620
00:46:59.159 --> 00:47:05.880
doing to cultivate that you know?
Number One, you know, I always

621
00:47:05.920 --> 00:47:09.599
talk to my guys about about trying
to be the best at whatever you're trying

622
00:47:09.599 --> 00:47:15.880
to teach, And what I mean
by that is your knowledge of the product,

623
00:47:15.159 --> 00:47:20.199
knowledge of the process. Know.
The easiest way to lose respect,

624
00:47:20.400 --> 00:47:24.840
in my opinion, is not knowing
what you're talking about. And so for

625
00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:30.239
me dealing with barbecue being a chef, you know, just because I'm a

626
00:47:30.320 --> 00:47:35.760
chef does not mean I know barbecue. And so when I first joined soul

627
00:47:35.840 --> 00:47:38.679
Man's Barbecue, I set out to
be the best barbecue cook that I could

628
00:47:38.760 --> 00:47:45.320
possibly be because I knew that I
would gain more respect from these guys who'd

629
00:47:45.320 --> 00:47:49.519
been cooking barbecue their whole life if
I had just as much knowledge or more

630
00:47:49.800 --> 00:47:55.360
about the product. And so I
think I think number one the answer to

631
00:47:55.440 --> 00:48:02.320
you would be know what you're talking
about, be the best. Number two

632
00:48:02.679 --> 00:48:07.960
is is that you always have to
back up what you talk about. So

633
00:48:08.559 --> 00:48:14.639
if I'm talking about all the state
and talking about culture and then I don't

634
00:48:14.880 --> 00:48:20.559
really live it out, I don't
walk it out, then I immediately lose

635
00:48:20.639 --> 00:48:25.440
respect. So I'm always trying.
I'm always trying to make sure that I

636
00:48:25.480 --> 00:48:31.880
am living what I preach, and
sometimes that can be very difficult. And

637
00:48:31.920 --> 00:48:35.960
people, when you're in leadership,
and you know this, you're always under

638
00:48:35.960 --> 00:48:40.000
the microscope. Yes, people are
always trying to find holes in your game

639
00:48:40.079 --> 00:48:45.760
and pick you apart, and you
have to be tuned into that. So

640
00:48:45.039 --> 00:48:51.559
those two things are probably the biggest
things that I work on all the time.

641
00:48:51.719 --> 00:48:55.800
And you know, going back to
number one, you know, me

642
00:48:55.920 --> 00:49:00.239
being the CEO having sixteen restaurants,
I'm not always in the restaurants as much

643
00:49:00.239 --> 00:49:06.639
anymore. So getting in there,
getting back used to doing operational things and

644
00:49:06.679 --> 00:49:10.559
making sure I don't stay I don't
fall out of touch is an extremely important

645
00:49:10.599 --> 00:49:15.880
part of the process. So two
more things to follow that up really quick.

646
00:49:15.880 --> 00:49:20.119
This is such an important, great
thing, the great conversation about leadership,

647
00:49:20.119 --> 00:49:22.559
Brett. So this whole notion you
said about you know, knowing your

648
00:49:22.599 --> 00:49:25.960
stuff, what I also think you're
saying there is that when you don't know

649
00:49:27.039 --> 00:49:30.400
your stuff, that you admit that
you don't try to bluff what you don't

650
00:49:30.440 --> 00:49:34.199
know, and that authenticity of you
being willing to say, hey, I

651
00:49:34.239 --> 00:49:36.400
know this, I think I know
this pretty well, but this part over

652
00:49:36.440 --> 00:49:40.159
here, I do know this.
I think there's something that's really really incredibly

653
00:49:40.199 --> 00:49:45.280
engaging about that that make people want
to trust even more because you've called out

654
00:49:45.280 --> 00:49:49.360
what you don't know. That's no
kind of okay, good, yeah,

655
00:49:49.519 --> 00:49:52.400
okay, good this notion fake it
till you make it thing. You know,

656
00:49:52.559 --> 00:49:57.039
there's some smart people in the world. They don't all they don't always

657
00:49:57.039 --> 00:50:01.000
fall for that for that game.
So you know, honesty is always the

658
00:50:01.039 --> 00:50:05.760
best policy. Kind of like you
say, you know one thing that I

659
00:50:05.800 --> 00:50:08.159
did when I came to soul Man's
and I wanted to learn how to be

660
00:50:08.199 --> 00:50:12.800
the best barbecue cook because I went
to the best barbecue cooks and said,

661
00:50:12.840 --> 00:50:16.639
hey, teach me what, teach
me how to do this? And that

662
00:50:17.199 --> 00:50:21.840
showed that showed those guys that I
was willing to learn and I wasn't too

663
00:50:21.880 --> 00:50:24.920
good to stand next to them and
learn from them. And I still do

664
00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:30.199
that to this day. And so
yeah, you know, you have to

665
00:50:30.199 --> 00:50:35.440
be humble, and you have to
be willing to learn, because nobody knows

666
00:50:35.440 --> 00:50:40.000
everything that's right. That's right.
And I think back to your thing about

667
00:50:40.079 --> 00:50:45.639
culture and engagement. When we solicit
the expertise of people who work with us,

668
00:50:45.119 --> 00:50:49.760
there's nothing better than having them feel
like, Hey, I'm really contributing

669
00:50:49.800 --> 00:50:52.639
to this thing, right, I've
got something to share with the boss with

670
00:50:52.679 --> 00:50:54.840
the business I mean, and he, he or she is listening to me

671
00:50:55.159 --> 00:51:00.239
and takes me seriously. Oh yeah, absolutely, if we've got time,

672
00:51:00.239 --> 00:51:02.719
I'll give you a quick example of
that. Sure, go for it.

673
00:51:02.800 --> 00:51:07.239
We have a we have a fairly
new employee out here in Mansfield's who's a

674
00:51:07.400 --> 00:51:12.440
chef, and I went up to
him the other day. I'm trying to

675
00:51:12.480 --> 00:51:16.119
create a new LTO limited time offer, and I said, Hey, how

676
00:51:16.119 --> 00:51:20.719
about you and I getting in here
next week. You make your best thing,

677
00:51:20.760 --> 00:51:24.480
I'll make my best thing, and
we'll let the employees decide which LTO

678
00:51:24.599 --> 00:51:29.280
we're going to do next. And
man, he just lit up, and

679
00:51:29.360 --> 00:51:34.360
you could just tell that he really
wanted to kind of have that cook off

680
00:51:34.400 --> 00:51:39.800
with me, and that I had
really acknowledged his expertise and was willing to

681
00:51:40.079 --> 00:51:44.199
get in there and cook with him, and so it was a really neat

682
00:51:44.280 --> 00:51:47.360
moment for us that that kind of
speaks to exactly to what you were saying.

683
00:51:50.000 --> 00:51:52.559
Great example. And one more thing
too that I want to call it

684
00:51:52.559 --> 00:51:54.800
for listeners that you said earlier about
all the mistakes that you made as you

685
00:51:54.800 --> 00:51:58.199
came up in your leadership journey,
and I just wanted to call it.

686
00:51:58.239 --> 00:52:01.480
Have you ever read the book Black
Box Thing by Matthew Sayd I have not?

687
00:52:02.119 --> 00:52:06.880
Okay, for our listeners, it's
a great thing that really reinforces the

688
00:52:06.920 --> 00:52:09.480
notion that not only is it good
to make mistakes, but learning from our

689
00:52:09.519 --> 00:52:14.960
mistakes in an ongoing, purposeful,
intentional way can really set us apart,

690
00:52:15.039 --> 00:52:17.760
whether it's in terms of our leadership
journey, our business journey, our personal

691
00:52:17.840 --> 00:52:21.800
journey. Trying to get that man
of my show, I think he's got

692
00:52:21.840 --> 00:52:24.719
such a great message, so really
resonates with what you're saying about the mistakes

693
00:52:24.719 --> 00:52:28.639
that you made and how you learn
from them went right along there. So

694
00:52:28.639 --> 00:52:31.760
I had to call that out.
Yeah, that's that's awesome stuff, Alice.

695
00:52:31.760 --> 00:52:35.679
You know, I have three sons
and I tell them all the time

696
00:52:35.800 --> 00:52:38.920
that everybody makes mistakes, but it's
not your mistakes, but define you.

697
00:52:39.000 --> 00:52:45.880
It's what you do with those mistakes. So that's so true. Yes,

698
00:52:45.920 --> 00:52:50.199
sir, Well, we are coming
to a close and I like to give

699
00:52:50.199 --> 00:52:52.920
my guests the last word whenever I
can, Brett, so just say,

700
00:52:52.960 --> 00:52:55.880
maydia in thirty seconds or less.
What would you like to leave our listeners

701
00:52:55.880 --> 00:53:01.440
with today, Well, here's what
I like to leave them with. I

702
00:53:01.480 --> 00:53:07.519
think that everyone has leadership ability inside
them. Find your path and make it

703
00:53:07.719 --> 00:53:13.079
more about relationships and people than about
profits, and when you get there,

704
00:53:13.760 --> 00:53:20.360
lead well. Fantastic way to finish, Brett. Thank you so much for

705
00:53:20.440 --> 00:53:23.320
joining us. It was an absolute
stupendous pleasure. I do want to call

706
00:53:23.360 --> 00:53:27.760
out that one of my SMU students
is in part the reason that you came

707
00:53:27.800 --> 00:53:30.760
on the show, because she put
together my business objective for the show and

708
00:53:30.840 --> 00:53:36.280
your soulful working on purpose said this
is a no brainer. So thank you

709
00:53:36.360 --> 00:53:39.320
so much for joining us and being
with us and sharing your passion with us.

710
00:53:39.360 --> 00:53:44.199
It's been incredible to learn from you
and be inspired by you. I

711
00:53:44.239 --> 00:53:47.360
had an absolute blass at least.
Thanks for having me. You're welcome,

712
00:53:47.559 --> 00:53:52.039
So listeners, if you want to
learn more about Brett Randall and soul Man's.

713
00:53:52.400 --> 00:53:54.760
You can go to soul Man's.
It's just s O U l M

714
00:53:54.920 --> 00:54:00.280
a ns dot com. And there
are sixteen Lokeys here in the North Texas

715
00:54:00.280 --> 00:54:05.920
area. The newest is in Mansfield, so come take a visit. I

716
00:54:05.920 --> 00:54:08.039
will be doing that soon. I
went online to see what locations were closest

717
00:54:08.039 --> 00:54:12.719
to me, So who knows,
Brett, I just might show up and

718
00:54:12.760 --> 00:54:19.119
surprise you. I would welcome that, all right, So I'll see you

719
00:54:19.159 --> 00:54:22.320
next week, looking forward to our
conversation with our next guest. Remember that

720
00:54:22.360 --> 00:54:30.440
work is one third of our lives, so let's work on purpose. We

721
00:54:30.480 --> 00:54:35.480
hope you've enjoyed this week's program.
Be sure to tune into Working on Purpose,

722
00:54:35.599 --> 00:54:39.320
featuring your host Elise Cortes, every
Wednesday at six pm Eastern Time three

723
00:54:39.360 --> 00:54:45.039
pm Pacific Time on the Voice America
Empowerment Channel. This week, find your

724
00:54:45.079 --> 00:54:45.719
life's purpose at work.