Construction Trailblazers: Paving The Way to Excellence

[00:00:00] Welcome to Construction Trailblazers Paving the Way to Excellence, the podcast where we cut through the noise to uncover what truly drives success in the building industry.

Samantha C Prestidge: I'm Samantha C. Prestidge, your guide in simplifying operations and turning dynamic teams into industry leaders. I'm all about helping you create a high performing team that consistently delivers success without the daily chaos. You can explore our past episodes at constructiontrailblazers. com and start your journey to excellence.

So today, I'm sitting down with my friend Jesse Hernandez, a leadership powerhouse and the guy behind Depth Builder. So often, leadership in construction feels like it's all about command, control, and just get the job done. But, what if the key to real success is leadership? isn't just working harder, but leading deeper.

Jesse has spent years transforming frontline leaders, showing them how to build trust, create real [00:01:00] influence, and actually enjoy leading their teams. With a background in construction and a passion for shifting mindsets, he's out here proving that leadership isn't about authority, it's about connection, clarity, and culture.

All right. So Jesse, I'm super excited for today, but before we dive into all the serious stuff, I have to ask, because you're a fun guy. So what's something that you've been totally nerding out on lately?

Jesse Hernandez: Oh, I got to pick. So I'm going to pick one, the more fun one swimming. So I decided that I'm going to be competing in a, an IRA full Ironman by the end of next year.

, but I don't, swim very well at all. And so like learning how to breathe and stay, you know, moving forward in the water. I've been totally nerdy and I actually, I just got back from the pool today. Big, big progress. It was my second day. And I made a lot, a lot of progress and I got some tips from the lifeguard.
[00:02:00]

So, so it's exciting for me. It's like, okay, I've watched videos and then I read and then I kind of visualize the thing and think about it and practice, and then I'm going to go in the water and try it again.

Samantha C Prestidge: Yeah, I love that. I remember my husband did a triathlon a few years ago and he's a decent swimmer, but still the swimming portion of it was what he was most nervous about just everyone in the water at the same time.

So he over trained for that. And I'd also be interested to see, by the time you do your iron man, which is awesome and very scary. I would never, but I want, I want to see by the time you do that, how that your fitness journey there kind of translates into business. Because I find when I get really into running, just like that perseverance,

and like that good sweat that translates really well for me in business. Have you started to notice that yet?

Jesse Hernandez: A hundred percent. So, and like super micro. I know and I just discovered this. This isn't new news, but I just like experienced it. It's like, oh, now it all the puzzle pieces [00:03:00] locked in diet, right?

I've learned that if I eat when I eat less than 100 carbs every day, 100 grams of carbs. The morning I am super clear, super focused and I can get stuff done. And so how does that relate to the fitness journey? Well, you know, I got a lot of insulation on my body and I got to cut the carbs down.

But for the weight loss, that was never motivation enough for me. Like, okay, cut back on carbs. I could wait, like, sure. I want to lose weight, but in my brain, I'm, I still got the six pack. I'm still rocking it, but I'm not, but the actual added edge of having a clear mind and being ultra focused as a result of.

keeping that carb count down real low is phenomenal. So mornings are my most productive time. I can think I'm more clear. My energy is more sustained throughout the day when I just like really focus and [00:04:00] manage my carb intake, which again, I've been tracking this for like three weeks now, which turns into higher execution on my tasks and on my training.

And so it's just, it's this beautiful combo where, you know, if I skip a work, cause I travel a bunch and I can't hit the pool or I don't hit the weight room or whatever, don't get my miles in. I could still get a hell of a lot of work done because I'm super focused and it's tied to one simple thing and it is my carb intake period, which I love being able to just track one thing that's going to have exponential ROI except that.

Tortillas. We need to figure out how to make delicious, greasy, fluffy tortillas that have zero carbs. That's it. If somebody could do that, man. Oh man.

Samantha C Prestidge: Yeah. I remember when I was on Whole30 and I'm like, how could I have tortillas? And you know, did almond flour, tapioca. I'm like, it's still high carb. But no, [00:05:00] I, I absolutely love that.

And the amount of self reflection and awareness also to then understand the motivation behind these. And I know that you journal a lot. So, which is a whole other. I don't know if that's the right topic, but if you want to have the level of insight and nerdiness that Jesse has, get into journaling.

I can't bring myself there because I'm like, if I only have 15 minutes to journal, I don't want to sit down to write because I'm like, I need an hour and a half. So journaling has never been my thing, but I know that you do that. Did you find these insights through that daily reflection or just realized it as an epiphany one day?

Jesse Hernandez: It's a combination for sure. Right? Like sure. I journal, I have my fancy. overpriced Etch a Sketch remarkable, digital notebook. And now I block out an hour every day of the week and I skip, right? Like I'm probably five for seven out of every week. But I block out that hour of time, but I say journaling because most of the time I'm writing stuff, but it's really thinking time.

[00:06:00] And depending on what, and because I have a curious ravenous mind, I have to focus it. Otherwise I'm all over the damn place. And so for that hour, I'm thinking, chewing on a question, chewing on an idea, chewing on the next step, chewing on a performance and writing questions down that I want to examine.

Now what I've created a little template and it's just a hand drawn template of like my primary focus. If I'm going to do this damn Ironman girl, I got to lose like 30 pounds. Forget the 30 pounds, I got to put in thousands of hours of training to be prepared. So that needs to be my primary focus. And so I set up a little template and it's just check boxes for little boxes.

Right. Did I do my triathlon training? Did I manage my nutrition? Did I get good, healthy sleep? And then I do outreach, right? Like reaching out to clients. Cause you know, I'm not tabletop ready yet. And so that's where I start my journal. I check [00:07:00] that I go through my Garmin. I got my super fancy Garmin watch.

It does the biometrics. I kind of digest that. And then I make a couple of notes on what was the training? How did I do it? Like, what did I eat? Why did I decide to or not to eat something? And then I get into the big thing. So it's like, first thing I'm going to focus on this. And like I mentioned, the biometrics that the Garmin thing produces.

Really how I mean, I was trying all kinds of stuff and then I landed on, I think it was a podcast and they were talking about the impact that carbs have and how they operate and how they function. They got super, super nerdy on it. And I was like, Ooh, I've never tried that. You know, I've been tracking calories.

I've been in an output, but I never tracked carbs. I've been focusing on a lot of protein, but it was still like marginal benefit. And so I said, well, let me track carbs. And then I was created a little box of how many carbs, how many carbs that I eat, how did I feel, man, I felt all.

And, [00:08:00] and so that's where it was like, oh, oh my god, this, like, this is the thing.

So yeah, so yes, it's connected to my journaling but, You know, when you ask me nerd thing that I've been nerdy now, I nerd out on everything, sister. So it's,

Samantha C Prestidge: it's nerd excitement. I'm such a geek at heart, right? Like, I mean, let's do Harry Potter trivia or something. I love the nerd excitement, but I want to backtrack.

I know today we want to dive a little bit into leading teams. Before we do that, you had a really good point of. Putting your goal into perspective, like, yeah, you've got to do a shit ton of hours to get ready for this iron man. And in order to properly prepare for that, you're looking at your priorities and having this checkbox for yourself kind of every day.

And so I know part of what your work is, is working directly with those frontline leaders and those managers. How has kind of introducing. Checking your damn priorities every day. How is, does that kind of revolutionize their work?

Jesse Hernandez: Yeah, you know, that's a beautiful question because I think we've been rather, I'll [00:09:00] say it this way, when I was in their position, right?

When I was a lead man, a foreman, superintendent, middle manager, blah, blah, blah, blah. I operated, in response and reaction to whatever my bosses wanted or whatever the GC wanted. But that was the norm, right? It was just, you know, do what they tell you to do or do what they ask of you.

And then I started figuring out like, Oh, I can get ahead of this because this thing always comes up. They always want this. And then, so I would do those things. And my message is, I think it's twists a lot of people's brains because it wasn't until I got clear. Wait a minute.

What the hell are my priorities and how does my work, how do I integrate my work into that, that everything opened like wide, wide open. And so when I'm doing training and, and, you know, coaching and all the things that I do, I come from the perspective of, okay, yes, there's the business objectives. And, and you, you already know this.

Most [00:10:00] of the times, those freaking things ain't clear. Their goals are more, which that's not a goal. And, and so it's like, no, no, no, no. Let's zone into you. What is the most important thing to you? What do you want to accomplish? What are the things? That you deprioritizing or keep kicking down the road because you don't have enough time.

All right, that's what we want to build space for. All these processes and mental models and strategies. Sure, they're going to help you execute work and they're going to make you a more effective communicator, more effective planner, all these things. But the point is, it's going to help you get closer to your primary objective.

And then within that. The big, nugget is what are the high leverage activities,, most of the time in the most of the professionals I know, they think of, okay, high leverage activity as it relates to my career, to my job, to my business. Which I [00:11:00] agree. But what about you? Because none of it happens without you.

, like, my mornings from 5 a. m. to 10 a. m. are, are dedicated to my high leverage activities. What does that mean? Journaling, my thinking time, exercise, my training interact, being social. Now I cheat because I'm social on, on social media,

and the one thing, the most important thing for my business or for my clients. That's what I do from 5 to 10 a. m. Now, 75 percent of that is all about me, but if I'm not taking care of me and working on my bigger personal private goals, the flavor and the enthusiasm to deliver and execute to the degree that I want to goes away.

And guess what starts happening? Burnout. And so I come from that perspective and people are like, wait a minute, like, no, no, no, no. We want to, like, we want them to comply and execute. It's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:12:00] We're going to get there, but let's make sure we value the human being and help people understand how to better value and honor themselves.

Because when they start down that path, all the other stuff, I mean, they make big leaps in performance. It just, the start, the launch is a little, I'll say uncommon, right? Because most of the stuff out there is, you know, Pomodoro effect or personal Kanban or active listening. Like there's all these things that we can throw at people which are valuable and they can help, but.

If we exclude and sanitize the individual, the human out of it, it's just noise.

Samantha C Prestidge: Yeah, I love that you have such a good understanding of the individual, but then also the company objectives, right? So from that CEO, devil's advocate perspective, it's like, well, why do I want this person prioritizing their own stuff over my stuff?

Because they're a human being, they will do better work for you when they feel better [00:13:00] in life in general. Sometimes that sentence can feel so common sense to you and I, when we are so used to seeing those results and so used to the compassion for other people. But for a lot of leaders out there, they don't expect those types of results and it feels very mind blowing and there's a lot of resistance there.

Let's put you on a pedestal. For a minute, Jesse. What is like one of the best case studies, best success stories of a client CEO leader that was resistant to the idea of investing in their people and giving them time and then really seeing that performance skyrocket?

Jesse Hernandez: Yeah, I'm going to give you two. One is, is a client and one is like a real, real life thing, kind of where the awakening happened. So one client we were, they knew, I said, when we were negotiating the deal, I'm like, look, I'm crazy. All the energy you're getting from me right now is going to be 10 times more intense [00:14:00] when we're in person.

And I got an audience. So if it's too much, we don't need to keep going. Cause I can't throttle it down. And she said, no, no, it's fine. I said, okay, I take a completely people centered approach and I'm recommending X. And she says, you know, it's interesting. We've talked to a handful of other consultants for the same thing.

And you're the only one that is saying don't start with the field, start with the decision makers. And I'm like, yeah. And she's like, has this worked for you before? I'm like, well, no. Cause I've never done it before, but I've done it the other way a bunch of times and that didn't work. And she was like, fair enough.

Okay. So anyways. People center approach. We were going through fact based problem solving a three thinking right this thing and it was amazing. Like they were super committed. They went all the way through it. Now the as a result of that, the different folks in there were talking directors, general [00:15:00] superintendent, senior executives, VPs.

They were all going through the training and there were a few that really, really stuck to it. And one guy, his problem was they just not listening to me like, yeah, I know, but I totally focus on the social element of problem solving in business. It's okay. Let's go understand what the problem is from their perspective.

Wah, wah, wah. He comes back. He's like, Oh my God, I think I know why it's been so hard. It's okay. Why? It's because they hate me and I helped them hate me. I'm like, awesome.

You've

Samantha C Prestidge: got

Jesse Hernandez: a baseline and that's the thing, right? Like we don't realize how the, our energy about delivering or executing on our task.

Makes people feel like units, right? It makes people feel like machines, like, they're irrelevant. And so the, the approach we took, he had to listen to them and ask questions and come up with ideas and present it back to them and [00:16:00] go through that whole process. So by the time they got to like deploying the improvement, they were already doing most of it.

Like they were on board because they informed the decision forward. , so then he's like, dude, had I been operating like this, my whole career, Things would have been a hundred percent better. Now, fast forward, this was over about two years ago or so, almost everybody that was in that cohort has promoted and elevated and grew their responsibilities within the organization, right?

You know, the business ROIs, I know they've grown, they're expanding, they're going into different markets. And I also know that I can't take credit for that. But what I can say, I played a little small role in is their elevation within the organization and them having more fun doing their work, which translates into execution.

So that's one. The second one is me. I've been extremely fortunate in that. I've had a series. [00:17:00] of really thoughtful leaders that invested in me and developed me. I was a foreman plumbing foreman and the only thing I gave a damn about was kicking every other foreman's ass. Period. I had no aspirations to be a superintendent or any of the other damn things that I've done, but I've had people like direct supervisors, the people that I reported to.

They gave a damn about me that challenged me and invested in me. And the most significant, I mean, there's a bunch, but there was one that I knew okay, something, something's different. And things are going to change for me. He asked me, he's like, Jess. I don't know where you want to go, and I know there's a bunch of stuff that you can do.

And this was as a result of me being recruited to go work for a general contractor at the time. He said, so tell me what you want to work on, or experience, or learn, or do, so I can help [00:18:00] you do that. Okay, so I came back to him with, you know, I want to get better at Excel, I want to learn pivot tables, , right?

And he's like, Jess, that's garbage. I'm like, what do you mean? Like, pivot tables are sexy. I don't know how to do them. I love them, though. He says, no, that's work crap. I want to know what you want to experience. I was like, whoa, that's nobody's ever asked me. And hell, no one in the workplace has ever asked me that.

So I came back to him. I said, man, the only answer I got is I want to be speaking to parents, students, and educators about careers in the trades from a national stage. And he said, all right, we'll figure out how to make that happen. And I said, what? And it blew my mind. And he contributed, I mean, he, you know, he didn't schedule a conference for me to go speak at, but we kept talking about it and he would kick ideas around

and eventually, you know, I started a podcast and it happened. But the fact that [00:19:00] he took the time to invest in me as a human and support my goal, crazy, dumb, ridiculous goal at the time opened up another level for me. And that was like, that's the deal. He treated me like a human sounds simple. And then of course he got a whole hell of a lot out more out of me.

Right. And, but also started the path down to where I am today, which is. eons beyond what I ever expected I could achieve. And I think every manager can do the same thing. They can have the same impact when they focus and invest on the human being, not just doing freaking maintenance, right? Like if I'm running a company and I got a fleet of vehicles, changing the oil, rotating the tires, you do that.

So it doesn't fall apart. But the too many managers feel like doing the minimum maintenance stuff. Means they're [00:20:00] leader of the year. You're not a freaking leader. You're a manager. Get the hell out of here. Like there's a bare minimum.

Samantha C Prestidge: It is

Jesse Hernandez: the minimum. Oh, you did your quarterly review. Woo hoo. Like that's table stakes, bro.

Come on.

Samantha C Prestidge: Like, do we need a gold star chart for the basics? Now, what I, what I love that you, it started with just one mentor just asking you the simple question, right? Treating you like a human being and asking what, what you wanted. Here's a little similarity as we had another episode with Josh Neves, who also has a beautiful story.

So if you're a listener and you haven't checked out that episode, go check, go listen to it. He's got a beautiful story of the mentors that invested in him, the lessons he learned from his dad. But I want to also take a step back and say like, it's not always that easy because you did have this mentor.

But I also know a bit of your story, Jesse, that I want to highlight for our listeners, because you were not always the person to then reciprocate and then ask your people that question, right? Talk us through, because you also, your, your whole thing is like depth builder, right? Like let's dive deep into relationships.

But again, you [00:21:00] didn't always do that with your people. So talk us through like those pivotal moments where you're like, yeah, I want to be this fricking badass rockstar foreman. And it's like, Oh, I need to change my perspective a little bit to do that.

Jesse Hernandez: Oh yeah, this is. So this was another another one of those guys.

Jim Jones. He's passed since then. He, I was a foreman and he pulled me in and he says, Jess, you do good. We make money, you get jobs done on schedule. He said, but our clients hate you and people quit on you. And I said, I know, man, you need to get better clients and hire better people.

Samantha C Prestidge: It's not my fault. I got all the gold stars, man.

Jesse Hernandez: And like, I sound silly now, but I 100 percent believe that, like it was not me.

Hell, just the other day, I was in a call with 40 superintendents and foremen from a mechanical contractor in DFW, and I'm talking, you know, support people, give them coaching, you know, I'm talking the [00:22:00] stuff that I talk now. One of the guys on the call knew me back then and he's like jesse are you possessed like this is not the jesse i remember he's like yeah i know man anyways so jim jones pulls me aside and he's like jess like here's the thing you can continue operating the way you're operating And you'll be a foreman and that's good.

Like you'll make money, you'll get your bonuses, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. He says, but if you want to reach or grow into your potential, you're going to have to change. I said, Oh, here we go again. You and all my exes, I got to change. Right. I said, okay, what do I got to change? He says, Jesse, here's the thing. If you want to like expand your influence, you need to do two things.

You need to deliver financial results. And you need to develop people. He said, you're really good at delivering financial results, but people hate you. , and here's the thing. [00:23:00] And, and I also got to tell you, like the company, it was TD industries.

I was there for 17 years, very progressive company. I mean, we're doing succession planning, servant leadership was the culture. There was a whole leadership training development program that people could access they had the mechanisms and tools to develop talent. Anyways he said, here are the list of people that are next up for superintendent, or that are in the pot, right, that are in the hatch.

And I was like, oh, big deal. Like, I'm gonna, I don't care. Like, that doesn't motivate me. He said, no, no, I know you don't care, but here's the deal. I know that half of that list, you don't like them. I'm like, yeah, they're scrubs. He said, okay. So if you choose not to change your ways, I don't want to hear you whining and complaining about those guys when they get the superintendent role and you don't.

And I said, Oh, that is a different proposition. It wasn't the carrot of, Hey, you [00:24:00] know, if you change, you'll blah, blah, blah. It wasn't that. It was the prospect of working for scrubs that motivated me to change the way I function. And that's okay. What the hell do I got to do? So they put me in the training and it took years, girl.

But little by little, I started understanding how most of my irritation and frustrations with people. I was the source of it. And so changing, tweaking, adjusting little by little by little by little is kind of where I'm like, Oh, all of a sudden people would talk to me. People would have lunch with me.

People would invite me places. And I was like, , why are y'all doing this? And that never happened before. And I was talking to my buddy, Noah, who's a superintendent now. He was a, yeah, I think he had just got his journeyman license at the time. He's like, well, yeah, because you're a jerk. Like nobody like you're, you're not cool.

You're not fun to be around. You're

Samantha C Prestidge: an ass. Obviously like, duh, Jesse, can't you tell? [00:25:00] What

Jesse Hernandez: do you mean? I'm a, I'm a, I'm a sweetheart. What are you talking about? And I was, I was totally oblivious to it. And when I kind of started, it was like, does the fish know he's in water? I don't know, but All of a sudden, it's like, Oh, man, my friends have the same issues and because I've been there, I could help them.

And that's kind of the unfair advantage I have on like my competitors. Is I've lived the experience, the pain, the friction of being a laborer, being an apprentice, being a journeyman, being a foreman, being a superintendent, being a middle manager, leading and deploying change.

Like I didn't read about it. I did it. And because I'm, I'm an obsessive nerd, I learn and study all kinds of nerdy stuff. And I figured out over the years how to translate between each level of the organization up and down all across the organization. And I mean, fundamentally, that's the [00:26:00] primary skill I use.

In the training and coaching and supporting of people, but again, had Jim Jones not pulled me to the side and say, Hey fool, you want to work for dummies? Keep doing what you're doing. I would still be out there kicking every other foreman's ass. I promise you. And I'd probably be 30 pounds lighter too.

Samantha C Prestidge: But I mean, big shout out to Jim Jones,

because there are definitely moments where I do embrace, a higher, slow fire, fast mentality. There are moments where you've just got it. This person might be an eight player, but they are, they're going to ruin your team. And like, let's get them out of the organization. But he saw something in you of like, okay, I can see that this person is capable of change and decide to take that moment to pause with you.

And then you were capable of change and look at you now like that. It's freaking awesome. And going back to translating across organizations, such an important skill, just knowing what motivates people at different levels. So many managers are so oblivious to that. And I would say, let's go back to the beginning of the episode where Jesse, [00:27:00] notice the level of awareness he has on his own motivations.

If you don't know what motivates yourself, how are you going to know what motivates your team? Like start with the basics people. Okay. So. On that note, so you've now learned so much stuff from the amazing leadership development programs they had before to now working with your clients and things. So now knowing that, hey, surface level bullshit does not work.

We've got to get deep with people. What is one of those maybe surface level or feels like a fraudy leadership piece of advice that just makes you want to throw something at the wall.

Jesse Hernandez: Yeah, the, the, I'm gonna, I don't know why I've been, this has been in my head a lot lately.

Active listening, I think, is fake news, weak sauce. I just, it irks the hell out of me. And I don't know why, like, the past few days, it just keeps coming up into my head, like, why is it bugging me so much? Now, don't get me wrong. I, because I also understand that [00:28:00] There's probably like grade levels or graduations to be had.

Right? I had all the answers before. If I asked you a question, it was so that I could answer it. I didn't care what you thought, like that. That was the way I function. And if you were like, if I did give you space to talk, it was just so that I could organize my response, right? I had no interest in what you thought or believed or felt.

So that's like kindergarten level, right? Me moving my mouth all the time and not giving anybody space to talk. Then I got to like fifth grade where I would not move my mouth or move my mouth less, but I still wasn't listening. I was just not talking. And then I got to middle school, which is active listening,

like, Oh, huh. Yes. Oh, tell me more. Hmm. Right. Like that's active listening. I think it's important and foundational practice. But it's weak sauce because too many people learn this. And it's a technique, right? It [00:29:00] sails. It works in all kinds of hell, it worked at the bar picking up women like I promised is what I did anyways, it's not listening.

And what is the person on the other side of the table feel they feel handled. It's icky. You know it when they're handling you, right? They're doing a lot. They're going through the motions. Now you've got to build those skills. They're about. It's a valuable skill set to have, but it's not the game

okay, now you're ready for to be in maybe a starter position if you get good at it. And so the next level, it incorporates a super, super scary word that most people would say is fraud. The next level is vulnerability. The next level. is asking questions that I don't know the answer to, asking questions about the human being in front of me, what they think, what they feel, what excites them and making sure they have, just like you're doing to me, making sure they [00:30:00] have way more airtime than I do.

As the leader that active listening be at like it again. Don't get me wrong. It's not bad but if Just scrub level like come on. That's jv bro. Like you gotta you gotta elevate your game And and so if you stop there, that's my irritation It's more like when we start connecting with the people that we spend most of our freaking time with on a human level the discretionary effort that every human being has becomes accessible.

You start learning and growing together and creating bonds that reinforce just unrealistic outcomes. And I say unrealistic because it's very difficult to get to that level of performance without people giving way way freaking more than the competitors are given. And I say It comes down to the human connection and you can't have [00:31:00] that real deep connection if all you're doing is mirroring their behavior and rephrasing what they just said so that they feel hurt.

Like, come on.

Samantha C Prestidge: Well, also feeling hurt and feeling valued are two different things. Trigger point, but I would almost, first off, I love that entire breakdown and definitely there are going to be people when they hear, Oh, active listening is weak sauce. They're like, F you, Jesse, right? But it's like, all right, like, listen to the whole thing, right?

We got to vulnerability at the end. And I would almost introduce another step between that and just be like, genuine curiosity, so graduating from active listening, now we're genuinely curious in what the other person is saying and what they're feeling and all those things. And then that next level is vulnerability where we are then sharing things.

Cause I'll say, I think I took a personality test once and I think I'm freaking amazing at genuine curiosity, people tell me things and I'm like, okay, cool. Like let's, let's hold space for that. But I realized after that, I took this test that [00:32:00] people have a high level of trust with me to start.

And then over time they realize that I know more about them than they know about me. And I do nothing to cause distrust. All of a sudden, that trust, everything we've built up plummets because I haven't been vulnerable back. I haven't shared anything back. So yeah, let's, let's go from active listening.

Then let's actually care about the human being in front of us, but then treat them as a human being, put yourself on the same level. Even if you're their manager below you, put yourself on the same level and share something back with them. And that's how you're going to get those bonds,

Jesse Hernandez: a hundred percent.

And that's a beauty. I'm going to steal that and add it in. You're right. Like, and yes. When I figure out like, man, that fool knows way more than me about me than I know about them, like, what are they up to? And that's a huge awareness for you. That's big. That's really big. And the language that we, that we use is let's get down to their level.

And I want to plant this, maybe another slap in the face that people can't forget. [00:33:00] You ain't above them. We're human. Like. It's really not getting down to anybody's level. What it really is, is getting over yourself and accepting that you're human too, right? And saying, I don't know. I'm scared. I need help.

I'm screwed up. Like that's vulnerability. And to your point, like to your situation, it's easy to do that. And it'll man, like cement and supercharge the trust because then it's like, Oh, wow. Like she's human too. Like, just like me, it's magic. It's Superman.

Samantha C Prestidge: It's like the celebrity magazines, you're like, this person has a pimple.

And you're like, well, yeah, they're a person. It's okay. Did they have a pimple? They're not baby skin flawless all the time. Okay. All right. So let's get a little bit deeper, a little bit deeper into, into some strategy. All right. One of the things I want to [00:34:00] ask is if you had to give every new field leader a 30 day challenge to set them up for success.

So these are the people that maybe they haven't been exposed to any leadership development program. Maybe they've just been rough and tough their whole life. And they're like what is vulnerability? What is that 30 day challenge where they can get started on this and you start to experience.

Success.

Jesse Hernandez: Yeah. Oh, two things. And, and they're hard and scary and they, again, they don't make sense. The number one thing for 30 days, you're on site, you're brand new. My challenge would be every day, meet somebody new on site and there's plenty of people. And when I say meet somebody new, I don't mean go say good morning.

I mean, say good morning or afternoon or whatever, learn their name, learn why they chose that trade. And I say trade because I'm in construction. This applies in the office anywhere, learn their name, learn why they're doing the type of work that they're doing it, [00:35:00] ask whether they like it or not, and ask them what's the coolest thing they've ever done.

And I'm like, that's kind of prescriptive, but it's that freaking easy. The value of that is you start building relationships. You help people know you, they know about you, they'll recognize you and it'll lower friction. In the event you ever needed a little extra grace for doing something dumb, it's so, so powerful. That skill of going up to somebody and saying, Hey, Samantha, how you doing? I'm Jesse. Like, what are you doing here? Why are you doing this? Where were you working at before? What's the freaking coolest thing you've ever done? Like that's a quick five, maybe 10 minute conversation.

It's fun. All right. Awesome. See you tomorrow. And then go back to work. So it starts building that trust. It's making deposits into the emotional bank account. But more importantly, those people at work very rarely have that kind of interaction. And [00:36:00] so if you're new, you are going to profoundly stand out beyond everybody else.

You're going to be recognized as different. The first contact with these human beings is not asking for something or complaining. It's learning about them. It's a total, total game changer. Challenge number one, go meet people, ask them those questions, learn that, be cool. Challenge number two is figure out how to help people understand what you've contributed.

Right. And, and, and I'm saying that in hell, it makes me uncomfortable even hearing the words come out of my mouth because we've all worked with those self promoters. They're really great at taking credit for shit that they didn't do. That is not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the habit, the power skill of advocating for yourself and speaking [00:37:00] factually about what you've done, like I'm still trying to work on, that's hard.

And I've never done that. The idea that just show up to work and your hard work will be rewarded. Bullshit. It, it might, but there's a higher likelihood that it won't. And so as you're going out there learning a new skill, doing a new thing, accomplishing the task that was assigned to you, learning how to say, Hey, I finished it and I finished it in this timeframe.

And this was the timeframe you gave me. Did it meet the expectations? Awesome. I'm ready for another challenge, and so it's not like, look at me, look at how hard I work and all these, no, no, no, no, no. It's the facts. This was the timeline you gave it to me in. This is the timeline I completed it in. Was it to your satisfaction?

Did it meet the expectation? Yes or no? If no, what can I do to improve? If yes, I'm ready for another challenge. It's a simple habit that'll set you apart [00:38:00] from everybody else. And I'm going to add, if you think showing up every day and showing up on time makes you special, you're delusional because the parking lot is there 365 days a year, 24 seven.

It ain't getting a raise the roof. Has been there too. Like if you're not adding value. You got a problem, period.

Samantha C Prestidge: Oh man. Mike dropped truth bombs, all the things, but I don't want to underscore how difficult these things are to start. So let's start with your one of like highlight your contributions, right?

Like I even have trouble with that in my personal life. Like if I go away for a solo, like, Hey, I'm, I got two kids. Sometimes I just need to get away from everyone, have a little solo vacation. When I come back. My husband,, he walks me through the house of like what he's done. And in my mind, I'm like, why are you telling me?

Like, I don't tell you what chores I've completed, but Hey, [00:39:00] this is him being seen and heard for like, he goes the extra mile. He cleans extra, not just like the basics of what we usually do, but he cleans extra so that when I come home, I don't have to worry about anything. So he's highlighting his contributions and I still struggle to do that back with him.

And it's an expectation. He wants me to do it. And I'm like, I'm not going to tell you that I did these things. Then going back to meeting someone new and just talking to them again, five minute conversation, it's going to leave them feeling good, seen, valued, heard, you're going to stand out. It's not easy to start.

I mean, I'm freaking at church and my pastor is like, meet someone new. And this is a place where you expect people to be friendly, good. You at least know you have something in common. And I'm like, I don't want to meet anyone new. What do you mean? Start a conversation with this stranger that's sitting right next to me.

I'm like, you can sit down pastor Matt, but if these are difficult things to do, but they are so tremendously valuable. So that is awesome lessons right there. Okay. I'm going to give you space to drop us one more truth bomb, or maybe you have a three [00:40:00] parter with ABC. I don't know what you got up your sleeve, but for maybe some of us that aren't those new field field leaders, someone in, in all the levels of the organization, what is one piece of advice that you really wish everyone would take seriously, but they just don't, and they need to start that ASAP.

Jesse Hernandez: Yeah. The, the one thing that I know transformed my life and that I really, really covertly Try to inject into people, whether they know it or not, or whether they want it or not, because I know how valuable it is. It's just maybe two parts. Here's the framework is business is a social and technical endeavor.

We are so damn good and over occupied with the technical part of it, that we neglect the social. There's tremendous value in the social element. We've talked on that a whole bunch. The one piece of advice that I think is simple, [00:41:00] well. It's super actionable, but it's not simple. It's freaking hard. And this is it.

Listen more than you talk if you're a supervisor and a manager I know all the conditioning everything out there says you're you you're a problem solver You're a go getter You're a make it happener and like all that crap and if people bring problems to you and you give them the answer And then they keep coming to you with problems and you keep giving them answers, and then all of a sudden you're behind on your work because everybody's so damn dependent.

Nobody takes initiative. It's like, how can I soar with the eagles when I'm surrounded by turkeys? But the problem is. Or vultures. You created that by always having the answers for them. You have disconnected them from their agency, you made them dependent on you because you never access their critical thinking because you're doing way more [00:42:00] talking than listening.

And so the number one thing again, it's simple, but it's hard. Listen more than you talk. How do you make that happen? Ask more questions.

Samantha C Prestidge: And shut the hell up.

Jesse Hernandez: And just shut up. Yes, yes, you said it earlier. Be curious.

Samantha C Prestidge: Yeah. Oh man. I love that. I remember I was invited to a strategy meeting and I kid you not, I am not exaggerating.

The CEO spent the first two hours of this meeting talking. This is two hours to set a full day meeting. Where no one spoke up and shared anything no one has contributed anything.

And I'll tell you that strategy meeting was not as impactful as it could have been. So. Amazing piece of advice there. All right, guys, if you were impressed by Jesse, which you should have been, if you weren't, then let's not be friends. Jesse is one of the most amazing people I I've met in business.

He really knows his stuff. So if you were impressed and you're thinking, I don't [00:43:00] know if my company's going to go for all of this at once. You can still start working with Jesse. He's got this awesome program called emotional bungee jumpers. I'm going to share his LinkedIn, the link to emotional bungee jumpers, all his cool stuff in the show notes, but that is a really.

Great, fantastic way to just experience a little bit of the Jesse isms, a little bit of his crazy, fun, energetic world, and get a lot of value out of it. Thanks, Jesse, so much for being with us today.

Jesse Hernandez: Oh, girl, thank you. I appreciate you. This was awesome. This was good.