Construction Trailblazers: Paving The Way to Excellence

Samantha C Prestidge: 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. I'm Samantha C. Prestige Your guide in simplifying operations and helping you make managing your team simpler.

You can explore our past episodes@constructiontrailblazers.com and start your journey to excellence. Today we're sitting down with JD Whitaker. He's seen it all in construction from the wild world of Family Business dynamics to building a leadership team that actually works and now shaking things up in the construction tech space as the head of product at control core and the driving force behind PJF.

Corp commercial contractors in Utah. JD knows what it means to wrestle with daily chaos and find solutions that actually meet the bill.

Okay. So jd, when we first met, you mentioned that your GC company, PJF, was [00:01:00] kind of the Guinea pig for control core, which is this accounting, tech, software and construction.

So tell us what was the absolute worst, most frustrating moment when you realized. Okay. We need a better solution for this nonsense. And how did you shape what you've built with Control Core?

JD Whitaker: That's a really good question. Truthfully, it, it came kind of over layers. I never really intended to, to get into the tech space, I really just wanted to do a good job and run a company.

But as I'm looking, and I'm thinking back about some specific memories, there was a really a hard moment when I had a particular employee who, embezzled thousands of dollars through our card management program. And I always say that was like, like the best, worst moment, like up to that point in my career because it forced me

to look at just processes, philosophies like by [00:02:00] nature, I, I, I want to believe the best in people. And and, and when you have something like that happen and you have a, an employee that you trust just break that trust. It's a hard moment. It's a, and it's a growing moment. And so I think like from there, I, we started with, from like a technology perspective, I.

Started just looking at how I was administering cards and really I think that was one of the first moments too, that I learned the importance of visibility. Just like being able to see everything like the good and the bad. That, that was a good moment. I could You want me to go?

I, I got lots of fun moments, but I don't want to take too much time.

Samantha C Prestidge: No, I, well, I think. First off, I'm so sorry that happened. , those are the circumstances where the only response to it is just like that absolute sucks. Like but I appreciate the sentiment of, we want to try to see the good in people.

And I mean, we can go on a whole other. I think [00:03:00] tangent on that, like I'm even doing a Bible study right now on rebuilding trust and trusting God when shitty things happen. And it is one of those things of, all right, now you gotta build a new process because, you know, someone proved to us that there's a major flaw in this process, but moving forward, how do I still trust other people on my team And, mm-hmm.

Try to still be a decent human in business and not micromanage. And we might be jumping ahead here, but part of how you're able to do what you do at Control Core and experience kind of this new tech space is because you've got a really good leadership team at your GC company. So talk to me about how you've kind of built trust there and how you can have a long leash but still maybe maintain some of that visibility you need to make sure things aren't going haywire.

I.

JD Whitaker: But yeah, man, there's probably a little bit of luck if we're gonna be honest with ourselves and like, like you do your best when [00:04:00] you recruit. And like whenever I'm recruiting, I mean, I've been proven wrong on this philosophy too, so I'm still trying to figure out do I hire for soft skills.

Do I hire for like technical knowledge, right? Like real precise, you know, how to, whatever your, your, your particular role is. I think I still lean into just soft skills as in like communication skills organizational skills, and integrity. But how, how do you really measure integrity through a, through an interview That's really hard.

But I think like that's just kind of getting the right people in through the door. But, but beyond that, some of the lessons that I've learned I think that it helps to just start by trusting people. And like if you treat someone like they can't do something, they probably won't be able to do it.

I don't know, like , I grew up training horses. And yeah, so that was my summer job. Like I'd buy like a pony actually [00:05:00] was like when I was smaller. And I would train ponies throughout the summer and then my dad would haul me up to Billings, Montana. And we'd go and there was a big show up there every year and I'd go sell My Pony and.

Away we go. , and , I'm a saver. So like I just go straight in the bank account and I'd be like, man, I'm the, I'm the coolest kid ever. So, but reason I bring that up is when you're training a horse, like some horses will develop some bad habits. And I remember one time I hopped on just this horse, nobody told me that this horse didn't know how to do a particular, they call it like a lead.

It is the gate or the way the horse moves. And if a horse picks up the correct lead is what they say when you're loping or running a horse, it's a really smooth, just nice feeling. But if they pick up the wrong lead and the wrong laid leg is kind of leading as they're running., it is an uncomfortable thing, but, I just remember hopping on a horse one day and just opening it up into a run and. And it was the correct [00:06:00] lead and got done kind of working this horse. And then I got off the owner or my dad or someone.

They just like, you know, that horse has never been able to pick up the correct lead. And like no one told me that that horse could not do that. So I just treated it like it could. And it was kind of a, a learning moment that stuck with me. I was probably a teenager at the time, and that sounds really nice, philosophically like, oh, I'm just gonna treat people like they can do their job.

Because that doesn't always work out. So there's another concept that I call mitigating blast radius. Okay. So, it's kind of the concept of like, give them like enough leash or whatever, like, you know, they can, I dunno, are we supposed to give people enough of a leash to hang themselves on it or not?

I, I don't know the, the right philosophy, but at least in accounting and finance, there are, there are some mistakes that , you can kind of let people make some mistakes and, and it won't get too far outta hand. [00:07:00] And and so. As I was training folks and just growing what I hope to be leaders, there's times I would just kinda let them make the mistake and, and then just give them the opportunity.

But it was never a mistake That would be like extremely detrimental to the company. I think that's probably harder to do for some of our field guys. 'cause if you. Pour a curb and it's not catching water and it's spilling water, it's supposed to be a catch curb, then you gotta rip out thousands of dollars of curbing.

So it's like, how do you find those opportunities to let people make safe mistakes and learn from 'em? It's a, it's a tough judgment call.

Samantha C Prestidge: I love way you've labeled this of mitigate the blast radius. So like understand, like, hey, could this be just like maybe a little, a little firecracker? Yeah.

Or is this gonna be full on, we're thinking Mulan attacks the Hans with all the firecrackers, right? Like really what are we gonna allow to happen? [00:08:00] Because I think the same thing with my kids, and I think unfortunately there's a lot of parallels between parenting. Especially hyperactive kids parenting kids and then managing a team.

And there are things I've gotta like just let them do. Like, you wanna climb a tree? Go climb the tree. How are you gonna get down, man? I'm not climbing this tree with you, but. Hey, you can't go run into the street. Like, that's not something I'm gonna let you do. 'cause there's no safe mistake there. It's either you stop or you get hit by a car.

So there's, there's different areas where I definitely give them a long leash and hopefully not too long where they hang themselves. And there's areas where it's like, Nope, this has to be a short leash, because the mistakes here will just be. Too much. Right? Like you said, there's thousands of dollars on the line or something.

Yeah. Versus this will be slightly embarrassing to then go to a client and Correct. But it's manageable. We can turn things around. Yeah. So, and, and you have to really measure that based off of the project, whether it's field or office leadership or frontline. Right. You gotta just kind of feel that out.

You said something interesting [00:09:00] though of going back to. When you're hiring, figuring out technical versus soft skills and really leaning into some of those soft skills and the core values. So I'd also, knowing that you run a family business, which always has interesting dynamics, I love working with family businesses.

What are some of the ways that you've maybe had to balance family relationships and say these are, this is the culture, the core values that we want for this company?

JD Whitaker: I would probably just preface or start just I acknowledging I'm really lucky, in the, in the sense that like I, I was able to go into a family business and I was given trust and I was allowed to try initiatives and try to make things better.

I think that the trust came from like a common commitment to, to progress. and creating value. It was also helpful that my skillset was very different [00:10:00] from like my dad's skillset. So my dad is the gc, he's the cranky cowboy contractor. I'm like, I'll joke around, sound like trilingual.

I can speak Spanish and cranky cowboy contractor. 'cause that, that's a, it's a language in itself, but, there's definitely like a, like a, a I was set up for success, but other things that help 'em, you gotta trust people's, intention. And this is kind of a common theme too.

Like you're gonna have lots of opportunities to be offended like every day. And, people are gonna make you mad. Just, there's no doubt about it, but if you're able to stop and just focus on like someone's real intent or at least give them the benefit of the doubt, let's start out there.

It allows you to kind of work past some of those frustrating moments where maybe someone made you mad. Just, you know, I'm a pretty passionate guy. My dad's a pretty passionate [00:11:00] guy. My mom is super just peacemaker, like, absolutely loving, kind. So I think that's kind of why that works in that relationship.

But my dad and I like, it's not uncommon for us to actually disagree. But it never felt personal. I think that's the short answer, is like, it just, it never, never felt personal. We were both committed to doing our very best and I think those are some of my, like just top of mind like, like what makes that work?

I.

Samantha C Prestidge: Hmm. You know, this, this is like bringing back childhood memories of a pastor telling me, or not me specifically, but like the, the sermon included this of be less annoying and be less annoyed. And I think you could just put the offensive in there, like be less offensive and also be less offended.

. Lemme

JD Whitaker: just add to that. Just like, 'cause so there was a time in my life I went and served a two year mission for our church and before you start that, you go and you get some training [00:12:00] and all that. And I remember our instructor says, he told us, no matter how bad you think your companion is, 'cause we're always matched up two by two.

So you had no say in who you're gonna be basically spending, you know, the next however many like weeks with. He just said, no matter how bad you think your companion is, you're worse. And you know, like, whether that's true or not, it doesn't matter because it's a paradigm that forces you to be introspective and patient with others and their flaws.

So your comment just reminded me of that.

Samantha C Prestidge: Yeah. Let's assume that someone has good intentions so that when you mess up, they can also assume that you have good intentions, right? Yeah. And that you're not trying to blast things , outta out of control. You said something interesting though, multiple times of like, you were just given these opportunities where you were trusted, you had a long leash.

And I wanna be kind of real here 'cause I understand that sometimes it's. A little difficult to replicate how we were treated sometimes when we're [00:13:00] building out our own team. So were there moments where it was hard for you to give someone else a long leash? It was hard to let go and replicate what was done for you?

JD Whitaker: Yeah, I mean, I would say to some extent, and that's a good question, Sam. I don't know that, like I can think of a specific moment other than. Maybe when someone hadn't quite convinced me that from like a technical perspective, they had mastered all the skill sets, like necessary. And there's definitely times that I gave too much trust and I, I had to do some massive cleanup like, deadlines got totally just wrecked.

You know, we went and I've had. My bonding compromise because we took so long on accountants review. And so I, I'd say I've learned that I've done a good job with that and there's times that I've done a bad job in the sense [00:14:00] that I've made a bad judgment call and gave someone too much.

But I think in the long run, if you add it all up I would still rather be. On the side of giving people the opportunity and knowing that I'm gonna have to clean some stuff up. Otherwise, it's always gonna be totally focused on me, and I can only be so many places at one time before I start becoming the problem.

Samantha C Prestidge: Hmm. , there's so much humility I think in that. And also really stepping away from the what if everything goes really shitty, and just saying like, okay, what if things go well? And if they don't go well, then how will we course correct here? And, and again, that takes a lot of. Of humility and I think courage as a leader.

It sounds like some of this was just things that you grew up with, with your cranky cowboy dad and our peacemaker mom and learning how to control wild stallions and things. But when we first met, you also made the comment of crucial conversations with your leadership team at, [00:15:00] at the GC company. So really break that down for me on how you integrated that with your team and how maybe those communication strategies have been a ca a game changer for you all.

JD Whitaker: I think that, I mean, truth be told, it's anything like a lasting change is usually something that's gonna happen bit by bit, kind of layer upon layer. And you know, I don't necessarily believe that you can go attend a seminar and then everything's gonna happen. So for us, I think it started with the fact that this particular initiative.

Came from actually within like a, we have a, our, our current executive director for our organization was the one who led the initiative and became certified in, in the actual crucial conversations. I don't know, we'll call it an initiative, a program the material. So I think that was a really important thing , in an odd way.

I think it was important that it didn't [00:16:00] come from me. I like, it was something that I believed in and I had actually enrolled our company in it probably, oh, at least a year before we kicked it off. And just as time would progress, I just never felt like it was the right timing to pour that on the, the team and so it kind of sat on the shelf for a minute, to be honest.

And it wasn't until. I, I had another teammate where our perspectives aligned and I just felt like she was gonna do a great job and it would almost emphasize the message not coming from me. And just made it more real. But some of the principles in that, I think that really have the potential to, to really help teams.

Communicate and if you establish , what is a crucial conversation? I, I mean, I'll go encourage anyone who like, dive into that material. It's a great book and there's follow up training opportunities and the whole program. But I would [00:17:00] say just knowing that we, we all have crucial conversations.

Maybe not every day, but I think frequently in life, whether it's professionally or within our family, where either the stakes are high, emotions are high. There's probably some other qualifiers in there, but just knowing that high stakes and high emotions are I mean that's, that's a crucial conversation and for me at least there's a, there's a few things that I've been able to witness my teammates latch onto and apply both professionally and even personally.

One of 'em is just they say, like, like, recognize your stories. So we all, we all tend to tell ourselves stories. I'm sitting here talking or with a coworker and in my mind I'm starting to just fill out some whole narrative about , what they're thinking, why they did it. And unfortunately I think we tend to like gravity kinda lean into the.

[00:18:00] Negative, you know, and say, oh, they had terrible intent., so I, I think recognizing our stories is a really powerful principle that you can apply in all areas of your life. And, it kind of just turns into an alarm system, an internal alarm where you're like, oh, yeah, I, I'm telling myself a, a story right now.

And, and being willing to challenge, challenge your stories. I think that I, I think that that is probably one of the most crucial parts of breaking yourself out of that mindset. , there's other ones, like, I would say focus on what you really want. Oftentimes we get in a, argument and it's just at work or whatever.

And say you get some pushback. I, I think subtly our intentions just slip, and now we just want to prove someone wrong. Mm-hmm. Instead of staying focused on the true goal, the true initiative, and like chemically, there's [00:19:00] something that happens in your brain when you force yourself to focus on what you really want.

And there's so much power there and it seems so obvious, but. For me, that has been one thing that probably more than anything else, that has allowed me to cut through the noise of emotions and negative responses that you're gonna get particularly as a leader. You, you just, , you're frequently put in positions where you have to make hard decisions that people don't always agree with or they misunderstand you and they attribute bad.

Motives and man, you like, you get cast in a bad light sometimes. And emotionally, that can be really hard. But if you just stay focused on what you really want, you can let go of those things and, and still maintain a calm demeanor. And, and I don't know, I'm rambling on a little bit, Sam, but those are, those are my.

In all things, so, yeah. Yeah.

Samantha C Prestidge: No, but I, I, I love that concept , of [00:20:00] there's gotta be an objective to this, especially in tough conversations where you have to pull on those conflict resolution skills. You have to focus on what are you trying to get out of this. I mean, I teach on this in some of our workshops where managers have really dis evaded all.

Conflict oriented conversations, like they don't want to step into the tough zone there. And you can even pull in the idea of focusing on what you want into giving feedback to people. And I do this in like my relationship with my husband too, right? Like. Is my objective in this conversation to make my husband feel really crappy about what he did, or is my objective to like make him realize how I felt so that we can avoid this in the future.

Same thing with employees. Like do you want them to feel totally crappy that they messed up on this curb or on this one project and miss this deadline? Or do you want them to understand maybe the severity of it so that it doesn't happen? Again. Yeah. Bringing in that objective really helps to frame a conversation, which I think is kind of what your point was there.

JD Whitaker: Yeah.

It's quite [00:21:00] natural to be honest. Do I wanna build great buildings or do I wanna humiliate this person?

Samantha C Prestidge: Hmm.

JD Whitaker: 'cause like if my objective is to build great buildings and I'm humiliating everyone who just ever makes a mistake, well , one of the biggest risks that I feel like we face, I.

As contractors or managers is not knowing what I don't know, and if I've created an environment that lacks safety, where it's not safe to admit where you're wrong now, you've unintentionally incentivized, like just being deceitful or just hiding your own flaws or the mistakes or things.

We just need to flush out what you don't know as fast as we possibly can. Get over that and, and get back to building great buildings. So that's,

Samantha C Prestidge: on that point though, if you haven't showed your employees that it's okay for you to be wrong and then they see that you're doing something maybe out of innocent ignorance, right?

Mm-hmm. Like you said, you don't know what you don't know. So if they say that something's happening, but they don't [00:22:00] feel good calling you out on it. Oh my gosh. , think of just the downfall, the money wasted there. We've gotta have transparency and humility on, on both sides there,

Which, okay, so then going back to the idea of crucial conversations, what was really cool about that was that the idea did not come from you. And I think what people will miss here, or some listeners might miss, is that there's that innovative kind of investment in the success of the team that you've built with your leadership and, and your team over at pe.

JD Whitaker: Go, sorry. We just tried to pick all the letters that were the hardest to say over a phone. Yeah.

Samantha C Prestidge: And,

JD Whitaker: and

Samantha C Prestidge: but yeah, over at PJF, it that wouldn't have been possible. The someone being invested in the success and also like being innovative to say, Hey, we need to bring this initiative back would not be possible if you didn't give them some kind of long leash before.

And so I think some people miss that if you're micromanaging the shit outta your people, they're never gonna come to you with ideas and then the burden to improve things will always be on you. So are there other [00:23:00] examples of your team coming to you with ideas where you're like, oh yeah, I'm sorry, I didn't think of that, but that's cool.

Let's do it.

JD Whitaker: Yeah, sometimes I don't think they're that great of ideas and but sometimes I'm just like, you should just try it.

Samantha C Prestidge: Just go

JD Whitaker: for

Samantha C Prestidge: it.

JD Whitaker: Just go for it. Even if, if, I mean, it's kind of goes back to blast radius sometimes. Like, you know what, that's not how I would do it. But, and, and this didn't happen at first.

This was after some, some real tough just years and of feeling like nothing would happen without my involvement. Mm-hmm. That, that I finally realized that I, I needed to give other people. The opportunity to make mistakes the same way I was given that opportunity. And just try something out because there's an, there's an element of ownership that, that happens when you are allowed to try an idea that is empowering and it fosters commitment.

I mean, I mean, [00:24:00] sure, probably not all the time, but I don't think people are gonna be. Genuinely innovative. Unless they're invested.

Samantha C Prestidge: Mm-hmm.

JD Whitaker: So we should totally lean into that. But yeah, I mean there's stuff like how we handle vendor compliance and how we organize the information and how we use technology and all that other stuff that I'm like, that's man, whatever I got it makes no sense to me, but.

It's your job. I don't wanna do your job. You just do it.

Samantha C Prestidge: Yeah.

JD Whitaker: So

Samantha C Prestidge: I mean, that goes back to what's the objective? Are you clear on what you're trying to achieve? And if so, then cool. Then we can accept that there's multiple paths to success. But if we, yeah,

JD Whitaker: and there really is.

Samantha C Prestidge: If we're not sure about what we want to happen, then that's definitely when we're gonna fall into that micromanagement trap there.

And, and thank you for admitting that this is not how things always were. You didn't step into a leadership position kicking ass and being awesome and all of these things, right? Like you, you had your ups and downs as well. So [00:25:00] you knew I was gonna ask this question and so I, I'm kind of, I'm excited to hear your answer on this

we've talked a lot about the evolution of your leadership style and kind of what you're doing now with communication. So if you had to really describe your style in three words, I wanna know what they would be. And since you did your homework of asking your team how they would describe you. I wanna know if there were any surprising differences or if it was just really cool to see alignment in the descriptions.

You

JD Whitaker: know what, you know, it's funny, I haven't, I have not looked at their response yet, so, oh,

Samantha C Prestidge: no. Okay. This is live then. This

JD Whitaker: is great. I, I, because I, I didn't want it to skew my response, so, okay. So this is like, I, if I had to describe myself, I, I would say I'm, I'm inquisitive number one, very inquisitive, curious person.

I'm pretty intense. I, I've actually been described as the most intense chill person that someone's met, so it's like a weird dichotomy there. So and then genuine. Like, I, I just, I hope that I'm the [00:26:00] same person wherever I'm at. So whether I'm. in a work meeting where I'm coaching 5-year-old soccer I mean, I could still be pretty intense.

Like, if they're not running fast enough, I will grab that soccer ball and throw it at 'em. Oh, no. You know, turns out they love that game. Yeah. But, you know, so but it's just kind of part of a, probably a, just a genetic trait of just wanting to be all in wherever we're at and. So I think that's a little bit of the intensity there.

But my, my teammates, so let's, let's do this. So I asked two teammates. One of them said, smart foresight and authentic.

Samantha C Prestidge: Oh, okay. There's some good alignment there.

JD Whitaker: So that's cool. Optimistic, energetic. Intelligent. So great. That's, it's a lot more safe to be able to bring other people's words in and, and hopefully that demonstrates vulnerability.

When I was like, you know, like I could have read like Total Idiot or something and [00:27:00] I invited them to be honest.

Samantha C Prestidge: We didn't know what was gonna happen there. I also like that both of them were like, yeah, JD Iss super smart. Even, you know, even if he has like off the wall energy sometimes we're still gonna respect, the ideas he has.

So, oh, I, I love that. And then they're both kind of just seeing that, hey, you are authentic, you're a real person leading us. And I'm sure that adds to their trust and their investment in the success of your team there. Yeah. Ah, what a good self-esteem booster then to kick off the week since we're doing this on a Monday.

Right. Okay, so to wrap up, kind of going back to the vulnerability of like, you weren't always this awesome leader. There were moments where things absolutely sucked. So if you had to go back 10 years and give yourself one piece of advice about running a GC firm what would that advice be?

JD Whitaker: Oh, the good. I, I, to be honest, and this is my personality, is just like, I, I mean, I don't know, like I'm totally an awesome leader. I, I, you [00:28:00] know, but I think that to be a good leader, you gotta be willing to be a good follower. And, and I think that you gotta be willing to allow others to lead.

But like, I guess my advice would be.

I would just, I think it would've saved me a lot of stress if I would've been willing to let other people fell quicker. I, I think that was something that took me time to develop is allowing other people that right to. Kinda learn aside beside me and there's probably gonna be a couple things as I'm kind of spit balling and thinking about this and truthfully I think that being willing to let people go faster,

Samantha C Prestidge: hire slow, fire fast.

JD Whitaker: Yeah. I think that there were a lot of really just painful months that I put myself through a lot more stress and a lot more pressure. I mean, by nature, I believe I, I, I believe people can be great. And so I approach it that way. But there are some times when [00:29:00] it, they're just people are not going to be the right fit.

And that doesn't mean they're a bad person, it just means that they're not the right fit. Mm-hmm. And, and believing that there are people out there who will be the right fit, like that. That gives you the confidence to move ahead. Other, other advice? Be willing to hire an HR manager sooner. Like I put that pressure on me for years, and like I did an okay job and I learned a lot of the things I did today because I was involved in just like employee performance evaluation. Reviews. Compensation decisions and you know, recruiting, firing, all the things and you know, so it was good. But once, once I was able to like, bring someone else into that, it, it allowed me to, to kind of just [00:30:00] step away, just enough for some clarity and. It gave me support to make those hard decisions.

It gave me the confidence knowing that if I had to let someone go, it wasn't the end of the world because we had a mechanism in place to bring other people in. And without that mechanism, it's really scary when you have to make that choice of letting someone go. So I think investing in your recruiting and, and building that out, however you do it, it's what allows you to be willing to like hire slow and fire fast.

Samantha C Prestidge: Yeah, I mean, oh man. I've worked with clients where I'm straight up just like, why is this person still on your team? And I, you know, I'm not gonna, I don't wanna advocate for firing someone. I totally understand.

Like, these people have a livelihood, they have a family beyond the information that I'm seeing. And it can't always just be simple data driven, those types of decisions are tough calls sometimes. But yeah, there are moments where I'm like, this person should have been gone like two years ago.

Why are we still trusting them with stuff and. [00:31:00] Let 'em go. Yeah. Now you said that you were able to step back just enough. I know that that was supposed to be our wrap up question, but I'm curious because earlier you also said kind of maintaining visibility. So what does that look like now? You've got HR support in place, but you still wanna be visible.

You don't wanna be doing all the things. You're stepping back a little bit. So what does it look like to still kind of keep a pulse on your team?

JD Whitaker: I think that there's definitely a couple things that to, to feel like you're in the loop, you need to know.

And so when it comes to people I don't know how else to keep a pulse other than to have a weekly touch base with my executive director who has an HR background as well. I. And gives me at least kind of like at a, high level, how, how is the team doing? So that's a subjective conversation, right?

But for me it's still important because like, be. I'm gonna go off just a little bit. [00:32:00] The, one of my, one of my, I guess, pet peeves is when people think that the business of business is business and, and my philosophy has always been just that's totally self-denial.

Like, you can't take humans, a human emotion out of business because businesses are made of humans. Humans have emotions. So like you can't ignore emotion. Like that's, that's just part of the deal. And and so I think keeping a pulse on that reality for me has been important to kind of know what's going on.

And then I would say also just the financial component, which is like my, my training and like my language and like, they're, they're only, I. Sam, to be honest, I was only ever given two like natural talents. It was breaking horses and accounting. Like the day that I learned about credits and debits, like [00:33:00] the world made sense, that was it.

So I just needed to balance it. We're good. But you know, so you get like simple dashboard stuff like what's my backlog? Cash flow, stuff like that. You tell me those things , and I can get a little bit of like an emotional feel for, for the team sentiment. And, anything else I can read between the lines.

Samantha C Prestidge: Hmm. Shout out though to the, the ability to balance or just be like really good at numbers and people's emotions. 'cause usually we've got a pendulum swing there. I know like I'm great at people emotions and, and people's skills, but accounting, I'm like, oh my gosh, someone please slow down when explaining all of these lines to me.

You know? Like that's what I don't know what I don't know. It's usually in the accounting space. But oh man, I, I really appreciate all of that advice. I thank you so much for joining us with just the raw, intense yet chill energy. This has been one of my favorite conversations not to diss on any of our other podcast guests.

Okay. If you are vibing with JD and you're like, oh my gosh, she's so [00:34:00] cool and you want some of that accounting magic. You're interested in Control Core, we'll have the links in the show notes, or if you just wanna see the awesome stuff he's doing with his GC company, we'll also have that in our show notes.

And as always, if you have your own story of hiring so fast and firing too slow, or your own trailblazing leadership story, I'd love to hear it. Reach out to me on LinkedIn or email me at hello@constructiontrailblazers.com.