Order of Man - 10 Lessons Learned from my Visit to 1st Phorm ｜ FRIDAY FIELD NOTES

00:00:00.000 You're a man of action. You live life to the fullest, embrace your fears, and boldly chart

00:00:04.980 your own path. When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time, every time.

00:00:10.420 You are not easily deterred or defeated, rugged, resilient, strong. This is your life. This is who

00:00:17.220 you are. This is who you will become. At the end of the day, and after all is said and done,

00:00:22.780 you can call yourself a man. What's up, you guys? Hey, Ryan Michler here. I am the host

00:00:27.540 and the founder of the Order of Man podcast and movement. Welcome back. Welcome here.

00:00:32.440 Glad you're tuning in. I've got one I'm actually really excited about talking with you about today

00:00:37.700 because as many of you know, I had the opportunity to go visit Andy Frisilla at their new First

00:00:44.860 Form facility last week. And what I thought I'd do today is share with you 10 lessons that

00:00:50.700 I took away in being there, surrounding myself with not only Andy, but his entire team, and

00:00:56.820 then just being in that new facility. I was absolutely blown away with the professionalism

00:01:05.380 and the attention to detail and all the things I'm going to get into today. So I won't ruin

00:01:12.140 that for you. So we'll get into that in just a minute. Before we do, I want to mention my

00:01:16.080 friends over at Origin Maine. I say friends. I think a lot of people use that term kind of

00:01:22.140 loosely, but these guys are genuinely my friends. We spend time on the weekends together. We go to

00:01:27.260 the lake together. We train jujitsu together. And I'm intimately familiar with what they're doing

00:01:32.680 by way of American manufacturing. Their supply chain is 100% in America. Their factory obviously

00:01:41.660 is just right up the road from my place. So they're in America and everything they do from their boots to

00:01:48.100 the denim, to the geese, to the rash guard, to the nutritional supplemental lineup is absolutely

00:01:53.880 phenomenal. And it's all made here in Maine. And the supply chain is a hundred percent made in the

00:01:58.120 USA as well. So if you're interested in learning what they have to offer, I would try, I'm trying to

00:02:04.440 think about what recommendation I want to give you today. You know what I've been using quite a bit of

00:02:08.320 lately and I have for, for at least a year is their joint warfare. This helps with your joints,

00:02:15.480 rebuild the, the, the tissue in your joints. Uh, and I've noticed this has been very, very helpful

00:02:21.080 for me with training and lifting and just getting older. My joints tighten up and they swell up and

00:02:27.920 they're painful at times. And this actually has really been helpful. I was skeptical, but it's

00:02:33.080 powerful stuff. So check out the joint warfare, check out the boots, denim, geese, rash guards,

00:02:36.920 all of it. You can do that at order. Uh, let's see. I'm so used to saying order, man,

00:02:40.520 origin, main origin, main.com and use the code order or D E R at checkout. All right, guys,

00:02:48.320 without further ado, let me get into these 10 lessons. I've got them written down here. So

00:02:51.380 you're going to see me if you're watching this on YouTube, which can be found on YouTube, uh,

00:02:55.620 at order of men. Uh, anyways, I'm, I'm taking, I've got my notes here. So you're going to see me

00:03:00.820 reference those notes. These are in no particular order. I just wrote them down as I thought about them

00:03:04.880 this morning and thought about the lessons that, uh, I extracted being there at the new facility in,

00:03:09.820 in, in, uh, in St. Louis. So let's get into it. Number one, uh, your customers are your customers

00:03:16.200 and so is your team. So I think about this a lot as a business owner. I think it's natural,

00:03:21.500 of course, and obvious for us to focus a lot of our time and attention, resources, energy on marketing

00:03:29.480 efforts, on getting new clients and getting new prospects and wowing our, our consumer, our customers.

00:03:35.740 And that's important. I'm not saying it isn't, but we all know that's important. What I was impressed

00:03:42.260 with among other things is that the leadership team, including of course, Andy and Sal and the

00:03:48.100 rest of the team understand that not only are their customers, their customers, and by the way,

00:03:52.540 their customer service is bar none. I've, I've actually experienced it. Uh, but they realize that

00:03:59.340 not only do they have a responsibility and obligation to take care of their customers,

00:04:03.380 they have a responsibility and obligation to take care of their team and they treat their team

00:04:08.400 just as good, if not better, uh, than their customers, because they realize that that's

00:04:14.540 where a lot of the value is derived from. They care about their teammates. They care about the

00:04:18.500 people that are working there. It was evident to me that they've created an environment that's

00:04:22.820 conducive to growth and expansion and learning and, and evolution in their, their teammates and team

00:04:29.060 members. I don't know technically what they call them. Their family, I think is what they call them.

00:04:32.380 Maybe. Uh, but they realize that taking care of the people that take care of you is crucial and

00:04:40.300 critical. I've been in companies that, that understand this like they do. And I've been

00:04:44.820 in companies that don't understand that. And all they care about is the bottom line. All they care

00:04:50.660 about is the customer, which again, nothing wrong with caring about your customer, but if that comes

00:04:55.960 at the expense of your employees, it comes at the expense of the people who are serving your

00:05:02.140 customers, I mean, how's that going to work? How's it going to work for you to undermine what your team

00:05:07.280 members are doing and then be expected to serve your customers in the best way possible. So they

00:05:15.280 realize from the top down that if they take care of their employees, and I'm going to get specifically

00:05:20.920 into how do they do this from, from my perspective anyways, uh, then that's going to trickle down into

00:05:25.960 those employees, then taking care of their customers. So it's all intertwined. It's all

00:05:31.400 connected. And they realize that taking care of their employees is crucial. So that's number one.

00:05:36.840 Uh, number two, meaning can be found in sweeping. All right. Again, these are in no particular order,

00:05:42.840 but one thing that I was very, very impressed with was that when I got there and I'm going to talk

00:05:48.200 about other parts of my experience, but when I got to this new facility and this is an unbelievable

00:05:52.920 facility, it's nearly 200,000 square feet. I can't even imagine the investment, the financial

00:05:59.400 investment, the amount of time and energy, uh, that, that went into making this what it is.

00:06:07.880 But as I walked in there, it was interesting because as I was going from the front desk to the

00:06:16.760 podcast room where Andy and I were going to record, I remember looking over and seeing in this hall and

00:06:22.520 there was a young man and he was sweeping the floor and he was, it was, it was interesting because

00:06:29.080 he was doing it in a way where he was, he seemed happy about it. He was sweeping the floor and he seemed

00:06:37.960 genuinely happy about it. Like he was doing it right. He was paying attention to detail and he was

00:06:45.240 smiling. He looked up, he, he greeted me, he said, hello. He was pleasant and he was sweeping the

00:06:54.840 floors. All right. Now fast forward four hours later. Cause that's how long Andy and I recorded for

00:07:00.840 between his podcast and in my podcast. Uh, I, I came out and I looked down that hall

00:07:07.000 and there was another young man sweeping that same area, a different, a different guy sweeping that

00:07:15.000 area. And he was sweeping it with the same positivity and mannerisms that the first young man was sweeping

00:07:23.800 it with. He was happy. He seemed to be enjoying it. Uh, and he was pretty content and he was pleasant,

00:07:32.680 looked up, greeted me, said hello, and then rent went right back to his duty. Like he loved it.

00:07:39.560 Now, I don't know about you, but I don't enjoy necessarily cleaning. Like that isn't a thing that

00:07:46.680 I would place on a very high position within the list of things that I want to be doing on a daily

00:07:52.920 basis. Like I don't like vacuuming. I don't like sweeping. I don't like dusting. I don't like doing the

00:07:57.400 dishes. And I think that most of us would probably fall into that category as well.

00:08:04.040 And yet I think there's a real reason why these two young men seem to be enjoying the opportunity

00:08:11.240 to clean dirt off the floor. And I'm going to get into more of the reasons why I think that is,

00:08:18.040 as I talk with you about these other points, but it was very interesting to me that

00:08:22.440 the team at first form had created an environment where something is seemingly insignificant or trivial

00:08:32.600 or more of a headache and a hassle than anything else was actually a pleasant experience.

00:08:37.960 And how applicable can this be in our own lives? How often do you need to send emails or make a phone

00:08:44.440 call or do go, go through some, some red tape or to do some paperwork and to jump through some hoops that,

00:08:51.560 you know, isn't the most pleasant part of your job. And yet you can take something that you don't

00:08:58.040 actually like doing. And if you attach meaning and purpose to it, which is what they've done

00:09:03.960 at first form, then I think you're going to have not only a better time doing these things that you

00:09:11.080 don't enjoy doing, you're going to achieve maximum results. And that facility was spotless.

00:09:18.360 Now I realize it's new, but there wasn't any dust. There wasn't any debris. There wasn't anything

00:09:27.160 like any dirt or cobwebs in the, I mean, there was nothing. It was, it was meticulous.

00:09:32.680 In fact, I saw those two young men sweeping the same place within a four hour time period

00:09:38.280 and they were enjoying it. So if there's not a lesson there that says, man, we need to find

00:09:44.920 meaning and purpose in what we're doing. And that way, the trivial tasks that need to be

00:09:49.480 done on a daily basis, don't become so painful or cumbersome, or we reject and avoid them. In fact,

00:09:55.240 I think we'll be excited to partake in those activities because we attach it to the meaning

00:10:01.240 and the purpose and the potential outcome that it has. All right. Number three, you have to start with

00:10:07.960 not optimal. Now, again, I'm really excited to be talking with you about this because I can't even

00:10:15.800 fully express in words how incredible this space is. And it seems like maybe I'm, I'm brown nosing

00:10:21.560 here a little bit. I realized that it's, it's not that at all. I was, I just, I can't say it

00:10:27.880 any other way than I was just, I was blown away. And, and I want to, I want to teach you guys the

00:10:33.160 lessons. Like I want to see what the lessons are for me so I can improve my own life. And I want to

00:10:38.360 share that with you. So I realize it might come across as brown nosing a little bit, but it's genuine

00:10:43.400 excitement for what they were doing because I saw what was possible. And then that unlocks a new part

00:10:48.920 of the way that I think about my business. And hopefully I can be a somewhat of a mediator for

00:10:55.000 you to unlock part of your life and your business because you're hearing this. And that's my sole

00:10:59.880 intent, not the brown nose. But one thing that was interesting is, like I said, this is a two,

00:11:06.360 nearly 200,000 square foot facility. It's meticulous. It's beautiful. The attention to detail is,

00:11:13.880 is unbelievable. And it's interesting because a lot of you guys know Andy's story. In fact,

00:11:20.520 he talked a little bit about his story on the podcast that we did earlier in the week.

00:11:24.840 And he started with a company called Supplement Superstores, I believe is what it's called. That,

00:11:30.760 that was his first, his first company. In fact, he still has the original sign in their facility.

00:11:35.320 And, uh, he talks about the story of him and his business partner living in the, in the place,

00:11:44.040 in, in this, in the store, in the back of the store on a piss stained mattress.

00:11:50.440 And he says, those piss stains, by the way, weren't his. So he must've got that mattress out

00:11:56.200 of the dumpster or at Goodwill or somewhere. And that's all they could do. And yet they made it work.

00:12:02.920 And now you fast forward, however long that's been. And they're in this absolutely phenomenal

00:12:09.080 facility that is state of the art. That's beautiful. And that would be the envy of any

00:12:14.760 manufacturing organization or company out there. So what I see a lot of guys fall into the trap of

00:12:22.480 thinking is something along the lines of, and you know, you know, you're falling into this trap when

00:12:26.340 you're thinking to yourself, well, yeah, if I had a facility like that, yeah, it must be nice to,

00:12:30.920 to be in a position where you can spend millions and millions of dollars to have this facility. 1.00

00:12:36.680 Guys, frankly, that type of thinking is bullshit. It's hindering you. It's limiting you 1.00

00:12:43.720 because Andy didn't start that way. He started by living in the back of a probably rundown,

00:12:50.760 small store sleeping on a piss stained mattress. And some of you are like, well, I guess, you know,

00:12:58.720 I'm not even going to start because it's not going to be optimal. You have to be willing to start with

00:13:04.380 something that's not optimal. When I started this podcast, for example, I was doing it in the basement

00:13:10.300 of our other home in Utah in a spare bedroom that I had repurposed. In fact, there was still a mattress

00:13:16.260 in there because when people came, they stayed in there. So I had a desk in the corner, I had a $60

00:13:20.600 microphone, and that was my space. Now I have my own podcast studio. I've got this professional

00:13:26.800 mic. I've got lighting setup. I've got like a $2,000 camera here. I've got this other upgraded

00:13:34.120 webcam. I mean, like, but again, I started with nothing and we've evolved it to where it is now.

00:13:44.600 Guys, if you're not willing to start with not optimal, you're never going to get started and

00:13:48.820 you're going to sell yourself short because you're running around thinking that whoever it is you admire

00:13:53.840 and respect has everything figured out. I assure you, they didn't always have it figured out

00:13:58.240 and they evolved and they learned and they grew and they expanded and they built out their capabilities

00:14:06.100 and they develop skill sets so that they could put them in the position to earn the fruit of their

00:14:12.500 effort, which is in this case, to build this meticulous, incredible facility. But it didn't start

00:14:18.780 there. And most people, again, will say, Oh, that must be nice. That's ignorant thinking.

00:14:25.020 It is nice. But when you're saying that, what you're saying is that, Oh, if you had that, 0.93

00:14:29.640 you could create that success too. Well, they didn't always have that. In fact, they started

00:14:35.020 from less than humble beginnings and now through their efforts and through their work, they're where

00:14:40.960 they are today. That's number three. You have to start with not optimal. Number four, the attention

00:14:47.400 to detail will set you apart. Now, as I walked through this facility, yeah, it was, it was

00:14:52.400 beautiful, right? I mean, no doubt. And I fully expected it to be, but the amount of attention

00:14:58.380 to detail was just, was staggering. So as I was leaving, I was kind of looking at some pictures

00:15:05.280 on the wall and they had some, some different celebrations and milestones that they had hit.

00:15:09.520 And I was just kind of wandering around, checking it all out. And I looked down the hall and,

00:15:14.580 and I saw this, this barber pole, it was like an old school barber pole and it was spinning.

00:15:19.340 It was really cool. And I'm like, what in the world's going on over there?

00:15:22.340 So I walked down the hall and there's another guy cleaning. All right. He was mopping the

00:15:26.960 floor. There's a different person mopping the floor. So that goes back to what I was saying

00:15:30.880 earlier. And he was excited about it. He looks up and like, Hey, can I come down here and check

00:15:34.460 it out? He's like, yeah, come on down. And we sat and we talked for a minute and I got to

00:15:38.480 that barber pole. Well, they've got a barbershop in there and the chairs are amazing there. And I

00:15:45.740 don't know the full story, but they, but the employee, the guys, the people there told me,

00:15:49.100 they said these chairs were originally made, I think manufactured in St. Louis. They were at a

00:15:55.040 barbershop in St. Louis. And then they went up to Massachusetts and anyways, they found them and

00:16:00.380 they bought them and they brought them back. And then they sent them down to Texas to have them

00:16:03.920 refurbished. And they're like gold plated where like you would think on the old school barber

00:16:09.040 chairs, where it's Chrome, they're gold plated with black, beautiful, custom black leather.

00:16:13.640 They're meticulous. They're incredible. And that's where I was like, Oh my goodness. Like the,

00:16:18.280 again, the attention to detail, everything was thought through. Well, across the hall, they've got this.

00:16:24.260 The only way to describe it as a theater, it's like a movie theater. And there's probably,

00:16:29.640 I don't know, maybe a, maybe 150 to 200 seats, maybe even more individual seats. Well, this is

00:16:34.820 where they do their training and their sales presentations and things like that. So you go

00:16:38.620 in this room and it's stadium seating. So it's, it's elevated every row, slightly elevated more

00:16:43.480 than the next. And every chair is leather. And if I remember correctly, anyways, and then every chair

00:16:50.900 has the first form logo on it. Amazing. Amazing. So I go into Andy's office and he's got his, he's got

00:17:01.380 his desk and he's got these chairs with the, uh, real AF, the spade that he uses in his logo. He's

00:17:08.020 got that embroidered on each of the chairs. It's, it's engraved into the tables, the, from the color

00:17:15.320 to the carpet, to the way the thing is set up to the view from Andy's office, which overlooks

00:17:22.500 what I would, what I would liken to like, maybe the bullpen a little bit. You think about the

00:17:28.480 stock market, like it overlooks the bullpen a little bit is that's how I describe it. And then

00:17:33.140 on the other side of it, it overlooks the gym and a full size basketball court in there. I mean,

00:17:39.440 this thing is unbelievable, but even the basketball court, I was talking with a gentleman who was

00:17:45.880 helping out with a podcast and he was very excited because he designed the floor for the basketball

00:17:52.020 court from the box to the logo, to the coloring on the basketball court itself. And the excitement

00:17:58.600 in his voice was, was actually really cool to hear because he was excited. That was his baby. That was

00:18:04.400 his prop, one of his projects. And so he was excited. He had, he had the opportunity to do that.

00:18:09.080 And again, the attention to detail, everything was just meticulous. It's very easy for us to

00:18:15.300 overlook those things thinking, Oh, people won't see that. That's not a big deal. You guys have all

00:18:20.080 heard Andy talk about wiping the P drops off the toilet seat. Guys, that's not rhetoric.

00:18:27.400 That isn't just some empty talk or cute little marketing tagline or like it's legitimately true.

00:18:33.780 It isn't, it isn't to hype you up. It isn't to fake you out. Isn't it to make you think that he's

00:18:40.280 doing something that he actually is doing? Because I'm telling you that building is meticulous.

00:18:44.220 Everything about it is phenomenal. All right. Uh, I hope this is helping. I mean, really, again,

00:18:50.500 my, my goal is to serve you and give you some information a lot. In fact, a lot of you guys,

00:18:54.820 I was surprised. I wasn't planning on doing this, but a lot of you guys asked about my experience and

00:18:59.560 asked about the facility itself. And I thought, all right, well, if that's what you're interested

00:19:03.340 in, I'll share this with you. Uh, but, but I hope what you're doing in listening to me share this

00:19:08.100 stuff is not bragging on their facility. That's not the point. I hope that what you're doing is

00:19:13.620 learning how you can apply this own stuff into your life, whether it's at your office, your place of

00:19:21.140 work, uh, your own house, your, your own space, your car, like the things that I'm talking about

00:19:27.260 and your environment are crucial. And I hope that you're taking these 10 lessons and you're

00:19:32.480 thinking about how you can apply them in your life. That is the, that is the point. All right.

00:19:36.200 Number, I think we're on number five, get out of people's way. All right. If you have good people

00:19:41.620 in your life and you should, if they're not good people in your life, they shouldn't be in your life.

00:19:45.120 So we've got to assume whether that's employees or just friends, like if you don't trust your

00:19:49.400 employees, for example, well, you hired them. So that's on you. That's your fault, not theirs. Oh,

00:19:55.200 my employees. They don't know what they're doing. And they, they, they, they, they aren't working

00:19:58.820 hard. Well, okay. You, again, you hired them, you trained them. So whose fault is that really

00:20:04.220 that now that's not to say anything about the team at first form. I mean, the people there were

00:20:10.680 obviously amazing. I'm going to get into some more of that here in a minute. But what I noticed is

00:20:14.380 that if you just get out of people's way, like you have good employees, you have good people around

00:20:19.680 you, you hired, right. You trained them correctly. Then just get out of their way.

00:20:24.140 So I went into their warehouse. So up until this point, I've been talking about their,

00:20:28.380 their more of their office portion of the building. So I went afterwards. I was fortunate

00:20:35.260 enough to get a tour. I had multiple employees offer me personal tours. And I took somebody

00:20:40.740 up on that, that offer. And they took me out into the warehouse to show me the warehouse.

00:20:45.260 Well, the warehouse manager and his name escapes me right now. I wish it didn't, but, but anyways,

00:20:49.520 he comes over and he stops what he was doing. And he starts talking about his warehouse and where

00:20:55.920 things are and how it's set up. And they're going to start building some batting cages. So

00:21:00.420 members of the Cardinals and college and high school teams can come take batting practice when

00:21:06.280 the weather's bad there in the facility. And he was so excited about this portion of the building

00:21:11.960 because it was his, it was his. And he told me a story. He said, you know, um, I went, I went to,

00:21:19.580 uh, to Sal and Andy one day and I just expressed my gratitude for them letting me be here and helping

00:21:27.480 me grow and letting me run this part of the organization. And both of them were like, what are

00:21:33.360 you talking about? Like, this is your baby. This is your, like, well, you're thanking us, but we should

00:21:39.060 be thanking you for everything that you've done and organizing this place and, and, and creating the

00:21:44.360 systems and making sure it all runs smoothly and there's no kinks. And if things go down, that we're

00:21:49.540 back up immediately and bringing the right people in and both Andy and Sal, and I'm assuming the rest

00:21:54.160 of the leadership team wasn't, didn't feel like they had given him something. They felt like that

00:22:02.240 individual, that employee was, was giving them something. And I think that's indicative of a

00:22:09.600 leadership team that a hires good people, B trains them well, and then C gets the hell out of the way,

00:22:20.320 drops the ego and lets that individual flourish and thrive and do their thing. But how often have

00:22:27.440 we been part of organizations and how often have we as men been guilty of this, whether it's a father

00:22:33.620 capacity or an employer boss taskmaster capacity, how often have we been guilty of bogging down the

00:22:42.320 system because of our pride and our arrogance and our ego, when we would have been better served,

00:22:48.380 our employees would have been better served or our family members and our customers would have been

00:22:52.700 better served. If we would just get out of the way and let those great people do what they do and

00:23:00.440 learn from them and just create an environment where they can thrive and then back up and let them

00:23:06.120 thrive the way that you hired them to do. I didn't take away from any of my experience that the leadership

00:23:12.980 team at first form were taskmasters were micro managers. I got the impression again, based on my

00:23:20.480 limited experience, I mean, I wasn't there for more than a day, but I got the impression that

00:23:25.220 they trusted their team members, trusted them so much that they let them do their thing and they got

00:23:33.180 out of the way. And I think it was much more efficient. And you could see the buy-in from that,

00:23:37.000 from that man and how excited he was for, for his, for his place. All right. Number, I think I'm on

00:23:42.960 number six. I should have numbered these. I, I, I never number them and I always should.

00:23:47.280 But, uh, but number six is make people feel special and they're, they'll perform better.

00:23:54.120 Make people feel special and they're, they'll perform better. So the reason I wrote this down

00:23:59.120 as a point is not necessarily treating your employees special, although that would fall

00:24:03.840 into this category, but they treated me special. Like when I walked in there, I was greeted immediately,

00:24:11.780 immediately. Actually, I got to the door and there was a code on the door and somebody

00:24:15.800 came right over, opened it up, asked why I was here. I told him why I was here. They're like,

00:24:20.260 cool, come on in. They brought me to the front desk. The gal there got my information. She took 0.76

00:24:26.780 my temperature because of the COVID thing. I mean, very professional. Um, and then as I was walking

00:24:32.460 around, people were smiling. I had people come up and shake my hand. Many of them knew my name.

00:24:37.360 I imagine part of that is because they listened to the podcast and they knew I was coming,

00:24:40.900 but they knew I was coming. So obviously that word had gotten out and everybody treated me

00:24:48.120 like, well, frankly, like a rockstar. I was, I was blown away. I felt, I felt very special being

00:24:56.200 there. Like I felt important. And that I think is the point is that the team made their guests feel

00:25:04.020 important, right? How often do we fail to make people feel important because we're busy or we're

00:25:11.740 consumed or we have a deadline to meet and we overlook making people feel special and making

00:25:19.020 people feel important. And as a leader, I think we have an opportunity to get the most, this is going

00:25:26.760 to sound weird, but to get the most out of people when you make them feel special. And by the way,

00:25:31.260 getting the most out of somebody is not the reason it's not the primary reason I should say that

00:25:36.420 you'd make somebody feel special. You should just want to make people feel special because you like

00:25:40.760 people and you want them to win. Like, I think that's probably the best motive, but also is if

00:25:47.100 you treat people special, they're going to perform for you. Here's a great example. If I didn't have the

00:25:53.800 experience that I had at first form, if it was diminished or tainted in any way, do you think I'd be

00:25:59.080 talking about it on this podcast? And if I was talking about it, I'd be talking about it from a

00:26:04.000 negative perception, but instead, because they went out of their way to make me feel special. I had

00:26:10.580 people, multiple people, half a dozen people, Hey, can I give you a personal tour? And they'd leave

00:26:16.460 whatever it is they were doing. They'd come up, they'd shake my hand. Somebody offered to go train

00:26:20.460 with them in the gym. Like they went out of their way to acknowledge that I was there and to extend

00:26:27.560 gratitude and gracious gestures in me being there. And because that's the case, I'm now performing,

00:26:35.740 frankly, for them, right? Because I'm talking, I'm talking up the company because I had such a great

00:26:42.320 experience. So if that isn't a perfect example, I don't know what is. Now they're also doing that for

00:26:47.820 their employees. And because they're doing that for their employees, their employees feel special

00:26:52.220 and feel important and want to be part of the team and are so grateful to have the opportunity to be

00:26:57.500 there. And they perform at their highest possible level because they feel important, not just some

00:27:04.180 cog in the wheel. So make people feel important. Number seven, let me just make it over here. Yeah.

00:27:11.700 Number seven, culture is critical. Culture is critical. You're not there just to get tasks done.

00:27:17.820 Whether we're talking about a family or a team or an organization or your business or

00:27:22.300 your city council or your fellow school board members or PTA or whatever organization

00:27:27.540 you belong to, whatever capacity you're serving is that the culture is critical.

00:27:33.220 If all you do is get wrapped up on the task and maximum production and just cranking things out and

00:27:40.060 treating people like they're cogs in the wheel. And the bottom line is the most important thing.

00:27:44.980 And then, you know, you're probably, you could have some success with that, but it isn't going

00:27:49.040 to be long-term. You're going to get compliance from people because they have to do it because

00:27:53.220 they need a paycheck, right? They got to put food on the table. They got to make their mortgage or 0.99

00:27:56.400 the rent. And so you're going to get compliance, but you're not going to get a buy-in from them.

00:28:04.360 They're not going to be completely committed to what you're doing. They're not going to be those

00:28:08.440 loyal individuals who will, will stick by you through thick and thin. We'll go through the

00:28:14.480 ups and downs. We'll do everything under their power to help you guys thrive and win. If you

00:28:19.420 don't know what your organization stands for, then it's very easy to get deterred and get off track.

00:28:25.700 And there's phrases. I know they're having team meetings. There is a, a definite culture. It's

00:28:32.060 palpable. You walk in, you can feel it. And every employee there lives it. And it just exudes from

00:28:39.300 them. I, I experienced it. It's, it's incredible. When you create a culture of excellence, a culture

00:28:48.500 of performance, a culture of making people feel special, all the points I've been talking with

00:28:53.400 you about today, that's their culture. And they talk about it frequently. They discuss it. They share

00:28:59.240 it. They live it. They call each other out on it, which I'm going to get to here in a point in a

00:29:03.320 second, but culture is important because all of them communicate it and all of them know what it is.

00:29:08.700 They all perform to the culture, to the standard that is expected. All right. Number eight. And this

00:29:15.040 is what I was, I alluded to just a second ago, but the absence of confrontation does not equal care

00:29:22.180 or love. Andy and I actually talked about this, I think on both of our podcasts, but we talked about

00:29:28.920 that, that love is, is not the absence of confrontation because modern culture and the

00:29:35.340 doctrine of popular culture would have you believe that if you love somebody, you just need to make

00:29:40.820 them feel special about themselves. You don't, you don't want any confrontation. You don't want them

00:29:44.860 to feel awkward or uncomfortable or, or scared or any of that kind of stuff. Like you're just supposed

00:29:50.160 to bubble wrap them. That that's what modern culture will tell you. Modern society will say,

00:29:55.060 just, just ease up on them. Just love them, love them for who they are, accept their mediocrities.

00:30:00.500 That's what culture says. Okay. But that isn't, that isn't, that isn't love and it's not conducive

00:30:06.740 to their growth. Sometimes love means being confrontational. Sometimes love means calling

00:30:14.560 somebody out. Sometimes love and care means that you have to tell people they're not doing

00:30:22.020 or reaching their potential. And I know that's uncomfortable and I know that's awkward, but

00:30:29.000 that's, that's how it works. If you really cared about somebody, you would be so concerned with

00:30:37.140 their growth and their progression that you would actually do the things that need to be done and say

00:30:42.340 the things that need to be said in order for that person to grow and evolve and expand. And that doesn't

00:30:47.320 mean you're bubble wrapping them. Sometimes it means, Hey, I love you, but I know you can do better.

00:30:55.700 And why don't you come back to me when you've proven to me that you've done better. Now people

00:31:00.060 will say, Oh man, that's threatening. That's scary. That's a microaggression. No, it just means I know

00:31:06.680 that you're capable of more. And I think so highly of you. I care so much about you that I'm willing to

00:31:13.640 tell you you're capable of more. And when you do that, because I know that that's what these guys

00:31:19.960 at first form do. When you do that, you get the best out of your people and they're excited about it.

00:31:26.820 They're excited about, for example, sweeping the floor and, and a meticulous attention to detail

00:31:33.120 that they, that they get all the dirt, not just some of the dirt, not just the dirt. You see,

00:31:38.120 they get all of it swept up or when they're performing inferior, they, they present an

00:31:44.040 inferior product to you. In fact, I would argue that very rarely, and I don't know this for sure,

00:31:48.980 but I assume that very rarely does an inferior product even get presented to the leadership team

00:31:54.140 because they've been doing this for so long that the people presenting the projects and the ideas

00:31:58.960 and whatever it is they're presenting. No, it has to be the best.

00:32:02.680 And now, because somebody cared enough about them to not worry so much about being comfortable,

00:32:11.460 but to actually say the things that need to be said and do the things that need to be done.

00:32:16.380 Now, those individuals are performing to the highest standard possible. And that is love. That is care.

00:32:22.780 It's not the absence of confrontation. All right. Number nine, image is important.

00:32:28.580 Uh, people resonate with beauty. Image is important. People resonate with beauty. Like this is crucial.

00:32:37.880 It's funny. Cause I, one context I hear this quite often is, well, real men, real men. And anytime

00:32:42.720 somebody says real men, you take whatever they say with a grain of salt afterwards. I don't know that

00:32:47.580 I've ever said, well, real men do this. Okay. But real men don't care about how they look.

00:32:52.840 Okay. That, that phrase is misguided at best. Like it's ignorant. It's misguided. And it's actually

00:33:00.940 hypocritical because if you didn't care about, for example, how you looked, you'd probably just run 0.64

00:33:05.760 around naked because being naked is, you know, way more comfortable than wearing clothes. Okay. So, 0.97

00:33:13.700 but you do care about how you look. And even if you are dressing down because you don't want people to

00:33:21.200 think you care about how you look, well, by definition, you actually care about how you look.

00:33:28.680 So you're trying to dress like you don't care. Here's a great example. The grunge movement in the

00:33:34.560 what nineties, right? It was all about like, I don't care. I don't. And so what did people start

00:33:39.680 doing? They started deliberately ripping holes in their jeans, deliberately wearing baggy flannel shirts

00:33:47.680 because we don't care how we look. Well, actually you're wearing a uniform.

00:33:53.440 People don't realize that the grunge scene, that's a uniform. If you want to know more about this,

00:33:58.640 you can talk with my friend, Tanner Guzzi and follow him. Cause he's got some good information

00:34:02.280 on this. So even the guys that say, well, I don't care how about how, what I look like. So I'm just

00:34:06.440 going to wear whatever I want. Okay. Well then you actually do care about what you look like. Now

00:34:10.580 that's a long preface and maybe a little sidetracked from what I wanted to share with you.

00:34:14.260 Uh, but don't fall into the trap of believing that the way you look or the way you present

00:34:19.800 yourself or the way you present projects or, uh, the way that, that people may perceive them is not

00:34:25.220 important. Like if, if I, if I fell into that trap, I wouldn't worry about upgrading my cameras. I

00:34:33.520 wouldn't worry about, uh, the microphone I'm using. I wouldn't worry about this blue light I have. I

00:34:38.620 wouldn't worry about the things that are behind me. I wouldn't worry about the way that I present

00:34:42.340 myself to you. And it's not disingenuous. Some people think, Oh, well you're just gaming the

00:34:46.600 system. No, I'm just trying to present the best possible version of myself. I'm not out of

00:34:52.440 integrity because I care about that. In fact, I think I'm in integrity. I care so much about

00:34:57.560 the message I'm sharing with you that I want to make sure that the way I present it is in a way that

00:35:03.300 you can receive it the best and apply it to your life. Well, first form knows this. And so their

00:35:10.040 office is beautiful. I mean, it's, it's phenomenal from the color. They've got, uh, Ryan Hardwick's

00:35:17.300 car in there. They've got phrases that are, that are on the wall. I saw Andy's new podcast studio.

00:35:23.160 We didn't get to record in his new studio cause they're still doing some work in there, but, um,

00:35:26.880 the way they have it set up and the lighting, uh, and, and the sign that's put up there and the way

00:35:32.300 that the, the organization and the facility is laid out and the colors that they're using and

00:35:36.940 everything. In fact, while we were there, they were working on some audio equipment in the gym.

00:35:42.120 I mean, everything is thought out. Every single piece of, of, uh, equipment in the gym is there

00:35:49.480 that bluish teal color, like the first form color. Every part of the gym is that color. And that's not

00:35:57.040 a standard color. That's a custom color. They know that people are attracted to, I say beautiful,

00:36:04.200 like, I don't know if beautiful is the right term, but aesthetics, we'll say aesthetics,

00:36:08.700 aesthetics are important. And they know that if all their stuff looks like shit, 0.99

00:36:13.600 like how excited are you going to be to share it? Like if I went in there and I was kind of like, 0.99

00:36:17.280 it was kind of drab in there. There wasn't enough lighting. It didn't look very nice. All the colors

00:36:21.040 were whack and out of, out of, out of place and just weird. You think I'd be talking about it right

00:36:25.280 now? Of course not. Part of the reason my experience was so great is because I walked in there and I was

00:36:30.240 blown away with the aesthetics of it. People care about the way things look and the way things look

00:36:37.240 are actually, actually a representation of, of you and how you're performed. So, so consider this

00:36:42.980 you're, you're tasked with the, with the job of hiring two new people for your team at the company.

00:36:51.020 And one guy walks in and he's clean and he's sharp and he's well-groomed and he's wearing the

00:36:58.560 appropriate attire. He's not overdressed, but he's certainly not underdressed. If anything,

00:37:02.440 he's slightly better dressed than maybe the position he's quality or he's applying for.

00:37:07.100 And he just looks the part. And on the opposite side, you have another gentleman who comes in and

00:37:13.240 he's in the grunge outfit, right? He's got dirty jeans on. He's kind of a slob. He hasn't taken care 0.98

00:37:18.320 of himself. You instantaneously know who you're going to hire before they even open their mouths.

00:37:24.720 Now, some of you will say, well, that's not fair. You shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Well,

00:37:28.080 cool. But we all do. You included. Anybody who says that also does the same thing. Why? Because

00:37:34.180 we know that the guy who pays attention to the way that he presents himself probably does things

00:37:42.940 in, in his life that are similar. When he presents to a client, when he presents projects and tasks at

00:37:54.040 work, it's safe to assume that if he cares so much about himself, that he wants to put his best foot

00:37:59.880 forward and present himself in the best light possible, that he'll do that in other facets of

00:38:05.020 his life as well. And so, you know, before either one of those individuals open their mouths, if you're

00:38:10.220 willing to explore it further. Now, it doesn't guarantee that you're going to hire that individual,

00:38:14.020 but it certainly gives you a leg up. It gives you a huge advantage. So the aesthetics matter.

00:38:18.840 When you're putting products and information and things, services out into the world,

00:38:25.380 then make sure it's the best. And again, I'm going to go back to that point I said earlier about

00:38:30.300 you have to be willing to start with not optimal, but that doesn't mean you need to remain there

00:38:34.960 forever. Can you imagine first forms facility with a bunch of pistane mattresses in that facility

00:38:40.500 now? Well, obviously it wouldn't be congruent with what they're creating and what they're trying

00:38:43.800 to portray. Again, it doesn't make them disingenuous. In fact, it, it makes it more genuine

00:38:48.520 because they're trying to present themselves in the best light possible. Same thing with dating,

00:38:54.320 you know, just because you dress up and you clean up and, and, and you treat her with,

00:38:58.920 with dignity and respect. Does that mean you're disingenuous? No, it just means that you want to

00:39:03.440 present yourself in the best light possible because you'd like to have a relationship with this woman.

00:39:08.000 There's nothing wrong with that, but you need to understand how crucial and important it is.

00:39:11.320 Uh, all right. The last one guys, I'm going to share with you. And this is point number 10,

00:39:15.100 because I think this is going a lot longer than, than maybe I thought it would, but, uh,

00:39:18.360 all of this stuff is crucial is a hyper-focus on your own performance, not others.

00:39:24.220 It's very easy to get caught up and wrapped up in what other people are doing and other

00:39:27.540 organizations are doing. And then if you get caught up in that, you might fall into the trap of

00:39:31.560 comparing yourself to what they're doing or bad-mouthing them in front of other people,

00:39:36.480 uh, in front of prospects, like none of that stuff is good. And I'm not saying you shouldn't

00:39:42.060 look at what your competition is doing. I'm not saying that you shouldn't be aware of what other

00:39:45.900 companies and organizations are doing to perform. You should be aware of that, but don't be so

00:39:51.240 focused on it that it comes at the expense of you performing yourself. Be so hyper-focused on your

00:39:57.200 own improvement, whether it's in an organization or your own personal growth that comparing yourself to

00:40:02.720 other people, or even falling into the trap of fear of missing out based on what other people are

00:40:07.360 doing is just not an issue for you. I know, for example, when I, when I compare myself to other

00:40:13.340 people and I start like feeling bad, like, Oh, look what they're doing. And I'm not hanging out with

00:40:17.600 them. So I'm not having fun. That's because I'm not busy enough. That's all it is. Like if I would

00:40:22.760 just get busy and live my life, like I wouldn't even have time to look at what those individuals doing

00:40:27.680 and what I'm quote unquote missing out on. And I'm certainly not going to backtalk or talk

00:40:32.600 bad about them. Why would I do that? I don't have enough time to talk bad about somebody else

00:40:38.800 because I've got my own things going on. And I'm so hyper-focused on my own growth,

00:40:43.080 my own improvement, the organization's improvement and growth that I'm not worried about what Joe

00:40:47.800 Schmo over here is doing. In fact, I wish him luck. I hope he succeeds at the level that he wants.

00:40:52.100 In fact, I'll help. If he reaches out, I'll help him, but be so hyper-focused on your own results,

00:40:59.120 your own journey and progress that you just don't have time to get stuck in the mud,

00:41:03.820 focusing on somebody else's. And Andy and I talked about that at length on our, on our podcast as

00:41:09.380 well. Like he doesn't back talk bad about other companies. He doesn't bash other companies. In

00:41:14.340 fact, he helps them. He gave an example in that podcast. I think it was, I can't remember if it was

00:41:18.840 on his or mine, but we, we talked about an experience that I had that he wasn't even aware of

00:41:23.340 that I knew because I had some friends in common and, uh, and it was, it was what, what, what could

00:41:30.320 be considered like a competitor. And yet it wasn't competitive. It was cooperation, which was amazing

00:41:36.360 because he's so focused on growth. He's not threatened by what other organizations and

00:41:41.200 companies are doing. So anyways, those are some of the lessons I learned. Like I said, I wasn't planning

00:41:45.620 on doing this, but a lot of you guys asked about my experience. And so I thought I'd share, um, if that

00:41:49.980 doesn't make you think more highly of what they're doing over at first form, I really don't know what

00:41:53.400 will, uh, they didn't pay me to do any of this. I know, I know what may come across is, as potentially

00:41:59.260 brown nosing. So be it, you know, that really for me, it was, uh, just getting you some information

00:42:05.180 that I think will serve you. It certainly served me. Like I'm better off because I went there because

00:42:09.880 they expanded my perspective of running an organization and running a business and leading

00:42:16.400 effectively. It was a very, very powerful experience for me. And I, and I hope that I can

00:42:20.440 translate some of that to you. That's the whole point of this, right? Is to give you guys tools

00:42:24.580 and insights that I have, or I have access to, or conversations with people that I know, uh, and

00:42:30.000 then taking that information and distilling it, packaging it in a way that's consumable that you

00:42:34.980 can apply in your own life. So let me just recap. Then we'll call it a day. You guys can get to

00:42:38.640 your weekend and everything else you have going on. Uh, number one, your customers are your

00:42:42.580 customers, but so is your team. So take care of both. Number two, meaning can be found

00:42:47.440 in sweeping. If you have purpose and meaning, the trivial stuff isn't as rough. In fact,

00:42:52.420 it can be enjoyable. Uh, number three, you have to start with not optimal. Okay. It's easy

00:42:57.700 to say, well, it must be nice if I had this beautiful 200,000 multimillion dollar facility.

00:43:01.720 Well, then I would, I would be successful too. No, that's not how it works. It's not how it

00:43:08.600 works. You earn it first. And then you reserve, you, you, uh, reap the, the, the reward by earning

00:43:15.500 it first and starting where you can, even if you, even if it means sleeping on piss stained mattresses.

00:43:22.540 Uh, number four, attention to detail will set you apart. Number five, get out of good people's way.

00:43:28.780 Just get out of their way. You hired them, you trained them. If they're not good and they need all

00:43:33.860 your micromanagement and everything else, that's on you. That's not on them. Hire great people,

00:43:37.940 train them effectively, treat them special, which is another point that I made. Uh, and then get

00:43:43.440 out of their way and let them do what you hired them to do or what you brought them onto the team

00:43:47.340 to do. Uh, number six, make people feel special. I just said that. Uh, and they'll perform better.

00:43:53.060 Make people feel special and important. It's not hard to do. It's so easy to do. It just takes a

00:43:58.460 little effort and it goes a very, very long way. Uh, number seven, culture is critical. Number eight,

00:44:04.700 the absence of confrontation does not necessarily equal care or love. Number nine, image is important.

00:44:11.800 People resonate with beauty or aesthetics. Uh, and then number 10, hyper-focus on your own performance,

00:44:18.740 not others. So there you go, guys. That was my experience. A little bit of my experience anyways,

00:44:23.080 uh, and some lessons that I extracted. Um, people sometimes, some people, uh, kind of find it

00:44:30.120 interesting or funny that I, that I pull these lessons out and extract these lessons. I would

00:44:34.740 actually encourage you to do the same thing. Like I look at every opportunity and every experience I

00:44:38.600 have as a learning lesson. And I feel like if we can do that, even the negative experiences that I

00:44:44.520 have, like I had a, I had an opportunity one time to take my son to a bow shop. Uh, and, and I took him

00:44:51.520 in and I won't get into all the details. I've shared this in the past, but the guy at the bow shop was a

00:44:57.200 complete asshole. There's no other way to say he was a complete asshole. And my son saw it. And I 1.00

00:45:03.320 thought, man, this sucks. My son's watching this. And as I left the store, I was like, no, that was 0.99

00:45:08.020 actually good. Like that was good for my son to see it. And so him and I had a conversation about

00:45:15.280 how he felt and how that guy came across. And it was a negative experience, but we turned it into a

00:45:21.560 positive because we were willing to reflect upon it. So, uh, this is something I do is I just write

00:45:28.600 down. I mean, I've got notes. Like I write down notes. I'm like, Hey, that was cool. That was

00:45:32.020 interesting. Here's what I learned. Here's what I took away. Here's what I could apply to my life.

00:45:35.300 And so this is something I try to do is to reflect and internalize a lot of the lessons that could be

00:45:41.440 very easily overlooked if we didn't have that mentality. So anyways, guys, again, I hope it serves you.

00:45:45.700 Um, you know, let me know, hit me up on the socials. Instagram is probably best. That's

00:45:50.780 where I'm most active at Ryan Mickler. Um, tag me in your comments. Maybe there's some,

00:45:55.840 some lessons that, that you've had or learned, uh, by being part of an organization or starting your

00:46:01.780 own organization, uh, that we can learn from. So just tag me, let me know what you guys are learning.

00:46:07.340 Uh, make sure to go back and listen to my podcast on, uh, real AF and then listen to Andy coming on,

00:46:14.520 on mine. Uh, in fact, I will say that on Tuesday when released my interview with Andy,

00:46:20.440 it was the single highest downloaded day of podcasting since I started podcasting five and

00:46:26.420 a half years ago. So we set all kinds of records with that, which is a testament to how powerful

00:46:30.860 that podcast was and also you sharing that information. So I do want to let you know,

00:46:36.240 I appreciate you sharing this stuff. Uh, it goes a very long way. If it helps you and you share it,

00:46:41.760 then it's certainly going to help another man. I don't have it all figured out,

00:46:44.520 but I hope there's some lessons that I'm able to impart upon you, uh, that will serve you in some

00:46:49.240 way as a father, a husband, leader in your community, owner of your business, uh, whatever

00:46:53.840 it is that you're, you're doing and however you're serving. All right, guys, make it a great weekend.

00:46:57.720 Spend some time with your family, work your tail off. If that's the case, whatever you're doing,

00:47:01.200 be fully present. Uh, we'll catch you next week until then go out there, take action and become a man.

00:47:05.940 Thank you for listening to the order of man podcast. You're ready to take charge of your life

00:47:11.580 and be more of the man you were meant to be. We invite you to join the order at order of man.com.

Order of Man - July 17, 2020

10 Lessons Learned from my Visit to 1st Phorm ｜ FRIDAY FIELD NOTES

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