Come Rain or Shine

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www.destinationeverywhere.com

Building Relationships Through Shared Experiences

Come Rain or Shine

06/08/23 • 19 min

"Hospitality is friendship with a purpose."

Hospitality industry veteran, Andy McNeill, knows the importance of emotional connection and creating relationships with clients for business success. When organizations focus on hiring the right people who value good service and coach them on the little extra steps it makes a big difference. For as long as he can remember, Andy McNeill has had a heart for hospitality. After 30 years of working in the industry specialized in serving others, he has helped thousands of organizations build stronger relationships through shared human experiences.

Andy is a successful entrepreneur and founder of AMI, a global Hospitality and Marketing Firm that elevates the corporate meetings experience to the next level. During our conversation he explains how hospitality can be applied to any business, regardless of the industry, and offers great tips on how to do so. One of the biggest factors is recognizing the importance of emotional connections. A study even shows that 70% of purchasing decisions are emotional, which is why emotional deposits can help build long-lasting relationships with clients.

During our conversation, you will also discover how to:

Develop a culture of hospitality through strategic hiring and cultivated responsibility
Strengthen emotional bonds with clients, fostering business growth and success
Recognize subtle elements that have a profound impact on overall client satisfaction
Integrate hospitality-driven behaviors into daily routines, showing genuine appreciation for clients
Embrace a client-focused mindset, directing business decisions to cater to their needs

Andy has helped thousands of businesses and Fortune 500 Companies travel to unique, once-in-a-lifetime destinations. AMI operates in 100+ countries and works on a global scale with some of the world's top brands including Salesforce, Mars Candy Bar, PepsiCo, Pfizer, and CVS Health. Andy is the host of the Destination Everywhere Podcast where he and his co-host, Todd Bludworth, give unique travel tips and destination insights from around the world.

By putting the client's needs first and executing on those little details that matter most, businesses can differentiate themselves and create memorable client experiences.

One business I know of that excels at hospitality is Magical Vacation Planner. Make sure to connect with the agents of Magical Vacation Planner for your next trip. You can reach them at 407-442-0257 or using the link on my website.

Connect with Andy:

LinkedIn - Andy Mcneill

LinkedIn - AMI Global Meetings

Instagram - American Meetings Inc

Podcast - Destinations Everywhere Podcast

Facebook - Destination Everywhere Podcast

Instagram - Destination Everywhere Podcast

Book - The Everywhere Book

Connect with Dan:

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/dancockerell/

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dancockerell/

Episode Highlights 00:01:01 - Applying Hospitality to Any Business 00:05:15 - The Importance of Emotional Deposits 00:08:32 - Building a Culture of Accountability 00:11:48 - Ultimate Moment of Truth 00:12:30 - Building a culture of hospitality 00:14:03 - The difference between being friendly and being hospitable

00:15:18 - Tips for living a hospitality mindset every day 00:17:26 - About AMI

A Trip Down Elm Street

Come Rain or Shine

11/24/22 • 30 min

In this episode of Come Rain or Shine, special guests, Clint Hill, and Lisa McCubbin join the show to discuss the history of President John F. Kennedy and Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy from their perspective.

A former U.S. Secret Service agent who served under five presidents from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Gerald Ford, Clint is best known for courageously stepping into the presidential motorcade immediately following President Kennedy’s assassination. Having retired from the U.S. Secret Service in 1975, Clint swore he would never write a book; however, after meeting Lisa decades later during her writing of The Kennedy Detail, he changed his mind.

Years later, Clint and Lisa have written three memories detailing a career like no other: Mrs. Kennedy and Me became a #1 New York Times bestseller, followed by Five Days in November and Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford.

Due to her books and connection with Clint, Lisa has interviewed hundreds of former and current agents. As noted in her writings, Lisa carries a deep respect for all who’ve sacrificed to protect the Office of the President. With no signs of stopping, Clint hopes to continue spreading the legacy of whom he served with Lisa helping pen his voice.

Resources:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Travels-Mrs-Kennedy-Clint-Hill/dp/1982181117

Website:

Connect with Dan:

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/dancockerell/

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dancockerell/

Excellence Wins by Horst Schulze

Quotes:

“No matter what you’ve done in your life, career and what you’ve been involved with, you’re going to have hard times. And moving on is really the only option you have. You get up and keep moving forward.”

Creating High Performance Teams

Come Rain or Shine

04/13/23 • 29 min

“Believing in your team members and treating them as professionals increases their productivity, engagement, and satisfaction.”

Scott Whiteford is a passionate sociologist that has always been fascinated by the intricate interactions between people and their environment. His journey in studying leadership began during his time with strengths-based management organization, Talent Plus. Through his experiences, Scott gained valuable insights into team dynamics, understanding the significance of trust, communication, and accountability within a team.

While many leaders may focus on skills and experience, Scott emphasizes the importance of investing time in understanding and nurturing individual strengths. This ultimately creates a well-rounded and successful team. During our conversation he shares many of his insights and experiences around the power of strength management.

In this episode, we discuss why it is important to:

Establish unwavering trust, open communication, and resolute accountability to forge a robust team.

Construct a resilient team culture by promoting shared understanding and collaboration among members.

Optimize talent acquisition and retention by recognizing and leveraging employee strengths.

Cultivate a high-performing team through effective delegation and embracing diverse perspectives.

Realize the critical role effective leadership plays in propelling team success and fostering innovation.

If you’re feeling frustrated and overwhelmed that all the effort you are putting into building trust, communication, and accountability within your team is not translating to high-performance results, then you are not alone. It takes hard work to understand the people on your team and their unique strengths. Just remember that an investment in them is what will set them on the path to success.

“The war for talent shouldn’t be focused on the war for knowledge, skills, and experience, it should be focused on the war for talent, on the people who can deliver.”

Episode Highlights:

{00:02:25}

Are leadership skills innate or learned? Scott explains why it is a combination of both nature and nurture.

{00:05:09}

Dan shares the four attributes of great leaders that he and Valorie Cockerell have identified: leading yourself first, role modeling, enthusiasm, and open-mindedness.

{00:07:54}

Scott shares his concept of the Mercedes Benz Star, where the top third represents knowledge, skills, and experience, the bottom third represents fit, and the middle third represents talent or strengths. He emphasizes the importance of focusing on strengths rather than weaknesses.

{00:12:00}

Understanding the importance of your team’s strengths and how to strategically assign projects to get the best out of them.

{00:13:45}

Focusing on strengths in management is crucial to building a successful team. It allows for diversity in skills and individualized investment in each team member’s development. This approach makes it easier for companies to attract and retain talent by defining a strong culture, investing in employees, and individualizing the investment for each team member.

{00:17:04}

Instead of focusing on a team member’s weaknesses, leaders should focus on their strengths. Spending too much time on low performers can lead to a smaller return on investment and less investment in high performers, who have the mobility to seek other opportunities if they feel

undervalued.

{00:19:39} Invest in People, Companies often claim they don’t have the resources to invest in their employees, but they’re choosing not to. Investing in people means looking for employees with a natural propensity for the job and developing them from there. This approach to talent acquisition and development avoids adverse impact on age, race, gender, and LGBTQ+ status.

{00:24:49}

Treating employees like professional athletes means that leaders should know each individual’s strengths and place them in the right position. With the right development, every employee can become a professional, increasing their productivity, engagement, and satisfaction in the company.

Resources

Connect with Scott

[email protected]

Talentplus.com

Connect with Dan:

Surgeon General Report on Loneliness

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/dancockerell/

Lin...

Build Flourishing Organizations

Come Rain or Shine

07/13/23 • 30 min

"The more you live in hiddenness and darkness, it doesn't actually protect you or your spouse. It actually puts a wedge between you."

Matt Lesser is an experienced business leader with a passion for fostering engaged and productive workplaces. Matt's journey began in a family-owned oil distribution company, where he quickly learned the importance of effective leadership and intentionality in the workplace. Having rebuilt the business from the ground up, Matt moved into private equity, working with organizations worldwide to identify investment opportunities. His journey hasn't always been smooth sailing though. Matt shares about some of his darker days and the power of therapy on his ability to get up and move forward.

His unique insights have been put together into two books, Unsatisfied: When Less is More and the soon-to-be-released Unengaged: Building Flourishing Organizations. During our conversation Matt shares his knowledge on creating intentional workplace cultures that drive fulfillment and success. He shares the solution to building flourishing organizations through effective leadership and engagement.

In this episode, you will be able to:

Discover strategies for building thriving organizations through impactful leadership and engagement.
Uncover the significance of pinpointing your life's purpose and how it can drive success.
Learn how to foster an engaging company culture by hiring team members who embody your values.
Explore the crucial elements of clarity, capability, motivation, and alignment in cultivating productive work environments.
Realize the power of intentionality and the impact of taking incremental steps toward achieving your goals.

Do you want to cultivate a thriving workplace that fosters fulfillment and success? If you would like enhance your leadership skills to create an engaged and productive team then make sure to take a listen to this episode. Learn how to intentionally create workplace cultures that drive satisfaction and achievement, and discover the keys to employee motivation and engagement. There is no better time to unlock the potential of a fulfilled and successful team.

Connect with Matthew

Order the Book: Unsatisfied: When Less is More

Uniquely Normal Website

Connect with Dan:

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/dancockerell/

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dancockerell/

Episode Highlights

00:02:29 - Matt Lesser's Background, 00:06:32 - Private Equity and Leadership, 00:08:25 - Unengaged and Unsatisfied, 00:11:03 - Loneliness and Disconnection, 00:12:57 - Rock Bottom and the Power of Therapy 00:19:01 - Reflection and Vulnerability 00:20:10 - The Importance of Human Connection 00:22:45 - Living with Intentionality 00:25:01 - Hiring for Culture Fit vs. Skill Set 00:25:33 - Discovering Your Calling 00:27:28 - Taking the First Step 00:28:45 - Matt Lesser's Upcoming Book

Role Modeling Helps Build Culture

Come Rain or Shine

09/17/20 • 19 min

Jody and I discuss the importance of role modeling and the domino effect it has on culture.

For many organizations, morale is secondary to the bottom line. While most admit a strong culture is beneficial, if it doesn’t yield positive monetary outcomes, we can be quick to doubt its value. The problem with this thinking is it compartmentalizes culture from everyday relationships. For instance, to be a great role model, one doesn’t require specific accolades and graduate skills. Contrarily, if one is organized, humble, and desires creative effort, the possibilities are endless in leaving lasting impressions at work.

Three Elements of Great Feedback

Come Rain or Shine

10/25/18 • 18 min

I just came back from a trip to Zurich where my dad and I did some consulting for a company. They mostly wanted to discuss how to give effective feedback.

We talked about some reasons why we don’t give feedback and here are some of the common responses: I don’t know how, I’m afraid of the reaction, I’m not sure how to open the conversation, etc.

We discussed how if you don’t have feedback, you don’t have growth. If people don’t get feedback, they don’t get better. And if they don’t get better, you’re impacting their careers long-term. Giving feedback is a sign that you care.

When you’re dealing with a company that has locations in many different parts of the world with many different offices, you’re dealing with the same need of giving feedback but it’s done in different ways based on culture.

The Three C’s:

Care and Connect
- You need to get to know people on a personal level and figure out a way to connect with them.
Create Clarity
- Saying you need something as soon as possible could mean different things to different people. Instead, give a deadline and explain why you need it by then.
Challenge
- Once you have a good relationship with people, you can start to challenge them in a positive and healthy way where you won’t damage the relationship.

Giving feedback is only 50%. Getting the other person to accept it and make a behavioral change is the other 50%.

When you go in to give someone feedback, lead from the heart and remember why you’re giving them feedback.

Silence enables people to fill in the blanks and sometimes silence can be seen as approval or apathy. Silence always fails.

If you’re not ready to react, let someone know you’re processing what they told you and will respond soon. Don’t let them fill in the blanks of what you're thinking.

A concept I love is that if you can get 1% better every day over a year, your total return on your improvement is 37%. It’s all about little small steps. How you build culture is one small behavior every day and you keep chipping away at it.

I send out an Article of the Week and the first Friday of each month I also send out my own content, The Perch, which is a monthly newsletter. You can sign up to get that HERE.

What Should Happen Onstage vs. Backstage

Come Rain or Shine

12/26/19 • 27 min

Creating an immersive customer experience does more than just show consumers a good time. Today, Jody and I discuss the value of an onstage vs backstage mentality.

Often our customers judge our attention to detail and our ability to provide quality service based on seemingly unrelated standards. A burnt-out light bulb may very well represent how much care you put into your flagship offering.

It is a leader's responsibility to train their team that personal discussion stays backstage and it’s all about the customer experience onstage. Take measures to ensure your team is following through on the details small enough to miss but big enough to set the tone.

Choosing Your Values

Come Rain or Shine

03/05/20 • 21 min

When it comes to building a healthy work culture, the answer starts and ends with value. While leading with virtue is critical and dependent on the leader, to arrive at that point, one must know what they stand for.

As I discuss in this episode, values are central but manifest in different ways. For some people, value is demonstrated through common courtesy; for others, values are modeled through intentionality. Whatever drives your value, it’s imperative you examine your everyday behaviors and their effect on those around you.

The Value of Prioritizing Employee Fulfillment

Come Rain or Shine

08/17/23 • 25 min

As a leader of any organization, it's really important that we work every day to become unnecessary. - Chris Meroff

Chris Meroff’s journey is what has shaped him into a strategic leader that helps others recognize the value of prioritizing employee fulfillment. His story is both inspiring and enlightening.

As a college dropout with no clear path in life, Chris found himself working in his parents' consulting business for K-12 education, despite having no prior knowledge of the field. After 15 grueling years, Chris decided to branch off and launch a similar venture in Texas, one of the largest markets in the country. Despite facing multiple setbacks, his relentless determination led to the flourishing of a successful business with 75 employees within four years.

However, Chris realized that his achievement did not bring him the fulfillment he expected. His belief that leadership required him to exude confidence and strength left him feeling isolated and emotionally drained when an invaluable employee resigned. That moment shaped Chris' view on the importance of empathy and vulnerability in leadership. The next thing he knew he has to do was a transform his approach to employee fulfillment.

Make sure to share this episode of Come Rain or Shine with your colleagues and friends who need to hear this message about the impact of leadership on employee fulfillment.

Connect with Chris Meroff

Chris Meroff's Website: https://chrismeroff.com/

Order the Book: Align: Four Simple Steps for Leaders to Create Employee Fulfillment

Connect with Dan:

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/dancockerell/

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dancockerell/