Lead In 30 Podcast

Discovering Your Personal Value In the Market

• Russ Hill

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What's your unique value in the marketplace? What problem are you uniquely able to solve? In this episode of the Lead In 30 podcast we explore the critical importance of identifying your unique value proposition and leveraging it in today's marketplace. The opportunity to monetize your distinct abilities has never been greater, especially when you clearly understand what problems you're solving according to Lone Rock Leadership co-founder Russ Hill. He dives into:

• Understanding what makes you irreplaceable beyond technical skills
• Learning from Roger, a consultant who loved "doing deals" and creating marketplace value
• Recognizing that everyone is in sales regardless of job title
• Defining your unique strengths and continuously strengthening them
• Applying value proposition thinking to both individuals and teams
• Embracing the abundance of today's marketplace despite occasional dips
• Finding fulfillment through solving problems and creating solutions
• Pushing through cloudy days to rediscover your unique value

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About the podcast:
The Lead In 30 Podcast with Russ Hill is for leaders of teams who want to grow and accelerate their results. In each episode, Russ Hill shares what he's learned consulting executives. Subscribe to get two new episodes every week. To connect with Russ message him on LinkedIn!



Speaker 1:

What problems are you solving in the marketplace? Like, I want to talk about your team, your organization, your department, like what problems you're solving collectively. But what I also want to really dig into in this episode is the problems you as an individual are solving out there and the incredible opportunity that exists right now for you to go out there and offer that up in the marketplace and create significant value. Let's talk about it.

Speaker 2:

This is the lead in 30 podcast with Russ Hill. You cannot be serious. Strengthen your ability to lead in less than 30 minutes to leave in less than 30 minutes.

Speaker 1:

Forgive the noise, you all. I'm in my vehicle traveling to an appointment and I'm in the Arizona area and, oh my gosh, like the air quality today. I don't know what's going on. I mean, I know it's 147 degrees right now At the time I'm recording this in Arizona and I happen to be wearing a long-sleeved shirt. It's 147 degrees right now At the time I'm recording this in Arizona and I happen to be wearing a long-sleeved shirt to this business meeting that I'm going to and I'm thinking why did I choose that? But anyway, but I don't know if we got like dirt dust. I don't know what it is, and not that you care, but I'm just commenting on what I'm seeing Anyway, so forgive the audio quality.

Speaker 1:

I'm not in my home office, not in the studio, not able to record, with all that. It's just talking to my iPhone. I want to share some thoughts with you. We are in the summer crunch, so a million things going on in your personal life, at work, you're taking some time off. We talked about that in the last episode or the one before that, about how important that is. I'm coming back completely recharged after getting off the grid like massively getting off the grid and a ton of family and personal events going on and just super recharged. That's the value. That's the value of getting away during the summer and the end of the year. But that was the last episode, okay.

Speaker 1:

So a few years, well, a lot of years ago, we had this consultant. Back when I worked in the media business, we had this consultant that came in and he consulted each of our markets. This is a broadcast media company and we had media properties in Washington DC, in Chicago, in Salt Lake City, seattle, phoenix, st Louis, all over the place, right. And so this consultant would fly into each market and meet with the leadership team in that market and really help them with strategy and all of that. And he was a very unique just worked by himself. I didn't have a team at all, like, just worked by himself, I didn't have a team at all. Just. And I want to say at the time that we were using him, he was probably 60, 65. Definitely a seasoned guy, and maybe even 70 on the latter end of his career. Like, just full of wisdom, full of insight, full of energy and drive. And I just love to be around him. His name was Roger, and some of the people on our team weren't huge fans of his unconventional approach and you've always got members of every team that, anytime you're doing an offside, you're doing a strategy session or, frankly, you're having a meeting, you've got those people on the team that just roll their eyes, no matter what.

Speaker 1:

They're just like why am I here? What am I doing? Just the naysayers, right? The people that don't bring any value and they're skeptical of everything. Maybe they bring value, but they're just a pain. Sometimes we look at them, we're like I don't know if the cost is worth the reward, the payoff, right? That's another episode though. Just the naysayers, the people that walk into meetings, like just already, looking for the problem, looking for what's wrong, looking for why it's a waste of time. You know, my father-in-law used to say I'm so insightful.

Speaker 1:

We go to church, right, and on Sunday we talk about in our church there's not a preacher that gets up and preaches every Sunday. It's, you know, members of the congregation who are invited to prepare a talk on, you know, faith or discipleship or whatever it is, and then they they get up and they deliver like an eight or 10 minute talk. Think of it like a TED talk, but spiritual and, and you know these are people with all kinds of different abilities talk, but spiritual and, and you know these are people with all kinds of different abilities. Some of nobody asks for that opportunity and in fact, most of the people who are asked have no desire. They dread, they fear getting up and speaking. They don't view themselves as the authority figure. They're just getting up, taking their turn, just willing to offer some insights on the path of life, wherever they're at, and and so sometimes you know, people get up and speak and it's pretty boring, like they're not good public speakers. They don't profess to be, they don't wanna be up there, but they're. You know they're doing their duty, they're doing their part, they're trying to show up and bring value, and so you might be bored, right, and I remember having a conversation with my father-in-law once about this and, as a family, like we were around the dinner table or something, and he's like you know, actually I think when you go to church and you're in the congregation, there's those people speaking and you don't find value.

Speaker 1:

The problem isn't the speaker, it's you. I'm like whoa, whoa. Okay, let me process. That was the kind of man my father-in-law was. He passed away from cancer suddenly and unexpectedly a few years ago. We mourn the loss of him for sure, but he was a man of very few words, very private, very formal and very committed to what he believed in, very strong beliefs, and so he just made statements like that and I've thought about that often and I think he's totally right, totally right, and so I can say the same thing for now.

Speaker 1:

We got to work as leaders to make meetings and interactions and offsites as productive and insightful and efficient as possible. Trust me, I'm the world's biggest critic when it comes to inefficient meetings, but I don't show up looking for why this is a waste of time. I show up looking for trying to make it productive, trying to make it valuable. What are we trying to achieve here? So, anyway, okay.

Speaker 1:

So this consultant he comes in and often he had just so much energy. That's part of what I loved about him, part of what I aspire for to be like him in that when I'm 70, 65, whatever I want to have drive like that. There's so many 65, 70-year-olds, 75-year-olds, and I haven't been there, so I've got all the empathy in the world because I can't relate, because I haven't been there, but they're tired like worn out. And then you got those others that, like you know, we were hiking in Colorado during river rafting trip that I was on recently. And as we're going up this mountainside, like I called it, devil's Peak that's not the real name of it, but that's my feeling about this spot because it was brutal Two miles of switchbacks, brutal. But as we're starting to climb up and I'm here with all of these teenage boys that I volunteer with and I'm feeling the pain and look, I'm active. I work out a lot, whatever Not that I got anything to show for it, but I'm active. And these two old guys, all gray hair, like fully gray hair, and had to be in their seventies, they're walking back in there. They're like, yeah, it's great hike, you guys are going to love it. And I thought about them the whole hike Cause I'm like, wow, they were so full of energy, so much drive, and here I am much younger than they are and I'm dying anyway. So this, uh, this consultant he comes to the market full of energy, full of drive, and he would talk all the time about man, there's so many deals to be done in the marketplace, there's so much that you could be selling Like I just love to trade, I love to create value in the marketplace and I love to go out in the market and find where the market exists, where the demand exists for this thing, and offer a solution or a service that people would be interested in, monetize it, do a deal. Like he was all about deals and he was kind of folksy and a little cheesy in the way that he would say it, but I actually I really appreciated because I'd never seen anybody say that Like where they just were driven motivated on fire about the marketplace, about how fun it is to go out in the market and look for where there's demand, where there's a need, and create a solution and then go find a way to bundle it and package it and offer it up and monetize that and create value and do a deal. And then do another deal and then do another deal.

Speaker 1:

And I know most of you are listening or not, in sales. You don't think you don't have a title that says sales. But you ought to read the book. Sometimes I can't remember the title of it Something like we're all in sales. That was a game changer for me, not not the greatest book ever, but the main idea. I read that like maybe 15 years ago, I don't even know wrote it, I don't remember the exact title, but it changed me because I wasn't in the sales department in the media business and that that woke me up to like no, yes, you are Russ. Like we're all in sales, like revenue is the fuel. If we aren't driving revenue, if we aren't growing, then we're toast, we're dead. And but I thought, oh no, that, like that's not my area, like I don't have to worry about that. You know our sales leaders, my peers that would lead the sales team, like, oh no, that's their world. And that book, that that idea was really big for me anyway.

Speaker 1:

So, whether you're in sales or not which, again, we're all in it, whether that's our full time position or not, our job is to go create value in the marketplace. And then I want to zoom out a little bit and talk about you specifically, your career. Now, listen to me, your career Depends how successful you are now or will be, whether you're 60 or 20. Legacy, reach, leadership opportunity, depends on your ability to create unique value in the marketplace. So I want you thinking about that. Okay, some of you think about this all the time. Some of you you're like light bulbs going off. You're like, oh my gosh, I hadn't thought about this. Of times, some of you, you're like a light bulb's going off. You're like, oh my gosh, I hadn't thought about this.

Speaker 1:

So what is the unique value you're bringing? How are you different from every other marketing executive we have, from every other executive vice president, from every other CEO, from any other chief strategy officer, chief operations officer, mid-level manager on the factory floor, I don't care what it is. How are you unique? Like we lose you. What do we lose, besides your technical know-how in the area of? Because you've got your specialized skills that are unique to the functional area that you oversee or the functional areas or part of the business or organization that you oversee. So you've got those specialized skills. But I need you to have more than that, like I need you to. I need you to to have better skills, stronger skills than just that. Otherwise, you're so replaceable. And so how are you unique Like, for instance, one of the things that I'm really unique at is my ability to communicate efficiently and effectively.

Speaker 1:

It's not that I'm the best in the world at it, but I'm one of, I'm one of the best, like top one percent. I don't flex on that. It's like a matter of survival. Like the rest of you are really really good top one percent, two percent, five percent in the world at certain things. For me, communication is one of them. I'm not I've got do ground to make up. I've got strengths to build in that area. I haven't crossed the finish line, but I'm really freaking good at it. I'm an employee, I'm a team member, I'm a consultant, I'm a coach, I'm a whatever the crap I am. You aren't going to find somebody with as strong of an ability to communicate as me. Period Done, I know it, I'm confident in it. I've got humility around it because I'm trying to constantly increase and improve it.

Speaker 1:

But that's one specific area. Another area is that I'm driven. I've got energy, motivation and I know how to fire you up, because I'm fired up Not every hour of every day, trust me. I got my moments. There are cloudy days, there are cloudy periods, but by and large I'm able to push through that and I've got energy and drive and I'm able to impart that on others and it's contagious. That's a unique skill of mine. I don't think I'm top 1% on that. I think I'm probably top 10% on that, maybe 20%, and so I've got these other things, like my ability to create frameworks and models and to simplify what I'm thinking so that I can anyway you get the point.

Speaker 1:

The reason I'm sharing that with you is I'm trying to get you to think about you. What are the unique value propositions that you bring? Some of them are going to be technical skills. Nobody's got the experience building this, creating this, ideating this, whatever it is that you do. But it's got to be different than that too. It's got to be leadership abilities, communication, energy, sales or relationship driven or design, or lots of different areas, right, strategic thinker, engineering, mindset on these specific things.

Speaker 1:

So I need you to define what those unique value propositions are Like. When I say define it, I mean like write it down, like in an Apple note, in a Google doc, in a whatever a journal. I need you to write them down One, two, three, four, five. Okay, unique value propositions. If you can only come up with one or two or none, I need you to really work on defining that. Then, after you've defined that, what I need you to do is I need you to lean into them, strengthen those skills, get them sharper and stronger, because if that's your value proposition and stronger, because if that's your value proposition, no value. Every value is like, every skill is like a muscle it will weaken without use, without effort, without stretching it, without pushing on it. Okay, so we've got to.

Speaker 1:

I am paying for everything I can find. I'm spending time consuming anything, I'm constantly processing how I could communicate even better and I think I think I'm top 1%, but I'm so driven I'm not like it's the, it's the golf pro with the coach. I'm not done improving. I've got more um, I've I've got more ability here. I've got more. What's the word I'm looking for, gosh? It starts with a C. It's not coming to me. Anyway, it'll come back to me in just a second. I've got there's a range of where I can continue to strengthen my ability. Okay, not competence, gosh, anyway, okay, anyway.

Speaker 1:

So that's what I want you to work on that defining that. And, by the way, you want to do that for your team. Like how are we unique in the marketplace? What makes our sales team different from every other sales team in this industry? What makes this organization unique? What's the value proposition? Right, as leaders, we don't just do this value proposition and definition for us individually, we do it for our teams, our departments, for our organization, depending on where we sit on the org chart, and we've got to be crystal clear on that. We go to the marketplace with that, as we've been building our leadership training company, not the consulting side of our business, although that's true too. The same principle applies, but in the last five years, as we've been building the leadership training off the shelf solution side of our business. What's our unique value proposition? How are we different from everybody else? Otherwise, it's just a red ocean and you're going to get filleted, you're going to get screwed right, there's not going to be demand for you. So you've got to be communicating in that marketplace. So, as an organization, we got to be branding, messaging on our unique value proposition. Our leaders have to be talking about it, and then I, as a leader, have to be talking about my unique value proposition in strategic, humble, intentional ways.

Speaker 1:

Okay, last thought on this. So, after you've defined that, my last thought for you is the mark. We live in a day. I just want to make sure you've got the right perspective. I just want to like do a gut check with you. We are alive. We are alive in a day and age with the most incredible market. There are so many transactions going on.

Speaker 1:

Yes, the market dips from time to time, but it doesn't stay Like. Investors everywhere are looking for reasons to be optimistic. The market goes down Like if you just talk about the markets, like stock markets, investment markets, broadly. They go down for a day, a week, maybe a few weeks, and then they're right back up. They're right back up. We're like searching for reasons to be optimistic. We'll find them anywhere. Perhaps too much so. Perhaps we're creating bubbles in different areas. That's okay. That bubble will pop and then it will rebuild. I've been alive long enough to know now that there's zero reason to be pessimistic when a market is deflated or when it's popping or when it's declining a little bit. Zero reasons to have emotion around that because it's going to go back up. It might take six months, it might take a year, but it's going to go back up.

Speaker 1:

And guess what? We're going to be positioned. I I as an individual. I'm going to be positioned to monetize that. I'm going to make money. I'm going to be successful. I'm going to find a way to get greater than zero on this right. That needs to be your mindset, and so I just want you to be aware of how unbelievably fortunate we are to live in this day and age, where the marketplace is unbelievable.

Speaker 1:

There is demand for solutions, and so if you can get clear on what you're good at, you can get clear on what you're good at. The marketplace for you individually is enormous. And if you're not feeling it, then you haven't clearly defined your value proposition or you've got value in areas that the market doesn't really want or need. We've got a million of you, and so I want to find a place that's unique, what's different, what can't be replaced, what can you not replace with AI, a computer or somebody else that's out there graduating from college or leaving that industry. What is unique? And then I'm leaning into it and I know that the market's on fire and so I can go out in the market and I can do deals.

Speaker 1:

Like Roger the consultant, I'm so freaking jacked about the marketplace, and then to be able, that's the reward, isn't the money, like when you hear me like, oh, I'm going to go make money. It's not about the money, it's about the puzzle solving, it's about the challenge, it's about the journey, it's about unlocking that, about going to the market, finding building a solution, a product, filling a need, solving a problem, going out there, building relationships, finding where the demand is, and then messaging and then fine tuning and doing whatever and then closing deals on that and going you know what, like I did that. We did that. We saw a need, we solved it, we came up with a product that the market needs. We're actually solving people's problems, we're helping them move forward, and that's so rewarding and it just keeps your brain moving. It's fulfilling. You're creating. There's nothing, there is nothing that's more fulfilling than that.

Speaker 1:

And so that's what's on my mind, coming back from a summer recharge on fire for the second half of the year, totally committed to driving results that I've never achieved before, that we've never achieved before. That we've never achieved before as an organization, solving problems in the marketplace, doing it at scale and outdoing any other competitor around us. Like good night, we're going to beat you. You know what I mean. Like I love you and I wish you all the best, but we're going to outperform you because we're more focused on bringing value, of solving problems, of doing deals, of having impact. I hope I fired you up, I hope I've got you thinking, I hope that that energy you'll bring into the organization and it'll be contagious. And it will be contagious. The value plays for you right now. The market, the market for you is better than it's ever been.

Speaker 1:

Now, quick caveat before I close. Some of you are listening to this and you just don't have the energy right now. It's cloudy, you're're lacking drive and I got nothing but empathy for you. My, my counsel for you, my, my, my plea is hang on, focus on the light, focus on like hope, whatever that takes. And some of you can't relate to what I'm talking about. You're not human.

Speaker 1:

The rest of us know exactly what I'm talking about, and so, for the anybody that's listening, gone. Russ, I hear you, and this episode doesn't to what I'm talking about. You're not human. The rest of us know exactly what I'm talking about, and so, for anybody that's listening, go on. Russ, I hear you. And this episode doesn't speak to me, because I just don't know if I can bring value in the marketplace. I don't know if I've got something that's unique. I don't know if the market really is that high for what I can bring. You just hang tight, hang tight, push through whatever's weighing you down. Know you've got enormous value and that we're all human. We're all human. We all have cloudy days, we all know exactly what you're feeling, and so push through, be strong, and then, once you're on your feet again, once you're able to walk and run, then just know all these principles apply to you. All right, I'm getting close to where I got to go.

Speaker 2:

I'll talk to you in the next episode. Share this episode with a colleague, your team or a friend. Tap on the share button and text the link.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for listening to the Lead in 30 podcast with Russ Hill.