2196 - Turn Up the Teamwork Building a Vision That Rocks Together with Right Chord Leadership's Dr. Michael BrennerMichael Brenner

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1:06With us right now, it's Dr. Michael Brenner. Mike, you are the founder and CEO of RightCord Leadership. You're found on the web at rightcordleadership.com. Dr. Mike, it's great to have you. Thank you, Josh. It's a pleasure to be on your podcast. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. So before we kind of get going talking about leadership, which I always love talking about, I'm curious what you do that's unrelated to work or kind of like what you're into hobby-wise. What are you geeking out on lately? Yeah, well, in addition to training and coaching and helping people create great workplaces, I'm also a professional musician.

1:47I've been playing music since I was a kid. My primary instrument is saxophone, but I can also get around on a flute or a tin whistle or a recorder, you know, woodwinds kind of thing. And I actually have a gig coming up this Saturday. Uh, so I've been playing in two bands, one for about 30 years and one for about 11 or 12 years. Oh my gosh. Really a lot of fun. What type of music do you play? Well, one of the bands is a traditional, uh, kind of, uh, cover, cover band. So we play, you know, music that you might hear on the radio. Uh, rock, alternative rock, uh, all, all kinds of different, uh, genres and, and eras of music, 70s 80s 90s stuff you know people come out to a club and want to sing along to so when you're doing when you're doing alternative rock what what are you playing i mean because it looks like you play a lot of like brass and woodwind well that's a great question there's not much for me to do in a song by say nirvana or pearl jam so i i might actually go and take a break on songs unless i'm actually singing it which is uh not typically the case uh so you know if it's a song by the Dave Matthews band or, you know, Bruce Springsteen or something where a saxophone or other would make sense, then I then I'm busy.

3:10Otherwise, I'm probably off, you know, drinking a beer or something like that. So I've been playing I picked up the bass a couple of years ago, as an adult, you know, just like, you know, I've never been able to play music. And, and it's just such a joy for me. I've been playing a lot of Pink Floyd lately, I would have you get to play some Pink Floyd? We have played some Pink Floyd in the past. I think we played Wish You Were Here, which is a beautiful song way, way back in the day. The kids these days, they don't know that stuff very well. Oh, yes, they do. Don't let them fool you. Yes, they do.

3:48Okay, I'll qualify by saying some do. Sometimes when you bring stuff by the classic rock bands that I grew up on, You got to get some of the blank looks from some of the younger folks in the audience. But to your point, some of them actually do know that stuff. That's okay. Listen, we all had blank looks before we became super fans of whatever we are today. So, Dr. Mike, talk to me about Right Cord Leadership. Tell me what you do. Yeah, I founded Right Cord Leadership about 10 years ago. And I like to say that we help leaders and teams at all levels find their groove, get in sync, and work in harmony.

4:24And you probably noticed some musical language baked into the little tagline there. And that's very deliberate. It's because the work that I do with leaders and teams and organizations is sort of distilled through the prism of music. So I bring my musical background, my musical expertise as a performing musician. I pull that experience into the world of organizations and leadership, hence the right chord leadership name of the organization, of my company. I guess that started with the realization that you can strike the right chord in a musical context, of course, which means that the performer is connecting with the crowd, is moving the audience in some profound way.

5:13And you could also strike the right chord in an organizational or leadership context. And that's where I sort of had the insight to blend those two worlds together and create this brand, which has been a lot of fun. Yeah. Well, let's talk about leadership here in the year 2025, particularly given who you work with. What topics around leadership I think are you most emphatic about? I'm most emphatic about the nature and quality of our interpersonal relationships. I created a model called the chords model, again, on brand, right? And each letter in the word chords is a note, if you will. The C is for communication, H, harmony, O, ownership, R, respect, D, direction, and S, support.

6:06And the premise there, Josh, based on my 25 years of experience in this field is that if you as a leader or a team or an organization are playing all six of those notes, you're going to experience a high degree of success and performance. The fewer notes you play in the chords model, the more dysfunction you're likely to experience. And so in a world that is now fixated on AI and evolving technology, all of which I think is very promising and very interesting. Where I'm coming from is we don't want to lose sight of really the glue that holds any good organization together. And that's the nature of our relationships with one another, with our colleagues, with our direct reports, with our supervisors and managers and leaders.

6:54And so using the cords model, that's where I really focus. All right. So if you were to give a little mini TED Talk to our audience of leaders right now, let me give you the stage. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the stage. It's Dr. Mike. Yes, I would lean into the chords model and I would offer some insights into how we can sustain and build and create workplaces where people feel valued and appreciated and respected and doing great work. and it comes down to playing the six chords, communicating. It's funny, Josh, I always talk about the irony of having all these amazing devices that allow us to communicate across time and space.

7:43And yet, in my experience, communication continues to be something that even experienced leaders are challenged by. And that's because we work in very complex organizations with a lot of moving parts. It's a matter of being super clear with our communication. understanding that people receive messages differently. And so kind of just leaning into the fundamentals of effective communication. I talk about cultivating a sense of ownership or accountability so that you don't get a lot of finger pointing or blame placing when things go wrong. And that's not something that just happens overnight. As a leader, you have to create that.

8:23You have to create a workplace where people willingly want to be accountable. And of course, when people are accountable, they spend much less time on counterproductive things like, you know, pointing fingers and they spend more time on solving problems and coming up with solutions. And then, you know, I would also talk about creating a bold vision. That's the D note in the chords model direction. Otherwise, it's just kind of like people come to work and they, you know, they do the daily routine necessary. But when you cultivate a bold, audacious vision for your team that excites people, that fuels people and inspires people, that's a whole new ballgame.

9:02You can get people coming in on a rainy Monday morning with zest and zeal to do their work because they're all pulling to accomplish something meaningful that everyone feels is important. So in your little TED Talk scenario there, I would go through the chords model and offer some simple but powerful ways of playing those six notes. Yeah. Can you share? So let's say there's a leader and they've got something that they've been ruminating on, their vision for the future, and they want to present that to their organization in a way that's going to get buy-in and not, you know, boy, here we go again kind of thing.

9:41What are some things that we can do to better present big ideas? The number one thing I would suggest, Josh, is to include the people who are going to be pursuing the vision. So in my experience, and by the way, you know, mission and vision and values, we've all heard these concepts before. But, you know, it has to be more than just a plaque on a wall in the cafeteria. A vision has to be sort of a living, breathing depiction or image or description of something in the future that we're all working toward. And perhaps we haven't quite reached there yet, but something worth pursuing and worth achieving.

10:21So once you've sort of articulated exactly what a vision is and the purpose of the vision, rather than just the leader come up with the vision and say, here, here's the vision we're all going to be. You don't get by in that way. People will follow it out of a sense of duty, but there's no skin in the game, if you will. So what I would do as a leader is say, hey, I'd like us to sort of craft some kind of bold vision that fuels us and inspires us, something that we all feel good about pursuing together. What are your thoughts about what that vision might look like? And once people have a voice in the process and you go through the various iterations and you land on something that feels good to everybody, then people really feel invested in that because they've had a part in the creation of it.

11:07And that's the number one thing I would say. And the other thing I would say is it shouldn't just be like some, you know, sort of easy goal that you can easily obtain or attain. It should be something that causes you and your team to stretch a little bit and that has real meaning for the team. Something really powerful that you're trying to achieve together every single day. You know, for those of us who are visionary leaders, like we're just, you know, we're the idea machines. Sometimes that can be challenging, right? When we're like, oh my gosh, we start getting really excited about, you know, something that, you know, that we've, you know, iterated to and presenting that.

11:52I think the lesson that I'm taking away here is to, you know, take a breath, pause, and then present this in a way where, you know, because it's important. It's important to get that right. Right. But yet, you know, I'm empathetic to those of us who, you know, who are listening right now. We're just like they're the idea machine. And so it's like they're so excited to share it with their team and share that bold vision. But again, if you don't do it right, you know, I guess people feel disempowered. They do feel disempowered and we have to be realistic here. Uh, it's, it's, it's, I don't want to say easy, but it's, it's, uh, it's one thing to engage in the divergent thinking process, which is where you're coming up with all these cool ideas for what your vision might be and you're brainstorming and you're, uh, you're, you're, you're, um, ideating.

12:46Right. And then we have to get to the convergent thinking part of the process, which is, okay, let's get real here. You know, let's, let's maybe have to pull some of this back a little bit. That's where some of the more level-headed, pragmatic voices in the room maybe have a say. So when we're cultivating or coming up with a bold, audacious vision, those of us who are idea generators, including myself and yourself, we have to be realistic and we have to understand that this may end up looking a little different than our initial idea. But that's okay, right? Because this is a creative product and creative products go through hopefully many iterations.

13:24people get involved voices get engaged about what you don't want to make sure you don't want too many cooks spoiling the the the stew as it were so although your vision your initial notion of what your vision is may change you want to you don't want to get too far afield from that initial thing that excited everybody so you know the the folks in the room that may alter or modify your initial vision you don't want them to turn that into something that bears no resemblance to that initial thing that really excited you. And again, this is a give and take. And that's why it's kind of a fluid process.

14:01But any creative endeavor, I think, is a fluid process. It never comes out of the oven fully big. So as idea generators, we have to be open and receptive to that process. Right Court Leadership, you offer speaking, coaching, consulting, training. Do you mind talking a little bit about what you do tactically with your clients and audiences? Yeah, so I wear, I guess, three or four different hats. So one hat real quick is the consulting hat. So not every problem, organizational problem requires a training solution, right? So that's where you might come in and you would provide some counsel, you would provide some recommendations based on some issues or challenges that the client is facing.

14:43The other hat is in facilitation or training where I would do a discovery session, listen to some of the issues that are going on, and then provide a customized program or session that allows for exploration and problem solving based on whatever issues they're facing. The third hat is coaching. So I do a fair amount of executive coaching where I'll do a one on one, often with a senior leader who is effective in their role, but maybe wants to become a little more effective in other aspects of their leadership. Maybe round off some of the rough edges a little bit. I'm coaching somebody now who maybe has a personality that others feel is a little acerbic or a little strong and finding ways for him to dial it back a little bit.

15:35And then the fourth hat is as a keynote speaker. So I've had the good fortune of speaking all over the world, South Asia, Canada, Australia. And that's a lot of fun. That's an opportunity for me to to share my message to folks that don't even live here in the U S. Yeah. Yeah. Your website, right. Cord leadership.com when somebody goes to your website, whether or not they're ready to engage or not, I think you've got some great resources available as well. I do. There's some blogs there. There's some videos there. My approach, Josh, again, is really based on my experience in the world of, of music.

16:18and one of the things that I, sort of a prevailing metaphor for me is the jazz band. So when I was a kid, I grew up in a classical household. I became very familiar with Beethoven and Bach and Mozart and Tchaikovsky and then I was introduced to jazz in the seventh grade and my whole world turned upside down and I put away the clarinet and picked up the saxophone because I wanted to play in the jazz band and there were no clarinets in the jazz band. But over time what I've realized is that the jazz band is like the ultimate team sport. Because of the nature of jazz as a largely improvisational art form, the way that jazz musicians have to relate to one another in the moment, listening, adjusting, pivoting, allowing the spotlight to move depending on who's soloing, I think that's a really lovely analogy for organizations because we are often pivoting.

17:22We have to be agile. We have to adjust to other people's temperaments and personalities and agendas. Leaders, it's not about, you know, I'm the leader and you will bow to me. It's about recognizing that leadership can be a fluid phenomenon where people take on the mantle of leadership at various points in a project. And so to make a long story less long, if somebody goes to my website, they'll see all kinds of musical language, musical metaphors baked into the verbiage there. And as well as, as I say, the blog posts, the videos, so they can get to know me in my approach. And, you know, it may resonate for them.

18:08They may understand and like the musical piece. And if so, that would be great. I love talking about the nexus between music and organizations. I think it's a very, very fruitful place to hang out and explore. And you talk about that in your book, which is new. Dr. Michael, we should have been talking about this right at the beginning. I didn't realize that you just published this, Strike the Right Cord, The Emerging Leader's Guide to Exceptional Performance. To our friend that's listening, we've got a direct link to the book. We've got a direct link, Dr. Mike, to your website, rightcordleadership.com, of which you are the founder and CEO.

18:56Dr. Michael Brenner, it's been a great conversation. Thank you so much for your work in the world. Thank you, sir. It's been a pleasure to talk with you. Excellent questions. And I really appreciate the opportunity to join you today.

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