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[Music]
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welcome to scaling up the podcast where
we scale up on knowledge so we don’t
scale up
our systems folks that means we are
always learning and that means that i
am always trace blackmore your host for
scaling up h2o and i’m going to tie that
all together
as we talk today about how i’m
always trying to learn and i’m always
trying to give
information to people in the hopes that
that helps them with something
and in the hopes that hopefully they
teach me something
in return it’s one of the reasons i
started this podcast but that’s what i’m
going to talk about
during this episode before i do i want
to talk about a couple of events that
are coming up
one of my favorite things that we do in
the scaling up h2o community
is we do a regular hang and we have got
another hang coming up on june 10th at 6
pm
eastern time so many of you out there
in the scaling up nation have joined us
for the hangs they’re so much fun
as you know we all get together we talk
about a few items and then we
instantly go into breakout rooms where
you can network with
people that understand exactly
what your day to day is like
then i mix you up and i put you in
another room so you can do that again
and then we come back all together in a
large room
and we have some sort of game we do
something fun we’ve been doing
millennial trivia
the last couple times and folks talk
about
fun thank you for all the people that
have helped us bring
that one to life if you have not been
to a hang please do not deprive yourself
of that go to scaling up h2o.com forward
slash hang and of course
all of you find folks that have been
there before i know i will see you again
on june 10th at 6 p.m eastern time
something else you might want to mark
your calendars with is the awwa
is hosting their water and wastewater
show
june 29 through july 2nd
so this is the type of water treatment
that you practice
you want to go to our show notes page so
you can find out
about this show well folks
this show is going to be a little bit
different i was starting to put together
a pinks and blues episode
from your questions and i started
noticing that many people weren’t
writing in with questions they were
writing in
on frustrations or how to handle
a particular client or someone
in their lives when they just
don’t agree with them and that got me
thinking i think
a lot of us are dealing with that right
now
and some of us quite frankly are dealing
with it better
than others so this episode is going to
be
about minding the gap that’s right
mind the gap now if we were to look up
gap in the dictionary it would say it’s
a break or
hole between two objects
so i want to ask you when you
are in life and you find out that
there is a gap what do you
do to fill in the gap how
do you fill in the gap and then how do
you
even know that there is a gap
i think when you know how to answer
these questions
it means that you are very well
grounded in yourself i want to make that
a little bit more clear as we talk but
let’s start
talking about some gaps now i make it a
point that i try not to talk
about politics i personally do not think
what you think about politics is any of
my business nor is mine of yours
however i think that this is one of the
items that just
divides so many of us
and it’s because i don’t think we’re
minding the gap
properly i also think that politics is
used more as a shield
and not a bridge and we’re talking about
a gap
we need something to build a bridge
to fill in that gap so let’s say someone
tells you
something that you don’t agree with
or there on an opposing side of a
particular
argument that you are on well hey a gap
was just created the person listening
now has a choice
how are they going to mine that gap
choice a they can listen to the other
side
which is another opinion and they can be
okay
with the fact that they might change
their perception
of how they originally saw something
choice b is not to listen because
now they are frightened that they might
have their ideas challenged
they might end up changing their mind
from something they
originally thought they understood
both of these scenarios start with a
choice
however the listener gets to choose
based on how self-grounded they are
how strong is their foundation
now i know i can’t go a show or two
without mentioning the seven habits of
highly effective people
if you’re a listener of the scaling up
h2o podcast you know
i am a huge fan of this book
if you haven’t read this book you can go
to an affiliate link we have scaling up
h2o.com forward slash
seven habits and you can get a copy for
yourself
so all of that to say let’s talk about
the seven habits
if you are not familiar with the seven
habits
here they are habit one be proactive
habit two begin with the end
in mind habit 3 put first things first
habit 4 think when when habit 5
seek first to understand before you’re
understood
habit 6 synergize and habit seven
sharpen the saw let’s break down the
first
three habits now the first three habits
are the habits of the private victory
these are things that we do
for ourselves to strengthen who we
are who we know we are and make sure
that we have a strong foundation
before we start working with somebody
else and that’s habits four five and six
in the public victory so
if we know that we are proactive and
we are able to make choices and we are
responsible for those choices
that’s habit one habit two is beginning
with the end in mind that means as we go
through life
we know what we are for we understand
our values we understand
our creed we understand all the things
that we are truly grounded in and that
allows us
when we ultimately do work with other
people we’re grounded there
and not in a particular feeling about a
topic so now that allows us to be
okay with somebody disagreeing with us
and more importantly
it allows us to be okay
if somebody were to actually change our
minds
and then habit three is doing the things
we know we need to do
when we need to do them that’s putting
first things first
now if you superbly execute those three
habits no one’s going to know about it
except
yourself but that’s what creates that
strong
foundation and then through that strong
foundation
we are able to work with other people
in the next four habits so habit number
four
is think win-win that doesn’t mean we’re
always going to have
a win-win but it means that’s our
mindset we’re going to
think if i win the other person has to
win
habit five is how we get there i need to
seek first to understand the other
before i’m worried about me
being understood and habit six
is the fruit of that which is synergy
one plus one equals three or more
two boards in construction put together
can actually support
more weight together than they can by
themselves
that is synergy and that’s what we’re
able to do
if we’re not worried about our minds
getting changed if we’re not worried
about a strong belief that we have
getting challenged so again it’s all
about
how we mind the gap i
personally think too many people are
scared
of having their minds changed and if we
really worked on the foundation of who
we were that would not matter
having a solid foundation grounded in
your values your ambitions
as i said before your personal creed
allows you to not be
threatened by other people’s ways of
thinking
it allows you to not be threatened if
you are
changing your ways of thinking in fact
when you get into a situation where
someone does not
agree with you you should instantly get
excited you should say yippee this
is my opportunity to learn
something from a different point of view
from somebody else
i mean think about it all of us were
raised
differently all of us have different
experiences so we could look at the same
thing
and see it differently just because
somebody sees something
differently from the way that i do does
not make it wrong
when i take the time to understand why
they see
something in the way that they do i
am now better for it i’ve learned
something
i have a greater perspective and now i
can take that information and i can
do something with it too many of us have
lost the art of conversation
i think many of us think that
conversation means that the other person
agrees with
everything that we say folks that is
not how the world works and i think
if we can mind the gap and listen to the
other person
try to find out what their point of view
is and
understand it from their frame of
reference
we’re going to learn something new and
that conversation is going to lead into
new
ways of thinking it’s my hope the next
time
you have an opportunity to have a
conversation with somebody
that does not see something in the same
way that you do
you too get excited like i do
because you know that the learning is
about to come
you are going to leave that conversation
better
than how you entered it because you’re
going to have
more information it’s all about
minding the gap when i started my
business in atlanta georgia one of the
first things i did was i contacted
all of my fellow water treaters in
the area my competition now the funny
thing is
i was advised by people that i
truly trust their opinion not to do that
it was crazy they said for me to
befriend
my competition well i normally listen to
my
mentors on a lot of things but this was
something that i did not
do in accordance with their advice i did
meet with as many people that would meet
with me
i invited them for a cup of coffee now
many of them did
think that i was crazy some of them just
said no
but for the ones that did years ago
we have been friends ever since
and just think who better can understand
what it is that you
are going through than somebody who is
in the same exact business that you are
that’s one of the reasons that i started
the rising tide mastermind and that’s
one of the reasons
that it is so successful because we
don’t have to go
into explaining all of the things that
lead up to the
issues that we need help with we all
immediately understand how we got there
and then we can just talk
about the specifics of the issue
you know something that happened just
recently
of these people that i had coffee with
years ago
met that were competing water treatment
companies
a few of them had some difficulties
during covid
we actually helped each other with
products
servicing accounts making sure that we
could get through the other side of
covid
together and we were able to do that
better together because we did have
that relationship now this line of
thinking
also goes into trade organizations
as you know i am very active with the
association of water technologies
and a lot of people said trace you are
a really good trainer and you do water
treatment at a level that other people
don’t why would you ever give away that
edge
to other water treaters so they can now
compete
with you well i gotta tell you i
thought about that and i think it’s
pretty lonely out there that if you
know something and you keep it to
yourself what good is it
so there you go there is another
opportunity to mind
the gap one of my goals in life
is to learn everything that i can
now this goal is about me the other goal
is for me to teach everything that i
know
and that goal is about others
i fill in the gap when i think of that
when
people say why are you training your
competition
i think a rising tide raises
all boats and that’s why i give so much
to the association of water technologies
that’s why this is a free podcast that’s
why we’re sharing
so much information on this podcast
because guess what as you are learning
i’m learning right along with you and if
you learned
something that i have taught you that
means i fulfilled
my mission and hopefully you’re going to
do something that raises the bar in the
water treatment industry which is
also my mission for this podcast and if
you do that i can check the box
but here’s what most likely is going to
happen you’re going to take something
that you learned here
and you’re going to teach that to
somebody else
again making sure that we are changing
the water treatment industry
one water treater at a time but as
you’re teaching somebody
else ultimately information is going to
come back to me
and i am going to learn something new
and here’s another tip if you ever try
to learn
something the best way to do it is to
immediately teach it
in fact when you’re learning it change
your role from a
student to one that is a teacher and
learn it with the mindset that you are
going to
teach that immediately to somebody else
it
will dramatically change how you are
taking in that information because
you’re anticipating all the questions
that somebody
else is going to ask you that will make
you a better student
and that will allow you to teach it when
it’s your time
to teach it it’s all about how we mine
the gap so with this mindset
if you have a strong foundation if
you are grounded in who you are
that foundation is so strong you can
build
a tremendous structure on top of it and
you don’t
have to worry about when somebody else
comes by with an opposing opinion
like a strong wind that could possibly
knock the structure down well it was
built on a strong
foundation now just imagine if you had
other people help you build that
structure
there is no limit to what that can
become so i hope the next time
you are faced with a situation where you
have to mind the gap you are going to
take
all of this into consideration lean into
the conversation
because folks you’re getting ready to
learn
something speaking of learning and a
great example
of exactly what we were talking about
here is another challenge with james
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mcdonald
[Music]
hello scaling up nation the next james’s
challenge as we grow as an industrial
water treatment professional
drop by drop is
explain to a non-technical person how a
compression chiller works
albert einstein once said if you can’t
explain it to a six-year-old
you don’t understand it yourself we deal
with people
every day with less experience than we
have in water treatment
being able to explain complex
information in terms they can understand
is an acquired skill that will pay off
with better relationships when you’re
all on the same page
plus i found many even find this one a
little interesting
when you follow the path that he takes
be sure to share your experience on
linkedin by tagging with hashtag jc21
and hashtag scalinguph2o this is james
mcdonald and i look forward to seeing
what you share
one nation yet again another way to mine
the gap
when you find you don’t know something
or you’re trying to learn
something better you’ve got a choice do
you just continue in life not knowing it
or are you going to do something
differently
to mind that gap to get more information
and it’s
my hope that you’re going to take what
you learned
and teach that to other people
nation i am shocked we are celebrating
200 episodes of scaling up
h2o i remember when i got my bluetooth
headset
out four years ago and started recording
my very first
episode i cannot believe that we’re
getting ready to celebrate
number 200 and here’s the thing we could
not have gotten there
without you the scaling up nation
and that’s why we want to celebrate the
scaling
up nation on episode 200.
so here’s what i need from you if this
show has
done something for you if you have a
favorite show if there is something that
has
just meant something to you one of the
episodes
several the episodes let us know record
your voice by going to scalinguph2o.com
and we are going to celebrate together
on episode
200. nation i was at a conference
just the other day and this story was
shared with me
and i wanted to share it with you
because it really spoke to me
and especially with what we’re going for
in life we’re always trying to go for
more
bigger better faster all of that stuff
a lot of times we don’t realize what we
have
so here is the story of the fisherman
an investment banker was on vacation in
a small
coastal village in mexico and he was
walking along the shore
and he saw a fisherman dock on a nearby
pier
he walked up on the pier and he saw the
small boat
with the fishermen and there were
several large
yellow fin tuna in it the investment
banker
looked at the fishermen and the quality
of fish
that he had and asked the fishermen how
long it took him to catch the fish
the fisherman replied only a little
while the investment banker
then asked why didn’t you stay out
longer so you could catch more fish
the fisherman said he had enough fish to
support his family’s immediate needs
the investment banker then asked but
what do you do with the rest of your
time
the fisherman said i sleep late fish a
little
play with my children take siestas with
my wife stroll
into the village each evening where i
sip wine and play guitar
with my friends the investment maker
then said well i have a
full and busy life i have a harvard mba
and i can help you you should spend more
time
fishing and with the proceeds by a
bigger boat
with the proceeds from the bigger boat
you could have
several boats eventually you could have
a fleet of fishing boats
instead of selling your catch to the
middleman you could sell
directly to the processor eventually
even opening up your own cannery
you would then control the product the
processing
and the distribution you would then need
to leave the small
coastal fishing village and move to new
york city
where you could run your expanding
enterprise
the fishermen ask but how long will that
take
the banker replied about 15 to 20 years
the fisherman said and then what the
banker laughed and said
that’s the best part when the time is
right
you will announce an initial public
offering and
sell your company stock to the public
and become
very very rich you would be worth
millions the banker then said
with those millions you can then retire
move to a small coastal village where
you could sleep late
fish a little play with your kids take
siestas with your wife
stroll to the village in the evenings
where you could sip wine
and play guitar with your friends
folks think about the reason you are
doing what you are doing
so many of us are engaged and how do we
make it bigger faster
stronger better well folks we might be
living
our best life right now so it’s my hope
that this
episode has inspired you to look deep
down
in your foundation what are the things
that allow you to get through life
knowing that nothing is going to tear
you down
and when you are faced with a choice
it’s that foundation that you are going
to make that choice
in and you are going to feel good about
it each
and every time nation mind the gap
take in consideration all the gifts that
you have in life
take care of each other and above all
else listen to scaling up next week
have a great week folks
i recently asked bernadette combs a
member of the rising tide mastermind
what she has gained as being a member of
the rising tide
mastermind here’s what she said the
rising tide has personally
allowed me to gain a new set of trusted
advisors
and mentors that i can go to for
guidance
and counseling and peer review and
accountability
so i would say that the masterminds has
really been a catalyst for my growth
both
professionally and personally over this
last year so
one unique thing i feel i’ve been able
to develop
over the course of the last eight months
through the masterminds group is
learning the ability to listen learning
how to ask good clarifying questions
and how to take those questions process
them and process the answers to be able
to then
give good foundational advice to the
person who needs it
bernadette thank you for sharing with
the scaling up nation
some of the things you have been able to
benefit from from being a member of the
rising
tide mastermind now you just heard
bernadette talk about
she’s now able to ask better questions
to get better information and to give
better advice well that is a technique
that we learn within the rising tide
mastermind because let’s face it we are
all
too easy to speak and less apt to
listen we try to make sure that we
listen more
than we speak so we can give the right
advice
to the right issue now that’s just one
of the skills we try to help each other
with
each and every week in the rising tide
mastermind
groups if you want to find out more
about the rising tide mastermind
go to scaling up h2o.com forward slash
[Music]
mastermind
you