Instilling Hope in the Workplace

Called to Coach Webcast Series -- Season 12, Episode 13

Below are audio and video plus a transcript of the conversation, including time stamps.

Do you truly understand and embrace what you bring to your clients, your coworkers, your manager, your organization? Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach Larry Keiter says we can be our own worst enemy when we underestimate the value of our strengths because we've grown accustomed to them. Larry shares out of his own experience; he initially had doubts about the worth of his No. 2 Significance^® talent theme. But others helped him see and embrace it and recognize the difference it makes for others. And now Larry is on a mission to bring hope to clients, coachees and workplaces. Join us and see how owning your strengths -- and valuing the strengths of others -- can increase your hope and multiply your impact -- and your team's as well.

Sometimes we overlook the most brilliant part of who we are because we've done it for so long.

Larry Keiter, 34:57

I wish I could tell you, my whole career, that I was confident and that I was capable and, no -- you learn that through trial and error. You learn that by doing, trying, fixing.

Larry Keiter, 14:22

Once you really embrace who you are, ... you start to look for that in other people. And I think that's the true gift.

Larry Keiter, 22:03

Jim Collison 0:00
I am Jim Collison, and this is Gallup's Called to Coach, recorded on May 2, 2024.

Jim Collison 0:19
Called to Coach is a resource for those who want to help others discover and use their strengths. We have Gallup experts and independent strengths coaches share tactics, insights and strategies to help coaches maximize the talent of individuals, teams and organizations around the world. If you're listening live, love to have you join us in our chat. We'll be looking for questions there. If you're listening to the podcast or YouTube after the fact, you can always send us your questions: coaching@gallup.com. Don't forget to subscribe to Called to Coach on your favorite podcast app or right there on YouTube, so you never miss an episode. Lauren Siedel is our host today. Lauren is a Senior Workplace Adviser here at Gallup. Her CliftonStrengths^® Top 5 are Positivity^®, Responsibility^®, Developer^®, Woo^® and Communication^®. Lauren, it's always a great day to have you on Called to Coach, and welcome back!

Meet Our Guest on This Episode

Lauren Siedel 1:03
Yes. Thank you, Jim. I'm so excited to be here today and to be joined by one of my Power of 2s, Larry. So, excited to have Larry on today to share a little bit about his story. Larry, thanks so much for joining us. To get us started, let's, let's talk about your Top 5. Would you mind introducing yourself and sharing your Top 5?

Larry Keiter 1:22
I would be delighted. Thank you. Lauren, Jim and team. It's nice to see some of the people that are commenting on here from all across the nation. That's really cool. That makes my Significance^® soar, Lauren. So Harmony^® is my No. 1, Significance, Achiever^®, Discipline^®, Arranger^®. And then as I go in, I've got Communication^® into my Top 10 -- and you'll feel that today, I'm guessing. So back to you, Lauren.

Lauren Siedel 1:46
Yes, yes. I love your Significance. I feel, especially with your Executing themes, we work really well as a partnership. And so, I love that every time we're together, you help me understand what you're going to bring to the table, and also what you need from our partnership, and vice versa. So I truly value your partnership and look forward to the conversation today. Larry, why don't you tell us a little bit about how knowing your strengths has impacted your life. Give us a little background on how you were introduced to strengths and how it's impacted your life today.

Larry Keiter 2:18
Absolutely. You know, I think the common thread that you will notice today is, it's always been about people, right? So the common thread is, is, no matter what business you're in, you're in the people business first. And when I began with Walmart and worked for them for 20 years, a gentleman by the name of Sam Walton, who was the founder, was all about people. You would hear it in all the things he said -- praising in public, coaching in private; catch your people doing the right things. I remember hearing that 30-some years ago, and he would say that over and over. And Don Soderquist, his right-hand, was his inspirational mentor for all of us that worked at Walmart. And some of my Walmart friends have joined on here today, and they can relate that it was about people. We talked about those types of things over and over. And when you think about catching people doing things right, that's positive psychology. That's really where it began, when we were talking about, what if we found out what was right with people -- Don Clifton? Let's start focusing on what's right with them, rather than trying to fix them.

Larry Keiter 3:25
And I can't think of anything more empowering than to have somebody say, "Great job. Larry!" You know, especially somebody with Significance, right? I need to hear that. I don't need to hear that, but when I do hear that, it resonates. So a lot of times, the things that I learned early on from Sam Walton that people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care -- all these things I'm repeating are the things that were drilled into us, that were made a part of us, and interacting with that gentleman, I just -- Lauren, if I could share a story, just one story, for the Walmart crew that's, that's joined us here.

Larry Keiter 4:00
I remember going to a leadership training early on, and I loved going to that stuff because, again, my Significance, one of 50 from across the nation to go down to, to Fayetteville, Arkansas, and listen to people talk about growing the business and the mission that Walmart was on at the time. And I remember sitting in the front row with my, all my excitement and my glee and my Significance. And the chairman, Sam, comes over and he says, "You know, it's important to support our company wherever we can, take care of our people and treat them. And that's a nice jacket, Larry, is that one of ours?" And he lifts up the lapel of my jacket and looks at it. And all my friends and, and competitors to run the next store were all around me looking, Did you wear the right jacket, Larry? And Sam notices this, and he pats that lapel, and he says, "Yep, sure is." And he keeps on talking.

Larry Keiter 4:46
And I just had a rush go through me, because I was wearing Haggar that day. That's JC Penney's jacket; that's not Walmart's. And Sam keeps talking, and I'm thinking, Oh my gosh, I screwed up, but Sam doesn't know. On the way out, I walked past Sam, and he shakes my hand, and he said, "My wife buys me those too." He whispered it so nobody else would hear. And that praise in public, coach in private, resonated with me. And a lot of us that worked for that man followed him because of leadership, followed him because of people. And that's really, Lauren, where it started. It started understanding, look at what we can accomplish when we focus on what's right, when we praise in public, and we coach it private. We certainly coached. We were held accountable. We did a lot of things right, but we also had to do it, try it, fix it. So those were some of the things that got me started and really loving the aspect of strengths. And that's kind of where I, it, fostered it?

Lauren Siedel 5:41
Yeah, yeah. So when were you introduced to strengths?

Larry Keiter 5:44
Great question. So here I am, living the world of being as big as we can be. That was something else that we were taught is, you know, to be innovative, sometimes you gotta risk and make mistakes, do whatever you're big enough to do. So I'm doing all these things. And I leave Walmart after 20 years and I think, well, I'm gonna teach this. I wasn't ready. For those of you coaches on here that say, you know, what does it take to go out on your own and to do your kind of things? It was a, they were strengths, but sometimes we're our worst enemy, when it comes to our own strengths. We don't think they're that much because we've had them all the time. And I love teaching people that -- never to underestimate that. Because when I left Walmart, we had accomplished a lot of great things, but I didn't realize my impact or my significance, so to speak, at the time. I didn't have the words, but I had the results. So I went out on my own for about a year with two other individuals, and I really wasn't ready for that. And that's when I ran into Ameritas. I had a friend there, said, "Hey, why don't you come in and do some work for us inside corporate America again."

Larry Keiter 6:43
And I did that. I was only going to do it for 2 years, and I ended up staying for 13. And glad I did, because, Lauren, during that time is where I learned, I crossed paths with Gallup. And Jim Krieger was on our board of directors. Jim was the CFO at Gallup at that time, and he would never come up and say, Hey, Ameritas, you need to do this. He would simply be there for any questions we had. And I was urged pretty directly that, hey, we ought to look at that. Look at that positive psychology. JoAnn Martin, the CEO at the time, was a big proponent, as was Bill Lester, the right-hand guy at the time, and then eventually CEO, was very big into positive psychology.

Larry Keiter 7:25
But Jim Krieger had us come in. We looked around at Gallup, and we started a leadership academy, and we started with a strengths-based focus. And that's where all these leaders went through this program. We went to Cincinnati, James Anderson, the CEO of Children's Hospital, let us come in there. We had our strengths. We learned about how they did things. We learned about people and process through him. And that leadership academy kind of spun off and really became part of the culture at Ameritas at that time, where strengths is still kind of a big, a big deal, if you would.

Lauren Siedel 8:02
Yeah, I love hearing just about that journey to what led you to strengths. I know that you, during that time, also had the opportunity to become a Certified Coach and created some really cool programs within Ameritas. So I'd love to just kind of hear about, a little bit about the impact that was made through you becoming a Certified Coach and some of the programs you put in place in partnership with that.

Larry Keiter 8:28
Absolutely, and, you know, I wish I could take credit for everything in place, but I had a lot of support. And the biggest supporter was the CEO, JoAnn Martin, rest her soul. She retired and, and passed away not long after she retired -- just a, just a beautiful person. And her domain was on relationships. So it was a delight to go in to work for her. But I had to learn from a standpoint, I was learning my own strengths, and I remember JoAnn saying, Hey, you know, we need to just have a leadership academy, and let's have 24 people. Let's, you know, let's choose that group. And why don't you bring me that information. And of course, my Executing, Lauren, I'm like, I got this, and JoAnn, here's the 24, here's, we're ready to go.

Larry Keiter 9:10
And little did I know, JoAnn led with Individualization^®. That was her hallmark. She used to really want to know everything about each person. And so we sat down and we went through each person one by one. And the reason I share that is because, for this to really be successful, the CEO buy-in, the leadership buy-in was crucial. And JoAnn was the first one to bring in some of the early folks, the Ed O'Boyles, the Jeremy Pietrocinis, and have team workshops with strengths. And that was a real learning experience. That's where I learned that what I did and what annoyed some of my coworkers sometimes -- my Significance and my Communication; I think the barrier label is "show-off" -- and I embraced that, because at the time, I didn't know what those words were. I used them at Walmart. I Executed; I did those things. But at Ameritas, I learned the words, and the polite way to call Larry what he was really exhibiting, those things that gave him energy. Like this makes him smile. It makes him, you know, look forward to events like this. It was powerful.

Larry Keiter 10:16
And JoAnn, knowing those things, was very helpful, because we sent that first group to Gallup, and we created the cupcake challenge. It was very simple. We aligned people based upon their strengths and put them all together. They had a Team Grid, and the challenge was to create the best cupcake. And Chef John at Gallup at the time, was so generous, because he allowed his kitchen and his staff. And that thing evolved from the first year we did it to the, to the third academy that we put on, people were, you know, putting peppers in their cupcakes. It really got elaborate because word spread.

Larry Keiter 10:53
And the neat thing about this is we could do different things with strengths. And we would take somebody out that was high Executing, and we would transport them to a different team, and we would see the dynamics. It was, it was a learning laboratory, very similar to what we had done at Walmart, learned on the job, here we were at Ameritas, doing cupcakes. Because as a, as a fiscally responsible, as a government entity that's, you know, regulated by the government, Ameritas couldn't do it, try it, fix it, necessarily, on the field, but in the Gallup kitchen, it was pretty safe. So that, those things became great. Some of the people, the attendees, created aprons and gave them as gifts as the Cupcake Challenge winner. It really became something bigger than we ever dreamed it could be, and that, that's really what happens when everybody gets on board and supports that thing. So that was pretty cool.

The Power of Strengths in an Organization Starts With the Individual

Lauren Siedel 11:43
Yeah, yeah. And I think it's really neat that you actually got to experience what it feels like to introduce strengths into an organization, of course, with a great team as well, but then to see how strengths evolves into powerful partnerships to affect the way teams work together, like you mentioned, through that cupcake challenge, some of those exercises that just allow you to experience the power of strengths. So are there any key takeaways, when you look back at your time at Ameritas, where you, of course, what, what has brought you to today, which we'll get to in a little bit. Where did you see the true power of strengths inside an organ, inside the organization?

Larry Keiter 12:27
Yeah, I really tell you the biggest takeaway, and I think the, the individuals on here, who are, you know, do leadership development or coach leaders understand this very well: Before you can put your mask on and help, before you can help somebody else put their mask on, you have to put yours on first, right, before you can assist somebody. That self-awareness is critical, and I didn't have that. When I left Walmart, I was very aware of the impact we were making, but I didn't really know how I was a part of it. Truly understanding your own gifts is monumental.

Larry Keiter 13:03
And I'll give you a little story about this, and, and I'll call up, call out one of my Ameritas peers in a great way. Because I remember initially getting my strengths, and Lauren, I remember a teammate asking me Significance? And reading it, and saying, "How does that help our team?" And at the time, I was, like, Hmm, learning this, and I didn't have the moxie, the knowledge, maybe, to say, "Well, here's how." I simply went inward and thought, maybe that is not a good strength. And I held that for a while. In fact, when we had a leadership meeting -- oh gosh, it was just maybe 4 or 5 years ago -- and HR did a gathering. And I remember standing up there, and I'm saying, you know, we were talking about our Top 5, and I said, "I'm Larry, and I have Significance," you know, kind of in that tone, very self-deprecating. And I immediately went to the barrier and kind of made fun. And one of my teammates, Crystal, she said, "You know, I really like that strength. I wish I had that. Because you're not afraid to champion things. You're not afraid to stand up and take things to JoAnn or to approach the CEO." And at that moment, especially somebody with Significance, unlocks the reality of, Look at this.

Larry Keiter 14:23
So I wish I could tell you, my whole career, that I was confident and that I was capable and, no -- you learn that through trial and error. You learn that by doing, trying, fixing. You learn that by truly studying the words that describes yourself. So Lauren, that was probably one of the biggest things. But I will tell you, today, with that knowledge, I go out there with so much more confidence, because if that unlocked in me, I think of people that I coached. I had a situation where a client called me in, and there was a conflict with two long-term individuals. They'd worked together a long time, but they were disrupting the people that they were around. And I come to find out that the first meeting I had, I couldn't even get them in the same room, it was so volatile. And so the first thing we did is we looked at ourselves. And when I did the strengths assessment, and had the understanding that one of the individuals, the direct report to the supervisor, had Deliberative^® in a very big way. And guess what? The supervisor had Activator^®.

Larry Keiter 15:28
And that supervisor, when I spoke to him one on one, he could never get anything on time from his direct report. And the direct report could never satisfy this gentleman. Over the years, it intensified because that misunderstanding or that misalignment of what the true intentions were, they had no words to describe it. When we started using the words like Deliberative, guess what that direct report felt? Validated. He felt, Ah, I'm not a bad person. I'm not somebody that should be let go. And the supervisor is like, Why didn't he tell me? Anyway, we came up with, well, so what's a logical thing to get a project done and respond back? And the Deliberative person said, 3 days.

Larry Keiter 16:17
By the way, those of you that may not know, Deliberative people, they make great decisions, but it takes a while for them to really think it through. They don't just jump off and give you the response. An Activator, on the other hand, ready, fire, aim -- boom! Give it to me now. So you can see the conflict that was escalated with their natural tendencies. Once they understood that, the Deliberative said, "How about 3 days?" The Activator said, "How about 12 hours?" They came to a 24-hour agreement that they would get back. And I wish I could tell you that they walked away and held hands, but they became better. They became better individuals. They became able to meet in the same room, for one thing, but they also started to look at others differently, once they understood themselves. And that's why I get so excited about all this, is because it truly is a gift.

Jim Collison 17:07
Larry, I got a chance to meet you for the very first time at our year-end awards in 2019 -- it was 2020, actually, I think -- it was right before the pandemic, if I, if I have my dates correct. And we got a chance to celebrate you and the work that you've done at Ameritas. I think you had a partner with you that day to speak, got a chance to speak to all of us. As you think, and then we quickly went into lockdown a month later, right, and the world kind of changed. As you look back to 2019 and your time at Ameritas, and you think about, you might have some Ameritas people listening here today. Maybe that was a pinnacle moment. Maybe there were other times. But as you think about that, what do you remember from those times? Pull, pull a few things out of thinking about -- Lauren asked this a little bit -- best practices. You mentioned this coaching bit, but any other thing, what else pops out in those days as being significant for you?

The Benefits of Knowing Your Colleagues' Strengths

Larry Keiter 18:04
Absolutely. So one of the things that I was grateful for, because, first of all, it was surreal. I remember, you know, practicing in case we'd have to go offline, you know, you know, hybrid or, you know, remote. And then when it really happened, it's like, holy buckets. The neat thing was is we had spent enough time as, you know, my team, the larger HR team, with an understanding of our natural tendencies. So as we were interacting, it was never too far away to realize how people would innately respond. That was almost a dimension that was taken away, and it seemed fairly simple, because our IT had done a great job of setting it up for us to be able to connect, to be able to work together, to continue on. Having that knowledge of each other's innate abilities took some of the guesswork out of it. Like, why is Larry doing that? My team didn't have to guess; he was Executing, right? He gets his head down, and sometimes -- they even put a code word in, Jim, that, my team would say, "Well, Larry's focused." And whenever I heard the word focused, I'd be, Like, "What did I miss? What am I? You know. Because my tendency to Execute is like all in -- out of my way; we got to get this done. And that's not very friendly to people, right? That's, that's sometimes.

Larry Keiter 19:20
I had an individual that, on one of these Skype calls, I turned it over to this individual, who did not have the same strengths I had, but I'm thinking, well, everybody likes to do this, so she'll like to do this, and she'll want to be in front of the crowd. And she told me, "Larry, don't do that!" Because I have this -- so, in other words, she was able to call out her supervisor and explain to me over the phone that because I have this strength, she didn't have to get mad or raise her voice; she just simply said, "That's not my style. That's your style." And I'm like, "Thank you. I'm sorry. Great point." It's hard to get feedback the farther you go up in the organization, but having things like this around, especially through the pandemic, was critical, because it eliminated some of that guesswork of, What's Larry thinking? When we look at a screen, you can look at somebody and you could put all kinds of images in your brain about what Larry is thinking, when, really, Larry is not thinking about anything about what, except what we got to do next. And having that information and understanding how Larry works was critical during those times.

Larry Keiter 20:19
Our CEO, I remember seeing Bill Lester, at the time, got us through that; did a wonderful job of navigating such treacherous waters. But during that time, he did an introduction with interns, and the intern took a picture of Bill speaking on the screen, and she had the strengths right in front of her. And she said, and the caption was, On a on a meeting with my CEO, and he has the same strengths that, in my Top 3, as I do. And so, you know, there was a commonality that was taking place, regardless of where we were or what was going on. It just transcends you, and to be able to do things that maybe you normally wouldn't be able to do. I think about it now, the lift that we went through with the pandemic, and I was grateful for, not just the technology, but the understanding of, you know, truly how people innately operate. This -- it's pretty awesome.

Students and Strengths: Knowing Your Talents Early in Life

Lauren Siedel 21:21
Yeah, I love that. I know, Larry, that also our paths crossed a couple years ago at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where you have the opportunity to also get to be a part of the story in terms of students knowing their strengths. So I would love to just hear maybe one impactful story around, you know, what you heard as you've been involved in the CliftonStrengths Institute at the University of Nebraska around students having the opportunity to know their strengths as an incoming freshman.

Larry Keiter 21:54
Yeah, I will tell you, again, once you become comfortable, you know, because I see some questions about, How did the strengths here, How did the strengths help here? But Lauren, once you really embrace who you are, you realize you can't return it -- it's who you are; it's genuinely who you are -- you start to look for that in other people. And I think that's the true gift. Feedback is such a vital gift for that self-awareness. And Lauren, thinking about students going to college and getting their awareness, holy buckets. If I could have had even one-10th of this when I was 10 years out of college, I would have been a much better leader. But think about it. Think about when I was 20 years into it, I was still questioning some of my innate abilities and my innate strengths. Were they really showing up? So I see these college students now, and I, you know, have a couple of them help me when I go to a workshop, because I love to show off that a college student is sharing these kind of thoughts and ideals because they've gotten past, first of all, who I am. And, but also they understand, when they get their Top 34, who I'm not, and they don't have to languish in that stress or that pain of, Oh, I don't get this. I mean, you know, I see them so much farther ahead.

Larry Keiter 23:11
In fact, I was sitting with a group of builders, and they were talking about their projects and how they were doing, and one of them worked at Ameritas. And he gave the best testimony to go work for Ameritas, because he was sharing his strengths. And he said, Yeah, when I get there, my team and the senior manager, Linda, they talk about our strengths. We take time to explore that. And when you talk about somebody's strengths, it's like talking about a family member. It's talking about something that matters to them. It's about calling them by the right name. It's, you know, it's endearing, it builds rapport. And so here was this college student saying, I get to do that at my job. How about you guys, you know? So I sent Linda a note, and I said, Kudos! Way to keep that rolling! You know, Mo and the team is, is still making that strengths a priority, because once you understand yourself, you start to look around and you understand the world just a little bit better. I start -- you start to understand that all the challenges that you have and the stresses that you have, like, if you ask me, Lauren, to get a budget done right now, I'd be like, you know, that, the Strategic escapes me. It's definitely not my top, second or third domain. So that's not where I am, but that I know that, I can partner with people. There's no perfect person, but there can indeed be a perfect team.

Larry Keiter 24:29
And something else that I see is, when these students come to, to school, getting this direction is critical. It's giving them hope. And I talk about hope and people and the common thread through this. But I think it was Gallup that asked the question, the most powerful question, Jim and Lauren, I think, was asked is, is, "I have a manager that creates an enthusiastic vision of hope for the future." When that question was asked of the people that said, Yes -- yes, I have that, 70% engagement, highly engaged, 70%. That's phenomenal. But I see that with these students, because they have the support with the CliftonStrengths team. They have the support with their advisers that understand their strengths. That's hope. That's hope that, you know, why I do these things is my innate ability. That's who I am. And that's where I see such power, and that's why I like to bring students in. And I've shared it with an energy company that I'm working with. And this, this coach was sharing this information, student coach, and when Sarah was done sharing this, she goes, just a normal day as a college student. And they're all looking at each other like, that's not normal! That's not normal.

Solving Client Problems, Growing Your Business Through Strengths

Lauren Siedel 25:39
Yeah, yeah. Well, I know we've kind of jumped there, but Larry, let's talk about where you're at today. So would love, I know that you own your own business as an Executive Coach. I know there's a lot of coaches that are joining in right now that are probably feeling like they're in a similar instance, and so I'd love to hear, you know, obviously you had many great years at Ameritas, and you, you've made this next move in your career. Tell us about it, and tell us what problems you're solving for your clients today.

Larry Keiter 26:09
Yeah, that's a great question. And I will tell those of you that are coaches right now, you know -- and I'm speaking to the choir of the coaches that are out there starting their own business. I just spoke with one this morning that is so blessed to be overwhelmed, right? It's either feast or famine. You know, we're looking for the next client, and oh my God, here they all are at once. So the things that I was challenged with at Walmart, at Ameritas, I'm still challenged with today. And so I have to have team members that like to do the budgeting and all those kind of things. But more -- and more directly, I don't mean to make fun of that kind of thing, but I will tell you, I wasn't ready to start consulting. And the best place that I learned how to do what I do well was at Ameritas. I was allowed to be an intrapreneur, if you want to call it; I was allowed to, to create some of those things. And that was kudos to the leadership team there that, that allowed me to do leadership development, do things that I was passionate about, to make an impact on something that was very significant, something so important. And so honing those skills and doing those things until it was the right time for me to do that.

Larry Keiter 27:18
I often tell people that ask me about, you know, Hey, I'm thinking about doing this. I always tell them, make it right, right where you're at. Do your best at being that coach internally, whether you manage people or whether you're an informal manager. Set yourself up for success by practicing every day wherever you're at. And remember, I intended to practice at Ameritas for 2 years, and ended up there 13. It's because of the environment, of the hope that was there and the ability to create those types of things. So now, as I work with clients, I go out there, and I see clients in various stages. Some get it; some are working on getting it. And nobody wants to run a business and say, I don't, I don't understand, but to simplify it.

Larry Keiter 28:00
And that's why, whether I'm coaching a leader, executive development, or working with a team, doing a CliftonStrengths team, a change workshop, anything like that, or an organization, we start with the individual. We start with awareness of the individual's strengths, and starting with the leadership team, the people that can impact it, first and foremost. Because I need advocates and allies. I will not last, and they don't want me to last; they don't want to keep paying me. But they do want to learn from me. And if I can leave that and then leave them away, and that's why I love the Gallup Access and some of the platforms that we can offer to the clients we work with as a leave-behind, so to speak. And I have clients that take me up on that. They don't say, "See you, Larry," but they simply say, "I get it. I think I get it." And that's where the delight comes in, and that's where the gift is given back.

Jim Collison 28:51
Larry, Lisa asks a good question out in chat, I think fits in nicely here. And a little bit about you, she says, How does Larry's themes help and grow his business -- and I'm going to say people? Like, when you're growing your business, you're really growing people, right? That's what I hear you saying in this. And so what part of running your business does he love the most, or do you love the most, Larry? Can you talk a little bit about that? And Lisa, thanks for your question.

Larry Keiter 29:13
Absolutely. You know what? You can talk to my partners in the first consulting group that, after I left Walmart, they will tell you that Larry thought he didn't like sales. I didn't get it, because I was trying to sell something I didn't understand. And Lisa, you bring a great question, because once I embraced the fact that, you know, Significance really means being a part of something really important. And when I realized the impact that strengths had on me, and my Achiever kicked in, and my Discipline, all those came around nicely to support it, because I can deliver that to a client. And I need to, because I want them to enjoy, to reap the rewards that -- those Walmart associates that are on this call understand the time that we put in to really grow the business through respect for the individual. We took that seriously. We really believed in people, and that was Significance -- at least. So that, that, to me, is, is a big piece. Obviously, the Communication piece is critical. You know, some days I wish I had more strategy, but I'm just grateful for a team that does think strategically.

Lauren Siedel 30:23
Yeah, OK, and then, Lisa also asks a little bit about, What's your favorite part of running your business? So do you have a favorite?

Larry Keiter 30:32
Absolutely. You know, I love being able to make new connections. I love going out there and, and learning different businesses. Because, you know, I was in the retail business at first, and I remember my brother saying, "Really? That's what you're going to do?" And I didn't, wasn't in the retail business; I was in the people business. And even I didn't realize it until I had gotten into it. At Ameritas, same things. I was in the people business. So I like that as I go to different companies -- energy companies, legal companies, other insurance companies -- it's, it's neat to see the different perspectives. And I learned right away -- when I went to Ameritas, I remember saying, "Well, at Walmart, we did this," and they're like, "Well, we don't want to hear that. We don't sell clothes. We don't sell food. Larry, we sell insurance." And so I learned real quick that you don't want to say, "Here's how we did it," but you simply want to understand, how do you do it now, and, and what do you, what would you like to do better? So I like that the most. I like meeting those new individuals, those new people, and learning these different industries that are out there, and realizing some of them will really benefit from this self-awareness in a big way. That's probably my favorite part, Lauren.

Letting Your Strengths Show Up in Your Coaching

Jim Collison 31:45
She asked, Lisa asked a follow-up. And I think this is key, because she says, Larry talks a lot about his Significance. How about his No. 1 Harmony? How does that show up? You haven't, you haven't mentioned that yet, but how does that show up? How does that show up in your coaching, right? I mean, as we think about that, talk a little bit about that.

Larry Keiter 32:01
I'm so glad you brought this up. So the, one of the first people, the first person I ever coached, Jim, was a nonprofit Executive Director. And she was very savvy. She'd built an awesome organization, and she was ready to hand it off, and she knew about strengths. And so when we met the first time, she looked at my strengths, and she saw my Harmony, and she said, Oh, you're not going to be tough on me at all. And, and I just smiled, because I love that comment, but I also knew exactly what she was talking about, because we are conflict avoidance when we have Harmony. And I can tell you through many years, I had to learn that data was king, because for me to be an effective manager, I had to use data to help me get through that. I would tell some of my clients with Harmony, Be careful! You could become passive-aggressive with that if you're not aware. You may hold in those feelings; you may not lash out until later time or in different ways.

Larry Keiter 33:00
So Harmony has helped me amazing, because I can eliminate my emotional connection to either side of the aisle. It makes me a great negotiator. It makes me a great individual to go to, to somebody and say, "I really think we need to do this," and for them to push back and say, "No." My Harmony allows me not to get riled, not to overreact, but to simply look for a common solution. And that probably has been my No. 1 strength to help me succeed as a leader -- especially with Walmart, because I kept data, and I had great assistant managers. I'll never forget Kyla, who just retired from Walmart recently, but I kept a book with the data in there to help me manage it. And it was one of the times when Kyla would go after that book and pull it down and challenge me and say, Why am I -- Why is this? That was her Achiever. Well, she became a regional for Walmart; managed hundreds of stores. You know, I was a 5 managing a 10, and I did that through data, different things like that. So I hope I answered your question, how my Harmony has interacted through this.

Jim Collison 34:03
Well, and Larry, you say that. Sometimes people focus on the avoidance part of that, but it may set up environments for successful negotiations, right? I mean, you think, and way back to your example of, of that Activator and Deliberative coming together, your Harmony may allow you to set up those situations to be successful, to remove conflict before it happens, which is genius in a lot of ways. I don't have any of those skills, so I appreciate that. I'm just like, let's go with it first; we'll figure it out when we get there. I don't know, you want to add to that, Larry?

Larry Keiter 34:41
Yeah, I do, Jim, because, and I'm glad that was brought up, because, again, remember what I said: Sometimes we overlook the most brilliant part of who we are because we've done it for so long. And I think that Harmony has been a part of my life from early on, to where I've always looked for the amicable way to get things done. And then I realized, in leadership, that's a pretty handy skill.

Jim Collison 35:02
Yeah, yeah. Lauren, back to you.

Lauren Siedel 35:05
Yeah, yeah. Larry, would love to just dig a little bit deeper. I know that we've had the opportunity to connect to hear a little bit about the impact that you're making with some of your clients. So I know there's a couple of folks in chat that are wondering the same thing: What problems are you solving today for your clients? So they're reaching out or you're connecting with them. What are some of those key themes that you're experiencing in the workplace, and how are, how are strengths impacting?

Larry Keiter 35:32
Yeah, I, I mean, we have 3 hours, right? Kidding.

Jim Collison 35:38
We have as much time as you need, Larry. Just keep going.

Larry Keiter 35:40
All right. You've heard that, and I think this is being videotaped. But truly, gang, you could take this, and it's, it's funny, because we're preparing for a workshop here in Omaha on the 14th, and we're doing a group of leaders in the medical piece, and they want to align with the growth mindset, and how does strengths align with the growth mindset? Well, it aligns perfectly. I had another group that said, What about change? Well, how you handle change based upon your strengths is critical to understand that. And so we did a workshop on change management, using some of the basics of some of the great leaders in change. Organizational health -- Lencioni ties in nicely, nicely with strengths. Because when you start with, with this piece, when you start with self-awareness of the individual, it makes it a lot easier to maintain it. It's going to last, because that individual can take it with them. It's not some type of cookie cutter.

Larry Keiter 36:35
And I, I don't want to call out any other assessments, because I've taken them all, but I remember taking a predictive index. And I like that one, but predictive index would, would tell, I would read my report, and it was very customized. And at the last piece on how to help Larry manage, which is what I do with my clients is help leaders become better, right? The last piece said, "And be careful, because Larry will be hard on his people." That's all it said: "Larry will be hard on his people." Well, everybody that has worked with me or along with me will say, Yep, he does that. But when you get a team that says, It's because Larry gets focused, and it's because he's Executing, and it's because his Empathy^® is No. 34 and his Includer^® is No. 28. And I've had teammates come up to me and say, "Hey, Larry, I think you missed this person." And I'm like, "What do you mean?" "Well, you didn't invite this person." And I'm like, OK. And then I realized, my teammate that's coming to me has Includer as No. 8, and the person I left out has Includer as No. 3. Do you see what's happening is it's allowing me to speak the language that really matters -- something that other people can relate to.

Larry Keiter 37:43
And that's what leadership is. It's relationships. So when clients come to me, and they usually have an issue, and we, we just want to, we want to grow. I really like new teams that are formed. That's one of the best things -- we do a team charter, and then we talk about the rules that we're going to follow. But then we also talk about, well, so what do you bring? Because who you are is not what you do. Who you are is below the surface; we can't see that. And that's where your why is located, and that's where the strengths are located. Up above are your competencies and your experiences that help you get through change. So understanding who you are will really help you do what you do. And I think that is probably the greatest thing that I can offer to my clients is that self-awareness.

Larry Keiter 38:25
And again, it goes right back to the first 360 that I've received as a district manager. And a gentleman by the name of Rich McCarthy gave me the greatest gift on the 360 -- it was anonymous, right? So all the managers could weigh in and tell this new district manager how he was doing. And Rich says, "Larry is going to be a great district manager, once he realizes that we're not all going to run the stores the way he did." And the reason I tell that is, Rich has passed on. And I shared this with his family at his funeral. Just a great guy, and he and I didn't always see eye to eye, but he gave me one of the greatest gifts, and that was to see myself the way that he saw me, and the rest of the world did. Think about that. So, Lauren, to your question about, What am I giving for my clients? Is their ability to see themselves the way the world sees them. There is no greater gift.

Instilling Hope in Clients, Coworkers, Yourself via Strengths

Lauren Siedel 39:19
Definitely. I love that. I would love to hear if there's any stories around this idea of hope. So I know in the chat, someone asked, What does hope really mean to you? I know it's a title -- "Instilling Hope in the Workplace." So give us a little bit more about hope and how you instilled hope in, in a client of yours?

Larry Keiter 39:41
Yeah, I remember the first time that I got to talk about hope. That was at the Summit, Jim, and that's where I spoke to a crowd of three, I think, during the pandemic. That was the guy that was running the machines, and -- anyway, it was an open field, and here I am talking. And they're like, No, there's 3,000 people out there; Larry. We swear. So people were listening in, just like now. And I don't know of any greater hope that you can give than sitting in front of an empty room, saying, you know, we're going to get through this.

Larry Keiter 40:12
So when I said Gallup's question about, "I have a leader who paints an enthusiastic vision of hope for the future," that is critical. Because in this day and age, it's easy to lose hope. It's easy to doubt yourself. You know, we could talk about the imposter syndrome all day long; 99% of us suffer from the imposter syndrome. "I'm not all that." When you get over that, and you realize, you know, I may not be all that, but this is what I got. That to me, is hope. I wish I had -- I saw somebody said, Is there an acronym for it? No, but create one, and we could take it around the world. That, that vision of hope, that's when a leader says, "I think we can do this." Because sometimes, we don't feel like we can. And when you have somebody, just one other person, say, "I think we can do that." Or "I think here's a way."

Larry Keiter 41:01
I remember going into Walmart stores and, and it being some tough times, and I could see the store wasn't in very good shape. And I'd go over to a department manager of an area, and they're like, "Oh, you're the last person I wanted to see today." And, you know, what a great defining opportunity. How do you bring hope to a situation that feels pretty hopeless for that department? I mean, they might walk off; they might just say it's not worth it. So there's a lot of tensions and a lot of situations going on. And I remember just walking over and saying, "Hey, let's list the things that you have to do today." And so, she would make the list. And I said, "Now let's put some time behind it." And the department manager would put the time, and it came up to 2 days' worth of work. And so your point was made. And then we would prioritize. And of course, the rest is history.

Larry Keiter 41:42
Those of you that, you know, do Covey's time management or, you know, teach the time management piece, that's hope. That's teaching people, that's development. And that department manager would look at me like, I knew you're going to do that. I knew you were going to pull out the whole time-management thing. Well, that's the basics of hope. It's doing the basics -- well, in my world, in what, how I see. But that's all what I could bring is my vision of hope. How do we get through this? In some cases, that worked; in other cases, it didn't work quite as well. But, but Lauren, that, to me, was always looking for a way, and a lot of times we don't know what we don't know. So why I see development as the ultimate hope is because that gets us to be aware, and awareness is the gateway to change.

The Value of Partnering With Gallup

Jim Collison 42:28
Larry, you're here today. We, you have a partnership with Lauren, and can you talk a little bit about the, for you, the value of staying connected to us? Certainly, you were in a couple systems -- Ameritas, for sure, in, in, in working with us. Talk a little bit about how that's working for you in partnership with us today.

Larry Keiter 42:48
Absolutely. So what's really nice, you know, because, speaking of hope, so one of the things that I missed greatly when I left Walmart, and, oh, by the way, when everybody said, "You left Walmart?" And I'd be like, "Yep, the greatest thing I ever did." It took me 2 years to really mean that statement, because I left behind a lot of resources. I left behind access to lots of people that get things done. Lots of people had other strengths than I did. So do you see the challenge? Same thing with Ameritas. When I decided to leave Ameritas, it was leaving behind great access, a great organization. What the hell am I doing? Well, guess what? I have another great organization, and that's Gallup, and that's the access that I can stay plugged into. It is another aspect of how I learn and how I keep hope alive. I can go in and research different things. I can go in and look for solutions.

Larry Keiter 43:41
And, of course, I'm always challenging. I'm always contacting, and Lauren knows this. I'll be like, "Lauren, why, why can't we do this? Or why won't you create this?" Or, and Lauren will say, "Hey, send that to me. Let me know what that is." That gives me hope. The fact that Lauren is simply listening to my gripe or my challenge makes me feel like, oh, there's my teammate, right? There's my teammate. There's somebody that could give me hope. Because I wish I could tell you I, I am infinitely hopeful, but my son and my wife, who I think might even be listening on, will tell you, that's not always true. They're my hope, sometimes, when they say, "Why don't you try this?" I'm like, Ah, there it is! So that's what, Jim, that's what Lauren brings. That's what the mothership brings -- I call it -- when I come back to Gallup, because it feels like a group of teammates that I'm coming back to.

Lauren Siedel 44:30
Yeah. I love that. And I think, Larry, you bring up such a great point, in terms of the idea of challenging the status quo a little bit. I think that's something I absolutely love about our partnership is your ability to think outside the box and share ideas with me that can, of course, not only impact you as a coach, but the thousands of coaches that we serve in the community. And so I love that you're, you're always thinking and always bringing new ideas to the table.

Larry Keiter 44:59
Yeah, and always making mistakes too. That's one piece -- but I will tell you, you know, and my teammates will, will, will say this; they know this better than anybody else. I've screwed up probably more times than I've succeeded. But I don't dwell on those, those screw-ups. I pretend they didn't happen. I keep going, right. So we make mistakes, and I credit that to that early philosophy of doing it, trying it, and fixing it at Walmart, the innovation. And so at Ameritas, we did the same thing, or tried to do the same thing. I had to be a little careful. But Lauren, I get to do that again with you all, because you, you know, you guys listen, but we're also evolving. I like the things that Cascade has brought us. My teammates have, have seen that now, and that's like, well, this is pretty cool. And Stacy and Jessica are grateful because we were creating all these Team Grids with the colors and things. It was taking a lot of time. So those were, you would call them mistakes, but those were the tuition to learn, I guess. And now here's Cascade that was just sitting there waiting for us. So, great stuff.

Meeting the Challenges of the Future

Lauren Siedel 46:01
Yeah. I love that. As we think about kind of where you're headed into the future, What are you most excited about as your business continues to evolve and inspire others?

Larry Keiter 46:13
Well, it's really cool, because, you know our, our little team now, Stacy and Jessica, Sarah and myself, Gangish, who is the IT guy, when I think about that, we've created a little core values thing, and I will tell you, if you ever want your core values followed -- and one of our core values is flexibility -- have moms that like to work. Jessica and Stacy are both moms first, and they remind me of that. And then they, you know, then they complete the tasks of the work. And we've learned some great processes through MS planner and some of the different tools that we use to help us thrive with this team, this new team. Because, again, I can't expect Jessica, who's a mother of four children, who home schools, to be there all the time. But she's got Stacy if she needs to, but we've also got tools that we create. This helps us become better. So I'm most excited about our team evolving with some of the values that I learned way back with Sam Walton. You know, you've got to respect that. You've got to respect the values of the people that work with you, and there's no shortcut. When I forget that, I've got a team that will remind me, which is a gift as well. You know, you build a team so strong, you can't tell who the manager is. That's probably one of the most exciting things that we get to do. And then connect with UNL and seeing these new student strength coach do the same thing, understand their value early on.

Larry Keiter 47:41
But then going forward, of course, you know, it's helping the clients that really crave this type of thing, that understand the power that's behind all of this. You know, the people that are logged in here are listening to this, and they have their, their clients, they have the same challenges that I do. We have a new challenge every day, and I don't have the resources that I had at Walmart. I don't have the resources I had at Ameritas, but I got the Gallup resources, and I've got my own strengths. And so we fix things, we, we get better every day. We try something new. And technology is changing. That's the neat part about it. It makes this gig type of economy really flourish, because I'm doing things now that, my gosh, I would have had to pay X amount of dollars for previously. There's so much technology and even AI, I rarely send anything out now without getting it AI'd.

Jim Collison 48:34
Getting it checked, another set of eyes. Larry, you say you, you know, both those organizations were, you know, you had resources. But, but as, now, working on your own, does that give you more freedom? And do you sense that? And do you get an opportunity? Yes, it maybe it gives you an opportunity to fail more. We all learn through those failures, right? But how does that, how does that feel for you now? Yeah, go ahead.

Larry Keiter 49:01
I'm so glad you asked that, Jim, because, as I mentioned, the things that I didn't do well in corporate America, I still don't do well here. But the things that I did well in corporate America, I get to do them very well out here, and I'm not constrained by some of those things. I remember, you know, when I was not in HR with Ameritas, I remember the individual in HR responsible for talent development said, "Larry, be careful not to run with scissors." That was the description for what I was doing. We were doing, we were doing 360s with SurveyMonkey. We were doing engagement surveys in that area of the business with SurveyMonkey, because it was feedback, right? And I just needed data. And they said, "Be careful, you know, we have tools." And I'm like, "Well, let me play with them, then." And so that's when I got into HR. So Jim, yeah, it has been great, because we can explore. And we look at technology now, there are so many platforms. There's so many things that we can try on and do, and the only person that gets blamed now is me, by me or by my team, I guess.

Jim Collison 50:03
Yeah, good and bad, but great opportunities to explore some things maybe you couldn't have explored before, and try those out. See if it works, see if it, it's something that's, that has some legs, you know? Will this, will this stick? Where sometimes in the corporate settings, we just can't move as fast, and that's OK, right? I mean, that's OK. Just different, just different environments.

Larry Keiter 50:26
Yeah, it's easier to break all the rules where I'm at today.

Jim Collison 50:29
Sometimes, you pay for them, though, right? You're writing the check at that point.

Larry Keiter 50:33
Yeah, exactly. But my Significance took a harder hit when the people around me were like, What are you doing?

Jim Collison 50:38
Yeah, yeah, no, just the challenges to both. And there's upsides and downsides to both of those environments.

Larry Keiter 50:44
Absolutely. Bloom where you're planted. That's all I can say.

Jim Collison 50:48
I think you, you'd mentioned the gig economy. And I think during, right before and, and during the pandemic, the gig economy got kind of painted as this, you know, space for freedom, and where unicorns and pixie dust flowed freely, and it was and we came out on the back side, and I think a lot of entrepreneurs, you know, were struggling and were suffering and were -- Do you ever feel, just as you think about as a, being an entrepreneur, running a small business, How did that feel then? And how are you feeling now? And how are you protecting, how are you building yourself up to make sure you're ready to go every day?

Larry Keiter 51:25
Yeah, well, well, I will tell you, again, it's still, everything that mattered in the organizations that I worked with previously matter today. We have a P&L. We have a balance sheet. All the things still matter. I'm blessed that I have that experience. I'm blessed that I have it, but I'll tell you, there's one thing, a gift that I didn't really think about, and I think corporate America needs to consider, and that's these contract working. That's the moms that like to work that I get to harness. And, you know, I'll see Jessica on last night at 10:30, 11:00, her kids have gone to bed. And so I have access to those types of things, because I don't have to jump through some of those hoops to do that, but there's quality talent that's out there, maybe not all starting their own businesses, but looking for a way to impact and to use their strengths. They're out there. People are out there. And technology, Jim, is allowing us to harness them and allowing us to do more.

Jim Collison 52:19
Yeah. Lauren, I think, as we kind of bring this in for a landing, maybe time for one more question for Larry. So if you look at the list of things you have left, what's the best, what's the best question to wrap this? Ask a hard zinger. Let's just really make --

Larry Keiter 52:36
Yeah, set me up for this one, Jim, thanks.

Lauren Siedel 52:41
Maybe I'll just give it to you, Larry. What, what do you think would be impactful for, like, what's one last thing that you'd want to share that has maybe, like, the greatest piece of advice you've been given as you think about what you're doing today that would be impactful for our listeners?

Larry Keiter 52:58
Yeah. I really, you know, I think understanding who you are and who you are not has really been critical to me. You know, you, you can't be the jack of all trades and master of none. I think, you know, people have the fear of missing out. People think it's better over there, people think -- what I've learned is what you bring is pretty awesome, and until you truly believe that, you're never going to be satisfied. You're always going to be thinking, What am I missing? And so what I've learned is to truly explore, to develop yourself. Don't take shortcuts. One of my favorite books is, Make Your Bed. Could it be that simple? Yeah. Making your bed is hope. So if you ever lose that, and I had somebody ask me, you must have Positivity! No, my Positivity is 28. I've learned realistically that without hope, without belief that something great is coming along, you know, it could be dire. You know, without goals, there's just survival.

Larry Keiter 54:07
So always aspiring to make yourself better, but never doubting yourself and never getting to the point where you become your own hurdle. I think that probably is the best advice, because I've seen people out there, and it's not always the most talented leader that's leading. It's not always the most gifted person that's on stage; it's the ones who have the guts to give it a try. And yes, I'll be chastised, but do it anyway. And I think that's my last word.

Jim Collison 54:36
But do it anyways.

Lauren Siedel 54:38
I love it.

Jim Collison 54:38
But do it anyways. Lauren, let's take a second and thank Larry for joining us today,

Lauren Siedel 54:42
Yeah. Thank you, Larry, so much for being a part of our time together today. You always inspire me, and I know that as I'm reading the chat, you're inspiring a lot of other coaches. So thank you for taking the time to be a part of this.

Larry Keiter 54:55
My pleasure. Thanks guys.

Jim Collison 54:57
And Larry, I appreciate it. You know, we get, we'll get some good comments from the chat room as folks were wrapping this up today. Ken says, Thank you. Great insights today. And Larry, appreciate you. Like I said, I still remember that meeting you for the very first time in that, in the in our day, in our learning day, we came around back and Lindsey was like, "You gotta meet Larry!" And thanks for, for -- that's going to sound funny, but -- thanks for staying around, and thanks for, for continuing to knock on our door and to reach out to us and to, and to seek us out in a lot of ways, and appreciate your partnership out there and all the things that you do for the organizations that you work with, and, and working with us as well. So Larry, I appreciate that.

Larry Keiter 55:41
Thank you.

Jim Collison 55:42
Yeah, you're very, you are very welcome. Well, with that, we'll remind everyone to take full advantage -- don't go, don't go anywhere; we're not done yet -- but full advantage of all the resources we have available in Gallup Access; Larry mentioned that a couple times. Head out to my.gallup.com. Log in. If you've taken CliftonStrengths, that'll take you to your Strengths Dashboard. If you haven't, maybe today is the day. You can head out to gallup.com/cliftonstrengths and see what that's all about, if you're coming for the very first time. Love to have you do that, and love to make that a part of, of what you do. For coaching, master coaching, or to become a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach -- like Larry is -- you can send us -- and Lauren is too -- you can send us a, send us an email: coaching@gallup.com. We'll get you some information back on that. Well, stay up to date on all the future webcasts by following or joining -- we have both Facebook and LinkedIn groups where I post these sessions as we're having them. So find us there. Just search "CliftonStrengths," and you'll find those groups. If you, if you can't find anything, just reach out to me: jim_collison@gallup.com, and we will get you there as well. Thanks for joining us today. We appreciate you, those joining live, and we'll throw a few more, because Larry's got high Significance. We'll say, Always encouraging, Larry, thank you. Kurt says, Thanks. Doug says, Great session. Mo says, Wonderful event. Larry, thanks for joining us. With that, we'll say, Goodbye, everybody.

Larry Keiter's Top 5 CliftonStrengths are Harmony, Significance, Achiever, Discipline and Arranger.

Gallup^®, CliftonStrengths^® and each of the 34 CliftonStrengths theme names are trademarks of Gallup. Copyright © 2000 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved.