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Transcript

Ben Markland: [00:00:00] All right thanks for joining us everyone. Our guest today is Sergio Tigera. And he was with Game Changers Live, a podcast that he's built and he actually has, he's, we've been chatting, he has a lot of things he does with Game Changers. He's got a podcast, he has technology that he brings people together across universities, we'll talk a little bit more about that, but I wanna start, Sergio, if you could just tell us a little bit about your journey and tell us where Game Changers came from, whether it's a personal journey or a career journey but tell us a little bit, what got you here?

Sergio Tigera: Yeah, so I spent the first 14 years of my career with Caterpillar. I graduated from FIU in Miami Florida National University. Double majored in international business and marketing and then I moved to the central part of Illinois, very similar to Miami, almost exactly.

Ben Markland: Sounds like it.

Sergio Tigera: And so I was in a management training program there, and I was the only guy that spoke fluent Spanish [00:01:00] at this factory where they made these trucks that were sold in Spain. So I went to Spain for two weeks, did some six sigma surveys, gathered voice of the customer, and I told everybody that would listen. Hey, if something opens up in Spain, you let me know and I'm coming over. And sure enough, it did. So I ended up spending about 10 years overseas with Caterpillar.

I was in Geneva, Switzerland, covering Europe, Africa, in the Middle East for a few years. Then went to Rome as an operations director, helping the dealers in operational excellence and leadership development. Then made my way over to Panama City, Panama, and I covered the Caribbean and Northern South America, about 19 countries. Before making it back down to Miami full circle, I was in the mining division. Leading a division there for for mining. Then I did my executive MBA and actually went to go work as the executive director in the college of business at FIU. Did that for a bit, then led a consulting company for two years, and then seven years ago I opened up Game Changers Consulting. So what we do is primarily strategic planning for organizations, helping organizational leaders develop their vision, mission, values, [00:02:00] their strategic goals, three to five main things that they must accomplish in order to hit their vision. And then creating strategic initiatives, aligning the entire organization to make sure we're all pulling in the same direction.

Ben Markland: Okay so how does an organization find game changers?

Sergio Tigera: They can find us online. They can also see us on our podcast.

Ben Markland: That's right.

Sergio Tigera: Game changers. Where we interviewed leaders who have been game changers in their field, have impacted the lives of thousands. So we can inspire others on their journey because if they made it, there's some secret sauce there that we can learn from to inspire others on their journey.

Ben Markland: But I guess more specifically, who's generally reaching out to you is the owner of the company says, look, we've got goals. I need some help aligning my departments or my leadership. Who's generally calling? Hey, Sergio, come on in.

Sergio Tigera: Yeah. Usually CEOs or department heads will reach out. So we work with municipalities, city of Dorell. We work with US Southern Command. We work with private equity companies with a number of different organizations. It's really the fact that every organization needs to have a very clear and compelling vision. Why are we [00:03:00] here? Why do we exist, which is our mission, and where are we going? Because a lot of times people will show up to work and they're not giving 120% because they're not bought in. They don't understand where we're going. They don't see what role they play in the bigger picture. They want something a bit bigger than just checking in and checking out. They want to do something for a purpose, right? And so as a leader, every organization needs a very strong strategic plan to understand where we're heading. And what that does is not only tell us what we should be doing, but it also tells us what we shouldn't be doing. And that's almost just as important because you don't want to be a mile wide and an inch deep.

Ben Markland: That's right.

Sergio Tigera: You need to pick a niche, and stick with it until you can dominate and then keep growing from there.

Ben Markland: Oh, I think that's great. I think the term, the buzzword nowadays is culture, right? Company culture. And that's, basically what you described is buy-in from employees that they're not just showing up for a job, they're showing up to provide a service that they believe in, or a product that they want to sell to people or reaching a company goal that is clearly [00:04:00] aligned by their leadership.

Sergio Tigera: And to the point of culture, a lot of organizations, especially out in the tech space, we're confusing culture with having ping pong tables and bean bags and all that stuff.

Ben Markland: That's exactly where I was going. Yeah.

Sergio Tigera: People need to feel. I don't care what industry you're in, if you're selling products, manufacturing, mining, whatever it is, we're all in the people business. And people want to feel seen, valued, and heard.

Ben Markland: That's correct.

Sergio Tigera: If they feel like they're contributing to something and they see their role in something bigger, that is going to engage them in ways that no other knickknacks or tricks will ever do. Ben Markland: So let me paint a picture for you. Let's say you're going into a company and as since COVID, there's a lot of companies that are hybrid or completely remote. How do you overcome that challenge? 'cause it's very difficult to align a culture with people that never see each other right outside of a screen.

Sergio Tigera: It absolutely is. But it starts with the leadership, making sure that once you have a compelling vision, that then the department heads are [00:05:00] aligned and they have key strategic initiatives that are serving one or more of those goals, and then those need to get embedded into their smart goals.

So that's like the operational kind of bones of it that need to be in place. But in terms of creating that connective tissue that we were talking about earlier, we have an app-based experience where it's just, it's time-based, it's gamified, it makes it a lot of fun, and it's, five minutes a day. But it's all about creating habits. Sharing best practices and creating consistency in your work so that everyone benefits, right? And so we've been able to solve for this, through a very novel approach, a very scalable approach. It's called the Game Changers Challenge Platform. And we, again, we've used this with, up to teams of 1500 as small as 20 or 30. And we fully customize it because what it does, it'll get individuals to practice those actions and those behaviors that you want them to be taking on a daily basis, but that are very hard to put into practice or very hard to [00:06:00] track. So if I tell you, okay, you're in your sales organization. Did you prioritize today? Because there's a lot of things that we could be doing today. Everybody has their laundry list. But if I said, okay, you can only do two things today. If you only could do two things today, and then you had to put down your phone, put down your pencil, and just sit there the rest of the day, what are those two or three things that would have the biggest impact on your day, on your production, on your results? And when you stop to reflect and prioritize. As a habit on a daily basis, as an example, that could really transform your week, can transform your month, can transform your year, right? So we get people to stop and reflect on their day. Number one, what went well for you yesterday? Because we tend to dwell on what went wrong, we don't stop to celebrate what went well. We're gonna beat you into submission, until you're loyal. No, we gotta stop and celebrate those wins because if not, you're not building the self-esteem, the confidence the [00:07:00] self-efficacy. That winning teams have, right? So those are these little behaviors, little baby steps, but that when done over time, consistently have an outsized, impact.

Ben Markland: Do you find within these companies that you're going into and you're trying to fire 'em up? Is there demographics? So I love what you described. Hey, I've got an app, there's a gamification. I can go in once a day and I'm answering five things, or I get some points here. I gotta assume there's probably an age level that doesn't resonate to anymore versus the younger ones that they're probably all about. Are you seeing more adoption with the older demographic conversation?

Sergio Tigera: You'd be surprised because since it's very intuitive, very simple. Even adults are on their phones and on their own social media and everyone, the key thing is that you meet people where they're at, which is on their phone. And because it's asynchronous, you can do it whenever you want. You can do it when you're in the gym. You can do it when you're in the restroom. You can do it when you're doing exercise or when you just finished a call with a client. So you meet 'em where they're at. It's asynchronous. And it really resonates with [00:08:00] everyone. We've done this with individuals that are 60 plus. We've done it with them, 20 to 55. We've also done it with Boys and Girls Club. Where you're talking, 14 to 16 years old, and so it really just, I don't think it's age agnostic, really.

Ben Markland: That's great. Are you seeing, so the consulting and the solutions you're providing. Are you seeing any trend is, are there any change, like major changes when you're looking down the road or say, Hey, I've got this thing dialed in, we're just gonna keep going? Or are you saying, look, we need more tech or we need more face to face? What, tell me what you envision for game changer looking down the road a few years.

Sergio Tigera: So in terms of game changers as an organization, you're always looking for scalability, right? So for example, in the strategic planning area. Our typical clients are larger institutional clients, right? But we wanted to develop something that's useful for small and medium sized businesses as well, because if you're a one man show, you're a small business, you need a plan. And 'cause what happens to those small businesses, they [00:09:00] are fighting fires. They're putting, they're the chief accountant, they're the head of sales. They're the head of the janitorial. You do everything as an entrepreneur. And but they're so busy working in their business that they never have time to step out and work on their business. So we've developed some packages for these kinds of individuals that they're just kinda like a do it for me or do it with me. A lower cost entry level way that using the Game Changers challenge, we're stepping them through a 30 day program that'll help 'em develop their plan and build the habits to sustain it. It's a bit of both, right? It's using technology as a lever, as a tool. But also keeping that human touch there, because at the end of the day it's all about people and habits.

Ben Markland: Let's pivot a little bit from you going into these big companies, but I know you're also, you're providing a kind of executive coaching. So I'm sure you've got a good look. Under the covers of where these guys are slipping up, where what do they need to do? Tell me what in leadership that you think if you were to go in, what's a common [00:10:00] trend where people are just really missing it? Where do they need Sergio the most?

Sergio Tigera: It's interesting because a lot of individuals that work in a company will look at the leader and say, Hey, they have it all. Figure it out. They know it all and, and they're leading the charge and so forth. But you start talking to those leaders, they don't have someone to look or, to be a bit vulnerable with. One of the things that I see a lot in executive leaders is this thing called the imposter syndrome. And what is that? That is when you move up in the company, you're stretching out, right? You're stretching your comfort zone. You might be a great salesperson, right? But are you a great leader? Which is very different than being an executional salesperson, right? So all of a sudden that person does incredibly well, gets promoted. Now all of a sudden they feel like they need to be something that they're not. So they feel a bit like an imposter. So it's kinda like fake it till you make it, and let me just think back of leaders that I had and then try to be like them and whatnot. And that with CEOs because. [00:11:00] Above them, they don't have anybody else to mentor them , so at the end of the day, they feel, depending on their experience and so forth, but they have the same kind of issues that everybody else has and now, but they're amplified. And their decisions carry real consequences. And so a lot of times it's just helping them. Think through. It's not even guiding them as much as it is listening, giving them a place where they can say, look, here's what I'm thinking. And, to have somebody that you can bounce ideas off of and get questions that really make them think differently from an outsider's perspective, but without making it seem to the rest of the company that you have doubts, that you have some fears or you're not sure how to do something because you're supposed to be the CEO you're supposed to have all the questions, all the answers to all the questions. And don't show weakness, so to speak. But I think being vulnerable is one of those things that CEOs need to have, and having just somebody that they can [00:12:00] trust and have a candid conversation with. And they need to be built up too. Sometimes you just need somebody to tell them, that they're doing a great job because who else is telling them? Not the people we know below them. They don't have a boss other than the board. So to speak so I think you'll see that's one issue that a number of 'em across but I think that imposter syndrome, I think is something that everyone suffers with. Whether you're a CEO or you're just, or you just got a job, you just got a new job with a great company and you really feel outta place. Everybody suffers from that.

Ben Markland: Do you think that person, and I'm gonna use the word like a hype man the person that as you elevate yourself. Does that person need to even be in your company? Can it be somebody else, a family member, a friend, a mentor, a colleague of that's doing something else?

Sergio Tigera: Oh, no. Yeah, absolutely. Listen and I'll say something as men, because men we tend to suffer quietly, we tend to hold everything in and not have a space where we could, we could be vulnerable and share those issues. [00:13:00] I'm fortunate enough to be part of a mastermind group that was started by a great friend of mine, about nine, we're celebrating 10 years of it now this month. And that group is simply a group of men. It's probably 20, 30 of us. Many of us are entrepreneurs, many of us are fathers. We're talking about how to be better husbands being, better dads. Some of the things that we're dealing with, some of the pressures how to do better at work, books that we're reading. And it's so incredibly important to have that. And a lot of men don't have a safe space where they can say, look, I'm having issues at home. I'm having issues with my wife. Or, I don't know how to deal with this. And find that, hey, there's other people going through the same thing. That's not, it's hard to find that because a lot of guys were built to be just, resolute and, hey, I don't have any problems and I got this and we think we can get everything right. So it's really important just for the mental and for your soul is to have a place where you, because sometimes when you just talk about it. You feel better already? Sometimes you don't need somebody to give [00:14:00] you a solution, guys are always saying, oh, I got the solution for that. Oh, do this, do that. We're quick to make, don't even do that just give them a space right where they can vent and express themselves.

Ben Markland: Yeah. It's funny you made me think about and I don't remember who the author is. You may know the saying that you are the combination of your five closest friends. And, I've learned as I've gotten older. There's times in your life where you have a huge circle of friends. You might have 20 hype men, but man, as you get older, that circle gets a lot smaller and there's also, I think there's studies or whatnot that same group of five friends, the similarities they're generally in the same income bracket. They generally have the same kids the same age. Like you don't see a vast variety of your closest friends. You might have that wacky guy you knew from college, he's still your friend, but he is not there in that inner circle. He might not be in the mastermind group. Doesn't mean he doesn't belong there, but maybe his mastermind group looks like a different group of people.

Sergio Tigera: No, listen, I think everyone has groups of friends, right? Because I have a group of friends that's [00:15:00] just for, messing around and sending funny texts and back and forth. But you can't really go deep with this group.

Ben Markland: That's right.

Sergio Tigera: And then this other one is really good at that. And so I think you have to pick and choose and as you grow, as a professional, as a leader, you're gonna find that perhaps the people you are hanging out with aren't the best people to be in the next season of your life. Because, and it doesn't mean you have to just cut them off completely, but you have to decide intentionally to say, Hey, look, where am I gonna place my time and my focus and my energy, because a lot of that energy there just may not be serving you well. That's right. And it may be like an anchor holding you back. You don't want to be the top guy in your group, you want to be almost, the middle or the lower guy in your group so that you can go up to the average. You don't want to go down to the average.

Ben Markland: That's right. Sergio, tell us what's one leadership habit or maybe a mindset shift. That you think our audience, so a lot of which are leaders that they could take back with?

Sergio Tigera: One question that I [00:16:00] always ask my guests, I ask 'em, what's more important, net worth or network? Because you can have a lot of capital, but where does the what's more valuable? Your network, which is, the people that you know and trust and the ones that know and trust you. And your brand and how you're communicating, how you're representing yourself, or is it money? It's not always just money. I think your network is critically important and now more than ever, your personal brand is critical. With social media out there, everyone's constantly seeing you, and if you're not being seen, then you're outta sight outta mind, right? Show me or it didn't happen, kind of thing. I think it's incredibly important to build your network, to show people what you're doing, to showcase what you're doing. Because that speaks volumes about you, what, how you carry yourself, how you represent, and that shows other companies, [00:17:00] other prospective partners, Hey, that's the kind of person I want to be. I want to be partnering with. And so a lot of people will not go out and so forth, but listen it's critically important to create connections and by doing that, you're practicing, right? You're practicing how you're selling yourself to other people. You're communicating. And I think that the communication aspect is one thing that the younger generation is severely lacking because, post COVID and during COVID, they were very isolated. And now.

Ben Markland: They didn't have to communicate.

Sergio Tigera: Yeah. They all.

Ben Markland: To get through their day.

Sergio Tigera: They're great at texting, so they're more connected than ever, but they're more disconnected, socially, emotionally than ever. And that is a skill that I think is gonna be worth so much more in the coming years than just book smarts. Companies want people that know how to connect with other humans. It sounds so basic. It sounds so like ridiculous to say that, but. You hear it from the university at where I work, the provost is saying, look, it's not even about [00:18:00] teaching these young kids, history and all these complex. It's just how to talk with other people.

Ben Markland: Yeah. Say hi.

Sergio Tigera: Make a friend. And it's crazy.

Ben Markland: It is. It seems odd that I don't wanna say that the bar has been lowered in the sense, I think it's just a skillset that has, loss that's important to the younger it's importance. Even though like you said, it's extremely important. No one's running a company over Facebook or, getting their employees to buy into culture through a LinkedIn post. Or like you say, even a ping pong table, or let's you're playing a video game together. Like it's our audience, a lot of these people are in the insurance world and insurance actually is still very old school. Lots of handshakes. Lots of, sit down and talking because an relationships, an insurance agent is really, he is just a person out there to help you make the best decision on something that could financially make a big difference for your company or for you personally so there has to be a level of trust and without a relationship. We talked about [00:19:00] AI earlier in an earlier podcast, and I don't think that will ever replace. What AI could probably do is eliminate repetitive tasks. But what it's not gonna do is know something about, your friendship or your relationship or hey, that I did this for your dad and now I do this for you.

Sergio Tigera: Correct.

Ben Markland: And I think while the younger kids, and I think that's great that you've told me what universities are starting to push emphasis back towards the social skills there. Exponentially better than the older guard in technology. And they could probably, my kid's 12, he could probably write a program and launch a rocket tomorrow. But the worry is he can't sit down on a couch and look someone in the eye and talk to them because there's not as many situations where they have to do that anymore. But I do not think that will ever go away. If anything, like you said, I think the importance on it will become so much more. Because more people will lack that skill.

Sergio Tigera: Yeah. No, and I have a 13-year-old girl and an 8-year-old boy as we talked about, and for us it's critically important to have 'em in sports, [00:20:00] to have 'em in different types of. Hand to hand combat in a sense, meaning that you're not just behind a screen, you're inter interacting with people, you're making friends, you're messing around because that social aspect, like I said, is gonna be incredibly valuable.

Ben Markland: And they need to lose, too.

Sergio Tigera: They need to lose,

Ben Markland: I hate to say that, but that's one need to I'm very adamant about, Hey, what's great about sports is it te teaches you how to win and lose with grace. And it's when you're always being lifted up and you don't experience your first loss until it's a real loss instead of, Hey, learn throughout life, like we play sports, you lost a game it's okay. We're gonna try harder next time.

Sergio Tigera: No, you win or you learn. You never really lose. You win or you learn.

Ben Markland: Great way to put it.

Sergio Tigera: And especially like in the entrepreneurial world. There's no roadmap. There's no playbook for being an entrepreneur. The key is try something. You fall on your face, you get back up, alright, that didn't work. Lemme go left. Try that. You fall on your face, get back up. It's just how many times are you gonna get back up? And the more nos you get, that means the closer you are to your breakthrough, [00:21:00] your closer you are to your yes. That what happens with a lot of entrepreneurs though, is that they don't have the staying power. You need persistence. You need to be persistent. You need to be, and you can't, pardon my French, you can't half ass it. You can't have one, one foot on the boat and one foot on the dock. It's not gonna work. You need to be all in. You need to, burn the boats or burn the dock wherever you're gonna go. You gotta go all in. Otherwise, it's way too difficult. It's way too time consuming. I tell people I used to work, 40 hours a week at Caterpillar, and now I work, 80, 120 hours a week. But it doesn't feel like work because you're doing it for yourself. But you need to be all in. If you're not all in, you gotta push in all the chips. If that doesn't work out, eventually, okay, you can go back, but give it your all. Because otherwise, you're gonna live with regret. My biggest fear in life is not to regret something I have done, but to regret something I haven't done. I don't wanna be 80 years old, 90 years old, looking back on my deathbed and saying, man, I wish I would've done that. And so I always encourage people take a shot, right? But commit, [00:22:00] really commit to moving forward. 'cause that's the only way it's gonna work. Ben Markland: Yeah and just to the opposite, I don't think anyone's sitting on their deathbed saying, you know what? I really wish I would've taken less chances in my life.

Sergio Tigera: Exactly.

Ben Markland: Sergio, let our audience know where they can find you.

Sergio Tigera: So you can go to game changers consulting.com and find us there. We can find all the resources there. And you can also check us out on our podcast platforms as well as YouTube for Game Changers podcast. And you can check out all the episodes there, we've had some amazing guests. With some incredible messages that you don't want to miss.

Ben Markland: Sergio, man, I appreciate you. This has been good. You've got a wealth of knowledge you're gonna help a lot of people. I think it's fantastic. And appreciate thanks for doing this with us.

Sergio Tigera: I appreciate it. Listen you guys are doing an amazing job as well, putting this together 'cause there's a lot of people out there. They need to hear this, and you guys are providing the resource and the platform to get the message out, so thank you.