Dr. Richard Kaye Of Space On The Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times
An Interview With Sara Connell
Take responsibility when you, or your team screws up. And know, there will be screwups. Goes back to what I said earlier, about lying, or more specifically, about telling the truth. If you’ve issued defective orders, own it. Taking that responsibility will raise your esteem in the eyes of others, as distinct from avoiding the uncomfortable acknowledgment.
As part of our series about the “Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Richard Kaye.
Dr. Richard Kaye received his Bachelor of Science Degree in business, from Long Island University in 1973. He went on to receive his Doctorate of Chiropractic from the Columbia Institute of Chiropractic in New York. After 30-years in private practice in San Diego, California, he retired to pursue an entrepreneurial life.
For the past 23-years, he’s worked with CEO Space, the world’s oldest and largest business development organization, assisting entrepreneurs accelerate the growth of their businesses.
Dr. Kaye has been featured on KTLA television, Los Angeles, California, on several occasions, discussing two of his specialties: Team Building and Super Networking.
He was also featured in a PBS special show about him.
He’s appeared on numerous television and radio shows, he has authored myriad articles. Dr. Kaye is an internally acclaimed lecturer, having presented seminars and workshops in Australia, France, Japan, and Russia, as well as in the United States. He’s also a faculty member of CEO Space.
At the Deepak Chopra Center, in La Costa, California, he spoke about: Consciousness, Cooperation, and Contribution — thriving in the developing recession.
He is the author of The Secrets of Creating Customers for Life, and speaks around the nation about the Secrets of Empowering Negotiation.
Richard resides in Taos, New Mexico.
Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory” and how you got started?
After graduating from the Columbia Institute of Chiropractic on Long Island, New York, I got into my MGB and drove to San Diego to establish my first chiropractic office. I hadn’t a clue about how to run an office, do business, or be anything other than be “the” doctor! Learning the business of the business was about connecting with other chiropractors and having them pour into me their knowledge wisdom, and experience.
I took in their stories, discarded what didn’t serve me, took in what did, molded it, reshaped it, and applied it to what I felt would serve my practice members and me for the highest good.
Must have worked! I soon became president of the San Diego County Chiropractic Society, was featured on the 6:30 news, has multiple stories written about me in the San Diego Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, and was on a morning television talk show for about a year.
Little did I know this doctor was turning into an entrepreneur, where I would eventually serve other entrepreneurs, sharing my knowledge wisdom, and experience, to help them grow their businesses.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or “take aways” you learned from that?
Yeah. I didn’t have the discernment to figure out what I was hearing from those other chiropractors. Were they successful or just telling me what they thought I would want to know? I was too naïve to ask the really deep questions. While they may (or may not!) have been great doctors, how were they are running the business? The quality of the doctor has nothing to do with their ability to run a business.
My takeaway: When mentoring or coaching someone, be authentic. Don’t give them the answer, give them the tools they need to discover the answer for themself. There is no learning when the answer is provided, the result is short-term. When anyone “works” for the solution, they’ll have ownership of the process, which will serve them more effectively in the long run.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful toward who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
There are stories of the “self-made” success story. Nonsense. We all had mentors, coaches, and friends, who guided us, worked with us to guide us, offered examples of how to be, and perhaps more importantly, how not to be. I’ve been blessed with many who guided me toward my success. One such significant mentor of mine was Berny Dohrmann (deceased), the Founder and former CEO of CEO Space. Berny was one of the few people who “saw” me; he saw beneath the veneer. He saw my potential at a time when I was blind to it. I won’t say he took me under his wing, but he stood by me, encouraged me, and offered opportunities when I didn’t even know they existed.
He offered me the opportunity to work with him at CEO Space, which soon lead to my shutting my chiropractic practice and embracing the life of an entrepreneur.
Extensive research suggests that “purpose driven businesses” are more successful in many areas. When your organization started, what was its vision, what was its purpose?
As I migrated from running a thriving chiropractic office (there was a PBS special about me, my office, and the leading edge work I was doing. Won’t say it was a long time ago, but I was handing my practice members VHS tapes of the segment!), there were new decisions to be made.
I encountered too many entrepreneurs whose purpose was to make money. Nothing wrong with that . . . unless that’s the only purpose of the business. Another mentor of mine, Zig Ziegler, said: “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”
As was with my chiropractic practice, my mission was to help people improve the quality of their lives . . . I became a member of CEO Space and embarked on an adventure of doing that through working with entrepreneurs to accelerate the growth of their businesses.
I was helping them get what they wanted.
From its inception, CEO Space was designed as a culture for entrepreneurs who embrace a culture of collaboration and cooperation. Membership is really a self-selecting crowd, comprised of entrepreneurs who embrace this perspective of life. In that culture, for example, Chicken Soup for the Soul got born. People’ve raised in excess of three-billion dollars using the resources available through CEO Space.
Thank you for all that. Let’s now turn to the main focus of our discussion. Can you share with our readers a story from your own experience about how you lead your team during uncertain or difficult times?
Whether you are in “easy” times or “challenging” times, you’ve got to remember why you are in business. Yes, the bottom line is indeed, the bottom line. You can’t stay in business when there is more money going out the door than coming in. However, it is my experience that keeping the team focused, and on point, becomes exceptionally more important when you’ve got to eliminate the fluff, the things which are those “bright, shiny” objects.
This is a time to go back to basics; eliminate that which is not necessary.
At CEO Space, for 28 years, we had amazing, onsite conferences, where people from all over the globe would gather, five times a year, to be together in a collaborative, cooperative, environment, to learn from leading edge entrepreneurs, network with everyone, and dine with one-another. We provided three meals a day; we used to call them deal meals, because of the deals which got transacted there.
Then this Covid thing made its entrance. The world changed; it shut down. No one was traveling and hotels were not hosting events.
Thanks goodness for Zoom! We shifted to holding our meetings on Zoom! Kinda weird at first; now we do these meetings, offering members four to five meetings a month, from masterclasses to networking, to just gathering with other members on-line, sharing knowledge, leads, connections, and creating joint ventures and alliance partnerships in real time.
So, for 28 years we were live and in person, now for over two, we are live on Zoom!
Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the motivation to continue through your challenges? What sustains your drive?
Interesting question . . . giving up? Giving up on what? Never even had that thought until you asked that question. When you live a life of service, giving up is not an option. After I retired from chiropractic, I moved to Taos, New Mexico, where I already owned 80 acres. Took some time off; then began my adventure of serving entrepreneurs.
What motivates me is serving others . . . the opportunities to work with entrepreneurs, from companies in the nascent stage to those well into revenue. Knowing I may have something in my experience which may be a key to their success.
That’s what drives me.
I’m an author and I believe books have the power to change lives. Do you have a book in your life that impacted you and inspired you to be an effective leader? Can you share a story?
Only one? My goodness. I’ve read so many; from the physical to the metaphysical.
I’m currently re-reading Dale Carnegie’s, How to Win Friends and Influence People. I often reread the classics, such as this.
So many lessons in this book. The essence is: acknowledge and honor everyone. I remember, many years ago I was at a conference in Miami. I was walking up the hall, on the way to get something to eat. There was this bedraggled woman with a carpet sweeper, simply doing her job. As I walked by, I said something like, “Thank you for keeping this place looking great.”
She looked at me. From the expression on her face, you’d think she’d just won the lottery. Her smile lit the entire corridor. She stood up straighter; her whole countenance changed.
To most people, these kinds of service people are invisible. All you have to do is acknowledge them, and honor them.
By the way . . . as I continued up the hall I heard footsteps quickly coming up behind me. A guy asked, “Who are you? I heard what you said to that woman . . .” He took me to lunch and offered to have me speak at one of his programs!
Ya never know what happens when you live in that space.
What would you say is the most critical role of a leader during challenging times?
Be in integrity. Remember who you are and why you do what you do. We’ve spoken a bit about this.
When you know your vision, your mission, and your future — as murky as it might be at the moment — you gather the strength to keep moving forward, perhaps at a slower pace, but you keep moving.
When the future seems so uncertain, what is the best way to boost morale? What can a leader do to inspire, motivate and engage their team?
Tell ’em the truth, as uncomfortable as it may be. When the “boss” lies to the team, they’ll see right through the BS. Share your frustration, share the uncertainty, share your angst. And . . . ask for your team’s support, not for you, but for one another, and for the longer vision. Life is full of uncertainties. Another of my mentors, Tony Robbins, said, “The quality of your life is in direct proportion to the amount of uncertainty that you can comfortably live with.”
What is the best way to communicate difficult news to one’s team and customers?
Truthfully. How often have you ordered something and you’ve been told it’ll be delivered by such and such date. That date comes and passes, and nothing. How much better are you knowing delivery had been delayed. Wouldn’t you rather know the truth? I suspect you would. Now, I understand is a simple example, but it serves the purpose of how knowing the truth is a superior tactic to the BS I talked about earlier.
The other day I ordered something on Amazon — seems to be the way we live these days. I received notice of the anticipated delivery date. Then, the day before that date, I got a notice delivery was delayed. OK. No big deal. Just tell the truth.
It is my experience that the way you do anything is the way you do everything.
Lie to your team, or mislead them, and all trust is gone, perhaps forever.
To inspire, motivate, and engage your team, be upfront and honest with them.
How can a leader make plans when the future is so unpredictable?
When was the future ever predictable? We may think we know the future; most people it seems have a challenge even being in the now! What was that saying? The past is history; the future a mystery; today is a gift, and that’s why it’s called the present.
All you can do plotting the future is know it is guesswork! Who could have predicted the world would shut down from the threat of a virus? Virtually everything everyone planned, all the projections, all the business and personal plans all evaporated.
We all had to embrace reality (whatever that means) and play in the environment at the moment.
Make the plans to the best of your ability and in those plans create the space to ignore them and change your trajectory.
Is there a “number one principle” that can help guide a company through the ups and downs of turbulent times?
Yeah. Maximize your strengths. Know what your strengths are and bring them to the forefront; of course you’d have to explore why you weren’t doing that all along.
It is during turbulent times when the true leaders show up. Make decisions; procrastination can destroy a business. Forecast, see the future as clearly as you can and make your decisions based on what you know, what you can see (even if it’s unclear), and what you know is the best outcome for the business.
You can always reevaluate and make new decisions; but make the decision.
Can you share three or four of the most common mistakes you have seen other businesses make during difficult times? What should one keep in mind to avoid that?
Perhaps the first mistake is panicking. Making a decision, or decisions, based upon incomplete or wrong information. You’ve got to gather enough information so you have a coherent basis upon which to make decisions.
The second mistake I’ve seen people make is asking the wrong people for counsel (not only during difficult times, but at all times!). Know from whom are seeking advice. What basis do they have to offer that advice? Are they in panic mode or do they have a bright future? Are they failing or thriving? Know your sources.
Third common mistake is doing nothing. Kinda like the deer in the headlights. Holding on to hope that it’ll all turn out fine. Ignoring the bright light bearing down on you when you’re on the railroad tracks until it’s too late and that huge locomotive annihilates you, your vehicle, and your business. Make a decision.
Here is the primary question of our discussion. Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things a business leader should do to lead effectively during uncertain and turbulent times? Please share a story or an example for each.
Perhaps as we spoke about before, and as Ram Dass said so eloquently: Be Here Now. Be in the moment. The past is only an indicator of the future if all things which were present in the past are present in the now. How likely is that? We’ve spoken a bit about this . . . make decisions based upon what’s real in the moment. Not only has the situation changed (it is constantly changing) but so has technology. Embrace the change and make new decisions.
Be confident in your authority. When inviting your team to perform, issue clear directives; let them know what is expected from them, and what timeline you’re working within. When I was on a sales team we were directed to increase sales. Really? The director had the authority to issue that order, but there was no direction, no guidance as to how to do that. Kinda pointless to issue a directive with no substance behind it. When issuing such a “request,” offer the guidance to enhance the probability of compliance.
Leadership is leadership — lead. Take the helm. No one wants to follow a leader who has no clue where you’re expected to go. Have you ever attempted to follow someone who had no clue where he was going? I believe it was General George Patton who said, “Lead or get out of the way.”
Take responsibility when you, or your team screws up. And know, there will be screwups. Goes back to what I said earlier, about lying, or more specifically, about telling the truth. If you’ve issued defective orders, own it. Taking that responsibility will raise your esteem in the eyes of others, as distinct from avoiding the uncomfortable acknowledgment.
Acknowledging the contributions of others is so vitally important. I’ve seen too many “leaders” take credit for the thoughts, ideas, and work, of their team. When I was an electronics engineer (my life before I became a chiropractor), and someone on the team had a great idea, Werner, the chief engineer would denigrate the idea. A month or so later that same idea would come to us from the office of the president of the company as Werner’s idea. Wanna guess how moral was in the engineering lab and what happened to all those great ideas? Most of them wound up being offered to another company, after the engineer left and was employed by another company.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote?” Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
The Talmud tells us, we don’t see the world as it is, we see it as we are.
There are two views I hold about life: Nothing is as it seems, and everything is as it seems. A dichotomy? Absolutely, both are true and neither is true.
What the heck is life? We make it up as we go along. May years ago I saw a bumper sticker: Reality is for people who can’t handle drugs (and, no, I’m not advocation the use of drugs!)
The nothing is real part is we all make up stories, and we believe the stories we make up more than the stories other people tell us. So which is real? When we believe our stories, that’s our reality; we make it so. When we believe someone else’s stories, well, how has that been working for you?
When we judge someone else, it is simply a reflection of that part of us.
That can be a scary thought!
How can our readers further follow your work?
I teach a program on The Secrets of Empowering Negotiation. You can download five tips from that program, for free, at http://richardkaye.com/five-tips
For the work I have done for nearly 24 years, which is working with entrepreneurs to accelerate the growth of their businesses, you’ll find information about that at http://drrichardkaye.com
Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!
