Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_02 0:00

To another episode of the Leadership Insight Podcast, sponsored by Co-Financial Group, where we interview leaders across the country that share their wisdom and their insights. Today I'm super excited to have Rob Johnson, an Emmy Award-winning former TV anchor and reporter with over 25 years of journalism experience. In 2019, he founded the Rob Johnson Communication to help corporate and nonprofit clients achieve their communication goals. He hosts the Can You Hear Me podcast, very highly rated, committed to community service. He sits on the boards of Special Olympics Illinois, the Concussion and CTE Foundation, and Mission Neme. He's also the author of the 2026 book Overcommunicate, a guide for business executives, aspiring leaders, which forms the basis of his specialized leadership. Let's just dig in, Rob. Thank you very much for being here today.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Thanks for having me on, Chad. It's great to reconnect with you, and I'm really excited to be on the program today.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

So I

Life Behind The Anchor Desk

SPEAKER_02 1:05

just want to start with your past a little bit, that you were a newsacre on the primary channels in Chicagoland for over 20 years. Share with the audience what's it like to sit behind that desk night in and night out, reporting news and sharing also the highlights of the Cubs win, the Blackhawks, and everything else that you did that was positive.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

Well, I would say, you know, like any job, there's the day-to-day grind where you just show up. And I know it sounds funny to say, hey, I showed up in a suit and tie and makeup, and you know, it's like another job, and people go, no, it isn't. But it was very unusual, it was an unusual way to make a living. First of all, I remember, you know, kind of the glory days of the business too, when we were able to travel a lot more. We were able to, you know, I loved being an anchor, but I was always an anchor and a reporter. And the only time I was really just an anchor was the last 13 years when I was at CBS. Prior to that, I'd always served in some anchor reporter role. I was weekend anchor at ABC from 98 to 06, uh, ABC 7, and then at CBS2 from 2006 to 2019. But for me, the big kick was always being uh, you know, getting to have a front row seat to history. And some of my favorite stories were the times we got to go on the road. So yes, I was we would be in the studio, anchoring the news, doing that sort of thing. But the times that I that I really got my adrenaline pumping was when it was, you know, election night coverage or it was breaking news, or you just referenced the Blackhawks or the Cubs, you know, because I'm a fan of both of them. And and it was, and it's just a great city story anyway, and everybody's interested in it. That was kind of the payoff for a lot of the kind of day-to-day grind. It was like, hey, Rob, you know a lot about the Cubs, or you know a lot about the the Blackhawks. We'll let you go on the road for the first two away games for the you know World Series or the Stanley Cup finals. And so just getting to see newsmakers, you know, being feet away from them, interviewing them, trying to make sense of stories that are complicated, that was always so much fun.

Covering History Up Close

SPEAKER_01 3:03

And I would say probably my favorite example of that was in night in 08, before the market crashed, and nobody had any money, and you know, we couldn't, we they they wouldn't let us travel anymore. Then Senator Obama was running for president, and we were following him on the road through some of the major primary states like New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, Texas. Uh, I we followed him on his way to accept the nomination in Colorado. We met with him in, you know, like Kansas City and Billings, Montana. So we got to go on the road, and and it wasn't just like, hey, there's one reporter in the field doing a two-minute story. They let us anchor our shows in the field. I would be anchoring, we would have a team of producers, reporters, tech folks, talented people, 12 or 15 of us on the road. And it was just so amazing to get to see history up close. I got to meet Governor Pritzker back in 08 when he was a Hillary Clinton delegate in New Hampshire. He was from the Pritzker family, you know, everybody knew him, but he was a Hillary delegate. That's how I got to know him. And it was just, and we had a very, we had a good connection because I, because I have a brother who's down, who's down syndrome, Edward, and he he cares about people with disabilities. We kind of connected on that level. So we've always had that kind of connection on that level, not on the you know, reporter, you know, newsmaker standpoint, even though we had those moments too. But it was fun to get to meet those people and then to, you know, cover Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama all day long, 16 hours in New Hampshire. And then we're back at the hotel at, you know, after a 16-hour day, and you want to blow off steam and have a beer or something, and there's you know, Valerie Jarrett and Eric Holder sitting at the bar, and you're sitting there talking to them, and just they're just interesting people. This is not a political statement I'm making at all. It is a statement about meeting interesting, smart, dynamic people, and then not and going beyond like interviewing them. That was honestly, of all, you know, when we cover all those stories, that was my favorite part was getting to, you know, really get to talk to people kind of off-camera and get to know them a little bit better and to understand how they click. That doesn't mean I let them off the hook when it was time for an interview.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

Right.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

But they they knew I was gonna be fair, they knew I was gonna be tough, but it was such a wonderful opportunity. I just I remember those days so fondly, and the business is so different now, and it's mainly because of financial pressures and the constraints that exist, primarily because you know, back then we didn't have to compete with you know smartphones and things of that nature, and now so many of the ad dollars are being spent there and not on traditional television.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

So

Disability Advocacy And Giving Back

SPEAKER_02 5:39

that was a beautiful introduction to my next thing. You mentioned your brother who has Down syndrome. Yeah, so I've been following you for a lot of years. Actually, we've been friends for now quite a few years. You're philanthropic oriented, but you sit on boards, you're actually an auctioneer for some charities, which is just so fun because I'm an auctioneer as well.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

I'm no Chad Co. They they they're like, you know what, we can't afford Chad Co. So hey Rob, would you MC and auctioneer? I I can I can do well, but but I'm no Chad Co.

SPEAKER_02 6:10

That's that's those are kind words. So so share with me just a minute or two around, you know, as you create this whole life, which we're gonna talk about in a minute, the part about philanthropy and giving back, what's that like for you and and the the fulfilling side of the nonprofit space?

SPEAKER_01 6:27

Well, I would say this because my family was on the road less travel, because we had a had a I had a sibling with a disability, that's from the day he's born. That you you're you join that club, whether you want to be in it or not, the day that person is born. And I was very fortunate that my parents, who are both still alive, praise God, Beth and Don Johnson, who live in Little Rock, Arkansas, always had this swagger. And he, my brother Edward, was born in the early 70s. That was not common to take kids with disabilities around and like we just acted like it was no big deal, and people would stare at us for years. And then in the 80s, my dad took a job in Europe. He was uh working for a company out of St. Louis and he was in charge of their European operations, Emerson Electric. And so we lived overseas. So we literally traveled all over the world with someone with a disability, and people stared all the time. And you know, after a thousand or fifteen hundred or ten thousand stares, you just get used to it. That was the journey we were on, and my parents always drove home the point that you need to protect your brother, you need to protect your family, you need to support your family. And that was always very well ingrained in my youngest brother, Andrew, and me about making sure that Edward was okay. And that's because my parents set the tone. And it's a journey we've been on four years, and it's just you know what we do. So we think about Special Olympics. My my brother Edward would have to sit there and watch a thousand basketball or baseball games of Andy and me. And then it's at some point he'd start, he started participating in a limited fashion in Special Olympics. And it was cool to be able to like go, hey, yeah, we're gonna go support him because he's seen us do you know all these other sports. And then as I got into my career, it was always something that was very important to me. But because I was always so busy having a very unusual schedule in television, you know, it's not a nine to five job. You know, everybody has different shifts and they're not normal shifts. So when I worked nights, I couldn't get out a lot, but I would MC a lot between shows and I would start MCing for various disability groups because people found out that I was passionate about that. And when you're passionate about something, you make a pretty good MC because you can make a you know an authentic case to the audience, the people that are there that you're raising money trying to get to raise money. And so I would dip in occasionally and do that. And then in 2015, Dave Breen and the late Jim Corrigan, who were uh who were the president and CEO and the the board chair of Special Olympics Illinois at the time asked me to join. I said, listen, I can't do much, but I can MC the event and I can show up to a couple of meetings, and they're like, We'll have you, we'll take you. You've been so, you know, you've been so devoted to our cause. We want to have you on the on the board. And so I was on the board for four years and I couldn't do much. And then as I when I left television and started Rob Johnson Communications and became an entrepreneur and all of a sudden controlled my own schedule and could make decisions about when I could take meetings and when I couldn't take meetings, I started getting more involved. And so I always was passionate about Special Olympics, but then I was able to spend more time. I was able to make all the meetings. And then they said, we want you to be the head of the marketing and communications committee, which I am to this day. And then I'm on the executive committee, and of course I'm on the board. And the more that I give, the more I get. And I don't, I don't give to get, I give because it's the right thing to do. You know, I always feel like see people. Yeah, it feels great. I would always see people, and I'm sure you feel the same way too, to be able to support so many worthy causes. I always felt like in television, it wasn't good enough just to earn my money and go back to my community and spend it and just, you know, live the good life and all that kind of stuff. I felt like because of the journey I was on with my brother and with my family, that it's always important to shine the light on these groups that don't get the light shined on them very often or very brightly. And so that's the more I have, the more time I have to spend with Special Olympics, with the Concussion and CTE Foundation, the more I get out of it. And that's in my not-for-profit journey. And I, and I love every bit of

Letting Athletes Take The Spotlight

SPEAKER_01 10:26

it. I love getting to make big decisions that impact the the organization. And I love, I mean, Special Olympics, it's all about the athletes. I love that when I started MCing the event, it was about I was MCing it. And then I was like, why don't we just why don't we have one of the athletes co-host it? I'm like, oh, that's cool. And you know, because I'm a professional, I could keep the train on the tracks and do all that, and we'd have a different athlete do it every year. And then when I became head of marketing and communications and I wasn't on TV anymore, I was like, why don't we let somebody who is on TV who can do stories and shine the light on these athletes, why don't we let them co-host it with the athlete? And right now, WGN has been an amazing partner prior to that. Fox 32 was awesome. Right now, it's it's GN and Erin McElroy has done it for a couple of years with one of our athletes. And so she's up on stage and she's doing it, and she's, you know, I mean, all the TV folks are absolutely qualified and do a great job, and she does a terrific job, but she can also do those reports on the athletes and tell the stories on TV. And so for me, it was like, I'm happy to give that job up. I'm happy to sit in the crowd with my friends and my wife and you know, raise a lot of money and watch them help elevate these athletes to where they can be because they have the ability. People talk about disabilities. If you give them opportunity, they have ability. Ability of plenty.

SPEAKER_02 11:51

So as a leader, which you are, you gave up the pedestal for the bigger picture.

unknown 11:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

And for the heartstrings, you've learned about that. And and as you we talked about me being an auctioneer, I had a charity from 2020 to 2000 to 2020, and raised over five million dollars, giving it away to over 50 charities. Because my vision as a leader was to bring people together, give them the experience, and be able to give it to nonprofits that couldn't raise that kind of money themselves.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

That's the most important thing. Because listen, there are some charities, I'm not going to name them. There are some charities in our town, in every town, that can get people to buy puppies for $50,000 at the auction and you know, whatever. And I'm not demeaning them at all. They're, I mean, that listen, Chicago's a very, very philanthropic community. And I and we need to have those not-for-profits as the backbone of of the the charity business in our in our community. But what you were doing, Chad, the thing that I try to do, and Special Olympics is a really good brand, but I also try to shine the light on the folks that don't, that are fighting for that attention.

SPEAKER_02 12:59

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

And that money.

SPEAKER_02 13:01

So as I sit here and I listen to you, I hear the leadership qualities, I hear your tone of voice, I hear your professionalism. And there came a day where the light bulb went on for you and said, I could give so much more to community by being a communications expert to the C-suite and to the professionals out there that want me. What was

The Leap Into Entrepreneurship

SPEAKER_02 13:24

the journey like to now have your own company and now transcend into this world of entrepreneurship for you?

SPEAKER_01 13:32

It was frightening. First of all, I spent in the in in the book, and we'll talk about the book in a little bit, but in the book, I referenced the story about how I could see the end was near. And I started taking meetings with various people. I thought maybe I get into corporate communications. And then I had multiple meetings with various folks at big companies that you know the names of. And one person told me, Hey, Rob, you want to be the CMO of Company X? And I'm like, I can do the CMO of Company X. And they're like, listen, it's like they're looking, it's like baseball. The person that's going to get the CMO job has been playing third base for 15 or 20 years. That's all they've done. They played third base, they hit well, they field well, they play third base. You, given your background, you are the ultimate utility player. You could play shortstop, center field, catcher, first base. You could play anywhere on the field. But they're not going to hire you for the CMO job because they're going to hire that person that played only third base for 50 years. I hear that. That analogy was so important for me to hear because I was really thinking, oh, I'm going to do this corporate thing. And then I was like, I don't know. And I, and the other, the other path was I'm going to go be a consultant. And I talked to some really smart people about it. And this, and I my first big client was Mezzaro. Richard Price and I had been friends for years because we got to know each other through charitable work. There it is again. And he is one of the greatest uh friends and mentors and people I can even imagine. I'm still they're still one of my best clients to this day. And I get I got one big client. I called my wife. I said, I think we're doing this. I think I'm doing the consulting thing. But the scary part about the consulting thing is you don't get a paycheck. I was a W-2 guy for almost 30 years. And all of a sudden, it's eat what you kill. You got to eat what you kill. Where's the paycheck? Oh, Rob, you got to go out and earn it. Like, like, where's where's it didn't hit my account? It's because it's not there because you got to earn it. Those early years, and I give my wife Stacey so much credit because you know, we had gotten used to a lifestyle that was very predictable. It was it was very good, it was very predictable. And then it was like, we might have a bad month, but then we might have a really good month. I, you know, the really good months I never had in TV, but I never had really bad months, though, in TV. They were all, it was all here. I knew exactly what was happening. And there's this roller coaster of entrepreneurship that is white knuckle. And so those early years, it I still remember how kind of touch and go it was and and how understanding Stacy, my wife, was about it. And and then six months after I started it and had a couple of clients, COVID hit. And

COVID Pivot To Virtual Training

SPEAKER_01 16:11

so I had to start like, what am I gonna do to make money? How am I gonna get engaged? And so I pitched to the folks in Mezzaro, uh, how about virtual presentation training? You know, like this. You know, we're all on camera. And they're like, we'll do it, but we're gonna be back in the boardroom in six months, Rob. Don't you know, relax, don't, don't get too excited about this. Well, six years later, seven years, I mean, here we are. It's still it's it's still a key component of what we do. And in my voice of reason presentation training that I do for so many clients, it's it's all these great communication ideas, but there is also a big piece that is virtual. When you were on this, when we're looking into these cameras, how do you break through? And so that's part of of what I did. So that those early years, early months and years, especially with COVID, were scary, but years later, I'm glad that I did it. I love having the flexibility. I really you know what I really love, and and you touched upon it a little bit about you gave up kind of the the MC gig or whatever the case was for the bigger picture. I I always love I I I didn't need your you're the best anchor I've ever seen. You're the I I never really I was always flattered when people would come up and take the time and say nice things. I am to this day because people still don't know I'm not on TV, which says a lot about TV, I think. But regardless, I I got I would with somebody said great election night coverage, great breaking news coverage, because those were the nights without scripts. That's when you had to really think on your feet. I really took that to heart and I really was proud of those moments, but I didn't really need it. I will tell you, I get far greater satisfaction out of working with executives, you know, no glory, you're in an office, you're a month before a presentation, two weeks, three weeks, a day, two days, and you're trying to help them, you know, overcome whatever issues they may have. And everybody has different issues related around communication, but watching them go out in front of their audience, whether it's internal or external, and crush it, and then people go, Oh my gosh, you were so great at that. How do you know they they add they go up to the person doing it? Some of them may say, Oh gosh, I couldn't have done it without Rob. I don't care if they do that or not. I just love watching them do something that nobody thought they were able to do. Like, I didn't know you were that good. Well, yeah, they are that good because we work together. I get more satisfaction of out of watching other people elevate their communication game, maybe than I did ever having somebody tell me, oh, you did such a great job.

SPEAKER_02 18:40

Well, we're gonna transition because you're just knocking the cover off the ball.

Building A Book And Podcast Brand

SPEAKER_02 18:45

You wrote a book, overcommunicate. You're marketing and publicizing and putting it out there for people who could go to Amazon and to other places to be able to get it.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

Yep, Amazon overcommunicates that easy.

SPEAKER_02 18:57

It's that easy, and we're gonna talk about this in a minute. And then you have Can You Hear Me, which is a podcast that's one of the top-rated podcasts now in the country, maybe the world, because you and Eileen are just killing it with sharing the insights to how to get ahead in a world that's not easy.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

Well, thank you. Uh, first of all, the Can You Hear Me podcast just celebrated five years, and we are well into 115, 20. Uh, you know, at this at this taping, I know this is an evergreen, but we've been doing it for years, and we it's it's all built around communication. It's all built around you know communication principles, and we've been very flattered to receive from good pods, which is like the good reads of of podcasts. They keep track of podcasts. They've ranked us all time in the top hundred, like three and four, like in digital marketing and branding and uh various things. And so we're we've always been very highly rated, and I'm always gratified and humbled by the support of good pods. And you and I were talking before we started taping about good ideas for podcasts and guests and things of that nature. And I think the biggest telling sign that we're making great progress, aside from the the accolades that we're receiving from you know industry experts, is that we're getting so many inquiries from people that want to be on the podcast. They're like, hey, I love it. And and so, yes, we need to, and in fact, uh later this afternoon we have a we have a uh production meeting. Eileen and myself and our executive producer Olivia, who we couldn't do this without, we're gonna be talking about what what are our next 10 or 15 podcasts and guests and what are we gonna do and which ones of the pitches that we've received, which ones of these are we gonna uh pursue? So it's been it's been a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 20:58

This takes us to the flywheel,

The Flywheel Of Great Communication

SPEAKER_02 21:00

right? So I understand the flywheel, but you're actually there because you've gone into this now five years into it, it's starting to take off and kind of operate by itself. So we have a couple things to touch on the flywheel philosophy and your face of credibility, and how actually people don't get this, but if you act a certain way as a leader, the people that you work and serve will adopt your way of being.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

Right.

SPEAKER_02 21:26

If it's good or bad.

SPEAKER_01 21:28

Well, that that that's that's 100% true. The flywheel is you know, the center of it, the thing that everything spins around is is being a good communicator. And around it are all these different principles. And in the book, I don't talk about it much in the book. I've I I kind of promoted it, but the idea is each chapter is a flywheel. To overcommunicate, you must first listen. The illusion we're communicating when we're not. Uh meeting people where they are, which means being an adaptive leader. Communicating in a remote working environment. It could be the being a good change agent, and then and on and on. I'm not going to name every chapter, but all those are little spokes in the flywheel. And they're all communication techniques. And in the middle of it is the capital C communication. So I wanted to explain that to your audience. The face of credibility, yes. You as the leader set the tone, good or bad. And I have in the book good anecdotes about people who were good communicators. And I have anecdotes about bad communicators who I don't, I mean, I may use a name, I don't use their name. I'm not going to embarrass them or say where they worked or whatever the case was. But if you the reason over-communicate is so important, and it's not micromanaging, it's not sending people 75 emails and expecting, you know, full engagement. It is making sure your teams are aligned, they understand the objectives that you've set forth and that everybody knows what you need to do. They're aligned, they're unified, and they can go out to the marketplace and speak with a very clear voice. That is what overcommunicate is. It's also if you sit there and have a moment with your internal self and say, Did I communicate that message to Chad well enough? If I'm asking myself that question and I don't even ask you, the answer is no. That means I probably need to make sure you understood it. Not in a, hey, Chad, in case you didn't understand kind of way, but in a collaborative, hey, I just want to make sure we're clear on X, Y, and Z. That is overcommunicate at its finest. And if you're a great leader, and if you're a collaborative leader, and if you don't think it's all about you, and you give other people some of the oxygen, I think you're going to be successful. And I've seen clients that are all about them. Everything's about them. Everybody has to come to them and adhere to their leadership style. And it doesn't always work out. I'm not saying that in every case because I know there are people, you know, all dogs, you know, new tricks doesn't always translate for certain people. But I have seen the people that are collaborative, that let people be professionals, let them do their jobs, and also let that, you know, it doesn't always flow downhill. Sometimes that input, you know, sometimes that input flows uphill. You need to hear from your people that are touching your the clients and the customers, maybe more than you are, because as the CEO or as the leader, or if you're in a C-suite, I'm not saying you're not going to be spending time with them. You're going to be spending less time with the people that you want to do business with than the people that are your direct reports.

Climbing The Ladder In The AI Era

SPEAKER_02 24:40

And so that takes me to I'm the screen I have. What is the best way to climb the what is the best way to climb the corporate ladder? And so you have the answer to this, and everybody wants to know who's sitting in mid-level jobs. They want to be the leader of the company. They know how to lead. Share with us what your philosophy is on the best way to climb the corporate ladder.

SPEAKER_01 25:05

Chapter one is leadership is communication. You can even flip it. Communication is leadership. The way to climb the corporate ladder, and I tell this to people when I do presentation training with various clients, you may be a subject matter expert in whatever you do, and you may be really good at it. And they may let you stay at that company for years and do the very same thing. If you aren't going to become a superstar communicator, if you're not going to get people on your side, if you're not going to be able to persuade them to come along on the ride with you, you're going to stay exactly where you are. And in the corporate world today, if you're staying exactly where you are, you're probably in peril because there's something called AI, and everybody says, oh, we're going to lose our jobs to AI. AI is going to take the jobs of a lot of people. And I'm not demeaning anybody who's lost a job to AI. It's also taking a lot of jobs from order takers. I told you to do something, you did what you did it, you did it, you did it. You're very dutiful. That's fine. But if you're not a strategist, if you're not an idea person, if you're not a leader, you get paid for your ideas. So in the book, I also talk about a lot of younger workers think that knowing things is enough. I know what to do. Yes, you do. You're very good at it. You're very smart. It's kind of the taking the analogy a step farther. If you can't express the how or the why of what you do, then you're never going to become a leader. And if you can't communicate that, you're not going to become a leader. Let me say it again. Leadership is communication. It's not good enough. It's not good enough for you just to know what to do. You need to be able to know how and why. And then you need to be able to communicate it to the people that are on this road for you. That's how you move up the corporate ladder.

SPEAKER_02 26:57

So, last question for you, and then we're going to get to promote the book one more time. And we just, I just, there's so much good information here today. Rob, you're doing a great job at helping everyone understand the simplicities, because nothing's simple, right? You have to work hard at it, to getting ahead in the corporate world or even in the world of nonprofit and in the world of being and living a healthy life.

SPEAKER_01 27:19

Yeah, absolutely. Well,

Public Speaking Fear And Real Empathy

SPEAKER_01 27:21

I mean, I think it's it's really important to understand, though, too. You said it's it's not simple, but the thing you said right before it is you have to work hard. So people will say, Man, you guys made it look so easy. I'm like, we put in a lot of time and effort. I mean, I can think about one client that I've worked with, maybe three or three fifty people, and two of them were naturally gifted speakers. They could walk in, they could just you could pop up their deck, they could be in a big room of 75 or 80 people, and they'd crush it. And the other 348 had to prep. But when they prepped and then they did it, and people said, Man, you nailed that. You made it look so easy. If you put in the work, and I know everybody has a busy job, and I know you don't have time for that extra 30 minutes or an hour to do it, but if you find it, the people that find it and the people that I work with that find it always have a good result. So I would just say that. When it comes to public speaking being a huge fear, I always love this, and people I know have probably heard this anecdotally from time to time, but the number uh the number two fear of people anywhere is death. That's number two. That's the worst thing that can happen to you, I think. Would you agree, Chad? I would agree. You're done. Number one is public speaking. So if you if you get if you wrap your arms around that, you're like, it doesn't really make sense. People are so fearful of being in front of others and trying to public speak. And that's why I love working with people so much because everybody has a different baseline. You always have to start at people's baseline. Some people are polished, and you can work on more advanced techniques with them. Some people are like, I can, I don't even want to walk up there. And it doesn't even have to be in front of like 50 people. It could be, I don't even want to walk into that conference room in front of those 10 people and do this. What do I do? It's a huge fear, but I think people have given it more energy than it deserves. And that's why I think some of the communication techniques that I and others espouse are important and and it's something you have to work at. I just said it a couple of minutes ago. If you put in the time and effort and work on it with somebody who is qualified to help you, you will get better at it. But you can't just say, I'm a terrible. And the thing that I deal with when I hear people say, I'm not very good at this, they say it once, I let them say it once. And then I hear them say it a second time, and I say, Let me stop you right there. We're never, we're never putting that in the universe again. I know that's your that's your spiel, but you're not a you're not a bad public speaker. We're getting rid of that.

SPEAKER_02 29:58

I can hear in your voice that you're empathetical, you have empathy for them. I do know. And I think and agree with you that having empathy in the C-suite is critically important to helping people grow and also for them to become leaders like me or like you, you can't, you, you can't just not care about how they feel. I agree with that statement a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_01 30:21

You know, there's so many people, and you know, and I know it it was it was this way, then it kind of got away from it during COVID, and now it's kind of back to like, you know, I drive, you know, you know, profits. I'm there to to, I'm I'm there to drive revenue. Like I understand that. But also it's it's the way that the money comes, you know, there's a lot of good communication techniques that some people might say, well, those are soft skills. Well, you might look at it that way. What I would say to you is if you're a better communicator, you're gonna get more people motivated to work for you and the goals of your company, and you're gonna make more money. I would say there is a financial case to be made for being a good communicator. So these are not just soft skills. These are not just, oh, that's touchy-feely and that's nice, and I'm empathetic, and I care about the mental health of my, you know, direct reports. You should care about that. Because when people, you know, even clients, people I'm dealing with, people I'm counting on to have a meeting with, and they can't make it. Oh, something happened with my child, somebody got sick. This happened. This, these things happen. That's empathy. You go, you know what? Take care of that. The most important thing is your family and your health. So take care of those things. And when you're ready to focus again, let's go.

Where To Get The Book

SPEAKER_02 31:34

So, as we wrap up, I want everyone to go out and buy over communicate. It's an incredible book. I was inspired by it. I learned by it. And Rob, you just A plus the podcast with your insights and how you communicate with Eileen. It's fantastic. It's an easy listen. I highly recommend everybody listen to your podcast.

SPEAKER_01 31:56

I appreciate it so much. And uh, you can get the book. All you got to do is go to Amazon and put over communicate. And I was with a guy in uh Wrigleyville after a Cubs game recently, and he's like, What have you been doing? I said, Here's this book. And he said, Where do I get it on Amazon? And he, like, right in front of me, ordered it. Or, oh, it's right here. And then the next day he sent me the picture. I got it, I got it the day after. It's that easy.

SPEAKER_02 32:18

And we can find you at rj47lc.com. We can email you and get a response at robonsson at rj47lc.com. And we do want to thank you for co-financial group. We're here to help you retire and stay comfortably retired. We take you through the abundant life group blueprint. I'm getting I'm getting all chapsticked here as we communicate on our podcast. But you know what? If we're authentic, we keep going, we act like we have the zero fare, we're gonna win. So I'm gonna encourage that because you don't have to be perfect, you just have to be authentic. Rob, thank you very much for being here. I look forward to uh catching up and hearing more from the podcast soon. Very much. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 33:03

Yeah, listen, thank you, Chad. I appreciate the opportunity to be on the podcast. I'm really proud of the work you're doing. And you and I have been so aligned for so many years on our kind of business and personal philosophies. So I wish you nothing but the best and congrats on all your success.

SPEAKER_00 33:18

Thank you. Chad Co Investment Executive, Form 666, Techni Road, Northbrook, IL 600062. Securities are offered through Sotera Advisors LLC, a registered broker dealer and member of FINRA SIPC. Advisory services are offered through Sotera Investment Advisors LLC, a registered investment advisor. Sotera is under separate ownership from any other named entity. Rob Johnson is not affiliated with or endorsed by Sotera Advisors LLC. Any information provided by the business is in no way related to Sotera or its registered representatives.