Being real is a Superpower

  As Season 1 wraps up, Danny and Pete pull back the curtain and get honest about where they've fallen short as leaders. The theme is accountability — specifically, how both of them have bent their own standards for top performers and what they're committing to fix heading into 2023.

Danny's central admission is that he's been widening the plate. He borrows the analogy from a speech by college baseball coach John Scolinos, who wore an actual home plate around his neck to make one point: the plate is always 17 inches, from little league all the way to the majors. You don't widen it for a pitcher who can't hit the zone — you send them to training. Danny realized he's been doing the equivalent for his best managers: letting late reports slide, overlooking small acts of disrespect, and making excuses based on how hard it is to hire right now. The pandemic normalized a lower standard, and he's been running with it. He closes with a resolution — stop widening the plate, step back to the 5,000-foot view where a DM belongs, and hold everyone to the same level of accountability regardless of results.

Pete's reflection centers on training. He admits he's gotten away from it with his more tenured managers, assuming long-timers don't need refreshers. He also acknowledges the flip side of being so focused on new hires that he's neglected the people already on the bus — the ones who've been there, performing quietly, and rarely getting recognized for it. His goal for the new year is to train his replacement, because if he can't develop someone to fill his shoes, he can't move up himself.

Both close on the same note: it's not failure unless you don't learn from it. As Danny quotes Denzel Washington to end the season — without commitment you'll never start, without consistency you'll never finish.

Mention:
Larry P. 

Transcript

Danny Lastra 0:07

And welcome to the RTO show with Danny and Pete. I'm your host, Danny.

Pete Shau 0:11

And I'm your host, Pete. And today we're going to be taking back the veil and showing you guys it's okay to admit fault. And today we're going to be doing that. And Danny, I'm going to let you go first.

Danny Lastra 0:20

Man, I texted you last night about this. We were coming up with ideas, a concept, and what to talk about. We're entering the end of season one, couple episodes left. So, how are we going to end the season? And I sent you some ideas. You sent me some of your ideas. And then this really this morning, I just felt I want to end it with full exposure, vulnerability. This is who we are. We're not perfect. We're learning as we go along as well. That's why we're so open to constructive criticism. We're open to notes, comments, emails, because we're just trying to be the best that we can be. But when I'm reflecting on this year, performance specifically, I'm asking myself, have I allowed, which I already know the answer to that, but have I overlooked, have I overlooked a lot of accountability because of performance results? And I justify it by, well, they're performing. They're performing. So, you know, okay, I won't come down as hard on this. I will sweep this under the rug. I'll give you a little slap on the wrist because you're performing. And I'm gonna be honest, like it's starting to internally not sit right with me because I feel like I'm I'm not doing my job to the 100% that I should be doing.

Pete Shau 1:31

Well, I recommend self-reflection all the time. I think that self-reflection is gonna put you in a different spot. And sometimes what we do is advice is an easy dish to serve, it is the best gift to give. You can wrap it in a nice bow, you can put it in the best situation, and you can give it. Advice is a hard gift to receive and actually use. And sometimes when we're going over different things and we look at it, it's like, man, this situation is great. This situation is not great. How about all situations are difficult? And how we handle it is really what changes the difference. And the truth is, I think today we just want everybody to know we're not perfect. We do things just like everybody else. But I think the difference is what do you do with your non-successes? And I think it's only a failure when you don't learn from your success. And sometimes you got to self-reflect and look back and go, what have I done right? And what have I done wrong? And in the great words of Larry Pivotal. And now a quick word from our sponsor. Unlimited Marketing Solutions is a social media marketing company that can market directly to your specific customer base and provide solid and trackable results. Unlimited Marketing Solutions are also extremely flexible to meet your unique needs and budget, and are currently running a promotion for 10% discount off your first six months of marketing. When you mention the code RTO show, that's R T O S H O W when you call them at 352-553-3245. You can also email them at unlimited marketing solutions LLC at gmail.com. And now back to the podcast. Are you practicing what you preach? I've listened to the podcast. Are you practicing what you preach?

Danny Lastra 3:03

You know, and it's funny because I I I want to say, yes, we are practicing what we preach. And I really believe that for the most part, but then there are a couple things where I'm not as fully committed to the practice of certain criteria because of certain obstacles and result productivity validation. So maybe I let that one store manager slide on sending me Monday reports in in an untimely manner because, oh, well, they're performing, so I'm gonna give them a break. I'm demanding everybody else to turn it in by X amount of time, but then this one, oh, they send an hour later, that's okay because hey, they're performing, they're busy, I get it. And I think that's something I have to reflect on and internally go, you know, no, the standard has to be the standards no matter what.

Pete Shau 3:48

You know, part of being successful is being committed. And that commitment has to be there, right? That commitment of it's a constant struggle to do the commitment. It's a constant struggle to start somewhere and not end it. And we start with standards, right? You always start with standards. You walk in the door and somebody gives you training, and this is the standards, and this is how we represent the company, and this is how this is the guidebook on how the company is successful. And then, what did you say earlier? Sometimes we go into those situations where we're trying to beat it, we're trying to make it a success. When I was growing up, I used to watch the Bulls. I used to watch basketball all the time. And one of their best seasons, man, they won like 92 games. But you know what? They didn't win all the games. There were things that weren't perfect, there were things that weren't right, and what they did was they managed to work on those things independently and make them better. But without that self-reflection, they would have never gotten there because they didn't start on that season. They started being one of the worst basketball teams uh that there was in the NBA. And it took time and effort and talent, reflection, coaching, learning from mistakes to get to where they are. And yeah, sometimes I look at it and I think, man, I did not make the right call. And I gotta say that, I know I'm not always making the right call. You know, we sit here and we give you guys advice because this is the best advice that we can give you for you for for us to say, we've been in this a long time, and this will help you succeed. But are we always right? No. Do we preach it? Do we practice everything we preach? Yeah, I'm like on a 90th percentile. But there are days that I have those bad days that I didn't follow through with what I said, I didn't follow through the advice that Danny gave me, you know, the day before on his podcast. Sometimes Larry will come down and he'll say something, and it's like, man, I know better than that. And I should have done better than that. And the accountability part in our on our in ourselves is what's so important. And we got to remember that failure is not failure. You don't always win, but you do fail when you don't learn from your mistakes. And that's something that I always wanted to, I want everybody to understand.

Danny Lastra 5:33

You know, speaking of basketball, Kobe Bryant, there was an interview a couple years ago. Rest in peace, Kobe. Uh, but it there was an interview, and the Lakers, I think they were like 3-0, 4-0, 2-0, something like that. Like so far, technically they were undefeated. And a reporter goes, You don't look happy, Kobe. Aren't you happy that you guys are like 2-0, 3-0? And like he just kind of shrugs, shakes his head, and goes, Is the job done? Job's not finished. What's there to be happy about? And you know, that's something I kind of reflect about too. And I think I even mentioned that in a previous podcast episode, because the job's not done until the end of the year. And of course, that's when the true evaluation is what have you done all year long? Pete, me and you, we we talk about this all the time. We do help each other out, we give each other constructive criticism, given an outside point of view of an outsider looking through the window. This is what we see because sometimes we're too close to the situation. And it's crazy, like me and you will talk about maybe one of your stores on not collecting efficiently, and you'll defend that individual by, yeah, but look at the profits. And then you'll turn around and tell me, Hey, Danny, you might want to take a look at that store. Like, they haven't been growing all year long, and it's and it's causing you profit. And I come to their defense, yeah, yeah, but look at their credit, look at their efficiency, top best in the company. So it's so easy to try to defend, which is natural when you're a leader and you have a team, you want to you want to defend your guys, but it is there, there has to be a coming to Jesus moment. There has to be a time to face to music where you look at the situation, it's all right, am I defending this individual maybe for the right intentions, but are we then overlooking the obstacles and adversities because for whatever excuse, I I I think I'm guilty of it. I really am. As I'm reflecting, I feel like there is more I probably could have done. Maybe there was an action I could have taken or should have taken, and it's making me think about everything moving forward, like the accountability has to be there on a consistency level. That's the thing. That's what I think I'm trying to realize that I I can no longer bend the rules for individuals because of the results or performance they might be giving. Um, you know, I asked you this the other day, you know, what would you do? I think I even asked Larry Pivotal this, you know, what would you do if you had a top performing manager, one of the best in the company, but they blatantly disrespect you. Now, I'm not saying in your face, like, you know, the F you give you middle finger, but you give them a direction, and as you turn around, they're telling their team, nah, we're not gonna do that. Don't worry about what Danny says, don't worry about what Pete says, we're gonna do it my way. This is my store, we're gonna run it this way. And and if you hear that, how would you handle that situation? I think I asked you this the other day. I don't I'd like for you to share your thoughts on it.

Pete Shau 8:09

First and foremost, professionalism has to be there, and I I believe that. So, number one part is the professionalism has to be there. I agree. So you don't have to agree with me and we can actually sit down and discuss it. Um, but at the end of the day, then after the professionalism comes the rank and file. Okay. So you can discuss with me the reasons why you don't think that it's the right move or the right call, and we can sit down. But at the end of the day, you have to also realize that the call that I'm making, after all, is the call that I think is best. And the reason I'm making this might not you might not understand the reasons or you might not agree with the reasons, but I would never do anything in the business to blatantly try to sabotage it or do something wrong. So the professionalism comes first. The rank and file is if I say that it needs to be done regardless of after what you said. You have to remember that this is a job and we get paid to do that, and not not in the sense that this is your job and you better do it, but there's a there's a guiding light that happens and it comes from the top and it works its way down. And sometimes we don't have we don't necessarily agree with it or we don't like it, but we don't always know everything. And so sometimes we have to go with it because it's the right thing to do. And I'm not talking about like slave labor or you know making uh shoes that cost 50 cents and selling it for 200. What I'm saying is, yeah, I don't, I don't, you know, I don't want to go out and eat a DM today, or I don't want to go out and fly today, or I I don't think this is a good day to do that because of this. Hey, I totally understand. But in the overall scheme of things, by the end of the month, this is what needs to happen, so I need it done today. Oh, I well, I don't agree with that. Well, that's okay. You can disagree, but then comes the respect. You can disagree, but after we've had that conversation, we need to get this done. And I need you to do that. Because then turn it around and you have that that manager in that position, and one of your guys is saying, No, I'm just blatantly not going to do it, man. There's a big difference between I can't do and I won't do. And I need you on my team. So when you start getting to that respect level, the respect has to be there. We can agree to disagree, we can't agree to do something different. So at that point in time, it's something, you know, the correct things need to happen. And I, you know, I hate to say that because you can have that great guy, man. You can have that great guy, but I can tell you, if we use sports analogies all the time, they will bench you if you're not on the right side of the team. You that they're just things that you have to do and you have to do right. And you know what? When you don't, you might not play this game, or we might trade you to another team.

Danny Lastra 10:12

You know, I I've I've talked to other regional managers at other companies, and you have too. I know you have more connections than I do. And one of the things I've heard the most recently in the past couple months is because sometimes I do I question, like you hear rumors or you find something out, and you kind of question the deciding factor. And uh I've had a couple different regional managers make a statement along the lines of sometimes you just have to make a statement, sometimes you have to send a message. And I I didn't really understand that until the other day I saw this video by Christopher Walken. I was remember this, I was telling you about it. And the story goes, you know, the lion is the king of the jungle. You know, here's a story about the king of the jungle that he's laying there, he's sleeping, and the little the little cubs are coming, they're messing with the lion, they're nibbing on his ears and tugging at his tail, and lion doesn't move. You know, they're not doing anything. Then the lioness, they come in, they start messing with the lion and you know, scratching him and biting, nipping at him. Lion still doesn't move. Now, the other animals start seeing this, and and they start to close in the the jackals, the hyenas, and they start coming, they start eating his food and they start laughing at him, and they start nipping at him, and everybody thinks, like, oh, you know, he's there's nothing to be afraid of. And then one day that lion gets up and unleashes hell on everybody, you know, just rips them apart, the jackals, the hyenas, all of them, and lets out a mighty roar. And the moral of the story is that sometimes the lion has to remind everyone that he's a lion, you know, and that that really touched me. It really moved me. And it, you know, because again, I'm always growing, I'm developing in my position and as a leader. And I think that sometimes I neglect the authority that I have, and I sometimes I feel like I have to demonstrate it that I am a team player. I I'm rooting for every single one of you. I want you to be the best. I will provide you the tools, I will guide you, I will work side by side, but do not take my kindness for weakness. And I and I'm I feel like I'm reaching that point. And I think I think you are too sometimes.

Pete Shau 12:16

Well, you know, I mean, since we're we're pulling back the veil on a lot of things, let me tell you, a DM's position is a very difficult one. I've heard it from several people, and when I first took the DM position, I really didn't quite understand uh what that was and what that meant. It's a very, you know, for lack of a better term, it's a very underappreciated position. It is very difficult for the DMs out there who are listening, guys. I I'm gonna tell you right now, I commend you for everything that you do. Um there are some people that I agree with, and there's some people that I don't. But I can tell you right now, uh, and I've mentioned Raphael Torres's name probably a few times in the past, I can agree with him a lot more now than I understood how to agree with him before. And it wasn't that he was perfect, it wasn't that everything that he did was, you know, the fruit of the labor would show. There was some times where, you know, we all made mistakes and he did too. But part of, like again, part of the making mistakes is coming back and making it right or admitting it and then moving on, or realizing, man, maybe he was right, and I'm not I'm I'm sitting here not taking his advice or I'm not listening to it like I should when the only thing he's trying to do is make me successful, right? And then he has to come back and go, hey Bubba, uh, I don't want to have to say that again. This was the last conversation we're gonna have, and whether you're good or whether you're bad, you won't be in the seat if you keep on going the direction you're going in. And I hated those conversations, man. I hated because, dude, I was young, I was ambitious, I knew everything there was to know, and I didn't know crap. And sometimes he had to remind me, you know, bro, this is your seat on the bus. I love you. You can get up and ask me a question, or you can you can bounce back in there with the little kids, but this is your seat on my bus. Sit down for a minute, learn. You know, and it it's it's hard to hear those things. It's hard to hear if somebody say that. But on the other side of that, it builds character. You can't always be a leader. And I think sometimes right now in these day and times, man, you we have access to instant gratification. We get everything we want really quickly. Heck, we don't even have to date right. I mean, you can just go to an app, right? And you and you can date. You go to an app and you get a quick pizza. You go to uh you can go shopping without leaving your sofa, and you get you're instantly in control of your universe. And then you step outside in the world, and it's not like that. And sometimes we have to realize, especially myself, number one, I do make mistakes, and I can admit that. And number two, this is my bus. You can have a seat on my bus, and I will take you to the promised land. I'm gonna tell you right, I will do everything I can to get us there, but you need to sit down in the seat of my bus. You want to move up? Sure, come talk to me.

Danny Lastra 14:33

You know, and one thing that we also talked about is so one of my fears, and I'm just gonna express it, one of my fears, especially when I got in this role, is I always told myself, I'm not going to forget where I came from. I'm not going to forget what it was like to be an account manager, what it was like to deliver, what it's like to run a store and the day-to-day operations. And I've and I've held on to that wholeheartedly throughout these years of being in my role. But another thing that comes to my mind is you remember when we had that convention, it I believe it was a virtual, and there was that five feet, 50 feet, 5,000 feet rule. Oh man, that that was great. That was a great analogy. It was a great analogy. Our level we we manage from a 5,000-foot level. That's how technically we should, right? Because there's a bigger picture. Store managers are at a 50-foot level, and then you got your hourly employees at five foot level. They're they're they're doing the nitty-gritty, the grinding, and the managers are taking a little step back, 50 feet, observing, delegating, following up, making sure the nitty-gritty is getting done, and then we're at 5,000 feet. The the speech was about every now and then, everybody should take a little step forward. We need to come down to that 50-foot level, and the GMs at the 50-foot level need to get to that five-foot level. And what I'm finding with myself is that sometimes I'm spending too much time at 50 foot that I'm forgetting my place is really at 5,000 feet, so I can see the bigger picture. And I'm trying so hard to hold on to that uh relationship of relatability that I haven't forgotten where I come from. I do know what it's like to run a store, but then I'm neglecting the bigger picture. And you know, that's where I said I sometimes I make excuses of like, oh, I know it's busy, I know, but you know, this is something else. All right, I'm rambling. I'm sorry, excuse me. But you know, when we ran stores, I only had to be told once to do something, and I got it done. And I forget that sometimes. I forget that yes, I do know the hardships of running a day-to-day store. But if my DM or my owner said, I need this now, or I need this by nine, or I need this, whatever, there was no excuses. I got it done, like plain and simple, right then and there. And I performed, and I'm I'm questioning myself, why am I now holding everybody to that same level of accountability? Because I know it could be done, if that makes sense. Which, you know, it it's gonna lead me to something that I was talking to you about this morning. John Salinos. You remember him? I remember the name. He he was a college head coach, and this is another analogy, another speech. This is actually a true story, though. So John Salinos was a was a college uh baseball coach, and there was some baseball retreat back in the 90s, I don't know if it was 92, 96, and everybody was talking about how he was gonna give a speech, and they were so excited about it. And from this guy's perspective, who wrote it, was like he didn't know this guy, never heard of this guy. And when he went upstage, he had home plate tied around his neck like a necklace, but an actual home plate, okay? And he went and gave his speech for like 25, 30 minutes, not even acknowledging the plate. And then finally, at the end, he goes, All right, some of y'all probably wondering why I have this home plate around my neck. Let's let's acknowledge it. He goes, he goes, Who here is a little league coach? People raised their hand. How wide is home plate in little league? One of the coaches says 17 inches. He goes, Okay, what about Babe Ruth League? Somebody answers, 17 inches. He goes, What about high school? 17 inches, college, 17 inches, minor league, 17 inches, all the way up to major league, 17 inches. He goes, the plate never changes, it's always 17 inches no matter what. And he goes and gives, do we widen the plate for pitchers that can't hit that target, or do we send them off to get better training so they can hit the target? Well, the answer is you send them to training to get hit the target, and then he gets more analogies like so when your best performing player shows up to practice late, what do you do? Do you let it slide because he's the best player on the team? Do you widen the plate or do you hold him to the same accountability level as everybody else? If your club has a no-facial hair rule and that same top performing player comes in stubbly, do you send him home to go shave or do you let it slide because he's a top performing player? And the moral of the story at the very end was don't widen the plate. And man, like that's where I'm at, Pete. I think I've been widening the plate all year long.

Pete Shau 18:42

So before you before you wear that, uh before you wear that mantle all by yourself, don't feel like it's not happening everywhere else. I've done it. I think some other companies are doing it. Now here's the thing 18 and 19 were having pretty okay years. They're not the greatest years, but they're all right. We hit 21, 20, and man, things are just going through the roof, right? There's money out there, and we're walking past bad because everybody's successful, right? People who aren't that great are are kind of showing to be amazingly awesome. And the truth is, there's a lot of money out there, and I'm not trying to take it away from anybody who had some good years, but yeah, we looked really good. And then here comes 22, and this is where we've kind of all, you know, and when I say all, let's just say you and me. I'm not gonna say everybody else. But, you know, we kind of walk past bad a little bit and we kind of allow things to happen, and as we're seeing our standards just go to hell, we're like, hey, there's something wrong. And you know what it is? It's the accountability, it's widening the plate. We've allowed that to happen because we're saying, man, there's just not as much money out there. Man, there's a whole different ball game out there. No, it's not. I've been in rent to own for 18 and a half years, and only two of them have been that crazy. Yeah, okay. Does that make it the average? No. Does that make it close to the average? No, not really. It's because we decided to take what was happening and apply it to the people instead of taking the people and applying that to what happened. And so what happened is we we allowed it. And so now we have to go back today and even even this year, as we do our our end of year evals and go, yeah, we've we've done something that we we've got to come back to it. We've got to get back to basics.

Danny Lastra 20:11

And I think the number one excuse that I make, you make, our managers make is it's hard to hire. And I think because of the pandemic, it became a norm that everybody has struggled with this. Everybody has struggled hiring, right? So if it's so hard to hire, I think that's what started the whiting the plate. You start looking the other way for minor things because it's not like 2018, 2019. It's not like you could just replace somebody in two, three days. You know, it is hard. But I think if we don't stop that now, if we and if we don't start the accountability, it's gonna get worse and worse. You know, I'm going to admit as well, I called you yesterday or the other day was that, you know, it's under investigation that I found out some some flyers were thrown into a dumpster. I don't know what location, I have an idea. And you know, I'm I'm working with the store manager for a video footage, right? And of course, ironically, I just sent out an email two weeks ago to my team stating that if any flyers are thrown away, that employee caught will be automatically terminated, right? So I'm an emotional person, I'm angry and I'm I'm blatantly texting my managers who did it. I want everybody interrogated, find that person, I want them gone. I called Larry Pivotal, I told him that person's gone. And I'm not gonna lie, on the way home last night, I had a moment of doubt. I had a moment of, okay, am I overreacting? Man, drivers are so hard to find. You know, if I do find it, should I let that person go? Because it's so hard to find. Of all positions, too, drivers, that's the hardest position we're looking for. And I did have that moment of of self doubt of my decision making and accountability. And for that second, that moment, I was I was almost willing to widen the plate. I immediately said, No, I'm sticking to my guns. When we find that individual, there has to be consequences. If not, then there's never gonna be a level of respect, and then there's never gonna be an achievement of greatness. Don't you agree?

Pete Shau 22:00

Well, ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you that this uh this has been a come to Jesus meeting for the RTO show where we admit all kinds of faults that we have on a day-to-day basis. And this is what we kind of wanted to to bring out to you guys is that we're not perfect. We're gonna give you a lot of advice and we're gonna give you a lot of hints and a lot of things that were gonna make you successful, which you have to remember is that how you you apply what what you learn is gonna be as big and as important as everything else, but take off the filters. There are no filters in rent to own, there are no filters in real life. Danny, I agree with you 100%. I think that there needs to be an accountability. That that level is gonna, of course, be up to you and what you think is is fitting. I can tell you this right now. I've made mistakes in my past, probably mistakes that I probably should have been terminated for. I've had people that were above me that kind of looked at me and said, I see potential in you. So I'm gonna give you, you're gonna move back on my bus. Okay. You're gonna move a little bit further back, and this is a final warning. But I think that if you can learn from this, you can come out of it. And so I won't always say that termination is the right answer. What I would say is it's a case by case. You know who did it, or you don't know who did it, or when you find out, you you don't know the the the the situation or the story. I'm not saying that there's ever a right reason to do that, but what I tell I will tell you is I've made faults and somebody has allowed me to stay. And today I feel like I'm more successful than I've ever been to learn from those mistakes. I I think that sometimes even sitting down with some of the people that are above us, some of the people that we look up to, there's a statement out there that says, never meet your heroes. Because when you meet them, you're gonna realize they can do one thing extraordinarily well. But they're people on the rest of the thing. We put on our pants the same way, we talk the same way, we look at different situations the same way, but they can do one thing exceedingly well. And so that filter comes on as when they're doing that one thing extremely well, we put them on that shelf. Man, they can do that really well. And we forget, they eat the same food we eat, they live in the same neighborhoods that we live in, and so I wouldn't say don't meet your heroes. What I'm gonna say is admit fault. When you're talking to your guys, remember that nobody's perfect. When somebody's talking to you, remember they're not perfect. And I think sometimes we have to have that conversation with our people. You know what, man? I haven't always been here, I haven't always been this successful. But there are markers, there are subjects, there are speed bumps that you hit that you can't come back from. Okay, so you got to remember, it's like driving a car. Sometimes you can kind of cross the middle line and you look you waver a little bit, sometimes you can skate past that stop sign a little bit, but you gotta be careful because on the other end of that is a mistake that you might not be able to come back from. And so the point of the story is keep yourself as straight as you can. Learn from the mistakes that you've made. Because if you veer over the center line too much, you can hit oncoming traffic. If you go past that stop sign too fast, you're not paying attention, you can hit somebody. That's walking in the crosswalk. Inside joke. So it's one of those things that you're always watching yourself and making sure that you don't go too far. And if you have that cop that pulls you over and says, hey man, I've been watching you, and you're not doing it now in this instance, but that one thing could have cost you your life. It could cost somebody else their life, you need to get better. If you can get better from that, that makes it worthwhile. If you can't, you can't be on the bus. So, Danny, when you find out who's passing out flyers and you have that conversation, I think at the end of that conversation you'll have your answer. Does that guy have a seat on my bus, or does he just need a ride home? Is that person who's not giving me the respect that I I'm telling you, if I give you respect, I expect respect in return. And if I'm not getting that, that's a conversation that we have to have. And at the end of it, it's not about how well you perform. It doesn't matter how much money you've made to company. Are you a great employee? I'm a good employee. Person to person, we're good people. And at the end of the day, I won't sacrifice who I am for somebody who is not gonna be good to my customers, it's not gonna be good to my people. They're not the only successful person in the world. I think we have a lot of people that if we gave a chance to, they would be just as successful or more. Facts. We gotta treat people like people and admit our faults and and see if they can admit theirs. That's what I feel.

Danny Lastra 26:07

I I totally agree. And I think going into the new year, I'm not a big resolution person, but I think that's gonna be my resolution. I think it's I'm gonna stop whining the plate so much. If I can prevent it at all, I will. I'm going to be the lion. Yes, I will take things case by case, and remember everybody's human, and some people do deserve second chances. I'm gonna remember that sometimes I need to step away from the five feet and fifty feet and step back to the five thousand feet where I belong. And overall, I think no correction. I'm going to be a better leader and a better boss and a better district manager to my team by implementing true accountability. Because how can I expect my team to get better if I don't better myself?

Pete Shau 26:58

You know, I clap, but I don't know if everybody can hear that. Here's the thing, man. I agree with you 100%. I think that this year I do not have a New Year's resolution lined up. We got Christmas coming up, I got everything going on. I don't have all my presents because I'm a fault. I got things I gotta do right on a last-minute shopper. What I'm gonna do this coming year, and I told myself, I want to hold everybody accountable. And I think, you know, this is just between you and me. I think I hold people accountable in a different way than you do. Um and so I told myself, with the accountability, if I'm gonna be that strict on accountability, and and I I definitely have people that I've uh or situations that I've allowed to slip through the cracks, I've got that. I'm not I'm not anywhere near away from that. But training is something that I got away from. And this year I kind of got uh a little bit more uh lackadaisical on that because I have managers that have been with me a little bit longer, and sometimes I forget it doesn't matter how long you've been in the business, it doesn't matter what you think you know, there's always something to learn. There's even if even if they know everything there is to know about their position, how many times have you remembered something from a refresher course that you're like, why am I not doing that? I've heard that a hundred times, and then today it's like, God, why did I not remember? I should be doing that. Everybody can benefit from that. Whether it's a learning course or a fresher course, whether it's learning something new or training my replacement, which is something that I plan on doing heavily this year. I want somebody to be able to step in because you know what? I'm not perfect, and my thought process is this. How am I gonna get anywhere else if I don't have anybody to fill my shoes? I want to have somebody ready to go, and I can't do that properly if I'm not training somebody to take my place when I move up and I move out, right? So I've got to do that. I've got to make sure that I'm training better. I've got to be the leader I feel like they need me to be, and stop being the leader I think I should be.

Danny Lastra 28:51

Yes.

Pete Shau 28:52

And I think that that goes hand in hand to you know what, I think I can let this guy slide, I think I can let this gal slide. I think the situation is not as bad. No, I need to be the leader that they need me to be. And that leader is gonna be great and pat them on the back sometimes, and sometimes that's not gonna be a pat on the back, sometimes it's gonna be a sit-down conversation, and uh, this plate is 17 inches, not 17 and a half, not 18. And if you don't hit in the strike zone, we're gonna have to take you back to training and figure out why.

Danny Lastra 29:20

Yep, I agree.

Pete Shau 29:21

And I think, you know, and then I think the last thing is for Pete, I want to say I agree with you wholeheartedly. We have made so many changes this year because of who's available. And I think sometimes we forget that we're so worried about what we have and replacing. Sometimes we forget the guys that we have here.

Danny Lastra 29:41

Yes.

Pete Shau 29:42

And there's two sides of that coin, there's bringing somebody in, and then there's the guys that we have, and we have to hold them just as accountable. We have to give them just as much training as we would the new guy who walks in the door and doesn't know anything. We have to give them as much love as we try to tell people, hey, come to my business because I have this and I have that and I have this, and then we don't turn around to the guy who's been here for forever and remind him, hey man, I got spiff on tires. I have this available. You have a PTO day. Hey man, you've done a great job. I'm gonna buy you a hat, one of the, you know, uh, a company hat, or I'm gonna, I'm gonna take you out to lunch. Why am I so worried about the guy I don't even know before I take care of the guy that's been here? And I think that's my fault. I think we we we get so focused on what's on fire that sometimes we forget preventing fires is also just as important. And so that's what I'm gonna do this year. I don't know about you guys, but that's Pete and Danny's resolutions for for 2023 going into the 2023 season two. Um, listen, if you guys have any questions or you anything that you want to talk about us, we'll be like, hey guys, you you guys completely forgot to mention this. You need to do this, you can email us at Pete at the RTO Show Podcast.com, or if you want to tell Danny uh about his training day uh video or his training day podcast, you can email Danny at Danny at the rto showpodcast.com, or you can go to the website www.therto showpodcast.com, see us on some crazy videos, take a look at where we're doing, buy a shirt. Um, I'm gonna tell you right now, I've got some good reviews on our shirts. Danny's got a few. I'm gonna have a ton by the end of this uh holiday season. They're great. Listen, we want you to use them as stocking stuffers, put them on, show your love for the RTO show, because I'm gonna tell you guys what we love what you guys do when you guys reach out to us and everything like that. We just heard yesterday that we're out in Missouri. We love people in Missouri. We love it. I'm gonna tell you right now, we love we love everything that you guys got going on everywhere. And I think that we can do better. What can we do better for the podcast, Eddie? What's something that we can do better for next year for the podcast?

Danny Lastra 31:46

Well, I was gonna end on final thoughts. This this whole of this show, admitting faults, resolutions for next year, whether it's professionally, personally, or our podcast here. So I'm gonna end it with this. It's a quote by Denzel Washington, and he says, Without commitment, you will never start. Without consistency, you'll never finish. So that's the final thoughts of this show. That's what I think is gonna set us up for the next year of 23 podcasts, uh, our careers, our personal lives. I think we have to commit, that's the first step, and then let's stay consistent in what our commitment is. And if we do that, success.

Pete Shau 32:29

I would say I'm gonna say Denzel Washington. You can't Denzel Washington me out. Uh, he says that uh when you pray for rain, you gotta deal with the mud too, because that's part of it.

Danny Lastra 32:39

No, absolutely.

Pete Shau 32:40

And I I I believe that we can get better. So for everybody out there in the RTO world, listen, we love you. Please uh listen, subscribe, talk to everybody about it because we have some great things going on. We have some uh interviews going on next year. Next year's gonna be like the interview year. Yes, we're gonna be one like we're we're gonna talk to everybody and we're gonna put them on the show for you so that you guys can hear them. And uh again, if you have any uh comments, concerns, or anything, reach out to us. Reach out to Danny with all the complaints, reach out to me for all the great things that we're doing and let us know we can do better.

Danny Lastra 33:10

We love you guys. Happy holidays. And without further ado, this is the RTO show with Danny and Pete.