Lousy Leadership with Brian Lousy

Welcome to Grit Nation. I'm Joe Cadwell, the host of the show, and in this episode I have the pleasure of speaking with jobsite foreman, self taught communication expert and author of two books on construction leadership, Brian Lousy. Brian landed on the literary scene with a thud in early 2016. With his book a mind reader's guide to supervision, in which he introduced the practice of managing construction projects by intentionally holding back production goals and

Hang on a second there, Jim. I put in a fresh dip.

Yeah, sure. No worries, Brian. And by the way, it said Joe.

Oh, yeah, sure. Were you ready to get this thing going? Or what?

Yeah, yeah, you bet. You're Brian. So again, thank you so much for taking your time to be on the show today. I'm really excited to talk with you about your books and the new leadership program you've started. I understand you developed it to mirror your own experiences in the trades. So what can you tell our listeners about why you started lousy leadership? Well, John, Hey, Brian, it's it's Joe.

Oh, okay. Sorry. So Joe, it's like this. You know, over the past 30 years, I gained a lot of experience in construction. I saw the industry changed dramatically in my time, opportunities opened up for all sorts of people to make a decent living doing what they loved. Yeah, I

agree. It's a totally different world than when we started.

Yeah, it is. Some of its good. Some of its not so good. You know what I mean? But with all that change, you know, some things just didn't need to change really like what, what's the way they're treating each other out on the job, they're just not giving each other enough crap nowadays, there's not enough yelling or name calling anymore. You know, heck, even hazing has gone away. So, you know, I said enough's enough. And I decided to change that.

And that's why you started the Brian lousy Leadership Program.

I'm sure it is. You see, there's a lot of programs out there that claim to teach leadership, but none of them teach you what it's like in the real world. You know, these other programs want you to teach communication and collaboration and blah, blah, blah, but not mine. Brian lousy, teaches leadership, the lousy way.

That's an interesting point you got there, Brian. You know, it pretty much goes against the grain of modern day leadership philosophy, though.

Philosophy. And you see that that's the problem. The nice thing about my program is there's no philosophy. You either figure it out, or I find someone else who can in the real world, we don't philosophize. We point we grant and we expect people to catch on. It's that simple.

Oh, that sounds kind of like the premise of your first book the mind reader's guide to supervision.

Yeah, sure is, you know, I wrote that book to counter what I felt was going wrong in the industry.

Gotcha rebuttal to clear, concise, respectful communication and leadership. That's interesting. I understand that book didn't sell too. Well. Why do you think that is?

You don't have that. What's that? Your coffee? Don't a cup?

Actually, I'm still using it. Why I need something to spit him. Dude, you got a cup right to your right, grab that instead. Alright, so again, your book didn't sell too. Well. Brian, why do you think that is?

I think maybe it had too many words.

Yeah. Okay. So so now let's get into your second book. Get her did dummy. This book definitely took a different direction from the norm. Why did you write a follow up book and where did you do your research for this

one? There is no research. It's like philosophy. I wanted to create a book that drew up on my experience of what it was like when I was coming up in the trades, and people treated me like crap. I remembered that and I wrote

it down. Alright, that's interesting. So go on. You see,

I learned the hard way for some real hard asses. You know, for men who didn't give two hoots if you caught on it Not, you know, like I said earlier, I had to keep up or they'd find someone else who would get her did is my attempt to pass down that kind of knowledge. It's not this kumbaya nonsense.

Hey, Brian, I'm gonna have to disagree with you there. I mean, sure, a lot has changed in the trades over the years. But I think one of the most significant shifts has been the attention given towards developing real leaders, people can not only get the job done, but are good at communicating and motivating their people. I hate to say it, but your book seems to be perpetuating some pretty old school attitudes.

bull puppy, you know, I checked out those other programs to one to lead gently stir fry Breslin. None of them made any sense. There's too many words, there's not enough real action.

Well, you do got a point there. I mean, most communication training does use a lot of words. It's kind of the point. I mean, how we use words can be the difference between building someone up or tearing them down.

Exactly. That's why I try not to use them. You know, I'll let you know what I'm thinking. When I'm getting ready. You screw up, you're gonna know about it.

Yeah, I kind of get that from looking through your book. I noticed it's pretty much filled with pictures of you yelling.

You damn right. It is a picture, as they say is worth 1000 words. Need I say more?

Yeah, but I mean, how does that really teach anyone about leadership? I mean, seriously, here's a picture of you yelling at a fence post. What's that about?

Oh, that's me practicing vocal projection. Lousy leadership relies heavily on your pipes. I believe the louder you get, the more respect you get. And that's pretty much the core of my program.

Yelling is the core audio program.

It works great.

Man. Once again, I hate to say I'm gonna disagree with you. I mean, seriously, I've worked with a lot of folks whose default was yelling. It's never helped. It's always made things a lot worse.

I'm not sure I'm following. You know, yelling is a great motivational tool for me. I love seeing people pop tall when I get pissed. It's kind of a power trip.

And that Brian seems to be the problem. I mean, putting people on edge does not make them perform better. Your book even has something called rage in it. What is rage about?

Well, thanks for asking Jeff. You see, rage is an acronym, our ag E. It's a technique I created to deal with conflict resolution.

Alright, so now it sounds like we're actually getting to something useful. So what's the R stands for in rage? Hold

on, hold on, hold on. You got to ease into rage.

What do you mean?

Well, here's the deal. Rage is used to deal with conflict, right? Sure. So first, you need to find some conflict. Pick a topic to discuss work sports politics, it doesn't really matter. Eventually, someone's going to say something you don't agree with. That's when you rage.

So let me get this straight. You use rage when someone has a point of view that's different than your own

zactly. Now you're getting other people's thoughts. Just get in the way. Who's got time for that? So to answer your question, the R is for React. Don't worry about listening anymore. Forget about counting to 10 or taking a deep breath just react.

It's that simple. So seriously, that's the er, yeah,

see reacting is just the first step. Then it's time to amp up.

And that's the A and rage. Sure.

I mean, if someone's not agreeing with you, things are about to get real. Therefore you need to get amped

it sounds like amping up is escalating the situation. I thought this was supposed to be conflict resolution. I hate to ask but what's the G stands for get a gun? G

means get close. Closer, the better get right up in their face. You need to let whoever you're dealing with know that you mean business buddy.

Holy smokes. That doesn't sound too smart. To me. It's almost like you're looking for a fight.

Well, funny. You should say that because I want to try to rage on my kids karate instructor and that didn't go too well. Yeah, imagine that. Kind of change the E up after

that. So let me guess. After that conflict, you must have changed the E to something like engage in respectful conversation.

Are you kidding me? No way. He means time to explode.

Seriously, you change the E to explode. What was it before?

It doesn't matter? What does matter is that you're now in full Rage Mode.

Brian, that's about the dumbest advice I've ever heard to deal with conflict resolution.

Well, I'll count to 10 and consider your point of view there. Jeff.

This episode of grit nation is sponsored by T SLUB. Industries manufacturers of cutting edge nanotechnology self driving fasteners. Based in Yab lay Sweden this innovative Scandinavian company has upended the European construction industry with their revolutionary technology, and they now have their eyes set on North America. once considered impossible, and in the realm of science fiction, nanotechnology

No. I mean, not at all on the job. I use funny nicknames for folks all day long. Especially the apprentices, Hammerhead box rocks. Hey, lunch box. It's all in good fun. They love it.

Well, once again, guess what? I'm gonna disagree with you there. I mean, name calling. That's a thing of the past. We need to be better than that as leaders.

Look, you know, I call it like I see it. If a first timer makes a boneheaded mistake, they should carry a name of shame around for a while. That's my style.

Trust me here. I mean, people look up to the foremen and supervisors to set the tone on the job site. If you set a low bar, it's going to have a negative impact on the whole crew. I mean, as leaders, we need to be better than that.

And that's why I started lousy leadership. That's not the way it is out there. People need to feel like crap about themselves to do their best.

Look, I'm not advocating holding anyone's hand. I'm just saying our default shouldn't be to always put people down. It's got to be to help them up. I mean, belittlement name calling. It's lazy and weak, taking the time to teach folks to do things the right way. That's where the hard work begins.

Yeah, well, you might have a point there. I never really thought about it

that way. You mean we actually agree upon something? Mm. Well,

yeah, maybe I guess we do. You know, like I said, things have changed over the years in construction. Safety is a big deal. Now. You know, the zero tolerance for drugs and alcohol anymore. This new leadership thing may not be such a bad idea after all.

Yeah, I mean, I get it. You know, old ways are hard to break, but we got to try. You know, I mean, treating apprentices like real people, it's not the worst thing. I know, I made my fair share of mistakes. I know you must have made yours to

never. But you know, you're right. We all got families to feed. And being in the trades is pretty damn hard as it is. And I reckon we don't need to make it harder by being jerks.

Wow, that was pretty well said, Brian. Thanks. So Brian, lousy. What's next for you and lousy leadership?

Hmm. Well, you know, sitting here and talking. I think I just found the inspiration from a new book. Really? What about Transformative Leadership?

Wow, that sounds pretty cool. What do you think you'd call it?

Huh? Yeah, I think I'll call it pull your head out of your rear and get your leadership into gear.

I love it. Pull your head out of your rear and get your leadership into gear. Brian louses has been a fantastic conversation. I want to thank you for taking your time to be on the show. And for everyone who's listening. Happy April Fool's Day. I guess this has been Brian Lausen, author of bitter dead dummy a guide to lousy leadership. For more information about leadership strategies that actually work or martial arts instructors near you. Be sure to visit the show