Do Not Chase Money: Interview with Bert Miller, CEO of Protis Global
I recently went one on one with Bert Miller, CEO of Protis Global and Ace Talent Curators.
Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks, or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?
Bert: I grew up just north of Indianapolis and went to school at Ball State University. I started my career at the E&J Gallo program and was placed at Monarch Beverage. I was there for four years and had the opportunity to move on to Revlon NA where I took on 6 different roles in my 7 years and ultimately became the division director responsible for $180 million in sales across both Revlon and Almay cosmetics and Revlon Fragrances.
In 1995, I left Revlon at 33 years old to co-found Protis Global, a retained search firm. In 2019, I acquired MRINetwork to lead the organization and its franchise offices through digital and learning transformation in the new world of work.
Of course, through those years, there were setbacks, whether being under-capitalized, overcoming a lawsuit and of course, a couple of recessions.
Robert Frost said, “The best out is always through,” which has become a key mindset during difficult times.
I learned to remain calm in the eyes of the storm. Slowing down and systematically charting the course through crisis actually speeds up the road to resolution.
Adam: In your experience, what are the key steps to growing and scaling your business?
Bert:
Have a Product in demand
A mission—crystallize your north star
Surround yourself with multiplier impact talent and leaders
Map out workflow
Develop systems that overlay the workflow
Automate what you can
Understand the subtle difference between growth and scaling
Growing means adding people to grow the business
Scaling means utilizing workflow, talent, focus/mission, systems to exponentially increase revenue without having to hire as many people or incur substantial increase in cost.
Adam: What do you believe are the defining qualities of an effective leader?
Bert: Ensure everybody feels safe. Over Communicate. Be transparent — I’m a huge believer in transparency. When there is a curveball, reset where you are in your company relative to the objectives, and level set at that current moment in time as to what the re-casted objectives might be.
Provide that picture to your team along with the steps to get there versus the outcome –you need to explain the intermediate, smaller goals that are a part of the larger goal. A lot of people want instant gratification, and they won’t see the big picture until the end. So, the smaller wins help quench the thirst along the way.
In challenging times, leaders need to provide their staff with the right data points and triggers so that they know they’re moving in the right direction. It’s crucial to break up the larger goal into smaller, more manageable goals for your people.
Lastly, be consistent as a leader. Having a lot of energy and intensity is a great thing, and people know and feel that, but you don’t want to be angry. You don’t want to show worry, though — sometimes you have to get through challenging times, and you want people to see you as calm and guiding the team through each hurdle. Having control of your emotions is very important but also very difficult — few people can actually execute leadership in this manner, but when people see a calm leader, they’re also able to execute on what they need to do as part of the team.
Adam: How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?
Bert:
Provide a why and purpose.
Learn about your team – what are their intrinsic motivators—tap into their intrinsic passions and then you inspire them. Once they are inspired, they will perform at incredible levels. One can only motivate for very short spurts and is not sustainable, so learning to inspire is part of the long game.
Consistency—be a consistent leader and avoid the ebb and flow of emotions.
Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives, and civic leaders?
Bert:
Always have a great CFO.
Network within your sector and, perhaps as important, network outside your sector. We tend to live in what we know and that echo chamber can be limiting.
Be curious.
Focus on your well-being - if you are not taking care of yourself, you cannot take care of others.
Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading, and managing teams?
Bert:
Serve your tribe.
Protect your tribe.
Be relentless about education/learning the craft to ensure skills do not erode.
Network.
Adam: What are your best tips on the topics of sales, marketing, and branding?
Bert:
Prepare for crisis. Anyone can be a winner when all is great.
For Protis Global, in March of 2020, we immediately reviewed a forecasted budget that included a forecasted revenue decline through the end of 2020, with more severe declines in Q2 and Q3 than Q4. Then, we discussed if this visual became our reality, whether our business would be able to survive — the answer was yes, although it was not going to be easy. Thankfully, we far outperformed our dire forecast.
Continue to hire great talent.
Increase marketing and branding budgets. Most companies cut these during difficult times, but talent is important, and people are what make you successful. Great marketing will always win over great sales teams.
Even during trying times, you’re forging forward and still investing in PR and marketing to take your brand to another level where people are continuing to see you.
Offer in your effort to brand, education, information, and inspiration. Give always and the business will come.
Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?
Bert: Roger Anderson was my first field manager at Revlon, and on a business trip, he asked me, “How are you going to spend your time over the next month?” I pulled out my schedule, and as we were looking through my meetings, he asked me why I had scheduled time with people who were not my home run hitters. I explained that I needed to develop those people, and he said, “You want to spend the most time with your best people. Certainly, you want to try to develop your weaker team members, but if you don’t develop your great people, you’re going to lose your great people.”
Then he gave me some great advice. He told me that as you’re progressing in your career, carry yourself for the role you aspire to have. Observe how the person in that role dresses, carries themselves, engages with others, and networks — you still want to be yourself, but you want to try to mimic these behaviors as best you can.
Adam: Is there anything else you would like to share?
Bert: Do not become jaded by circumstances or people. Life is not fair but you have to stay open-minded because when people become jaded, they allow poor experience to cloud their judgment and lead them into a reality that just isn’t true. Being jaded can create blinders for your greatest opportunity.
Be an intentional networker. Build your advocates and supporters early - a lifetime exercise.
Finally, do not chase money. Unless somehow it is generational wealth, do not chase money as it clouds quality decision-making. Do not pass up an opportunity with the right people or the right mission that can lead you to becoming the best version of yourself for that extra $10k. If you are working with the right people with the right purpose, you will make that $10k back twentyfold.
Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.
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