Howard Shore is a man of many credentials. Not to be confused with the composer of the same name, Howard is the founder and CEO of Activate Group, Inc., a bestselling author, and serial entrepreneur. Among his credentials are certifications as a Scaling Up Coach, an Executive Coach, a Behavioral Analyst, Values Analyst, an Attributes Index Analyst, a 3HAG Coach, and a Public Accountant.
According to his website, Howard Shore is also a highly “sought-after business mentor, executive coach, and keynote speaker.” Having worked for 30 years in the field, Howard’s techniques are sure to help your enterprise become “more profitable, stable, and scalable.”
As a bestselling author, Howard Shore has written the books “Your Business Is a Leaky Bucket,” and “The Leader Launchpad.” The latter book contains tips, coming straight from Howard himself, on cultivating leadership mindsets that can take your company from good to great. You could also learn how to manage your employees; drive up your cash flow for more profitability; align your company’s interests for a common goal; making sure the right people are doing the right jobs; and building a culture of accountability and sustainable success.
With “The Leader Launchpad,” Howard Shore wants to help you create a strategy that speeds up your business growth. The book gives you a roadmap to navigate critical areas that affect every company, setting you up for both short-term and long-term success.
Howard Shore and Activate Group have dedicated themselves to help other businesses succeed. According to the company website, every member of the group has managed business that make $50 million in revenue every year. Since they’ve been there before, many times, they can help you get there, too.
Check out more interviews with business leaders here. If you’re curious about “The Leader Launchpad,” you can check it out here.
Jerome Knyszewski: What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
Howard Shore: There are a lot of people in our field and many companies looking to acquire the same customers. Many of them are very talented but don’t drive the results we do for our clients. We have developed the systems, tools, and processes that consistently deliver results. We are so confident in our ability to deliver results that we guarantee our work.
A typical example of results occurred with a client in the restoration industry. The company was doing well even before they hired us to work with them. They had achieved decent growth in the last three years, and net profit margins were well above the industry’s norms. The CEO realized that the significant benefits they’d gained by working with one external advisor for several years had reached a plateau. He wanted to have a much more substantial impact in his industry and create employment for many more workers. It had taken him almost 20 years to grow to $7 million in revenue. He knew that he and his team of 32 employees had so much more potential. It was time for a fresh approach.
After three years of working with them, the company grew to almost $22 million in revenue and had nearly 25% in an industry where the average is 5%. More importantly, they had built a stronger leadership team, a higher percentage of employees were fully engaged, and competitors wanted to learn how they formed such an influential culture.
Jerome Knyszewski: Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”? None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
Howard Shore: I have a great family nucleus and peers who have always been there to support and encourage me. My wife and mom, especially. It is also important that I have been religious about taking enough time off to recharge my batteries, exercise regularly and practice meditation. As they say in the airlines, you have to put on your oxygen mask first before helping others.
Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. While it is important to separate yourself from the pack, it is equally critical that you leverage others’ experiences. I am affiliated with several organizations that have helped me accelerate my learning curve. I have hired executive coaches, joined peer groups, and aligned myself with people and organizations to help me find my way through. It is important to talk to other people who have been through your journey and are like-minded. I have to say I have some great mentors and peers who keep me focused on the right things.
Many people influenced me at different times and in different ways. One of those people was George Scanlon. He and I ascended together over seven years in the corporate office of a $5-billion company. He was ultimately the SVP of Corporate Planning and was CEO of Fidelity National Financial, a company with over 10,000 employees. George not only gave me my chance to work at Ryder, but he saw things in me that I did not see in myself. He gave me an opportunity where others would not. The corporate planning department and company were full of Ivy Leaguers who had MBAs.
When I started, I did not fit to onlookers, as I went to Florida International University and only had a bachelor’s degree when I first started. While that was a local school, Ryder looked at their graduates. At Ryder, it was very structured and corporate, they valued pedigrees, and I was far from that.
George encouraged and supported my getting an MBA at night and why I took the continuing education courses at major universities. He helped me understand how to get ahead and not have to change what made me unique. God knows there were times that it was apparent I was different from a lot of my colleagues. He played to my strengths and made sure I got the feedback I needed to excel. George helped me see and learn how to overcome the behavioral attributes that would prevent me from ascending within the company. He gave me the chance to attack new opportunities and problems every year. He also allowed me to make mistakes and learn from them. He was the reason I had a chance to become the head of the strategy department, helping steer our multi-billion global company. When I got there, I did not even know such a role existed, nor would I have seen myself in that position.
Jerome Knyszewski: Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of this interview. Delegating effectively is a challenge for many leaders. Let’s put first things first. Can you help articulate to our readers a few reasons why delegating is such an important skill for a leader or a business owner to develop?
Howard Shore: The number one goal for everyone is to serve customers in a way that provides comparable or more value at a lower cost. You cannot accomplish this without delegation.
I believe organizations create too much bureaucracy. And the larger the company, the greater the bureaucracy. Flatter organizations that expect and get more creative and substantial contributions from the front-lines outperform their competition. Once someone becomes a leader, they have an incentive to build their empire. The bigger their empire, the higher their earnings, and the more powerful they feel.
Unfortunately, most of this bureaucracy adds little (if any value) and destroys it in most cases. Leaders don’t serve customers and often create policies and procedures that increase costs and diminish product and service’ quality. The more layers you have, the more likely you are out of touch with the market and your customers.
By delegating more accountability and responsibility, you allow your company to be more nimble in addressing your customers’ needs. Moreover, instead of accessing a few brains of a few, we access many. By enabling and empowering your front line workers, they are more engaged and feel more accountable to serve your customers uniquely and better than your competition. Customers are the only reason you exist.
Jerome Knyszewski: Can you help articulate a few of the reasons why delegating is such a challenge for so many people?
Howard Shore: The first is ego and mindset. Most people act and lead as if they have all the answers. They fail to respect their people. They have stinking thinking about each person’s potential, place judgments with no facts, and try to treat workers as if they are robots. Their view of others significantly reduces how much they are willing to trust and depend on others.
Delegating takes time. Most people find it easier and faster to do things themselves. People have too much a short-term view of accomplishing the goals of the organization. They are too task-oriented and need to have a broader perspective.
Delegation requires clear vision and communication. Many times people do not have a clear vision and provide incomplete information. They figure things out as they move along. If you want to delegate, the vision has to be clear and complete. We assume everyone knows and sees what we see. Even if people had all the same facts, they would draw different conclusions based on their knowledge and experience. It takes time and effort to sort this out.
Jerome Knyszewski: In your opinion, what pivots need to be made, either in perspective or in work habits, to help alleviate some of the challenges you mentioned?
Howard Shore: Change your view. Every person has the potential to add perspectives you don’t have. Bring different experiences. They want to work hard, make a difference, and all have unlimited and untapped potential. Until you believe this, you will limit their potential, delegate less, and your team will become less engaged. With this new mindset, you will accomplish more together.
You also need to stop being a perfectionist and having things done your way! There are many ways to achieve the same outcomes. Be clear on outcomes and not steps. Stop holding people to standards you could never achieve and creating the controlling environment that you hate. Micromanaging perfectionists suck the life out of the rest of the team and will never be satisfied. Whenever I have flipped the mirror back on these people, they never acknowledge that they failed to achieve what is expected.
Jerome Knyszewski: Thank you for all of that. We are nearly done. You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Howard Shore: I want to impact the lives of at least 500,000 people. I want to help create more wealth, happiness, and freedom to do important things. I want to accomplish this for everyone I touch.
Jerome Knyszewski: How can our readers further follow you online?
Howard Shore: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, and they can go to our website and sign up for our newsletter.
Jerome Knyszewski: This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this!
