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Four Mindsets of a Leader

Luis Scott

Luis Scott is the Managing Partner at Bader Scott Injury Lawyers, where he represents people who have been injured or disabled in severe accidents. He is also the Owner of 8 Figure Firm, which provides consulting services and insider knowledge to national law firms. As Bader Scott’s managing attorney, he handles over 150 employees and contractors and has led the firm to be recognized by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as one of the fastest-growing businesses in Georgia. 

Luis has received numerous awards and accolades, including Super Lawyers’ “Rising Star,” The National Trial Lawyers Association’s “Top 40 Lawyers Under 40,” and the American Institute of Legal Counsel’s “10 Best Attorneys in 2017” for workers’ compensation.

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Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

  • The importance of leadership in scaling a business
  • Luis Scott explains the three primary phases of business growth
  • Essential leadership qualities for employee retention
  • What are the four key components of a leader?

In this episode…

Leadership is integral to any business’ growth and success. Exceptional leaders create opportunities, positively impact their teams, and develop creative solutions to business problems. So how can you cultivate influential leadership to propel your company forward?

Luis Scott says that when your business reaches $8 million in revenue, it’s time to invest in leadership. There are four crucial mindsets of a leader: growth, inclusivity, agility, and enterprise. Executives must provide their team members the opportunity to evolve their skills and discover their full potential. A leader with an inclusive mindset encourages employees to contribute their ideas and strategies to the organization. With an agile mindset, these professionals understand that even uninformed decision-making is imperative to business growth. An enterprise mindset fosters collaboration to accomplish a shared goal.

Luis Scott talks about the four characteristics of effective leadership in today’s episode of The Guts and Glory Show. He also addresses the importance of leadership in scaling a business, the three fundamental phases of business growth, and essential leadership styles for employee retention.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Sponsor for this episode…

This episode is brought to you by 8 Figure Firm.

Co-founded by Luis Scott and Seth Bader of Bader Scott Injury Lawyers, 8 Figure Firm helps transform your law firm into a 7-figure or even 8-figure firm.

After their own law firm scaled from $3.5 million in revenues to $30 million per year in revenues in just two years, Luis and Seth started the 8 Figure Firm to share their strategies and help other law firms achieve exponential growth.

Visit www.8figurefirm.com to receive a consult call and start scaling your business today.

Episode Transcript

Luis Scott  0:00  

But we just live in a different world today. It’s some may say it’s a better world, some may say it’s a worse world, some may not have an opinion on it at all. But we live in a different world. And there’s no doubt about that. I think social media has really influenced this in a major way. And the reason we live in a different world is because in today’s world, the level of commitment that is required for success is frowned upon. You know, when I tell employees, that my expectation is that they stay with the company for 10 1215 years, they’re like, that’s the old days, that’s old school everyone wants to work with and for someone they enjoy being around, when I think about leading a life of significance, I don’t think about money, I think about all the people that can be changed by the impact that I’ve made in their lives. Hey, guys, welcome to The Guts and Glory Show. My name is Luis, I am your host. And I’m so thankful that you’re here. And you’re joining us really excited about talking about today’s topic, and is the mindset of a leader. And this is something that is relevant to today’s business environment. And it’s this idea of the impact that leaders play in an organization, what is it that a leader does? How do they contribute? How do they, how do they make a difference in people’s lives and in in the lives of the people in their organization, and really in the community that they serve, and the clients that they serve. And I believe that leadership is the end all and be all. I really do think that I think that without leadership, your business cannot grow. Without leadership, your business cannot thrive. Without leadership, your business cannot survive. Your business cannot be what it was meant to be what it was called to be what it was destined to be without the right leaders in place that are guiding it and that are creating something out of nothing that are creating opportunity, solving problems and finding solutions to issues that may be arising in your business. And so leadership is everything. And when I teach or consult, and companies, I tell them that there’s three primary phases, the first phase is zero to 3 million and zero to 3 million. We’re in client acquisition mode, we’re trying to get as many clients as we can, as many leads as we can, we’re trying to get our marketing out there trying to find as many clients as we possibly can. But at 3 million something happens. And generally speaking, what happens that 3 million is if you’re generating about $200,000 worth of revenue per employee, which is which is a pretty good amount, or 150, or whatever the number is, you want to strive for as high as you possibly can per employee. But if you’re generating at $200,000 per employee, you have about 15 employees when you get to 3 million. And something happens at that mark between three and $4 million, where you realize that people are probably the most important part of your business. Now, it seems common sense that people are the primary part of your business. But it’s not evident at the beginning of your business. Because at the beginning of your business, you’re just trying to figure out how to get people to come and purchase your product or your service. And it doesn’t become evident until you have 15 people working for your organization. And you’re trying to figure out how you can lead and manage these people. And you realize that you need to move into a separate phase of your business, which is the people acquisition part of your business where you’re trying to find the best people in your business now. Recently, I heard something that talked about that how businesses kind of evolved, and it’s that you first start off and you’re you’re a generalist, you do everything, you do the work, you do the administration, you do the finance, you do the legal, you do everything for the business, you do the marketing, you know, I remember when I first launched the Scott law firm, I built the whole website on wix.com. I think it was I then went and did all the content. I took all the photos, I put every every link on there, I did all the marketing, I went and did the referrals, networking, I did lunches, I did dinners, I went to networking events, I had to do everything when I first launched, in addition to that I had to do the legal work. So I had to be a lawyer and do all the legal work, I had to go to court appearances. I had to write the motions, I had to fill out the paperwork. But then in addition to that, I had to do the sales. So I had to do everything in selling the client and getting the client to hire us was was not always an easy endeavor, right? You got to convince clients that you’re the trustworthy person. Well, guess what, you know, when you’re the only person in the firm, it’s really hard to convince people that you are the most trustworthy person in your organization. And then you had to make sure you got paid and you got to do the financials, you in the legal industry, you have to make sure you have a trust account and an IOLTA account. And so you have to do everything. You’re a generalist. And what ends up happening is as you start growing your business, you can’t afford to have specialists. So the next thing you do is you hire generalists. So you go from being the generalist to hire to hiring two or three generalists that can help you do the work. So you end up hiring somebody who does office management, ordering products and HR, you hire someone who’s a legal assistant and a paralegal. You hire a receptionist who also does sales, and you start finding a lot of generous and as your business grows, at the $3 million level, you now need specialists. This is where you start hiring real specialists in your business, maybe not super professional specialist, but people who are absolutely capable of doing an individual task and doing it really, really well. So that phase number two. Phase number three is 8 million and 8 million. At 200,000, you have about 40 employees, and now you have a real business on your hands, it’s very unlikely that you can manage everything on your own. Although many entrepreneurs try to do that they do that by working 1416 hours a day. But that’s not what I recommend. What I recommend is that you hire leaders, and at 8 million, you’re going to start hiring leadership. That’s where you need real leadership. And knowing what the what leader you need, requires you to understand the mindset of a leader. And it requires you to know what you’re looking for when you’re interviewing someone, or when you’re building someone in from the inside up, and you’re elevating an existing employee, which by the way, can be a very scary thing to do. Because sometimes your best workers don’t don’t translate into your best leaders. Sometimes your most motivated workers don’t become your best leaders, your most outgoing workers don’t become your best leaders. Leadership is something very unique. And I’ll talk about this in a different, a different podcast. But it leadership is really the ability to, to transfer inputs and authority to others so that they will act on your behalf. Now, that’s the definition of delegation as well. But that’s not the purpose of today’s talk today is to identify how you can become a better leader, and also how you can identify leaders so that you can grow your organization, I want to tell you, if you’re if your business is 8 million or less, or if you are an employee of a business, and you don’t have a business, you don’t do this, this talk is still super relevant. Because understanding the four primary mindsets of a leader will help you identify whether you are one, we’ll help you identify how to find one. And then we’ll help you identify how to keep them. And this is really, really important if you want to grow your organization, really big, you know, as we approach 200 employees, and my second business is now around 15 or 18 employees, I understand the necessity of finding great people, I understand the importance of finding people who are led by someone with vision with passion, with with a true grit. And it’s hard to find that in today’s society. You know, and I don’t want to get into this, this ranting about today’s society. But we just live in a different world today. It’s some may say it’s a better world, some may say it’s a worse world, some may not have an opinion on it at all. But we live in a different world. There’s no doubt about that. I think social media has really influenced this in a major way. And the reason we live in a different world is because in today’s world, the level of commitment that is required for success is frowned upon. You know, when I tell employees, that my expectation is that they stay with the company for 10 1215 years, they’re like, that’s the old days, that’s old school, we don’t do that anymore. That’s old school. That’s not something we do today. We don’t stay in a company for many years. But the reason is because companies in the past that held on to employees for a long time did not treat them very well. And so right now I’m gonna I’m on a crusade, my crusade is to change the paradigm in which we operate in businesses. And when I teach my clients how to lead, I always tell him to lead two ways, there’s two words that are that I love. And it’s lead, lead with love and show grace. And I think that that’s a different environment. I do not believe that today’s environment is is conducive for growing people who stay in relationship for a really long time. And so you have to change the way that you lead, if you want to have people for for a long time. And I don’t have a fantasy in any way that people are going to be with me forever. But I do want that while they’re with me, they’re committed to the work, they’re committed to the vision and mission, and that they are committed to ensuring that the outcomes that we’re looking for in our business are being met. But I think you have to lead with love. And I think you have to show grace at every moment that you can. And if you do that, you’re going to find people that are much more committed to you. And so yes, I do believe that in a positive work environment where people honor your your commitment and your strength and they find loyalty as a strong suit and they’re willing to work with people and build them up. I think that longevity is a is a major asset. But there’s there’s four primary components of a leader that you want to be looking for, that you want to be identifying that is going to help you better understand who you’re looking for, to grow your organization to big level. So the first one I want to jump right into this, because I think that you’ll see how critical this is to grow in your organization. If you want to grow an organization to a big, big size, you have to be willing to invest in leadership. And the first thing that you have to be willing to invest in is growth. So the first mindset of a leader is a growth mindset. And that’s the belief that people have the ability to develop their talents and their abilities. It’s not that you can just grow but rather than that others can grow to that growth mindset is very unique because it’s not just about you it’s about the team. When I think about the way I feel about my team I feel like there’s an unlimited untapped potential for most people. The upper limits of our of our capabilities are just unknown. You know, I heard somebody one time say that the the that only God knows the upper limits of our potential. I think that’s so, so true. No one really knows the upper limits of our potential, you know, a tree doesn’t ask how high it can grow, it just grows, we are the only people that doubt we are the only creature with the conscious level that we have the intellectual level that we have that doubt our capabilities that doubt our growth potential that doubt our ability to succeed in life. impostor syndrome, I don’t think a dog or horse or a cat have impostor syndrome, they don’t go around wondering, can I be the best cat that I possibly can be? Can I be the best dog or the best horse or the best cow? Like animals don’t think that way only people do. And so the growth mindset is this mindset that you can grow, but that other people have untapped unlimited potential that they can also grow. And I think if you want to have a good leader in your organization, and you want to be a good leader, you have to think the best of all people, you have to think that they have unlimited unlock potential that they can actually grow. I think without that belief, you’re never going to find the best in people, you’re not going to try to extract the best work. I love this book recently called the Coaching Habit where it talks about how to get the best out of people, you have to be able to marry or match or join together the passion and skill that people have. So you have to take the best skill that a person has. And you have to take their passion, and hopefully find and craft the job in which that they can they can work and succeed. And I think that the more that you work with an individual in helping them grow and reach their potential, the more likely it is that you’ll have a leadership team that is dedicated to the growth of your organization. There’s a second mindset, the second mindset of a leader is inclusivity. And that’s the belief that your team can and should contribute to the ideas and strategies of the business. Now, a lot of people talk about inclusivity, like we want to be inclusive, I think our firm has, as a diversity and inclusion department. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m not talking about a diversity and inclusion department. What I’m talking about is this belief that other people can contribute. And you would be surprised how many leaders believe that their team is beneath them below them, underneath them and not capable of contributing. They’re not smart, they don’t have any ideas. I think that that’s a major stain on a leader. If a leader does not have the mindset that people can contribute. If the people if if a leader has this micromanagement mindset, they very likely are not going to be a good leader. In fact, what I have found is that when a leader is not able to ask for opinions and advice of others, they generally have a massive ego. That massive ego cannot be remedied because it’s a character flaw. And so if you want to be a great leader, and you want to find great leaders, you not only have to have a growth mentality for yourself, and the belief that others can grow, but you also have to have an inclusive mentality. And that’s the belief that others can contribute that others, the ideas of others is great enough or greater than your own ideas. And I I always say that the if I can come up with two or three ideas in a day 20 People can come up with 40 to 60 ideas in a day. And that’s so much more powerful. So why not use the collective energies and mindsets of people who can come up with better, better ideas. I think about writing groups. If you mean musicians are listening to this right now, you would probably agree with this. It’s so much easier to write a song when you have a collective group of people sharing ideas, and coming up with the right words and the right lyrics and the right thoughts. You can really put together a massive song a really incredible song when you have people working together. In fact, that’s why you see so many songs are written by multiple people, because it’s it just is easier that way. But when you’re trying to do it on your own, it’s very likely that your ego is keeping you from being able to see the potential and the attributes of other people. So inclusivity is, is the second thing but inclusive, to the idea that other people can share and contribute ideas. The third mindset is the agile mindset. And this is the belief that making decisions with incomplete information is still better than making no decisions at all, especially when the decision can propel the business forward. So I want to say that again. The agile mindset is the belief that making decisions with incomplete information for all you perfectionists out there, listen to this very closely. The idea that making decisions with incomplete information is still better than making no decision at all, especially when the decision can help propel the business forward. This is what I find with a lot of weak leaders, is they would rather not do anything than to do something. And I do believe you want to. You want to commit yourself to excellence and this is not what I’m talking about. I’m not talking about not committing yourself to excellence. I’m saying that if you can be excellent in the decision that you make, even with incomplete information, it’s better to do that than to make no decision at all. For the purpose of perfection. Excellence and perfection are two so totally different things. Perfection means that there’s there’s no stain or mark whatsoever in what you’re executing. By the way that’s not even possible. But to the extent that you believe it is possible, it’s making making sure that there’s no marker saying whatsoever. Excellence is delivering On a high level in many areas of your life together that collectively make you an excellent person. So, for instance, if I am good at working 100% at my job, but I only work eight hours, and I’m good at being 100% with my spouse, and I’m only with her two hours, and I’m good at being 100% with my kids, and I’m only with them two hours. And I’m good at making sure that I work out one hour, and I’m good that I make sure that I go to the gym, at or excuse me that I go to sleep eight hours, and that I read 30 minutes, you know that I’m running 30 minutes. Like if I do all those things, I can have an excellent life. That doesn’t mean that I’m perfect. It just means that I have an excellent life because I I embody excellence in everything that I do, I commit myself to doing what I do, even if that decision is not 100% Perfect. So a leader needs to be agile. When I see leaders who have a hard time being agile, when I see leaders who have a hard time making decisions and moving the business forward, because they have incomplete information, what I see is a weak leader who is not agile enough to really lead people. And so I think it’s really, really important that a leader have this level of mindset. So when you’re interviewing people, if you’re like, if you’re a hiring manager, if you’re a leader owner trying to interview people, you want to start asking the question, how agile Are you? How good are you at making decisions with incomplete information? And how do they respond to that kind of that kind of situation. And the fourth mindset is the enterprise mindset. It’s the belief that what you do for the team, and your organization and your clients is just as important as what they do for you. And I think that that’s so critical. What you do for the team is just as important as what they do for you everyone is committed to the ultimate goal, everyone’s committed to each other. And everyone’s committed to the actual goal, we’re not in a silo doesn’t matter. If you are the best leader on the planet, if you’re the most renowned leader on the planet, if you’re the most skillful leader on the planet, if you if you’re the you’re the most educated leader on the planet, if you don’t have an enterprise mentality, where we are in this together as a team, it’s very unlikely that you will be a leader that is worth following. It’s very unlikely that you will be the type of person that people want to follow and want to go behind. And so I challenge you today, if you want to be a great leader, I challenge you to really think about these mindsets, these mindsets that can really elevate you. And that’s to have a growth mindset that you can grow. But others can grow to to the to an upper limit that you haven’t no idea what it is that you have an inclusive mindset that that people’s ideas and strategies are just as good as yours, or maybe even better, if working in conjunction collectively, with others, when you have an agile mindset that you can make decisions that are based on incomplete information, that you have an enterprise mindset that the team matters just as much as the individual and that the individual matters just as much as a team. And when you do that, when you have those four mindsets, it’s more likely that you’ll be able to overcome the trials of your business. And remember that at 8 million, you’re going to be focusing on leadership. So from zero to three, its its clients, from three to eight, its people from eight, and on its leadership. And then as you continue to go on, it’s about professionalizing, the organization, keeping and retaining great leaders making sure that they are actually executing at a high level. And these are the mindsets that are required for you to be a good leader. These are the mindsets that are required for you to find great leaders. And this is the mindset that you have to have to have your leaders leading an amazing team. And so I hope that these four mindsets are something that you are including in your business and in your organization. And I hope that this was beneficial to you. And if you have any questions or if you want to hear more about how you can continue to grow your business, be sure to check out The Guts and Glory Show podcast and we look forward to seeing you on the next show.