SPEAKER_01: 0:18

Welcome to the Market It Without Podcast, where we give you the tips, tools, and strategies you need to build, launch, grow, and scale your business. Today we have a very special guest, and he is the former mayor of Arlington, Mr. Jeff Williams. Jeff Williams is the CEO of Graham Associates, a nationally recognized civil engineering firm responsible for some of North Texas' most transformative projects. He's also served three terms as mayor of Arlington, where he helped orchestrate billions of dollars in public-private partnerships that reshape the city's economic and cultural landscape. Under Jeff's leadership, Arlington became home to landmark developments including ATT Stadium, Globe Life Field, the National Medal of Honor Museum, Texas Live, and the largest esports arena in the United States. These projects didn't just change skylines, they unified communities, industries, and visionaries around a shared future. Jeff's work has been recognized at the White House and honored by civic and industry institutions nationwide. Today he brings decades of experience building alignment across government, business, and community into his new book, The Unity Blueprint, which sits at the center of today's conversation. Jeff, welcome to the show. But before we get to that, let's say thank you to our sponsors. Today's episode is sponsored by Nouveau Desk Coworking, the home of Arlington's most accessible production-ready podcast studio. Whether you're launching your first show or leveling up your content game, NouveauDesk gives you a professional studio environment where you can walk in, hit record, and create. But Nouveau Desk is more than just a podcast room. It's fully equipped business hub with private offices, conference rooms, and workshop and event spaces designed to help you host, collaborate, and grow. If you're ready to elevate your brand, your business, or your voice, book your next recording or your next tour at nuvodesk.com. Create here, work here, build here. Today's episode is brought to you by Nuvio, the all-in-one business platform designed to help you build, manage, and scale with confidence. With NuVio, you can build your own website in minutes, manage all of your leads and customers through a powerful CRM. And if you're in the restaurant industry, you can run your entire operations using Nuvio's modern point-of-sale system. Whether you're a startup, a service provider, or a full-scale restaurant, Nuvio gives you everything you need in one place. Simple, connected, and built to grow with you. Discover why entrepreneurs are switching to Nuvio. Visit Nuvio.com and run your entire business on one platform. Well, welcome back. Like I said, we have the former mayor of Arlington, Mr. Jeff Williams, with us. And as you can see, he has done a lot of things, not just as mayor, uh, but in business. And it started uh, you know, in his earlier days when he was at Texas Tech. He has a long story for us, and he even wrote a book called The Unity Blueprint. So, Jeff Williams, thank you for being on the Market It With Atma podcast. We're honored for you to be here. Uh, but tell us a little bit more about this book that you've written and launched, and on it's now on Amazon. Tell us a little bit about this book.

SPEAKER_00: 3:35

Well, Brian, I'm pumped. Uh, you know, I love talking about Unity. It has helped me be so successful in business, working with nonprofits, even with my family. And then, of course, definitely while I was serving as mayor, because unity is a key to success when we can all row together doing the same thing and and enjoying it.

SPEAKER_01: 3:57

Yeah, absolutely. And and I've been listening to your book on Amazon on Audible, and um, and just so you know, you know, some Audible uh that that people do, they have authors that uh or you know, people that actually do it for them. You decided to do your own audio, which is even more impactful, more powerful, especially to me since I've known you on a personal level. It's like I'm actually hearing your story. It's it's awesome. And um, so so a little bit about marketing with Atma. So those who are joining us, marketing Atma is all about um going through the build, launch, grow, and scale philosophy. Um, you know, that's what we do here as a marketing firm. We help businesses build launch, grow, and scale. Uh and you know, as you, you've built, launched, growed, and scaled multiple different types of projects. So not just in marketing, but in business and organizations, and that's what this is all about. Um so tell me a little bit about you know um your your projects that you've built. Um, you know, you've built tons of projects, and I'll just name off some of the projects you've you've helped build in the U.S.

SPEAKER_00: 4:56

Well, I featured several projects in the Unity blueprint that are from my engineering days, and of course I'm back doing that now. But throughout all of my projects, the real key was Unity. And we also uh in in the book have leadership principles that I implemented when we used uh uh when I used them on Nebraska Furniture Mart, working for Warren Buffett uh here in doing that project. Or Cowboy Stadium uh when we were working on it, doing the civil engineer for civil engineering for it. Southlake Town Square, which is one of my favorite projects, one of the first town centers that was done in America and has won so many awards, but more importantly, is a special place where people love to go and and come together. And special places like that build unity.

SPEAKER_01: 5:45

Oh, yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And you talked and and I I told you this before the show, you talked about the passion. You need to have passion when you're going into projects. So tell talk to me about like why is passion so important um when doing any kind of project or building any kind of project.

SPEAKER_00: 6:00

You know, when you're a leader, uh you need to believe in what you're doing, and people need to see that. And and two, uh, you know, we're in we're in this life for the long haul. So why not find your passion and do what you're passionate about? But I can say, Brian, and something that I found out is that everyone needs a purpose, something they can get passionate about. And magic happens when you align a person with their passion and have a purpose that is going to make a difference.

SPEAKER_01: 6:30

That's awesome. That's awesome. You also talk a lot about uh America's hunger for belonging. It's kind of touched on this. Um, when did you first realize that unity was a leadership calling?

SPEAKER_00: 6:40

Well, I discovered it uh there really in my hometown when I was in high school. I recognized then that when we work together, we can get things done. I was in a small town, so everyone had to do that, or we couldn't get anything done. It need we needed everyone. But it was a great training ground, and and my high school teachers really fostered that. And then I went off to Texas Tech, got involved in student government, and again I saw the importance of unity and bringing people together, and then becoming an engineer, every project is based on teamwork. Uh, you've got a team that you have to collaborate and work together uh to be able to have a successful project. But when I became mayor, it wasn't just a choice, it was the way to be a successful mayor. Uh so many of the things that we embarked on we needed help. Uh we needed a lot of people working together. And then I also saw when conflict arose and and you were spending all your time in conflict resolution, you weren't moving the city ahead. Same way in business. Yeah. We all need to be together and and moving it together moving forward instead of fighting with each other and being unproductive, and no one really wants that. And um here's something that I really want to share with you that was exciting, and that is uh Forbes published my book. And Forbes told me that they had polled Americans and that Americans want unity. They're just not doing anything to create it. And so they said the book would be very important, and it has turned out really well. We are an Amazon bestseller, and uh it has uh been exciting the r how the book has been received and and actually people inquiring about okay, well, I get it. You know, this is why we need unity, and and in the book we talk about the various principles on how to achieve unity.

SPEAKER_01: 8:42

Yeah, yeah, and and this is not in our notes, but you talk about because you love bridges, right? And yeah, and you you know, talk to me about uh why you decided to uh when you were doing this book to have a bridge on the front cover.

SPEAKER_00: 8:56

Well, uh interestingly enough, you know, as an engineer who designs bridges, well, they actually set the character of a community. Think about uh how people notice bridges. And if you have a special bridge, it really states something neat. And then what does a bridge do? It connects people with places. And yet leaders, as leaders, we need to be the bridge that connects people with purpose. And so that is why I did the bridge. Uh you know, people love bridges, uh it gets their attention, and then it's one of the key principles that I that I put in is that leaders need to be the bridge to connect people with purpose. And then here's another analogy that I love to use with bridges, and that is a bridge takes you to the place at the shortest and safest possible way, because many times it's going over a raging river, or it may be a huge canyon that it's uh going through, and instead of having to go down in that canyon or across that raging river, you're able to go on a safe path across all of that that achieves you in getting your pl getting to the place quicker and safer.

SPEAKER_01: 10:08

That's awesome. That's awesome. And and so we go into we talked a lot about building, but we're gonna talk about launching, and you've launched tons of projects, tons of campaigns, uh, but you always prioritize making a plan. So why why is making a plan so important?

SPEAKER_00: 10:24

Well, how many people uh get promoted to be a manager in their business, or they uh maybe even become the CEO, or someone gets elected uh to a position and there's no plan, so they just come into the office and they start reacting to going to meetings, answering the phone calls, uh, then replying to your emails, and your day is gone. You know, you there's no time left versus when you c step back, you study, you research, and you make a plan, then you have an idea and you are an informed person then that suddenly elevate yourself from a novice on the issue to actually developing a plan to achieve goals, and we all need goals. But then as part of that plan, you have implementation steps that you need to take. Now, here's where the magic uh really takes place, Brian, and something I really want to emphasize the leader needs to work on making a plan, but he needs to seek out other people. He needs to seek out experts, he needs to seek out stakeholders, maybe their employees. And when and and actually listen to them and and look for good ideas that they may have to add to your plan. And then also if you are informed about it, sometimes you're gonna get ideas that your stakeholders or employees give you that are not great ideas. And so you need to be able to reply to them why it's not a good idea, but then encourage them to go back and bring other ideas to you. But ultimately, you see what I'm talking about. You had a plan that one person developed. Well, then in the end, you've got a plan that all the key people have had input on, and so it changes from my plan to our plan. And you have ambassadors that are gonna go out and help you uh actually implement the plan, and great things can happen when you actually allow others to have input on your plan. And by the way, uh I love to call it map it, make a plan, you know uh uh there. MAP, make a plan. Don't leave that step out.

SPEAKER_01: 12:36

That's awesome. You know, it's funny is uh as we talk about making a plan, because we we always tell people, you know, before you build launch growing scale, you have to strategize, you have to do the research. Like, how are you going to do marketing or even launch the right target markets if you're not making a plan and you're not strategizing? And and it's funny because in your book, you had to say uh you made a plan, right? And and and just like we make plans all the time, but you had to say no to a very popular uh cowboy uh football team owner, you had to say no to Jerry Jones. Tell me a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_00: 13:10

Oh, that was a scary moment uh there, Brian. I was the engineer and in fact the newly hired civil engineer for Cowboy Stadium. And we'd started on the project, and Jerry Jones uh was worried no one would see the stadium with where we had planned on putting it, which was a few blocks off of Interstate 30. And he said, I want you to do the sight lines of the stadium if we moved it up to Interstate 30, because I want to be sure that people can see it, and we may be moving the stadium up to Interstate 30. Well, I knew immediately that that was a really uh tough move because if we moved the stadium, it'd be right on top of Interstate 30. There would be no room to be stacking cars as they're coming in, and they would stack up on the freeway, if that makes sense, to put it real simple. And that happened out at Texas Stadium, the old the old stadium, and people had a tough time getting in in and out because all of the traffic was stacked up on the freeways all the way around it. Versus if you put it off of the freeway and you actually use multiple interchanges and multiple roads, you've got a lot of ways to get in and out. And that was why we put the stadium where it was. But however, my fellow team members, the architects, the contractors that were involved in it, they said, look, Jerry Jones wants to move that stadium. And if you tell him no, you're gonna be off this project. Yeah. And I didn't know Jerry Jones very well at the time, and I believed them, you know, and I I did was worried that, hey, if we uh if we went forward and told him that we shouldn't do it, that we might be kicked off the job. But however, you know, uh we pulled our team together and we said, no, this is too important. We don't need to just give him what he asked for in doing the sight lines, we need to also show him the impact of the traffic. So we went to the Baltimore Ravens to get a personal testimony from them because they had the best traffic plan in the NFL at the time, and they shared about the importance of moving the stadium off of the freeway. And my team went through the presentation uh there on why we did not need to move it up on the freeway. They the the Jones family asked a few questions, but we didn't know, Brian. We left that presentation not knowing and worried, and uh the next morning, Stephen Jones, uh Jerry's son, called and said that we're gonna leave the stadium where you recommended. And it was so nice that he wasn't saying, I'm sorry, we're gonna get another civil engineer. It was no, we understand what you're talking about and we want to leave it there. Well, we uh did the right thing and the whole project was better for it, but also it showed that Jerry Jones does listen to his consultants and and uh it began a great relationship that carried on to when I was mayor also because he was always ready to help and and many times he uh he doesn't get a fair uh fair shake uh there in it. But in business, he is uh he's quite a businessman.

SPEAKER_01: 16:19

Oh that's that's funny you say that uh because um you know you had to say no to a very you know uh a very strong, powerful uh businessman like Jerry Jones. And um sometimes, you know, I think that business organizations they fear saying no. Uh but like you said, if you're if you've done your research, you've done the plan and and you're solid, hey, we have to at least you know execute the plan with all of our ability. And most times we have a plan, they're like, well, you know, then the ideas, because everybody has ideas, right? Everybody has ideas and they deter from the plan, right? And and so have you ever you had to put the and you kind of did that with the Dallas Cowboys, but it has there any been any other times where you're like, hey, wait, pump the brakes here, stop, right? And and and let's execute the plan. That's why we have a plan.

SPEAKER_00: 17:06

That's so true, Brian. Uh and and you don't ever need to compromise your ethics and principles uh there. If you do, it is a formula for disaster in both your personal and professional life. But however, when you are having to say no and you you need to be sure that you back it up with the facts and your research and do an excellent job of sharing why you're saying no, and that's so important. And communication in today's world has been elevated to one of the most important things we do. And and you might say we're having to over-communicate in today's world, uh, but uh the rewards of overcommunication are great, and then under communication the results are disastrous.

SPEAKER_01: 17:53

So that's yeah, let's let's talk about when plans don't go according to pl to to how you planned it, right? So how do you uh what do you do when when plans don't you know go the way you thought it was gonna go?

SPEAKER_00: 18:05

Well, flexibility is key. And uh in fact uh one of the things that we talk about in my book, The Unity Blueprint, is the time when I I came into office and we we were competing against other cities to keep the Rangers ballpark here. And one of the key things that happened uh here was that I had hoped that we could put a shade structure over the existing ballpark and avoid having to build a new ballpark. That didn't work. But however, I did think about the alternative, and I already in my plan had an alternative, and if that did not work, then we needed to move to uh actually restoring and repositioning the existing ballpark. The existing Major League Ballpark was still a beautiful place. However, Brian, no one had ever done that. Uh no major league ballpark had ever been repurposed after the major league ball team moved. But however, I s we made a plan and showed how that could work to be converting it to football and soccer and to actually put shops in the concourses, and we actually discovered that there was great opportunity, and we expanded the offices. Uh there's co-working space in there too, like you have here, which is phenomenal. And we were able to save the ballpark. So being flexible in that plan, actually, that was one of the key components to allow citizens to really want to get behind this. Not only are we going to be able to have a new ballpark for the Rangers that would have a retractable roof, we're gonna have a beautiful facility there in the existing ballpark that is gonna be repurposed that brings us a lot of things that we want to have, such as great office space, restaurants, shops, uh so list goes on. So always be ready to be flexible. But when you have to recharge your course, again, you've got to go back to your stakeholders and and your citizens and and your employees and let them know why. And uh and and plans always need to be flexible. Another leadership principle here, Brian. Yeah, and that is that there are times when the leader has to put his ego aside and recognize that he needs to listen to other people. And when you're having to change a plan and be flexible, that is one of those times where you need to be consulting other people to make sure you're on the right track and understand that the best plan may not be your plan.

SPEAKER_01: 20:39

No, that's awesome. That's awesome. And and there's something in your book that I'm kind of leading trying to lead you to, but there's something that I really want you to say is that when things are getting bad, right, and getting worse. Can you talk a little bit about like yes, I can.

SPEAKER_00: 20:52

And in fact, Brian, I I'm glad you mentioned that. That's that was one of the fun things that uh, you know, I was actually talking to uh Chris Cassidy. He was the CEO and president of the National Medal of Honor Museum, but he was a former astronaut and Navy SEAL. And I asked him for advice. I said, you know, when times get tough, what what advice would you give? And you know, this is a man who has, you know, walked in space and had things mess up and he had to think quickly uh uh on his he wouldn't say on his feet in space because he's floating, but anyway, he had to think quickly. Same way, many of his Navy SEAL missions, they had to be flexible and and moving when things are really tough. So I was expecting a very deep answer, but this is what he said. When things are as bad as you think they could be, he said you can make them worse. And that's pretty funny, yeah, Brian. You know, you sit there and go, and then when you sit there and think about it, he went on to explain that whenever things are not going well, you better slow down, think about what you're gonna do. So that you don't make them worse. You really need to think it out. Many times when things are bad, you're reacting and trying to react very quickly without thinking things through. And that is exactly opposite of what you need to do. When things are tough, you need to be very careful about what every one of your actions is so that you can move yourself away from the bad times and move yourself to a good position.

SPEAKER_01: 22:25

Yeah, and I think that's a big thing too, like in today's society, is at the end of the day, we're we're uh we've become very reactive, right? We we instead of response, right? Because there's a difference, and I and I try to tell this to my team all the time, is there's a difference between being reactive and reacting to a problem and then responding to a problem. Uh sometimes you'll get those emails or you know something that you don't want to see, and it and immediately you want to resp you know when you want to react, you're responding, but you're not really responding. You're just writing this email to to whatever protect yourself. You're not really thinking through what you're so you have to respond. You have to sometimes I say, hey, first process what that email is, and then we can then take some time, digest it, and then respond, right? And I think that happens a lot in in business and organizations is that we have to be less reactive and we have to be more responsive, right?

SPEAKER_00: 23:18

Brian, I've I've got to respond to that. That it you hit such a great topic here because in business we know when something bad is happening uh or we need to uh we want to take care of it as quick as we can. But it isn't just saying something off the cuff or or without studying, researching, interviewing, finding out exactly what the problem is and what caused the problem, and then also then start moving into it. So, yes, as a as a business, whenever something bad happens, we need to be able to be working on it and studying it, but we need to be thorough in our solution uh when we come through, or we can get ourselves into an even bigger fix. But communicate that to the client or your customer. Hey, we are working and here's what we're doing to find out how we can solve this challenge or this problem.

SPEAKER_01: 24:12

Well, those customers right now who are listening to this, you just heard it from the the man the myth, the legend Jeff Williams for that. So thank you for those uh those words. And and and so now we've go into um there's a uh uh a unique you you've worked with Dallas Cowboys, you worked for uh you worked with the Texas Rangers, but then there was a unique uh industry that all of a sudden came onto your, you know, they called you, uh I think it was New York uh university that said, Hey, we want to bring in esports arena. Talk to me about how that ha happened, how you launched that campaign, and how you brought ESports Arena to Arlington.

SPEAKER_00: 24:49

Well, that was an exciting day because I uh met the uh New York University Dean of Sports Management and uh and an adjunct professor that worked there, and they were remarkable people. But they said they had seen an article in the Washington Post that said while people weren't looking, Arlington, Texas has become the sports capital of the nation. And so they wanted to meet me and they uh actually arranged that at the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and we met and they said that we want to help you. Um we have our graduate students that are looking for a term project, and what would you like for us to do for Arlington and research? And so I said, that's easy. I said, I would love for you guys to research and and tell us what we should go into next in sports. And three months later, they came back, and to my surprise, they said that you guys need to launch esports. They said it is one of the fastest growing industries in the country, and established sports franchise owners are buying uh eSports franchises because the uh major corporations have found that they can advertise on Twitch with these esports uh tournaments, and they reach uh the young the young population to be able to buy their product. So suddenly the prize money and all the money involved in esports had gone up. But Brian, I was skeptical. And uh and then uh it was literally the next day we read that Jerry Jones and the Cowboys had bought an esports franchise, the Texas Rangers owners had bought a sports esports franchise, and Mark Cuban and the Mavericks had bought an esports franchise. So we went and talked with them, and they said, yes, we are very excited about this. And so we did the research and we we were a little early because we hadn't built our new convention center, but we said this is an incredible opportunity for us. And so we went into our existing convention center and transformed that, remodeled it totally, and we did it in 90 days. Wow. Most cities can't move fast. Well, we move fast because we needed to, because other cities were looking at doing the same thing we were doing. But we got it done in 90 days. We had the largest esports arena in the country, still do. We won't for long. There's others being built now, and we moved out on esports, and it wasn't just about the money, Brian. It was also about showing that our image uh is important, and we changed our image to where we could attract young people and to retain young people, and we had a big surprise. The University of Texas at Arlington was the existing college champion in esports at the time we did that. And we didn't know it.

SPEAKER_01: 27:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 27:47

And uh that showed you how low the profile was at that time, and now esports, of course, has gotten so much uh more accolades, and there is a lot of money in it. But the thing I love is that it has helped us to retain young talent and recruit young talent.

SPEAKER_01: 28:03

Yeah, absolutely. And I'm just like, you know, for the young people like me, I'm very familiar with esports arena and uh esports in general. Um, you know, Twitch is huge, it has a lot of video gamers, and and it it it has been a powerful thing to bring to Arlington. And I think that it's it's only gonna grow, right? Uh you got the FIFA World Cup coming, you know, there's opportunity there for other things that could happen at ESports Arena. There's plenty of things that are um happening here in Arlington. So FIFA has come in. What do you have to say about that? I mean, you were well, you were part of that, right?

SPEAKER_00: 28:33

Yeah, you know, isn't it interesting, Brian? The world is changing all the time, and I think really the leadership principle that we talk about with esports is that you need to be open to new ideas. And again, research, study, and see if it's going to help you. Well, we did that with esports, and it turned out so well, but it also all of those things feed into bringing a great world-class uh tournament, which is World Cup, to Arlington, Texas, because esports was one of those ingredients along with uh the ability for all of us to work together to to bring an incredible event. And so you know that the the world's eyes will be on Arlington, Texas through that. And so I am really proud that we have become an international city that does value uh people that move here from all over the world. And so another c ingredient I think that was a big help is that we did a kindness campaign in Arlington, and we currently are the fourth most diverse city in the country. And uh that surprises people, but it doesn't us because we know the University of Texas at Arlington has brought so many people from all over the world here, but the thing that that kindness campaign did, it kept us from going into silos to where we weren't talking with each other and and uh it really uh showcased the importance of learning about other cultures and learning new people and find out about them and our lives are enriched, but also it allows us to work together and bring events like FIFA into town. And of course, we've got Formula One racing that's coming also, but the events that we bring into Arlington are phenomenal and we are on the rise. We are just beginning with uh with what is going to happen here in Arlington, Texas.

SPEAKER_01: 30:27

That's wonderful. And and like you said, when you launch things like the kindness campaigns and you launch projects and and they're successful and you breathe success, right? It kind of goes back into the bill, launch grow. Um grow comes naturally, right? Like you said, it it started to bring the FIFA World Cup here. It started to bring in you had eyes from New York uh university, um you you had eyes from different places. When you launch and you plan accordingly and you execute the plan and you're you're flexible and you adjust, it starts to breathe success and grow naturally. Uh but during growth, and there's something that we're gonna go back into your um your engineering firm. During growth, um you also need to take into account how things are changing, right? You you changed your mission, vision. You did a lot of things uh, you know, when you got went out uh from from being mayor going back into um full-time again, SEO uh of Graham Associates, like you had to change your mission. Talk about that.

SPEAKER_00: 31:27

Brian, we are at the beginning of a technology revolution like the world has never seen. And you add to that the fact that we are having societal changes monthly, a firm has to really stay up with it. And so here I had been gone about seven years from full-time uh at the firm, and I knew we needed to change the culture. And so I brought in the right people to help do that, and we began by gutting our offices and creating a state-of-the-art office that people enjoyed being because I studied and I realized that yes, people want to work remotely, but they also want to have a nice office, and then being in engineering, it's important that I create collaboration spaces so that we could come together. And uh, and then also people still want to have a nice office even though they're not there all the time. So we began on that, but then I needed to shift the focus on being able to help new people in our firm that came in through specialized training programs by really stressing that all of us, all of the existing employees, needed to help the new employees coming in. And so we put uh put on seminars inside about the importance of helping our fellow employees, and of course, one of the big taglines is that Graham Associates supports and encourages our team members, and we started living it. And we started a uh high five meeting on Fridays uh in which we actually do give a high five, we express uh there something that some other employee may have done to help you or or introduced a a new concept, a new process, a new way on CAD to be able to get things done. Hugely successful. But I got pushback, Brian. You know, uh our uh older employees uh there, they uh they said, Man, that's a billable hour that we're wasting there in staff meeting. Well, that happened for a few of the meetings, and then very quickly they realized the importance of creating that trust and and getting to know each other, getting to know your teammates, and it resulted in being much more productive. And now our older employees really look forward to that Friday high five meeting in which we come together. Culture is important in a business, and a culture that builds unity is even more important.

SPEAKER_01: 33:52

It's funny you say that kind of leads into the next thing is like you can't scale unless there's effectiveness, right? And so, you know, you talked about uh when we people think of different, most people will think uh really go straight into um to different and ethnicities, but in this in this case you talked about different ages, right? Yes and so the the unity blueprint, which you talk about this a lot, but you know, the what's what what does it mean to not be the sameness but in unity with the the differences of of everybody, right? And so how do you how do you bring people together like that to just help scale um the organization or business? And you kind of talked a little bit about that, but elaborate a little bit more if you don't mind.

SPEAKER_00: 34:32

Well, I think diversity is key to success. We don't all need to be alike except for one thing. I think we do all need to value people. I think that's something very important, and people can learn that. But that is where we start when we are interviewing for new employees. We look for people that we believe can get along with each other. That doesn't mean that we are not gonna disagree on topics, in fact we need to, but you disagree respectfully and you have a reason for disagreeing. And so that's what I mean for uh to not we don't all need to have the same opinion. We uh need to understand that we're gonna disagree. But then if you're going to lead and be successful in a firm, you've got to show that you have character and and specifically you've got the ability to build trust and to value people. Critical for uh for a culture to have leaders that are in in that frame of mind.

SPEAKER_01: 35:31

Yeah, absolutely. And we'll end with this one, but this last question is like, you know, you talked about it a little bit at the beginning, but people are looking for unity. They're looking and there's so much negativity in the world, and and so you talk about unity and and just really elaborate of why unity is so important and why you wrote this book and why what what made you so passionate about this uh unity blueprint.

SPEAKER_00: 35:59

We are all looking for uh the workplace where we can enjoy our work, pursue our passion. We're not looking for a place where we are going to have to be doing conflict resolution or where we're fighting with our office mate, uh and and it consumes our mind where we're not productive at work and we're not productive at home because it can easily spill over into the family uh the disagreements that you have. And then yet all of us in in business all know productivity is critical. Well, uh you cannot be having conflict resolution all the time and expect to have your productivity numbers be where they need to be. However, when you are working together, you show kindness, you show forgiveness to someone, it is amazing how the relationship can grow and suddenly you're spending all your time talking about how we can achieve the goals that we have here in our company instead of fighting over, hey, why did you uh do this or that and and spending all that time and fighting instead of rowing together? And I love that term of rowing together, uh, and and and that is a a real key. And so unity is an answer for making uh your life so much better, being able to make more money, to be more productive, and to have the resources there, and that's what what really gave me the real passion to write the Unity blueprint so that I could help people recognize that that is important. And does it take a little time? Sure it does. But your end result is so much better, and I submit to you that when you involve other people and you have unity there, you actually are going to make more money, not less.

SPEAKER_01: 37:56

That's awesome. Well, Jeff, it has been a pleasure having you on the show. Um tell us a little bit about uh where we can find you uh as far as gram associates and even the unity blueprint. Uh so how can we find more information if we're trying to learn a little bit more about you?

SPEAKER_00: 38:11

Well, wjeffwilliams.com. You will find me. There are a lot of Jeff Williams, so I put the W before. My first name is Warren, so uh we use it to delineate me from the other crowded Jeff Williams. So wjeffwilliams.com. You can find my book, The Unity Blueprint, on Amazon, and it is an Amazon bestseller. Forbes published it, and uh I mentioned before, and I'll just mention it again, for Forbes surveyed America, and Americans want unity. They're not doing much to create it, but I think it's an opportunity for the cycle to change and for people to be more successful in their in their family life, with their friends, in business, working with nonprofits or in elected office. If they focus on unity, great things can happen. And when that hand of hospitality goes out, you never know when that may be the uh a man or woman that becomes your best friend, or perhaps a very valued partner that leads to great success. The Unity Blueprint by W. Jeff Williams. Thank you, Brian.

SPEAKER_01: 39:19

Thank you. Thank you. Well, you guys, thank you guys for listening into the Market It With Atma podcast, where once again, we help businesses build launch grow and scale uh using the power of education through the people that we bring onto the show. We hope you enjoyed uh today's talk with Jeff Williams. Like I said, you can even find them at um at wjeffwilliams.com. And uh once again, this is Brian. I'm CEO of co-founder adventure marketing agency, and we'll see you next time.