Ron Lovett is an author, entrepreneur, and a leader with a passion for change. He is the Founder of Connolly Owens, where he and his team build companies with a purpose. They teach companies how to create accountability so that their entire team is focused on the same company goals.

Are you looking to get more engagement from your team and from your front-line staff? And, do we really need that much middle management support? Today’s show is all about developing a more agile and less ‘managed’ team that’s also engaged, happy, and empowered!

Ron struggled throughout high school, but he was always finding ways to make a buck and hustle. At one point, he had three jobs and was selling marijuana on the side. He decided to go backpacking and when he came back he started his security business.

Within four years of starting his business, he had 350 staff members doing security for an 85,000 person Rolling Stones concert. The security industry hasn’t changed much in terms of innovation, but after Ron hired his first Gazelle’s coach, it really turned around his company and sparked him to take some risks.

Ron actually didn’t believe in the whole ‘culture’ thing. After reading the book, Nuts!: Southwest Airlines’ Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success, by Kevin Freiberg, skeptical, he asked a Southwest employee one day if he liked his job. The employee said, “This is the best … company to work for on the planet.” It blew Ron away. He realized he had a lot of work to do to bring his company to the same standards.

Ron decided to take some interesting HR practices to help get his front-line staff more aligned and empowered. However, Ron ran into another challenge: his corporate staff loved the company and their culture, but they hated their jobs (specifically, their tasks). So he found ways to outsource the tasks they hated to their front-line staff (who loved the extra work). It was messy at first, but eventually it ended up increasing everyone’s happiness levels.

Interview Links:

Connollyowens .com

Ron on LinkedIn

Resources:

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136: Ron Lovett — Remove Mid-Level Management Through Task Mapping.

Scaling Up Business with Bill Gallagher