This podcast is brought to you by Fast Slow Motion, a team of expert consultants that have helped hundreds of growing businesses build scalable systems on the HubSpot and Salesforce platforms. To learn more, visit fastslowmotion.com. I truly believe everybody in every situation can be a leader, whether it’s as a part of business, whether it’s a part of life, whether it’s a part of family. Everybody has the ability to be a leader and be thinking about it from that perspective to help others.

Welcome to the Fast Slow Motion podcast, where we teach you how to build a business you love while enjoying your life. In our podcast, we talk key learnings, cheat codes, hacks and principles that have served us on our journey in the hopes that they serve you as well. I’m your host, Sam Donaghy, and today I’m really happy to be joined by Brandon Landy, a client director here at Fast Slow Motion.

So, Brandon, how are you doing today?

I’m doing great, Sam. How about you?

Very good. Very good. I’m really excited to have you here today. And, Brandon, please tell us a little bit about, first of all, what you do here at Fast Slow Motion.

Absolutely, Sam. So I’ve been in a couple of roles here. I’ve been here for about three years. I was a marketing cloud director first, helping us set up a portion of the business. And now I’m a client director and I’ve been that for about a year and a half. And in that role I get the privilege of kind of having my hands on a little bit of everything around clients and the portfolio where I can help support on the sales side with some solution, talking to different businesses and helping bring in potential clients to our portfolio, but then also bringing that through to the implementation of that actual work and delivering those solutions to help people day in and day out. And really what I do is help support our teams. And we’ve got, as you know, incredibly talented project leaders, consultants, developers, architects, implementation specialists that are just brilliant when it comes to understanding the businesses, understanding the industries and understanding the solutions that we can put in place for them. So I get the privilege of working with them week in and week out, day in and day out to help support the entirety of the business.

I love that. So roughly how many people do you currently lead?

Our team right now has about 47 clients within the portfolio and we’ve got 25 people on the team.

25 people. Okay, great. Brandon, I think today’s episode is going to be really great because I think it’s going to give our listeners a ton of value and insight into effective leadership. And as we just mentioned, you’re a leader here at FSM, but your journey into leadership has been pretty unique and it also started a lot earlier. Not only have you been a leader in business, but prior to that you were also a leader in your military career. So let’s start at the beginning. Can you tell us a little bit about your journey into the military?

Absolutely. Yeah. It’s a bit of an odd one. So I’ll say I went to Indiana University, started out in business and didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I went there and started out with — I was going to go be in accounting, I was going to be in finance — and I was doing some summer classes over the sophomore summer. And I was walking through the main streets of Bloomington, Indiana, and realized I needed to change something about my life. I wanted something to be different. I wanted a different purpose. And I was heading in a direction that I didn’t want to be going in. And as I was walking, I walked past a recruiting station and decided to just walk in, kind of on a whim. It was something I had thought about in the past, but just made that choice in that moment. And from that moment forward, my life changed a lot. Operations management and accounting and finance didn’t seem as applicable at that point. I went to ROTC there at the university and then went through a series of different training events, moved all over the place, went to airborne school — jumping out of planes — went to air assault school, which is rappelling out of helicopters. And then there’s also a former officer basic course, which was cavalry and tanks, because at the beginning I commissioned as a lieutenant in the Army. And then again, it was a whirlwind after that. So kind of an interesting way to back into it, but I got the opportunity in different leadership positions and really found my passion in helping people and meeting people and being a part of that team.

I love that. So do you still start your day at Fast Slow Motion by jumping out of a helicopter?

It’s been a long time. Okay, great. So I know that your journey in the military didn’t actually stop there — you also went to Ranger School. Is that right?

That’s correct. Yep.

So tell us a little bit about Ranger School. For those that don’t know about it, it’s intended to test you mentally and physically. But the biggest thing is it’s the premier leadership school in the world, and I fully stand by that. From an international standpoint, there’s plenty of other militaries, and some people from every unit — not just the Army — send people to Ranger School because it’s a great place to learn not only about you, but about leadership, about each other, and the importance and strength of a team altogether. It starts out on an individual basis, and going into it, this is what you’re kind of worried about. It’s similar to going into a client call in consulting where you’re a little worried about what that call is going to be like. But then once you get on there, you get into the rhythm and you’re perfectly fine. The first three or four days is called RAP Week. It’s very individually focused — a lot of yelling. They start to pull your sleep, they start to pull your food, and they put you through a bunch of physical activities like runs and obstacle courses and water survival training. There are different things that they try to test you with purposely, to see if you have the mental fortitude to continue — or see if you just don’t have enough right now and you’re not going to make it. That’s where about 60% of people who drop out actually drop out — in the first three days.

Wow. Yeah. So that’s in Georgia, it’s part of the first phase, but that’s the individually focused portion of it. So I mean, that sounds absolutely brutal. I can’t imagine doing that. But you also said there were three more phases after that. So what are they like?

Yeah. So the first phase — RAP Week — is kind of the first part of the first phase overall. It used to be called Darby Phase. I think they’ve adjusted it now, and my disclaimer here is this was 14 years ago, so things have probably changed. But the second half is where you start to lean further into the importance and development as a team. They organize you in different squads — one of the smaller elements, about seven to ten people. With that, you have organized missions that you’re running, you’re learning some of the tactics, you’re going through different things like peer review. So the importance of being a good teammate — you still have the lack of sleep and lack of food, you’re still sleeping out in the woods — but you’re starting to run and be in leadership positions and rotate through some of that grading, running different coordinated missions as a group. After that, it’s kind of crawl, walk, run. The crawl is that phase; walk would be in Dahlonega, Georgia, which is in the mountains — it introduces some different terrain, some new vehicles, some helicopters. And then the swamp phase, which is in Florida at Eglin Air Force Base. That’s where you’re really running and doing more large unit type missions. There are things with helicopters, more tactical elements in play. And throughout this whole thing, you’re still dealing with the lack of sleep and lack of food as you’re out there with your teams. So it kind of grows, and there’s still peer reviews throughout. So there’s a huge element of being a good teammate while also learning how to lead in times of all those stressors. A lot of things to be learned throughout that program.

Wow. Okay. It sounds absolutely incredible. And earlier you described Ranger School as an elite leadership training experience. So I’m curious — how would you say that Army Rangers define leadership?

That’s a tough question. And I obviously can’t speak on behalf of Army Rangers, but I think there’s a large element of being able to trust the person next to you and really believe in each other. There’s transparency and dedication — seeing and believing that somebody is trustworthy and is going to do whatever they can to help support you, just like you would do to help support them. That element of servant leadership is extremely important. Being able to get your hands dirty — not just giving directions, not just telling people what to do, but being there to help them with it and guide them and mentor them. If you can’t trust or believe in your leader, things start to deteriorate very quickly. And a lot of those lessons — I can only speak for Ranger School — were learned in times of isolation, almost shared misery, where you can trust each other and work toward a common goal and know we’re all going to do this together.

Yeah, there’s a heavy reliance on each other, right? Because you’re all experiencing this with an insane amount of pressure. You mentioned servant leadership — here at Fast Slow Motion, we talk about that a lot. I’m interested to hear what your definition of that is.

That’s a great question. I don’t have an exact book answer for you. I’ve seen multiple elements of what people’s interpretations of servant leadership are. From my perspective, it is walking the walk with somebody while not doing it for them. So allowing them to grow, supporting them in their path, making sure I’m helping along their development path — while not just making it easy for them and becoming a crutch. Being alongside them in their journey, being present with them.

I love that. Okay, so are there any particular experiences from Ranger School that really stand out to you that actually helped you grow as a leader?

Yeah, absolutely. My favorite one — and one of the biggest lessons I learned — is that leadership really can come from everywhere. In that school, nobody has any rank on them. Everybody’s working together regardless of what position you’re in. So that servant leadership is walking alongside each other. There is an element in the Florida phase where you’re pretty emaciated at that point — you’re tired, you’re hungry, you’re cold — and everybody’s been helping each other. I got to a point where I hadn’t had my briefing yet and I was all ready for it. My name was called — I don’t even know what time, two or three in the morning — and I went in to get my mission briefing so I could brief the team. And I completely froze. I had no idea what I was doing. Complete brain fog. I couldn’t think of what the next step was going to be. And a guy just noticed — he was paying attention and saw that I needed help. I hadn’t asked for help; I didn’t even know to ask for help. But he noticed first and was proactive. He came over, had a conversation with me, worked with me on what those next steps needed to be, and went and grabbed a couple of other people who could also help. They all helped me put together that plan so I could go brief it. And the biggest thing is they didn’t do it for me — they helped enable me to do it. So when it came time to actually go run it, I knew what was happening. It really taught me about proactive leadership — knowing to identify a problem before it becomes a problem, and then solving it in a way that’s sustainable, not just doing it for someone.

Wow. I absolutely love that. And it’s quite a selfless act from that individual too, right? He was putting the team ahead of his own interests. Some other people might have taken that glory for themselves. Is that fair to say?

Yeah, absolutely. And that’s an element of why the school is so interesting and what it taught you — because there were peer reviews previously, so it was easy to see who would be there to support the team over themselves. This is in a training environment here in the United States, but it really teaches you how you can become a better leader by becoming a better teammate.

I love it. So, Brandon, what are the biggest leadership lessons that you learned from your time in Ranger School?

I think leadership can come from everywhere. Everybody in every situation can be a leader — whether it’s in business, whether it’s in life, whether it’s in family. Everybody has the ability to be a leader and to think about it from that perspective to help others. Another big one is check your ego at the door. Your title doesn’t matter, your position doesn’t matter, your power doesn’t matter. You’re there to be a part of a team, lead a team, and support a team in whatever capacity that is — as long as you’re all believing in the same common goal. Those are the two biggest ones.

So as a leader in the military and now as a leader in the business world, would you say there are similarities and crossovers in terms of what makes a good leader?

Absolutely. I think a good leader helps show direction and clearly communicates what the end goal is. And at the same time, you don’t forget the importance of management. I think a lot of times we talk about leadership versus management as a conversation, but there’s leadership and management — how those coexist — and both are important in any growing organization. I’ve seen good leaders, I’ve seen bad leaders, and everybody kind of develops their own styles. But there are absolutely parallels when it comes to management, team growth, training, and risk management. All of that has parallels between business and military.

Okay, we’ve talked about good leadership, but what are the consequences of bad leadership? You mentioned earlier learning from bad leaders as well as good ones. What kind of fallout did you see?

We could have a whole conversation about whether I’ve learned more from good leadership or bad leadership. You kind of develop your own leadership style. But with bad leadership — it can cripple an organization. If there’s no vision, no purpose, if nobody’s casting where we’re going and how we can help people or have an impact, then you’re a directionless group. You don’t have personal buy-in from the people within the organization to go deliver on that, and not just deliver on it, but improve upon it. It also eliminates any sort of feedback loop. A lot of bad leaders don’t want to take feedback and make improvements — they just want to deliver on their own perception. So it ends up stymying growth — not just for the company or the organization, but for the people. And it ends up increasing turnover, which means you’re just spinning your wheels.

Okay. And on the more positive side of things — in light of all you’ve learned and the teams you’ve led, what does good leadership look like to you?

Someone casting the vision — but not just casting the vision, someone who is willing to help deliver on that vision with the team. Being in there, getting your hands dirty when necessary, when possible. Supporting people in their growth — not just focusing on revenue growth, but also focusing on the growth of the team, their capabilities, and their commitment toward that mission of what we’re trying to deliver. And understanding and consistently surfacing the why behind what we’re doing. That’s something that’s often overlooked. The good leaders I’ve been around consistently surface the why, and that helps get the whole group rolling in the same direction, all trying to accomplish the same thing.

What advice would you have for someone who wants to become a great leader?

Take the first step. Take the first step toward trying for it. I think back to how I ended up in this spot, and there were a series of moments where nobody else wanted to do it and I thought, well, I’ll try it. Going back to student government, going back to different sports teams — I might as well try it. Just taking that step, taking that leap, starts to build confidence in your ability to figure out the unknown. After that first step, it’s just repetition. It’s working with people. It’s trying to gain that confidence and learn as much as possible. But the willingness to try is where it starts.

Brandon, thanks so much for your time today. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing your perspective on leadership. We always like to wrap up each episode with a quote to provide some wisdom on what we’ve been discussing. Do you have anything you’d like to share?

Thanks, Sam. There’s one that’s perfect for this. We’ve been talking about the overlap of management and leadership and how both are very important. It’s from Stephen Covey: “Effective leadership is putting first things first, and effective management is carrying it out.” That’s not saying one or the other — it’s not saying you only need to be a leader or you only need management. It’s putting both together and understanding that leadership is knowing what we should be focused on, and management is effectively carrying that out. I love how those two work together.

Well, that’s it for today’s episode, and we’re so glad that you could join us to hear Brandon’s powerful perspective on leadership as a US Army captain. We hope, like him, you’ll find these lessons useful in leveling up as a leader in your own life. Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast platform, or you can find archived episodes at fastslowmotion.com/podcast.