- CEO Story: Early in Dr. Jack’s career, he had a request to compute the ROI of his program for Lockheed Martin, asked the Chief Engineer. Working so hard for that value, while doing his Master's degree at that time in Statistics. And Dr. Jack was able to show the ROI value that the Chief Engineer could understand. And that continued for the funding of the program, got his respect, support, and commitment going forward. Took the process, refining it, making it better. Bringing it to the public, with the book. 40 years ago. And then kept working in the global market, it is now in 70 countries, and 38 languages. Built their business around that book, its called ROI Institute.
- Business Service: Help people see the value by teaching, do it for them or sometimes do it together. Working globally. 6-Step Process: Impact measure that you want at the end | Right Solution | Clear Impact | ROI Positive | Collect & Analyze Data | Leverage the Results
- Secret Sauce: Understand each of the constituents and translate it so that people can execute and understand what they are doing with each of the projects. The most used evaluation system in the world.
- CEO Hack: Mention: Stephen Covey’s The Franklin Covey Planning System – a planning process that keeps you focused, on track and automated.
- CEO Nugget: Getting to think about people's ROI, by thinking about ROI of any project means you think of success on 5 levels. People's reaction | Learn | What are they going to do | What Impact | Is it worth it.
- CEO Defined: Commitment to serve in 3 groups. Employees – make sure to have a good team. Customers – providing a satisfaction guarantee. Shareholders – make them happy. Live the brand, and make it come to life in the way you manage and deliver your service.
Website: http://roiinstitute.net/
Book on Amazon: Show-Value-What-You-Measuring
Linkedin: jack-phillips-phd , roiinstituteinc
ROI Institute: ROI Institute
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Transcription
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00:29 – 00:53
Intro: Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkness values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I Am CEO podcast.
00:56 – 01:06
Gresham Harkless: Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I Am CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. Dr. Jack J. Phillips of ROI Institute. Dr. Jack, it's great to have you on the show.
01:06 – 01:08
Dr. Jack J. Phillips: My pleasure. Thanks for having me.
01:08 – 01:36
Gresham Harkless: Yes, absolutely. I love all the awesome things that you're doing. And of course, before we jumped into the interview, I want to read a little bit more about Dr. Jack so you can hear about some of those awesome things. And Dr. Jack J. Phillips is the author of Show the Value of What You Do, and an award-winning thought leader in the field of talent development. As a teacher, consultant, and coach, he helps individuals show the value of their work in all types of organizations. Dr. Phillips has taught his proprietary method to over 50, 000 professionals and
01:36 – 02:12
Gresham Harkless: managers in over 70 countries. He's a global keynote speaker and has written over 100 books all focused on the importance of showing the value of the work. He's been recognized for his thought leadership by the Association for Talent Development, Thinker's 50 top coaches, the International Society for Performance Improvement, and the Society for Human Resource Management and Meeting Professionals International. Dr. Phillips has served as an engineer, trainer, learning manager, HR executive general manager, president and college professor. He serves as the chair of ROI Institute, a globally recognized consulting firm. Dr. Jack, excited again to have you on
02:12 – 02:14
Gresham Harkless: the show. You're ready to speak to the IMCO community?
02:15 – 02:16
Dr. Jack J. Phillips: I am ready. Thank you so much.
02:17 – 02:24
Gresham Harkless: Absolutely. Thank you. And so kind of to kick everything off, what I wanted to do is rewind the clock here a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your CEO story.
02:26 – 02:58
Dr. Jack J. Phillips: Yes, and to see early in my career, I had this request. I was actually running a program for Lockheed Martin. And the chief engineer says, can you show me the value of that program? What it actually delivers for us? Could you actually show me the ROI of having your program? And that sparked something in me and I worked hard. I was working on a master's degree at that time and statistics. And I worked hard and was able to do that, show the value in terms of he could understand all the way to ROI. And I use
02:58 – 03:33
Dr. Jack J. Phillips: that to continue funding for the program. And also I got a good business partnership that I needed. And I got more respect, got more support, got more commitment there going forward. So we took this process and kept refining it and making it better, bringing it to the public with a book and, and 40 years ago, actually, and then kept working it in the global market. We now have, again, 70 countries that we work in and our books are in 38 languages. So it's we built our business around this book, around this process and this book. And
03:33 – 03:48
Dr. Jack J. Phillips: it's called ROI Institute. And I serve as chairman and I share the leadership role with my partner and wife, Patty. Together we drive a team of people who help others show the value of what they do.
03:49 – 04:09
Gresham Harkless: Nice. I absolutely love that. I think it's such a powerful point in everything that you all are doing and of course trying to be an organization or even a person of value but I think sometimes we forget that we also have to show that value. So I love that you had that story that kind of sounds like planted the seed for everything you've been doing up to now.
04:09 – 04:24
Dr. Jack J. Phillips: Yes. See, we actually help people see the value by teaching them. Sometimes we do it for them. Sometimes we do it together. Those are our 3 options with people as we work with them globally.
04:25 – 04:33
Gresham Harkless: Nice, so that's a little bit on like how you work with your clients and how you serve them. Is that also a lot of like what's in the book as well too, that we can kind of learn from there?
04:34 – 05:04
Dr. Jack J. Phillips: Yes, if you think about any project, the projects break down sometimes because they don't start with the end in mind very clearly. We don't have the kind of expectation to get the results at the end, and we don't collect enough data along the way. We don't have a good, clear understanding of the success. So we have a six-step process here where you start with the end in mind with a clear measure, impact measure that you want at the end. We make sure It's the right solution. We expect SAS very clearly. We want to make sure we
05:04 – 05:27
Dr. Jack J. Phillips: have impact and maybe even ROI at the end positive. And we collect data along the way and we analyze the data and we leverage the results. Those are 6 steps that we offer people as an easy way to see the value of any type of project program system, procedure, policy initiative. It doesn't matter. It works extremely well for those things.
05:27 – 05:57
Gresham Harkless: Nice. And I imagine just as you had that experience, and I imagine a lot of your clients as well too. 1 of the most, 1 of the 7 habits of highly effective people is beginning with the end in mind and being able to first of all, understand that. But I think that that probably also helps to support certain initiatives, support certain organizations, certain programs, when you are able to kind of understand, you know, what these constituents, what the people that might be making decisions might also, you know, understand or want to see a value, you're able
05:57 – 06:03
Gresham Harkless: to kind of essentially, you know, translate it to them in the way so that you can help support whatever it is you might be working on.
06:03 – 06:30
Dr. Jack J. Phillips: Yes, that's a good point. See, in the Stephen Covey's book, The 7 Habits, he was looking the end in mind is the habit that you want. But so we take it beyond that we need habits to produce something as a consequence of that habit. And that's going to be an impact. And so we kind of morphed it to another level there and say, it's not the habit that you need, but it's results of the habit. So keep that in mind, the habit is the way to get you there. And so we say the end in mind
06:30 – 07:03
Dr. Jack J. Phillips: is really a business contribution, a business impact coming from that new habit. So we build around 5 levels of outcome is how people are reacting to our project. It's how they what they've learned to make it successful. That's learning reaction learning first 2 levels. And then third level is application. That's the habit. That's the things that we're doing. And fourth is impact. And the fifth is the actual ROI. So that's a 5 levels of success coming for any project, any program, any initiative, 5 levels of success.
07:04 – 07:28
Gresham Harkless: Absolutely. I love that you guys have taken that, you know, further. And I think that's such a great distinguishing point that you made as well, too. It's like a lot of times we have those habits so that we do see something, you know, produced. And I think that why, you know, no better place to start than working backwards from whatever those things are. And I appreciate, you know, learning about each of those different aspects, because I almost feel like they're kind of the legs of the stool where people can kind of measure, you know, the success
07:28 – 07:35
Gresham Harkless: of whatever initiative program, organization, venture, whatever it might be. I imagine that's a really good filter to kind of put each of those things through.
07:36 – 08:05
Dr. Jack J. Phillips: Yes, it's it and again it works so well. It's easy. We keep the mathematics low. Fourth grade mathematics is as high as we need to go, which is probably good news for many people. So it's it's an easy simple way to show the value of what you do in terms that others understand and appreciate. And when you do it, you're just driving success because when you start with the end in mind, a clear business value, then you actually are designing your project now to deliver that results. So it makes a big difference in the outcome.
08:06 – 08:29
Gresham Harkless: Awesome, awesome, awesome. So I know you touched on, you know, a little bit on how you serve through, serve and work through clients and what we can find in the book. Would you consider that proprietary method to be part of the secret sauce? See The actual ability you have, it sounds like, to be able to kind of understand each of the constituents potentially, but to be able to translate it so that people can execute and kind of understand exactly what they're doing with each of the projects. Do you think that sets your apart and makes it
08:29 – 08:29
Gresham Harkless: unique?
08:30 – 09:08
Dr. Jack J. Phillips: It is. And in terms of evaluating projects and programs, this is now the most used evaluation system in the world, so that makes it unique in that sense. And it works. It's got that. It reached that milestone because it's easy to use. It's very credible for CEOs and CFOs. And it's very credible in terms of the evaluators and the professors and the researchers who need to see very credible processes involved. So it's unique, systematic, and it's approachable and doable.
09:10 – 09:22
Gresham Harkless: Awesome, awesome, awesome. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an Apple book or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?
09:22 – 09:58
Dr. Jack J. Phillips: I actually go back to Stephen Covey. It's Franklin Covey planning system that came out of their organization. It goes back to the days when it was Franklin Quest and they merged with Stephen Covey. We know those people quite well and they've endorsed our books. And so I use their planning system. It really makes a big difference. It's a planning process that just keeps your own focus on track. It's automated, of course, but you've got the old, the paper-based version still around and still works. So that's probably made a big difference in my ability to stay focused
09:58 – 10:03
Dr. Jack J. Phillips: and stay on track and reach a lot of goals and write over a hundred books.
10:04 – 10:16
Gresham Harkless: Awesome, awesome, awesome. So what would you consider to be what I like to call a CEO nugget? So that's a little bit more word of wisdom or piece of advice. It might be something you would mention in your book or if you were to hop into a time machine, you might tell your favorite client or your younger business self.
10:16 – 10:48
Dr. Jack J. Phillips: Yeah, it's getting people to think ROI. By thinking ROI, that means any project we have, we think of success along those 5 levels. How people are gonna react to it, what are they gonna learn, what are they gonna do, what impact will it have, And is it worth it? The ROI is actually, is it worth it for us? What that does is create a culture of accountability that you need. So we really need that in organizations because so many projects and new procedures and new processes go astray because they just don't have the focus and the
10:48 – 10:57
Dr. Jack J. Phillips: results and the accountability they need throughout it. So I'd say think ROI and in a set, in essence, you're creating that culture of accountability you need.
10:58 – 11:22
Gresham Harkless: That's extremely powerful. And, you know, again, it's just taking those steps and kind of having that intentionality with the things that you're doing. Have you found, and I know you've worked with so many different clients in so many different areas across the globe, that most, I guess, maybe the default action that people have is just to come up with these initiatives, come up with these programs, rather than have that intentionality with the programs, the initiatives, ventures that they're doing?
11:22 – 11:56
Dr. Jack J. Phillips: Yes, too many of them are flawed and they don't mean for it to be. It's a great idea. It looks good. Someone else is doing it. Hey, I got this idea. Let's try this. So we don't think through, what is the impact that we need at the end? What is that problem or opportunity that we're trying to solve? And then think through, is this the right project to do it? And then let's drive the success as a team to make sure we get there. So yes, too many are just haphazard, off the cuff. Someone requested it,
11:56 – 12:03
Dr. Jack J. Phillips: someone suggested it. And so we just take off and start doing it without thinking through all of those issues we need to drive that success that we want.
12:03 – 12:14
Gresham Harkless: Awesome. So now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping that different quote unquote CEOs on this show. So Dr. Jack, what does being a CEO mean to you?
12:15 – 12:49
Dr. Jack J. Phillips: Well, it's a commitment to serve 3 groups. And that's first is our employees to make sure that we've got a good team and that we keep that team. And we've been able to do that during the pandemic. We haven't had a voluntary turnover in some time now. So we got to work for them. And second is our customers. We love our customers and we have a great customer base, but we've worked that base, I think, by providing a satisfaction guarantee. If you're not happy with our service, you pay nothing for it. And then our shareholders, we're
12:49 – 13:11
Dr. Jack J. Phillips: private to hell, but we do have shareholders. We wanna make the shareholders happy. And my wife is a principal shareholder, gotta make her happy. So I think those are the classic 3, but we also gotta live our brand that we've established over a period of time and make it come to life with the work that we do and the way we manage and deliver our services.
13:11 – 13:38
Gresham Harkless: Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate you talking about each, you know, of the aspects of that. I think from leading from a holistic standpoint, you start to understand that it's not just 1 kind of group that you're kind of helping to support. So I love, you know, knowing the employees and knowing the clients and of course the shareholders and happy, happy wife, happy life. I think the saying goes, making sure that you are making sure you're making that impact in such a way is huge. But I feel like all those things, I don't correct me if I'm wrong,
13:38 – 13:49
Gresham Harkless: add up into your brand. Because if you aren't taking care of things from a customer standpoint, then that does affect your brand or customer or shareholders and so on and so forth, understanding the collective impact in each of those things.
13:49 – 13:49
Dr. Jack J. Phillips: That's right,
13:50 – 14:08
Gresham Harkless: yes. Well, Dr. Jack, truly appreciate that definition and perspective, but of course, I appreciate your time even more. So what I want to do now is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know? And of course, how best people could get a hold of you. Get a copy of your book. Find out about all the awesome things you and your team are working on.
14:08 – 14:48
Dr. Jack J. Phillips: Yes. Well, our newest book, I should say we wrote this to bring an easy to follow and read, an approachable book on this process. It's called, Show the Value of What You Do. It's available wherever books are sold, Amazon, all the bookstores. So that explains in simple terms, it's a short book, only 150 pages, and it's got lots of stories in there, stories of how this process has made a difference in the work and the lives and careers of 20 people there as they've used this methodology. So we'd invite you to get that book and get
14:48 – 15:15
Dr. Jack J. Phillips: started with it. You can reach out to us directly at roinstitute.net and my email address directly is jack at roinstitute.net. And my wife, Patty, she'd be loved to get something from you. And that's patty, p-a-t-t-i at roinstitute.net. We'd be happy to talk through this process with you, see how it might help someone, and particularly talk about how it's helped so many others.
15:16 – 15:43
Gresham Harkless: Absolutely, absolutely. And to make it even easier, we're going to have the links and information in the show notes too, so that everybody can get a copy of the book and reach out to yourself and Patty and the awesome team that you have. And I truly appreciate you taking time out and you know all the awesome things that you're doing. I think so many times when we look at success and we look at ROI, we can sometimes take a slapstick approach and not realize that we can't have that intentionality to kind of make sure that we're
15:43 – 15:56
Gresham Harkless: going there. So I appreciate you sharing the stories in the book and the framework by which people can increase that likelihood of success. So truly appreciate you for all the genius that you shared with us today, the genius that you're doing. And I hope you have a phenomenal day.
15:56 – 15:58
Dr. Jack J. Phillips: Thank you so much. Thanks for having me here.
15:58 – 16:34
Outro: Thank you for listening to the I am CEO Podcast powered by CB Nation and Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at imceo.co. IMCEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and everywhere you listen to podcasts. Subscribe and leave us a five-star rating. This has been the I Am CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.