Todd Williams: I tell people this a lot of times it’s not what we teach, it’s what we unleash in [00:00:05] someone. And I say that to you as a leader, too. We walk into work, [00:00:10] and I feel like sometimes we put on a brain eraser and we forget [00:00:15] this. We relearn what we already know [00:00:20] outside of work. You know as well as I do with your kids. [00:00:25] It’s connection, you know that. Yeah. It’s not the things [00:00:30] you. How how do your kids know you love them? Well, I buy them nice things. Um, they [00:00:35] appreciate that, I’m sure. But that’s not the love. How do they know you [00:00:40] love them? How do your friends and family know you love them? [00:00:45] Because you connect with them? Then we walk into work and we’re like, that’ll never work. It does [00:00:50] work. I remember we used to say this in hospitals all the time. We would say it’s [00:00:55] the weirdest disconnect. We would sit in large leadership meetings and we would say, well, what [00:01:00] does the community want from a hospital? What does the community want? We need to study [00:01:05] the community. And I remember thinking to myself, where do you all live? Like you’re [00:01:10] you’re acting like this community is this other planet. [00:01:15] But when we leave work, we go get in the car and drive into said community [00:01:20] of which we are a member. Why do we come into work and now look [00:01:25] back at literally our neighbours like it’s a species from another planet? Bring [00:01:30] the best version of you into work and watch how many things you suddenly understand.

[VOICE]: This [00:01:35] is Dental [00:01:40] Leaders. The podcast where you get to go [00:01:45] one on one with emerging leaders in dentistry. Your [00:01:50] hosts Payman Langroudi and Prav Solanki. [00:01:55]

Prav Solanki: It gives me great pleasure to introduce [00:02:00] Todd Williams to the Dental Leaders Podcast. And guys, [00:02:05] by way of introduction, really, it was a chance meeting [00:02:10] with Todd because Dev Patel from the Dental beauty group sent me a message [00:02:15] and goes, hey Prav, do you fancy coming along to this two day retreat? We’ve got this guy called [00:02:20] Todd Williams coming along, and he’s like a life changing motivational speaker [00:02:25] type guy. And then I got his bio in my in my, um, email, [00:02:30] and I read it and skimmed over it and thought, yeah, some, some, some old [00:02:35] guy who’s into hotels and stuff like that. And I just thought to myself, do you know what? I’m a busy guy. [00:02:40] I feel obliged to turn up to this two day retreat [00:02:45] because dev was paying for the hotel. It almost felt like, um, [00:02:50] you know, almost like a hospitality thing that an a favour. And I kind of it [00:02:55] felt like this is two days. I’m never going to get back again. On what [00:03:00] a waste of time this is going to be. Right. And Todd, that’s that that that really is my honest. [00:03:05] Yeah I even told dev about this. Right. And he said, geez, I’m glad that that played out [00:03:10] for you, Prav. And let me tell you, the following two days [00:03:15] were absolutely game changing for me, right? I have listened to [00:03:20] so many people motivational speakers on a stage, in person, networking [00:03:25] masterminds paid thousands to be in the room with such people, [00:03:30] right? And I can honestly say that the time I spent with you, Todd, [00:03:35] and in that room where you engaged us for the full two days [00:03:40] was game changing on many levels, and you really made me think. [00:03:45]

Prav Solanki: Really, really made me think about work, about my own personal life. [00:03:50] And and do you know what? My brain was popping throughout. And I’ll tell you why. [00:03:55] Because of how you related to my life and whatnot. But but there were other things, [00:04:00] right? I do a bit of speaking on stage, right? Nowhere near as much as you talk. But I was [00:04:05] sat there going, this guy hasn’t shown me a single slide in two days and [00:04:10] he ran on time. How the hell does this guy do that, right? But listen, I’m [00:04:15] gonna I’m gonna shut up and let you get on with it. Todd. I mean, um, you know, in [00:04:20] summary, Todd’s the guy behind, you know, some of the largest [00:04:25] and most successful Four Seasons hotels in North America. Hospital background. [00:04:30] Um. Amazing stories, amazing storyteller. [00:04:35] Um, so, Todd, welcome to the Dental Leaders podcast.

Todd Williams: Thank you very much. [00:04:40] It’s an honour.

Prav Solanki: And I just. Todd, I’d just like to start by understanding [00:04:45] your background. Growing up as a little boy, what your childhood was like, [00:04:50] and just just paint your story for me growing up as a kid. Yeah. [00:04:55]

Todd Williams: Um, thank you, by the way, for that introduction. That’s. It’s fun to hear. I think my favourite [00:05:00] thing is those conversions. You know, when somebody has the doubts [00:05:05] and has a guard up. So I appreciate that. My childhood [00:05:10] was, you know, I grew up in Northern California, an only [00:05:15] child with parents that had a huge age difference. So my parents had a 30 year [00:05:20] age difference, three zero. And I didn’t, you know, as a kid, you don’t know [00:05:25] that’s different. You don’t know that’s unusual. And my parents were funny. They they [00:05:30] I know they didn’t want me to be teased at school. So they never really talked about my their [00:05:35] age. I knew there was a difference, but I didn’t know how much. And so when kids at school [00:05:40] had asked me, they’d see me with my parents and they’d say, how old’s your dad? I’d say, I don’t know. And they [00:05:45] always thought I was kidding, but I really did not know how old my dad was. And, um, I [00:05:50] would get these funny moments along the way where, you know, we’d be somewhere and I’d be looking at a [00:05:55] souvenir I wanted to buy or something on a vacation. And I remember the salesperson would, like, look at me and look [00:06:00] over and go, why don’t you go ask your grandfather if he wants to get it for you? And I’m like, my grandfather’s not [00:06:05] here.

Todd Williams: Like, what are you looking at? And I still couldn’t understand what they were saying. But [00:06:10] with a dad who was so much older, he retired when I was a little kid. [00:06:15] And so I joked sometimes that I didn’t really grow up with a super strong work [00:06:20] ethic. I grew up with more of a retirement ethic, like, what do you want to do when you grow up? I said, retire, [00:06:25] it’s a job my dad has. It’s a good one. And um, I watched, [00:06:30] I think as a kid, it’s it’s at that age [00:06:35] and at that time in society that the phrase I remember hearing so much growing up was the child [00:06:40] is to be seen, not heard. And so a lot of times, my mom, [00:06:45] she liked to be a host, and she would make dinner for my dad and his friends. [00:06:50] So we dinner parties, nothing fancy, but just people coming over for dinner was sort of a regular [00:06:55] thing, and the people who came over for dinner tended to be in my dad’s circle. [00:07:00] And so basically, I grew up around old people and [00:07:05] with that notion of being seen, not heard.

Todd Williams: I grew up listening [00:07:10] to old people. And, you know, they say there’s a difference between knowledge and [00:07:15] wisdom, right? Knowledge is knowing. A tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting [00:07:20] it in fruit salad. It’s what you learn along the way. And so [00:07:25] what I realised is I was sitting at a table with a lot of wisdom. Time tested [00:07:30] things these individuals had learned in life. But of course, as a little kid, I don’t realise [00:07:35] it’s wisdom. I just think it’s old people talking. And I listened and I listened and [00:07:40] I listened, and I think that really shaped a lot of who I became was hearing [00:07:45] kind of the end of the book over and over and over, and my work, you know, paralleled [00:07:50] that. But as a kid, that’s that’s what I saw as old people. And yeah, I remember sometimes, you [00:07:55] know, I it was very familiar. We, I would call everybody uncle and so I’d be [00:08:00] like, oh, it’s, you know, Uncle Jim coming to dinner tonight like he always does. And I’d kind of get the message [00:08:05] Uncle Jim wasn’t coming tonight and never again. And so death to [00:08:10] me wasn’t ever seen as a sad thing. It was just a fact of life. And you.

Prav Solanki: Saw a lot [00:08:15] because you saw a lot of it as a kid.

Todd Williams: Right? Saw a lot of it. Yeah. Saw a lot of people pass on. [00:08:20] And, you know, I would just it was [00:08:25] always explained to me that they lived a good life and they wouldn’t be coming anymore. And I was too young [00:08:30] to really be devastated by that. It was more just, oh, bummer, really enjoyed [00:08:35] him, but that was about it. I liked his stories, but, um, what [00:08:40] I think I look back at and realise now is I was hearing the end of the book, [00:08:45] if you will, over and over. You know, we all love a good book. It’s got the opening, it’s got the middle, [00:08:50] it’s got all those parts that confuse you. And then it’s hopefully at the end tied together with a [00:08:55] bit of a wow. And that’s what makes you say, this was a good book. So being around elderly people, [00:09:00] I feel like I was getting the end of the book over and over and over, and [00:09:05] that really shaped how I entered into the rest of life, which wasn’t smooth. [00:09:10] And so was it.

Prav Solanki: As a kid growing up, were you different to the other kids? [00:09:15] You were surrounded by adults all the time, you know, funny, funny. You mention that, [00:09:20] right? Because even when we have guests around the house, we make it [00:09:25] very clear that the kids must come and socialise with the adults. They must sit [00:09:30] down at dinner, they must ask questions and engage, just like adults would, rather than [00:09:35] go and disappear in the lounge and play on their toys or whatever. Right? We want them to be a part [00:09:40] of that grown up conversation. Yeah. And what’s really clear, I’ve got I’ve got two sets of kids, [00:09:45] the older ones and the younger ones, and the one thing that people say about about [00:09:50] the older ones, the younger ones are too young yet, is that they’re really good at interacting with [00:09:55] adults. Right. And, you know, like they’ll go into a room and, you know, even [00:10:00] at the age of like 10 or 11, they’ll ask an adult, so how are you? How is your day to day, [00:10:05] what have you been up to this week. And it’s like ten year old kids asking me that, but it’s because [00:10:10] they’ve been exposed to that, right? How did that play out for you as a as a kid? [00:10:15] Did people ever make any comments like that? Were you sort of mature beyond your years in [00:10:20] that, in that way?

Todd Williams: I wish I’d been raised like that where I got those social skills earlier. [00:10:25] I think I had to do a little bit of Trial by Fire with that. I, [00:10:30] I was a great listener, but I didn’t know how to interact. And the [00:10:35] whole children are to be seen, not heard, didn’t teach me how to ask [00:10:40] those questions and how to engage. The. The funny side of it is, I think when I went out into [00:10:45] society, I would gravitate towards the adults. So [00:10:50] I would tend to, you know, if we were at an event where it was now families together [00:10:55] and there was plenty of kids playing. Being an only child, first of all, I wasn’t great [00:11:00] at the team. Sports didn’t quite understand the dynamic, but I also wasn’t maybe [00:11:05] at ease with some of those conversations. So I would kind of gravitate towards the adults. And [00:11:10] so I just that was sort of my home was listening and observing the adults. [00:11:15] I think what I heard a lot growing up was he’s such a polite boy, you know, he’s he’s got good [00:11:20] manners, but I don’t think it well behaved. Yeah. Um, well trained, [00:11:25] but I no, I don’t think there was a lot of comments about the interactions because they just weren’t. [00:11:30] I was just, you know, I was the observer and then.

Prav Solanki: So how did that [00:11:35] sort of then play out school wise? We were a studious kid. We academic. [00:11:40] What sort of school did you go to? What sort of hobbies were you into [00:11:45] as a as a kid?

Todd Williams: Yeah, that’s that’s a funny question, because I think [00:11:50] that style of observation stayed with me to. [00:11:55] So a couple of things come to mind when you say that. But as I got to school and [00:12:00] it took me, you know, this is the kind of thing you see in retrospect. But I look back now, [00:12:05] I wasn’t studious, but I was paying hyper attention [00:12:10] in class. Mhm. But I wasn’t paying attention to what everybody else was. [00:12:15] And I you know, fast forward a little bit. When I got to college, you know, when my dad retired [00:12:20] he’d put aside money for college. But by the time I got to college age, [00:12:25] his money was barely enough to pay for books. So I had to do some city college [00:12:30] and some general education to get into the college I wanted to get to, and [00:12:35] I had to work hard to get into that. And my dad, [00:12:40] I was probably the only kid in my school [00:12:45] that sort of got in trouble for getting into college. My dad was [00:12:50] when he was a young kid. He he had two brothers. One of his brothers [00:12:55] died from leukaemia when he was young. My dad was the middle brother. So he kind [00:13:00] of took over and helped raise the younger brother. And he would tell me these stories of when he was 12 and 13, [00:13:05] you know, riding an Indian motorcycle that shifted on the tank to deliver [00:13:10] things for a pharmacy. You know, that was he was working. That was his first job. [00:13:15]

Todd Williams: And so my dad grew up with that. You do the basic schooling and then you get into the workplace. [00:13:20] The workplace will teach you. The workplace is where all the lessons are, etc.. So [00:13:25] by the time I came along and, you know, college age, I’m like, dad, I’m going to go to this college and this is how [00:13:30] much it cost. And in my dad’s world, that was sort of a waste of time. You know, you’re going to go [00:13:35] spend thousands and thousands of dollars to come out and go into the workplace and learn what you could [00:13:40] have learned had you just skipped that big expenditure. But the funny thing [00:13:45] is, when I finally got to college, I remember I was sitting in this one [00:13:50] lecture hall and I was just I was sort of thinking to myself, oh, look at that. [00:13:55] That’s what a student looks like when they’re listening to the teacher. That’s a teacher teaching [00:14:00] a student. And I was observing what was happening, but [00:14:05] not from the student perspective. And so I became this observer of the situation. [00:14:10] And I would I would continue that. I would think, you know, now why does that student [00:14:15] seem to have favour with the teacher and that one doesn’t? And how come over there [00:14:20] that person made the teacher laugh? But that person almost irritated the teacher, and [00:14:25] I was I was being hyper studious, just on the wrong thing. Um, [00:14:30] ironically, I think you can see how that played out.

Prav Solanki: Yeah. So? So [00:14:35] so you were you mentioned this earlier, and now you’ve just sort of elaborated on that, which [00:14:40] is you weren’t listening to the teacher. You weren’t learning the maths or [00:14:45] the English or the chemistry or the science, but you were reading the room. It was learning.

Todd Williams: People. [00:14:50]

Prav Solanki: And you was observing people. Yeah. In the situation. Right? Yeah. Yeah. [00:14:55] Interesting.

Todd Williams: And I, I’ve looked back a million times [00:15:00] and I could have never predicted this or planned that, but that turned out to be the most [00:15:05] valuable lesson I could ever take. Take away from [00:15:10] school, take away from life was just observing people, paying attention to what [00:15:15] makes them tick, what throws them off course, what engages people? What? [00:15:20] What helps people believe in themselves? Those kind of things [00:15:25] were what I was paying attention to. No grand vision [00:15:30] at that time. It was just I think it was a product of my upbringing, the environment. [00:15:35] Just learn to observe. And that’s.

Prav Solanki: So [00:15:40] what did you what did you study out of curiosity?

Todd Williams: Well, my first my [00:15:45] first angle, I thought for sure I wanted to be a youth minister. And it had less to do with [00:15:50] the faith side of things, the religion side of things. It was youth ministers [00:15:55] just sort of played a prominent role in my life growing up. Um, I [00:16:00] think to me they were the brothers, older brothers that I didn’t have. Being an only child. [00:16:05] Um, I think I thought of them as these individuals who, you know, [00:16:10] grade school and high school can be such a transformative time for [00:16:15] a kid. They can can throw you off. And youth ministers to me were sort [00:16:20] of this beacon of stability in that vulnerable time of my life. [00:16:25] So I was inspired by that, and I wanted to go off and become a beacon of stability [00:16:30] for others. And I didn’t didn’t pan out [00:16:35] the way I thought it was going to. And as I tried to figure out what I was going to do with [00:16:40] my life, I had a friend suggest I take a job in a hospital. And I [00:16:45] thought, there’s nothing in my background. Nothing. Nothing in my education [00:16:50] that has steered me towards health care. And he he said, there’s non-hospital [00:16:55] jobs in a hospital, which I think was his way of saying nonclinical.

Prav Solanki: Yeah, yeah yeah, [00:17:00] yeah. How old were you then, Todd?

Todd Williams: Uh, that was, that was post-college. So I was [00:17:05] in my early 20s.

Prav Solanki: So early 20s. You’ve been to college, studied [00:17:10] what did you actually studied?

Todd Williams: Religious studies. I was a yeah, [00:17:15] theology. Interesting.

Prav Solanki: So you’d done religious studies at college? Um, [00:17:20] and then someone said, go get a job in a hospital doing non-hospital things. [00:17:25] Yeah.

Todd Williams: While you figure out what you’re going to do with this background in in religion. [00:17:30] But the person who said it to me, they, [00:17:35] you know, when somebody says something to you and you know, there’s more they want to say, but they can’t, [00:17:40] but you can kind of see it in their eyes. So this person who was saying, just take a job in a hospital [00:17:45] and I was, you know, I can’t they’re like, just take a job in the hospital and I okay, [00:17:50] this person seems pretty convinced this is going to be good for me. So [00:17:55] and I need to find a job while I figure out what I’m going to do. So I took a job and I got a very it [00:18:00] was a non-clinical job, but it was helping out in the emergency room. And [00:18:05] I quickly saw the core of what I was looking [00:18:10] for in youth ministry, and that was people coming into the emergency [00:18:15] room around their most vulnerable day. And they’re really looking at you to be [00:18:20] stable while they’re going through this. And I [00:18:25] saw quickly in the colleagues that I was working with that they were the beacon of stability [00:18:30] to this person in trauma to this person scared to death. And [00:18:35] I realised then that’s why my friend was pushing me towards this. He’s like I, you know, I think [00:18:40] he understood the essence of what I wanted to do. And he saw that as an area of health care [00:18:45] that I could or he saw health care as an area where I could let that play out. So [00:18:50] I fell in love with it.

Prav Solanki: Who was this friend, Todd? Who was who was this person? Who? He was a.

Todd Williams: Friend that [00:18:55] I grew up with. And we ended up at the same college, which was kind of ironic [00:19:00] because we didn’t aim at that. That was just the way our lives went, and somehow we both ended up at the [00:19:05] same place, and we’re still friends to this day.

Prav Solanki: Amazing. So so you [00:19:10] went you end up doing this and you find this role where you are part [00:19:15] of that team of beacons of stability, right? For these people who are really vulnerable, just [00:19:20] paint a picture of me of what did you see in those first days, years, [00:19:25] whatever it is was that you were working with. Tell me some stories about the patients [00:19:30] you saw and perhaps what impacts you saw people having on their [00:19:35] lives, and maybe what impact you might have had on on certain patients. [00:19:40] Um, yeah. During that time.

Todd Williams: Wow. I can think of [00:19:45] a story literally comes to mind for each one of those. For me, one of the first things I [00:19:50] remember was some of the patients coming into the emergency room were so [00:19:55] agitated, just scared. But they’re fighting, you know, they’ve they’re taking [00:20:00] swings at you. And I hadn’t adjusted to this yet. And so [00:20:05] I, you know, I took offence to that. And they’re swinging at me. I’ll [00:20:10] swing back and um, I remember [00:20:15] I look at my colleagues, my co-workers, and they weren’t [00:20:20] being riled as much as I was. And I think I learned one of the [00:20:25] biggest lessons right then and there. And it’s just played out over and over in life. I [00:20:30] was listening to I the way I say it today is I was listening to the mouth, and [00:20:35] the mouth of the patient might have been saying, get the hell out of here. Get away! Leave. But [00:20:40] my colleagues were listening to their eyes, and I realised a lot of times their eyes were saying, [00:20:45] how did I get in this situation? I’m terrified. Don’t leave me literally contradicting [00:20:50] what the mouth was saying. And so I was being very superficial and just hearing the words and getting [00:20:55] offended. But my colleagues were looking into the eyes and seeing a very vulnerable person and responding [00:21:00] through their steadfast gaze that I’ve got you. And [00:21:05] that was one of the first big lessons for me. And I know Simon Sinek says [00:21:10] sometimes that the listening is not the act of hearing.

Todd Williams: It’s [00:21:15] the art of understanding. And I realised looking back, that’s what my team [00:21:20] was doing. They were understanding the patient, I was hearing them, but they were understanding that. And so [00:21:25] learning that was was a big moment for me and helped me fall in love with the role [00:21:30] even more. A second part of it, I later transitioned out of the emergency [00:21:35] room, and I ended up in a trained role in the physical therapy team. And [00:21:40] back in those days, wound care was a part of physical therapy. [00:21:45] It’s not today. It’s its own department. But wound care is interesting because a lot of [00:21:50] times the patients come in and are outpatients. They’re out there functioning in life, but they’ve [00:21:55] got this wound that isn’t healing. And so they come in to be treated. And [00:22:00] a lot of times it starts off with the whirlpool treatment, which means you’re putting this [00:22:05] wound into a whirlpool and then they sit for 20 minutes, and [00:22:10] it’s not like the rest of PT where you’re doing exercises throughout the whole visit. [00:22:15] There’s a bit of waiting, and I remember sometimes the patients would come back and, you know, [00:22:20] you’d unwrap this wound on their leg and lift their leg and help them set [00:22:25] it into the water. Now you’ve got 20 minutes of awkward time. And I think a lot [00:22:30] of times the therapists would go and start charting or the patient would read a book. And it was kind [00:22:35] of this, okay, let’s just be polite and quiet for 20 minutes until we can do what we [00:22:40] do and begin to treat the wound after the whirlpool time.

Todd Williams: But I remember [00:22:45] there was one patient in particular that really helped me see the patient experience differently. [00:22:50] He would come in and as we would, he had a wound on his lower leg down by his foot. [00:22:55] He wasn’t healing. It was. He was a diabetic, and it was an accidental [00:23:00] wound that now wouldn’t heal. And he was in danger of losing his, uh, leg [00:23:05] below the knee. And he would come in and as we would unwrap [00:23:10] his foot, he would look anywhere but his foot. [00:23:15] And I, in the beginning thought it was for obvious reasons. He didn’t want to see the wound. What [00:23:20] I realised is when I would use those 20 minutes to sit and talk with him, I [00:23:25] saw the human attached to the wound. And he told me one time he says, [00:23:30] you know, Todd, he goes, I want to walk my daughter down the aisle. My [00:23:35] head wants to walk her down the aisle. My heart, my soul, every ounce of me and my body’s [00:23:40] betraying me. And I don’t understand why I can’t control that. And [00:23:45] he said, I look away because it’s so frustrating to me. And I begin [00:23:50] to realise there’s a story, a big story behind these patients. It’s not just [00:23:55] I accidentally hurt myself and now it’s not healing. It’s [00:24:00] much deeper than that.

Prav Solanki: Can I ask you a quick question? Because it’s just come [00:24:05] to my mind, right? Sure. Why did he open up to you?

Todd Williams: I think [00:24:10] I was the one who would sit and talk with him when he was there. I, unlike, [00:24:15] maybe it went back to my schooling, but charting felt like [00:24:20] work, so I would rather where everybody else put off the interactions with the patient [00:24:25] and would go hide behind the clinical information in the chart. I’d put off the charting and go [00:24:30] sit with the patient.

Prav Solanki: Because he’s telling you something quite deep now, right? He’s there because [00:24:35] he’s got an ulcer on his leg or a wound that’s not healing. And he’s now [00:24:40] telling you about sunshine and rainbows or his dream that he may think’s not going to come true. [00:24:45] Yeah. Um, and you’re just the guy bathing his foot. Just listening.

Todd Williams: Yeah.

Prav Solanki: Just [00:24:50] listening. Um, but he felt comfortable enough to open up to you at that [00:24:55] at that point.

Todd Williams: Yeah, and And I learned that, I think along the way, a lot of times [00:25:00] they’re so vulnerable that it’s almost like, what have I got to lose? You know, you already know everything about [00:25:05] me. You know, every stat regarding my, you know, physical condition. [00:25:10] You’ve got a chart. So I might as well just give you the last thing that’s in my heart and my mind, too. So [00:25:15] opening up, I saw that quite a bit. And I think there’s [00:25:20] a lot of patients that want to open up because there’s so much anxiety when you come into [00:25:25] a clinical situation. Yeah, much more than what we think. It’s not [00:25:30] just about the wound. It’s that’s amplifying everything else you’re dealing with. And so [00:25:35] I think it was just a matter of being receptive to that and taking the time to listen to [00:25:40] the patient or even see the patient. As you know, later on, you [00:25:45] see this in hospitals all the time. You’ll hear a team refer to, oh, the hip down in room 424, [00:25:50] the knee down in room 423. And there’s not a knee in [00:25:55] that room. There’s a human with a life that happens to have. [00:26:00] Have a knee. Something going on with their knee. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The [00:26:05] thought.

Prav Solanki: The reason why I stopped you and asked you that question is, is in the world of dentistry, [00:26:10] which is sort of my world and yours as well, right? Is that, um, getting [00:26:15] patients to open up about why they’re here? Um, it’s [00:26:20] rarely that I want a beautiful smile or I want nice [00:26:25] looking teeth. Right. There’s more to it than that, right? It’s the fact that I talk with [00:26:30] my hand over my mouth, or I can’t eat into a steak or I’m embarrassed [00:26:35] or whatever, right? It gives them anxiety or lack of self-esteem and confidence. And [00:26:40] sometimes we talk about how do you get that out of the patient, right. Because it doesn’t come naturally [00:26:45] to every clinician, right. That once you once that patient opens up to you about [00:26:50] why they’re there. Mhm. Then the sales process is no longer a sales [00:26:55] process. Right. It’s just a recommendation, a human interaction. [00:27:00] Yeah. And whatnot. Right. And it seems like from the early days and [00:27:05] and that’s why I asked the question is these patients are opening up to you, but all you’re doing is [00:27:10] soaking their foot in water, right. There must be something deeper there that that [00:27:15] was the relationship between you and the patient that allowed them to [00:27:20] spill the beans. So.

Todd Williams: Yeah, I think that’s a really good point. And I’m glad [00:27:25] you honed in on that, because I do think there is an art to getting someone [00:27:30] to open up. And I think it’s a little bit it’s [00:27:35] asking the right questions, and the right questions are rarely [00:27:40] what we think are the right questions. You know, it’s you think about the news [00:27:45] and, you know, there’s a traumatic car accident. And the reporter walks up and says, how are you feeling? [00:27:50] The most obvious question you could ever ask. And [00:27:55] I think sometimes we do that, you know, how do you feel about your foot? How do you feel about [00:28:00] the situation? How do you feel about your treatment? But I think sometimes [00:28:05] just pulling back to the same question you would ask if you weren’t in that scenario, and And it’s [00:28:10] asking someone how how their day is, but with a sincerity, with [00:28:15] an honest sincerity. And I think that’s the key. It’s not, you know, if there’s something [00:28:20] I’ve learned over the years, it’s rarely what you do. It’s how you do it [00:28:25] that makes the biggest difference. And being able to ask somebody [00:28:30] how they’re doing, but asking that from a really genuine place where they hear [00:28:35] it differently, they might have heard it ten times that day already, 20 times already. [00:28:40] But the day you ask it, you said it in a way.

Todd Williams: There was something. It was your body [00:28:45] language. It was your tone of voice. But you said, how how are you today? And [00:28:50] there’s a little bit of something different. And the person you can see, they look at you and it’s almost like their eyes well up. [00:28:55] And no one’s asked me. I’m not okay. I’m scared. [00:29:00] What are you scared about? And it’s that tone. And it’s just that it’s that gentle. [00:29:05] Tell me more, tell me more. And people. That’s when the opening, [00:29:10] the opening up happens. So you’re right. It’s not just that they sit down in this whirlpool and spill [00:29:15] the beans. There’s there’s that kindness key. Yeah. [00:29:20] I remember hearing years ago talking about love, just being a loving person, a kind person. [00:29:25] They said love is the master key of connection. And [00:29:30] I think if you take that sentence, you know, in a grandiose way it sounds over [00:29:35] the top. But if you just think about it, what it’s really saying is just kindness unlocks [00:29:40] people. Yeah. And it’s getting more and more rare in society. So [00:29:45] I think being kind and getting these patients to you’re not coming [00:29:50] in with a mission. You’re coming in human first. Mission [00:29:55] second. And I think that was probably something [00:30:00] that I had learned along the way, because with my dad being retired, I [00:30:05] didn’t hear, here’s the CEO of this.

Todd Williams: This is the president of this. This is the [00:30:10] associate director of this. I never heard titles and I [00:30:15] just heard people. I would later learn what they did, but I first met [00:30:20] them as a human, and then I found out what they did. I met them as a human. Then I found out what they [00:30:25] did. And I think that’s a tremendous skill set to develop. Find [00:30:30] out the human, find out who the person is in front of you, but also just [00:30:35] as important, if not more important. Help them understand the human in front of them. [00:30:40] And people really want to know. You know, you said a minute ago about the sales [00:30:45] process takes care of itself. If I’m a human that’s connected with you, and I’ve truly [00:30:50] helped you share your needs, and I have something that actually, genuinely [00:30:55] is a solution to your situation. That’s the most natural fit [00:31:00] on Earth. You create a lifelong fan, but you have to be able to [00:31:05] trust that putting your title aside, putting your sales goals aside and connecting [00:31:10] is the first pure step. And I don’t think [00:31:15] we’re good at that. I know we’re not good at that. I see it all the time, people. Hey, how are you? Tell me about yourself. [00:31:20] Anyways, here’s what I have for you. Yeah.

Prav Solanki: Back [00:31:25] to your story, Todd, because I know I’ve pulled you away from that. Right. So, um, back [00:31:30] to your story about this guy who wanted to walk his, um.

Todd Williams: Walk his daughter [00:31:35] down the aisle.

Prav Solanki: Down the aisle. Right?

Todd Williams: Yeah, I he he continued [00:31:40] to be treated and just out of respect, I can save [00:31:45] his story, but But he his his health continued to decline until [00:31:50] a couple of years later. He actually passed at a far too young of an age, but [00:31:55] he set me on a course to really [00:32:00] pay attention, to get better at the patient experience. I remember [00:32:05] we had a social worker. His name was Sam. I just [00:32:10] I can still see the guy’s smile. And he came to the hospital I worked for was the largest hospital [00:32:15] between Los Angeles and San Francisco. And we had a huge [00:32:20] team. When you put all the therapy teams together physical therapy, occupational therapy, [00:32:25] speech therapy, we were 80 some odd people, which is that’s a good size for [00:32:30] a hospital. And he did this end service one day where he said, [00:32:35] it’s really important to understand that patients have a choice. And I remember a lot [00:32:40] of us thinking to ourselves, no, they don’t. They they get hurt, they [00:32:45] come here. That’s how that works. It’s a you know, first of all, our business is guaranteed because people [00:32:50] will always get sick. They’ll always be hurt. So we don’t have to worry [00:32:55] about them choosing someone else. That’s not an issue. So I think we pushed away what he was saying, [00:33:00] but he also talked about the way to help. Help [00:33:05] them choose you is to create a phenomenal patient experience. And I don’t think we took that to [00:33:10] a deep level.

Todd Williams: To us, the patient experience was also on the patient, [00:33:15] meaning if a patient had a great experience, it’s because they saw how hard we were working [00:33:20] and if they didn’t have a great experience, they didn’t realise how hard we were because somehow it was [00:33:25] always their fault, their responsibility. And you would get defensive, you know, you would get [00:33:30] these reports back, these patient, you know, comment cards and, [00:33:35] you know, if the scale was 1 to 10 for simplicity’s sake and you get a seven [00:33:40] and you remember that person coming in in a life and death situation, [00:33:45] it’s kind of hard to read that. You’re like, how am I getting a seven? What about that part where we saved [00:33:50] your life? Yeah, that. Was that an eight? Was that a nine? But I began to realise that the patient [00:33:55] experience that we were focusing on, quality [00:34:00] clinical treatment was expected. That’s [00:34:05] why they that’s what you expect. We advertise that there’s not a hospital in the nation in the, [00:34:10] in the world that says, come to us, we’re okay. Come to us. We try our best. Every [00:34:15] hospital says, come to us for phenomenal treatment. Come to us to receive the best. So when [00:34:20] I come in, that’s actually off the table. I’m expecting that. That’s that’s [00:34:25] why you do what you do for people in my situation, this is that’s over.

Prav Solanki: Standard [00:34:30] practice, right. Standard practice. You yeah. You walk into walk into Starbucks [00:34:35] and order a latte. You get a latte. It’s what you want. It’s what you expect. [00:34:40] It’s hot and it tastes like coffee and milk. Right? It’s standard.

Todd Williams: Yeah. And my [00:34:45] experience when I when you ask me, that’s a great example. You asked me how was my experience at Starbucks. [00:34:50] It’s 99% of the time going to be about how I felt while [00:34:55] I was getting that for sure.

Prav Solanki: Coffee for sure.

Todd Williams: The coffee’s not what I’m [00:35:00] rating. They all taste the same, you know, which is great. It’s consistent. That’s something [00:35:05] they have down pat. Starbucks around the world. Same drink. Yeah, but boy, day [00:35:10] to day you can go in one and feel a great experience. You can go in the next one and [00:35:15] decide never to go again. Yeah. And that’s what the patient experience was [00:35:20] truly about. And it’s still what it’s about today. And it’s amazing to me to [00:35:25] watch how many healthcare teams still focus on ways to [00:35:30] approach what I call the soft stuff in a clinical way, [00:35:35] and the soft stuff are those it’s the the part of life that we can’t measure, but we can [00:35:40] feel so true.

Prav Solanki: Todd but but I think the way [00:35:45] that clinicians are taught both at school and [00:35:50] after school and post-graduate, it’s very mechanical, right? It’s all [00:35:55] very much about, you know, what angle this rod goes in, how you do it, the [00:36:00] list of questions you need to go through to basically make sure you don’t get sued. [00:36:05] You know, you know, the consent forms, all the rest of it. The soft stuff never gets taught, [00:36:10] rarely gets discussed. Right? So then you end up in a situation [00:36:15] with the experience and those people who are better at that communication [00:36:20] piece. They may be lesser clinicians technically, but patients have a [00:36:25] better experience with them. Right.

Todd Williams: Mhm mhm. Because remember the patient doesn’t [00:36:30] understand what you’ve been trained in either. So [00:36:35] you’re more apt to match at that level. You [00:36:40] know, I’ve said that many times that we elevate ourselves to a clinical role, and [00:36:45] then we take them and elevate them to patient. And that’s where we talk. Okay. But [00:36:50] most patients aren’t hoping to become a patient. They’re here. Yeah. [00:36:55] And there was a time before you gain that knowledge you just referred to, you were here. And [00:37:00] if you don’t let go of that version of you, because that version of you actually climbed that ladder on purpose, that [00:37:05] version of you chose to become a clinician because you care. Excuse me? You [00:37:10] chose to become a professional because you want to serve others. That person [00:37:15] that drove you up the ladder is the person the patient is looking to talk to. [00:37:20] And I think if we can stop looking at our clinical role as a destination [00:37:25] and realise it was to achieve something that we then bring home and we connect heart first, [00:37:30] title second, we do a lot better. And I think that’s the gist of what you [00:37:35] were talking about earlier, when the patients would open up. I never sat down with [00:37:40] them and said, you know, I’m your I’m your physical therapy aide here to talk about your [00:37:45] wound. I would sit down and talk about them. And [00:37:50] as a matter of fact, this same patient, he knew I was an avid cyclist [00:37:55] and we would get in long talks. He had a son who liked to bike, too. And so he would tell me about [00:38:00] his son’s cycling and I would talk about what I enjoyed was cycling. And that [00:38:05] banter, some people might say, is a waste of time. I don’t have time for that. With today’s productivity, [00:38:10] we don’t have time for that. You don’t have time not to do that because [00:38:15] the time that saves you later immeasurable. Yeah, [00:38:20] it’s that connection.

Prav Solanki: So, Todd, how did you [00:38:25] go from bathing wounds to becoming [00:38:30] the head trainer at some of the leading Four Seasons [00:38:35] hotels in the world, setting records for, you know, amazing [00:38:40] service and all the rest of it and putting these. How do you go from [00:38:45] that guy? So you go to this, this is what I want to wrap my head around and where I want to [00:38:50] get to at the end of this conversation, if we can. Todd, you start off by going to.

Todd Williams: College. [00:38:55]

Prav Solanki: And doing religious studies, and then somewhere in between [00:39:00] there and where we are today, you open who knows how many [00:39:05] Four Seasons hotels win a ton of awards and [00:39:10] change culture in places where the stats were stacked [00:39:15] against you? Yeah. How the hell did that happen?

Todd Williams: You know, it’s [00:39:20] it goes back to that. I would say literally that in service with Sam [00:39:25] kicked something off in me. And the whole patients have a choice and the patient experience and [00:39:30] the conversations I heard afterwards. And I became friends with Sam and he [00:39:35] explained more of what I was seeing. He he was he was giving [00:39:40] credibility to what I was seeing. You know, I’m I feel like that was my life was always these laboratory [00:39:45] experiments just watching and observing and making notes. Does this ring true three [00:39:50] times in a row, or was that one off? Does this seem to ring true seven out of ten times? Then this [00:39:55] becomes a behaviour worth pursuing. So I was seeing that connecting with the patient [00:40:00] really mattered. Sam was coming in and his data was showing that connecting [00:40:05] with the patient really matters. So I wanted to help help all [00:40:10] of us in healthcare get better at connecting. And I had [00:40:15] a chance to. I think today the trendy term for students is to [00:40:20] call it a gap year. But I had a chance to move to Hawaii for a year and I wasn’t going to miss [00:40:25] that. So I thought, okay, if I can, if I can live in Hawaii, I’ll go over there and [00:40:30] I’ll find a job. They have a hospital on this island, Maui, that I was going to, and I’ll get [00:40:35] a job in physical therapy and I’ll I’ll enjoy it. Well, [00:40:40] I got to Hawaii and the hospital physical therapy team was two people, [00:40:45] and so finding a job on that team was impossible.

Todd Williams: And I did a quick thought [00:40:50] and I thought, okay, if this is a year away from home in the hospital I work [00:40:55] in, I’m going to study something that’ll help me learn more about [00:41:00] the patient experience. And I had heard about luxury hotels. Didn’t [00:41:05] understand them. That is not the income bracket I grew up in. We stayed at the cheap motels [00:41:10] when we did road trips, and I knew nothing about this world. But [00:41:15] I knew this world, and I and I had a friend that I worked with in healthcare [00:41:20] that had lived in Hawaii, and I talked to him about this move, and he told [00:41:25] me how when he was there, he’d worked in hotels. And I was fascinated [00:41:30] by this group of people because they were paying so much money, almost as much as you [00:41:35] pay in a hospital, sometimes more than you pay in a hospital for really something [00:41:40] you can’t even prove you received when you check out of a hotel. I’m [00:41:45] billing you for an experience. I didn’t fix your mouth. I didn’t fix your leg, [00:41:50] I didn’t I didn’t do anything that you can take home, per se. [00:41:55] It’s just a memory. So I thought, okay, there’s got to be a lesson here. And if I’m here [00:42:00] for a year, what if I take a job with this luxury hotel brand, learn what [00:42:05] they do specifically, and then bring that back [00:42:10] to healthcare? And that was my that was my noble intention. So [00:42:15] go ahead.

Prav Solanki: What do you mean by take a job with this luxury [00:42:20] hotel? Was was that job on the table? Had you applied for this job, was it was it on the offer or was it like, [00:42:25] I’m going to give this a crack and would you have confidence you’d get it?

Todd Williams: Uh, well, [00:42:30] I had too much confidence I was going to get it more to that, but, um, I [00:42:35] yeah, way too much. But the reason it wasn’t on the table. [00:42:40] But when I got over there and realised how small the hospital was and the physical therapy team [00:42:45] was two, I thought, oh, what am I going to do for work in this year? Well, hotels [00:42:50] are everywhere. Turnover is high in hotels, traditionally very [00:42:55] transitional job. I was only there for a year, so I, I figured I would go [00:43:00] and apply for whatever was available. Bellman room service. Um, [00:43:05] you know, pool attendant. I knew that with all the hotels and [00:43:10] all the positions, there was a certain to find a job. Yeah, so [00:43:15] I didn’t know where to start. I had heard about four seasons, didn’t know the brand, [00:43:20] just heard they were better than anybody else. So I thought, well, might as well apply there [00:43:25] first. And I went and this is where the confidence came in. I sort of, I [00:43:30] obviously can’t tell the hotel that I’m only there for a year. Right. They don’t want [00:43:35] to hire somebody who right off the bat says this is temporary. But in my mind, [00:43:40] my reason for wanting to work there was so noble, right? I’m going to learn about [00:43:45] care and take it back to health care. And so in my mind, I think I just thought [00:43:50] I was going to get the job.

Todd Williams: And I sat down in the interview, I was interviewing for a front desk position. [00:43:55] And I remember the guy said to me, pretty blunt, why do you think you can work [00:44:00] here? You’re a hospital guy. I was like, oh, I hadn’t thought this through. And now I [00:44:05] was on the spot. And I thought about it for a minute, and I remember saying in the interview, I said, well, a [00:44:10] hospital is kind of like a hotel from hell. You check in against [00:44:15] your will, you’re scared. You’re in pain. My goal is to make you [00:44:20] feel safe, to make you feel that you’re in the right place, to make you feel valued, [00:44:25] to create a sense of trust. And when you’re discharged, should you someday [00:44:30] have to come back to a hospital? You choose ours. And I remember the guy in the interview said, [00:44:35] you can have the job. So. So I got hired [00:44:40] and I started at the front desk and the next I [00:44:45] mean, we can go as deep as you want, but I’ll give you an overview, please. The [00:44:50] one year turned into 16 with the brand as [00:44:55] an official employee, and I still work with them this day as a what [00:45:00] they call a preferred consultant. And I still open up a lot of the new hotels. And when I say open the [00:45:05] hotel, do the training, that kind of establishes the culture and puts it in place and takes [00:45:10] people that don’t know what Four Seasons is, hands them, the brand teaches them in a way [00:45:15] that brings out their best, so that when a guest does check in, they say, yep, this [00:45:20] is what we expected from a four seasons.

Todd Williams: The 16 years [00:45:25] really. The first five changed my life. That’s [00:45:30] that’s how I ended up in front of you. And what I really [00:45:35] learned quickly because the hotel, the front desk job scared me to death in the beginning [00:45:40] because people would check in. And, you know, I came from a health [00:45:45] care background just a month before, and I’ve been doing it for several years, [00:45:50] 11 years to be exact. And so when we talk about things in [00:45:55] a hospital, it’s very the goal is there [00:46:00] you have a wound and we are this whole team is going to do everything we can to fix this [00:46:05] wound. You have broken bones and we are going to repair those bones and rehabilitate you to get [00:46:10] you back out there to your sports that you used to do. So in a hotel, [00:46:15] I was very uncomfortable not having that. And it [00:46:20] really quick just to go back when you said clinicians are trained very [00:46:25] specifically and they’re not trained in the soft stuff, nor nor was I. I didn’t realise that my [00:46:30] upbringing was that training. I hadn’t connected the dots yet.

Prav Solanki: For sure.

Todd Williams: Because [00:46:35] and but to be honest with you, by the way, when I first got into the workplace, I sort of resented my [00:46:40] dad for a while. It was like nothing you taught me works like [00:46:45] I grew up with this, you know, just love everything and it’s going to be great. And I get [00:46:50] into the workplace and I have to understand how to move metrics and how to, you know, take [00:46:55] over the competition and be ruthless. And I didn’t know how to do that. More to that, but [00:47:00] in the hotel, I didn’t understand [00:47:05] what I was. I just talk about fake it till you make it. I’m [00:47:10] handing somebody a registration card with a tremendous fee [00:47:15] on that card. This is the nightly rate, and you’re here for seven nights. And [00:47:20] if that looks good, sign here. And I remember thinking to myself. I wouldn’t sign [00:47:25] this if I were you. Like, that’s. I don’t even understand what you’re signing for. I work at [00:47:30] the front desk. I don’t understand what you’re going to experience. I’ve never stayed in a hotel like this. To [00:47:35] me, growing up, a hotel was $49. And that’s what you did. [00:47:40] These rooms that were hundreds and hundreds and sometimes thousands and thousands of dollars [00:47:45] for a night, I didn’t get it. And they would sign these registration cards. And [00:47:50] you sometimes you could see it was still a bit of shock. They knew what they were paying, but you’d [00:47:55] still see a little bit of colour go out of their face. Because it’s a lot to ask before you [00:48:00] felt anything. But later they had me checking some of those same guests out. [00:48:05]

Todd Williams: So now I’m handling the departure and I’m showing them these bills that are tremendous. [00:48:10] It’s not just the room rate they saw at check in, it’s now the room rate plus tax. [00:48:15] And there’s you know, there’s hotels have occupancy tax plus state tax. So it’s this huge [00:48:20] tax. There’s the food and beverage. There’s the spa [00:48:25] treatments. Whatever it is. The number is much bigger than they imagined at check in. Yeah. But [00:48:30] what’s interesting is they would settle these bills with such a positivity. [00:48:35] And I would see him and I would hand this total to them and they’re like, looks great. I’m like, [00:48:40] that does that was good to you? Okay? And they would settle [00:48:45] this bill and then sometimes they would even sit there at the desk and say, hey, before we leave, could we book again while [00:48:50] we’re here? And I was like, you’re kidding me. And I remember I’d go back and I’d get the the [00:48:55] reservations team. And I’m like, this guy would like to book another vacation before he leaves. So [00:49:00] I was fascinated by this phenomenon, and I went to the trainer and I said, [00:49:05] what in the world do we do between check in and check out? [00:49:10] That makes someone go from somewhat a little bit of trepidation to, [00:49:15] can I do it again as soon as possible? And I’ll never [00:49:20] forget, this is the trajectory that tied the whole thing together, my whole [00:49:25] story. He said. It’s not what we do. It’s how we do [00:49:30] what we do. And I bowled right past it. I’m like, that’s cute.

Todd Williams: But specifically, [00:49:35] what do we do? I know it wasn’t just a bunch of nice people out there. Tell [00:49:40] me the timing. What do we do with room service? How fast does the food get to them? And he kept saying, [00:49:45] you’re focusing on the things that don’t matter. I’m like, oh, timing matters, But I [00:49:50] understand, of course, what he was saying. That’s expected. Yeah, of course. My room service [00:49:55] comes to me fast. That’s why I pay so much. Of course, my wake up call is on [00:50:00] time to the second. That’s what I’m paying for. Of course, the service. Of course. [00:50:05] Your wine list is world class. That’s what I’m paying for. In other [00:50:10] words, when that person signs the bill, at the end of the day, they’re not because [00:50:15] you met expectations. That’s the that’s the entry fee. You [00:50:20] have to meet expectations. Sometimes I tell people that excellent service [00:50:25] is baseline. Like that’s that’s just the entry fee. If [00:50:30] you’re not excellent at what you do, you’re not even in the game. But that’s not what when someone [00:50:35] over, that’s what allows them to relax and realise they’re in the right place. [00:50:40] Now what they need on top of that is a connection. And that’s what he kept trying to tell me [00:50:45] in the beginning. So I listened to him. I’d follow him around. I became friends with him, [00:50:50] he moved on and I took his job one year, became two, became three. I didn’t want to leave Hawaii. [00:50:55] I was loving hotels. I thought I was done with healthcare. I didn’t [00:51:00] forget healthcare. I had a heart for it.

Todd Williams: But I was in this new world [00:51:05] that I didn’t expect to fall in love with, and I became a [00:51:10] trainer for that hotel then for the region. And then it just kept growing until I was reporting to the corporate [00:51:15] office. And through it all, I kept seeing time and time and time [00:51:20] again. The most effective training was teaching people how to connect, [00:51:25] teaching people how to read the person in front of them. And suddenly [00:51:30] everything I’d grown up learning was suddenly the information we needed. [00:51:35] As a matter of fact, in the beginning of my career, I would start out on the knowledge side of things. [00:51:40] Okay, we will script employees to say these three things to every guest, [00:51:45] and we will do these three things along with saying these three things [00:51:50] and three plus three equals success. And that’ll give us an award. And [00:51:55] it rarely played out. So we would you know, I [00:52:00] was thinking the way I was raised, you just listen to the person and be nice and love them. [00:52:05] But thanks dad. That’s useless. So I would come back over here and I would script out the three things to say [00:52:10] and the three things to do, and it didn’t work. So I would make an adjustment and then I would make another adjustment, [00:52:15] and then I would make another adjustment. And after two weeks of adjustments, [00:52:20] I realised I actually had something very similar to what I already threw away. Listen [00:52:25] to that guest in front of you. Get to know them. Connect with [00:52:30] them and that will tell you your next step.

Prav Solanki: Todd but [00:52:35] like listening to this now, right? Yeah, I hear you say. Right. Okay. So the secret [00:52:40] to success in this game is teaching your team [00:52:45] how to connect with people, right? Just that statement in itself, [00:52:50] I can say, well, that’s a little bit woo woo. And it sounds a bit like bullshit to me. Sure. [00:52:55]

Todd Williams: 100%.

Prav Solanki: Do you get where I’m coming from? Like, what do you mean, Todd? What [00:53:00] do you mean, connect? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, I’d like [00:53:05] you to answer that question, but at the same time, I’d like you to tell me the story about the gardener. Okay. [00:53:10] And the guest that you told us about with the the [00:53:15] partially sighted or blind wife. Because I think that that [00:53:20] is a true story about connection. That really hit home to me when [00:53:25] you when you shared that with us on the day. But actually I, I want you to just [00:53:30] qualify what you mean by we teach our people how [00:53:35] to rather than saying, okay, this is the script when they arrive, when they check in, when you see [00:53:40] someone tip your hat, smile to the person, make sure you acknowledge you know, look them [00:53:45] in the eye, whatever, whatever the you know, the rule book says, right? Um, but what [00:53:50] do you mean by the other thing? The connect thing? Because because that does sound a little bit like, well, how do you teach? [00:53:55] How do you teach that?

Todd Williams: Well, that’s such a good thing to hone in on as well, because I think [00:54:00] that’s where I began to realise I had seen the end of [00:54:05] the book so many times that these people, guessing at the end of the book, had not seen [00:54:10] and, you know, take that on a superficial level. [00:54:15] You’ve seen a movie, but now you go with your friends who haven’t seen it and [00:54:20] you hear them guessing halfway through, oh, I know who did it. And inside you’re like, hmm, it’s not what you [00:54:25] think. Yeah, well, I had that in life. It was sort of like, I get what you think [00:54:30] matters. That’s not what matters. And the reason I knew that is because [00:54:35] in all these conversations, there was there was an interesting parallel I skipped over earlier. But even though my mom [00:54:40] was 30 years younger, her job was she was the activities director [00:54:45] at three convalescent homes. So homes that took care of elderly people. [00:54:50] So even when I went with my mom to help out with work, it was around elderly [00:54:55] people and you would hear them talk about life in [00:55:00] you never, ever heard them say, you know, I’ll [00:55:05] never forget the protocol we put together to put someone at ease. And I [00:55:10] have it printed up in my. I’ve knitted it and it’s on my wall. Never. [00:55:15] It was always about, in the end, these soft things [00:55:20] connection mattered so.

Todd Williams: And remember I came in a little bit thinking [00:55:25] it was bullshit to. I was the one saying, that’s cute when the guy told me it’s how we do what we do, [00:55:30] but what do we do? But time and time again, I would try to teach something. [00:55:35] It wouldn’t work. I would watch him teach connection. It would work. So, you know, you [00:55:40] surrender after a while and I’m like, okay, show me this soft stuff. But here’s here’s [00:55:45] the thing that I think got me past past that seen [00:55:50] it as woo woo. I tell people this a lot of times it’s not what we teach, it’s what we [00:55:55] unleash in someone. And I say that to you as a leader, to you [00:56:00] already. We walk into work, and I feel like sometimes [00:56:05] we put on a brain eraser and we forget this. We relearn [00:56:10] what we already know outside of work. You [00:56:15] know as well as I do with your kids. It’s connection, [00:56:20] you know that. Yeah. It’s not the things you. How how do your kids know [00:56:25] you love them? Well, I buy them nice things. Mhm. They appreciate that I’m sure. [00:56:30] But that’s not the love. How do they know you love them. How [00:56:35] do your friends and family know you love them. Because you connect with them. Then we walk [00:56:40] into work and we’re like, that’ll never work. It does work because it turns [00:56:45] out.

Todd Williams: I remember we used to say this in hospitals all the time. We would say it’s [00:56:50] the weirdest disconnect. We would sit in large leadership meetings and we would say, well, what does the [00:56:55] community want from a hospital? What does the community want? We need to study [00:57:00] the community. And I remember thinking to myself, where do you all live? Like you’re you’re [00:57:05] acting like this community is this other planet. [00:57:10] But when we leave work, we go get in the car and drive into said community, [00:57:15] of which we are a member. Yeah. Why do we come into work and [00:57:20] now look back at literally our neighbours like it’s a species from another planet? [00:57:25] Bring the best version of you into work and watch how many things you suddenly understand. [00:57:30] And so that that connection. I could roll my eyes at it [00:57:35] too, until I realised I do it every day. I never [00:57:40] come home and think, oh, these are the two questions. I remember one of my hospitals that I was working [00:57:45] with had these connection questions for senior leaders when they were [00:57:50] rounding visiting the floors to ask nurses and [00:57:55] to ask team members. And so the list of questions was, you know, literally [00:58:00] written out, how is your day? And you half the time they’re looking at a piece of [00:58:05] paper. The next question was, do you have all the tools you need to be successful at your job? [00:58:10] That was natural.

Todd Williams: And the third one was very similar to that. Now imagine [00:58:15] if I went home to my kids with a sheet like that. Hey [00:58:20] kids, how was your how was your day? Do you have all the tools you need to be a successful [00:58:25] son? Are you pleased with your dad? I wouldn’t [00:58:30] do that at home for $1 million. Why do I think it’s going to happen at work? Sure. We already know [00:58:35] it’s about connection. So to your point, about the story, the [00:58:40] reason I tell, I’ve told this story a million times, and I don’t think I’ll ever not tell it because [00:58:45] it just brings it all together. But we had a couple [00:58:50] that was staying at our hotel where the gentleman was. [00:58:55] It was a husband and wife. They were an older couple. They were very distinguished. [00:59:00] They didn’t dress in touristy garb. He always had on [00:59:05] a sport coat and a cap and very nice outfit. She always had on a dress and they would [00:59:10] walk through our lobby arm in arm, and they just there was something about the two of them. They looked [00:59:15] like they had this connection we all dream of. And the husband [00:59:20] would greet people, and every time he greeted someone, his wife would feel [00:59:25] that and she would turn and just beam the most beautiful smile towards [00:59:30] the the same folks that the husband was addressing.

Todd Williams: And the reason I say every time she felt [00:59:35] him do that is because she was blind. We knew that she had her glasses and her [00:59:40] cane, but when she was with her husband arm in arm, she didn’t need that and he would [00:59:45] take her out in front of the hotel every day. And instead of having her wait where everybody else was waiting for their car, [00:59:50] he would take her over to this garden that was off to the side and a little more private. [00:59:55] I think he was just being protective of her so nobody would turn and not see her. [01:00:00] And she, of course, wouldn’t see the person coming at her. And the front drive is always so crowded, especially [01:00:05] on an island, because everybody has a car, either a car coming to get them or a rent a car. [01:00:10] That’s how they get around. He parked his car. We used to have a self parking lot [01:00:15] and so he would take her over and he would walk up to get his car and [01:00:20] at his pace. And in his age, he took a while and she’d be in the garden for a [01:00:25] bit. He would come down in the car, get out like a gentleman, open the door for her, get her [01:00:30] in the car, and off they’d go. And our valet guys would try [01:00:35] every day to see if they could get the car for him.

Todd Williams: Let us be the one to get your car today. Stay with your wife. But he’s, [01:00:40] you know, insistent. This is my exercise. And so same scenario plays out. [01:00:45] He walks his wife over to the garden, takes her face in his hands, gives her a kiss, and says, [01:00:50] I love you. I’ll be back. And then off he went to get his car. The valet would sometimes walk up [01:00:55] the hill with him. They’d run back down when he drove down. Rents repeat. [01:01:00] But on one particular day we had a gardener who was in that area [01:01:05] trimming those hedges, and he was using hand tools, still a very pleasant environment. [01:01:10] It wasn’t a bunch of machinery. So the husband still took his wife over there, [01:01:15] and he drops off his wife and off he goes to get the car. And this gardener [01:01:20] noticed this scene unfolding. [01:01:25] And a gardener is kind of an interesting position because other roles in a hotel, you [01:01:30] tend to be at a space, you’re at a desk, so you see the same people day after day. You’re at the concierge [01:01:35] desk, you see people day after day. Host in a restaurant. Same thing. Gardeners somewhere [01:01:40] different all over, wherever they’re needed. So to him, he doesn’t know [01:01:45] this couple. He’s sort of figuring things out. He’s realising that, you [01:01:50] know, she’s blind. He sees the cane, sees the glasses.

Todd Williams: Um, [01:01:55] kind of puts it all together. And then he sees the husband walking up the drive and realises, okay, [01:02:00] he chose my garden to have his wife wait. There’s a little bit of pride in that, [01:02:05] right? She could have waited over there, but he knew this garden area was a better waiting place. [01:02:10] And so his name was John. John, the gardener was very proud of the garden, [01:02:15] looked over at her to make sure she was okay and not going to trip over anything. Kept trimming the hedges [01:02:20] and doing his work. And John the gardener looked back several times [01:02:25] and I think felt the same thing each time. That pride of chose my [01:02:30] garden. But on one particular time John the human looked back and [01:02:35] John the human saw something John the gardener didn’t see. Wasn’t that he saw better. [01:02:40] He just saw something else. And John the human saw a lady waiting who might actually [01:02:45] enjoy a tour of that garden. He didn’t know how to give a tour to someone [01:02:50] who couldn’t see, but he felt it in his heart. So he walked over and he said, [01:02:55] ma’am, my name is John. I’m one of the gardeners here. Would [01:03:00] you like to see the garden? And she could tell by the way [01:03:05] he hesitated, that he knew she was blind. And she said, John, I would love to. So [01:03:10] he put out his arm so she could feel that, just like he’d seen the husband do.

Todd Williams: She [01:03:15] took him by the arm or took his arm. He walked her over and he began to show her the garden. [01:03:20] He had her smell plumeria. And he said, this right here is some people say this is the [01:03:25] scent of the islands. He had her feel this ginger plant. He said, this is torch ginger. And the blossom [01:03:30] feels like the Statue of Liberty’s torch. This is tea leaf tea, not [01:03:35] tea. And this is how we plant it and where we plant it and what it means. And bit [01:03:40] by bit by bit, he gave her a tour in the The Last Plant. He said, this is white ginger. [01:03:45] He plucked a blossom. He said, smell this. And because you’re married, this goes behind your left [01:03:50] ear. A little bit later, the husband came down, picked up his wife, [01:03:55] and off they went. And we would have never known that had happened if we [01:04:00] didn’t get a letter later from the husband. And he said, you know, all these years people have asked [01:04:05] me why I choose four seasons. A lot of family, a lot of friends say there’s [01:04:10] hotels that are cheaper. There’s hotels that are literally on the same beach that don’t cost as [01:04:15] much. What makes you choose four seasons? And he said, if I if I [01:04:20] list out the things, the things wonderful beds to [01:04:25] the person who’s never stayed there, they say, well, this hospital has wonderful beds to our hospital, this hotel.

Todd Williams: And [01:04:30] that’s a big, big issue in my role, by the way. But [01:04:35] if you know, if I said it was the restaurants, they’d say their [01:04:40] hotel has an amazing restaurant as well. Yeah, he says, I knew there was something different, but I just [01:04:45] didn’t know how to articulate it. And he said, my wife and I have, since the years [01:04:50] of dating, have been able to travel and see amazing things. And we come home and we talk about what [01:04:55] we saw in our married years, in our parenting [01:05:00] years, with young kids, with teenagers, with adult children. We’ve been able to go and see [01:05:05] amazing things and come home and talk about what we saw as grandparents and even as [01:05:10] great grandparents. This is what we’ve done. But two years ago, my wife lost her eyesight, and [01:05:15] from that day on, it’s hard to know what to do. Do I still travel? My wife [01:05:20] insists that we do. But I feel terrible because now it’s me seeing things [01:05:25] that she can’t see. So for the last two years, my job has been [01:05:30] consistently to see wonderful things and try to explain it in such [01:05:35] a way she can feel like she saw it too, and to really feel as though she saw it. [01:05:40] He said the other day, driving away from your hotel for the very first time since my wife [01:05:45] lost her eyesight, the reverse happened and as we were driving away, she [01:05:50] was trying to help me feel.

Todd Williams: What she had so clearly seen. [01:05:55] Thanks to the heart of your gardener. And I think that story [01:06:00] and that letter just crystallised everything for me. [01:06:05] It’s it’s what I knew and what I’d been fighting. I [01:06:10] grew up observing people. I grew up, you know, like I said, when I was in college, I’m like, [01:06:15] there’s a student connecting with the teacher. There’s a student not connecting with the teacher. I was listening to people [01:06:20] talk about connection. I was listening to what mattered most. In the end, what do we find [01:06:25] most valuable even if we were at the top of our company? How come when we retire, [01:06:30] it turns out connection mattered most. And I think [01:06:35] I got to a point where I was like, I can’t do just [01:06:40] like the movie. If you’ve already seen it, you can’t be, no [01:06:45] matter how much your friends are like, I think this person did it. If you know the movie in’s different, you [01:06:50] can’t. It’s harder to fake it with your friends than [01:06:55] it is to just accept that you know the end and let them do that while [01:07:00] you stay over here with your knowledge in the trainer [01:07:05] role, though, it’s a little bit different.

Todd Williams: Now, I had to convince this group to see things [01:07:10] differently. So that became the second part of my work is how do I teach this? [01:07:15] How do I get this across to my team? But I think before I jump to that, [01:07:20] that aspect, the biggest lesson that today has me in [01:07:25] front of groups like where you met me, talking about really what matters most. [01:07:30] Yeah, it’s been a long road of trial and error. It’s been a long road of [01:07:35] fighting what I knew early and pushing [01:07:40] the woo woo away, as you would call it, because I didn’t trust it. [01:07:45] Um, you know, there’s an author out there, Dan Heath has a book called upstream, [01:07:50] but one of his points in the book, he says we find great comfort in complexity. [01:07:55] We love to make things complicated. If we have [01:08:00] projects going and detailed sheets and scripting for our nurses [01:08:05] and and sheets that require them to round on an hourly basis. [01:08:10] These are the. This is the structure that leads to a great experience, but [01:08:15] a great experience is rarely the result of structure. It’s the [01:08:20] result of a connection. It’s the result of somebody understanding you. So I [01:08:25] finally surrendered to what I already knew and began to put that up front. And all [01:08:30] the metrics started to move. And I think in the beginning, I was a little bit frustrated because [01:08:35] I had been handed this trainer role from a trainer who had this great reputation [01:08:40] for moving metrics.

Todd Williams: His hotels had low turnover. [01:08:45] They had great engagement scores, phenomenal guests. There you go again. Guest experience [01:08:50] ratings. And then I got in the seat of training and [01:08:55] I really began to hone in on, okay, what do I script? What do I do? This is a huge [01:09:00] responsibility that I’ve had handed to me. I’m [01:09:05] not going to drop it. So I am going to learn the step by step by step process, [01:09:10] even though I knew that’s what he said didn’t lead to it. I couldn’t shake [01:09:15] it and my metrics started to slide, and I remember I [01:09:20] could feel that people would say, gosh, you know, it’s not the same. It’s not the same. And [01:09:25] I think I got to that point where I’m like, it’s not. And I don’t even like the work I’m doing because I know it [01:09:30] doesn’t matter. And I begin to put some of the soft stuff back up front, valuing [01:09:35] the human that I was training, valuing the human call to guest, valuing the blind [01:09:40] lady, valuing the gardener. And when I begin to put them back up front, all [01:09:45] those metrics started to go up and up and up to levels that I’d [01:09:50] never seen. And I guess my takeaway was what we learn matters [01:09:55] most at the end of the book. People really appreciate right now.

Prav Solanki: So [01:10:00] in your training, you’ve got to [01:10:05] get people to buy into the woo woo stuff, right? The [01:10:10] the stuff that you can’t measure, feel, touch whatever. Right. You’ve got to get them to [01:10:15] buy into that. Mhm. Is there a recruitment process for that. Is [01:10:20] there a is is there a way that you identify and that you hire [01:10:25] these people who I think the easiest way to describe it. I’m not going to sugarcoat [01:10:30] this. The give a shit. Yeah. The care right. Is there a way in which [01:10:35] do you get involved in the hiring process?

Todd Williams: I do, and I think that’s one of the absolute [01:10:40] foundational key steps. You know, if you don’t hire the right person, you’re on a, you [01:10:45] know, treadmill of trying to fix the unfixable. You cannot teach someone [01:10:50] to care. We’ve heard that there’s arguments. Can you you can, you can’t. You can teach [01:10:55] someone the steps that appear caring. But if there’s no real deep [01:11:00] passion behind it, it’s flat. We’ve [01:11:05] all been to places where people say the right things. But we know we’ll never go back. There’s no [01:11:10] passion behind it. So you definitely learn to look for that passion. You know, a lot of companies [01:11:15] out there subscribe to the technique of behavioural based interviewing, but it’s just basically [01:11:20] not. It’s less about what you know and how you behave. So that’s [01:11:25] that’s tremendous. So yes, huge. Step [01:11:30] in the whole process is looking for people where you can feel the passion. [01:11:35] But how do you get past that? Woo woo might be a better [01:11:40] thing to tackle first, because even the people that do the interviewing have to first [01:11:45] get past that as well. Right? So before you, before I can find the right person, I have to have [01:11:50] the right interviewer. And I think the thing that [01:11:55] I have found over the years that works better than anything else is connecting [01:12:00] you to something you already understand. I don’t want to argue with you. I’m not going to try [01:12:05] to win you over. I don’t want to convince you that this soft stuff matters [01:12:10] because I don’t need to. I can show you ten parts of your life [01:12:15] where you already know it. You already know it. And [01:12:20] that, to me, becomes the whole goal [01:12:25] is to connect you to something you already know and understand in your life. [01:12:30]

Todd Williams: Get you to identify what you get out of that moment. So I’m not passing [01:12:35] on. The last thing I want is a bunch of people walking around a building saying, we do this [01:12:40] because Todd said, it matters. We do this because that guy says, we have to do this. I [01:12:45] want you to do what you do because you know it matters. And so I think my training is [01:12:50] a little bit of breaking down some of the barriers you might have by showing you, hey, [01:12:55] the thing you’re rolling your eyes at and calling woo woo, you do every single day [01:13:00] in these five scenarios, you know, I’ll give you an example. You can walk [01:13:05] out of your house in the morning, see a neighbour that you see every day, greet him, [01:13:10] but immediately realise they’re greeting back to you was a little off and [01:13:15] you might walk over and ask him. Everything all right? It’s all right. I had a call with my daughter [01:13:20] last night. She’s at college. Tried to give her good advice. Kind of [01:13:25] think I made it worse. You want to talk about it? You might go inside, make [01:13:30] a pot of coffee, chat at the end. The neighbour leaves and says, you know, [01:13:35] thanks for. Thanks for seeing something. Yeah, I know you. I could tell something was off. I appreciate [01:13:40] you. There’s the the bro hug and then the two guys go [01:13:45] their separate way. And then one of them walks into work and sits through a two hour class on empathy, because [01:13:50] the company has decided that it’s time to teach, right? [01:13:55] And I see this all the time.

Todd Williams: I don’t need you to sit through [01:14:00] a two hour class on empathy. I need you to realise the empathetic moments in your [01:14:05] life. Realise what you did in those moments, identify [01:14:10] what you did in those moments, because that’s going to be different than what this person did. And that person did [01:14:15] help you understand how much it mattered when it came out your way, and then let that loose [01:14:20] in the building. When you do that, you [01:14:25] get around that woo woo because it’s pretty hard to argue with you if I know that you if you’ve called [01:14:30] me out, if I realise I already do this in my own life. I can’t really roll [01:14:35] my eyes at you for asking me to do it. And I think it’s a little bit of that battle [01:14:40] of getting people to just take a fresh look [01:14:45] at humanity again. Step away from all the crap I [01:14:50] sometimes I have a hard time with business books because you just I used to have in [01:14:55] the hotels I’d work at, I’d always have what I call a learning library where employees could come. And, [01:15:00] you know, Todd, you have a book that might help us be better at this. I’m like, I do, and here you go. And they’d sign [01:15:05] out. Yeah, but sometimes I’d walk into my office and I’d stare at that just shelf [01:15:10] after shelf after shelf after shelf. And I’m like, and they all say the same [01:15:15] thing. Somewhere in the midst of that book is the message that [01:15:20] you need to connect with people. You need to connect with purpose, [01:15:25] passion.

Prav Solanki: So I’m just going to stop right there. One second. My [01:15:30] daughter is just over there. So I’m going to pass us some keys. And then we’re going to.

Todd Williams: And then do the three steps [01:15:35] of connecting with her. Yeah.

Prav Solanki: So [01:15:50] she’s at the second day of her first job. Oh, really? As an intern? Yeah. [01:15:55] Yeah, yeah. So she’s working? Not far. So I’m driving her in and driving her home every day, [01:16:00] which is, um. Yeah. It’s nice.

Todd Williams: So. Take [01:16:05] a look at that before. Before we even start. Yeah. Look at what you just said. Yeah. [01:16:10] There’s a smile on your face right now as you talk about. That’s [01:16:15] my daughter. It’s her second day of her new job. Her first job? She’s an intern. You got a whole [01:16:20] smile on your face. You said it’s nice. You said I’m driving her in. I’m [01:16:25] bringing her home. She needed my keys. I’m doing a podcast right now, and I stopped [01:16:30] it because my daughter needs me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that is [01:16:35] everything that we’ve been talking about. Yeah, yeah, you don’t turn that off. [01:16:40]

Prav Solanki: And so when you’re training the team. [01:16:45] Mhm. Do you get them to share those [01:16:50] moments of connection and say you’ve got that. Bring [01:16:55] that to work.

Todd Williams: How is that. Is that part of your. [01:17:00] It is. So when we, when we open up a new hospital or a new hotel, [01:17:05] anytime you’re opening up. And it’s really interesting, by the way, just [01:17:10] through the way life works, the places I’ve always worked are open 24 [01:17:15] over seven, 365 days a year. Yeah. And [01:17:20] because of that, I really value the new openings, [01:17:25] because I tell people, you know, I’ll get all the employees in a ballroom and I’m like, look around, because we’re [01:17:30] never going to be able to do this again, ever. Once we open, I’ll have you know, did you go [01:17:35] to the 2:00 meeting or the 4:00 meeting, but never was everybody together. So [01:17:40] when you have that, you you capitalise on that and you ask people to [01:17:45] share and you it’s it’s the questions and one of my favourite things and it’s almost [01:17:50] what you said at the beginning of this too, is when people leave an orientation and say that is not [01:17:55] what I was expecting at all. I, I heard corporate orientation [01:18:00] and I had my mind set. I got [01:18:05] a text just the other day from an employee of Four Seasons. She [01:18:10] just passed her ten year anniversary, and she took the time to send me [01:18:15] a paragraph, a long paragraph about. She remembers [01:18:20] walking into orientation, thinking this was going to be another corporate orientation. She [01:18:25] goes, four days later. I was like, what in the world is [01:18:30] this company? It’s nothing that I’ve expected. And she says, I went through orientation and [01:18:35] I came out and I thought, well, let’s see if this company’s as good as they just said.

Todd Williams: Yeah. And she said, [01:18:40] this is the part that really got me because you got to think back. This is ten years [01:18:45] later. She says, obviously in a hotel, we’re open on holidays. [01:18:50] This was going to be my first Thanksgiving away from my family. [01:18:55] And she goes, I remember on Thanksgiving Day you were walking around the hotel [01:19:00] smiling, chatting with people and thanking them for working that day. And [01:19:05] she goes, ten years later, she’s moved on to two different hotels, and now she has a corporate role. And [01:19:10] she says, the thing I remember that made the biggest difference was that Thanksgiving [01:19:15] Day. I have so many stories of that. I can’t turn [01:19:20] away from that. So when people ask me, how do you get past the soft, the [01:19:25] people who roll their eyes? I have a million examples, but most of the time they have it in [01:19:30] their own life. Yeah, and all you have to do is get them to see it and go, oh, [01:19:35] you know, I see sometimes in a hospital I will ask people, [01:19:40] go, you go over to the emergency room and just peek at the lobby. [01:19:45] You tell me what’s on the mind of some of the people sitting there. [01:19:50] There are people with their head bowed that are doing anything they [01:19:55] can in their will to make good things happen behind those doors. [01:20:00] What is not on their mind in that moment is the latest [01:20:05] strategy that their company’s unveiling tomorrow to improve market [01:20:10] share.

Todd Williams: There’s always a perspective shift, and [01:20:15] the higher you go, the more macro your view, the more it becomes clear [01:20:20] that in the end it really comes down to love. [01:20:25] It comes down to being a good person, comes down to connecting with the human in front of you. Now, when you [01:20:30] grab that macro view and you’re brave enough, and this is the key part where you win people over because [01:20:35] I don’t shy away from it. There’s that old saying from the 60s, 70s, I’m a lover, not a [01:20:40] fighter. And I always say today the saying should be if you’re a lover, you better be a fighter, [01:20:45] because there’s a lot of high rollers out there, right? But if you take that perspective [01:20:50] and you bring it back into the workplace, and you’re brave enough to say in the face [01:20:55] of all the strategies, well, what’s the kind thing to do in this moment? What is [01:21:00] the most understanding thing we could do? What does this person actually looking [01:21:05] for from us right now? Well, there wound to be. That’s. So. [01:21:10] That’s a given. What is this person looking for? Well, [01:21:15] the wound, you can’t get past it. But if you just persist and you’re willing to fight a little bit, [01:21:20] someone will finally say, well, they’re probably looking to feel safe. And they almost say it in an angry [01:21:25] way. I don’t know, they’re looking to be heard. How are you going [01:21:30] to make them feel heard? And once somebody realises it’s it’s okay to bring [01:21:35] the best of themselves into work.

Todd Williams: Changes everything because [01:21:40] you don’t need training anymore. You’ve got it. It’s already inside you. You just have [01:21:45] to understand that missing component was the best part of you that you’ve been leaving in the car [01:21:50] when you walk into the office every day, but you never leave in the car when [01:21:55] you go home. Mhm. Yeah, I hate that phrase work life balance because of [01:22:00] the semantics of the phrase. It’s literally separating work from [01:22:05] life. Stupidest phrase in the world. [01:22:10] None of us do work outside of our life. We’re [01:22:15] living what we need is life balance the best [01:22:20] of us into each situation. Some days will be at work, some days I’ll be off. Some days I’ll be in town, [01:22:25] some days on vacation. Each one of those scenarios requires the best of me. [01:22:30] If you put that on, you won’t see it as woo woo anymore, especially when you start to see [01:22:35] the metrics move. That’s my favourite. I think that’s why I enjoy it so much, because I know [01:22:40] the doubter will become the convert. Going back to Bible school, I remember hearing [01:22:45] this phrase that I think is true when you take it out of religion. Somebody said, the greater [01:22:50] the transformation, the louder the testimony. And I’ve seen [01:22:55] that. So true. So sometimes I enjoy the doubter. That’s my favourite [01:23:00] person in training because I know when the doubter becomes the believer, they don’t [01:23:05] shut up.

Prav Solanki: Here we are on a podcast. Todd.

Todd Williams: And here we are on the podcast.

Prav Solanki: Because [01:23:10] because look, as we said at the beginning, right? I turned up [01:23:15] thinking, this guy’s probably full of shit and I’m [01:23:20] not going to get these two days back. Right? But you captured me. You can’t have [01:23:25] been on stage for more than 60s. Right? And I [01:23:30] was hooked. Yeah. And then I thought, bloody hell, I’m so lucky to be [01:23:35] in this room. Yeah. And then and then and then at the same time, you know, [01:23:40] like after the event, I went and told dev the same story. I said, listen, mate, [01:23:45] I think you need to hear this, because when you invited me, as lovely as the [01:23:50] gesture was, I thought to myself, I’m a busy guy. I got shit to do, mate. Yeah. [01:23:55] And you’ve invited me here for two days. I’ve got a choice. I could I could spend that with my [01:24:00] family. Yeah, I could spend that working on my business. Yeah. Or [01:24:05] I could spend it hanging out with a bunch of people. I don’t really know [01:24:10] that. Well, right. It’s not what I would choose to do, but but but actually, you brought [01:24:15] it all together, right? So. So here we are, the convert who is, um, who’s [01:24:20] now publishing this story. Right. Because I felt feel so strongly about the time we spent together. [01:24:25] Right. Um, and interestingly, so you [01:24:30] go from hospital to [01:24:35] four Seasons or, you know, the best hotel chain in the world to [01:24:40] dentistry. How does that translate [01:24:45] to dentistry?

Todd Williams: Yeah, that’s one of my favourite stories because that’s where I just think serendipity. [01:24:50] You know, if I’ve heard several well-known speakers [01:24:55] say they hate the phrase self-made person, and I do too, because I think [01:25:00] we tend to forget all those strokes of luck that happened along the way. Those [01:25:05] moments we remember, the moments we worked really hard and put in more hours than anybody else. But we forget [01:25:10] that one connection or that. So serendipity definitely came into play [01:25:15] here. But I left four seasons to go back to healthcare, [01:25:20] and I took a corporate role with a health care system in Colorado. And [01:25:25] then that kind of grew into the parent organisation of the [01:25:30] nationwide health care organisation. So I was speaking at conferences, speaking to doctors, [01:25:35] speaking to nurses, speaking about patient experience. Really a lot of the conferences [01:25:40] just became with the physicians and like you said, teaching [01:25:45] what wasn’t taught. And I enjoyed it. So when I was with [01:25:50] the hotel, I was doing hospital work on the side. Now I was with the hospital, still doing some hotel [01:25:55] work on the side, and there was a continuing education group that was coming [01:26:00] to do a conference at one of the four seasons I’d worked at, and [01:26:05] that group was the person doing the site inspection [01:26:10] was talking with the Four Seasons employee and the Four Seasons employee.

Todd Williams: Asking questions [01:26:15] like we do was asking about, so what kind of speakers? Because I understand you’re going to have the [01:26:20] main stage, you’re going to have the sides smaller ballroom, you’re going to have all these different meeting rooms, [01:26:25] all different speakers, same speaker. What tell me what your company does. [01:26:30] And this person said, we have a range of speakers. We have everybody from clinical to practice management [01:26:35] and everybody in between. And just off the cuff, for whatever reason, that [01:26:40] person doing the side inspection said, ah, had you been here last year, [01:26:45] I bet you would have enjoyed our trainer who was based at this hotel. He [01:26:50] would have enjoyed talking to your group. Second stroke of luck is that person said, [01:26:55] can I still get his phone number? So pretty soon there’s a call that goes upstairs, [01:27:00] and then somebody calls me in Colorado and says, the scene is unfolding. And would you would [01:27:05] you want to talk to this person? So I get on the phone with this person and she [01:27:10] tells me what her organisation is doing in this upcoming conference. And she said, what do you know about dentistry? [01:27:15] And I said, I have a dentist. That’s about it. But [01:27:20] I heard what the need was for this continuing education group, and it had [01:27:25] nothing to do.

Todd Williams: This particular conference with dentistry, it was more of these individuals [01:27:30] that helped organise these events and how do they connect with people and how do they reach out to new members? [01:27:35] And that’s my world. So I said, okay, it’s it’s a different overarching environment. [01:27:40] But what you’re asking I understand. Same shit. Yeah. So I came in and I did that [01:27:45] conference and it went really, really, really well. And I was invited to do another. [01:27:50] And I become a little bit of a it’s [01:27:55] a, I think, a side thing of ADHD, but I can hyper focus on something. So if [01:28:00] I get interested in it, I now want to learn everything I can about it. So now that I’m in [01:28:05] this world and I’m now at my third or fourth conference in dentistry. All right, tell me, [01:28:10] who is this room? What are the titles? What are the different types of dentistry? What do you do? What are your challenges in your practice? [01:28:15] I would grab a doctor and, you know, here, have a drink. Let’s talk. [01:28:20] And the more I began to dive into dentistry, the more I realised [01:28:25] it was literally the perfect combination of both of my worlds. In [01:28:30] dentistry, we’re small enough that we [01:28:35] have to be excellent at both.

Todd Williams: We have to be as hospitable as the finest [01:28:40] health, um, hospitality teams. We have to be able to meet our patients [01:28:45] needs, understand our patients, understand their fears, understand the unspoken needs. [01:28:50] But we also have to be as clinically excellent as the finest, finest, finest health care institutions. [01:28:55] We don’t get a break because we’re so small. Every eye is on us. We have to be perfect [01:29:00] at both. And so here I’ve done this job and this job which seems so disconnected. [01:29:05] And suddenly I found dentistry where they came together perfectly. [01:29:10] And the more I learned, and the more I dove in, the more that became true. [01:29:15] Then it became a quarter of my work, then half my work. And I’d say today it’s probably about 75 [01:29:20] to 80% of my work. And sometimes it’s conferences with just doctors, [01:29:25] sometimes it’s the whole team, sometimes it’s, um, focusing just on [01:29:30] patient experience, sometimes it’s on team building, sometimes it’s on practice management of literally [01:29:35] working on workflow. But it never deviates from what I learned through [01:29:40] hospitality and life about connecting. [01:29:45] And my favourite thing is when you say, how do you win over the woo woo person is you [01:29:50] are the the doubter is when they finally see their metrics move. That’s the best, [01:29:55] that’s the best.

Prav Solanki: I’ve got a question that it popped into [01:30:00] my head and I said to myself, don’t forget this Prav. Okay, so it’s disconnected from [01:30:05] from what we’re talking about right now, but if I don’t mention it now, I’ll forget. Um, [01:30:10] and it’s the whole public speaking thing that I wasn’t just blown away by your [01:30:15] stories and the way you connected to me and the audience, but it’s [01:30:20] the fact that certainly I can appreciate because I’m a speaker as well. [01:30:25]

Todd Williams: Mhm.

Prav Solanki: That how great a speaker you are. Right. And [01:30:30] can you remember the first time that you had to speak in front [01:30:35] of a group. And what that felt like was it was it, was it the heart pounding. [01:30:40] Was it, was it the nerves racing or was it the actually do you know what I’ve been growing up [01:30:45] with adults all all my life. I’m used to like hanging out with loads of people [01:30:50] and I can speak confidently in front of people. What was that like and then what was your [01:30:55] journey as a speaker, a performer? [01:31:00] And then I’ll layer this question in as well. How the hell did you engage us [01:31:05] for two days without a single slide, Without a single [01:31:10] slide, no computer, no laptop. And we were given an agenda that day, and we were [01:31:15] told at 245, Todd’s going to stop [01:31:20] and we’re going to have a break. And at this time he’s going to stop. And and you ran like clockwork [01:31:25] as well, right? Yeah. How the hell did all that? Let’s go back to the first [01:31:30] question, which is the heart pounding public speaker thing, because I remember my first day and [01:31:35] first moment and it gets easier. And you go from fearing to enjoying [01:31:40] and all the rest of it, but take me through. I’d love to hear your story on that.

Todd Williams: That [01:31:45] it’s it’s funny because I teach public speaking today, I [01:31:50] hated it. I if you asked me to list my top three fears, that would have certainly [01:31:55] been on the list, if not number one. Yeah, and I remember, you [01:32:00] know, I told you those youth ministers had an impact in my life. So I began to get to know some of them. And they’re like, you know, well, [01:32:05] hey, what about if this this week at church, you know, one of the churches I went to was [01:32:10] pretty good size. They’re like, what if you, you know, at this one point, read a Bible verse to the [01:32:15] congregation and then lead them in a prayer, oh my word. I knew that was going [01:32:20] to be good for me. And I said yes, but I can remember sitting in the pew, [01:32:25] just heart pounding sweat. Now it was time I [01:32:30] walked down. I get up in front of everybody. I look up most terrifying thing ever. [01:32:35] I would tell people, you know, I would always get the feedback. Later. I would say, okay, open your Bibles to [01:32:40] page 476. And then I would start reading. So nobody even had their Bible out of the pew yet. [01:32:45] And I would read it and I would pray and I would bolt. And [01:32:50] I was just glad it was over. Like that was the worst. So [01:32:55] hated it then. Then I got into when I was [01:33:00] in one of my first leadership roles at four seasons, I was asked to do, we have this leadership program [01:33:05] where we’re paired up with other leaders from different areas of [01:33:10] the hotel, and you do a five person presentation.

Todd Williams: And I remember one [01:33:15] of the gentlemen on my team. It’s funny how gardeners come into my life a couple of times, but he was [01:33:20] head of the landscaping department. English was the second language. This guy likes plants. [01:33:25] He likes trees. He’s not a people guy. He’s a people guy as far as being friendly. [01:33:30] But you want him to be comfortable. Go put him in a bunch of plants. You want him to be uncomfortable, go put him in [01:33:35] front of people. So he has to present and each of us have to do about two [01:33:40] minutes. Okay, I’m. I don’t want to do my two minutes. I don’t like [01:33:45] this, but I’m going to get through it because I know it’s part of my leadership path. [01:33:50] Sure. So I get up there and I do my two minutes. It’s over. Thank goodness. Next person goes up and now [01:33:55] it’s his turn and he walks up and I can just see, uh oh, [01:34:00] he’s he’s going to tank. He’s he’s the colour is gone. [01:34:05] He’s losing his confidence. And he got up there and he said about two words [01:34:10] and he just froze and I couldn’t watch. [01:34:15] I forgot about the room because I’d been working with this team of five for weeks now, [01:34:20] and my heart was going out to him because I knew how much he hated this moment. So I kind of jumped out [01:34:25] of my chair off the side, and I came back up, and I can’t even remember his name now.

Todd Williams: But I [01:34:30] basically said, so, like you and I were talking about, what is it you love about your team? [01:34:35] And he kind of looked at me and he answered robotically to me because he wasn’t looking at the room. And I [01:34:40] said, and that’s a point you wanted to make sure you made today. And I basically kind [01:34:45] of turned it into an interview so he could get through this part. And I made it look to [01:34:50] my best of my ability, like, we’d planned to do this together. And I’m [01:34:55] sure he went off wondering if he was going to quit forever. I sat down and thought, [01:35:00] man, twice of what I hate today and I’ll never forget this. [01:35:05] This person came up to me afterwards and says, wow, I can tell you love [01:35:10] speaking. And I remember you talk about a fake it till you make it moment. I said, [01:35:15] oh yeah, sure do. And inside I’m like, I [01:35:20] there’s nothing I hate more. But as I reflected over a couple of days, I’m like, [01:35:25] isn’t that interesting? That’s something we can think we’re terrible at. Yeah. [01:35:30] And assume we’re terrible at the audience is like, boy, you really enjoy this. [01:35:35] So I thought, what did they pick up on? And I started thinking about it, and I think it was [01:35:40] as soon as I realised he was in trouble, I wasn’t playing to the audience anymore. I didn’t care [01:35:45] about the audience. I was worried about him. Not literally, you [01:35:50] know, laying down on the floor. I try to keep that [01:35:55] in my mind when I got into speaking.

Todd Williams: It’s not about this audience. I [01:36:00] want these people to see a better version of their life. So [01:36:05] I’m not talking to you. I’m with you. And I think [01:36:10] seeing myself as a speaker, I tell people it’s really just a conversation from the stage. [01:36:15] It’s not a presentation. The word is terrible. We’re [01:36:20] presenting for sure, but it’s really you’re paying attention to the facial expressions. [01:36:25] You’re paying attention to the body language. You’re paying attention to whether or not phones have come out [01:36:30] and you’re paying attention to this table really resonated with [01:36:35] the humour. But this table really resonated with the statistics. So [01:36:40] I’m going to have to have a mix of both. This table likes it when I talk about team. This [01:36:45] team tunes out when I talk about team. And you spend your [01:36:50] first hour sort of figuring out who’s in front of you, which is what we do in life. [01:36:55] And if you really think about it, this is why I love the question. And I got excited when you ask it, what [01:37:00] you see me teach you to do is literally what you [01:37:05] see me doing from stage. You’re my guests in that moment, [01:37:10] or you’re my patients in that moment. I’m trying to learn. What do you need? [01:37:15] Just like a patient comes in and really wants to get out of that chair as soon as possible, [01:37:20] and hopefully without spending too much money, your hope is to get out of that [01:37:25] chair as soon as possible, because you don’t really want to spend two days, but you [01:37:30] have to.

Todd Williams: Mhm. I pick up on that in different ways. [01:37:35] And so I’ve learned what kind of opening puts you at ease. What kind of things do you expect [01:37:40] to hear versus what you actually heard. Mhm. What hook would [01:37:45] you think of it this way. I used to say from a church perspective, if you [01:37:50] think of church there’s sort of three sections to the congregation. The first section [01:37:55] comes every week. They’re bought in. You could sneeze and they say Amen. [01:38:00] The middle section is where most of life is. Those are the people that [01:38:05] some are listening, some aren’t. Some are engaged, some aren’t. That’s the world. [01:38:10] The back section are usually the people who came in late, [01:38:15] sat down, have their arms crossed. They’re sceptical. [01:38:20] They’ve been to church before and they’ve been made to feel wrong. [01:38:25] They’ve been to church before and they’ve been told that they’re what’s wrong with society. They’ve been [01:38:30] accused. They haven’t been accepted to them. Church says it’s about love and seems to be [01:38:35] about hatred. If I write my message for the front row, I win them [01:38:40] over. But I already had them. If I write my message for the middle, I get some, [01:38:45] I lose some. But if I write my message for the sceptic, I [01:38:50] get all three rows. Yeah. And I think that to me is [01:38:55] why I don’t have slides. Because slides can actually counter that. If I come [01:39:00] in and I realise a room is very, very sceptical and my first slide says, look [01:39:05] at how happy you all are, I’m screwed by my own presentation.

Prav Solanki: Did [01:39:10] you ever have slides, Todd?

Todd Williams: In the beginning, yeah. With. Because much [01:39:15] like a lot of the presentations, I’m sure you do. You’re presenting information. Yeah, [01:39:20] that is very clinical in nature. So if I’m with four seasons, I started [01:39:25] off with, you know, here’s our 17 new hotels that are on the way. Here’s the [01:39:30] leadership team. And then I would because I’m already using slides, I [01:39:35] would have 12 more slides about these behaviours. And [01:39:40] I realised that’s when I lost the audience. You know, we I remember we had a slide that says we [01:39:45] are kind of like out of the room. Or my [01:39:50] friend told me this one time, he said later there was a he [01:39:55] goes, we had a theme called boo And he goes, it had 52 [01:40:00] slides. And he goes, that’s just the comedy of how can I say boo? [01:40:05] And then have 52 slides of instructions on how to be you. [01:40:10]

Prav Solanki: Yeah. Nice. Yeah.

Todd Williams: Be be be. You should have no slides whatsoever. Yeah, [01:40:15] yeah. But but what I realised is the information that you need to present is in the room. [01:40:20] So the more engaging and so what I’m watching for are those little [01:40:25] nods. What I’m watching for is, you know, [01:40:30] like I can say at the beginning of a session, and it’s interesting when dev and I had the [01:40:35] first talks about this, by the way, he would say sort of the same thing, but how are you going to keep them engaged [01:40:40] for this long? And, you know, I had to sort of say the same thing to him, where it’s even harder because [01:40:45] he’s the one, you know, deciding yes or no in this conference.

Prav Solanki: And he’s coughing [01:40:50] up. Right. He’s. Yeah. Making the investment. And I’m basically.

Todd Williams: Saying trust me.

Prav Solanki: Yeah, [01:40:55] yeah.

Todd Williams: And so, you [01:41:00] know, there’s just a certain point where I’m like, you just at this point I can connect you with proof. I [01:41:05] can give you testimonies. But what would it serve me? Yeah. [01:41:10] To to come over and do a terrible thing. Obviously. But [01:41:15] what I’ll listen for so I can come into a room. And if I see that look, I’m like, [01:41:20] none of these people think this is going to be worth their time, and my eyes are going everywhere. So I might [01:41:25] say right off the beginning, how many of you have been to a really, really shitty orientation? Some [01:41:30] look around, some are just like, this is my moment and their hand goes higher than ever. Yeah. And [01:41:35] I say, me too. How many of you’ve been to orientations that are literally a waste of your [01:41:40] day? More hands go up. I’m like, me too. And then I’ll ask, what do you hate about those things? Me [01:41:45] too. So knowing that I hate that there’s no way I can present [01:41:50] that. So now they’re already like, well, all right, I didn’t see that opening coming. Yeah. [01:41:55] And again, that’s what I’m telling from the beginning. It’s connecting. Yeah, [01:42:00] but if I just get up there and say, you know. Hi. I’ve been brought in to give you two [01:42:05] days of information. You’re done. You’re you’re phone’s out and you’re out 15 [01:42:10] minutes later.

Prav Solanki: For sure. For sure.

Todd Williams: And the reason I don’t use slides, by the way, [01:42:15] is because we can get into the technical side of teaching. But if there’s something that’ll [01:42:20] set off an inner beacon of of irritation, it’s to read [01:42:25] to somebody.

Prav Solanki: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Todd Williams: It freaking send me home with that. But don’t make [01:42:30] me sit in a room and look at a slide while you stand there and read what I can read. That feels like I’m [01:42:35] five. Yeah, yeah.

Prav Solanki: Yeah. I mean, the [01:42:40] one thing I’ll do is, um, I’ll have one word on the slide and a picture [01:42:45] and, um, if that. Perfect and it’s there as a it’s [01:42:50] there as an aide memoire. Oh, shit. I need to speak about this now. Let me tell you. Do you know what I mean? [01:42:55] Yeah. Death by PowerPoint or reading from the slide. It’s, um. Yeah, I started off [01:43:00] like that. Right. And, um, it gives you that sense of comfort. Yeah. You’ve got [01:43:05] structure. You’ve got these people watching you all eyes on you when you’re presenting for the first [01:43:10] time. You need something to as a crutch, right? Right, right. And and those [01:43:15] words really helped. And then you realise you can just let go of those right and be you, right [01:43:20] you.

Todd Williams: But here’s the good news too, that I think is in between the two things you [01:43:25] just said. You start out needing a crutch, then you say boo! But the good news is the audience [01:43:30] is your crutch. They’re your notes. So let’s say [01:43:35] in my mind, I know I need [01:43:40] to open and tell them that we’ve all been to bad orientations, but I forget to write [01:43:45] that down. Yeah, I’m off to the side. I’m thinking to myself, I’m so excited to speak [01:43:50] to this group. This is great, I can’t wait. Look at this. The Fairmont is beautiful. This is going to be fun. I get up [01:43:55] on stage and I look out at a bunch of people like this and I’m like, oh, that’s right, I need to talk [01:44:00] about bad orientations. Yeah. So you’re not actually letting go of your notes. [01:44:05] You’re just replacing paper with humans.

Prav Solanki: With people. Yeah, yeah.

Todd Williams: And they will tell [01:44:10] you what to say next. Yeah. And you can see it. And [01:44:15] then the minute someone you know, and I could say, how many of you have been to an orientation that surprised [01:44:20] you? And I see one person. I saw your face go. What surprised you at that orientation? Now, that [01:44:25] person says the message was different than I expected. It’s exactly. [01:44:30] You have a preconceived notion. But it was something different. I’m glad you said that, because today, I promise you, [01:44:35] it’s going to be different than you expected. Now, the room’s kind of on board. It’s starting to feel like a community. [01:44:40] Those are just things I learned along the way. The hard way. The hard way?

Prav Solanki: Yeah. [01:44:45] That’s amazing.

Todd Williams: Yeah, as a matter of fact, I went to I joke sometimes, I went to a conference one time [01:44:50] and I was on stage just doing the mic check, and I looked down and I, I [01:44:55] saw a slide that was completely different for this other speaker. Here’s [01:45:00] the slide that they were presenting from mirrored behind them. But this slide was like notes and [01:45:05] even had drawings on it. And so I got off the stage and I said, what was that slide off to the [01:45:10] side? And they said, oh, that’s a confidence slide. I said, what is a confidence slide? They said some [01:45:15] when when the AV set up is right, we can have two things. One, you [01:45:20] can see what the audience is seeing, but one, you can see what you need to see to stay on track. And I’m like, oh [01:45:25] my gosh. They said, you don’t know what a confidence light is. I said, no, can I have one? So I went and made one really [01:45:30] quick and they gave it to me. Oh, worst thing I’ve ever done in my life because [01:45:35] I it it threw me off. Because now I felt like it given myself a script. [01:45:40] And so I looked at the room and I said hello. And then I looked down and oh, shit, that wasn’t what I was supposed [01:45:45] to say. Yeah. And so my own notes threw me [01:45:50] off.

Prav Solanki: So yeah, yeah, yeah.

Todd Williams: Trust your, trust your gut. And you know where this comes into play. You go out to [01:45:55] dinner with friends, you never prep, know you meet [01:46:00] people at a party. You never prep know you trust your ability to [01:46:05] understand that person and have a dialogue. So same thing you’re doing from stage. [01:46:10]

Prav Solanki: Yeah. For sure. It’s hard. Um, it’s [01:46:15] getting to that point where I asked my final questions in this podcast. So I’ve [01:46:20] got a series of what I would call they’ve actually become in [01:46:25] this podcast they call Prav final questions. So, um, I’ll hit [01:46:30] you with them. And one of them is, um, imagine, imagine, [01:46:35] Todd, you’ve come to the end of the book and it’s your last day [01:46:40] on the planet and you’re surrounded by your loved ones, and you [01:46:45] need to leave them with three pieces of wisdom. What [01:46:50] would they be and why?

Todd Williams: Funny you [01:46:55] saying that makes me think of. I’ll give you [01:47:00] three and a half. I think the first one [01:47:05] is this one comes to mind because I tell it to my kids all the [01:47:10] time. My two boys. But I say. And [01:47:15] I’ve changed it a little bit over the years. The original quote that I heard was learn a little [01:47:20] bit about everything so you can talk to anyone about anything. I [01:47:25] would now replace the word talk with connect. Okay. Learn a little bit about [01:47:30] everything so you can talk connect with anyone about anything. And I think [01:47:35] when you just learn, constantly study, [01:47:40] learn, grab the magazine that’s sitting next to you. Yeah. Overhear the conversation. I [01:47:45] promise you the amount of times I’ve been able to connect with an audience because [01:47:50] somebody says, well, I do this, and I actually know something about that. [01:47:55] Yeah. So the second one, I [01:48:00] would say I saw crystallised, if you will, in an Instagram [01:48:05] post one time that just seemed to sum up everything I was talking about earlier, but it just said [01:48:10] master the art of observation. And if I literally [01:48:15] look back at my life, it’s been observing and I think [01:48:20] a formal education is phenomenal for those clinical skills that we need. [01:48:25] But the people skills. Life is an incredible school, and if you [01:48:30] learn to observe and watch and test, that’s the key thing. Test it over and over and over. [01:48:35] Does this remain true in this situation? In this situation, it didn’t ring true in this situation. [01:48:40]

Todd Williams: What was different in this situation than these two? You will find patterns that [01:48:45] are worth investing. So master the art of observation. And [01:48:50] there’s another one that I think I came across in the last year. But again, [01:48:55] looking back and that’s kind of what I do, I apply quotes and think, did this ring true in my life? But [01:49:00] whatever you do when it comes to betterment, [01:49:05] do it for you. I think we live in a world where you become better at this [01:49:10] because it’s good for your career You become better at this because it’s good for your promotion. It’s good [01:49:15] for your learn to be better for you. Don’t. [01:49:20] That will have an impact on your career. That will have an impact on [01:49:25] your relationships. But I think we can sniff that out real quick. You [01:49:30] picture your most basic relationship. I can tell when what you’re doing is meant to put me [01:49:35] at ease. What would really put me at ease is you just being you. So grow. [01:49:40] Learn for you. You what [01:49:45] you made me think of that kind of ties into that. When I said three and a half. Yeah. Is. I heard a quote once [01:49:50] that somebody said something to the effect of treat everybody you meet for one day, treat everybody [01:49:55] you meet like, you know, it’s their last day on Earth. [01:50:00] Don’t do it for any reward. Don’t try to wow that person over. But [01:50:05] you have knowledge. They don’t. Treat the interaction with respect. [01:50:10] Boy, that’ll change your life.

Prav Solanki: Yeah, I bet. How [01:50:15] would you like to be remembered?

Todd Williams: Todd [01:50:20] was is a good person.

Prav Solanki: Beautiful. [01:50:25]

Todd Williams: There’s actually a I have a sweatshirt [01:50:30] that says be a good person on it. And I think sometimes we just [01:50:35] we overthink everything. Just a good human. Yeah. [01:50:40] It’s amazing what can happen. Just be a good person. Yeah. [01:50:45]

Prav Solanki: It’s hard. I just want to say thank you for sharing the last couple of hours. [01:50:50] Uh, welcome. Obviously, I was fortunate enough to have a couple of days with [01:50:55] you in that room, and I feel like we’ve just captured a snippet, [01:51:00] a tiny snippet of what we, um, [01:51:05] covered on those two days. And even at the end of [01:51:10] that, it was like, there’s more, right? There’s more. And we’ve connected [01:51:15] since. Right. And, um, so if people want to find out about you told [01:51:20] connect with you what’s what’s the best way for someone to connect? Obviously I’ll put [01:51:25] whatever links in the, in the show notes for the, for the podcast. But what’s the quickest and [01:51:30] easiest way for someone who wants to engage with you to reach out to you? [01:51:35] Talk.

Todd Williams: Yeah. If you want to reach out to me directly. And this is kind of funny too, because [01:51:40] it can almost end up one more little tidbit of something I learned along the way. But [01:51:45] I’ve probably purchased four domain names over the years, [01:51:50] got websites up and running, and then closed them because that’s what [01:51:55] everybody does.

Prav Solanki: Sure.

Todd Williams: Um, back in the day, I’m old enough to remember [01:52:00] when the internet was new and I was trying to create [01:52:05] an email name. Didn’t even know what email was yet. And I was, you [01:52:10] know, creating an email name followed by at AOL, whatever it was. [01:52:15]

Prav Solanki: I remember that.

Todd Williams: Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. So I typed in Todd Williams and it said [01:52:20] taken. I was I remember thinking to myself, well, who the hell has my name? So [01:52:25] I began trying, you know, Todd Williams, you know, and October taken, [01:52:30] you know, an hour later, you’re breadsticks and Ferris wheels and it’s taken. [01:52:35] And I’m like, okay, something’s broken here. And I looked over and I had a pair of sunglasses [01:52:40] sitting on the table that were made by Maui. Jim and I was living on Maui [01:52:45] at the time, so I tried Maui Todd and it was available, and I took it just [01:52:50] to get this silly email set up. And now, whatever [01:52:55] it is, 30 years later, 27 years later, I’m still Maui Todd at gmail. [01:53:00] That’s my personal email. It’s the easiest way to get Ahold of me. Why? [01:53:05] I’ve never changed it. This is one of those things that really sums [01:53:10] up everything we’ve talked about. There’s the advice that you get from professionals [01:53:15] versus what you see in life. I’ve [01:53:20] been told a million times go with one of the domain names, but [01:53:25] if you knew how many people over the years have said, hey, I heard you five years ago [01:53:30] as an attendee at a conference today, I’m a leader of my company, [01:53:35] and I thought about you, and I remember you told this story about your email, [01:53:40] and that story helped me remember your email. Could you come speak? [01:53:45] So if I have advice that says I shouldn’t [01:53:50] be Maui taught at gmail, and I have 100 clients because I’m Maui taught at Gmail, [01:53:55] I’m sticking with Maui taught at Gmail.

Prav Solanki: Awesome. [01:54:00] Todd. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Todd Williams: You’re welcome. Thank you, I appreciate you. [01:54:05]

[VOICE]: This is Dental Leaders, the [01:54:10] podcast where you get to go one on one with emerging leaders in dentistry. [01:54:15] Your hosts Payman Langroudi [01:54:20] and Prav Solanki.

Prav Solanki: Thanks for listening, guys. If you got [01:54:25] this far, you must have listened to the whole thing. And just a huge thank you both from me and pay [01:54:30] for actually sticking through and listening to what we had to say and what our guests has had to say, because [01:54:35] I’m assuming you got some value out of it.

Payman Langroudi: If you did get some value out of it, think about subscribing, [01:54:40] and if you would share this with a friend who you think might get some value [01:54:45] out of it too. Thank you so so so much for listening. Thanks.

Prav Solanki: And don’t forget our six star rating.