Find another voice
Ransdell figured it would take about a month to visit each and every one of the locations in his region.
“That’s hitting the road pretty heavy four days a week for four weeks,” Ransdell says.
So he began planning a road trip. But this trip, rushed though it might be, needed to be more than just a quick 20-minute PowerPoint presentation. That and five minutes of questions was not going to be enough to reassure people.
But Ransdell was pretty sure that’s what people were expecting.
“You never do what people think you are going to do,” Ransdell says. “Typically, what someone might do in a situation like that as a leader is just go out themselves and speak. But when a leader does that, the people in the audience a lot of times are expecting you to say that which you say.”
His first step was to identify a person who could connect with the masses and not just be a mouthpiece to obediently regurgitate everything he was saying.
“I decided to grab one of their peers, someone that they respected that sat in their shoes and in their chair every single day, someone who went through all the challenges of helping our clients through this difficult time,” Ransdell says. “I asked that person to come with me and speak to my people as one of them from their viewpoint of what happened, of where we are, where we’ve been and where we’re going.”
Ransdell chose Barry Rubin, a top financial adviser in the company.
“He was their congressman, for the lack of a better word,” Ransdell says. “It’s the person you know everybody thinks highly of and is a role model. They walk into a room and everybody knows who they are. If you don’t know who that person is in your organization, you need to.”
It didn’t take long for Rubin to give Ransdell cause to believe he picked the right person.
“He said, ‘What you’re telling me is you want me to deliver my perspective as a financial adviser and speak that perspective to other financial advisers,’” Ransdell says.
“He said, ‘That’s fine, but if that’s the case, you cannot have any say in the message I’m going to deliver.’”
That was just what Ransdell was looking for.
“That was kind of risky on my part, but as a leader, I think you have to make strategic bets every now and then,” Ransdell says. “You have to believe in the people you serve. It was a little risky, but it came across as real. It didn’t come across as leadership telling this individual what to say. It came from the heart, from one of them.”
So how do you find the ‘Barry’ in your organization?
“You’re looking for that individual who is well-respected by the majority of people who work with him or her,” Ransdell says. “For whatever reason, they possess that little extra where they want to give back to the organization and help others be as successful as they are. Not everybody possesses that. But there are a few special people out there who do.
“As leaders, we always have to understand who those people are in our organization. Shame on us if we don’t ask them to step up to the plate and take a leadership role from time to time to help the organization. I believe they want to do it and in my opinion, their impact on an organization in times of uncertainty can be more impactful than the senior-most leader in any organization.”
You must get over your need to do it all yourself and instead let your people play a part in helping you.
“Some leaders want to be more in control and they get really concerned about relinquishing too much,” Ransdell says. “My grandfather used to tell me, ‘You never corral a stallion. If you do, you’ll rob them of their spirit.’ I try to surround myself with stallions and let them run. That empowers them. They know I trust them and I think it fosters creativity. I have a belief that the people who are closest to the problem tend to have the solutions.”
Ransdell was confident he had his stallion.
