Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to the Living System. I'm Chris Meredith and today we're exploring how leadership, strategy and organizational health work
[00:00:09] Speaker B: together to build the living system.
[00:00:13] Speaker A: Segment 1.
[00:00:14] Speaker B: We start in 5, 4, 3, 2.
[00:00:18] Speaker A: Welcome to the Living System. I'm your host, Chris Meredith. Today's conversation begins with a leadership reality that many executives face, but really few only openly address.
How do you move an organization forward without breaking the trust that actually built it or that foundation that actually established it? Legacy organizations carry more than history.
They carry identity, responsibility, and deeply rooted relationships. Leading them requires more than strategy, requires judgment, discipline, and respect for what actually truly matters.
Joining me today is Tony Miravala, CEO of KSKJ Life, a member driven financial services organization focused on long term security, innovation and community impact.
His work sits at the intersection of trust, governance and transformation, making Tony uniquely positioned to help us understand today what it really takes to lead through change.
It is my privilege. I know Tony, I work with Tony. And it's my privilege today, Tony, to be interviewing you. So thank you and welcome to the Living System.
[00:01:34] Speaker B: Thank you, Chris. Happy to be here.
[00:01:37] Speaker A: So, as we start the conversation, I want everyone watching to just think about the organization, your teams, systems, things that you're leading right now, what you're protecting because it's truly valuable, and what you are protecting simply because it's familiar. A part of this is even making decisions on what we have to be willing to outgrow and yet still tie the foundation into our future.
So let's begin today by exploring the leadership discipline of understanding a system before attempting to redesign it. In a legacy organization, the past is not merely history.
It actually forms the identity, it shapes the culture, and it anchors the trust that people place in that institution.
For Tony, the challenge lies in a couple of things. One, safeguarding the mission of KSKJ life while positioning the organization for future, defined by either evolving member expectations, advancing digital capabilities, competitive offerings, and sustainable long term growth.
So, Tony, with that in mind, when you look at KSKJ Life today and what elements of its legacy that exist, what of those elements of that legacy still create a competitive strength for you today?
[00:03:11] Speaker B: Well, Chris, I think a lot of it goes down to core values.
You know, when we look at the substance of things as opposed to what it looks like on the outside, sometimes we can get confused by what those core values are. And for an organization that's been around 130 years, it's easy to do.
We can look back to the very founding and look and say, well, we were founded by Slovenian immigrants and they were faith Based. Right. So for a long time, our membership reflected that it was people who were either Slovenian born or Slovenian descendant that were of the Catholic faith. And for a long time, that was the core. But as we have evolved over time and we've really reexamined those things, we can dig a little deeper into that and say, well, what. What are the core values underpinning those things? And they aren't specifically about an ethnicity or even a particular faith practice. It's about the values that we would ascribe to those things. So for us, we would say things like hard work, ingenuity, integrity, community service, faith, for sure. So these core values are really what drive our organization and have really been part of the fabric of who we are. And it's really. It's neat and gratifying to see how those continue to be played out, similar to how family would have core values that seem to persist generation after generation. Our organization has that. So despite the fact that most of our employees, of course, are not of Slovenian descent and they aren't practicing the same religion, there's this sense of purpose that is driven forth from those values that have been inherently passed on from previous board members, previous members, previous employees, and other stakeholders. So it's an awesome responsibility to find yourself in the middle of that.
There's a phrase that I've heard before other places that I really like, and it's about standing on the shoulders of those who have gone before you.
And our role is simply this period of time to do the best we can and pay it forward.
[00:05:30] Speaker A: So you've been able to actually keep the culture of the company, but yet expand that out to even a larger group or a larger population, and I think that's huge. And I think it really goes into my next question, Tony.
So when you're looking at legacy and what legacy is, as you were just speaking about, so where can legacy actually become a constraint if it's not challenged? Because you were able to make that transition from just a single group of people or single religion to expanding that out, and yet you were able to keep the culture and the core values. So where. If you're in speaking to company owners and company leaders out there today who are actually faced with culture and legacy becoming a challenge, and yet they want to maintain that culture, where do you actually separate that out? So where can it actually become a constraint if it's not challenged?
[00:06:40] Speaker B: There's a very gray area balance between collaboration and leadership, and timing certainly plays a role in this. There's an ebb and a Flow a life cycle to an organization, if you will.
[00:06:56] Speaker A: And
[00:07:00] Speaker B: there's a danger in being in an extreme. Either way, you can be very strong headed and decide that you're going to just push through change and this is how it's got to be, because it just does.
And certainly you can be on the other side of the spectrum where you're looking for full agreement from all stakeholders before you're going to make a move or a decision.
I think the challenge for leaders is to live in the middle there, to the point where you have an informed vision of the future, but you make the time to communicate that, to solicit feedback from stakeholders, to explain, to teach, to engage. And then when it's time to make a decision as best as possible, you consider the timing and the impact of that decision, along with all the data points and the collaboration that you've put together.
Certainly I can look at our own organization and see that there were certain points in time when change could have been helpful, but it wasn't the right time.
Whether it was the one stakeholder group or another, they weren't ready for the change.
And the results of making the change may have been more detrimental than just waiting.
And there's a wisdom in that that I've learned over time to have the patience and the vision to consider the timing of some of those changes.
[00:08:29] Speaker A: Yeah, I think I'm a firm believer in timing and judgment. And that also helps us when we understand timing and judgment and we really have that intuition or that sense of knowing that based on the facts and based on the things that we study, it definitely helps us know what to preserve, what to evolve.
But for kskj, what does modernization look like when trust but not speed is your most valuable asset?
And I'll do a follow up with that. How do you help people embrace the change without feeling like they're losing that identity?
[00:09:17] Speaker B: I think one of the most important things that I've learned in this regard with change management is to make sure you're identifying what problem you're actually trying to solve.
It's real easy to jump to a conclusion and think, for example, oh well, if we automate this process, then everything's going to be great. Or if we launch this digital version of what we did before, then we've solved all the problems when you're assuming what the underlying issues were in the first place.
So it's critically important as much as you can. Sometimes you can't afford the time to do this. Every situation is different depending on the gravity of the decision. You're making, but to solicit the feedback from the stakeholder groups that are involved that will be impacted by the potential change. To really make sure you understand what the opportunity not necessarily a problem, but what the opportunity would be in the first place so that you can have a good data set by which not only identify what the potential issue opportunity is, but then to craft an effective plan to do that and move the organization forward.
And a recent experience I can give you is with something like an E application where it's easy to assume that, oh well, we want to get away from the paper apps for all the reasons, and so we'll just make an E app. Well, there's a lot more to it than that. And in some cases, had we spent more time talking with stakeholders first, we probably would have saved ourselves some time and pain and suffering as we not only design but rolled something like that out.
[00:10:54] Speaker A: I don't think any of us has ever made good decisions without having made.
Maybe incomplete decisions is a better word than bad decisions sometimes, but that's definitely a lesson for us all. And what this reminds us of is that leading a legacy organization is really never about choosing between honoring the past and or embracing the future. It's really about understanding both and understanding them deeply and having the clarity to connect them with purpose. Because when leaders get the balance right, they don't just preserve what matters, they actually position it to grow. So we'll take a short break. Stay with us. When we come back, we'll explore how leaders like Tony approach digital transformation without losing the human connection that actually builds that trust.
We'll be right back with more insight into leadership, organizational alignment and building systems designed to last.
So stay with us. You won't want to miss this. And we're back. I'm Chris Meredith and this is the Living System on NOW Media Television.
Let's continue the conversation.
Welcome back to the Living System.
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I'm continuing my conversation with Tony about how KSKJ life is thinking about digital capability and yet member needs and the responsibility to modernize in a way that strengthens the human connection instead of replacing it.
This segment should position digital transformation as system design.
The conversation should explore how Tony identifies the real problems technology needs to solve, how he avoids adding complexity for the sake of innovation, and how digital capability can strengthen trust when it's connected to service, clarity and access.
The core tension is important. Modernization is necessary, but in a relationship based organization, it still has to feel human.
I think people like Tony and leaders like Tony today are facing some of the greatest challenges that's ever had to be faced.
It was easy at one time to keep things human and because there wasn't digital.
But now we're living in a world that requires digital technology to advance and yet at the same time keep the security of the human side of things and the human side of things still flowing. So Tony, with that in mind, when you talk about enhancing digital capabilities at KSKJ Life, actually, what problem are you trying to solve for the members by using the digital technology?
[00:14:27] Speaker B: Chris I think a lot of us that are watching things, particularly with AI these days and reading and attending webinars. I was just in a seminar yesterday and I'm hearing similar news a lot of places. Like any technology or tool, I think that we do best and we're most effective when it can augment the human experience, in some cases, not replace it. Certainly some of the manual tasks that can slow up processes or that are prone to mistakes, those are great for automation. And I think many people in our lives, we've become used to that and accustomed to that.
Certainly even with banking or shopping online, there's a quick order and delivery system. Things are easily understood, researched. And I think the challenge for us in our space is to provide a similar user experience for consumers, consumers, but to allow that human element as wanted and needed. And we've done that with our processes. Certainly there's many things that we've made available digitally and we've automated things and yet we have not removed the human element to that. We've made sure that all along the way there is an opportunity for consumers, agents, other stakeholders to talk to humans to make sure that things are understood, explained, problem solved, and that people can have their hands held along the way as much as they want or need to.
[00:16:01] Speaker A: So you've actually been able to modernize with technology and yet keep the member experience personal. And so in doing that, because there is a balance that has to take place, what kind of tensions are resistance tend to show up when a traditional organization like KSKJ begins to actually digitize and move forward that way.
And so as that happens, I know there's tension. So what kind of tension actually show up?
[00:16:38] Speaker B: In a general sense, there's constructs like fear or just a resistance to change, resistance to having to learn something new.
And within all of that, I think, again, we're most effective when we make the time to be relational. We make time to explain, to solicit feedback, to discuss, to train, to walk through things with people.
There's much more of an acceptance for the change when people know and understand how it will benefit them personally and the organization at large.
So as an example, just because it's one of the easiest examples, I can talk about our products and the application process.
What we have observed, what we've learned, is that there's a lot of good things and a desire for people to be able to do a little bit on their own. They may want to do some research on their own. They may even want to start an application on their own. But at a certain point, our product is not like buying a book or buying a favorite shirt online.
There's a little bit more nuance to it. And many people don't have experience with our products to feel 100% comfortable doing everything on their own. And so there's a desire to talk to another human being, to be reassured that they're making the right choice, they're making a select right selection, or they may simply just have questions that need to be answered. And so what we've done with our processes is try to communicate effectively ahead of time, try to help everyone understand the purpose and what problem it is that we are trying to solve, to make their experience better, but also to allow for the things along the way to help reassure people that they're in the right place, doing the right thing. So I think to be effective, there comes a lot of explanation.
Making the time to do that, making the time to communicate before and after.
And again, just making the time to be relational and talk with people and walk them through the things. Because usually for any of us, even if a change seems scary, if there's someone that's willing to walk with us and go through it the first time, the fear is gone, the resistance to change is gone. And hopefully in many cases, we realize, oh, I like this better.
[00:19:01] Speaker A: Yeah, so, you know, communication, Tony, and just to kind of take a quick sidebar, communication is sometimes looked at from leadership, as I told you, to do this, and then yet there's real communication where it actually brings clarity and comfort and peace, and it helps people understand that it's only enhancing and Building and not taking away. So when you think about that, how do you actually. Because we live in a world that there's all kind of information. I know you go to conferences, I go to conferences. People listening go to conferences.
There's never an in. It's an endless supply of new things.
So how do you really decide whether something is necessary or whether it's noise that's just out there somewhere? So how do you make that decision? What narrows that down for you?
[00:20:04] Speaker B: So part of this really can go back to having self awareness for ourselves as leaders and what our style is and what makes us tick.
Certain people love order and process.
And so any potential change that comes in is something that gets pushed off. And I don't even want to consider that or look at it for others. And I tend to gravitate this way.
It can be intoxicating, you know, the newness of an idea, the change, the promise of something better, easier, faster, and it's easy to jump into those things.
So as leaders, the balancing act is somewhere in the middle. You know, there, there's being open to new ideas and possibilities and change, but not at the point where you drown.
Because you're right, Chris.
We have so much access to information. There's so many opportunities out there now that you can become overwhelmed by all the information and all of the new things.
So it's a little bit of a discipline to determine how to be open to those things, when to be open to those things, when to allow that to come into your, your consciousness as you try to manage the daily business and the processes and the plans that are already in place.
So for all of us as leaders, I think there's that discipline, not even just an opportunity, a discipline to consider where you're getting your information from, where your sources of opportunities are even coming from.
Because on the one hand, you don't want to miss an opportunity, but in the same token, there's just a limited bandwidth. You have to watch all of the balls that you're juggling in the air.
[00:21:57] Speaker A: No, that is so true because you talked about the disciplines and different styles of leadership. And I have the privilege obviously of working with a lot of different type leaders and different personalities. And my own personality is to not be structured. And yet I am structured because over time I've had to learn that discipline, but I've also had to learn to continue to be innovative and creative. I actually discipline myself to schedule a part of my time in every week to think about advancement, to think about the future, and to think about what doesn't necessarily need to be done today, but what will need to be done in the future so that I'm preparing for it now, so that I'm ready for it when it comes. So finding those disciplines based on how we are as leaders makes a huge difference.
What is clear is that digital transformation is not just about technology, it's really about intention.
So when it's done right, it doesn't replace human connection at all. In fact, it strengthens it. And it gives us as leaders comfort to be able to lead our teams into understanding that it's not replacing, it's strengthening. It creates clarity, access and ultimately trust at scale.
So we'll take a short break. Stay with us. When we return, we'll shift into the structure behind leadership, exploring how governance and accountability shape better decisions at the CEO level.
We'll be right back with more insight into leadership, organizational alignment and building systems designed to last.
So stay with us. You won't want to miss this. And we're back. I'm Chris Meredith and this is the Living System on NOW Media Television.
Let's continue the conversation.
Welcome back to the Living System. I'm continuing my conversation with Tony. And now what I want to talk about is something that really separates reactive leadership from CEO level leadership, governance and accountability.
If you're leading a team, a business, a board or an organization through complexity, and if you're leading today and you're truly leading, you're leading through complexity. This is a part of the conversation to really lean into clarity is not accidental. It actually has to be designed. I'm continuing on with Tony and we're looking at how governance, accountability and executive decision making shape the way KSKJ life serves members and prepares for long term growth.
This segment will explore Tony as a CEO and how he's responsible for aligning governance, leadership priorities, member needs and organizational performance.
The focus should be practical.
How accountability is built, how decisions move from complexity to clarity, and how a strong governance framework creates confidence instead of slowing the organization down. The conversation will help viewers see the governance that it's not bureaucracy when it is designed well.
It's a system for trust.
It's all in how you lead and it's all in how you view leadership.
So with that in mind, Tony, what would you actually, what does a strong governance framework, how would you explain that?
What does that look like and make possible for you as a CEO at KSKJ Life?
[00:25:46] Speaker B: Well, I think above everything else, Chris, some of the words that you used in your intro there, it's about trusted relationships yes, the structure of the governance can be effective in a bunch of different ways if there's trusted relationships in place.
So certainly regulators and other bodies are going to want to see the internal checks and balances. Of course, right. That certain people have access to information, certain people make decisions and you make sure that there's a oversight and those things in place. But the most important thing for me at KSKJ in particular is we have invested in excellent relationships among the board and the board and the executive team and the home office to where we're pretty transparent to a fault about everything that's going on, about our plans, about our failures, our successes.
And no one has to wonder where we're at or what we're up to. Everyone knows, and that way we can make good, sound decisions because it's based on a plan that we've all talked about, we've all discussed, we've all agreed on and that we're all staying up to date on.
So because of those relationships, the structure of the governance is important, but it's not in my mind, the most critical piece.
[00:27:15] Speaker A: Yeah, transparency to me is key.
So many leaders try to hide behind ambiguity and really not communicate clear messages. And you really have to think about that from the standpoint that if you're not doing that and you have ambiguity and there's not clarity, then ultimately how can you expect a full outcome if you're not being fully transparent at the same time? And a part of that, Tony, is obviously accountability.
But so many people misinterpret accountability. They look at accountability as fear. And in fact, I've known leaders and worked with leaders that actually have used accountability as more of a fear tool. But really, how do you create accountability inside an organization like KSKJ without creating fear or unnecessary bureaucracy that shouldn't really exist? How do you actually make that happen, Tony?
[00:28:20] Speaker B: I believe it's a collaborative process where whatever plans or action steps we've all agreed on as part of our plan are fully supported, funded, resourced, etc. So.
And it becomes an integrity issue, but not integrity or accountability as a weapon.
Integrity meaning do what you said you were going to do by when you said you were going to do it, and if something unforeseen happens, communicate about it and recommit.
So if the board is asking me to accomplish something and we talk through it, I understand what they want delivered and I consider the resources available and I give them a deadline, they should be able to expect me to deliver that unless something unforeseen happens or changes and Then I need to communicate that. And I think when we have a definition, a cultural definition as an organization around accountability, as an integrity issue there, it's not something to be feared or to worry about or I'm bad and wrong or any of those other emotions. It's simply an integrity issue that says, I'm committing to doing what I said I was going to do by when I said I was going to do it and to own that fully. And I believe we have that type of culture at our place to where anyone is able to own something ahead of time, right. When we're trying to hide or when we're worried about an outcome, that's usually the case is we wait till the last possible minute or maybe after the deadline to then admit, oh, well, it didn't get done because. And then we have our list of excuses, right? But when you have a culture of integrity and accountability, there's an awareness ahead of time to know if we're on track or not, and to ask for help if needed, to ask for additional resources if needed, or to ask to extend the deadline if needed, depending on what's going on.
I think a subset of that for us is because of the kind of culture we have and the relationships that we have. We support family. We realize that there's not two different lives, a personal life and a professional life. We have one life, and things happen.
So because we're supportive of that, there's a willingness to be open and transparent for all of us, to acknowledge if there's something going on personally that's impacting our ability to meet a deadline or to lead a task to where we can ask for help from the team to accomplish that because it's important for the organization.
[00:30:59] Speaker A: That's awesome, Tony.
And really, that type of culture actually continues to build and build and build at KSKJ and obviously is very effective.
You talk a lot about communication and you talk a lot about transparency.
So when decisions are complex, and they quite often are, what system do you use or what do you do to make sure that you're moving the information from just information to actually bringing clarity to your team?
[00:31:38] Speaker B: To use an example, I can talk about product development, and this is where I continue to grow.
As much as we would say, oh, well, you know, ideally we would do this another way. Sometimes we fall into habits, and for companies like us, for example, sometimes it's easy within product development to look at it from the carrier point of view or the administrative point of view and say, okay, well, we're gonna.
We think that this type of product is what's needed. And so we're going to build it and we meet with our actuaries and all of us crunch the numbers and we're really proud of ourselves.
And then we put it in front of marketing and sales, say we'll go sell it. And then, you know, they can look at us or our agents can look at us, or even consumers look at us and be like, what are you talking about?
So what are you doing?
So the bigger context with this, and I apologize, I feel like I'm repeating myself, but it's super important and we're going to be most effective when we make that time to solicit the feedback from the constituents that ultimately are going to be impacted by things and make sure we understand we know what we're actually doing and what issue or what problem we're trying to solve. So within this example of product development, of course it seems like common sense and me saying it sounds like common sense, but we tend to forget to do it is to not only look at data, but talk, talk to the end consumer.
What issues do you have that we might be able to solve or we might be able to help or make better? And how could we create something to do that? What would it need to look like? What's the delivery system? Can our back office system handle that? Do we need to make some changes? So it's really being thoughtful up front about what it is that we're doing and then considering what we would need to do along the way to actually make something like that work.
[00:33:32] Speaker A: Yeah, Clarity. Clarity comes clearly a lot from asking the right questions. So I'm going to put you on the spot for the last minute of this segment. And just basically, as a CEO, you have to obviously align board expectations, your own leadership priorities as well as your leadership team, your board expectations, etc. Member needs.
So in a minute or so, what does the CEO level, what does CEO level thinking require from a leader who can no longer operate from only instinct? And if we need to finish it in our next segment, we can but think about that for just a moment. What does CEO level thinking require from a leader who can no longer operate from instinct? Only
[00:34:24] Speaker B: first would be a willingness to adjust our leadership styles.
Situational leadership, there does become a point and we can use athletes as an example. When people are very talented, it's real easy early on to go off of talent alone and you can outplay or outrun or out jump the competition. And then as things get tighter and more competitive, you have to be willing to adopt the, the practices and the processes and the learning in order to evolve and really hone your craft. And I think as leaders that's also true, especially when you're going to be responsible for an entire organization.
Your winning formula as an entry level employee or mid level manager is no longer sufficient for all of the circumstances and situations that you'll find yourself in.
So we have to be humble, we have to be willing to learn, ask questions of those that are smarter than us, that are more experienced than us in certain areas to really make sure that we understand the situation or the dilemma and that we can make the best informed decision that we can.
[00:35:35] Speaker A: Thank you, Tony. And I hope what everybody's seen is that strong governance brings clarity.
It helps leaders move with confidence and align decisions with purpose. So we're going to take a short break. When we return, we'll explore how to achieve sustainable growth without losing that mission or trust.
We'll be right back with more insight into leadership, organizational alignment and building systems designed to last.
So stay with us, you won't want to miss this. And we're back. I'm Chris Meredith and this is the Living System on NOW Media Television.
Let's continue the conversation.
Stay connected to the Living System and every NOW Media TV favorite live or on demand, anytime you like. Download the free Now Media TV app on Roku or iOS and unlock nonstop bilingual programming in English and Spanish. If you're on the move like most of us are, catch the podcast version at www.nowmedia.tv.
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I'm continuing my conversation with Tony. As we come to a close, I want to focus on sustainable growth.
I think that's what we all want to hear is how do we take these things that Tony has imparted into us today and really not only grow, but sustain that growth.
So not just growth in numbers, but growth that actually protects trust.
It strengthens the organization and keeps KSKJ Life aligned with its mission, not only for now, but for generations to come.
So in this final segment, we're going to elevate the conversation from operational leadership to generational leadership.
Tony can speak about how he defines sustainable growth, how he evaluates evolving member needs, and how leaders make trade offs between speed, stability, innovation and responsibility.
The key takeaway that I hope that you get today is that real growth is not just expansion, it's actually alignment under pressure.
I've learned through my career and through my coaching and working with many companies around the country.
I have learned that sometimes we misinterpret what real growth is. And before we can have expansion type growth, we have to have growth that is really in line with our culture, with our core values, and really in alignment with the mission itself.
Once that growth takes place, it quite often speeds up the expansion growth. But if that growth doesn't happen, the expansion growth will actually crush us rather than help us sustain that long term success that we're actually looking for.
So Tony, with that in mind, how do you define sustainable growth inside KSKJ Life?
[00:38:53] Speaker B: Chris, one of the things that occurred to me as you were providing that intro is the challenge that we do face as leaders to balance that the short term needs for profitability with the long term desire and need for growth to be viable for the future. And being a fraternal organization, a member owned organization, there's a very real presence and desire to focus on that long term because we are a generational company and we do intend to be around for generations to come to fulfill on those promises that we've made every time that we sell an insurance policy.
So there's a constant evaluation of what's the short term pain or gain within the context of the longer term growth. And there have to be trade offs. There just absolutely have to be trade offs. And one of the things I'll return to from previous parts of our segments is not doing that in a silo and not thinking that as a CEO or the executive director or leader that we have to make those decisions alone or that we should in order to make effective decisions. It's prudent to communicate and solicit feedback from the different stakeholders to make sure you're getting as many informed data points as possible to make those best difficult decisions. Where you're balancing both the short term and the long term. There's not an easy answer to this. Where it can be applied the same way to every situation other than the process is something that can be applied to every situation.
[00:40:33] Speaker A: Yeah, and you said something key there Tony, about silos.
As you know and as this show represents. I am a systems thinker but I apply systems thinking to strategic development and to leadership coaching. And when you look at systems thinking, the one thing that can be consistent across any organization is that you don't have to operate in silos. You don't have to be linear.
In fact, it's only when you and you'll accomplish certain things that way and many have achieved certain levels of success. But ultimately what really happens is, is that you End up having so many disconnects that if you're realizing that it's more of a connectivity with all of these parts working together, as Tony's been talking about, then you have the long term success that you're actually looking for. So Tony, I've got a question for you about growth and expansion and yet keeping mission and core values and your why in play and in focus.
So what would you say is the danger of chasing growth that is not aligned with your mission?
[00:41:50] Speaker B: What you end up having is strategic direction, scope, creep.
And when you, for any size organization, we have limited resources.
And when you try to spread yourself too thin, there's that saying, jack of all trades, master of none. And you run the risk of trying to do too many things just okay, instead of doing a certain number of things really well so that you will succeed, that you will have a sustainable market share, that you will have a sustainable message that's being promoted beyond just today or tomorrow. And it's something that I continue to learn, and sometimes learn the hard way, that we may have 15 really good ideas, but we can't fulfill on 15 really good ideas at the same time, which makes some of them not good ideas, at least right now. So being selective but thoughtfully reflective about what those priorities are will make all the difference in the world and it will help provide that clarity for yourself, for your team, for your other stakeholders, so that they know what you're doing is rooted and grounded in your core values and there's a clear vision for where those actions will take you.
[00:43:05] Speaker A: So when you look at core values and you look at products and services and you mix all of that together, you have to make decisions, of course, based on those values and you have to make decisions based on the specific needs that exist at the same time. So how briefly would you describe how you evaluate new products or services against evolving member needs?
What actually do you look at to make that decision?
[00:43:41] Speaker B: How much time do we have?
[00:43:47] Speaker A: Well, we will have to end eventually, Tony,
[00:43:53] Speaker B: so it seems like a simple question. Of course, like many things in these roles, these leadership roles, there's a lot of complexities and ramifications to the decisions you make.
There's, as we spoke about earlier, it's important to start with the end consumer and to understand what the needs are.
But similar to what you were just talking about for longevity, not just what the need might be today, but is it a sustainable need that if we spent the resources to create a product or service to meet that, that it would have roi? You know, if the need's going to change in a year.
It takes so much time in our industry to put together a product, to file the product, to get regulatory approval, to put the systems in place, to not only deliver the front end, but the back end. And by the time you do all that, you're talking about a considerable amount of time and expense. So you want to make sure that while you may be starting with the end consumer in mind, it doesn't end there. It doesn't force the rest of the process. You really need to consider the systems that you do have in place and your ability to fully support the solution that you think you're coming to to meet that consumer need. So there's a lot of infrastructure and resource constraints that you have to consider how to best choose a path forward to meet a certain need based on the resources that you have available to you, either internally or externally. And of course, that can change, and there could be possibilities where you could find a reasonable solution that would not be a huge problem.
But anytime you're introducing newness, you're introducing possibly for chaos as well. So we have to consider all those things as we contemplate something like a product or service. And it's particularly challenging these days with what's happening in the marketplace, the commoditization of products and services.
How do we stand out in a marketplace where you could look at 20, 30, 40 companies sometimes and see a similar product?
So we have to be able to differentiate ourselves on brand, of course, and core values, but also on the product design itself. And so there's some serious conversations to be had when we're going through this process to figure out how we can create something that might have some longevity and be worth the investment.
[00:46:35] Speaker A: Tony, you've been awesome today, so I'm going to ask you in the next 30 seconds to just leave a single thought. For leaders that are trying to create generational transfer, is there a single thought that you would give them as advice and then let us know, let the audience know how, if they want more information about you or the company, how they can find it. So we've got a few seconds left, so I'm going to give you that word.
[00:47:04] Speaker B: Sure. Thank you. My recommendation would be to lead with a mindset of servant leadership. We're caretakers at this level, and certainly we have to be willing to make decisions and be courageous. But when we lead with humility, more often than not, we'll be guided. True, that will be our North Star.
And I'm happy to answer questions or connect with folks by the easiest way would be you can look up our website and find the general number and get me that way. Or my email address is Tony Maravli mravlekjlife.com Perfect.
[00:47:42] Speaker A: Thanks, Tony.
Great interview. We appreciate you very much. And so this is what we believe on the Living System. Leadership is not just about managing complexity. It's about designing systems that can grow without losing their purpose. Tony, we thank you for joining us today and everyone watching. We invite you to keep building systems that are clear, aligned and alive.
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