Delegate But Inspect
Robert Steven Kramarz
If your business is in growth mode or committed to growing, it’s critical to have a strategic execution plan and someone on your team that has the ability to execute in their DNA. The Vision Master and Intelliversity Guide we are interviewing today has that “Execution Gene” and more. A seasoned veteran of Wall Street and business guide for companies like Wells Fargo and Pokeman, Lucas Root sees what companies need to make the leap to big-time growth and success. And, he has a passion for working with women founders and CEOs. One reason for that, and there are several, is that women tend to be more adaptable to a vital element that fuels growth. The ability to pivot quickly when their company’s success depends on it.
In a sea of consultants and business coaches, you only need one. But you need the right one. Get to know Lucas Root. He might be the right one for you.
Key Takeaways
- Advising on execution strategy must be hands-on.
- A pivot is in your future if you’re a growth phase company.
- When it comes to pivoting, timing is everything.
- A Vision Master’s relationship with Execution Master must also be hands-on so that the Vision Master can determine when a pivot is needed, not too early and not too late.
- Women-run (and co-run) companies are more adaptable and able more able to pivot on a timely basis.
Robert Steven Kramarz (Rob):
Hi, there everybody, all you Vision Masters out there. This is your Vision Master podcast from Intelliversity and this is Robert Steven Kramarz, founder of Intelliversity. And we are privileged to have with us today, Lucas Root, who himself is, as you’ll find out, a vision master and an Intelliversity guide for Vision Masters, and has a particular point of view and a particular experience that I think you’ll find very valuable. So, Lucas, how are you today?
Lucas Root:
I’m excellent. Thank you, Rob.
Rob:
Awesome. We met Lucas, Lucas is now a guide for Intelliversity. And let me just say initially, as you may recall, we only invite guides who we have, or I have, personal experience with either working together for a client or working together on a project for Intelliversity. And I now have that personal experience with Lucas and knows that he can accomplish what he says he can accomplish and what he’ll talk about in a moment. So on that basis, let’s continue. Lucas, in brief, what do you do as a guide for growing companies?
Lucas:
In brief, love it. So I work with companies that have a good idea and funding and they have a strong brand, but they don’t quite know how to execute that good idea. And so there are a bunch of different ways they could move forward. They know that they’re going to have to experiment a little to figure this out and they like to work with somebody who can guide them through the process of finding their path forward.
Rob:
All right. So we’re talking about a path forward that is in terms of execution, right?
Lucas:
Yep.
Rob:
So at what level do you advise these clients?
Lucas:
Typically at the top of the business unit, that could be at the CEO or the chief officer level for smaller companies, or it could be a business unit leader for larger companies where the business unit is moving in growth.
Rob:
Your particular approach that I found most intriguing is that you’re hands-on. It’s not like an Accenture kind of consultancy where it’s high level concepts and then walk away, right?
Lucas:
Yeah, right a little book, hand it over. No, that’s not me.
Rob:
So what is you? What is you?
Lucas:
Yeah. So I will help you come up with that approach, the strategy, and I’ll help you understand what that looks like, but much more importantly, and this is where I come very different from the Accenture as you point out or Deloitte, right, is I’m very interested, I’m very actually personally invested in getting down into the details and working with you as we execute so that we can iterate together when inevitably changes to that strategy need to happen.
Rob:
And change is always happening. You probably know that in our surveys of investors, very few companies actually get to an exit using the same business model as they started out.
Lucas:
Yes.
Rob:
And you did point out to me that Segway is a good example of that and that they made a Segway that we all know to electric scooters, and now they’re successful, right?
Lucas:
And now they’re successful. Yes.
Rob:
You came to us by our joint work with a company called ShuffleSpace, which hasn’t yet had to pivot in a major way, but that will come. And the head of ShuffleSpace is Anita Ramdas, right? This is a woman-run company. And that’s part of my interest in what you do is your ability and willingness actually, you enjoy working with women-run companies as George and I do. Why is that?
Lucas:
It’s hard to put your finger on it precisely. I mean, we could come up with all sorts of theories. I think that it has something to do with women have to work really hard to be recognized. And because they have to work so hard when they get to the point where they’re leading, they have a great idea, they’re executing against that idea, a lot of these women that have gotten to that point, in my opinion, are actually a step or two ahead of a similar male counterpart. And I love working with that excellence, that perseverance, that drive that these women founders have.
Rob:
Awesome. And as I recognize, we both recognize its diversity of thought style, cognitive diversity, and leadership style diversity at the executive level that makes it possible for a company to pivot as needed and not go too far down the wrong path also not pivot too often. So it’s the combination of different kinds of thinking styles and leadership styles, the diversity of styles at the top that makes the winners so exciting, so more likely to win. Have you had that same experience?
Lucas:
Absolutely. Without question. I partner as often as possible, I partner with people who are very different from myself. I just value their input so much, and I find the same as true of my professional relationship with the companies that I’m consulting with. Like Anita, she has a very, very different background from me, and that makes the two of us together a powerful team.
Rob:
So talk to me about your background. What were you doing? What have you been doing during the last couple of years that brought you to Anita’s attention and to our attention?
Lucas:
So way back, I started out on Wall Street. I worked on Wall Street for 17 years. I sort of graduated myself out of Wall Street into consulting. I landed my first large company as a client, the Pokemon Company, which you may recognize from recent Pokemon-Go fame, one of their products. And I’ve been working with them to roll out again, 100% in line with what I do. They wanted to bring truly vending machines into the market, Pokemon vending machines selling Pokemon products, which is a totally different business to them. And they have a great idea and it’s well-funded, and they don’t know how to execute.
Rob:
They don’t know how to execute. Now your experience, go back a step because obviously we’re into finance, financial strategy. What was your experience on Wall Street that brought you to that point?
Lucas:
Awesome question. I loved Wall Street. So I actually specifically got into Wall Street to learn from some of the best and brightest, like truly crazy smart people. One of the stories you and I have talked about in the past is I’ve been in the room with a combined thousand years of experience, an absolutely mind-blowing amount of experience. And these are smart people, a thousand years of experiences and sitting around watching TV for these guys. They’re executing really high-level strategy all the way down at the detail, like very smart. And it was intentional for me to go and just soak up as much of that knowledge and experience as I possibly could and I did, and I loved every minute of it.
Rob:
And Wall Street is everything that we see in the movies?
Lucas:
Yes.
Rob:
And more.
Lucas:
And more. I mean, not every day is crazy party day, but when they have crazy party day, yeah, you could shoot a movie and it could be a live scene.
Rob:
Yep. But it’s also the differences of personalities, of styles, of some are fees and some are bullies and some are nice people on some are everything in between. And the level of energy is off the wall half the time.
Lucas:
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Rob:
So talk about for a second, talk about when this big change in your life happened and what happened?
Lucas:
So I’m working with some smart people. I’m paying attention, learning a whole lot. And inevitably, if you do things well, even under the guidance of people who know a ton more than you do, you start to think that you’re smart, right? It’s confirmation bias. That’s normal. I started to think I was smart. So I started a real estate business on the side, investing in Buffalo, New York, in duplexes, and from an analysis from a numbers perspective, it made great sense. So I built out the strategy for the business. I started executing. It was making me great money at its peak. It was 50,000 a month cash flow. Not revenue, cashflow. Great business.
The thing was, I was operating 100% from sort of a disconnected strategic perspective all in the numbers. I was not there day to day. I didn’t want to be there day to day. I was disconnected from the tactics, the daily operations of the business, and it crumbled and it crumbled almost overnight, and this was a huge blow to my ego. And it took me a couple of years to really not just recover, but to integrate the learnings of that lesson.
Rob:
So what did you learn that you can apply to Intelliversity and bootcamp clients?
Lucas:
Very simply, you can’t be hands-off, can’t be hands-off. It doesn’t matter how good your strategy is, you cannot be hands-off. You have to be there. You have to be up to your knees at least, and probably up to your neck or more in the details so that when you need to make changes in the business model, and you will, when you need to make changes, you’re there, you’re ready, you’re responsive and you’re flexible and able to do it.
Rob:
Really, that’s got to be the most important lesson for Vision Masters and Vision Masters to be, that vision mastery does not mean hands off. Even though you have execution masters all around, you have to stay knee deep in the day-to-day life of the company or you won’t know when it’s going wrong.
Lucas:
That’s right.
Rob:
Guaranteed a segway, a pivot is in your future, and no question about it, unless you’ve already had a couple and you’re at this point well on the way. Almost every successful company to growth stage has to go through one or more pivots, right?
Lucas:
Yes.
Rob:
All right. So tell us more about what kind of company you’d really be most excited to work for at this point.
Lucas:
I really like working with companies that are led by incredible people with diverse thoughts. Many of those happen to be female, and that’s true even now of the portfolio of companies I work with. And they’re moving into a powerful growth phase. So not necessarily straight off the blocks startups. I want them to have at least gotten into the point where they’ve got some real strong revenue under them, they’re ready to start moving towards profitability, and they’re really moving into a strong growth phase.
Rob:
Okay. That’s awesome. So you Vision Masters out there, come to us, you’ll have the opportunity to work with Lucas and our other guides. We’re particularly looking for women-run companies or companies run at least 50% by women at this point, so that we have the diversity of thought and leadership style to work with. That’s the most exciting for us. And we want to make sure that you know that you’re welcome here. On that note, Lucas, tell us, tell our listeners where they can reach you personally.
Lucas:
Easiest way to find me as email info@Lucasroot.com or hop on over to my website and see what I’m doing there and find my email there, info@LucasRoot.com or LucasRoot.com.
Rob:
And of course, you can always reach me at intelliversity.org. The calendar is here. And I guess that’s all for today. I’d like you to meet Lucas, so give me a call or give Lucas an email and get in contact with us. And that’s all for now.. I want to wish you well, Vision Masters, because that’s the way it will be. All right.