Sara Sheehan’s guest in this episode is Barry LaBov, a two-time Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award winner and the founder of LABOV Marketing Communications and Training. Barry LaBov shares his career journey with Sara, explaining how he learned through the jobs he held before coming to the position he’s in today. Barry’s book, The Power of Differentiation, speaks to the main focus of his company and Sara learns how Barry views every company as having a distinctiveness that sets them apart.
Barry began his career journey in music. As a rock musician who ran a jingle company, he wasn’t particularly looking for a career in marketing. He describes his business as “an accident” that was born out of necessity. He sold the jingle company and moved on to the marketing and training career he has today. He shares with Sara that the focus of his company is helping his clients find the one or two unique things they offer that none of their competitors can touch, and that’s what makes his clients, and by extension, his company successful.
Sara and Barry explore the concept of differentiation and discuss how working with the right clients is an important part of success. Barry says “Saying no should happen far more than saying yes to any client that walks up to you”. He talks about delivering a difference, how he realized that his book needed to be about improving brand differentiation, and why his book is largely about how 50 different companies transitioned from look-alike commodities to originality of appeal that launched success. This episode encourages finding the unique differences that set our businesses apart in the hearts and minds of customers.
About Barry LaBov:
Barry LaBov is the founder and CEO of LABOV Marketing Communications and Training. He is a two-time Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year recipient and an inductee into the Entrepreneur of the Year Hall of Fame. He is also a Better Business Bureau Torch Awards for Ethics recipient. Under his leadership, LABOV Marketing Communications and Training has received the Indiana Growth 100 Award six times, was named Small Business of the Year and recognized as one of the Best Places to Work in Indiana. Additionally, LABOV’s client work has been honored with nearly 100 national and regional awards.
Barry has authored or co-authored over a dozen business books, including his forthcoming book, The Power of Differentiation, which will be published by Indigo River and distributed through Simon & Schuster. In the book, he shares experiences and actionable recommendations for leaders seeking to differentiate their brands and products. He has also written over 100 business articles on a range of topics, including brand re-engineering, customer loyalty, employee engagement, training strategy, dealer/distributor network performance and much more. Barry has been interviewed as a subject matter expert on CNBC, Fox Business and in several videos and podcasts.
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Resources discussed in this episode:
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Contact Sara Sheehan | Sara Sheehan Consulting:
Barry LaBov | LABOV Marketing Communications and Training
- Website: BarryLaBov.com
- Website: LABOV.com
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Transcript
Sara Sheehan: [00:00:03] Hi there, my name is Sara Sheehan and welcome to my podcast Transformational Thinkers with Sara Sheehan. Today I’m joined by Barry LaBov, who is a two-time Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award winner, a recognized author and brand strategist. He is the founder of LABOV Marketing Communications and Training, an agency specializing in helping clients discover and celebrate their brand differentiation to rally their organizations and captivate their customers. LABOV’s impressive clientele includes renowned brands such as Harley Davidson, The Macallan Scotch, Audi, and other leading global brands. Barry’s book, ‘The Power of Differentiation: Win Hearts, Minds, and Market Share’, was celebrated as the top new marketing book on Amazon. With nearly 100 podcast appearances, Barry is also the co-host of the Difference Talks podcast, where he and the LABOV team interview top selling authors, leading CEOs and acclaimed performers in sports and music. Barry’s goal is to inspire 1 million people with his message. Barry, I’m so excited to welcome you to my podcast today.
Sara Sheehan: [00:01:39] Hi there! Today I am joined by Barry LaBov. I am extremely excited, Barry, to have you on Transformational Thinkers today. I would love it, Barry, you are truly a fascinating person, what’s your backstory and how did it lead you to where you are today?
Barry LaBov: [00:02:05] Thank you for that question. I would say what led me to where I am today is that, as a young boy, when I was in my early teens, I was a rock musician. I had dreams of writing songs and producing songs and writing hit material and all of that. What that did was it guided me into a very creative environment and also a very collaborative environment. Where I worked with 3 or 4 or 5 other people, trying to create something that had never been created before. Then going out and performing it, looking at the response and seeing how it went, and then coming back and tweaking it and changing it. In essence, that’s exactly what I do today. What happened was, I went through that for many years, and I was in my mid to late 20s. I had a side business going on where I was writing jingles, those irritating little ditties that people listen to. I had a jingle company as well as a band. One day I had a tragedy, and that was, my father passed away at the age of 63 years old. I thought, I’m not going to live forever. I need to figure out what I want to do. Much to my surprise, I decided to focus on my business. All of a sudden, I became a business person. Shortly after that, and I’ll make it a quick story, a client asked me to take on all of their marketing, so I became a marketing company. Then I won an award called the Entrepreneur of the Year within a year after that, which is an Ernst & Young accolade, which is great. All of a sudden I went from, I’ve got a rock band and I’m doing some stuff on the side to make some money, to, I run a business, and I have a little bit of confidence in what I do. From that point on, I’ve gotten some really wonderful clients like McAllen and Harley Davidson and Audi and Mercedes, companies like that. It’s turned into a really wonderful existence.
Sara Sheehan: [00:04:20] That’s fascinating, Barry. By the way, the EY entrepreneur of the year award, that is an amazing accolade. That is a truly bellwether award in industry for entrepreneurs. So congratulations on that acknowledgement. I believe you’ve gotten it more than once, isn’t that correct?
Barry LaBov: [00:04:45] I got it two different times, which is a little bizarre. But yes, I did get it two times. The big thing about the award is it’s an individual award. Entrepreneur, singular, of the year. But it really was all about putting together a really great group of people who worked really well together and did things that went beyond the call of duty. To make sure we took care of clients and did other things. It was a company award, but it is officially awarded to a person. I took it as a great indication that I had a great, powerful team.
Sara Sheehan: [00:05:23] That’s even better. What you just said there is that you’re acknowledging the people that have helped you along the way. I love that kind of gratitude.
Barry LaBov: [00:05:40] Anybody that runs a business that’s more than one person needs to lean on people. If you treat people like they’re just a replaceable part, you’re going to have a pretty rough existence. If you really appreciate who you work with, not so much who works under or for you, but who you work with, then I think you have a better life as well as a better outcome.
Sara Sheehan: [00:06:05] That’s very well said. You’ve talked a little bit about your backstory and how it led you to where you are. I’d love to hear how you created your business.
Barry LaBov: [00:06:18] My business was an accident. I did not want to do it. I had been working at a recording studio writing jingles, as I mentioned a few moments ago. My wife and I were very poor. One day I said to my wife, before I went into work I said, I haven’t been paid for 2 or 3 weeks because the company’s in trouble. I heard from one of my musicians, who I’ve hired to play these jingles, and I promised them that they would get paid even though I wasn’t. I heard from a number of them that they were not getting paid. I said, honey, I’m going to go in and tell the boss that I have a concern. She said, you don’t think he’s gonna admit that, do you? I said, no, he’s not going to admit it if he’s ripping them off, but maybe he’ll start paying them. I walked out and I saw our landlord walking up, and he didn’t even look at me. I thought he and I were always really friendly, we always paid on time and everything. I thought, who cares? I went into the office, and this is how I began the company. I sat there and I said to the boss, I have heard that you’re not paying the musicians and you have promised to pay them. He said, you’re right, I’m not paying them. He said, I just bought a brand new Porsche for myself. I am not paying them, and I don’t care about them.
Barry LaBov: [00:07:42] I said, if that’s how you are, then I quit. He said, you can’t quit. You don’t have enough talent and you’ll starve without me. I said, I’ll tell you what, if I have to work for somebody that’s lying and ripping people off, I’d rather quit and starve. So I leave, I walk out of there. When I got home, these were the days before cell phones, so I couldn’t call my wife. I walk in, she’s crying. I thought she heard from somebody at the recording studio that I quit. I said, honey, what’s up? She goes, this is a terrible day. Our landlord came in, he’s getting a divorce. He gave us two weeks to move out because his ex-wife gets our apartment here. I went, oh. She said, so in two weeks, we’ll have no home. She said, how was your day? I said, well, I just quit my job. I said, we don’t have a home and I don’t have a job. That’s when I began my company. I thought, I’ll do jingles. I’ll maybe make $2,000 a month, a very small amount of money, we’ll get by. I’m going to just try to do a good job. One project, one client at a time. It began like that 40 some years ago, and I no longer do jingles anymore. I sold that business and I do marketing and training, but that’s what began at all. It was an accident, I didn’t mean to do it.
Sara Sheehan: [00:09:05] It also began out of necessity, and it began in a values based decision.
Barry LaBov: [00:09:12] I also had a very strong spouse right there with me. Had she said, you can’t do this, then I would have been *frustrated noise*. But instead she was like, we’ll figure this out together.
Sara Sheehan: [00:09:26] That’s amazing, truly. How does the power of differentiation drive your work with clients and the results that you’re getting with clients?
Barry LaBov: [00:09:38] ‘The Power of Differentiation’ is the title of my book, and it is the one focus my company has, and that is differentiation. We believe that virtually every company, no matter how small or large, has uniqueness or distinctiveness that you need to discover. You shouldn’t try to create who you are on a daily basis. How about focusing on the few really interesting and good things you do? Once you do that, the next step is, let’s name it. Because after all, some of us who have children don’t have children one, two and three. We have children that we give names to, there’s a reason we give them the names and we tell people all about them. Same thing about those 2, 3 or 4 differentiators you have. Then after you determine that and you name them, you celebrate them with the most important people. Your employees, your team, the people that are behind you. Once you do that, you’ve created this army of people who believe. Then you launch it to the world. That’s what we do, and we have helped many small, many large companies literally transform themselves doing this.
Sara Sheehan: [00:10:52] By focusing inward first, and then expressing it outwardly.
Barry LaBov: [00:11:00] Instead of going, our competition says this and that, and they sell it really cheap. Why don’t we do it? We can do that. Instead of that, going, our competition does those things. We do these two things differently than anybody else, and our customers seem to really like it. Why don’t we focus on that and magnify those differences, as opposed to trying to be like, and imitate, others who we cannot sustainably imitate for very long? It’s like, I can wake up in the morning and be myself very easily. It’s hard to wake up every day and be something you’re not. I believe you have to be the brand, the product that you really are. Own up to it. This is why I do what I do. I’m not saying it’s perfect, but we do it this way and we do it better than anyone else doing it this way. That’s what we stand for. By the way, you will not win every customer over because you don’t want to. I don’t want to win over every customer. I want the right ones to say, this is what I’m looking for.
Sara Sheehan: [00:12:18] That’s beautiful. You’re targeting working with the right customer. You’re willing to say no to people that aren’t the right customer to work with for your approach.
Barry LaBov: [00:12:34] Exactly. It’s hard when you’re a small business to say no. I had a really tough time with it. I find it easier as time goes on to go, I’m not so sure we’re really a good fit. Now once in a while, good news for the audience out there, sometimes you’ll say, I don’t think we’re a really good fit. The client will go, wait a minute, hold on. I think we are, let me tell you why. They’re fighting to have you, which doesn’t happen much, by the way. But it does happen. If that’s the case, maybe you have a good opportunity there. Saying no should happen far more than saying yes to any client that walks up to you.
Sara Sheehan: [00:13:12] Yes, that’s exactly right. Barry, can you talk with me at all about the results that you’re getting with your clients? Or perhaps if there are any return on investment numbers that your clients are experiencing?
Barry LaBov: [00:13:30] I could share many of them. We work with a freight car company that produces rail cars. We started working with them. Their stock price was pretty small, and now 2 or 3 years later, it’s 20 times that size. I’m not saying we did that at all, but I’m saying we were there for the ride with them. I can get a little more granular and share that we work with a copper rod producer. They produce copper rod, which then turns into copper wire. They were viewed as a commodity, they were the lowest priced product in their segment, which made it tough to be profitable. In a two and a half year span, they determined what made them unique, who they were. They actually helped that process by changing their name. They changed their name to a really different name than what they had before, they identified 2 or 3 things they did that were really great. Now they are the leading product in their category and they charge the most, they charge a premium. That is a massive change. I don’t want to go into specifics because the two I talked about are publicly held companies. But it could be examples like that, when you think about it, instead of being the cheapest or instead of looking like everyone else in pricing, you charge a little more. You earned that because the customers believe in you.
Sara Sheehan: [00:15:12] You’re delivering a difference for your clients in the end, literally.
Barry LaBov: [00:15:17] One thing that we try to do with our clients is, and you just said ‘delivering a difference’ and I like that, that’s a great term, we try to do more than provide a marketing or training product for our clients. We try to provide even more than, we’re a really great company to work with and it’s a great experience. What we try to do is help companies transform. That’s what we’re doing, we’re helping them transform. One company was viewed as a commodity, and we’re trying to transform them from a commodity to something where it’s a prestigious, valuable brand. That’s a transformation. That transformation doesn’t happen outside, it happens outside ‘and’ inside. That company inside, all of a sudden, starts thinking, wait a minute, we’re actually pretty darn good. I’m actually, hold on everybody, proud of the company I work with or for. As opposed to going, we’re like everybody else, we’re no big deal. That’s a transformation. That’s what our goal is.
Sara Sheehan: [00:16:25] It’s a huge transformation. It’s a cultural transformation.
Barry LaBov: [00:16:31] It is. We’re working with a AAA baseball team right now on, probably, one of the most amazing projects I’ve ever had in my life. We’re helping them not only transform their organization, but their community. Their community will be transformed. I’ll tell you, that’s pretty exciting. Those are the types of things we’re talking about. You’re taking people from going, why do we do this, what’s this about, to, I’m really proud. We call it ‘going from why to wow’. That’s what it’s all about. It’s like, why do we do this? Then you get transformed and you go, wow, look what we’re doing.
Sara Sheehan: [00:17:15] Absolutely unprecedented ways that you’re helping clients level up their results in the marketplace. It’s very exciting. Barry, talk with me about the book that you have on the power of differentiation.
Barry LaBov: [00:17:35] Interesting backstory was, I decided to write the book four years ago, just prior to COVID-19 hitting. The book was going to be primarily on, here’s how you can differentiate. You can discover what makes you unique and increase your market share. It was a number of stories and all of that. Covid hits, and there was a phenomenon that really jarred me, and it changed the entire focus of the book. That was, in the middle of Covid, 50 million Americans quit their jobs. Just walked off the job during Covid. It occurred to me that in the middle of this crisis, people were going, why do I work at this place? Why go into work every day? I don’t even want to deal with these people. They walked off. At the same time, I looked at the number of brands that are out there, and there are millions upon millions of brands. Here’s what happened, I looked at those two and I brought them together. I mashed them up and I said, you know what? There are too many brands out there and they don’t have any distinctiveness. There are 50 million people that just walked off the job because they don’t think where they work has any distinctiveness. It’s the same story.
Barry LaBov: [00:18:56] It’s not just, let’s improve your brand differentiation so you can sell more. It’s what the subtitle is, which is to win hearts, minds and market share. That’s what this book is about. You have to go in that order. You can’t say, I got a great product and we’re going to shove it out there, and eventually you people building this, you’re going to believe. No, it doesn’t work that way, it’s the opposite. Hey everybody, let’s celebrate what we do, why we do it uniquely, and the important role you play. You’re winning their hearts and you’re sincere. You are then saying, and here’s what our plan is. This is why what we do is special. You’re going, you’re winning their minds. Then you know what? You release it to the world. Who does the customer talk to? Your people. Your people are going, I love this, this is amazing, this is the best ever, you’ve got to look at this, I really believe in what I’m doing. You know what? You’re going to win market share. That’s what happened. The book is not the story of me at all, it’s the story of over 50 different individuals and their companies that made this transition from commodity or look alike or sound alike or act alike product, to something with some level of originality and appeal and differentiation.
Sara Sheehan: [00:20:24] That is powerful. Your book is available on Amazon, is that correct?
Barry LaBov: [00:20:29] It is available on Amazon, it’s distributed through Simon & Schuster. Worldwide, it’s everywhere. I urge people to buy the book on Amazon and leave a review. I think it’s great, we’ve already gotten lots of reviews. Leave a review. The other thing I suggest is to reach out to me on LinkedIn or on my website, which is barrylabov.com and I’ll correspond with you. I want to help people, my goal with the book is to inspire over 1 million people worldwide.
Sara Sheehan: [00:21:03] To inspire them to level up how they are communicating their value to others, essentially. Correct?
Barry LaBov: [00:21:13] Yes. It’s leaders of all types, whether they have a title or not. Title-free leaders out there, you don’t have to be the CEO. You just have to be somebody who says, wait a minute. What we’re doing is unique, let’s talk about it. Let’s make sure people understand that what they’re doing here in this company is significant. You’re doing something meaningful. Those 50 million people that walked off their jobs, I’m betting that they did not feel what they did was significant or meaningful. They’re going, I don’t care about it. I’m going, let’s give people a reason to believe.
Sara Sheehan: [00:21:49] That’s transformative. 1 million people, that is amazing. What have been your biggest challenges, Barry, and how did you overcome them?
Barry LaBov: [00:21:59] I’ve had a lot of challenges in business. In the beginning, one of the challenges was saying no, because I had to say yes to grow. That also tempted me to look for growth and sometimes take my eye off doing the very best job I could on each individual project for each individual client. I’ve made errors on that. I think those are really difficult. One thing I suggest to people when they’re starting a business is to focus on doing a job each time. One client, one project at a time that you’re proud of. Not necessarily that it’s perfect, because nothing is, but instead of trying to gather bunches of customers and just treat them all the same, look at each one uniquely and do your very best.
Sara Sheehan: [00:22:52] That’s wonderful. That is a very tried and true piece of advice that you can apply in every area of life, literally.
Barry LaBov: [00:23:04] It’s not easy to do.
Sara Sheehan: [00:23:06] Doing your best and really applying yourself, you’re always going to end up moving forward rather than moving back.
Barry LaBov: [00:23:16] You’re right. One of my good friends is Jacob Brown, and you can look up his book. It’s called ‘Fail Forward Mentality’. What he says is, if you fail, make sure that you’re failing forward. Meaning that you’re learning, you’re growing from it, you’re moving forward, that you don’t just fail and fall down and give up. I think that’s one thing we all have to do. As entrepreneurs and leaders, we’re going to fail. It’s, will you pick yourself up and will you move forward like Jacob says?
Sara Sheehan: [00:23:52] Absolutely. Failing forward is also a remarkable thing that a lot of organizations don’t embrace. That’s creating a safe space to try new things and take calculated risks, measured risks. I think there are a lot of people that could really amp up their impact if they allowed themselves to try more things.
Barry LaBov: [00:24:24] In my book I talk about perfection. I call it the perfect trap, because a lot of people want to be perfect. They don’t want to make a mistake, they’re afraid to make a mistake. As a musician, one thing I share with people is, and a lot of people don’t know this, most of the hit songs that we all love were mistakes. They were accidents. Somebody went to the piano or somebody went to the guitar, and their fingers went on the keyboard or the fret in the wrong position, and they went, what’s that? It sounded kind of interesting. They did it again and went, that’s cool. All of a sudden that mistake became something that was really unique. That’s how we have to look at our errors and mistakes. Some of them you go, I did something so stupid, that’s really dumb. Okay, is there anything good to come out of that? That’s what I think we have to look at.
Sara Sheehan: [00:25:20] What could I learn from that experience that can make me better tomorrow?
Barry LaBov: [00:25:25] I hate to fail, I hate it. If I’m going to fail, I better learn because I don’t want to go back and make that mistake again. I think the one thing I would share with younger people newer to business is, make a mistake, that’s okay. Don’t make the same mistake, make it once. If you’re going to make mistakes, make a new mistake. Don’t make the same mistake over and over. Don’t go, I do that every time. Then you got to kick yourself and go, are you paying attention here? Because why make the same mistake? You did it once, don’t go down there again.
Sara Sheehan: [00:26:03] That’s right, very sage advice. If you were to start your business again, Barry, what things would you do differently?
Barry LaBov: [00:26:12] I would pay less attention to dramatic growth and more attention to systematic, one step at a time, doing a really good job that I’m proud of. I would also do what I share in my book, and what I’ve talked with you about today, and that is not try to be all things to all people and commoditize myself and price like everyone else. I would have the courage to say, here are a couple of things I do that my customers seem to like and think are really good, or are really good. I’m not going to veer from them, but I’m also going to make sure I charge fairly. Because for me to perform and offer those consistently, it’s not easy to do. I want to make sure that I price myself fairly because I understand where I am distinct and valuable. I will say ‘no’ more often than I will say ‘yes’ to customers because I’m looking for the right customer.
Sara Sheehan: [00:27:19] The right fit for not only you, but for the client.
Barry LaBov: [00:27:23] Absolutely.
Sara Sheehan: [00:27:24] That’s really good advice that anyone can apply at any stage of their career. I think delivering excellence can never be underestimated. You need to do your best at anything that you do. You want people to take a look at what you’re doing, step back and go, that was very insightful. I learned something from that experience. I would recommend that to anyone. That’s what you want to be a result of your working experience with a client.
Barry LaBov: [00:28:04] I think you’re 100% right. That’s what we have, is what you would call our own personal brand. If we can deliver that, then we’re valuable in the eyes of the client.
Sara Sheehan: [00:28:17] Absolutely, yes. Not only in the eyes of the client, but in other potential clients, anyone that they might refer you to, because that’s a powerful testimonial. Barry, what are you learning right now?
Barry LaBov: [00:28:31] I’m constantly learning. Whether it’s technology, whether it’s reading books, I’m constantly in a mode to learn and to be able to communicate better. To research what else is out there, in technology as an example. I’m doing a lot of podcasting. I’ve done 120 podcasts in the last year, and I’ve learned a lot about that. There’s a lot of technology behind that. On a constant day to day basis, I must learn, and I think that’s how it should be for all of us.
Sara Sheehan: [00:29:07] Absolutely. I believe putting yourself out on the edge means that you’re truly sharpening the saw and growing. If you’re not a little bit uncomfortable, you’re probably not far enough out.
Barry LaBov: [00:29:23] Yeah, I think you’re right. I think if you’re not uncomfortable, then you’re really taking it too easy. You need to push it to the point where you’re going, I don’t know about this one. You go, that’s good, that’s a good sign. Being a little nervous is the sign of being excited. It doesn’t mean impending doom. I agree with you, a little discomfort is good for all of us.
Sara Sheehan: [00:29:45] That’s right. Barry, what other big goals or aspirations are you working on accomplishing?
Barry LaBov: [00:29:51] I’m looking at each individual at my company, and I want to provide them the opportunity of a lifetime working at my company. I want them to feel like they can achieve anything that they really want to achieve through working with me. I also am looking at helping clients, as we talked about earlier, transform internally and externally. I’m looking for those big challenges. I’m not looking for a tiny little incremental improvement somewhere. I’m looking for what has not been accomplished, and is this something we can tackle at my company as a team? Those are the things that excite me the most.
Sara Sheehan: [00:30:31] A huge step change in the way a company operates and shows up in the marketplace.
Barry LaBov: [00:30:40] Internally and externally. I have no interest in helping a company increase their market share 4.6%, but their internal culture doesn’t shift at all. What’s the point of that? Let’s do something bigger, let’s do something that hasn’t been done. As one of my clients said, let’s make history. I’d rather make history than do a tiny little incremental thing. If I try to make history but I fall short, I still get a lot done. If my goal is so little, I just want to make a tiny little incremental improvement and I fall short, then I haven’t done anything.
Sara Sheehan: [00:31:21] I love that. Incremental improvements are important to make, but when you are leveling up performance in a significant way, it’s really hard to do. It’s like stepping on a bear trap, sometimes. When you’re leveling up and you experience some kind of difficulty during the process. Whether it’s a health concern or a setback financially, or there’s something that comes up because you’re trying to get to your next best. It shows up at an individual level, in a corporate level, in many cases. ‘The Big Leap’ by Gay Hendricks talks about that extensively. Barry, what does being a transformational thinker mean to you?
Barry LaBov: [00:32:27] It means to me, that you’re looking at the human element in everything you do. Because we’re not trying to transform numbers, we’re trying to transform people, communities, and futures. I believe it all starts with people. Yes, there are other things involved. There are products and there’s technologies and all of that. But to me, transformative means we as human beings have changed for the better. I look at it through the lens of people. How can we inspire people? I think we’re in very skeptical times where, when in doubt, people don’t really believe what a company says, or they don’t believe what a politician says, or they don’t believe this or that. I’m saying, I get it, I completely understand it. I’m just not going to accept that. I want to be able to help people, companies, transform the culture internally and the image and the promise externally of what they do and what they stand for.
Sara Sheehan: [00:33:35] Wow, that is very powerful. Barry, we talked about a lot today, is there anything else that you would like to share? What else is on your mind today?
Barry LaBov: [00:33:51] I think we covered a lot. I think it’s really important for all of us, whether we’re solopreneurs or whether we’re running a company with 30, 40, 50,000 individuals, that we must act as leaders. That we owe that to the one person or the 100,000 people who work with or for us. That’s not just a responsibility, it’s an honor to be able to be put in that position. That it’s not about us, it’s about doing the right thing. I think if you do the right thing, you’re going to still make mistakes, we talked about that, but I think if you focus on doing the right thing and you do that enough and you’re humble enough to listen and to learn and to say, I’m sorry. Or, can you help me? I think when it’s all said and done, you have a very positive, very full and interesting life. That’s what I wish for everybody that’s listening today.
Sara Sheehan: [00:34:54] That is a very beautiful thing. Your definition of success is very touching. It’s very personal and it’s really values based. I love to do the right thing and deliver excellence and everything that you do. Just caring, because there are a lot of people out there that don’t care. Having a little empathy in business does make a huge difference.
Barry LaBov: [00:35:30] Sometimes that’s the only difference, is that somebody cares.
Sara Sheehan: [00:35:34] That’s right. Barry, I can’t thank you enough for our conversation today.
Barry LaBov: [00:35:38] Thank you. I’m a big fan, and I really appreciate how you are present in all of your interviews. You’re right there, and I feel like we’re having a conversation. I truly enjoyed it.
Sara Sheehan: [00:35:50] Thank you so much, Barry.
Sara Sheehan: [00:35:52] Here are the three key takeaways from my conversation with Barry today. First, follow your uniqueness. Barry’s journey emphasized that true differentiation comes from focusing on what makes you genuinely unique, rather than trying to mimic competitors. When you discover and name your differentiators, it’s easier to rally your team and captivate customers. Second, the power of transformation. Barry highlighted how differentiation isn’t just for the marketplace, but starts within the organization by celebrating what makes your team and company special. You create a culture of pride and purpose, leading to transformation both internally and externally. Third, embrace failure and learn. Barry’s advice to entrepreneurs is to see failure as a stepping stone for growth. Make mistakes, learn from them, and ensure you don’t repeat them. This approach fosters innovation and resilience. Thank you so much for listening today. As always, subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and never miss an episode.
