Episode Notes

“Practical intelligence,” says Robert Sternberg, who coined the term, “includes knowing what to say to whom, knowing when to say it, and knowing how to say it for maximum effect.” Malcolm Gladwell writes in Outliers: The Story of Success (2012) that practical intelligence is “knowing how to do something without necessarily knowing why you know it or being able to explain it.” I discuss examples of both aspects of practical intelligence.

Knowing What, When, and How to Say Something

One of the many jobs I had before starting WeMentor, inc. was as a phone solicitor for the Minnesota Special Olympics. The first skill I learned was rehearsing a prepared script that described the importance of contributing to our Special Olympians and a variety of answers for when people would say no. “Do you mind telling me why you cannot donate right now?”

My manager, Don, was terrific. He knew how to coach and knew how to motivate me. A pat on the shoulder. A quick pep talk when I needed it. Strategies for overcoming rejection and emotional roadblocks. Don did this for everyone. And he kept a close watch on the numbers. He would whisper in between calls how close we were to reach our hourly goals. The room was filled with about 7 to 11 other telesales people. My only request was to have my desk in front of a six-inch window slit to see outside. I needed a focal point.

In the first week, I became the #1 telesales person in the New Hope office and Minnesota. I made 30 to 40 calls per hour from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., five days a week. New people were trained by sitting next to me and listening to how I talked with potential donors and closed the sales. I refined what I needed to say to whom and knew when to venture off script to engage the person on the other end of the phone. Week after week my numbers were impressive, and I was motivated to do well.

All was going well week after week. I started listening to motivational tapes while riding my bike to work daily. Zig Ziglar was my favorite. “You can have everything in your life you want, if you will just help enough people get what they want.” This famous quote of his resonated with millions of people, including me.

About eight weeks in, I get into a funk and lose my mojo. I made sales but couldn’t maintain my #1 status. It was torturous every hour for five days straight; I couldn’t hit my sales goals.

Don put things into perspective, saying it happens and encouraging me to stick with it. Some of the others were glad I wasn’t perfect. My funk allowed someone else to shine while I got a dose of humility.

Outside of calling hours, I went on a few deliveries to meet the people making the donations and attended some Special Olympians in training. This helped me understand the bigger purpose of my efforts.

After that downer of a week, I regained my groove and broke my #1 sales goals. A new inspiration emerged. I asked Don what becoming the national #1 telesales person would take. I remember the sales numbers being within reach. At the five-month mark, I became the #1 telesales person in the country. Outside of that one week, I was able to be #1 at something. It felt great.

Years later, I was told my sales record took years to beat nationally and a few decades locally. Cool, I motivated others to generate more donations to support athletes with intellectual disabilities. They count on salespeople like us to help them change their lives and better their circumstances. Gotta love that.

I learned from that experience that knowing what to say to whom, when to say it, and how to say it for the maximum effect paid off in generating thousands and thousands of dollars to support a great cause. Tailoring my message to fit an audience of Twin Cities residents started with a tailored message, a list, and the ability to pick up the phone and get to those who said yes; each hour of every day with an effective coach by my side worked. I have been motivated by causes and helping others in need ever since.

The experience with the Minnesota Special Olympics gave me the confidence to start the business of mentoring years later and the tenacity to work through the sheer terror of putting my livelihood on the line for a higher mission with WeMentor. That mission is a desire and motivation to change how we lead in this country and worldwide. Leading with unconditional love and harmony in money, relationships, and fulfilling our missions. To lead by role-modeling equality, justice, healthy relating, financial responsibility, and accountability.

Not Knowing Why You Know Something

Before taping my fifth podcast conversation with Skip Thaler, whom I have known for decades, we discussed what topic would be valuable for listeners. It takes a few discussions to get to the gems of wisdom because business owners acquire knowledge as they lead through experience and learn quickly on the spot. As a result, they usually don’t see themselves as experts. What they learn becomes part of who they are and how they become competent at business ownership. They take what they have learned and build upon it over a lifetime.

Skip, and I brainstormed about change as a podcast conversation topic. The kind of change we initiate and the change that is forced upon us, like isolating and adapting our businesses during the coronavirus pandemic. What came out of our planning session was real-life ‘ahas’ for you, the listener, and for Skip. I love when that happens. That is where I get the rewards for bringing value to another. The kind of value that you cannot acquire without another’s insights. He learned something new about himself. A puzzle piece slid in place.

Grounded confidence emerges when we understand what we have done to influence a positive outcome. The great thing about acquiring wisdom is that we can keep learning about ourselves throughout life. Age and stage in life don’t matter for a lifelong learner. You can listen or re-listen to our fifth podcast conversation HERE. 

Humility can emerge from practical intelligence. Ben Chestnut, co-founder (with Dan Kurzius) of Mailchimp, started the email marketing company in 2001. Ben announced that it was time for him to bring in a new CEO for the company. He sold Mailchimp to Intuit (Quickbooks) for $12B in September 2022. I use their email system and love their customer focus.

What I admire about Ben Chestnut is his integrity, transparency, and his humility in how he built his company. Ben grew up in an entrepreneurial home and was raised by a single Mom who ran a hairstyling business. She didn’t identify as an entrepreneur. A practical need shaped her way of life. She needed to support her family and make enough money to pay the bills as a solopreneur. She did this by cutting and styling people’s hair from her home. Her mission wasn’t to change the hair industry. It was to provide for her family.

You grow within your means. Ben and Dan Kurzuis’ vision was to develop Mailchimp by bootstrapping it, a practical approach to growing a business without using outside capital. They have maintained this small business philosophy even as they generated over $800M a year in 2020 for their Atlanta-based company.

The term ‘entrepreneur’ was defined as anyone putting their finances at risk to generate income. The definition has gone beyond the focus solely on capital. Ben is a prime example of financial freedom and notoriety during the advanced years of running a mission-driven and very hands-on Mailchimp business model.  

Ben introduced the new CEO, Rania Succar, through an online 2022 event for customers. Ben explained a little bit about his small business philosophy. For many years he tried writing a business plan. He could never quite finish his business plan because everything would change as they implemented their ideas, so he gave up trying. Instead, he focused on what was working, the act of planning. The act of planning uncovered what the business and his leadership needed to do next.

Ben relayed a story about how he tried to build his business like other corporations. That meant changing the well-recognized chimpanzee logo. Employees said they joined Mailchimp because of the monkey logo and what it represents to so many people; helping the little guy succeed amongst the big guys. Ben agreed and let go of his inadequacy about how they do business.

Their David (Mailchimp) has become Goliath, so they redefined it. No need to conquer Goliath. They can meet the email marketing needs of both David and Goliath. This means staying with small businesses as they grow and evolve into whatever size. The customer focus will remain. This way, the customer doesn’t have to change their email provider as they grow in revenue, which is a pain. They can grow with Mailchimp Intuit indefinitely.

Ben knows Rania Succar, who took over as CEO at the end of 2022. She led Intuit Inc.’s QuickBooks Money team. “Mailchimp is considered the largest sale of a bootstrapped technology company in the nation.” Ben’s practical approach and ability to build an innovative and healthy work culture is the next CEO’s focus too. Ben explained the many reasons why he chose Rania and Intuit and provided examples of how their values are similar.

Rania has that same entrepreneurial spirit and heartfelt mission to better people’s lives with the practical intelligence she acquired through her experiences as an immigrant from Syria and the founder of the nongovernmental organization, Jusoor. 

They have an invested interest in it succeeding, and Ben believes Rania has the skillset needed to lead Mailchimp Intuit for decades or whatever her leadership timeframe. Ben shared his next plans, including using this phase of his life to share his inspirational journey with other small businesses.

Robert Sternberg’s triarchic theory of intelligence helps us understand that an intelligent person is considered to possess all three types of intelligence but also knows when and how to use each of them in our ventures: analytical, practical, and creative. More than anything, appreciate that your practical intelligence has value.

Click HERE to revisit the definitions of Robert Sternberg’s triarchic theory of intelligence. DOWNLOAD

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