Personality and the Slowest Common Denominator

Business Brain, episode 734 for Wednesday, March 11th, World Plumbing Day, 2026.

Greetings folks and welcome to Business Brain, a show where we take some ideas, we crunch

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here in Durham, New Hampshire, I'm Dave Hamilton and I'm out here in Northern California,

Shannon Jean, how's it going man?

It goes, when I saw that it was World Plumbing Day I decided that was an important thing

to highlight.

Well, you know, we talk and this is not a Friday AI episode but AI is impacting our businesses

whether we're choosing to use it or not it's impacting our businesses because our competition

and our vendors and our customers are potentially, they have the option to use it too just

like we do and so in the knowledge work business our lives are going to change more because

of AI than in the work with your hands business.

We have this conversation where I kind of, I even said I'm like, wait a minute, there's

not too distant future world that could exist where my most valuable skill is that I can

play the drums like, you know, I don't, like the other things that I do may not be as

relevant anymore.

And World Plumbing Day celebrates yet another skill that will remain valuable.

I think there's a world where plumbers can use AI and all those things of course to manage

your business.

Yes, yes, yes.

But like the core product of business is that service, right?

And so that doesn't change as much as say, it does for, you know, like what you and I

do and those sorts of things.

So I was interesting.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I, you know, I was, this is a segue but there is stick with me here.

There's a thread.

I just got back from Arizona.

My wife's a baseball fanatic and so we went down and watched a giant industry training

or something.

Spring training.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And while I was down there, of course, we're at the stadium, it's a little smaller stadium,

right?

80,000 people instead of like 50,000 or whatever it is.

And yeah, it was cool.

And there's guys walking around selling stuff, right?

Yeah.

Food, popcorn, whatever.

Candy beer.

Okay.

And it was one guy.

I'm, you know, I'm a student of anything related to selling.

I was, I was at, I'm going to, I'm not going to interrupt your story.

Yeah.

I'm not going to derail your story.

I am interrupting.

I was at a, like a food and crafts fair this weekend and I had the same thought.

I'm like, if Shannon were here, he'd be doing the same thing I am, which is like evaluating

how these people are doing.

They're like, one guy said, you know, Lisa, my wife asked about like a thing or whatever

an earring and and he's like, oh, well, this shape, we're getting rid of that shape.

So we've discounted those.

I'm like, maybe don't say it that way.

Yeah.

Maybe he's saying.

And he's like, right.

He's like limited stock.

I'm like, see exactly.

Right.

These are very exclusive, very special because we're not going to make it anymore.

We're not making anymore.

Right.

This is your last opportunity.

Creating skills.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I'm watching, you know, these sellers, I'm checking out there and there's one guy

that it's like, he can't sell the beer fast enough.

He's like, pop, pop, pop, pop, and everybody and I was like, what?

So his, he comes closer to me.

I hear him and he says, ice cold beer colder than my ex girlfriend.

Ice cold beer, I'm one of the promotion free delivery.

You know, all these little things and people are laughing and then, you know, I just

was like, dude, this guy and everybody was buying from this guy and there was other

vendors and everything else.

And I just, I just, you know, in my head, it's, you need to have your personality in

your business.

Yes.

Not yours, your team members.

And I can remember, now they're not really like this anymore, unfortunately, but like

Southwest, you used to go on and all the, you know, the crew members, they'd be joking

around.

Sometimes that somebody would sing, sometimes this kind of thing, it was, it was crazy.

And people loved it, just like this guy.

And it got me thinking about you should have parts of your personality in your, in your

company, whether you have a sense of humor or whether you're people, maybe there's something

funny with your company name, maybe, I don't know, maybe you have a mascot that's kind

of funny or you, you know, you bring your dogs to work or whatever.

Yeah.

That is such an unfair advantage if you can get comfortable interjecting your personality

in your business or parts of your person.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We send out, I've talked about it on the show, how we are become, you know, more persistent

in our pestiness.

We're friendly pests here.

Back to me.

And it's working really well.

This week, South by Southwest starts and then also at the same time in Austin, next

to South by Southwest is podcast movement evolutions.

I don't like this at all because it means I have to attend two conferences at the same

time because I actually go to South by Southwest.

And they're literally happening like at the same time, for me, it's a logistical disaster.

But whatever, it's fine.

My daughter works for us.

She lives in Italy.

She is not coming to this particular conference just for a variety of logistics reasons.

And so, but she's the one handling most of our friendly pest outreach.

And last week, she said, you know, I know people are going to be at South by and also podcast

movement.

And so I'm going to take a week off or I'm thinking of taking a week off.

What do you think about that?

And I'm like, that's cool.

She says, I think so for next week, meaning this week, she's going to say, hey, I'm not

going to be in your inbox next week, have fun at whatever.

Oh, that's cool.

And I was like, yeah, wait, wait, wait, we have an opportunity here.

All of these people are going to podcast movement without South by Southwest tickets.

And they're going to know that all these things are happening around them that they can't

go to because they don't have a very expensive South by Southwest badge.

I said, but I have an unfair advantage.

I go to South by every year and every year, there are all kinds of like ancillary free

to the public events that you wouldn't know are happening if you're not immersed in

the thing where you don't, yeah, you don't live in Austin like you need you, if you were

just attending from some other town for a conference next door to South by you would

miss the opportunity that you could do all these things that are literally within walking

distance of your thing.

Okay, so let's both look, but I'll take all on this one like, you know, if you find

anything great, but I'm going to find them four things, actually, I said I'm going to find

them three and I we want to find four and it was like, great, here's things that the

whole focus of the email isn't going to be on anything other than here's four things

you can do for free in Austin without a South by Southwest badge.

And I guarantee people are going to love it.

Oh, and we're also telling them we found three coffee shops near the event space for

for the podcast movement thing because coffee shops are great little like semi-private

meeting, you know, you break where you go to meeting, I the one that I prefer we did

not put in the mail art, we sent them the other two, no, well, you know, who knows it?

The people I've invited to meetings know it.

And so the ones who are meeting with me, I'm like, oh, yeah, well, that's for you.

That's extra.

Yeah, like you get the bonus because we're meeting and now you can use this to stop my

coffee job.

Right.

Right.

And it's such an added value as well.

Right.

And just and that's what we're talking about here is you're adding value with humor.

If you're a baseball like selling beer, adding value with scarcity, right?

At the, at the, the, the crafts fair, adding value with a helpful tip about free music, selling

doesn't start at the, at the end of the transaction.

Like selling is not about when the money changes hands, it's about the beginning of the transaction.

Yeah.

Every time.

All that added value, the law of reciprocity, doing nice things for getting, getting people

to smile, getting into laugh at things, getting them to connect with you like, man, that plumbering

company, I went to their website, yada, yada, yada, like, and I hit, took the link because

like one of the things that was just me crazy, you go to some website, some service company,

they say, oh, yeah, contact us.

You fill out the form, crickets, you get nothing.

Right.

And so I don't even do anymore.

I said, well, they don't, they don't read it.

But what an amazing thing to have it be like, boom, your phone ring, like, yes, instantly,

like hold on, we're calling you right now.

Yeah.

And it would, it would totally get my attention.

I had, I had to have some trees taken out over the, over the weekend, because we came

back on Friday night.

Sure.

And I texted a guy on Saturday who, I got a referral, I wanted to try somebody new.

I texted him at, at noon, and I said, hey, I got these trees, I want to get taken

out.

And he goes, his answer was, I can be there at two.

That's right.

I can be there at two.

And I said, great.

I'll see you then.

And he came.

He gave me the quote.

I said, yeah, let's do it.

And I said, when can you start?

And he goes.

Half an hour.

Perfect.

And I was like, dude, this is amazing.

So we had another crew.

He goes, I won't be here, but I'm going to get these crews started.

And by Sunday at five o'clock, they had these three massive trees taken out of my yard.

Yep.

You didn't get three quotes because you didn't have, you didn't need to.

Oh, time to.

You didn't have time too.

That's right.

And I was just like, this is the kind of service I want.

I don't want to think about it for a week and have two different people come out and

give me all this stuff.

It's like, okay, that's a good deal.

And you know, if you get a little bit, if you can't think about it, if it's not immediately

obvious to you how you could upgrade your selling in your business with, with these

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So we had a conversation pre-show and I don't remember what question you asked me that

got me there.

I don't know.

But you made a comment, the phrase that I really liked and so I was like, we have to talk

about that on the show.

And that phrase was the slowest common denominator of the lowest.

Oh, yes.

Right.

And I wondered, we were talking about bands and different things like that and performance

in general.

And I wanted to ask you, is it something that you correlated to being in a band?

Is it simple?

Do you think it's similar in a company with your team is the output of the entire group

or the department limited by the slowest common denominator, the person who set, do they

set the pace for everything else?

Well, in a band they do, and I would venture to say in a business partnership they can

to in a company like whatever it is on a team, like a band is a team.

That maybe that's right.

QuickBooks.

Right.

What's interesting in my life anyway about bands and what is unique is that I wind up

in scenarios where I'm not always with the same people all the time.

There are there are bands that I play them where it's like a band, but then I still

in you do other things.

Well, or there's or there's a project created for a specific show like we're going to go

see like a theater show is a great example, but that there's others too where it's like,

okay, there's going to be this run of performances and we've assembled this group of musicians

and actors and the director and like the whole team, right?

And but specifically with the musicians, what I notice is like, okay, we're all coming

in.

Some of us might know each other, some of us might have played together in different

permutations.

It's possible this whole exact, you know, configuration is played together, but a lot

of times it's, okay, well, there's this is a new, you know, arrangement of humans, but

we can all play like that's the assumption is everybody can have.

But being able to hang is not all that is important because usually the music is not something

everybody knows.

So you got to come in and like you got to learn the music.

So there's the first rehearsal that happens.

And what I notice at that rehearsal and I do this and I'm not necessarily proud that

I do this by the way, but it's just human nature that I notice everybody does it.

And I've had, we've had conversations about it, especially is, you know, you start to

learn people and, you know, we come and develop trust and all those things is that what

I'm doing at that first rehearsal is looking to see who the least prepared person is.

And the primary reason I'm looking for that is to make sure it's not me, right?

Because there's never enough time like this is a new thing.

You're trying to squeeze it in within all the other things you do and that's what everybody's

doing.

So it's like you make a, you make a judgment call like you look at the body of the book

or the body of music and you're like, all right, if I just practice that on my own twice

through, I think I'm good or maybe once through or sometimes you look at it and you're like,

I can hang on this.

I'm just going to, like, I'm going to show up and, and site read it like, make sure you

make a decision based on what you know about you, right?

Yeah.

And then you find out if that was the right decision or not that first rehearsal.

And what I'm looking at is, okay, if it's me, like as much as I don't like to be the

least prepared one, I actually kind of love it because it drives me to like accelerate

past everybody because I know I got a, I'm not the only one that noticed I'm the least

prepared one.

Yeah.

Of course.

You know, like, so I got to show up at rehearsal number two is everybody kind of gets

to pass at rehearsal number one, ish, but rehearsal number two, you got to come in

knowing your stuff.

And so it's like, all right, great.

I'm going to be the best prepared one at that.

And I love having that fuel, that drive, right, that, that it's internal pressure, but

it's also external pressure, even though it's not stated, nobody says anything because

everybody going to give their repass.

But when I notice that I'm not the least prepared one, I do less between the first and second

rehearsals because it's like, well, that guy, I know that guy.

I know that that he's not going to, he's not going to prepare anymore.

Like, this is just how it's going to prepare 5% more.

And okay, that's it.

And it does.

It brings that's where that phrase, slowest common denominator came from it, brings everybody

down.

So, you know, because you have to, you're, you're, you're not going to be better, you're

not going to be remarkably better as a unit than your worst player.

And there's, I mean, some arguments to be made there, but in general, that person's

going to, going to limit on the low end what you can do.

Yeah.

So, that's, that's my question to you, the audience, everybody, if that concept can, you

know, tracks over to business, how do you address that?

Because as a manager, supervisor, owner, it's going to drive you nuts, right?

Are you constantly weaving out the, this, you know, slowest common denominator?

Or is it your, like I would say, if you have to fire somebody, it's ultimately the fault

of management.

You hired the wrong, hired the wrong person or didn't train them correctly.

That's right.

So, I take accountability for everybody I've, ever had to let go and it, and it's horrible.

It sucks.

To this, to this day, yeah, I feel like a failure when I have to let somebody go.

Correct.

And so, how do you, you know, boost that up to where, I don't know, can you make it competitive,

can you gamify it to where, you know, it's like, hey, you, I, I've, that's the beauty

of it.

You know, in the, in the music thing, right, that beauty is like, okay, this is this short

run.

Like maybe, and a short run could be one show, it could be, you know, 30 shows of a theater

room.

But at the end of that, there is no, uh, implied obligation on either side, right?

So it's over.

It's, we've, we finished the thing for better and for worse, right?

You know, all the things that happen, it's the last day of everybody's crying, it's fine.

But then, like the next day, you're on to something else that you've probably already booked,

right?

Like, you know, right.

And so, if there's somebody that you've decided is holding the team back and you probably

give them a second chance, like, you know, maybe, whatever, sure.

Once you make that decision, you just don't, it's easy because you're never fired back.

You're just not inviting them back.

So it's a way easier thing than taking this, you know, when you hire somebody at your company

or you, you know, you form a business and partnership and all that stuff, you're like,

your, your wagon is hitched with this indefiniteness.

And even if I deploy you, whatever, yeah, you've got, yeah, that's, it's indefinite.

Even though it's at will, it's indefinitely at will, right?

And that's the, and even if you join, like if I join a band, it, that, that's the same

indefiniteness.

Like once you go through the process and you're like, all right, yeah, this is going to work.

Right.

We're a band now.

Okay.

Well, now you realize, except, you know, it would be better if we didn't have, and, and

yes.

But the thing is you always have that.

There's always going to be something about your partners or employees or, or boss or

whatever that is imperfect because none of us, it turns out, are perfect, right?

So you, you accept these things and, and, and, and to some degree, that's necessary and

healthy and helpful.

But you can wind up looking back and being like, I think I maybe made a mistake in accepting

that too long, like, yeah, and the, and the, the person on the team that is the slowest

common denominator.

Yes.

And if you've given them every opportunity and the resources they need and I, I would,

and I've been here, you know, talking to this person, be like, hey, what do you, what,

what do you need to, you know, do better?

What do you need to get things done faster?

What do you need to achieve more and, and especially keep up with the rest of the team?

What do you need?

And try to make sure they have all the tools because if you just assume they're flaky

or lazy or whatever, that's a huge mistake because often, and, and I get, I still get

this, you know, after all these years, they may have misinterpreted something that I

thought was so clear to, you know, sometimes it's just a bad, bad fit, like they're not

a bad person.

And sometimes a bad fit.

No.

And maybe shifting them.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Could be that shifting them to another department or maybe another group if you're trying to

achieve things.

Yeah.

Or just like, you know what?

Like, there are people that are just awesome worker bees and get stuff done.

And I have much respect because we, we, we need a lot of these people.

Yes.

But they're not the people.

Yeah.

Yeah.

They're not the people that are going to go home and be thinking about your business.

Nope.

No matter how difficult that is for your entrepreneurial brain to grasp on Saturday afternoon or, or Wednesday

night at eight o'clock, you may be the only person thinking about your business.

And so, yeah, so maybe you have to just live with some of it.

And then, but if they're holding things back and there is no other place to put them.

And the challenge is oftentimes you don't know when do you know, you don't know until

it's too late.

No.

I don't know until it's too late.

Okay.

So that's my question for everybody there.

Everybody there.

Yeah.

I point like you're everybody out there.

Everybody out there.

Tell us.

Yeah.

I need, I need to get better at this and identifying those things sooner.

So feedback at BusinessBrain.co.

Let us know.

And we'll be here for you.

Yeah.

We absolutely do.

And like he said, feedback at BusinessBrain.co.

We know that was me.

But go to BusinessBrain.co slash review, please and review us as well.

We would love that.

Thanks for hanging out.

We'll see you on Friday.

Keep living this show in life between now and then.

Yeah.