Scaling Without Selling Your Soul: The No-BS Guide to Culture-Driven GTM

Earl Foot, founder and CEO of Nexus IT Consultants, shares his nearly 30-year journey of scaling a business with heart, soul, and a zero-BS culture. He challenges the modern "churn and burn" startup mentality, advocating instead for a values-aligned, purpose-driven approach where leadership models the exact behavior they expect. A core philosophy at Nexus is simple but profound: fulfilled, happy employees create happy clients, which inevitably leads to healthy, sustainable revenue. A standout topic is Earl's stance on work-life balance, which he considers a complete fallacy. Instead, he champions "counterbalancing"—using disciplined time-blocking to prioritize what truly matters, whether that's family, faith, or fitness, without compromising the realities of professional obligations. He also points out that employee burnout is rarely just about the sheer number of hours worked; it's almost always a symptom of fundamental misalignment with the company's mission and values. For GTM leaders, Earl emphasizes the harsh reality of sales: closers must also be hunters. To avoid the "cycle of death" in pipeline generation, reps must prospect continuously. When hiring, he highlights absolute ownership and a growth mindset as non-negotiable traits. As the market compresses and shifts away from growth-at-all-costs models, Earl argues that companies delivering real value and aligning their culture with their community are the ones poised to thrive.

Discussed in this episode

• Building a values-aligned, purpose-driven organization is the secret to sustaining nearly three decades of steady business growth.
• Culture is defined as leadership behavior at scale, meaning executives are never exempt from modeling expected actions.
• Fulfilled and rewarded employees directly create a world-class client experience, which in turn drives healthy organizational revenue.
• Work-life balance is a fallacy; professionals should focus on the discipline of counterbalancing and ruthless time-blocking.
• Employee burnout is almost always a sign of fundamental misalignment with the organization's purpose, rather than just overworking.
• Sales professionals must accept the reality of their role by maintaining the discipline to continuously prospect even while closing deals.
• Leaders must exhibit self-mastery and emotional regulation because teams subconsciously mirror their confidence, presence, and anxiety.
• The ideal hire demonstrates absolute ownership over their responsibilities and possesses a strong, continuous growth mindset.

Episode highlights

1. 0:00 — Welcome and introducing Earl Foot
2. 1:45 — Three decades of values-driven scaling
3. 3:50 — Culture is leadership behavior at scale
4. 6:20 — Correcting early organizational cultural mistakes
5. 10:15 — Why work-life balance is a complete fallacy
6. 12:30 — Counterbalancing and prioritizing through time-blocking
7. 17:40 — Burnout as a symptom of cultural misalignment
8. 20:50 — The reality of GTM: Always be prospecting
9. 24:10 — Leading from the front and self-mastery
10. 27:45 — The market shift toward value-aligned companies
11. 30:30 — Hiring for absolute ownership and growth mindset

Key takeaways

• Burnout is a symptom of fundamental misalignment, not just long working hours.
• Culture is simply leadership behavior scaled throughout the entire organization.
• Replace the myth of work-life balance with the discipline of counterbalancing.
• GTM success requires relentless prospecting, even when your pipeline is full.
• Hire candidates who demonstrate absolute ownership and a continuous growth mindset.

Transcript

Welcome back to another episode of the Bridge the Gap podcast powered by you guessed it, Revenue Reimagined. Today's guest is Earl Foot, founder and CEO of Nexus IT Consultants, host of the Tech Beat podcast, and someone who's been running a values driven GTM operation longer than most people have been in SAS. Earl scaled Nexus from a solo consultancy into one of the top manage IT and cyber security providers in the country, which is super cool, but he's best known for how he leads. Character, conviction, and my favorite, zero tolerance for BS.

What are you in for today? A master class and what happens when you don't compromise and why that is actually a go-to market strategy. Earl, welcome to the show, man. Yeah, thanks Adam and Dell.

such a pleasure to be here with you guys. I really appreciate the invitation. I mean, with me, not with him, but let let's be real. Hey.

You did the best part of the show. Now we can just end you part of some show just did the intro. Have fun. I can see Earl taking his guitar out and like shrimming to uh to that that walk on music.

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. There you go. Adam, you're uh yeah, you're quite the spinster there.

I mean, I appreciate the uh the kind intro but it's probably uh you know, you're you're you're that's a tall order to live up to there. I I I I spent about five years in radio. If if I could do one thing, it's an intro. Um I I often say if we could uh just record podcasts all day long and do nothing else, I'd be a very happy person.

Unfortunately, we can't do that. You have to work for a living. Come on, Dale, kick the show off, man. Yeah.

So, um so impressive. The the first part of the the show, we'd like to talk about scaling the business without selling your soul. It's kind of like where we where we leave that. And so, you've been running Nexus for over two decades.

Um that's really rare in this day and age, like you see a lot of people coming in and out of things. What keeps you in it and what keeps the business growing as you're going in it, especially through these different times through you know, all these AI business-driven type things? Yeah, very good questions uh there, Dale. Um, you know, uh you're right.

I mean, you know, there there's entrepreneurship has taken on kind of the what I call the um the churn and burn, you know, sort of uh model where it's a three to five year, you know, let's start something up, let's get a, you know, zero to ten million and let's sell it, right? Um and I don't discount that in any way. In fact, I I I I uh I deeply understand kind of the um the pros of that model and um you know, having some time off. I'd have a I have plenty of friends, right, that have been been in B2B SAS or other types of ventures, you know, consumer goods and that kind of stuff.

And you know, that like taking off one, two or three years in between, you know, re you know, regenerating yourself because we all know like, you know, uh you know, building a business is a serious commitment, right? And having that time off in between, you know, to kind of regenerate, um get clear again, come back with some fresh ideas, you know, and then solve some new problems. Uh my I I I totally, you know, see the the the value in doing that sort of model. Um I have been a long hauler and in fact, you know, Dale 27 years actually this September it will be.

So, almost three decades. Almost three decades. Crazy. Almost three.

Started at the age of 23. Um and uh yeah, you know, we we we've been deeply committed from the beginning to build a business um with what we call heart and soul, right? Um values aligned, purpose-driven, you know, mission-driven type of organization. Um and and that's, you know, really been a a big part of our secret to success.

Um is you know, our team believes in what we're doing because we have a mission that's larger than some of our parts, right? And that mission specifically is to elevate IT. Uh and when we say that, we mean it, you know, of course, first and foremost for our clients, like we we're committed to a world-class experience, you know, for them across the board. Um in order to create that world-class experience, the predominant sort of formula I've used over the past nearly three decades is that rewarded, fulfilled, happy people create happy clients and happy clients create healthy revenue, right?

Um and so, you know, we as leaders in this organization and we understand and know that, you know, that culture is leadership behavior at scale throughout the organization. So, you know, top-level leadership starts by modeling, you know, the type of behavior that we want and the culture that we want within this organization. We are not exceptions and that's a, you know, I see that error very often. And I'm not going to be critical, you know, but often times in executive roles, you know, we feel like we've earned a bit of a pass on, you know, some of the the, you know, the the intricacies of day-to-day, you know, interactions and duties.

Um and we here at Nexus don't believe that. Like we believe that we set the tone, um and we set the bar. And so, uh, you know, we're here to set that stage of, you know, uh what we're building and why we're building it and the type of environment we want to create. So we talk about Adam, did you hear that?

You you actually should be doing some work too, not just barking orders. I I I listen, I'm of Yes, agreed. Yeah. I was gonna say something that you would have been able to misinterpret, so we're not gonna do that.

We we talk about gentlemen, quickly. Um just quickly. We talk about building an environment where people can do the best work of their career here. And and because, you know, our team believes in, you know, in providing that environment to each other and then really providing a world-class experience to our clients and building something extraordinary.

You know, we're aiming for the stars. Top ten MSP, MSSP nationwide for regulated industries, that's what we're aiming for. And the team's aligned, the team shows up, right? They take care of our clients, they're aligned to grow, you know, grow themselves while while we're growing the business, which is not easy.

You know, when you're when you're growing at a quick pace, everybody in the organization has to grow professionally and personally at a at a commensur clip or we don't keep up with the growth curve, right? Anyway, sorry to interrupt. Yeah, no, I I love what you were saying when you when you talk about like making sure the people inside the organization of Nexus are actually taking care of first because they're taking care of your customers. And those customers then generate revenue for the organization.

And I think sometimes there's a disconnect on especially in executive team, we need more customers to generate the revenue, but then they forget about the people that are actually servicing the servicing the clients that are generating the revenue. So I I just love that that perspective that you guys are running on. I I I I may have I may have written it down. And if Adam writes it down, he's probably gonna write a post about it.

So look for a post later on. All right, all right. Well, Adam, I'm gonna take notes I guess. I I I I I always I always look for the one the one nugget.

Yeah. I I love that. I I think I think it's missed way too often and it actually starts very early. So as you said, you've been running almost three decades now and it's obvious if it comes from the top that that's going to be the culture that you're driving through the organization.

Um so I was curious early on as you guys as you started building your organization, you started as a solopreneur. Um what were some of those early decisions that you made that now still are impacted on how you run things today? Like what are like one or two things that you did early on to say like, yes, people are important but what in that people management side did you do early? Um yeah, really good and and uh I would say Dell early on, you know, I I wasn't nearly as adept at uh understanding, of course, how to operate a business, but then really how to build, you know, really constructive, productive cultures.

I was 23, right? And I didn't study business. I studied civil engineering. Started my my career studying architecture, pivoted into civil engineering, then pivoted into technology, right?

Um and uh but there was always something that was just, you know, um core to my own personal kind of, you know, way to show up and and believe in people. Um and that's just it. I mean, at my at my core, I'm a humanitarian, right? At my core, I believe in the you know, in uh in humankind, our ability to be able to show up and do extraordinary things, our ability to grow and evolve, right?

And I I always, you know, from the very beginning when we started, you know, hiring teams because my brother and I started the business together. Um we're not in business together anymore, um as of 2012, but we started the business together um in 1998 and we were the first two employees, but then, you know, over the the first 12 to 18 months started to hire some, you know, some additional employees and and we just we looked from the beginning for people that got what we were doing, that wanted to be involved, you know, and aligned with purpose, not just wanted to show up and punch a clock, right? And, you know, whose core values um fit the the the DNA of the organization, the core values that we use to, you know, to um determine how we show up and behave within the organization. You know, we looked for people that that was, you know, that was just aligned with their inherent, you know, kind of uh personality.

Um and we wanted to have a good time because building a business, you know, uh at times can be it can be rough, right? Um it can be very fun, it can be very rewarding. Um and there's those times where it gets a little bit challenging, right? Um maybe not a little bit, it can get really challenging.

And so, you know, having people who are like, you know, who don't um uh who don't get psyched out very easily, who want to show up and have fun, who want to have a positive attitude despite whatever challenges you're trying to solve, right? Um we always look for that stuff from the beginning and then we just continue to build on it. And I I I will, you know, I'm I'll be the first to admit, I've made several cultural, you know, cultural errors throughout my my tenure in nearly three decades as a as a, you know, founder CEO, you know, uh early stages, you know, too being too kind of bro culture, too, you know, um too lenient, you know. You and your brother, you and your brother, there's no HR.

Yeah, exactly, right? Um you know, and a bunch of twenty year old, you know, twenty something year old, you know, techy guys, right? Um uh, you know, it was a very different sort of environment, but that we didn't set the bar well enough, right? And then I overcorrected and kind of, you know, I thought I had to go from being the very lenient likable boss to the asshole boss, right?

And that that wasn't the right move either. I ultimately found, you know, I have to find the happy medium of, you know, we have to set the bar of excellence within the organization and set expectations very high and and make those very clear in terms of what we measure, why we measure it, what, you know, what our purpose is behind that. Um and then of course, you know, looking for the people who want to perform that naturally because, um, you know, you always want to be helping people stretch and grow, but if, you know, if they're 30% the way there to, you know, to where you want them to be, you're not going to get them there. You know, if they're 70 or 80% the the way there, then you're going to be able to coach those people and and, you know, stretch them to continually, um, achieve new heights, right?

Um so, anyways, that's, you know, kind of, you know, some of the methodology that we've we've used. Um and I wouldn't say that we're, you know, we have it absolutely perfected today. We're we're pretty damn good at what we do. Our chief people officer, you know, this is his deep expertise is, you know, how to build um high-performing, you know, uh constructive cultures.

Um and so he's uh he's been a game changer for us over the last four or five years since he's been involved in the organization as well. And it's still stuff that we're assessing, you know, on a uh on a weekly, monthly basis, you know, as an executive team, even, you know, we anonymously poll our team at minimum quarterly, um to get their feedback on what's working and what's not, right? What's what's empowering their success, what is uh undermining their success, right? And and so we're constantly assessing and then and then tweaking, you know, what needs to be changed so that we can improve the experience for our people and thereby improve the experience for our clients.

So let's let's talk about HR and people and culture. And there's this myth of uh work-life balance. And you you have made a public comment, um that work-life balance is a fallacy. Yeah.

Unpack that for me a little bit. Yeah, I I think Yeah, cuz I'm trying to still figure it out and I tell you and me both, so. Please please tell him like what the real deal is. Yeah.

Obviously that that title Adam is a you know, it's clickbait, right? But um yeah, absolutely. It it got some pretty angry responses, I can tell you. Um, you know, uh but overall, I mean, I I think that um particularly in leadership chairs, we have to recognize we know what we signed up for.

Like, you know, rarely is that a 40-hour week, right? More often than not, it's going to be a 50 60, you know, in really demanding industries, a 70 or 80 hours a week, right? That's that's pretty norm. So so Dell shouldn't only be working 20 hours a week.

No, no. Unless you, you know, I know you can. Just validation. Just validation here.

Um Earl, I just like AI do the rest of it. There you go. It's just fine. It's like it's like 60.

If if you can send me that, you know, whatever it is, the agenda AI that like, you know, can replace you. I mean, I'd love that. Um anyways, um man, I totally got lost. What was the question Adam?

Work work work work-life balance. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. being a fallacy. We were talking about how as a founder you might have to work 50, 60, 70 hours depending on the industry.

Yeah. So, um Gary Keller who built Keller William, excuse me, Keller Williams real estate, in his book the one thing, which I think is a fantastic book. Um, you know, really the power of hyper focusing, which has been another one of the things that's been you know, part of our success at Nexus. Um he talks about do away with the concept of work-life balance and think of it in terms of counterbalancing, right?

I I do believe that, you know, predominantly in in today's work society, um granted, I believe that we we required and asked too much of people for a long time. Like when we were asking asking frontline contributors to consistently work 60 hour weeks or 70 hour weeks, like that's not fair, right? It's it's not fair and it's not sustainable, um and, you know, people are you're going to burn them out. And so, again, I think we're pendulum overcorrecting to, you know, work-life balance means that I get to work anywhere, when I want, how I want, and the hours I want, which is about 10 hours a week, but I want to get paid for 50.

Um and a commensurate comp package. And that just isn't reality, right? Um that, you know, a business in order to be able to be financially sustainable, has to have people that produce, you know, at minimum a 40 hour work week, right? And a quality 40 hour work week.

And so, um, you know, yeah in Gary Keller's, you know, uh book there. He talks about, you know, time blocking and just making sure that like, you're, you know, define your roles, what's important to you in life. What do you want to do? Like, you know, fitness, family, some people faith or, you know, whatever your spirituality, right?

I'm a Yogi. Um, you know, meditation, yoga are a big part of my life, breath work, you know, uh chanting, which, you know, people that's a little off, you know, kind of kind of funky, but I I enjoy chanting quite a bit. Um, so, you know, you got to just find those things that are like, what are really important to me? And I'm going to be very disciplined about, you know, making sure I set aside time for those things and I'm going to flex.

And sometimes that means, you know, uh we as, you know, leaders or founders, um, you know, we may have to decide our work hours outside of normal, you know, um, nine to eight to five, nine to five work hours. Particularly when my kids were younger, they're all grown up and adults now. Um, but when they were younger, you know, they played competitive sports, particularly, uh, competitive soccer. And I even coached like their rec soccer, you know, uh, leagues during the winter and stuff like that.

And so there were often days I'd have to be, you know, I'd have to, uh, you know, head out of the office at 2:30 or 3:00 p.m., pick them up from school, take them to their soccer games, right? Um, and then I'd, you know, come, you know, we'd get dinner and all that kind of stuff and then I'd come home and I'd work another three or four hours, you know, into into the evening.

So just time blocking and figuring out, you know, where does the things that are important to me fit in? And I'm going to take a disciplined approach about making sure that I stick to that, you know, that that sort of um scenario. I think, you know, for me, that's what creates work-life balance. Um, is understanding, you know, how to manage your schedule and your priorities, um, and counterbalancing those with each other.

Um, you know, the expectation that I can work 10 hours a week and get paid for 50, that isn't, you know, it's not realistic and and, you know, there are a few people in a few industries that have figured that out. Kudos to them, right? In services, like you have to show up for 40 hours a week and take care of the client. That's just a reality, right?

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com. I like the counterbalance part. Um, I think that makes a lot of sense. I think the enabling to be in a place where you can do the things that you want and like to do.

Um, there's a there's a saying like um, my wife says this to me all the time because I'm like, oh, I have to go do this. She's like, no, you want to go do this, right? There's that subtle that subtle like transition part of from I have to to I want to. Um back to, you know, deep breathing, meditation, chanting, that kind of stuff.

From a mindset perspective, brings people into a place of like not feeling like this is a task, is more of like what you enjoy doing. And I think that's the other part of it. Like when you get to a place, do you really need life work-life balance if you are enjoying and doing what you like and enjoy to do? Because if you if you are doing that and you find people in your organization back to the first question on culture, if you find people that have that same passion in the place that you're going, it's gonna feel less like work and you're not gonna have to convince them of this counterbalance that you're gonna have to to run in the in the organization.

Yeah. Aligning people around the purpose and again that being inherent to them, you know, it it totally, you know, um, for some people they they want to work 50 hours, right? Because they feel aligned, they feel fulfilled, they feel like they're doing something meaningful and impactful. And particularly, you know, in a services industry, again, with engineers, most engineers are motivated by making impact, you know, uh to a whole that is larger than themselves, right?

That's a, you know, like when you do all those strength finders tests, you know, uh, you know, disk or what whatever, you know, methodology you use, um, engineers predominantly want to be part of a team that makes an impact that is larger than some of its parts, right? Um, uh, you know, sales people in order, of course, this is a go-to market podcast, you know, most, you know, sales people are coin operated, right? They are transaction, you know, get the win, get the hit, get the commission, yeah. Um, you know, but that isn't the way that engineers think, right?

Um, you know, and granted there's those who kind of are the hybrid, you know, but engineers predominantly, they want to show up with purpose and do something impactful and meaningful. And if they feel aligned, you know, um, many are willing to put in that 45 or 50 hours a week a week without, you know, um, without feeling like they're they're being abused or, you know, without it, uh, burning them out. Um, Yeah, so burnout generally is a sign of misalignment is what it is. Like, you know, and that's one of the things that we've really, you know, learned over the years is if somebody's not aligned, you don't want them to be part of the organization.

They're an energy drain. They're like if they're burnt out because they're misaligned, they're sucking energy from the rest of the organism, right? Um and that that becomes toxic over time. And so, you know, hiring for and then managing to alignment, um and everybody being, you know, part of the part of the vibe you're creating together is one of those secrets to creating a a thriving organization in my opinion.

I love that. Burnout is a sign of misalignment. Yeah, I like that a lot as well. What um, along those lines, so like work-life balance, needing to work real hours, um, what are GTM leaders doing kind of what I'll say cowtowing to this a little bit that they just need to stop apologizing for and like get with the program.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, first and foremost, like if if you're in a sales role, the expectation is production. Like that is your reality. And and I predominantly what what happens within business where people uh are unhappy or, you know, they're they're they don't feel fulfilled or they're not hitting the mark, you know, it comes down to a cognitive dissonance, right?

Like if you're in a sales role and and don't believe that you don't have to show up and like, you know, do everything you can every single day to, you know, produce leads because, you know, not all marketing or not all SDR BDR teams are going to be able to fill your funnel all the time. So if you're if you're a closer, you probably've got to be a hunter as well, right? You've got to be prospecting, you've got to be, you know, getting out there and you know, um uh connecting with your network and all that kind of stuff, right? So, in a sales role, you you just have to connect with the reality of the role.

Like, I have to show up, I have to produce leads, I have to work those leads, you know, in a in a disciplined manner, um, I need to close, you know, and I have a quota to hit, and while I'm working those deals, I have to continue to prospect because we all know that that cycle of death that, you know, reps get on where, you know, they prospect, they fill their funnel, they close a whole bunch of stuff, you know, and they have this big win and then it's this huge fall because they didn't prospect while they were working all the deals and now they've got a quarter or two to try to, you know, get back on track. And most of them are going to get fired, you know, uh from missing a quarter or two, right? Before they ever are able to fill their funnel again. And so, that discipline.

In fact, I think it's um Jeb Blunt, uh Fanatical Prospecting, you know, Um that's a fantastic book. That's, you know, like everybody in our GTM team, that's like that's the Bible when you join us. Here's your Bible. Study it, know it, live it, right?

Um and so I think if you're in a in a go-to market role and you're just not connected to that reality of like my job is to help grow the organization, um so that, you know, there there is financial well-being within the organization that allows us to be able to service our people and to service our clients the way we want to, then you're disconnected from the reality of of the role and the career and you probably need to get out of it, right? My opinion. Yeah. Well said.

Very well said. Yeah. So, let's let's shift gears a little bit. So, leading for the front even when it's lonely is like a big thing.

So, um you've built strong community presence, you know, from podcasting which I I is a is amazing because I think many founders or CEOs they have like this challenge with like podcasting to being on board seats. But leading from the front does have a cost. So what does that look like for you? Like what is that what is that cost Earl in that all that work?

Yeah, that's a that's a good question, Dell. Um, it it is a, I would say, a mindful commitment to wake up every day and committed to to showing up as the best version of yourself that you can for that day, right? And some days that looks like you're a total rock star. Some days it looks like you want to close the door to your office and and curl up in the fetal position, right?

Like, um, you know, that's just the truth. Like, us founders, you know, building a business is a mental and psychological and emotional roller coaster. Um, you know, I it being the the Yogi that I am, I focus a lot on self-mastery, right? I focus on on emotional regulation, um, you know, but that doesn't mean that I'm I'm perfect at it, right?

And and there are most certainly, you know, those days where you're thriving, where you're in your in your groove, right? And, you know, you're really feeling like you command, you know, that that the chair that you're sitting in and things are going really well. And there are days where you feel like the chair is way too big for you, right? Um and, uh, you still got to figure out how to show up and lead.

You got to, you know, show how to figure out how to get centered, how to help the team feel your presence because that can't be underestimated. Leadership presence when when the team feels uh, you know, uh like the the the core leaders, you know, particular CEO, but then, you know, um, the executive team, when they feel like there is a lack of confidence, a lack of surety or trust in the team or the mission and what you're building together, you know, subconsciously, we we pick up on all this stuff. The team picks up on it. When a leader doesn't show up with presence, mastery and command, you you can bet that that team is going to have challenges, right?

Um there's going to be So I I I I I want to pause you and I'm sorry, but that is the truest thing that I mean, you've said you've dropped a lot of things that I'm going to steal and repost and give you credit for, but if you as a leader, shush. If you as a leader don't have the mastery, how can you possibly lead, coach. I talk about culture of coaching a lot. Coach and guide someone.

Now, does that mean that I'm going to be able to do a better cold call than a BDR? Absolutely not. They do it a million times a day. But if I'm going to coach on it, should I be a should I have mastered the principles, the basics, the fundamentals, the format to be able to give them intellible insights?

Absolutely. And I think that applies to all aspects of of everything that you're leading. I I say often, you know, when engineers, um, we'll try to provide, you know, guidance on selling and guidance is one thing, but they'll try to like, oh, you need to sell this way. Like, I don't know how to code.

I've never been trained in how to code. You do not want me telling you how to go build your product. Like I'm not skilled for that. You wouldn't want me coming to your team to do that.

It it's the flip, right? You have to earn that cred and have that cred. So I very much appreciate that you called that out. Yep.

Yeah. Yeah, and it it, you know, having confidence in in the function that you're leading, right? Um the knowledge, the background is important, but it's more than that. It's having confidence in yourself, in the team, you know, trust in that team because gentlemen, I think that we're seeing the greatest shift in the market, in the working environment of the market that's ever happened, right?

Um ever. Yeah. At least in, you know, recent history that we know of over the last several several years, right? You know, post-covid, post-Gen AI, right?

Um the workplace is is evolving and changing. And I believe the human race is evolving and changing, right? Um we're looking to do to do business in a different way. And people who are not realigning their businesses right now are struggling.

You know, your traditional B2B SAS businesses that are not becoming very value aligned, um, they're struggling and you're seeing it all over, right? Fire cells from VCs, you know, down rounds that are happening, you know, um, you know, massive layoffs and that kind of stuff. I mean, we have, you know, unfortunately, several those stories here in Utah, you know, that B2B SAS that became unicorns and over the past couple of years, you know, had to strip down, you know, to a quarter of their team size, you know, some of them have, you know, um, sold off their their massive office buildings, moved out of state or gone fully remote. Um, we're we're going through a compression, you know, stage in the in the in the market.

And what I'm observing is companies who are not delivering real value are struggling. Companies who know how to do deliver real value for their clients and their people and if they can to a broader mission of the community are thriving, right? And that for me is is part of this, you know, the the formula to success right now is you got to show up and do real stuff that helps people, right? That helps your client, that helps your your your employees.

And if you're not, you know, if you're just showing up for, you know, the the financial metrics, uh, you know, and and, you know, boosting the EBIDA and shareholder returns, candidly, you know, you're you're misaligned and people pick up on it right now. Clients pick up on it, employees pick up on it, they don't want to be involved with it, right? It's time to get values aligned in my opinion. Couldn't couldn't agree more.

Let's um let's shift gears a little bit. We uh we're we're running up on time, which is always not fun. Um, we're going to go a little rapid fire. Sure.

Ten ten words or less is the goal. I say that because Dell struggles to do anything in 50 words or less. Um, but we're going to try here. What's one leadership quote that you actually live by?

And it isn't just a quote, you live by it. Um, man, you did put me on the spot on that one. Um, pass. Let's see.

Um I I know there there's one, but I'm uh you know, I'm just I'm drawing a blank guys. Like literally pass. Let's go to the next one. That's okay.

Who's who's a leader most people overlook but should deeply respect? Um, yeah, I mean, it's hard to say it, but I I think just in terms of somebody who has figured out how to disrupt, regardless of how they do it or not, you know, is Elon Musk, right? Whether you like the guy or you hate him. He's very polarizing, right?

Um, but, you know, has he has he disrupted, has he shifted realities, you know, for the market and for, you know, um, modern the modern world? Absolutely. So, I would say that's a that's somebody who I think's been underestimated and who's had a a an impact that, you know, it's far deeper than any of us really understands. What's uh what's one trait you look for that always signals a strong higher?

Hm. A a personal commitment to ownership and growth. Like, um, in my opinion, in business, you do not thrive unless people uh hold themselves to a high bar of we it's one of our core values, absolute ownership. Like if you've accepted a position and the duties of that position and the deliverables of the position, it is yours to deliver on, right?

And if if you're not going to deliver on it, then you're not in the right chair. Um, you know, uh nobody wants to micromanage, right? And nobody wants to be micromanaged. So, um, we look for people who have a track record of showing up with absolute ownership who say, look, you know, this role, I know what, you know, what's in my purview and I I will give it my best.

It doesn't mean that I'm going to, you know, I'm going to um always hit the mark 100%. But if I'm not hitting the mark 100%, I'm working with my manager, my supervisor, my leader, whoever on, you know, on rectifying that and how I'm going to get there for the next, you know, measured period, whatever that, you know, week, month, you know, quarter, whatever it is. Um and I'm being proactive at owning where I have gaps, right? Uh and growing as an individual.

I look for growth mindset as the other piece to that, right? That is part of, you know, our organization, one of our other core values is growth mindset. And if you particularly, you know, in a high growth organization, if you hire people with fixed mindsets, you're constantly going to be churning those people. If you hire people with growth mindsets who want to learn and grow and, you know, and challenge themselves to do it at a significant pace so they can keep up with the business's growth, fantastic.

If not, they're not going to work out. Agreed. Last one as we wrapped this one up. What's your favorite That wasn't great.

No, that's okay, that's okay. What's your favorite uh, song to play on guitar and can you riff it for us here? Uh, Um, I mean, I got an acoustic back there. Uh, I'm more a bassist, actually.

Um, so, um, what's my favorite song? I I really like um, come together by the Beatles, you know, I I like that baseline. Um, you know, of course, I'm I'm a 90's kid, you know, so I grew up listening to the Flea, you know, from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Les Claypool from Primus, who, you know, are like bass gods, you know, and then there's guys like Victor Wooten and all those guys out there. Um, I can't play like those guys.

I, you know, I'm I'm uh I'm not that talented, but um, yeah, come together's great. A great great baseline. I really I've always enjoyed playing it. Yeah.

Love it. Love it. Good song. Earl, thank you so much for joining us on Bridge the Gap.

Where can people go learn about Nexus? Yeah, uh, NexusITC.net or look us up on, you know, social media, uh, NexusIT. Um, thanks guys.

It's been a lot of fun. I appreciate the the time. Likewise, cheers. Thank you.

Yeah.