Get a glimpse into the life of Todd Porch, the president of Strategus, in our latest Quick Take podcast episode. Todd's journey from toiling in the trenches of corporations such as Yahoo and Comcast to steering the ship at a startup, is nothing short of inspiring. His leadership rituals, particularly his morning mantra, will encourage you to embrace each day as an opportunity to be a better version of yourself. And hey, Todd reminds us that we all battle with imposter syndrome, so remember to approach every day with mindfulness, intentionality, and a dose of vulnerability.
Beyond the hustle and bustle of the business world, we take a moment to discuss the often-overlooked concept of self-care and balance. Todd shares his unique spin on the matter, introducing us to the concept of a "personal board of directors", a group to keep him on track with his goals. We explore the value of understanding what self-care means on an individual level. So, join us in this episode as we uncover the power of making space for thought and reflection amidst our busy lives. Todd's wisdom is a testament to the importance of self-reflection, understanding our vulnerabilities, and the art of continuous learning in leadership. This is an episode brimming with strategies for success you won't want to miss!
CONNECT WITH TODD:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/todd-a-porch-b25aa/
This episode is sponsored by LucidPoint
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We help our customers do so with confidence. Turn your vision into reality, call LucidPoint today!
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CONNECT WITH SUSIE:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/susietomenchok/
CONNECT WITH JAMES:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/capps/
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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Quick Take podcast, the show where you
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get targeted advice and coaching for executives by
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executives.
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I'm Suzy Tomlinchuk.
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Speaker 2: I'm James Capps.
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Give us 15 minutes and we'll give you three secrets to
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address the complex topic of issues that are challenging
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executives like you today.
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Speaker 1: Hey, welcome to Quick Take.
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I'm one of your hosts, suzy Tomlinchuk, along with my
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co-host, james Capps.
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How are you today, james?
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Speaker 2: I am super great.
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Speaker 1: Good, so good to see you.
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We knew that you couldn't bring the whole thing today, so we
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have a friend with us.
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Speaker 2: We needed some firepower.
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We brought some big brains to the show today.
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Speaker 1: That's right.
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So please meet our friend Todd Porch.
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How are you, todd?
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Speaker 3: I'm great.
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Thanks, Suzy.
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Good to see you.
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Good to see you, James.
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Speaker 1: Todd, tell us about yourself.
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Tell us a little.
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Give us a little grounding around your career journey and
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what you do now.
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Speaker 3: Sure, so one thank you guys for inviting me to
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participate.
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What a fun experience, or at least I think it's going to be.
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Speaker 2: I'll figure what it turns out.
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Speaker 3: Suzy.
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I currently serve as the president of Strategist, and
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Strategist is a managed service company that services and
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executes ad campaigns in the connected television space.
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I've done that for about two and a half years.
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Prior to that, I served in a number of different roles at
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Comcast, both domestically and internationally.
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I started my journey in the advertising world at Yahoo in
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1999.
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So I've just aged myself.
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I was at Yahoo for 14 years in some of the very early ups and
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downs and ended my career there when I was poached by Comcast
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and served in some video roles and some company integration
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roles as we purchased new assets , then took a flyer about two
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and a half years ago and moved to effectively a startup, and
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it's been a ton of fun.
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I've learned a lot about myself and about how to run a holistic
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business, not just different divisions within a big
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enterprise.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a real different story there, different
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game all together and interesting that you went from
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basically a larger corporations Comcast, yahoo to now running a
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smaller organization but also being the guy at the top.
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So I'd love to hear some of the things that you do to really
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bring your best to the table and be an effective leader.
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Speaker 3: Gosh, I hope I'm an effective leader.
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I think my folks are pretty look through a pretty critical
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lens.
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They're really honest with me and so, look, I'm great some
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days, but some days I'm not awesome at all, and that
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probably lends to.
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One of my leadership rituals is I wake up every day and look
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myself in the mirror and audibly .
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Literally for the last 30 years , in whatever role that I'm in,
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I look in the mirror and I'm like, hey, porch, don't screw
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this up today.
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That's good, I feel humble to be in the spot that I am in, to be
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trusted and given the reins to run and influence what I'm
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tasked with doing.
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That's a very humbling thing to me, so that typically at the
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beginning of every day, kind of puts me in the right spot Like
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hey, be mindful, be thoughtful, be intentional about what you do
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today, where you spend your time.
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So that would certainly be probably the first one that I
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think about.
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Speaker 2: I really like that.
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I mean actual verbalization.
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Using it out loud is such a great centering technique and
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such a good way of making sure, like you said, you're present
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for the day.
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You know, I think that's great and it's really fascinating.
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You've been doing that for 30 years.
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Speaker 3: Well, what's even more fun is that you know I live
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with four women.
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Speaker 1: Wow, wait, let's not take that out of context.
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That's interesting In and of itself.
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Speaker 3: I mean, none of them are shy with their opinions.
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So you know, over the years, as my kids have gotten older,
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they'll hear me say it Right and they'll poke their head around
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the corner of them.
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They'll be like what are you not going to screw up today?
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Dad, like what is it?
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Or my wife will be like, well, don't do it like you did at the
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last time.
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You know she, uh, she does it.
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Speaker 2: It's always a pain to get rid of her.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.
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So, um, it kind of is a bit of a family joke now that you know,
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but I do it and I and I really mean it, it's, it's uh, it puts
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me in the right, it gets me in the game, I guess, every morning
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, so it's so important.
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Speaker 1: I think people think that leadership is a destination
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and, yeah, this is something everybody says is.
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It really is a journey and it's really great to think and I
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think it's important for people to know a president of a company
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still has to intentionally step into your best self every day
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and and have that vulnerability.
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To me that's, that's a practice of I am vulnerable to just say
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I better be really intentional about how I move into the day.
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I love that.
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Speaker 3: Well, susie, you and I have talked about this, right,
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like the whole, I mean I don't care, I don't care what role
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that you're in and what company like as you grow, you know, as
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you grow and mature and develop and and step into new places,
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you, the imposter syndrome is alive and well, like that is a,
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that is an element that everybody deals with.
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And if you and if they say they don't, I find it hard to
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believe.
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Right, I totally agree, everybody, especially if you're
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responsible for you know revenue or people or culture or you
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know all of these things that you know.
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When you look at them individually, you're like I
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don't know how we're going to do that.
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Like I got to, I got to put the right stable of people around
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that and I got to encourage them and press them and push them
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and prod them and you know and celebrate with them as we do it.
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But without that, without that, you know kind of that entire
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cocktail, that imposter syndrome will chew you up.
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Yeah, totally.
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Speaker 2: Well, totally Well, that's, that's that's a great
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insight.
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What's?
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What's your second ceremony that you do?
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Speaker 3: Probably one of the hardest things for me, just
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given our culture today and all of the inputs and outputs that
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we are responsible for and fighting against slacks and
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emails and text messages and phone calls and zoom calls and
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teams call it like the.
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The time to think, I think, is sorely under index.
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Speaker 1: Oh, so true.
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Speaker 3: So, taking time, taking getting out of the
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routine to think about your business and think about your
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people and think about your customers, and doing it in a
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doing that, in a way or in a place that you don't get
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distracted.
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I think that's something that I've practiced well, probably
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realistically, for four or five years.
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I started doing that when I lived in London, kind of 2016.
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One because I, you know, I needed the time to think because
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I was learning so much, just having moved to a, you know, a
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different market and not knowing anything about it and the
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people and the business process, and so I found myself having to
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, you know, take that time so that I could get my head around
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exactly what I was doing.
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And then I just parlayed that, you know, into kind of my normal
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routine as I got back, you know , to the States three years
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later.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's so important.
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But I do the same thing and I know a lot of execs do and you
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know they have that time carved out for me.
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I found I was doing it before I knew I was doing it.
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Where I found that, hey, I'm oftentimes finding this at our
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where, that, and it gives me so much energy, and it was more of
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a mother of necessity, I think.
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Where I was finding that if I didn't have that or I would, you
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know, craft that hour in the morning and it makes all the
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difference in the world.
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And I remember reading you know most executives do get up early
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and do some of that type of thing I'm like, well, too, you
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say I've been doing that for five years and didn't realize
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how effective it was and how critical it really was until I
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put a name to it.
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But I, you can't get through the day without giving yourself
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some time for that kind of just that pause.
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Speaker 1: But from my perspective, you're putting me
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out of business because people hire me to make that space and I
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can't tell you how many times people will be like so impressed
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by me.
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But they really just need that space to get their thoughts out
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and I can repeat what they're saying and they have these
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ah-has.
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So I absolutely have seen in person, you know that, these,
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these changes.
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So, anyway, I'm not, I'm not being serious, but I think it's
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so powerful but we don't make that space or that time because
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we believe that these other priorities are like this
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busyness sucks us in, like you said.
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Speaker 3: So you have to make it.
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It's the first thing that goes out the window Totally.
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It's what, it's what's sacrificed, right, because when
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your phone, you know when your phone's dinging or you know your
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, your slack is, you know, pinging you and somebody that
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needs you and need you know it.
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It just, it's a just.
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It gets it completely gets prioritized over
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self-preservation time right Totally.
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Yeah, and self-preservation time , you know, turns into strategic
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time.
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Totally Right, and you know that's another thing.
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That I think is you know, first of all, anytime the word
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strategic is used, I try to run the other direction because it
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makes I think it.
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I think it's, you know, people trying to make things more
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important than they are.
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Like, look, we just want to run a good business, we want our
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people to be supported.
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We want, you know, the business to run efficiently.
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We want to drive more revenue.
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Like, don't call it strategic, right, like it's.
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It's what we need to do as leaders.
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Right, it's leadership.
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Leadership so sorry, you got me on the you got me on the box?
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Speaker 1: No, I think that's a good good.
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So what's the third one?
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Speaker 3: I think the word balance is sort of overused
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these days.
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But for balance for me is if I'm working 70 or 80 hours a week
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and I'm not seeing my kids and I'm not seeing my you know, my
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buddies and I'm not spending my time, that balance is really
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important and it's not the time element that we just talked
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about.
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This is, you know, this is for me, it's, you know I'm, I'm
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charged up by people and so I got to get around my people.
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And then those people sure, you know they, you know they serve
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me in different ways.
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I've got, you know, I've got my personal board of directors
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people, and I got my golf buddies, people, and I got my
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Bible study guys, people and those are the folks that if I
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eliminate them from my routine, I tend to get grumpy, grouchy
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and I don't, I don't lead well.
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So those people are batteries for me and just a conversation,
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the engagement, and you know they ask me questions.
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Sure, you know all of them are charged with holding me
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accountable, for you know what I say is important to me.
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Speaker 2: So yeah, that's self care is key.
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I think that that is.
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You know, that's just self care that so often we don't take
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time for, and I love the fact that you created a self care
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space for yourself that's unique and and custom to what you need
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.
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You know people or batteries to you and you've got you know a
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series of battery banks and that's that's really cool to see
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that in action.
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Speaker 3: Well, I mean, it's interesting, Jase, because my
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wife is an introvert and I'm not .
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So you know, oftentimes, well you know, I'm going one way and
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she's going the other.
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She's getting away from people and that's what charges up her
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about it.
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And just knowing that about one another allows, gives us
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freedom to go, do what we need to do, and and there's not
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resentment in that right.
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So I'll be like hey, I've made dinner reservations with so and
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so like I'm not going, that sucks my battery dry.
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Versus me is like hey, I got to go because I got to, I got to
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get charged it up, so it's good.
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Speaker 1: I think a great question, then, is really to say
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what charges your batteries outside of whatever that is to
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honor you and making sure that you make the space for that.
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I think that's so important.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I love it.
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I think that's, that's really the key right there.
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Take a moment to really understand what those, what that
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self care is for you, because it is each everybody.
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Speaker 1: So I'm going to challenge James, because James
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always is able to take the three and sum it up.
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So what are the three that Todd just said?
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James, can you?
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Speaker 2: bring it back.
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My lizard brain was already doing the summary there, so I
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was not as surprised as I think you know.
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The first one I which I really loved was you know, take time
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for yourself.
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You know, get yourself ready for the day, and I think he does
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it in two really fun ways.
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One is you know, put some time aside to think and really know,
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bring yourself to presence and just allow yourself to step away
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from all the distractions.
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I love the other one too center yourself this, don't screw the
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soft porch.
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I love that T-shirt we're gonna sell those in the merch room
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here a little bit and just that mantra, that recognition, that
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reminder of the importance you play, but also the humility and
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humbleness that go along with that.
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And then, obviously, the third one is do self-care.
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We talk about that a lot on the show and I think people again
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need to be reminded that you are your best tool in that regard,
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and so I love it.
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Focusing on the self-care is huge, great stuff, tom.
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Speaker 3: Awesome yeah, you guys are awesome.
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It's fun to talk with you guys.
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I wish we were doing it like we used to every day in the
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hallway.
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Now we get to do it online, but it's fun to be with you guys
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and can't thank you enough for having me.
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Speaker 1: Well, tell people how do they find you?
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Porch, as your friends call you , so they can all call you that.
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How do they find you?
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Speaker 3: Yeah, porch is.
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Look, my mother called me Todd when I was in trouble, so porch
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is.
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I'm a last name guy.
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I wish I ran a summer camp.
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That would be my dream.
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Anyway, we can go to that at a different time.
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Speaker 2: You can get me a seat .
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It's porchporchcom.
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Speaker 3: It's porchporchcom S-T-R-A-T-E-G-U-S.
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Okay, dot com.
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Speaker 1: Awesome, and you can also find him on LinkedIn, as
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you can find James and I, and feel free to reach out.
00:16:02
We all love to connect and love to hear what's on your mind,
00:16:07
and if we wanna understand that, next episode with porch, we
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will bring him back.
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Speaker 2: so let us know the summer camp, porch summer camp.
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I love it.
00:16:19
Speaker 1: That's right, so thanks for being here.
00:16:21
If you know somebody that would benefit from the wisdom of
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porch, feel free to forward this episode onto them, but as we
00:16:31
really appreciate our quicksters right, james, we love our
00:16:34
quicksters.
00:16:34
Speaker 2: That's right.
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We love hearing from you guys.
00:16:36
Thank you so much for all your feedback.
00:16:38
Speaker 1: Thanks for being here and we appreciate you.
00:16:41
Thanks for listening to this week's episode of Quick Take,
00:16:44
where we talk about the questions that are on the minds
00:16:46
of executives everywhere.
00:16:46
Connect with us and share what's on your mind.
00:16:51
Speaker 2: You can find us on LinkedIn, youtube or whatever
00:16:53
nerdy place on the internet you find your podcasts.
00:16:54
All the links you really did are in the show notes.