HOST

Matt Poepsel, PhD

Vice President & Godfather of Talent Optimization

GUEST

Dave Garrison

CEO, Garrison Growth

Dave Garrison’s factory client was sure workers were leaving for General Electric because the pay was better. So Dave had them run small group sessions and ask what was really going on. People were finding out on Wednesday or Thursday how many hours of Saturday overtime they owed, after they had already promised their kids a ball game or a church picnic. Once leaders posted the schedule two weeks ahead, the problem went away. Dave ran public and venture-backed companies as a CEO and served on the Ameritrade board, and he says most leaders hear “I got a better job,” write a story about money, and never find out what the people who left would have said.

Matt Poepsel sits down with Dave Garrison, Chief Navigation Officer at Garrison Growth and author of The Buy-In Advantage: Why Employees Stop Caring and How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Give Their All, to talk about the polite “okay” that follows a big announcement and what it hides. Dave explains why a team that seems fine may only be compliant, why exit interviews rarely tell the truth, and why debate in meetings wastes time you could spend collecting everyone’s ideas. He also makes the case that AI adoption stalls for the same reason as every other initiative. People were done to, not done with.

What you’ll learn:

  • Compliance Looks Like Buy-In: Teams that say “tell me what you want me to do” will stay mercenaries until leaders meet four needs. People want a purpose beyond money, to be seen as a human being and not a human doing, room to grow, and a voice in how the work gets done.
  • Share the Checklist, Not the Idea: Skip “any questions?” Give your team the criteria that tell you an idea is good, let them brainstorm first, and put your own idea on the board last.
  • Weigh the Ox: Galton’s county fair and a classroom election guess both show how collective genius works. Collect everyone’s input with no debate, give each person four votes, and let the leader go last.
  • Three Is Greater Than Seven: A CEO with twenty ideas leaves managers guessing which one will get asked about. Hold to three until they’re finished and keep the rest on a “next ideas” list.

Highlights:
(0:00) Meet Dave Garrison
(2:23) What happens when you tell a team “this is what we’re going to do?”
(5:34) When to be directive and when to be participative
(11:53) The factory story and the General Electric pay assumption
(14:59) Why giving answers got us promoted and why it’s hard to shake
(16:34) Slowing down to ask questions in a business demanding speed
(21:05) How people are wired and why quieter voices get steamrolled
(23:18) “Three is greater than seven” when you’re the guy with seventeen priorities
(26:15) Leaders who think their people are coin operated
(27:51) Why resistance to AI adoption is a buy-in problem
(31:37) Are You Smarter Than AI?

Resources:
Follow Dave on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-garrison-growth/
Take the free buy-in assessment at garrisongrowth.com
Follow Matt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattpoepsel/
Subscribe to The Predictive Index on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ThePredictiveIndex

Created in partnership with Share Your Genius: shareyourgenius.com

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