Creating Us - A podcast for Texas Tech University System & beyond
A learning and development podcast focused on bringing the Texas Tech University System Values Based Culture to life.
Creating Us - A podcast for Texas Tech University System & beyond
The Leader Fast Lane - Episode 25 - with Billy Breedlove, Vice Chancellor for Facilities Planning & Construction at the Texas Tech University System
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In this episode, I talk with Billy Breedlove, Vice Chancellor for Facilities Planning & Construction at the Texas Tech University System, to explore the leadership principles that have shaped his 35-year career. Billy shares why he believes servant leadership, trust, and strong relationships are the foundation of high-performing teams, explains the difference between pursuing success and pursuing significance, and reflects on the lasting influence of mentors, family, and character in developing leaders who leave an enduring impact.
Hello, and welcome to the Leader Fast Lane, the podcast where accomplished leaders from higher education, public service, and beyond share real stories, practical principles, and hard-earned lessons listeners can incorporate in their everyday work. No buzzwords, no shortcuts, just real leaders sharing real lessons you can apply right away. I'm Lane Mears, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Leader in Culture Development at the Texas Tech University System. Today I am joined by Billy Breedlove, Vice Chancellor for Facilities Planning and Construction for the Texas Tech System, having been appointed to this role in August of 2018. In this role, Breedlove manages a team of 20 professionals and oversees all capital improvement projects greater than $4 million at the Texas Tech System and its five institutions. He first joined the Texas Tech System in 2010, serving as the Associate Vice Chancellor of Operations, Risk Management, and Quality Assurance. In that role, Breedlove managed the contracting process, provided quality assurance reviews during project development phases, offered support for quality control inspections, and promoted job safety and health and warranty management. All this while maintaining the facilities planning and construction design and building standards for all TTU system projects. Billy brings more than 35 years of experience to this position, following more than 12 years in the fire protection industry and more than 13 years managing agricultural processing facilities. In addition to his role at the Texas Tech System, he serves on the board of directors for the Carillon Senior Living Center. A Lubbock native and graduate of Texas Tech University, Billy earned a bachelor's degree in construction engineering technology in 1986. He and his wife Amy have two children, Ben, a Texas Tech graduate, who now resides at Inks Lake with his wife Brooke and their daughter Blair and son Blake, and Will, a Texas Tech graduate who resides in Lubbock. It's great to have you on the podcast, Billy.
SPEAKER_00Lane, thanks for having me. I appreciate it. I've listened to some of the past podcasts and really get inspired by some of the leaders you've had on. So I'm just honored to be here.
SPEAKER_02I appreciate it. I look forward to our conversation. As we begin, could you share a little bit about your background and leadership journey?
SPEAKER_00Sure. So majority of my life I have lived here in Lubbock. I was born and raised here and uh graduated, like you said, from TechStech University in the College of Engineering. And then I went to work with my dad. And my dad had a fire protection sprinkler system. And um I had grown up working in his shop starting at age 15, couldn't even drive yet. He threw me in the car and took me as soon as summer started. And so I spent eight to five every day working with him, which was some of the greatest times of my life. And so I worked for him for about 12 years, had an offer to move over into the ag industry and cottonseed processing. I did a lot of HR safety, environmental, and then kind of worked my way up the ladder there. Moved to Greenwood, Mississippi, and spent nine years of my life over there running the Mid-South division for that cottonseed processing plant. Um, they moved me back and then I um came over to the Texas Tech um facilities planning construction for the system and been here ever since. So it's been a great career. Um, wouldn't change anything, ups and downs and twists and turns. And if you had asked me 30 years ago if I'd been sitting here doing this working for Texas Tech, I'd have probably said no, no way. But uh it's been a great, great um career for me. You know, my wife and I have been married for 38 years and uh met at tech. And so it's a very special place for me to work. Both my kids, like you said, graduated from here. So getting to come back and serve not only the community, but also the university that I graduated from and now the system is just amazing. So uh wouldn't change anything.
SPEAKER_02I love to hear it. Thank you. All right, as we begin, I'm gonna I'm gonna I've got a series of questions on a few different themes that will guide our conversation, but I want to dive a little bit more into your leader formation experiences. Uh, you began your career in the private sector, as you've said, before moving to higher ed. Looking back, what leadership lessons have stayed with you throughout every stage of your career?
SPEAKER_00You know, it's it's kind of interesting because um my career, we didn't have books to read on leadership and seminars to go through or conferences to go to. And so, you know, generally I had to learn by watching others, and and that goes back all the way to coaches that I had uh growing up and how they led. And then, and then, you know, like I said, going to work for my father right off the bat. And, you know, I've I've had the chance to work on on, like you said, on the private and the public side. And so I I get to gain a little bit of knowledge um knowing that, you know, the private industry works different from the public industry, but it doesn't really matter what industry you're in or what sector you're in, because you have to have great leadership if you want to be successful. And so having been able to work on both sides of that has just been really great for me. And and like I said, I've my career, I've crossed paths with lots of great leaders and tried to pick up what they did and copy what they did. And then I've also had some real bad leaders that I said, I don't want to do that. So um just my early career, like I said, starting with my dad and getting to watch him was was great. And so um just I think for anybody out there, no matter what sector you're in or what organization you're in, whether it's PTA or working on a board of directors for anybody, there's great leaders and you've just got to garner everything that you can from them.
SPEAKER_02Yep. And and often, like you've said, you can learn a lot from poor leaders that you've experienced as well, what not to do. Was there a leader early in your career that that shaped how you lead today?
SPEAKER_00You know, early in my career, probably two. One was again, my father, who, like I said, I started at age 15 riding in the car with him to go work in his shop, where I welded and uh threaded and cut pipe and painted pipe and actually went out in the field and got to work and put pipe in the air. And so that's where I first started seeing construction sites and and kind of being wow by what's going on out there and kind of got my interest. So I got to watch him, and you know, what I learned from my dad, you know, I had him as a father, but now I had him at a boss. And so even after I graduated college and went to work for him, what I got to see was the business side of him and how he handled business. I got to see the integrity that he led with, I got to see how he treated people, and that just stuck with me, you know, because I knew him as a father and now as a boss. And, you know, really there wasn't a whole lot of difference between the two. You know, he led at home just like he led at work. And so I always wanted to emulate him. And, you know, he was my guy and the guy that I wanted to be like. And so that was my first. And then my second, when I got into the cotton seed industry, um, I had an old paratrooper and uh his name was Wayne Martin, and he was tough. And I mean, he was old school, he had grown up in that business, been in that business, and he didn't beat around the bush. But one thing that I learned from him was you know, he let you know what his expectations were. There was no gray area. And when he asked you to do something, he expected you to get it done. And if you did those things, he rewarded you and he let you know that you had done a good job. And so two different spectrums. One was my dad, the other one was the old paratrooper that was really, really tough. And I learned from that. And I learned that, you know, setting expectations and and letting folks know what they need to do to be successful in that company, if you do them, you're rewarded. So I got to see two two great leaders. And then uh later in my career, of course, Chancellor Mitchell with his servant leadership was very inspiring to me.
SPEAKER_02Well, I appreciate your mentioning the paratrooper um and and his being tough. And and I think implicit in that, what you've said is that tough leaders can be really good leaders. I think about when I was in law school in Houston many years ago, my favorite professor was one that was incredibly tough. A few of the students left his classroom in tears because they showed up unprepared, but you knew what the expectations were, and if you didn't meet them, there were going to be consequences. And there was there was some security in that, and it was a learning process. He wanted us to appreciate the gravity of the career we were entering into as lawyers. Um, and it sounds like the the paratrooper um had had a similar impact on you that you can be tough. Clarity is kindness, uh, and just you know, do do what you're expected and there will be rewards.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there was, you know, one story. He I went over there at age 36. And so he sent me over to um an operation that lost probably 15 million dollars the year before. And of course, I had the corporate support, but I was the only one that went. And he said, go turn it around. And so I went over there, not knowing one person in this town and never been there before. And so I moved over there, and one of the first things that um happened was I lost a very large piece of equipment and I could repair it for $20,000 or I could replace it for $200,000. And so I called him and I said, Hey, Wayne, what do you want me to do? Here is $20,000 versus $200,000. And I'll never forget, he said, that sounds like a management decision to me, and hung up the phone. So as I sat there as a, you know, a very young person getting ready to spend a large amount of money, you know, I thought to myself, you know, that's the way he built uh trust back and forth. He trusted me to make the right decision. And he put me over there to be a leader and a manager, and he pretty much said, go do it. And so, uh, end of story, I I bought the $200,000 earbox. I didn't get fired for spending that much money, and we got up and running. But it was a very valuable lesson for me. It inspired me because he had that confidence in me to make the right decision. And if I'd have gone the other way, he'd have probably said the same thing. So um, really great lesson in life that I learned from him.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, because that was not an inconsequential decision. That's a lot of money.
SPEAKER_00Very big.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Wow, what a what a what a feeling of empowerment. I'm sure there was some trepidation, you know, but but but the empowerment that you experienced is powerful.
SPEAKER_00It was great, though. Yeah. Yeah, great lesson learned for me.
SPEAKER_02Good, good. All right. Well, next theme we're gonna dive into is called building more than buildings. Um you're the vice chancellor of facilities, planning, and construction. And one might think your job is about construction. I suspect it's maybe more about people. How do you describe what you really do?
SPEAKER_00That that is such a great title, uh, Building More Than Buildings. And I use it all the time. You know, um, we are here to design and build projects, but it's much more than that. Um, you know, any I always say anybody can build a building. And, you know, that's true. There's lots of people that can build buildings, but you know, ours is all about relationships here. Um, I have to have great partners, and that means designers, contractors, people in my office. I have to have great people that work for me. And if you cannot build those relationships with them, which is what we do, we build buildings, but we build relationships along the way. It takes a very large group of people with lots of expertise to do what we do. And so I'm in the relationship business and I'm in the business of inspiring my employees so they can get the job done. I'm in the business of giving them the tools that they need to be successful because I cannot be successful if they're not going to be successful. So really I am a um I'm a galvanizer, which uh I'm a uh I can cheer you on and and build the team, but I've got to have the relationships out there. And I'm I'm constantly telling our team that we have to get out and we have to be on the doors of these folks and ask them to please, you know, be interested in our projects and in our processes and want to be partners with us. So um not everybody comes to us. We're actually going out and trying to build those relationships. So without those, I'm no good. Or our team's no good.
SPEAKER_02Yep. Good. Have you ever had to make an unpopular facilities decision but done it because it was the right long-term decision?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, every day. You know, we we deal with lots of budgets, we deal, um, and and when we bring a team in to start thinking about what does this building look like? There's a lot of wants and there are a lot of needs. But as we go through the process and we have to cut square footage or tell them no, you can't have that in your building, that gets kind of tough. But, you know, I think it's all about trust, and I think it's all about um people letting us do what we do best. And, you know, our my my team, I always talk to my team about success versus significance. And and the way the world views our business is always based on budget and schedules. Did they come in under budget? Did they make their schedule? And that's very, very important in what we do. But to me, it goes further than that. It's the significance of it. Um, yeah, we can build it on timely and budget, but when we walk away from that project, did we provide um significance in our value and what that building's gonna do for the next 80 to 100 years? You know, we have buildings standing up here over 100 years old. And if we just build it with nothing in mind but just getting the job done, it's not gonna be successful for a long, long time. And so I guess it's in my stage of my life and my career, but I really look more at not trying to be successful, but being significant in the process and our delivery of what we're doing. So significance was my word of the year for two years, it's not this year, but my team's probably tired of hearing about significance. But I just think it's very valuable that we leave something more than just a building when we get finished.
SPEAKER_02Well, connecting to that why is powerful because as like with your team, with my work, I'm sure with anybody listening, their work can feel tedious and uh monotonous at times. But if you've got that why, that significance and how what you're doing every day fits in with that big picture, that that's motivating and keeps you on track.
SPEAKER_00It is. And, you know, we try to talk about the the things that motivate us on a project, whether it's an athletics project or a cancer center or a design village of all these different things. You know, what I try to instill in everyone is think about the impact that this building's gonna provide for decades and decades to come. And so I want them to be invested in that and to think bigger than a budget and a schedule and to deliver something that's extra special and something that gets the wow factor. The greatest, the greatest compliment you can have when you finish a project is for a president or a dean or a provost or a faculty member to say, wow, this is exactly what I wanted, or wow, I had no idea this was going to turn out this great. So that's kind of the cherry on top when we get finished.
SPEAKER_02Well, one one follow-up question in this theme. You mentioned your primary job is relationships. And, you know, in the Texas Tech system, we've got five universities, different cultures, uh, different personalities driving those. How are you able to develop productive relationships across those different contexts?
SPEAKER_00That's a tough one because we do deal with everyone, like you mentioned. Um, from the end user, you know, we deal with the CFOs on costs, we deal with the board of regents on getting approvals, the presidents are involved, everybody. Um, and so, you know, I think I think what, you know, everybody's got an expectation of what that project's gonna do. If we spend $100 million or more on a project, um, they think in their mind what they're gonna get on that. And so the expectations have to be set early. And I think that's all just communication and collaboration. I'm very, very transparent and I try to be transparent with leadership to let them know exactly where we are in the process and where and what's happening. I had a meeting this morning with one of the presidents and just said, hey, we had to cut some square footage to meet the budget. So being open and transparent is way, it's it's just very um good business sense to let them know what's going to be delivered in the end. But no, there are so many players in a in a project and so many people. If you sat in a programming meeting on one of our projects, there might be 20 or 30 people in there throwing out ideas and things that they need and the things that they want for a project. So to narrow that down, you need great leadership from not only the component university, but also from our office and others to say this is all we can afford, but this is the best building that we can give you, and it meets all your needs. So, yeah, it's collaboration, communication, transparency, probably.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And I suspect, and I know I know that that transparency, that frankness early on about maybe a shift in some expectations on what the deliverable can be, while maybe painful to hear, prevents a lot of problems down the road if it comes to light when things are not adjustable.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, sometimes uh, like I said, tough decisions to cut square footage, or you know, the even the tougher ones are when you have to go back and ask for more money and you have to show them. But you know, in in my role, um like I said, being very transparent and having the trust of our leadership is big. And um, you know, like I said, I'm very I'm I'm very open, very honest about where we are in the process and what we're trying to do. So yeah, it's tough sometimes, but I think they know that I'm gonna serve them well and I'm gonna give them everything I can for the buck. And that's what I tell them, I want to get the most I can uh from the dollar and put it in that building because you know, we have donors involved. And you know, donors start looking at what you're building and what it looks like, you know, sure they have input in that because they're giving an investment to that building. And so again, they have to have a little trust and faith in me and my team to deliver what we can at the best way that we can.
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna move to the next topic, but the first question is in line with the discussion we've just had. The topic is leadership through complexity. So, as you've talked about, you oversee projects that involve architects, engineers, contractors, university presidents, faculty, donors, students, governing boards. How do you build alignment among such a varied group of stakeholders who often have competing priorities?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, buildings are getting more complex. And the you if you look at the 20 to 25 buildings and projects that we have going on raw right now, it's very, very complex. And, you know, we have when you when you look at the process and the involvement and what goes through from taking a a design from just concept keys and handing that building over, there is a lot of folks involved. Um, it's like an orchestra, and everybody's playing a special part in that. And so I think what you know, I think what I try to do is let the experts be that the experts and let them um lead where they can lead and design where they can design and build where they can build and pick good partners. So um the secret to our success is getting good partners, and not every project fits every partner. And so to find the partner that fits what we're trying to accomplish. Um and then alignment, and that's getting everybody in alignment. I love for when we start a project for the president or the dean or someone to share their vision of this project. And I think that starts our whole team off on the right foot. I do that all the time, bring the dean in and say, hey, share what we're trying to accomplish here. And it works. I think, you know, when when the the people that are participating in the project and the people that are going to produce a project, when they hear that vision, it goes a long way. That's not Billy Breedlow's vision, that's a vision of the university and the component and the people that are going to be in that building for a long time. So I think that's where you have to start because they are very, very complex from start to finish. Sure.
SPEAKER_02Well, that's powerful because if the if you've got the dean or the president setting that vision, then then that's a that's a guide for the feedback that you get and and for some of the problems that may arise that can pair, you know, match back up with that vision.
SPEAKER_00Right. It's it's not my vision. It's not my team's vision. We when we get a document that tells us what they want to do and what they want to build, we have to take that and then create what we're trying to. Do one of the, you know, one of the projects that we're working on right now, I had a donor come in, give a very large gift, and share kind of their vision and what they wanted. And it really kind of inspired and really kind of got us off on the right foot to go, okay, this guy's making a very large investment. This is what he wants the end result to be like, and this is why and his why. And that starts us off on the right path. Yeah. It sets the agenda from everybody.
SPEAKER_02So when projects inevitably, the size of the projects that you that you're you and your team are doing, inevitably there are going to be some that encounter delays or unexpected problems. What distinguishes leaders who create confidence in the midst of that chaos from those who create anxiety on their teams?
SPEAKER_00Yes. So my wife calls me the fireman because, you know, overnight, through the weekends or every day, um, we come in and you can forget having a to-do list most of the time because um every day we come in and there's issues that come up. And there's lots of things that we can't control. We can't control whether tariffs or taxes or wars or COVID or things like that. And you have to be very adaptive. And you can, if you let, if you let this business get to you, it can cause a lot of anxiety. And so, you know, what I try to do is I try to be very stable and I try to, when things come up, be a sounding board and just show everyone that it's going to be okay. You know, we have lots of smart people in this office and our partners too. And we have lots of experience that we can rely on. And I think, you know, whether it's the younger folks in our office or even the seasoned ones too, they look to us to be steady, calm, and make a good decision. Um, so that's what I try to do is I might be, you know, I always tell everybody, you might think that I'm look like a duck sitting on the water, but I'm paddling as fast as I can underneath to try to keep things going in the right directions. But I think it's it also is a true test of your character, also in how you handle situations, um, how you handle the anxious moments and then in what you rely on, you know, and fall back on to make the decisions moving forward. So again, that's just experience and and really circling the wagons and using the brain power that you have to say, what do we do? Because I am not a man on an island here. It is what are we gonna do as a team?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, one of the one of the themes that I I come back to often in the in this podcast series is that the actions, emotions, and behaviors of leaders is is infectious. And if if a leader is, like you've said, steady and calm and can bring perspective while pushing toward a goal, that permeates the team. And the flip side is is also true that if a leader panics, flies off the handle, then that type of behavior is is infectious as well. So uh I love to hear that that's um that's a mark of your leadership, is that steadiness, while you may be, you know, churning the water underneath, um, displaying that that calm exterior is not a facade. It is it's a it's a confidence in your team. It's a uh a confidence that things will get done, but it's it's also you know, trying to guide the team to that same mindset.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think it's you know, slow to speak, slow to anger, and it's okay to go. Let me think about that, and I'll get back to you on that situation. But we do it all the time in here when things come up is we just kind of circle up, huddle up, and just say, okay, well, how are we going to handle this situation? Because like I said, every project, if you think about it, you know, we're stretched all over the state of Texas, and we have so many things that can impact our schedule, so many things that can impact um getting materials to the job site. Um, we have safety issues sometimes, or structural issues sometimes. And it's really, you know, the thing that I always fall back on is who do I need in the room right now?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Who do I need to go get that can help me get through this and um and then communicate that to the rest of the team and and communicate it up uh apply to, you know, things like things that really affect you know campuses or whatever, you just gotta report it and just say, hey, we've got an issue here, but we're handling that issue and and um come up with some good ideas. But anyway, it it's just circling yourself with with good people and good saturds. I have people in here in my office that are, you know, kind of my inner circle type people that it's you know, if I'm in a dilemma, there's you know, I bring them into the room and I say, okay, here's what I'm up against. What do you think? Am I making the right decision? And I have some of those folks that are saying, yeah, I don't think that's the right decision. I think you think about this or think about that. And so I'm not sitting up here, you know, trying to be the know-all. I have to get people in here to think about what am I getting ready to do and is it a good hire? You know, and that's with hiring people. I'll bounce it off the folks in my office, and you know, you know, what do you think about this person or this situation or anything? So surround yourself with great people. It's a big key people you can trust.
SPEAKER_02Well, you mentioned character, that is our next topic. And so um what character quality do you most value in people that you hire?
SPEAKER_00First of all, when I hire, I don't settle. You know, I try to pick the best people that I can to put in here. Um, and I I tell my team a lot of times when there's an opening in our department that you know, we might have to work a little bit harder to take on that position until we find the right person, but I'm not gonna hire anybody until I feel like they're the right person. But, you know, really my big three is character, humility, and relationships. When I start talking about the character of a person, when I bring them in here, um, because they have to fit the character of what we're trying to do here. You know, I hire and I evaluate, I do all my employee evaluations. I always have something in there on servant leadership and something in there on the shared values for the system. And so I lay those things out to folks that I'm I'm interviewing is saying, here's here's the way we operate, servant leadership. Here's the five values. I want you to think about those. I want to talk about those values. And so that tells me enough about their character. I want people um with humility. You know, I think um great leaders have humility involved in that um, you know, we're here to serve others. And so you've got to be humble. And people have to be able to build relationships. We talked about this in the very beginning is that not only in my office, but you have to build relationships with all of our partners, people on the job site, and people all the way upstairs to the third floor of our building. Um, that's a big part of that. So that's kind of the the things that I look for, and that's kind of the big three that I search for.
SPEAKER_02A follow-up question on that. And I I I love that and I appreciate it. And I frankly, I see it in the people that work in your office. How do you discern that in the process of interviewing and hiring people, whether they whether they authentically carry character, humility, and relationship building?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, um, again, in talking through servant leadership, you know, how do you how would you define servant leadership? So it was a great question to ask um somebody that you're interviewing. Um, but you know, references are one thing, but just seeing kind of where they worked in the past. I can I can look at your resume, which I did when you first came, and I could see that just the type of work that you've done and the the how you poured out your heart into what here's a guy with a law degree, and and he's out there doing this type of mission work tells me enough about your character. But I think it's just getting to know the person. I don't generally hire anybody right off the bat. I'll interview two or three times, maybe call back. And then, like I said earlier, I'll have other people in my office visit with these people to see if they're seeing the same things that I have. But yeah, you can get fooled at times. Um, but I think just in the con my my interviews are basically just a conversation.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Talk about things and we talk about, you know, integrity and we talk about the five values of what we're trying to do. And pretty much you can kind of tell if it's if they're true to that by how they answer. But it's very important. I'm not gonna say I'm 100%. Sure. I've been fooled.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yep, yep. Well, that that's something that that just makes me think. When I was interviewing for this position 15 months ago, Steve Soslin, the vice chancellor for our office at the time, would have his first call was this culture fit call, where he I was in Jordan. We we set up a time to talk, and it was just shooting the breeze for 15, 20 minutes. It was him asking those types of questions. What am I reading? I don't know if you mentioned servant leadership, but uh it's clear that his intent was to understand what the the values and way I worked and operated and lived fit with the the culture of the team. And uh I really appreciated that. Uh, and it was like the launching pad into the formal interview process. And um, so no, I think it's a good practice that I think we've tried to incorporate here in uh since even since Steve has left.
SPEAKER_00And you can, you know, a lot of people don't put it on their their um material or their CVs. They don't put, you know, what do you do for fun or what are other affiliates or outside of work, what do you do? And that's other questions that you can ask is what do you, you know, what do you do in your spare time, or do you volunteer anywhere or do anything like that? So um it's um it's it's a tough process, but I take my time doing it and um make sure that we get the right folks when we bring them on. And I'm very transparent with them. I, you know, I tell them you cannot work on this team without following the five values and the servant leadership values because you know what I try to tell our team and when I'm hiring these folks is that, you know, we do have five values, and those five values don't stop at the sweet door, and those five five values don't stop at this building. Those five values go out onto the job site. And I want you to have those values when you're dealing with anybody else working on that job site, whether it's the contractors, subcontractors, the men in the field, and I want them to realize that that's there's no exception to that. Yeah, that's the way we hire.
SPEAKER_02Well, and I alluded to this a few a couple of minutes ago, but I I've gotten to know several folks on your team um over the past year, and I'm really impressed with everybody on the team. I think that the the vision that you're setting, the culture that you're setting really does permeate the team, and and really impressed with the folks that uh that you work with.
SPEAKER_00Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_02On that theme, our next topic is developing people. So you have and do lead people with deep technical expertise. How do you earn credibility when leading experts who may know more than you?
SPEAKER_00Nearly everybody knows more than me, Lane. Um golly, there's there's these people are gifted and they have gifts and and they have different gifts than what I have. And so, you know, we we've got to let people do what they're gifted to do. And um, and so whether it's an architect or an engineer or people in our office that are in finance or contracting, legal counsel folks, and all that, it's it's it's okay not to know everything. It's so it's it's okay not to have all the answers. And so I try to let those people do what they're good at. I'm not good at architecture. I've never been an architect, don't plan to be an architect, don't want to be an architect, but they're good at what they do, and I have to let them do the work. I think, you know, again, it kind of goes back to humility in that when you're in a room in Design or talking to a contractor, it it's okay to say, I don't know how to do that, and I I value your input. And here's a here's a great example. If you go out on one of my projects right now, if me and you load it up, got our hard hats on, and went out there, we would see true craftsmen. We would see a person pouring concrete and finishing concrete. We would see a brick mason laying the prettiest brick and an electrician laying conduit that's as straight as can be. I can't do that. I've tried that stuff at my house and a lot of I'm I'm not a very good, I'm not a very good concrete guy. So from it doesn't matter if you're an architect, engineer, contractor, or a person that's digging the ditch, the person that's you know working at two o'clock in the morning pouring concrete, we all have our jobs to do and we all have our gifts. And that guy out there finishing the concrete is just as gifted as I am at what he does. I can't do what he does, he can't do what I do. And so it's gotta be, you've got to be able to recognize that in people and let them do what they're gifted to do. And so um, there's like I said, I have great people in this office that I can't do what they do. And I tell them all the time I can't do that, but I need them. So I think it's just the humility and the recognition of knowing that it takes everybody to do that and let them do their work, let them do their job.
SPEAKER_02Yep. That's great. I I've um I I appreciate that perspective. I I I've worked for some people, um, leaders who may have some insecurities that viewed people that were more technically competent in certain areas as a threat or as a deficit in themselves, as opposed to like you're talking about. It's a benefit to the team. It it it's uh it it's a it benefits the overall picture and being able to empower them and provide clear guidance about what the role is and and the job is, but then let them work their magic um really is a powerful team.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and you know, when you're out there on the job set, I always try to find those those guys doing that work. Like I said, I you know, when I worked for my dad and I also worked um as a construction laborer, I did all that work. I poured the concrete and I dug the ditches and I did all that stuff. And let me tell you, I appreciate what they're doing because I don't want to do all that. And I'm too old to do all that anymore. But I know what they're going through. I know what they're what they're experiencing down there, you know, digging or pouring or placing brick. And so um, golly, yeah, you've got to appreciate those guys. They are great.
SPEAKER_02On on this topic of developing people, it's it's a common story we hear from time to time on the different campuses of, for example, a faculty member, excellent teacher, researcher, promoted into like a department chair type role, or even you know, staff member that may be technically excellent then in a leadership role, which is a new skill set. What separates someone who is technically excellent from someone who is ready to lead? How do you know when someone is ready to make that jump?
SPEAKER_00Not everybody can make that jump. I talk a lot about X's and O's versus relationship. We have a lot, there's a lot of people, and I'm not talking about my team, I'm talking about everybody that we deal with. They are fantastic at the X's and O's, the execution of what we're trying to accomplish, but they're lousy at relationships. And we have people that are really great at relationships, but they're not very good at the X's and O's. To me, if you want to be a good leader, you've got to possess both of those. You've got to be really good at the X's and O's and the execution, but you got to be great at relationships too. And so I think the if you look at true leaders and the leaders that are successful and significant, they can do both. And there's a lot, a lot of smart people out there that aren't, they can't lead. They couldn't lead out of a paper sack, you know. And so you've got to be able to find the people that can do both, and they can be your next generation of leaders. And like I said, the ones that don't have relationships, you know, they just need to keep doing their X's and O's and you leave them in that position. And, you know, one thing that I've learned through the years is you you have people, and sometimes you just can't make them into what you want them to be. Sometimes they don't have the relationship skills. And so sometimes you just have to let them do the X's and O's and let them do that job the best that they can. Yeah. Give them all the tools to be successful at that, but they're not good born leaders to do that. So I think you have to have both. And can you develop it in everybody? No, I don't think so. Um, you can coach them and you can teach them and you can mentor them. And yes, there are a lot that can get there. And hopefully by watching the way I manage or others manage, they can see the relationship or the X's and O's and figure out how that mix is. But you got to have both to be a great leader.
SPEAKER_02So, follow-up question. Um, so for those that you know know the X's and O's, step into leadership role or developing those relationships, there may be some who struggle because they know the X's and O's from not being a micromanager. How do you coach people or help people avoid that temptation?
SPEAKER_00To be a micromanager?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I can't stand that. You know, it's kind of uh to me, that is one of the worst things you can do to uh employee that needs to have inspiration. Of course, there's a book, right? It's inspire. You do you diminish them or do you inspire them? And that's so true that people to be able to use their gifts, use their skills, and people to be able to use their minds, you can't micromanage them. I am not a micromanager. In fact, I'm far away from that because I've got to trust in folks that when I put them into a position or give them a job to do, that they can do it. And most of them can do it better than I can do it. But you can't, nobody wants to work in an atmosphere that you're micromanaged. Yeah, it's not healthy, it's not inspiring, you're not gonna make them any better. Um, and it just makes them where they can't do anything on their own. And so you've got to be hands-off and let the people do the work that they're supposed to be doing. But yeah, not a micromanager, don't like micromanagement. Um, I don't think you can be an effective leader if you do.
SPEAKER_02Sure. I I concur. I I know, but I I have been in a position where I'm I'm I'm a manager at leading the team, and it's an area in which I know well. I turn it over to somebody on the team. I know I can do it better than they can. And so there's this drive in me, like, oh, I could do this much quicker and better. But like you said, that doesn't develop that person. It doesn't empower them to be creative, to be innovative, to grow. And so it's for some people that's gonna have to be a real discipline and maybe some coaching to avoid that tendency because it is it is stifling.
SPEAKER_00This goes back to my story at the beginning about, you know, um the gearbox and and twenty thousand dollars two hundred thousand, you know, sounds like a management decision and hangs up the phone on me. That's the same type of thing here. Is did I call him and want an answer? Yes. I wanted him to tell me exactly what to do so I wouldn't make a mistake and I wouldn't get him pointing his finger at me. But if that's not what he did, um he let me make the decision. It inspired me as a leader. And this day, you know, I was 36 years old when that happened. That's a long time ago for me. And I still remember it and I still talk about it, that brief two-minute phone conversation and how it ended. Same thing here. Go find the solutions, bring it back to me, and let's talk about it. And so, yeah, you're never gonna get anywhere micromanaging people. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know, that just makes me think of a story I may have shared on a previous episode, but um I had had uh, like anybody, had some good leaders and some bad leaders in my past. And and one in particular, um, I I'd had a series of back-to-back leaders that were not as inspiring. Um and then a new one came in and and we had this tough issue we were talking about. And she had she asked me one simple question that was like burden lifted off my back, and it was a whole new perspective on my work, wrestling through this problem. And she turned to me and says, What do you think?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's great.
SPEAKER_02Simple question.
SPEAKER_00Very simple.
SPEAKER_02But it was like such a different tack than the previous leaders I'd had in that organization. And it made me think she really wants input. She values my input. And so that's been a lesson for me is to whether it's that specific question or not, but to really let people know that their input is valued, that they do have autonomy. Um, and it it's simple simple things like that can be so inspiring.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and it's like Just tell me what you think and then listen.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Don't interrupt them and go, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's not what I want to do. It's, you know, to be able to sit back and listen and let them talk through whatever they're doing. Um, and so you're not, again, micromanaging or saying, no, no, no, don't do that. I want you to do it this way. That diminishes those folks.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, that's a great way to do it, is just what do you think? Yeah. I love that. Great.
SPEAKER_02All right. Our next topic is one that you mentioned before with um with your team is servant leadership. It's uh it's a core value across much of the Texas Tech University system. What does servant leadership look like in a role that many people associate primarily with budgets and construction schedules?
SPEAKER_00Servant leadership is the core of our business. It's what we do. It's something that you have to lead with, you have to follow. Um, there's there's um there's really no exception to that rule in my office, and that when, again, when we hire and when we evaluate, we talk about all that stuff. So, you know, to me, to me, um, we are given a lot of money. We're given a lot of um projects to do. And it would be real easy for us to say, everybody get out of our way and let us just get this project done, and then so we can move on to the next one. And we can't do that. Again, it kind of goes back to the significance in that we want to build a project and design it to where it's everlasting and it really impacts people to do that. You have to have a servant heart to be able to do that. The greatest compliment anybody can ever give me is to tell me my team are good servant leaders because I know that what they're doing out there is is exactly what we've been commissioned to do by our chancellors and by our our team here and our values teams. So, you know, my my um what I try to do with my team is I I really try to get them all to read. If I hire a new person um to serve it by um James Hunter, and that's a fictional book that I have and um James C. Hunter. And so I have probably four or five copies. If you haven't read that, come down, I'll give you a copy. All right. So a fictional book. And so when I hire someone, or even when the staff was here, uh hadn't read that, I bought everybody a book and I asked them to read that book. And it really kind of puts servant leadership into a really cool story. Like I said, it's fictional. It changed the way that I do business, it changed my personal life and how my relationships are, not only with my family, but with others, my friends, and everybody else. And so it is a um, it is the core of what we do here. You know, those people, like I mentioned earlier, that are out there doing all the hard work on our projects, have to know that we are servant leaders and I want their heart into that project too. I um, you know, there is um uh in fact, I have a printout of it, just an illustration for me to know that I took my org chart and turned it upside down. So I'm at the very bottom of the org chart. And the most important people to me are the ones on that front line doing all the battling out there. Um, a quick story is I was out on a project and there was a guy doing some work out there, and one of my inspectors said, Hey, I want you to come out and see this product that's being installed and um, you know, get your okay or take a look at it. And I went out there and the guy putting it in, I said, you know, introduced myself and my inspector said, This is my boss. And I said, No, I'm not his boss, I'm his teammate. And the guy looks at me and he says, Oh, some of that Kumbaya stuff, huh? And I said, Let me tell you this. I mean, this is a guy's an older guy. He's been in the construction industry a long time, he's probably in his 60s. And I told him, I said, my inspector and you are the most valuable people right now in this project. Because if that wall doesn't work or that product doesn't work that you're installing, guess who gets the call? I do. So you're the most important people in my project right now, in my life right now, standing here looking at this product, you are the guys. And I think what that does is it, and I believe that, I really do believe that because I have been the guy out there putting it in. That is the type of mentality I want my team and me personally to have is I'm out there to serve that guy. I'm out there to serve my team member, who, whether he's the inspector or or the CFO or whoever it is, take that org chart, flip it upside down, and you'll know what servant leadership is because my definition is to lead you must first serve. We are in the serving business and we are here to serve our clients. And I I want everybody to know that, and then and I want that compliment coming back that man, your team are great servant leaders. That's the greatest thing you can tell me. There's no exception to that. Yeah, I mean, we will have servant leadership.
SPEAKER_02That's powerful. I love it. We're getting close to the end of our time here. I just want to ask you, you know, it your your work deadlines and budgets and relationships can be, I'm sure, extremely uh stressful at times and and a lot of uncertainty. How do you personally keep yourself grounded in in managing the stress and anxiety?
SPEAKER_00That's a good one. Um, because there is some stress and anxiety, obviously, with with the projects and just the nature of nature of our business. But um I think it's just to be to be grounded and to know that I have great people around me and great people that are doing a great, great job. You know, I have, like I said, servant leadership in our office. I hire smart people. You know, I want people that are smart, they're they're humble, they're hungry, um, they got great character. And so you you basically have to lay your head on your pillow every night and just go, I've done the best I can and I've got the best people doing what I can do, because you you will drive yourself crazy in this business um if you take it to to bed every night. But it's really just um try to be humble and put others other people first and inspire those people to get us to the finish line.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Excellent. Well, Billy, thank you so much for for talking with me and spending time today.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. I it's my pleasure. And you guys do such a great job up there. I love our team going through all the leadership trainings that you offer. I've been through lots and lots of those. I learn every time. And again, you know, this is um this is great for me just to spend some time with you. And and um it's always great to get to see you and and your team. So thanks.
SPEAKER_02Thank you very much. Well, thanks. It's been great to hear your leadership journey and get practical takeaways that we can all incorporate leading our teams. To those listening, thank you for joining me on the Leader Fast Lane. If today's conversation sparked a moment of reflection or a lane change in how you think about leadership, take a minute to share this episode with someone you lead or learn from. Join me next time when I'll be joined by Dr. Lori Rice Spearman, president of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. You can find more episodes wherever you get your podcasts. Until next time, keep leading with purpose, integrity, and clarity, especially when it's hard.
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