John DiJulius and Nick Berry Discuss How All Business Problems Are Leadership Problems

12 Days of Business Episode with John DiJulius

In this special '12 Days of Business' edition of The Business Owner’s Journey, host Nick Berry shares a segment with John DiJulius, president of The DiJulius Group and an authority on customer and employee experience. They discuss the biggest challenge in business leadership: accidental managers, and how leadership failures often result in employee dissatisfaction. John highlights the essential leadership skills needed today, including managing remote staff and addressing employee mental health. Packed with insights, this episode is a must-listen for business owners striving to improve their leadership skills and organizational culture.

Key Takeaways from John DiJulius

The Problem with Accidental Managers

John DiJulius shares a startling statistic: 82% of managers are "accidental," promoted into leadership roles without preparation or training. These "battlefield promotions" can set leaders up for failure and lead to employee dissatisfaction. He emphasizes the importance of proactive leadership development, including offering mentorship, training programs, and hands-on experience before a promotion occurs.

Essential Leadership Skills in Today’s Workplace

Leadership is evolving, with two new critical skills emerging:

1. Managing Remote Staff: Keeping remote teams engaged and productive requires deliberate communication and strategies to maintain connection and accountability.
2. Supporting Employee Mental Health: Leaders must now recognize signs of mental health struggles and create a supportive environment. Providing resources and fostering open dialogue are key to maintaining a healthy workplace.

All Business Problems Are Leadership Problems

John asserts, “All problems are leadership problems.” Whether or not the issue originates from the leader, it’s their responsibility to resolve it. He challenges leaders to adopt a mindset of accountability, encouraging them to develop the skills needed to face these challenges head-on.

Where to Find John DiJulius

• John DiJulius Official Website
• The DiJulius Group Website
• John on LinkedIn
• John on Instagram

This episode is part of the 12 Days of Business mini-series.

John DiJulius also appeared in a previous episode of The Business Owner's Journey: John DiJulius: Elevating Customer and Employee Experience to World-Class Standards.

Quotes from the John DiJulius Episode

• “82% of managers are accidental. They’re promoted because they were next in line, not because they were ready.” – John DiJulius
• “It might not be your fault, but it’s your problem. Leadership means taking responsibility for what happens in your business.” – Nick Berry
• “We’ve never had to lead from a distance or manage mental health in the workplace before. Leaders today need to adapt and learn these skills.” – John DiJulius

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The Business Owner's Journey Podcast host: Nick Berry
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Episode Transcript for: John DiJulius and Nick Berry Discuss How All Business Problems Are Leadership Problems

Nick Berry (00:00)

The Business Owner's Journey. I'm Nick Berry and I've got real business owners telling their real stories, sharing their real lessons and strategies so you don't have to figure it all out on your

Nick Berry (00:12)

So as we wrap up season one of the business owners journey with this special series, the 12 days of business, I've got 12 days, 12 episodes, 12 of our previous guests.

For today's 12 days of business episode, I've got a highlight from my conversation with John DiJulius. John is president of the DiJulius Group and they are an employee and customer service consulting firm. We had an awesome discussion. He is the man that you want to hear talking about these things, customer experience, employee experience, leadership.

So the segment that I want to share starts with John saying the biggest challenge in leadership. And he shares this statistic, 82 % of managers are accidental, which means they ended up as a manager because they were the next man up whenever a spot opened up, not that they were prepared to take on this leadership role.

Then he shares two leadership skills that he says, you no one really is prepared for it because we're just figuring out because they weren't things up until like 15, 20 years ago. And the pandemic really like brought them to the surface. One is managing remote staff and another is handling employee mental health. And he made some really great points. The point that I want to make is this, all of these things might be true.

If you're running a business and you have a staff, you might not have had the proper training or development to handle the role either. And maybe you have a good reason for not having been prepared to manage remote staff or employee mental health, but that does not matter. Those things are still issues that someone has to take responsibility for in your business. That's you. If you're not where you need to be as a leader, put together a plan to get there.

If you're not equipped to handle mental health or manage staff remotely, it's time to start learning. Because it might not be your fault, but it is your problem. And I'm encouraging you to look at it as your responsibility.

An executive coach that I used to work with used this phrase pretty frequently and it stuck with me and I totally agree with it. And he said, all problems are leadership problems. Now, remember, make sure that you're following the podcast and subscribed so you're getting the entire 12 days of business series. If you'd like, I'd be happy to email the episodes to you.

You can also get the episode pages, the exclusive guest profiles and resources. Those are the things that we're only sending out through email though. So to get that, you need to go to nickberry.info slash 12 days. That's the number 12 days.

All right, now enjoy this segment with John DiJulius.

John DiJulius (02:58)

Here's the biggest challenge with leadership. There was a study that just came out, well, just maybe a year ago, because we got it in the book. So it had to be at least a year ago. I forget the source, Wall Street Journal, Forbes. 82 % of managers today are accidental.

So, accidental looks like this. Nick, employee Nick, George, your boss, left. You have the most seniority. We're gonna promote you to his position. Right. A, we don't even know if Nick wanted it, right? But B, let's say Nick wanted it, right? Besides just maybe the bump in pay. But we didn't prepare him.

Nick (03:32)

Battlefield promotion.

John DiJulius (03:46)

Nick on Friday went out drinking with his coworkers. Monday, he's leading his coworkers and is supposed to hold them accountable. We just set him up for failure. And it's such a reason why so many employees quit. And again, I'm not blaming Nick. I'm blaming the company because we threw Nick in the deep end without teaching him how to swim and expect him to be an Olympic swimmer.

And so, you know, there's, you know, so much to that of preparing leaders, developing leaders, saying, you know, Nick, would you ever, before it happens, Nick, would you ever, you know, you're crushing the job. Would you ever want to be a leader? Yeah. You know, I'd be here. Well, here's some courses. Here's some that I want you to take now. I also, we have some committees I'd love for you to be on.

And now I can see if you're serious. Hey, how's Nick doing on that project? man, he's there, he's into it. Or he was there one time and he hasn't been on it. That tells me Nick's not really serious. He's like, a lot of people are, that's fine. The other thing that is really interesting today about leadership, is for a thousand years,

Leaders never had to worry about two things that they have to today. That no leadership course ever taught, no college degree ever taught. That today, every leader has to have this skill set, and it's really challenging for them. Leading from a distance, right? Virtual, work from home. We never had that before.

So how do I keep my employees engaged to a virtual who I don't see every day, out of sight, out of mind? How do I motivate them? How do I make sure that they're not slipping and that's a huge thing. The second one that we've never ever had to worry about before as leaders is how we have to worry about employees' mental wellbeing. That wasn't something

A, wrong, but 25, 50 years ago, pull up your socks, get your shit together. If I even knew, but no one ever brought. Now employees, now, and these are, I believe silver linings of the pandemic, but now it's okay to say, hey, I'm struggling.

And as leaders, we're supposed to recognize that and coach to that. We aren't prepared for that, and maybe we shouldn't be. so you have to teach yourself and you have to teach your leadership team what to look for. now, not every, and not necessarily every employee may be struggling, but someone in their family may be.

which means you're struggling. And what resources can we give? And so those are two leadership skills that we have to help ourselves and our leaders become better at.

Nick (06:46)

Yeah.