Blair LaCorte
Appearances
Mick Unplugged
Blair LaCorte Unpacks Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture in Leadership
Totally agree. Just like when you say, I see you to your team. Well, when you don't take action swiftly, they see you at that point too.
Mick Unplugged
Blair LaCorte Unpacks Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture in Leadership
Yep. Yep. You know, Blair, one of the things you said first, offering to take someone that you just let go to lunch with, Genius, because it does two things for me. One, it means that I'm always developing or at least providing assistance for my people to do the right things. Right. And two, you're doubling down on the fact of, you know, it's not personal.
Mick Unplugged
Blair LaCorte Unpacks Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture in Leadership
There's a reason a lot of times when we terminate people, it feels whether the reality is or not, we feel that it's personal on either side. Right. But if Blair's like, hey, I'm going to take that person to lunch now, all of a sudden it's like, well, one, it's not personal. And two, I'm going to reflect and say, well, yeah, Blair did give me every opportunity to succeed. Right.
Mick Unplugged
Blair LaCorte Unpacks Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture in Leadership
Blair did give me the rules of engagement. So what? If I did get let go, maybe it was me, right? Or conversely, I just want to tell Blair how much I dislike him and I'm going to take this opportunity to do that.
Mick Unplugged
Blair LaCorte Unpacks Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture in Leadership
No, agree. And that kind of takes me to where I wanted to go next, because you mentioned something about letting your team fail or at least giving them the opportunity to do the work. And I feel like especially in 2025, we we massage. These are the words of Mick and Mick only. Right. We massage empowerment and call it or we call it empowerment. But what we're really doing is micromanaging. Right.
Mick Unplugged
Blair LaCorte Unpacks Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture in Leadership
And when we micromanage, when we're too close, we don't let people show us that they can do the job or that they can't do the job. Right. And so one of my favorite parallels to this, and it's one of my pillars in leadership, I call it great leaders know how to move the stool. for their team.
Mick Unplugged
Blair LaCorte Unpacks Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture in Leadership
And what I mean by that, Blair, if you remember Muhammad Ali, in his big fights, in the big moments of fights, his trainer and coach, Angelo Dundee, would move the stool in between rounds and make Ali stand up. And what he was trying to do was say, I know you're tired, I know you're fatigued, but you've got more in you and you just don't see it.
Mick Unplugged
Blair LaCorte Unpacks Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture in Leadership
Man, we have a lot in common. Like if you were to ask my mom, like as a as a kid, she used to always say I was different because I was curious. Right. Like I never took an answer and just ran with it. Like I always wanted to know the why behind the why. I would ask a ton of questions like, Blair, when did you realize that you had that curiosity trait?
Mick Unplugged
Blair LaCorte Unpacks Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture in Leadership
So instead of sitting and being comfortable, stand up. And the other part of that was also face your opponent while you're standing. Because if you remember the Joe Frazier fight, or the third Joe Frazier fight, right? It was like, Joe Frazier, they had been battling. Both of them were tired. Ali, again, stands up. Dundee moved the stool. And Joe Frazier saw Ali standing.
Mick Unplugged
Blair LaCorte Unpacks Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture in Leadership
And he was dog tired and said, there's no way I can continue if this man is standing in between rounds. And so I think as leaders, we've got to know when to move the stool. We've got to know when it's OK to tell your team members. Right. Your direct reports like, hey, I know you're comfortable, but I need you to prove that you can do it. I see that there's more in you. I'm moving the stool.
Mick Unplugged
Blair LaCorte Unpacks Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture in Leadership
I'm going to make you stand tall. And what happens next is on you, that grit that you have inside of you or the lessons that we've learned or what we've been teaching. So for Blair, like, do you think it's important for leaders to move the stool? And if so, what are some signs? Because I think that's important for the listeners and viewers.
Mick Unplugged
Blair LaCorte Unpacks Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture in Leadership
What are some signs that it's time to move the stool and let our team stand on their own?
Mick Unplugged
Blair LaCorte Unpacks Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture in Leadership
Because I think most power CEOs, that's the reason is that curiosity trait.
Mick Unplugged
Blair LaCorte Unpacks Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture in Leadership
No, totally agree. And Blair, I'm going to take that a step further with me and my businesses, especially when we're talking about salespeople. And so for all the leaders and CEOs out there, I want you to think about this when you're interviewing for salespeople, because this was always one of my first questions. Why are you available?
Mick Unplugged
Blair LaCorte Unpacks Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture in Leadership
Most great salespeople should not be available unless, you know, there's no room for growth or they want to become a partner in something or they reach the ceiling. Right. I always ask if I'm hiring for sales, tell me why you're available. because you shouldn't be. And that's just me being honest, right? Like, if I work for you, I'm your best salesperson.
Mick Unplugged
Blair LaCorte Unpacks Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture in Leadership
That's it. Absolutely. Blair, you've been so gracious with your time. Like I just looked up and I was like, holy crap. I didn't even ask Blair his rapid fire questions yet. So Blair, I'd love to just a couple of moments, you know, a couple of rapid fire questions. Nothing intense, but I want you to be ready. All right. I'm nervous now. No, sir. No, sir. What is the biggest lesson that you learned?
Mick Unplugged
Blair LaCorte Unpacks Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture in Leadership
Yeah, that's amazing. I love that, dude. And, you know, you've built a reputation, Blair, for scaling businesses. Again, another unique trait that I'll just be honest, Blair, makes you a unique one of one. One of the things I've been fascinated about you and I told you offline, I've been waiting for this episode is just. Understanding how to scale a business.
Mick Unplugged
Blair LaCorte Unpacks Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture in Leadership
Correct. Absolutely. Correct. So you've done a lot of amazing things in your life, led a lot of amazing companies. What's Blair doing now? What's new with Blair?
Mick Unplugged
Blair LaCorte Unpacks Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture in Leadership
I'd love for Blair to give us an exclusive almost, right? What's your strategy for identifying the right opportunities in either chaotic or an uncertain market?
Mick Unplugged
Blair LaCorte Unpacks Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture in Leadership
Hmm. There you go. That's really good stuff. So Blair, where can people find and follow you now if they want to venture onto digital or social media?
Mick Unplugged
Blair LaCorte Unpacks Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture in Leadership
There you go. Ladies and gentlemen, my good friend, My virtual mentor, Mr. Blair LaCourte. Blair, thank you so much, man, just for spending time. All the wisdom. I mean, I wrote down like eight questions while you were talking that I didn't even get to. So we might have to do like round two with Blair.
Mick Unplugged
Blair LaCorte Unpacks Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture in Leadership
You got it. I appreciate you. And for all the viewers and listeners, remember your because is your superpower.
Mick Unplugged
Blair LaCorte Unpacks Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture in Leadership
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Mic Unplugged. And today we have a leader who's taken innovation from the skies to the streets. As the CEO of Loomis and former CEO of Exojet, he has redefined industries with his visionary leadership and ability to turn challenges into opportunities. He's a master of strategic thinking,
Mick Unplugged
Blair LaCorte Unpacks Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture in Leadership
I love that, Blair. I love that. I wrote so much down into what you were just saying. I want to unplug a couple of things, starting with culture. And it's something that I know was important for you because I've read a lot of your work and been a huge follower of yours for a long time. I tell people all the time, and if you listen to the show, you know I say culture is a four-letter word, C-A-R-E.
Mick Unplugged
Blair LaCorte Unpacks Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture in Leadership
and setting up success, please welcome the trailblazing, the transformative, the strategic, my guy, California's own, Mr. Blair LaCourte. Blair, how you doing today, brother?
Mick Unplugged
Blair LaCorte Unpacks Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture in Leadership
And if you're a business leader, you don't necessarily lead the business. You lead the culture. And the culture is what drives the business. And Blair, I love the fact that you said you go in and say, I see you. So I want to talk with you about or ask you the importance of culture and why so many CEOs and leaders get it wrong where you've gotten it right.
Mick Unplugged
Blair LaCorte Unpacks Coaching, Curiosity, and Culture in Leadership
Feeling good. Revved up. Absolutely. Absolutely. Blair, man, you know, on Mick Unplugged, we talk to people about their because, that thing that's deeper than your why. So if I were to say, Blair, Today, what's your because, man? What's the purpose that Blair LaCourte has?