Wes Mast used to call himself the "chief everything officer." Answering phones, doing inspections, handling marketing, driving to job sites, and eating lunch in the car — all at the same time. Somewhere in there, he was also picking up dead chickens at chicken houses just to keep the lights on.
That's not where the company is now. It's a multi-state business, and the difference wasn't hiring more people — it was building an actual system for growing leaders, instead of just promoting whoever happened to be best at the job.
Wes and Kristy Mast aren't leaders within human services--but they are experts at developing people and businesses that don't just run from one crisis to the next.
In this conversation, they walk through the mindset shift that gets a leader out of the bottleneck, a surprisingly cheap benefit that outperforms their 401k match in staff loyalty, and the specific test they run before anyone gets promoted into leadership — because they learned the hard way that wanting the job and being ready for it aren't the same thing.
If you've ever felt like every decision in your organization somehow finds its way back to your desk, this one's for you.
🔗 Learn more about Wes and Kristy — https://www.levelup2lead.com/
📥 Free resource — 7 Quiet Danger Signs Your Supervisors Are Burning Out Their Staff: https://iddleader.com/burnout
Music licensed through Soundstripe. Code: LFMLKJE1CAKMAIL3
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 – From chicken houses to "chief everything officer"
01:17 – Meet two leaders who never planned to teach leadership
03:08 – The mindset shift that gets you out of the bottleneck
03:47 – Why most leaders assume everyone can problem-solve like they do
05:33 – Slow down to speed up
09:14 – The moment they realized handwritten notes weren't going to cut it
13:30 – The bold bet they made when COVID nearly killed the business
16:12 – Why they're not actually passionate about home inspections
19:59 – The $50 bet nobody could win
22:09 – The benefit that beats their 401k match
25:18 – Becoming the "Chief Repeating Officer"
26:30 – Why raising your hand isn't enough to get promoted
27:06 – Inside the leadership academy anyone can take
30:41 – The Peter Principle, and the promotion that backfires
Send us Fan Mail
Quick Question:
Do your frontline supervisors sometimes unintentionally contribute to staff turnover? It happens so easily because... Most supervisors were never trained to lead. Get The 7 Quiet Danger Signs Your Supervisors Are Burning Out Their Teams and learn how high-retention agencies spot — and fix — these issues fast. https://iddleader.com/burnout
