Every industry has its stars — the ones who know the game, hit the numbers, and climb the ladder. But what happens when you realize the ladder’s leaning against the wrong wall? That’s the moment Sid Meadows faced when he walked away from a secure, high-profile career in the contract furniture world to start over on his own terms.
In this conversation, recorded live at NeoCon in the Sandow Podcast booth, Sid shares his “Jerry Maguire moment” — the leap from chasing deals to chasing meaning. He opens up about the fear, the freedom, and the surprising lessons learned from building his own path. From redefining success to mentoring the next generation, Sid’s story is a masterclass in trusting your gut and holding fast to your values.
If you work in facilities, corporate real estate, design, or workplace strategy, this is more than a career conversation. It’s an invitation to ask yourself the same question Sid did: What am I really here to do? And am I brave enough to do it?
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This transcript was made in part by an automated service, in some cases it may contain errors.
Rex: [00:00:00] Welcome back to the Resilience Lab. I'm Rex Miller, and today I'd like to introduce my guest with a few questions. What does it take to thrive in an industry that never stops changing? How do you reinvent yourself when the playbook you've relied on for years suddenly stops working? what happens when you take everything you've learned over the decades and decide to bet on yourself?
Well, I'm here at NeoCon in the Sandel podcast booth with someone who's done all of those things and more. My good friend Sid Meadows. If you've been in the contract interiors world for any length of time, you probably know his name. Over the last 30 plus years, Sid has been a sales leader. A global account director, an entrepreneur, a coach, and the host of the popular podcast, the Trend Report.
He's helped shape teams, grow businesses, [00:01:00] guide leaders through some of the biggest shifts in our industry, and I'm excited to talk to Sid today because he brings not only this rare blend of hard won experience. But he's a visionary. He looks ahead. We'll dig into how to embrace change before it's forced upon you.
Why relationships will always outlast transactions and the simple daily disciplines that build resilience for the long haul. So let's dive in.
So Sid, welcome to the Resilience Lab.
Sid: Thank you, Rex. Glad to be here.
Rex: Yep. And we might swap podcast 'cause of your trends report, so I wanted to open up with something different, which I think will become standard in the near future.
And ask Chat. GPT. Who is Sid Betos?
Sid: I'm scared of this. I think actually,
Rex: So here's what chat GPT said, business strategist and high [00:02:00]performance
Sid: Mm-hmm.
Rex: With over 30 years in the commercial furniture industry, from sales to leadership, Sid pivoted into entrepreneurship and coaching, helping leaders grow personally and professionally. Certified coach and speaker. is a certified coach, high performance coach. And Energy leadership master practitioner.
Sid: That's all correct? Yes.
Rex: What does that mean? What's an Energy Leadership Master
Sid: So when I went to get my coaching certification in 20. 18. I did a lot of investigating about coach programs.
I found programs that were weekend programs and three months program, and I decided to enroll in one that was a year long program
a company called ipec, which is the Institute for Professional Excellence and Coaching. And they give you a certified professional coach certificate after the year long program.
But one of their specialties is energy leadership. So you get the E-L-I-M-P is the acronym and [00:03:00] basically. E-L-I-M-P-E, energy leadership, I, I don't remember master practitioner. Okay. Okay. Now what the ELI is about? Is it's based on a assessment, very similar, but different from Genius Spark and it gauges on seven different levels, your resonating energy and then your energy on how you react to
Rex: things.
Wow. And
Sid: then there's a whole. Coaching program to, based on how someone scores on their energy level, that you put someone through to help them improve their resonating energy and then their reacting energy. So reacting energy might be how you respond to stimulus, right? Resonating might be, you know, Rick, there are those people that you know that they resonate with negativity.
Just like who they are, right? And so this program would be identifying that and then we'd call that [00:04:00] level one, level two. So the lowest levels are the worst levels. The highest levels are the best. And so the objective is to coach someone from a level one to a level two, and then from a level two to a level three, you don't take one from level one to level seven.
So that's what energy leadership
Rex: Wow. So what did you assess at in terms of reactivity?
Sid: Um,
Rex: what do you react
Sid: don't remember, um, how my EELI result was. I would say that at the time that I took it, it was just coming out of corporate. Okay. So it'd been about a year. in corporate, uh, my reactions would've been boom, boom, boom.
I would've reacted a
Rex: a lot. Alright, so it's fast,
Sid: Yeah. Um, not always good. Right, right. today I would tell you it's a lot different. So.
Rex: Okay.
Sid: I'm much more thoughtful in my reaction. Respond. It's actually responding is what you're really, what the goal is to respond to people so not react.
Rex: Fascinating. I'm already thinking through what strengths would that. Mm-hmm.
Sid: [00:05:00] Yes. 'cause you can tie the two together.
Rex: Yeah. Yeah. And so then it says, Sid hosts the trend report focused on growth, high performance, and navigating the furniture industry landscape. He interviews industry leaders and coaches, on sales, leadership and strategic marketing.
Sid: I would say that's all correct too. Okay. I would say strategy and marketing. Okay. Because marketing is sales to a degree, right? Yeah. And sales is marketing.
Rex: Got it. He co-founded the collaborative network?
Sid: That's correct.
Rex: Supporting small manufacturers and contract interiors through peer groups, incubators and strategic coaching.
Notably, this is amazing. He recently invited Rex Miller and it says, that's you.
Sid: Oh, that's great.
Rex: To lead a powerful episode on the movement.
Sid: That's very true. We did. And it in parentheses said,
Rex: so scary. Oh my gosh. And then recognition. [00:06:00] Highly rated speaker known for engaging presentations on leadership, sales and personal development, active on LinkedIn and Instagram, where he shares leadership insights and reframing strategies that resonate with his audience.
Sid: Oh, I like that a lot. Especially the reframing part.
Rex: Yeah. Why would anybody try to write an introduction for somebody anymore in
Sid: chat? GPT does a really good job, obviously.
Rex: So remember my opening question was, who is Sid Meadows? Right? Or I asked, do you know Sid Meadows? Mm-hmm. And so the summary is, yes, I know Sid Meadows, a veteran of the contract interiors sector, turn coach, speaker, and podcast host.
He's deeply involved in leadership development, business strategy, and industry advocacy. Most recently, he featured you as a guest as a collaborator on the trend report. Sid is a master integrator and industry transformer who applies [00:07:00] coaching strategy storytelling to elevate individuals and companies.
He's a multidisciplinary expert in the workplace and contract furniture industry. Sid is a master integrator, a builder of platforms and communities. Within the contract interiors industry with decades of experience in sales, leadership and strategy, he has taken his deep domain knowledge and transformed it into coaching, podcasting, organizational growth, et cetera.
Wow, that's good. Isn't that good? Yeah, it's really good. Yeah. Thank you. My, my chat, GPT, her name is Blair,
Sid: I
Rex: thank you Blair.
Sid: Good job, Blair. Yeah, you get the gold star for the day,
Rex: so. Anybody who knows me probably knows you. we recently talked about the collaborative network. Mm-hmm. And I saw you running this morning or walking?
Walking, yeah. Yeah. which was the routine that started the collaborative network. [00:08:00] Correct. So I wanna take this in a different angle. Okay. And unpack some things about Sid that maybe people don't know.
Sid: Okay.
Rex: what I thought was appropriate was this whole idea of transitions. Because you're fresh into a new transition.
Sid: Yeah, that's very true.
Rex: And like all of us, you know, we've been in this for a while, so some transitions work wonderfully and some don't. And so we're gonna talk about both and let's do it. Yes. So let's start out your first introduction to the industry.
Sid: So my very first introduction to the industry when I didn't even really understand it was an industry, was when I was in
Rex: college
Sid: and I worked for Mississippi School Supply Company.
Rex: and where were you? Where'd you
Sid: I was going college in, in Clinton, Mississippi. The school's, Mississippi College. Okay. I think now it's renamed to Mississippi Christian University. But I was at mc. I had a part-time job at Mississippi School Supply Company and Part of my job was to do a furniture [00:09:00] library for the school supply salespeople who were based all across the southeast.
That's when I started seeing binders and like, uh, we had reps call on me. The very first rep that I met I saw yesterday. Wow. And we calculated, it was 1988 or 89 when I first got introduced to him, and he brought me an. At that time actually an OFS binder and updated it and like, so that was my very first like, oh, this is a thing.
I didn't really understand it until I got outta college, moved to Birmingham, Alabama and got a job at a Hayworth dealer. And that's when I really started to understand the, that there is a world of office furniture and that people actually sell panels and they sell seating. And so I had a really great mentor, her name was Meredith, that took me under her wing and.
Like taught me. Who
Rex: me. Who is your Hayworth rep?
Sid: uh, Milton Bressler,
Rex: Yep. The, the
Sid: the infamous, right?
Rex: Yeah, the jogger. Yeah.
Sid: Yeah,
Rex: I knew him back then too. Yeah.[00:10:00]
Sid: Milton, he, Milton was an amazing Hayworth rep, and he taught me all about Hayworth, and Meredith taught me all about. Sales and working with customers and how to respond to them. And you know, this was well before AutoCAD.
I mean, we drew things by hand with templates.
Rex: Oh, I remember those
Sid: Right. And then we used our price book and went page by page,
Rex: specify
Sid: everything.
Rex: Yeah. We actually memorized
Sid: We did. The WS dash 24 24 is a 24 by 24 work
Rex: Yeah, that's right. Yep.
Hayworth actually had an easy nomenclature period. Herman Miller had a little bit more difficult one.
Sid: I don't remember. I only, when I did sell Herman Miller, it was the milk care product and I don't remember it. So,
Rex: So an AO 4 36 is a flipper door for, an overhead for Herman
Sid: no, no. I would've said ao meaning action office. Yes. 4 36. I would've assumed it was a four foot wide. 36
Rex: Oh. So it is a four foot wide,
Sid: thir 36 foot. [00:11:00] Excuse me, 36 inches wide. Four foot high panel is what
Rex: that went about. Yeah. Uh,
Sid: it was a flipper unit flipper door. Wow. Do people sell those anymore? Flipper
Rex: Oh my gosh. Yeah. Remember when we used to sell based on different features of how easy it is, you could sit and flip it over and the Herman Miller was, had that traction so it wouldn't fall on you.
Yeah.
Sid: One of the sales tips that, or one of the sales tricks at Hayworth was sitting on top of the overhead unit. Oh.
Rex: Oh.
Sid: You'd climb up on the work service and you'd sit up because the panel construction was steel. Right? Right. And not wood, because Miller's was wood.
And
Rex: right. Manco
Sid: Monocot construction. Yeah. Monocot construction. Look at you. You remember.
Rex: well, do you remember kind of a saw off Hayworth panel? Yep. Put on three. So three corners were supported. Yep. And then you'd stand on the fourth corner. Yeah. And it wouldn't
Sid: the good old day
Rex: Yeah. And then you'd take a rubber mount and hit the panel. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Yeah. And say, go do this to a Herman Miller panel. See what happens.
Sid: Oh my [00:12:00] gosh.
Rex: Yeah. Hopefully we've gotten beyond that.
Sid: well, I mean, if people are buying workstations, from what I understand today, when people buy workstations, they're about 42 inches hot tall, not 66 inches tall.
Rex: Oh, we, it used to be 80 inch high.
80 inch high with doors. Yeah.
So In most of our jobs we have kind of the sweet spot period, kind of the glory days. Yep. For you at Hayworth, what was that sweet spot period for you?
Sid: So the sweet spot for me really came at Hayworth when I got the opportunity to join the global account team.
Rex: Oh, sweet.
Sid: that
Rex: was the powerhouse for Hayworth? Yeah, that was, I think that was their big differentiator in terms of it. I think at one point in time I remember like 60% of their revenue was global accounts.
Sid: it was great to be part of that team. Bob Kimball was the vice
Rex: president Oh yeah. At the time.
Yep.
Sid: I joined the global account team. [00:13:00] And I had just gotten married. I had been recruited by Hayworth.
I was a territory manager for Lower Alabama and Mississippi and the Panhandle, Florida.
So it was really a very hometown for me. Right. It's where I grew up. And then my wife got an opportunity to go work at Ernst Young. In Atlanta after graduating with her master's degree, and I called Hayworth, my boss at the time and said, Hey, we have this opportunity to move to Atlanta. My wife's got a great career opportunity, so we're gonna move to Atlanta.
Is there a possibility for me to move with Hayworth? And he said, yeah, I don't know what, but come on. And so I went as a Georgia as a new business development manager for like. Two months and there was a global account manager position came up, come available and by that time I had gotten Bob Kimball's attention a little bit through some of the successes that I had.
And it was pretty easy. I just said, Hey, I'd like to apply for that job. And he said, I think he'd be great. And I was a global account manager for three years, individual contributor. And [00:14:00] then I became a director of global accounts and we packed up and moved to West Michigan.
Rex: Wow.
Sid: Yeah, it was fun. Yeah, it was.
I learned so much during that timeframe, about sales, I learned about strategy. I learned, you know, how to respond to things like how to respond to really big bids. I learned, you know, how to differentiate Hayworth at that point. Like, I mean, 'cause. I was working with brands like Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, Ernst and Young.
I mean these are really big brands. And so there was just so much that I learned that was truly at Hayworth. That was my time to grow, learn, grow and thrive.
Rex: So let's talk about sales. What were some of the things that you learned that really gave you kind of the upper hand? 'cause you closed some pretty big accounts.
Sid: that's So one of the things that I would say that I learned is, and anybody that worked at Hayworth or works at Hayworth, or that even remembers me, is I was really good at pushing the [00:15:00] company to
do the right thing based on what the client needed.
Rex: you mean crusade?
Sid: Yeah, I was a champion.
Right? Yeah.
Rex: Maximizer, positivity. Yeah. Got it. And
Sid: Rex, do you remember a guy named Kevin Botkins? I don't. That worked at Hayworth. He was an engineer. Okay. And, uh, he was a specialist engineer. Okay.
Rex: Okay.
Sid: And I was working with a really large client and they wanted the power pole. This is very technical, sorry, to come through the center of the glass, the quarter glass panel and specials like no.
The aesthetic we can't figure out. No, you got the cables they don't want. 'cause at that time, the power pole was on the outside of the panel and they want to integrated through the center of the panel and took me weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks to finally convince him. I actually sketched out a couple of things and sent it to him like Kevin, like this is what we need to do.
so we did it. We mocked it up and the client loved it. They thought, this is spectacular. This is exactly, we don't mind seeing the power pole coming through the glass, but seeing [00:16:00] that is better than seeing the cables and better on than on being on the outside. So I would say that that is potentially powers a persuasion in genius.
Mark, you might call that my woo, winning others over. Absolutely. Right. So I think that that was definitely one of the things that I really took away was how to do those kinds of things to progress the process.
Rex: So usually in transition like seasons, you've got that summer of impact, but fall comes when the leaves start to turn.
Sid: Yep.
Rex: And before the winter. So what was the transition to the, to the next chapter?
Sid: So, her name is Lucy. Okay.
Rex: Okay.
Sid: she's my first child and only daughter. Okay. Um, she was born when we lived in West Michigan
Rex: and
Sid: We were a thousand miles away from home,
my wife's family was in North Alabama. My family was in Mississippi.
We had a baby, and [00:17:00] I mean, we loved West Michigan. Don't be wrong. And I loved my career at Hayworth. I mean, it was one of the, definitely one of the highlights. I got a call one day from a friend of mine that said, Hey, there's, there's an opportunity to open a Teknion dealership in Birmingham, Alabama. And all I heard was Birmingham, Alabama.
That's where we met. That's where we got married. We had a lot of friends there. And so we packed up, I resigned from Hayworth. I met with these guys, figured things out. We packed up and moved to Birmingham, Alabama. You know, we're gonna raise our family or you know, our kids could actually grow up with their grandparents.
And you know, my family's four hours away, hers is two hours away. And we are back in what we consider home, which is Birmingham, Alabama. And so we went back home. We were there for seven years, but the catalyst was being a parent, being a dad, right. And wanting that desire for our kids to grow up there.
But it only lasted for. Seven years and then we moved to Texas.
Rex: So, the sweet spot of when you were in Birmingham, what was that like?
Sid: [00:18:00] so I, I opened and ran a dealership. it was really great. We grew way, I mean, honestly, we grew too fast. There is such a thing as growing too fast,
Rex: Absolutely
Sid: grew too fast, taxi organization, taxed our relationship.
but I would say one of the things that kind of
Rex: now, which relationship did it tax
Sid: and the owners of the business. Okay. Got me and the owners of the business.
Rex: So were they wanting to push growth more and you do
Sid: No. They were freaking out about it. Oh, we were growing too fast. Got it. Like it was a long time, like a 50 plus year old family business.
Rex: In Birmingham, Alabama. Yeah. Yeah.
Sid: were winning big projects. We won like a two or $3 million project and for the first time ever, they had to go to the bank. Wow.
Rex: Wow. Oh wow. Like, yes.
That's
Sid: not something that they were used to or comfortable with, like, and to get a line of credit in order to process the orders and pay the deposits, and so.
Growth can be really good. And I talk today a lot about sustained growth and sometimes growing from just a few million [00:19:00] to, you know, almost 10 million in one year. It can be too taxing. In this case, I think it was too taxing, not necessarily the business from a perspective of performance, getting the job done and taking care of the customer.
Was great, but it put a big time stressor on our relationship. And then, you know, it was, it was just, my son had been born at this time, it was actually the week that my son was born that I decided, okay, it's time to go
Rex: transition.
Yeah. Trying
Sid: to do something
Rex: So how did Texas get into the picture?
Sid: my wife Theresa, got her master's degree.
she was working at a hospital in Alabama. Her boss, I talked about this in one of my episodes, called mentors. She, her, her boss's name was Tim. And Tim saw something in Theresa, my wife, that knew that she had a really bright future in healthcare and that she was destined to be a Chief Information Officer.
And he helped her. He sent her to a bootcamp to like teach how to be A-C-C-I-O. He mentored [00:20:00] her. opportunity came available at Cook Children's in Fort Worth and he, coached her through that process, helped her negotiate the package, helped her write her resume. I mean, you name it, Rex. I mean, he was a true mentor to her.
And so she got the job at Cook. And at the time I was working at a IS so I mean, it was
Rex: now a IS was not yet a Hayworth or wasn't,
Sid: not at that point. Okay. No, they're still independent at that point. And so, she had interviewed for three different CIO positions, and we knew both of them, all three of them, excuse me, required relocation.
So we knew we were moving and it just was a matter of where, and she liked to cook better. We like Texas better. So, 15 years ago, uh, June, we packed up and moved to, uh, Fort Worth. Yeah. So that was the, I mean, it was great because we've, we, through this year, or excuse me, yeah. This year we will celebrate 30 years of marriage and Thank you.
and we've just figured out all [00:21:00] of, you know, marriage is about a partnership. Hmm.
Rex: Hmm.
Sid: not always what's best for you or what's best for me. It's what's best for us. And so sometimes we moved for her, so we moved to Georgia for her. Yeah, we moved to Michigan for me, we moved to Alabama for us. We moved to Texas for her, but it just, it worked out.
Right. So,
Rex: so how do you, how do you work through those conversations?
Sid: Things
Rex: what are those conversations like? Hey honey,
Sid: they're really just a conversation. Okay. But it's not a spur of the moment conversation. Okay? Right. It's not a, oh, I got a job. Do you wanna move to Fort Worth?
Like her process of becoming a Chief information Officer was months in the making. And we knew that, right? We knew it was happening. We knew what Tim was doing to support her, and it was just a matter of time. Right. And so when she accepted that, Hey, this is my career path, and we talked about it, we knew that we would have to move.
Now, did we wanna leave Birmingham, Alabama? No, we didn't. No. But it was one of the best decisions we ever made in, in our, in our, in our [00:22:00] life together, is relocating to Birmingham, Alabama. My kids love Texas. Texas is their home
Rex: Nice.
Sid: Okay.
Rex: Now, were you with a IS before you moved or? Yes. Okay. So
Sid: this is an intersection with my co-founder, Michelle.
Rex: Oh, okay.
Sid: With the
Rex: With the co-founder of the
Sid: collaborative. Correct. With Michelle. So Michelle and I had worked together at Hayworth. she was actually on my team at Hayworth, so she was first a territory manager and then I became a director in global accounts and I brought Michelle into global accounts. And so she worked for me in the Carolinas.
Rex: Wow.
Sid: so when I decided that I was gonna leave the position that I was in, I just started networking. Michelle was one of the people that I called and said, Hey, I'm putting. Myself back out there, I'm not really happy with what I'm doing. I was working for a European company and I said, and honestly, I, this probably says a lot about me, Rex.
I said, uh, I kind of miss selling panels. And uh, so
Rex: so [00:23:00] I don't know what it says, but it does say something.
Sid: And Michelle was the vice president of sales at a IS and she said, oh, you have to come work for me. And I said, Michelle. Thank you, but I didn't call you for a job. I called you to network. Say I'm looking for a
Rex: Right, right.
Sid: And you know my mind at that time. 'cause I even told her when she was told me she was going to work for a ISI said, you're going to work for a refurb company.
Rex: They were at the, that's how they started. Yeah. Yeah.
Sid: And uh, so she didn't give up. She called me a couple weeks later and she goes, alright, I've got your title. I got your salary. I know what you're gonna do. And I said, Michelle, that's really great. But she goes, you have to come up here. So I flew up there, I met with Michelle. I met with Bruce Placeman, the CEO, Mike Dugal, the president.
And you know, the short answer to that question is I went to work at a IS and I was there for 10 years. Wow. So she brought me to, brought me to a IS, that's my intersection. So when we moved to Texas, Michelle had already left a [00:24:00] IS but with that, but it was easy to like, 'cause Texas was part of my territory, so it was really easy for me to just.
Pack up and move to Texas and continue to do my job.
Rex: So, looking at it. From the, all your transitions were pretty natural, organic, what were the stress points in? There had to be a point in time where you were saying, eh, it's not the right fit for me. How did you deal with that and then did actively network or you just kind of, kind of open to hearing new opportunities?
Sid: I think all of the above, right? I mean, I'm always open to opportunities, but I network all the time with people. I think that's important. You're what they say, Rex, your net is your net worth,
Rex: I, I've never, I just learned
Sid: something. You haven't heard that?
No. Oh, wow.
Rex: Yeah, and I love networking, but I've never heard that.
Sid: your network is your net worth. Um,
Rex: Then I need to, I need to network with more. [00:25:00] Highend individual. So
Sid: you could do is take your Rolodex if you know what a Rolodex is for those
Rex: know what a, that was my first sales lead sheet was the Rolodex.
You could flip through it. Yeah,
Sid: You could go through your Rolodex and you could put like $1 sign for low value relationships and up to $5 dollar signs for high value relationships.
Rex: that's cold.
Sid: Just show it to anybody. Okay. But I need to be at least in the middle. Okay. I think I got three or four value. but The transitions. Each one happened at a different time. Right. For me. And, they were the right thing at the right time. I would say the only time that I really leaving the Teknion dealership was a really stressful moment.
It was a stress point for me
Rex: Because of your relationship
Sid: Yeah. I was unhappy with them and they were unhappy with me and it just like, it was, it was just time to go. Right. And so it was very abrupt. Like my son was like two days old and they were in my office [00:26:00] talking about something and I just looked at him and I said, you know, guys, this is just not gonna work.
Rex: Wow. Okay. He
Sid: said here's my four week notice. I hadn't even told my wife about it. Wow. But she also knew how unhappy I was. Right. Right. And so,
Rex: but you didn't have a plan B at
Sid: No, I didn't have a plan B. It didn't take me long Sure. To, to get something. Right. Network. Network.
Rex: Right.
Sid: but you know, the transition out of a IS into being an entrepreneur, risky.
Right.
Rex: Right?
Sid: Terrifying. Yes.
Rex: Um,
you know, only 30% of new businesses are still in business 10 years later.
Sid: know, I know. We're year seven,
Rex: Okay. Well,
Sid: you're seven not always been great years though.
Rex: I hear ya. I, and I'm now in year 15, so I've,
it's just smooth sailing from here out. Right.
Sid: So the transition from a IS had been building for a long time. Hmm. my boss at the time, I had a really great relationship with him, and then I [00:27:00]didn't
Rex: Oh, and you mean at, at a IS it was a great relationship
Sid: and then it wasn't
Rex: Wow. Like that,
Sid: it didn't happen quite like that. Right. But it happened over time.
Hmm.
Rex: Hmm.
Sid: there were things going on in his personal life I was unaware of. And there were reasons why he was behaving the way he was behaving. Behaving. But I didn't know that. Sure.
Rex: Sure.
Sid: And I became to a point that I was physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. Wow. I just couldn't take it. Wow. I mean, literally I was exhausted and it had been building for over a year and so one day I just told Theresa, I was like, it's time
Rex: Hmm.
Sid: I gotta
Rex: she knew Oh
Sid: Oh yeah, she knew. I mean, I
Rex: Yeah.
Sid: Rex when you,
Rex: and you've got all that positive energy in you. Yeah. And no. Well, so how did the drain show up when you were home? How did she know outside of you
Sid: Oh, I would talk to her about it, but, um, I'd also, I'm really flip it. Okay. Kids, anything could set me off really quickly.
Right?
Rex: Yep. I [00:28:00] remember.
Sid: those things happen, right. You've kind of been down that path. Yeah.
Rex: been down that bath. Yep. Um,
Sid: I would wake up in the morning and my stomach would start hurting.
Rex: Wow.
Sid: Wow. 'cause I just didn't wanna look at my phone to see what kind of email was there. Mm-hmm. What, you know, this or what that and, you know, I loved the people at a ISI loved them.
Um, I mean, I just passed them in the hallway and got people coming out and big old hugs. I mean, it just amazing people. but the relationship with my boss, it just was toxic to me.
Rex: Yeah. Right, right.
Sid: And I needed to, I'm going to use the term save. I need to save myself. Right? Yeah.
Rex: can use Lose your
Sid: Yeah. Correct. Correct.
Rex: And, and I find people talk to people who are in similar, you know, every morning it's like, oh gosh, I just gotta grind it out. And I ask, so what's the cost to your soul? Losing yourself. Yep. Losing your voice, losing [00:29:00] your sense of agency. You know, your sense that, you know.
Correct. But the fear. That we've been trained to have, keeping our heads down, not rocking the boat. Um, and we, we've all been in those situations where we did keep our heads down just to weather the storm, so to speak. I mean, I,
Sid: Yeah. I mean, I, I was very fortunate. Because of Theresa's career that had a little bit of flexibility, right?
And so I resigned. I gave a four week notice like, Hey, I've got my hands in a lot of things. Let's transition this together. He said, I'll call you tomorrow. Call me the next day with HR on the phone, and said, today's your last day. And I said, are you sure you wanna do this? He said, yep. I said, okay. Wow.
And so I literally.
Rex: with nothing planned. Yeah. Figuratively. Yeah. Sorry,
Sid: I jumped off the proverbial cliff.
Rex: Yes.
Sid: Didn't know what I was doing. Didn't know where I was going.
Rex: [00:30:00] Hmm.
Sid: I mean, I was clueless, so I took a couple of weeks off rested, recovered, you know, read, I mean, I just did what you would, detox is probably a good phrase.
then I was talking to people. Like, well, you know, what do you think you should do? I, I got job offers and all that kind of stuff. And I was like, at this point in my life, I'm not sure I wanna go back and work for somebody else. Right? Maybe it's time for me to put my stake in the ground and see what Sid can do, what I can create.
And within a three day period, and three people tell me basically the same thing. The third person to basically say this to me was the CEO of of a IS Bruce Placeman, who was not my direct boss. Right. And, he had been told I was gonna work for a competitor and a bunch of nonsense, right? And we had a great chat on the phone and he goes, this is what you should do.
And I said, Bruce, why do you say that? so we talked about it. And a week later I [00:31:00] started Embark CCT. And very fortunate for me, Bruce was my first customer. Wow. Yeah. He was my first customer. Nice. So the company that I left in a, toxic relationship with my boss.
Rex: right.
Sid: Right. The CEO hired me to do what I do really well.
Rex: say.
Was it sales
Sid: Training? Coaching. Coaching and training. Yeah. Coaching and training.
Rex: So when you're coaching people, what's the number one demand or need that the people come to you for?
Sid: Oh, that's a really great question. You ask really good questions. Race. 'cause you ask. I know.
so the biggest request that I get from a coaching perspective is either sales
Rex: Hmm.
Sid: or leadership.
Okay. One of the two, right? I've had the, you know, the great fortune in the last several years. Coach a lot of industry CEOs or up and coming c you know, up and coming presidents that are gonna be [00:32:00] promoted into that. I've worked with some great sales leaders and some really amazing salespeople, and the needs are different.
But you know, my coaching is not prescriptive. So if you're hiring me to coach you, we're gonna talk about what it is your needs are and we'll. We'll work on the things that you want to work on. If you have a sponsor, meaning your boss pays for me,
Rex: right
and
Sid: sponsor might say, Hey, here are some things that I think this person needs to work on.
Then I will typically try to weave those into some of the coaching and ask questions about those kinds of things. Right.
Rex: The salespeople that come to you, are they high performers wanting to up their game or are they struggling and need something to unlock some magic for them?
Sid: it's probably in the middle.
Okay. They have great opportunity. They know, they know a lot, but they're struggling to get to the next level. Right? Or maybe they're new to the company and struggling to figure out the company and how to work within the company, right? I mean, our industry's not easy. So if you're [00:33:00] from outside the engine,
Rex: Right. With, with a lot of emphasis on the
Sid: a hundred percent.
Rex: Yeah.
Sid: But if you're coming from outside the industry, selling software as a service versus selling office furniture, there's a transition. You gotta go through there to understand how we sell our products. Right. And why people do.
Rex: So walk me through, I'm, I've contacted you.
Mm-hmm.
Sid: mm-hmm.
Rex: And I was hired by a dealership.
And they basically say, we sell X product. You're gonna go through some training. you're gonna have, six months on a draw. And I've never been on a draw with commission before. and I feel overwhelmed. Where do you start with me?
Sid: So I think the first place I would start with you is why are you feeling overwhelmed?
Rex: Mm.
Sid: Like, what is it about this?
Rex: because I'm not sure I can make the income needs that I thought. So when I came in, I saw all this promise [00:34:00] of income and then when I see the system and the comp structure and what I gotta do to get there, and now they showed me this library of
Sid: mm-hmm.
Rex: binders.
Do they even have binders anymore?
Sid: They're virtual. Thanks to my resource library. They're
Rex: There you go.
Sid: but,
Rex: But, but I just don't know where to start.
Sid: Mm-hmm. So I would. I want to work with you through putting aside the financial fears.
Rex: Hmm.
Sid: Let's put that aside for a moment.
Rex: Okay. And
Sid: And yeah, you've got financial goals right now.
You have a income, you have a. Compensation plan that's gonna get you through a year, let's just say. Right? So let's talk about what it's gonna look like in a year. So let's forget about, oh, I'm gonna be on commission. Let's figure, what do we have to do to get there? So the first thing I would wanna do is talk about, the products that you're currently selling.
What are you familiar with? Right? What, first off, lemme back that up. What do you know about our industry?
Rex: Well, I know [00:35:00] that I used to work in a cubicle and I got a demonstration on how to adjust my chair, but I don't know how to adjust my chair.
Sid: Mm-hmm. So, Rex, in the, contract interiors industry, what is it that you think we do?
Rex: I think what you do is you install cubicles and chairs, take care of 'em, and then when something's broken, you come in and make sure it works.
And, uh, if I need something right away, my sales rep comes in and tries to help me get it.
Sid: So the short answer of what I heard you say is that.
We put furniture in a building, we furnish a building and then we service that furniture. And then if something needs to be fixed or adjusted, we will come in and take care of that. Correct. Tactically, you're spot on. That's exactly what we do. Right. But when you
Rex: sound very interesting.
Sid: it's not very sexy, is it?
Right. Come up 30,000 feet. What do we do?
Rex: Um, help people do work [00:36:00] better
Sid: and.
Rex: Be healthier. The end
Sid: transform space.
improve productivity, right? We help businesses succeed,
Rex: Ah, boom.
Sid: so if we reframe what it is that we sell into, what it is, the product actually really does. It's a completely different conversation. Everybody's got a black test here. Everybody's got an ottoman, everybody's got a conference table. But what is it that you sell? Right? And when you start to understand that that's what I'm selling, it changes the perspective.
It doesn't matter how many binders are on
Rex: yourself. I love how you got there. Right? Yeah. Brilliant. And the question is, we've all been through sales training. Mm-hmm.
Sid: Mm-hmm.
Rex: you know, very few people begin with? What it is, why what we do is important and makes a difference to people and businesses.
We start with the, this is [00:37:00] new and here's what it can do. Here's the price point.
Sid: because the people that are teaching the sellers or the people that make the product, and what are the people that make the product care about the product. And selling more product. Right, right. So they want to, they want to teach you how to sell the product. And they gotta tell you all the features and benefits is the gauges of the steel, the BMOs certification, the lead certification, same, all that kind of stuff, because that's what their focus is. But you as the seller, need to, and you've heard me say this before, you need to be a student of the industry.
You need to learn the industry. You need to understand the industry and all the aspects of the industry. And not just the products. I guarantee you today that I could go meet with an end user. And I could sell them a floor of furniture without having any knowledge of what type of [00:38:00] furniture I was going to sell.
By just talking to them about what is your workspace need? What are the problems that your employees face? How do your employees work? How many days a week are they in the office? Right? All these things that you talk about, about what is the future of the workplace and where's the workplace going? And didn't come out with an idea of what the programming should look like without even any idea of what type of furniture I was going to sell them.
Wow. And that's how we should, that's as an industry, that's how we should be.
Rex: That's one of the values of being at NeoCon and design days. And which we should have started say where, where we are, what we're doing. So how about a lightning round to end this?
Sid: let's go.
Rex: Okay. , What are you looking for?
What are you hunting for here for the next three days? Uh, people. People. And number one, what's your best memory of a NeoCon design day?
Sid: a story that I can tell or that I shouldn't tell.
Rex: Well, uh, let's do [00:39:00] one. This is PG 13. So
Sid: my, I, I, I'll tell you my very first
Rex: NeoCon. Okay.
Sid: Is one of the one, one of the biggest memories.
Rex: and
Sid: it's just because of what happened. On my first day walking in, I was at a dealership, Hayward dealership, and down on the main level, on the first floor, there used to be a bunch of retail stores on the first floor.
And we were coming in the main entrance building and near the elevator, elevator bank, uh, there was a tie store.
Rex: Oh.
Sid: And I just walked over to the tie store and the person inside the tie store walked out and said, oh, this will look better. And started taking my tie off. And giving me the new one. And my boss, Sam, grabbed me and said, Nope, come on, let's go.
Rex: You
Sid: I was like 23 years old. I'd never been to Chicago before. I, you know, so this is a whole new experience for me, but that memory will never leave me. 'cause one of my fondest memories, I mean, not fond, but just one of the things that actually happened to me when I came into the building, but I love NeoCon.
It's a great place to be. I told somebody earlier today, [00:40:00] I was channeling my inner Rex Miller. Oh God. And Crystal from, um, crystal from a design firm in Austin. Uh, ero. Crystal. Ero. Crystal, if I butchered your name. I'm sorry. I said I have to have a selfie with you 'cause I'm gonna channel my nx Smeller and everybody that, I mean, I'm gonna take a selfie with.
Rex: Well, so we're about ready to take the selfie,
Sid: our third one for the day. Mind you.
Rex: yeah, yeah. We were running earlier. Saw you down at Marshall's Landing. We'll do one here at the podcast. but I wanna thank you for coming on the Resilience Lab, and how do people find you?
Sid: so well, thank you for having me, Rex.
It's great to be on the other side of the mic. I think the best way to connect with me is on LinkedIn. It's my most active platform. It's where I'm there every day. You can also head over to my [email protected] and then, because I am a podcaster, I'll do a selfless plug that if you are a podcast listener, head over to wherever you listen to podcasts and type in the trend report and, uh, come follow me there.
I would love [00:41:00] for you to be part of our community there.
Rex: Thank you, Sid. And when we opened this conversation, I asked, what does it take to thrive in an industry that never stops? How do you reinvent yourself when the old playbook stops working? And what happens when you bet on yourself? Well, after hearing Sid's story, I think we've got our answer. You stay curious.
You keep building relationships, and you treat change as an open door, not as a closed one. So if this conversation sparks something for you, maybe an idea you want to try, or a reminder that it's never too late to reinvent, please share this episode with a friend or a colleague who could use it. And if you haven't yet, hit subscribe so you don't miss the next story that might shift your perspective.
Your ratings, your comments and shares really help us [00:42:00] bring more of these conversations to life. A heartfelt thanks to my team at the Surround podcast network, Rob Schulte, Rachel Ator, and everyone behind the scenes for making this possible. Until next time, embrace resilience. Stay curious, and lead with hope.
