160. Building an Intentional Culture | FlyGuys CEO Joe Stough
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RSS Feed Joe Stough built a piece of software that ExxonMobil, Shell, and ConocoPhillips ran their worldwide safety operations on and he says none of it would have worked without a psychological framework he almost let disappear along with the mentor who created it. In this episode, he traces the throughline of intentional culture across three very different companies.
In this episode:
- How Joe's early experience running Dynamic Systems International shaped the fundamentals he built his next company, Syntex, on — starting with hiring a lawyer on day one
- The Interpersonal Technology framework — eight personality styles built on Carl Jung's archetypes — that Joe credits for turning daily blowups with his first CFO into a working partnership
- How Joe's Impact software went from one language in one country to twenty-four languages in a hundred and eighty countries in a single year, landing ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Shell as worldwide clients within six months
- Selling Syntex to IHS in 2010 in an all-cash deal — and being pulled back to the office six months into "retirement"
- Why Joe took over teaching the Interpersonal Technology program himself after his mentor, Dr. James Gwaltney, passed away in 2016
- How FlyGuys runs an "Uberized" marketplace of over 22,000 drone pilots delivering data instead of rides or food
Time Stamps:
00:00 Intentional Culture Mindset
00:40 Podcast Welcome and Guest Intro
04:58 FlyGuys Business Model Explained
09:00 From Syntex to Waitr to FlyGuys
14:40 Early Failure Lessons Learned
20:09 Finding Mentors and First Investor
25:22 Interpersonal Technology Origin Story
31:25 Eight Personality Styles Overview
35:36 Thinking vs Feeling
36:17 Choicing and Dreaming Spectrum
37:12 Organizer vs Presenter Styles
38:06 Building Teams and Culture
39:38 Hiring for Strength Balance
40:50 Mentor Legacy and IP Story
48:47 Culture as Career Thread
52:35 Syntex Sale and Return
54:23 Global Data and Safety Index
01:00:20 Waitr Origin and Hypergrowth
01:04:53 Scaling Lessons and Replatforming
01:06:56 Wrap Up and Next Episode
About Joe Stough: Joe Stough is CEO of FlyGuys: a drone data collection company operating an Uberized marketplace with more than 22,000 pilots across the U.S. He founded Syntex in 1995, building the Impact software platform into what became a dominant operational excellence system used by companies including ExxonMobil, Shell, and ConocoPhillips, before selling the company in 2010. He later served as President and COO of Waitr, taking the food delivery company public on Nasdaq via SPAC in 2018. Joe now holds the intellectual property rights to the Interpersonal Technology framework and personally teaches it to leadership teams; he has been featured in Forbes, Fortune, and Entrepreneur Magazine, and sits on the board of Ducks Unlimited.
Connect: Follow The Dwayne Kerrigan Podcast for Part 2 of this conversation, and connect with Joe Stough and FlyGuys to learn more about the Interpersonal Technology program.
Connect with Joe Stough:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-stough/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/flyguys.io/
Resources Mentioned:
Interpersonal Technology: The Art and Science of Personal and Professional Effectiveness by James A. Gwaltney (Author)
The Power of Goal ZERO: A Practical Leadership Guide for Achieving Superior Performance by Sam Smolik (Author)
The Daily Pursuit of Excellence: The 4 Keys to Achieving Superior Performance by Sam Smolik (Author)
Connect with Dwayne Kerrigan
Disclaimer: The views, information, or opinions expressed by guests during The Dwayne Kerrigan Podcast are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of Dwayne Kerrigan and his affiliates. Dwayne Kerrigan or The Dwayne Kerrigan Podcast is not responsible for and does not verify the accuracy of any of the information contained in the podcast series. The primary purpose of this podcast is to educate and inform. Listeners are advised to consult with a qualified professional or specialist before making any decisions based on the content of this podcast.
