Million Dollar Days

How High Standards Shape Teams And Results

• Robby Choucair and George Passas • Season 1 • Episode 110

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Where’s the line between empathy and excellence? We dive deep into the messy middle ground leaders face when standards slip, projects stack up, and “we’ll sort it out after the holidays” becomes the silent policy. From construction sites that live or die by early starts to content teams deciding whether to keep publishing during shutdowns, we unpack how small choices shape culture, safety, and brand.

We share non-negotiables that prevent chaos before it starts: supervisors on site before trucks arrive, office teams online when trades need support, and social posts scheduled so your pipeline doesn’t go dark. You’ll hear how “the standard you walk past is the standard you accept” plays out on real projects, plus why direct feedback outperforms passive-aggressive nudges. Instead of swinging between extremes—hands-off complacency or headline-grabbing tyranny—we make the case for a blended leadership style anchored in values and measured by outcomes.

You’ll also get a framework for diagnosing performance gaps without lowering the bar: is the issue skill, time, tools, or ownership? That lens helps decide whether to train, reprioritize, standardize, or escalate. We talk hiring with intent—paying for capability while setting the line on day one—so A-players stay engaged and mediocrity has nowhere to hide. If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re being patient or just avoiding a hard talk, this conversation gives you the language, cadence, and confidence to act.

If this resonates, subscribe and share with a leader who needs it. Want to contribute your story? Visit milliondollardays.com.au/guests to apply. And if you’re on YouTube, help us hit 1,000 subscribers by Christmas—tap subscribe and join the journey.


George:

Hey, um, I've dressed up for the occasion. You have dressed up. Now, the only way you would know that if you're listening to this is if you're watching it on YouTube, which you all should do right this second. Go to YouTube and subscribe to Million Dollar Days because we are trying to get to a thousand followers by Christmas. So if you haven't subscribed yet, now's a fantastic opportunity for you to jump over to YouTube and click that red button. And you can jump on the bandwagon where you'll get all the fantastic content for million dollar days. How I are?

Robby:

Me. I'm um you know when you have to sometimes stop and think about how you are. I don't think we do that enough in life. Like actually stop. And not when someone's walking past you and says, How I are? Don't give me a life story.

George:

That's if you do that, you're rude. And you just keep walking.

Robby:

Yeah, you're rude. No, no, I was being polite. Yeah. Uh no, I'm good.

George:

Good. How are you? Are you busy? That time of the year.

Robby:

Yeah, it's kind of. It's good.

George:

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Lots going on, always a lot going on. Um, a lot of people are really focused on closing out the year because a lot of people take the holiday over this period of time, especially in the construction space. But I'm sure in the digital space too, you'll probably take a little bit of time off.

Robby:

No, we work through, dude.

George:

Yeah. Yeah, we don't like shutting for the main days of. This is the main days, the public holidays you'll start and then just work every other day.

unknown:

Yeah.

George:

Why don't you have a holiday? Is that because or your team anyway?

Robby:

Well it's like posts still need to go out, stuff still needs to happen. You can't automate that. You could schedule in advance, yeah.

George:

Yeah. Or you could just say, hey guys, we're closed during this period. Or do you still have clients that have things over that period of time?

Robby:

There's lots of elements. We get to catch up a lot. We do a lot of internal stuff throughout that period as well. Um yeah. Why do we have to close?

George:

You don't have to. I personally like this that time of the year because the whole industry shuts down, it's like no, nothing's happening. So it's not like I should be progressing or there are things that should be happening on site or in the office or whatever it might be. So I actually quite enjoy it. It's probably the one time of the year I genuinely get to switch off completely and just focus on holidays. I still work throughout that time, don't get me wrong, and I'll probably be in the office some time some days, and you'll see me here. Uh, I'll definitely be wearing shorts and probably going to the beach not long after. But them's the breaks.

Robby:

But what? Them's the breaks. Okay, the so do you think that's not falling into like mediocrity? Like in the sense of like, hey, you should take this time off.

George:

Yeah, you but uh whether I take it off, I enjoy it though.

Robby:

So I'm sure people who work nine to five enjoy it. Yeah, but still people who take the weeks of annually.

George:

So it depends what you want, like what fills your cup at the end of the day. Yeah. You know, I could take three months, okay, then I could take three weeks off during the middle of the year and go to Europe or something like that. But I tend to like that time of the year. I don't feel like I'm buying into anything, it's just it's convenient, if anything, for me to spend some time doing that. But I'm still working, as I said, it's not 10 hour days like I'm doing now or whatever it might be. It's work as I please.

Robby:

Do you reckon your team enjoys it? Yeah, I think so.

George:

I don't haven't specifically asked them, but it's always it's always nice to recharge the batteries. They do tend to come, people do tend to come back fresh after the break. Are you hanging fruit? No. This year? No, not specifically. Just another time. I'm not I'm not overly stressed as far as work is concerned. We finished some significant projects, we're trying to get other ones started. There's always something to do. Always. There is never a dull moment, but yeah, we don't have any milestones coming up as far as pro oh, we got one project which will finish before Christmas, and that's about it, really. But even then, like it's it's pretty much done now. It's just the tidying up of the last bits and pieces on the project, and then that's it. Then focusing on the new ones coming up next year.

Robby:

Yeah, okay. Nice. Um what made you bring that up? Which? I feel like everyone's thinking about Christmas.

George:

Probably. It's in the construction space, it's just I find that specific, particularly trades as well, because they're all booked out. There's only a certain amount of days left, and so much work that has to be done, and every builder is calling everyone to come in and do everything. It's like every phone call I make, it's like, hey, how are you? Flat out. How are you? Busy. Oh, I can't keep up, don't have enough hours in the day. It's it's the same story with a lot of people in that space.

Robby:

You actually just made me think of something. So we consult for a like we've got a client that we we just consult for. Okay, so we just give them guidance and uh strategy and direction, uh, but they do the do. Okay. And they've got uh team members in their team to to carry out all of the heavy lifting. Yeah, and I meet with them a couple times a week. So I sit down with them a couple times a week, make sure that you know everything's in line, everything's going. And we actually had that conversation that we just spoke about then, and uh because they're closing. Yeah, they're in a construction space and they're closing for three weeks. Yeah. And I said, Cool, like what's are you what's going on with the the three weeks, the ads, everything. Yeah, they're not right, they're not running ads, but like your social media, you got newsletters, you got all this other stuff that we're doing at the moment. Uh, what's going on with it? And then they're like, I don't know. Yeah, I was like, Well, we need to like, what are you gonna do? He's like, No, we'll just sort it out when we get back. I'm like, no, no, yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. And I start and I said, like, what are you what why are you not now doing something about that? Right? And then he's like, Oh, that's a lot of posts. And I was like, Good, good, yeah, yeah, got a lot of time.

George:

Yeah, a lot of people look at that, they take that again that you're sort of falling into that mediocrity. Oh, no one else is doing it, perfect, like great opportunity for you to be front of mind.

Robby:

Yeah, but I also like found that to be like a like how much do you want to switch off? Yeah, how much are you gonna switch? Like, you you are like you're doing what you've got to do to get to the end of the day. Yeah, you're not doing what's required. Do you know what I mean? And I found that really um disappointing. And I I see it across the board. I see people who I don't know, can you tell me if you see this much in in your previous team or or team you may have now? Um, probably more previous team, I'd say, but where you ask them you're like, hey, okay, cool, you gotta do this. Like, do you know, do A and then do B, and then do C and then do D, and then like once you get to like E, they start not doing A. Have you ever have you ever had any experiences like that, or has there been anything that you've noticed in your um in your talk?

George:

Yeah, sometimes, sometimes like a a task that's might be like as in it's beneath them. Is that kind of something that you're thinking of? So say the A task, I don't know. Fuck, sweeping the floor, you know, say for a supervisor. He could very easily do that, but now he doesn't do it anymore because he's too busy doing other things. Not that he should be doing, I'm just a random example, but I'm just saying something that they could very easily do if it was a two-minute job just to do something, they won't do it because that's not my job anymore.

Robby:

That's probably culture more than anything else. Um, but more so like the well I felt like the standards that this person was being held to weren't high enough.

George:

Is he the owner of the company?

Robby:

Nah, the owner's a weapon. Yeah, and the owner actually, so him and I were having a conversation about this because we were talking about the whole situation, and I was saying to him, like, yeah, man, like you know, I noticed this, this, and that, and then he's like, Okay, why don't we do this? Like, he's like, Why are we not doing this much? And I turned around to like and I turned around to him and I said, Yeah, look, you know, we can do that much, but probably for this person, it's probably gonna be more like this much, right? And then he's like, No, I don't care. And I thought, all right, you're fucking right. Like, we should be doing that much, you know, and it's it's I've recently had the mental battle of finding the balance between you need to fucking do better, and I need to be more gentle.

George:

Gentle how nurturing, offering more of the clients or the sorry, you're the person you're consulting with, okay.

Robby:

Just in general, like you know, team, their team, you know what I mean? I always tell myself, I'm like, hey, I feel like fucking shit's not happening fast enough.

George:

Yeah, I feel like that a lot.

Robby:

Oh, dude, so much. But then it's like, at what point are you if you if you look at it in both extremes, one extreme is like you let everyone get away with everything and you hold a really low standard, and then the other extreme is you're a tyrant and you're like, hey, hey hey, what time do you start? 8 30, it's 8 31. Yeah, you should be you should have be you should be working now, not uh making a coffee.

George:

Yes.

Robby:

You know what I mean? Two opposite ends of the uh spectrum. How do you find the balance in between with that? You know what I mean? Because on one point uh he was saying something, like he goes to me, hey, he he he goes, the this particular client, he's like, I spoke to so-and-so the other day. He's like asked him what'd you do today, and he said he made 10 reels. He goes, and I thought to myself, 10 reels is not enough. Like it's not enough for a single day. He's like, so I went, he goes, and I made a reel and I posted it, and he goes, and it took me 12 minutes, the whole process, shooting, editing. He's like, cap cut, blah, blah, blah. He's like, I put it together.

George:

This is the owner now.

Robby:

Yeah, he's like, I did it all on my phone. He's like, I put it together, I added the thing. He goes, in 12 minutes, I went from having nothing to posted. And I was like, he's like, so why can they only do 10 a day? And I was like, like, okay, cool, you can say you get writer's block or you get blah blah blah.

George:

Yeah, I mean you gotta cut the creative, yeah, the creative comes into play as well. Like what are you actually doing? Like to think of 12 different videos and to execute styles, but and maybe some people are better at editing. I'm sure a professional editor would be better than this guy on his phone on Cap Cut. Oh, you'd assume so. Yeah.

Robby:

Um But it's like at what point are you not pushing people to the standard, and at what point are you letting people get away with too much? Does that make sense? Absolutely, it does. Absolutely. And I find myself in that because like I this is what I feel like sometimes. I feel like sometimes all of a sudden I start to notice and I'm like, that shit, that shit, I could have done that better, that shit, that and then I find myself, I feel like I'm swinging an axe at everyone, and then I think, you know what, I just need to just go away for a bit.

George:

Do you? Or is it a level of you're looking at that, right? You're saying that shit, that shit, that shit. Well, why? You know, we all uh when we're on stage, I'm saying you want the A team, like you want a great group of people that are gonna be high performers and doing the right thing. So if that's shit, does it get better? It's okay to be shit, be shit, but the next time it's gotta be better. If that same thing, if that same mistake keeps coming up, then I think that's a problem then. And I recently had a similar thing.

Robby:

Mistake versus a standard, I could do this better. Like Yeah, okay, but then if you can do that better, the the thing on like the thing like uh another example is like it's not even like quality of work, it could be behavioral aspects where you start to think like I would not let myself do that. Like I wouldn't let me do that.

George:

Is it a an experience thing or age thing?

Robby:

It can in some cases, yeah. Some cases.

George:

Some cases it would be. I mean, you're you're a very well-educated person as far as personal development, you know.

Robby:

My question becomes where do you draw the line? Because not everyone's I understand that not everyone's gonna do what I do. That's right.

George:

Yeah, that's right. So you draw the line closer to that. Well, you're gonna have a standard, aren't you? As in, you're gonna have a base, like the eight, eight thirty-one. But if it gets to eight fifty five. Okay, so that's is that the rule?

Robby:

Is that 25 minutes?

George:

Yeah, that's what's what's your standard? I suppose you have to you have to. What is that? Well, you've got to sp that's a personal question, isn't it? There's no one rule fits all, and you can have that thing. And it's also that whole concept of when I said about working four-day weeks and five day weeks. It's like, well, if the person does the amount of work they need to do in four days, why not have the fifth day off? As opposed to coming in and working and doing more work. So it becomes that question too, as far as what's their execution. When they're here, are they performing? Like, what's the go? So, yeah, I think it's something you need to assess and go, well, this is the standard. And then you've got to communicate that to everyone. Tomorrow I've got a quarterly meeting with all of my employees in the office at about 2:30 or whatever it is. So it's the first time I've done it in a long time where I had the quarterly meeting a quarter ago, and we're back now doing it again just before the end of the year. The process to finish the year, I'll talk about some educational stuff and standards, and we really reiterate hey, this is our base or this is the expectation. The very first time I did it, you know, there was a level of, hey, the expectation is you guys are on site, you're in the office at this time. You're there prepared, ready for the day, not I'm gonna rock up at nine o'clock, I'm not gonna rock up at 8:30, or I'm gonna rock up at 7.05. No, you're up, you're there early. And sometimes if you don't tell them that, it's either they'll fall into bad habits or they'll think, ah, Robbie doesn't care. He'll be all right, he's pretty chill as long as I do my work. But maybe inside it's eating you up. See, they may not know how you're thinking. Or they probably they definitely don't know how you're thinking. So, what is that standard that you want to set and then communicate that to the team and go, this is what we, this is what I expect of you working here. Now, are you gonna go down the steep jobs route or are you gonna go down that's what I'm saying? Is that where do you draw, where do you draw the line? Is it's a personal question? I'm asking you personally. So for is it uh when you say draw the line, so like talking about the start time, like start time, or like what are you talking about a specific thing? Because there's so many factors to it, isn't there?

Robby:

It's not just it can be start time, it can be what's the difference between two separate things? Is it just what they mean to you? It's like is it the outcome?

George:

Like what's the outcome of that standard being met?

Robby:

No, but you can't you out of all people can't say that because you don't let people work from home.

George:

Yeah, no, it's not outcome. You're not fucked who are you watching? Yeah, not working from home. It's not an outcome from yeah, that's right. Okay, I'm asking the question. Like, what is it?

Robby:

What's the what's the um there's so many Well do you have any do you have anything that rings a bell in your head? Okay, like Okay, so say let's go.

George:

I I'll I'll reference back to the construction uh to a construction site. If I had a supervisor that was rocking up to site 7.05. What time do you supervisor start on site? The supervisor should be there at least quarter to seven.

Robby:

Okay, and then really.

George:

You're the leader of that team building that house. So you need to be there and be prepared for the day because a trade will drive on site. So a truck rocks up, he'll rock up on site, he'll dump the material at the front, block access for everyone. All right, but if you were there at 6 45, you would have told him, hey, dickhead, don't dump it there. Does that should happen? Oh man, or even just they reverse back and they break a Telstra pit. Right? They'll drive over it, and that's happened. Heaps. Like they'll drive over a pit they shouldn't, or they'll park somewhere they shouldn't, and they break something, or they reverse into something, or they you know, block access or whatever it might be. Now, that that to me is a standard that I I if I went on site now, and I do this from time to time. So if boys, you're listening, that happens. I'll drive to site and I'll be there nice and early and I'll see what time they get there. Okay, so whether they're there before me or whether they're there after me, I'll then okay, cool. What time did they get there? And I'll take that mental note. And I'll say, and I'll either bring it up with them, hey, you're not on the afternoon shift, you should be here already. I shouldn't have had to open up this site. So that's a standard I have across the sites because it's perception. People will see that this person is serious, he wants to get the job done, he's not mucking around. And then there's uh probably a whole range of things like that uh throughout the business.

Robby:

Okay, just that particular non-negotiable, you're saying.

George:

Yeah, for me, especially if you want to be that on-site person, yes, that's what it's got to be. And then I like to have that standard here in the office as well. As far as they the office does start a bit later, and it's like, well, say, okay, let's just make it 7:30. I don't want them to come in at nine because that's two hours that the sites are open, that they may need something for the first two hours in the morning. And generally the morning's the busiest time. Hey, I need this material, hey, I need, can you call this person? Can you speak to the architect? Can you do this? Can you do that? So I generally want the office team to be servicing the site teams. And in order for that to happen, they need to be here at a certain time. So if you're rocking up at nine o'clock, then you've kind of missed part the busiest part of the day for the guys on site. So there is that standard there too, as far as the office team is concerned. And again, this is where it becomes something like you got to communicate that to the team so everyone is on board. Because if one person rocks up at 9 or 8:30 or 7:55 regularly, it spreads. And then like, oh, well, Jason over here is doing whatever the fuck he wants. I'm gonna do whatever the fuck I want. Uh obviously George doesn't care, so I'll rock up at that time now, too. And then it breeds that mediocrity, it breeds that entitlement that I'll do what I want, I'm I work hard anyway, I'll stay back. And it's like, well, I'd prefer you to be here earlier and leave earlier as opposed to staying back. I don't need you to work till 7 p.m. I'd prefer you to be working when the sites are operational and there's things happening and there's people that you can be calling and actioning and all that sort of stuff. So for me, construction is an early riser job as well. If you don't like that, don't work in construction. Go and become a florist. Go work somewhere else that has a 9 p.m. start. Like, I don't give a fuck. That doesn't bother me. 9 a.m. uh 9 a.m. sorry. Yeah. So that's the uh that's the other aspect of it. And you know, sometimes you don't even notice it yourself because you're so busy. And it's not until an issue comes up that you go, okay, now I'm gonna start looking at that. So say that person was rocking up late regularly and you didn't really know about it, and you kind of let it slip a couple of times because you went on site and they weren't there, like, oh, sorry I'm late, just car broke down, baby vomited everywhere, dog shit itself, I don't know, whatever. I'm like, oh, it's all right, don't stress. I don't get me wrong. Like, if there's an occasion where it happens, because it does, I don't lose my mind. That's me personally. But if it was, who knows, Steve Jobs maybe would have. Fuck you, you're fired. Elon Musk, fuck you. Don't come, don't, I don't care about your other your issues outside of work. Don't get here out late. Um, you're fired. See you later.

Robby:

Uh but if it becomes a pattern of lateness.

George:

If it was a if it was a regular thing, absolutely. Yeah, I'd give I'd go through the process, give them warnings, and then put them on that, on that advice, like a performance plan or whatever has to happen. Yeah, absolutely. Especially if you're a supervisor on site and you have to be there, I I think that's fair and reasonable because again, you your whole like the standard you walk past is the standard you accept. And I love that saying in construction because it's so relevant in everything you do. If you walk past something that's unsafe, well, you're accepting that as being unsafe for the rest of the employees, the rest of the subcontractors, and you accept that. Whereas if you see something is unsafe and it could hurt someone or kill someone, stop and get it fixed right away. Don't walk past it. If you see something is wrong on the build, stop and fix it. Don't walk past and go, oh yeah, hopefully we'll just paint that over, paint over that, and it should be all right, and it'll be all right. So yeah, there's um there's been times in the past where I've had an employee who's not performing, and then something comes up that then takes my attention and go, okay, I see that's happened. And then I'll go through it and go, cool, it's happened here. It happened there in the past, it happened there in the past, and now it's happening here and here and here. And then very quickly I'll make a decision whether I need to keep them or get rid of them or put them on a performance plan or bring them in the office and have a chat. I'm quite an empathetic person, despite what people's perception of me might be or how much of a hard ass I try to be, I don't think I am that way inclined. I genuinely care about people, especially my employees. If you're working for me and you're a contributor, I care about you.

Robby:

Empathetic doesn't mean weak. No, empathetic doesn't mean doesn't care. No, as in what I'm trying to say is I do care. Yeah, no, no, I'm saying like if you're not empathetic, does that mean you don't care?

George:

I don't think I don't know. I don't have a dictionary on me on right now, but you probably ask Siri or chat. Um regardless, it's the point I'm trying to make is I genuinely care about people, so maybe I would let those things slide more than I should. But when it does catch my attention, then I really I'll really focus on it and then I move quickly.

Robby:

Yeah, so that's my point. Do you find that you something comes to your attention and then it's like you like I the the analogy I tried to give before was I feel like I'm swinging an axe.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Robby:

And it's like all of a sudden I'm cra like cracking down on that and that and that and that, and then you're like, hey, this might be me. Like this might be my now I've all of a sudden A good way to word it is like, have you do you ever feel like you're at what point do you say I'm asking for too much here? Do you ever feel like, or do you ever feel like you know you gotta ask yourself, like, is it am I asking for too much here?

George:

Very interesting question. I don't think I've ever asked myself that with an employee. I'm sure there has been something. There might have been something, but I haven't noticed it. Look, am I asking too much? I don't know.

Robby:

I tend to and that's where But it's like, okay, so you there there has to be a boundary. Yeah, there would be. Like you wouldn't ask your employee to work for nine days straight with no sleep. Right? I know, really extreme. Yeah, but like you oh, you wouldn't ask them to work till midnight every night this week and be there at 5 a.m. Unless it was like a super urgent.

George:

Yeah, and also they would get remunerated for it as well. It's not like I'd be doing it, yeah, and that's it's it, like, and you don't get any extra pay, you just have to do it. So, yes, unread that would be unreasonable. Yeah, yeah. So, yes, there is that boundary, but I tend to push it a little bit like that's why I don't think I've ever felt like that, because most of the time I don't ever ask ridiculous questions like that, too, as in extreme questions like uh requests like that. Sorry.

Robby:

So then there's two sides of that coin. So you've never felt like that. So I've never felt like I'm asking for too much, but I also hold them to a high standard. Yeah, they don't they're two opposite edges. Yeah, yeah. It's so which one is it? Do you get what I'm saying? Because then either it's either you are not holding them to the higher standard because you could probably push them more.

George:

Yeah, you probably could. I'm saying probably you could everyone, I think anyone can in that instance, even yourself, me? No, as in to yourself, you could put yourself to a high standard, yeah.

Robby:

But like so the I it's not about moving the goalpost. Like you can always stretch, but it's like holding yourself to a high standard. So you're either not holding them to as high a standard as you could, or what was the other event? You're too empathetic and you're letting them get away from a whole bunch of shit. Yes.

unknown:

Yeah.

Robby:

Do you get what I'm saying? Like if you've never had the thought, that means that you're either not pushing them enough, or you don't care.

George:

I reckon Am I making sense? Yeah, you are. It's it there's a balance, there's a line to it though. What's the line? That's my whole question. Like, okay, guys, episode's over there. Do you know? Yeah, but how do you have to sit at I don't know, you've got to probably look at each element of your business. Okay. So look at the sales, look at the operations, look at the little things, time start, the starting times, finish times, fuck the way they manage their inbox, like really breaking it down and going, well, what's the standard for each of these areas of the business?

Robby:

I'm talking about, I'm not talking about like it might this might not be a specific individual.

George:

No, no, no. I'm just saying with your within your organization now, you probably I've I haven't sat down to say those things. There are a couple of little things, like as I said, starting times and certain ways, like even communication with clients will have that. Like I I would never accept any of my employees speaking in a disrespectful way to a client. And even as far as even as far as I know, but it could happen. Even as far as going, they should like not speaking like that to a subcontractor. All right, because these people are here to work with us and for us, and there's got to be that mutual respect between both parties. Does it mean they don't yell at them or whatever? Like I'm sure it's happened before, but not in a disrespectful way. I wouldn't I wouldn't ex that like there's those sorts of things that I would have there for sure. Uh coming back to what you said as far as do you not push them enough? Yeah, I I would actually say I don't push them enough. If I had to pick one of the two, because I do feel that they could do better. But then is that me saying, well, they're not at my level, so I need to push them all. I know it can be done. Here's the other thing. You've done what all your employees are doing now, yes. I've done it as well. So I look, I tend to often compare them to what I was like when I was their age.

Robby:

Yeah, so where so how do you draw that's do you get them? Do you I I think I'm unable to uh articulate the question properly. You do this thing and you're like, cool, I can do it at this level. And let's let's call the level you do it at level 10. Yeah. This person comes in and does the same thing but at level six or seven or eight. Whatever, like how do you know where it's like where do you I can't, I haven't been able to draw the line on particular things throughout the yeah.

George:

Well, do you need to look at what do they what are they lacking to get to a 10? Where's the disconnect there? Is it experience? Is it time? Like, do they need that time to get to that level 10? Do they need to do the push-ups? Is it training? Is it you need to spend more time with them showing them the rope, showing them how to be a 10? Because a lot of people will either learn through mistake or they'll just continue doing the same thing. They, if you ask them, or if they speak to a friend outside of work and said, like, rate yourself out of 10 in this task, they'll probably say, Hey, I'm a 10, even though you're rating them out of six. So where's this is where you might need to go, well, hang on, before I swing the axe, how about I just sharpen it?

Robby:

Yeah, no, no, but I I I think you keep trying to put it down to like a single act or a single person. I'm talking across the board. Like, how where do you draw the line as to because like the one end is like complete tyranny, and it's like everyone in at this time, everyone at this level, and if you're not at this level, your head's chopped off.

George:

Okay.

Robby:

And the other end is like, it's awful.

George:

Are you happy? I've worked with both extremes.

Robby:

Yeah.

George:

When I was an employee. Yeah. I worked with the boss.

Robby:

Neither end is the correct answer.

George:

Yes, I agree. Yes. Good. I worked with the boss once that was he was a stereotypical builder. And the way he spoke to me, but also to even senior people at the company was what the fuck are you doing? Hurry the fuck up. How come you haven't fucking done this? Like he was like the way he spoke to you, you thought he hated you. He was that way inclined. He had a very author authoritarian approach to management. And at the time I was very junior in my role, and I realized that he his actions worked. Like he instilled, he got performance out of people. He delivered projects on time, under budget. Like his management style was arguably working. It just didn't work for the long term because it got to a point for everyone that he was working, that was working under him that was like, fuck this guy. I'm quitting. I'm not going to work for him on the next project. Like, I don't want to be associated with him. So in the long term, it was really detrimental to him. Let's go the other extreme. I had a boss that didn't really give a shit. Like didn't care about what we were doing or how we were going about things. He was just like, oh yeah. It's like, oh, can you get this done? So I would subconsciously maybe I'd know, ah, he wants this done. I'll do it next week. I'll get it. I could get it done today, but I'll wait, I'll string it out until the end of the month. So what I found in my career is it's not one or the other, it's a blend. You have to blend the two. You're gonna have it's it comes down to like your leadership at the end of the day, doesn't it? It's like, how are you gonna lead your team? And I'm sure there are tasks and there are times where you need to be that asshole and say, hey, pull your fucking head in. This is not how we operate. This is not what we do. And if you do it again, then you can find another job. Which one do you want? And then there's gonna be times when you're like, hey, you're not working really hard, have Friday off, let's chill out, let's go out for lunch, let's um do coffees this week. Like you're gonna have that blend, I think, of different leadership styles throughout the day, throughout the month, throughout the year. And I think it's also really important to ascertain how your employees like to be led and lead themselves.

Robby:

So do you think you as a leader should flex for them? Flex in as in flexibility.

George:

Yeah. Yeah, I think as the business owner you'd need to have that flexibility for sure. For sure.

Robby:

All right, but as I had as the business owner.

George:

Yeah, well, assuming you're the head of the horse. Okay, and you're the one you're the leader of the company.

Robby:

Do you expect a leader in the business to flex the same way you do? They would be different.

George:

Without a doubt, they'll be different.

Robby:

I mean, they could be the same, but I think most people as in having the same level of flexibility. Like the same, you know how you're gonna be.

George:

If they're gonna be in a really senior role, I think they need to. I think they're gonna need to because they're gonna need so when I was young, I realized that although that guy that was really headstrong and had an abrupt way of dealing with people, I realized that two things. I wasn't gonna be that type of leader when I became more senior, but also I needed to know how to handle people like that because the industry is full of them. You get those people in in the space that just that's how they act, that's how they are. They don't hate you, they just have white line fever. And when they're on site, that's what they do, that's how they operate, they get it done, and you just need to learn how to communicate with that. Now, if I had the same mindset as him, right, and my boss came up to me now and he goes, What the fuck are you doing? I'm fucking sick of this button going off at me. Say, hey, watch your fucking mouth. All right, because I can easily get the fuck off here and you sort your own shit out. Those two people are gonna clash. Those two people will never get along. Whereas if he came to me with that attitude, I said, Hey, what's going on? Do you need a hug? I'll change my approach to him. I say, Do you know we're on the same team? You know I'll do anything you need me to do, and you know I'll get it done, don't you? It's like, yes, then great. Just take it down a notch, leave it with me, mate. I've got your back. And then that person will be like, all right, cool. George is good. All right, just get it done, all right? Don't stress, mate. You're gonna die early. I don't want you to die early. You're a good guy, I like ya. That that flexibility in my ability to change and deal with that person, I think it's huge. And you're gonna need to do that with your whole team because each one of them are gonna be different, how they like to be communicated to, and then also how they like to be led. Now, the more senior you get in an organization, you're gonna need to have more of those skills as well.

Robby:

How do you how do you determine what are the things you flex be flexible on and the things that you're rigid on? Is it values in your business?

George:

It has to come down to that too. You know, my values would be like starting early. Like a lot of people don't, like, hey, yeah, come in at nine. I know construction companies where the office staff aren't in until 8:30, nine o'clock. I worked at a company where they had that. The office people would start at like 8:30, and I was in the office at 7 a.m. every single day, like 10 to 7, quarter to 7 every single day. In the office, I was there often before the bosses were. Or I'd be in there and I'd see them there, like they'd be working and I'd, hey, do you want a coffee? No, no, no, it's all good. So what's where I think it comes down to your values and what you what you really want to get out of uh out of the business. Your business, your business values, business values, not personal values, yeah. What are the business values for it? And a lot of people don't do that, you know. I when I do a a training for branding and marketing, we go through mission and vision statements and and values and all that sort of stuff, and it's not once have I sat down with the whole range of builders that I sit down with and have they gone, yep, this is my mission statement. This is my vision statement, these are our business values. Most don't know it, yeah. No, most people don't. Most people don't have that in place because it's like, well, oh, that'll be a you know, yeah, well, you know, what's it? Oh, we we take pride in our work. Fucking everyone says that. Oh, we give great customer experience. Everyone fucking says that. It's yeah, just the generic the generic shit. And it's not until you deep dive into it that you go, okay, this is actually what's important to me.

Robby:

Okay, and when you let's just say, for example, you have an employee who uh is is coming late. What's your process for handling it?

George:

I'll bring it up with them, first of all, and it wouldn't be in an aggressive way. The first thing I'd be like, hey, you know our start times, yes? Yeah, cool. Well, you're consistently rocking up at this time.

Robby:

And I've noticed okay, let's how many times do you have to see it for you to turn it in and be like, hey? Look at Silly turn a blind eye like that. Yeah, I think so.

George:

Yes, because I've done it often.

Robby:

Oh, yeah, you have, okay.

George:

Yeah, without a doubt, I'd be lying if I'd hadn't, if I didn't say that. So yes, so you'll see I'm and this is where I say I let the I let the line get blurred a little bit sometimes. Okay, all right. But I notice every fucking time, every time I'll know. Now, in the same token as well, it's like I've seen people do that, but then come in on a Saturday without me asking. Okay, cool. So they're realizing that. So okay, you've realized that you've been a bit late this week, so you're coming in on the Saturday to catch up, or you're going on site and you're doing this on this day. So this is where there's a level of care there. But I like even I try to explain to them too, it's as good as it's as it's good for your career as much as it is good for the company to be prompt, to be early, to be known as someone that can be reliable. You will get promoted quicker, or you'll get other opportunities at other organizations, whether you decide to leave or you don't, or whatever it is. So there's opportunities there for you to become the best version of yourself, too. So you sell them on it? Yeah, I'll sell them on it. So Brett any, yes, I will, 100%. I would. Why not? I want them to be drinking the Kool-Aid. But yeah, I would bring it up with them. And I have done this in the past as well with employees and say, What's going on? Is there something going on outside of work that's stopping you from getting here at this time? And be like, yes. And they've said that. So yeah, look, this is why I've been brocking up. I said, Oh, cool. Next time, my door is open. I'm not going to bite your head off. Come and speak to me rather than just going, I hope he doesn't notice. And I said this everyone, I go, I see everything, guys. I may not see it day one, but it will get to me. It'll get to me eventually, either through another employee that's through an A-grade employee that's has a high standard. It says, hey, this person's dropping the ball. This person's doing this, this person's doing that. I think we need to look at it.

Robby:

Do you have an expectation of your team to do that?

George:

I don't have the expectation. You know what? Yes. I'll take that back. Again, if we're a grade players, and I'd like to, I always say that, you know, we we I actually feel my team's quite small given the amount of work and the complexity of work that we do. But I I feel that the reason we're effective and still able to do that amount of work is because we have good quality people working at the business. So I think that goes a really long way. And if we're not all A-grade players and if we're not playing that type of game, I think that's where the others will get a bit annoyed at that because A-grades want to play with other A grades. Like the top people want to play it, whether it's sport, business, anything, political, whatever it is, you want to be surrounded with the best people. You're trying to win the grand final, and you're not going to do that with juniors, you're not going to do that with people who don't give a shit. So yeah, automatically on that basis, I want to, and I've been really thinking about this over the last, really, I think this year it's come to light more than ever before for me. You know, because we had two significantly difficult projects. They weren't, they weren't easy jobs. They were the type of job that was just every day is a fucking battle. Every day. All right. And then what I saw with the team and how they performed on difficult jobs, their more their attitude towards it, the effort they put in, and I'm like, okay, you're a keeper. You've done really well. And seeing that was great for the for myself to say, okay, good, we've got a really good bunch of great guys here working and girls working at the business. But then it's they, I find that they come to me. I haven't had to have the expectation. They've come to me on their own accord and said, this person's not up to scratch, this person's not doing this, this person's not doing that. My old man's is very quick to say that too. They say, Oh, this person's fucked, this person's fucked. But he's a bit of a hothead anyway. So I don't, I'd sort of take it with a grain of salt. And it's an old school wog as well. So kind of take it with a grain of salt a little bit.

Robby:

But number one listener.

George:

Number one listener and subscribed on YouTube. What um that's who we should get on the podcast. Um, but yeah, there's there's that element of it too. And I think that's a good thing. I feel that that shows a level of care as well to the business, but also even themselves. Like, hey, I'm working like a dog, I'm working really hard, I'm working long hours, I'm working on the weekend, and you're coming in at 8:30, 9 o'clock, and you're not doing and you're leaving at three, like, no, we don't, we don't want that here. And if next year we'll be looking to employ people, we're looking, we're on the verge of securing a large project, I'll put on at least another two people. Maybe three. Probably three actually. And the peer the people that I bring in, like I sat with a recruiter two days ago and I said to him, I said, this person, I go, my my salary isn't the roadblock here. This what I'm gonna pay them isn't the roadblock. I expect to pay them good money, but I also expect a really high level of performance too. I'm paying you for your for your skills, I'm paying you for your company, I'm paying you to be the best and do the best. And this is, and then I think, especially with new employees, it's probably a really great way to look at it. If you've got a brand new person coming into the business, where like I think it's important that you establish that line day one. So it's probably important for you to know what that line is and spend some time going, all right, these are my non-negotiables, these are the things that I'm tomorrow okay with, but these are the the core basic things that I need this person to do.

Robby:

The line's different for everyone.

George:

I reckon it's different for the type of person you're employing and the level of their skill set and senior seniorities. What is it? Senior seniority.

Robby:

Seniority. So you have different expectations from different has to be.

George:

Yeah, I would.

Robby:

Absolutely. When I say different expectations, I'm talking about the the standard.

George:

No, then in that instance, I would say no.

Robby:

From uh my leading hand all the way to the Yeah, like the the level of standard I have an expect from you or is at this point. Is this this is the benchmark? This is the benchmark. And how did you decide what that benchmark was?

George:

I'd say what's important to me. I would go off my own experience, off what I've seen work as well in a business, because we've been doing this for been in construction for 25 years. So I've got a level of experience to say, okay, this has worked really well at this company. This has worked really this is what I found as a common trait across all these successful businesses, and what worked really well. So that's our standard. So I think a lot of it will come from your experience in that space too. So it's good because I again, you me, okay. Ask me how many times I've thought about the standard this year. You know what I mean? It's good to have the chat and to then go out and execute on this. And same with you guys listening, you should really do the same thing. You should go, fuck, that's actually really important. Does my team know the standard for our business? Does do they know what I expect from them? Because if they don't, there's a big disconnect there. They're going to make assumptions and their assumptions will be vastly different from what yours are and your expectations are. And then it's almost unfair for you to be going around and swinging the axe when they're like, Fuck, I'm a 10. What are you swinging the axe for at me? And I've had that happen recently, you know. The person thought he was a 10.

Robby:

And they're like, You're not. When I say swinging the axe, I don't mean firing people.

George:

No, I know, but even just having throwing grenades.

Robby:

Yeah, you're like, what the fuck is this? Exactly. Or why you know what I mean? You just start to notice. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Have you been have you gone through that example? Yeah, but recently. Recently, I noticed that. It's like what the fuck is and then it's like bang, bang.

George:

Yes. And even when I noticed it initially, my first result was no, no, no, this person's good.

Robby:

No, see, you're you're saying you keep, I don't know why, but you keep going back to the person. Uh well, it it must be the individual. Yeah, no, it's no, so you obviously you don't do it and go and cause havoc across the board. Uh, yes, it's not it's not often that that happens across the site. You got on site, let's just say, for example, you go on site, you're like, what the fuck is this? What the fuck is that? And then you leave that site, and then you might come visit the office, and then you'd be like, What the fuck? Like, do you get what I'm saying?

George:

Like different projects, different yes, yes, yes. That's what I'm saying.

Robby:

But is that you being in a certain mood? I'm saying that's what I end up saying twice. Yes, yes, yes. And I think that's hey, this might be me. I might just need to take the day. Yeah, because all of a sudden I'm fucking I think that happens too. Yes. I think that definitely happens.

George:

And I'll give you an example now. Okay, okay, okay, okay, Hannah, you were about to talk.

Robby:

Yeah, but I'm saying because then because then I it comes to the point where you've I I find myself saying that too much. And then I'm like, you know what? This isn't fucking me.

George:

Yeah, this is fucking shit. Then that's that's when it's not you. Yeah. But if you have the one-off day where you're like that, yeah, absolutely. Like I've just started uh I've started the carnivore diet and I'm four days in going well, going strong. But but fucking hungry all the time. I called you last night. So, hey, you've done this for three months. What the fuck can I eat? I'm starving. Just eat more meat. Yeah, I could have, yeah, but I didn't go to get more meat. So anyway, aside from that, but what I found, what I have been doing is I've sort of been intermittent fasting. I haven't been, I I eat at six, that's my my meal for the day, and then I don't eat until six the next day. So in between, I'm agitated because I'm hungry, and then I'll come in and be like, just fucking do this. And I'm like, hey, I'm I'm hangry. Just that's me. I better take a step back. Um so yes, but even so, I've had times where I'm not hungry. Uh, where I'm yeah, where I'm not hungry and I've acted like that too.

Robby:

Yeah, but so so do you see like there is because it it again, neither end of the spectrum is right, but like if you fall more towards the left side, and when I say left, I'm talking about being chill and it's like okay, you're probably not driving as much as you should. Yep, but then you can go full bore extreme, and it's like, okay, well, that's on the right.

George:

Yeah.

Robby:

But it's like an Elon Musk would be very right. Absolutely. In the sense of he would be very, very driven, very high standards, very fucking get it done. Yeah, don't talk to you. Yeah, and it's like I feel like it's hard to know where to stop. Yeah. It's like, where at what point are you tyrannical and you're like, this guy's a fucking Nazi? And or at what point are you like, dude, like at this rate, you're not gonna get anything fucking done. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? And how do you find self-awareness? Yeah, but it's is it?

George:

You're the one driving the ship.

Robby:

Yeah, but you just it's awareness is is just noticing. And you can notice and know where it's at. Doesn't mean you know where to go.

George:

You're still driving though.

Robby:

Yeah. So but if you're driving and you don't have directions, yeah. You're just driving. Just driving. Yeah, aimlessly. Yeah.

George:

So that's yeah, I suppose what's the what's the target? What's the destination? Like, what are you trying to achieve? You're trying to be the best fucking media agency on the planet? Like, maybe there is a level of, okay, I need to be harder then. I have to have this standard if I want to be the absolute best on the planet.

Robby:

And then how do you know at what point do you know that hey, this is a capability thing and not a you know what I mean? It's like because like not everyone can do at what point do you expect people to do what you do? You get what I'm saying? Not right away, it's the mental battle having it.

George:

It's kind of like, man, like and no one look, this is a thing, right? No one's ever gonna be you. No one chances are yeah, but then I hope they get better than you. I hope they get better than me. Of course. I would love that. Like, that's what I want. Also to bring maybe you have to bring that third person in that is better than you, to then and what am I doing wrong? Oh, you're doing this, this, and this. All right, cool. Come in and fix it. I don't know. But I I think the conversation's really good that you're having with yourself, that's for sure.

Robby:

How do you provide feedback to employees and all that sort of stuff? Anyway, contractors, employees. What's your process for that? This is all about holding people to a standard. Yeah. This whole conversation has been around that. Yep, yep, yep. And it's like, how do you lead in a way where you don't swing too much one way, but you also don't swing too much the other?

George:

And it's like, what's the and maybe there I think it's honesty is plays a big part in it. A lot of people are scared to uh hurt someone's feelings when it comes to feedback. I think you'd be honest and have that conversation up front and say, look, this is the So direct, yeah. I'd like a more of a direct like rip the band-aid off. Why why pussyfoot around it? Because I think you need to be direct and so they understand. Because they might, and this has happened to me before, I was direct with someone, and then they highlighted things to me that I didn't know. I'm like, actually, you know, you raise a really good point there. Yeah, you're right. I tell you, okay. Now that I understand that criticism I'm making of you, I kind of understand where you're coming from now. So that's good too. But I think, yeah, initially being direct, I think's really, really important. It's definitely that's how I've that look in my experience, that's been the best to date. Hard conversations, man. People don't like having hard conversations. Oh, dude, I'm what is it? Pain, pain delayed, something like that. Pain delayed is pain intensified, something like that.

Robby:

I feel like I've heard you say that one before.

George:

Uh that came from um your mate, Jordan Peterson. He said something along those lines. Do you think Pete is it? Something along those lines. Yeah, definitely was him.

Robby:

JP, I've never not seen him for a long time.

George:

Yeah, he's kind of gone off planet a little bit.

Robby:

Um at what point does at what point is it how do you determine if something is you being patient and something is you avoiding it? Yeah, good question. Do you understand?

George:

Like it's um there's certain elements of you getting the result. I mean, does it the result? At what time frame are you getting it in? You've got to review it, I suppose. Had you been more aggressive, had you been more hungry for it, would it have happened quicker? Would you have got the result that you wanted quicker?

Robby:

I think the answer to that is always yes.

George:

Yeah, that's the thing, right?

Robby:

Yeah, the answer to that is always yes. But then there's also the element of like, I personally, like me, myself, I feel like I'm always, I constantly feel like I'm behind. Constantly. I think that's the worst thing in the world. Yeah, that that, yeah, I agree. I sit there like that.

George:

People look at me, man, and say it's hunger, you're you're killing it, you're doing this. I'm like, dude, am I? I haven't built a 40-story building that funded by myself yet. All right, I'm not fucking what's it, what's it called? Um, Turner. Um Gurner, go. Gurner, sorry.

Robby:

Yeah, that's what hey, that's what we call them. Yeah, as we're making.

George:

Yeah, but that's it. Um, but you know what I mean? Like, that's where you can go, well, yeah, I haven't funded my own project that's fucking $500 million. So am I doing enough?

Robby:

But other people will look at you and go, fuck, you're killing it. Smashing it. Yeah, but then so the other side of that is like one side is like you're putting pressure on yourself, the other side is like you're gonna get completed.

George:

Yeah, yeah. I I I I don't think that's a bad thing. If you're an ambitious person, I think you'll probably get that more than not.

Robby:

I yeah, and I I don't think it's a bad thing either. But it's like, what's the other how do you I guess maybe and maybe there's no line with it. But if I know and I feel like that about myself, I believe I'm always gonna push myself further than most people. And then it's like, well, do you have that expectation of everyone around you to do the same thing? And is that realistic? You know, you could turn around and say, okay, uh, Alex Homozy expects his employees to work 20 out of 21 days. Yeah, neither of us expect that out of our employees. Yeah. Should we? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Do you get what I'm saying? Like, should we though? Should we turn around and say, hey, yeah, he's right. No wonder why you can do 100 mil in three days.

George:

Yeah, exactly.

Robby:

Do you know what I mean? It's like he's getting his employees to work 16-hour days 20 days in a row.

George:

Yeah.

Robby:

And it's like, well, how do you yeah, I don't know. That's just a question that's in my head, man. It's like, how do you know when enough is enough? How do you know you're you're you're doing the most you can? And it's like, do you need to push so far to the edge that you you feel the edge and almost fall off? And say, all right, cool, like that's we've kind of tested the boundary here. Um yeah, the the conversation with the client really opened my eyes to that thing. I found myself kind of justifying someone's position. Yeah, and I was like, nah, look, you know, an hour real, blah, blah, blah. And then he's like, no. And I was like, you're fucking right. Like, no, why the fuck am I? Why accepting it? I've almost conditioned. Yeah, yeah. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, it's almost like I've conditioned myself to start to believe, like, you know what? You know what I mean? Like, yeah, okay, we just gotta we gotta be a little bit more patient with them. And and it's like, well, why?

George:

Yep, I completely agree. Yeah, and then I got pissed off.

Robby:

No, I was because I was like, you know what? You're fucking right, dude.

George:

Hey, uh, and this is where an ambitious person will pick up stuff like that on themselves eventually. Do you know what I mean? Whereas if you were that more complacent person, be like, no, no, no, it's five's okay. Five's good, man. Trust me, I know. Five's alright.

Robby:

Yeah, but then okay, so then it's like, well, is it? I don't know.

George:

I don't know. I get what you're saying. It's that battle. Yeah, it's that battle. That battle. Um, but anyway, something that shouldn't be a battle is subscribing to this podcast. I know we started it off that way, and we also need to finish it that way because we are on a mission to reach as many people as we possibly can in this world. You know, that's what this has been about, this whole million-dollar day journey. It's not just documenting our process, what we're about, and how we go about things, it's also to help people and reach more people and connect with people. So we would love it if you guys would subscribe anywhere, not just YouTube, but any channel that we've got going on.

Robby:

Yeah, and also we are um putting a heavy push with everything we're doing for this podcast in 2026. Yeah. And the goal is going to be to get more people on the podcast for you guys to learn from as well. We want you guys to take as much as you can from this. Uh, and uh if if you're listening and you think you're someone that can add value to the audience, uh go to million dollar days.com.au forward slash guests, and there's a form on there that you can fill out. And if we think you're a fit, uh we'll get in touch. Absolutely. You know what I mean? Um, it's not just a yarn, it is more, you know, what what value can you add to everyone else listening? You know, have you run a business successfully? Have you navigated uh life situations? Have you what what is it about your story or your situation that you think people can get something out of? And if you share that with us and we think it's gonna be of good value, we'll invite you into the studio and we'll get you on for an episode. Uh we're gonna we're gonna have a huge push towards this in the coming year. Yeah, for sure. Um we're gonna aim for should we say at least every second episode? Yeah, have someone on new eye. Yeah, the goals are gonna be try, we're gonna go for every second episode to have someone new on uh to get them on for a conversation, anything, you know, entrepreneurship, uh, life, business, yeah, you know, mindset kind of conversations and and uh bring more to you 2026.

George:

Love it. All right, guys, thank you so much for your time. As always, cannot wait to see you next week. Thanks everyone. Take care. I got stomach aches.

Contributor

George Passas

Host
Contributor

Robby Choucair

Host