In this episode of Transform Your Workplace, Josh Durham, founder of Gamut Project Solutions, explores his leadership philosophy and the importance of relationships in the workplace. The discussion delves into key concepts from Durham’s Foundational Five leadership principles, highlighting how empathy and self-awareness can transform both leaders and teams. This episode is packed with practical advice on building meaningful relationships and leading with purpose, offering listeners actionable strategies to apply in their own personal and professional journeys.
GUEST AT A GLANCE
Josh Durham is an expert in the construction industry with over seventeen years of overseeing complex projects worth over $1 billion in various sectors. Josh founded Gamut Project Solutions to offer guidance and support to his clients as they face the high stakes of commercial construction.
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RELATIONSHIPS: LOOKING OUTWARD
In a recent discussion, Josh Durham described relationships — the last of his Foundational Five principles — as the “most important thing in business.” Although this principle is discussed last in his leadership series, Durham insists this is not because they are any less crucial than agreements, communication, leadership, or agency. “The first four principles are really introspective,” he said. They focus on personal development to enhance leadership, but relationships, he explained, are about how leaders engage with others and themselves.
Durham believes that mastering the Foundational Five principles directly impacts the strength of our relationships, but many don’t seem to notice the connection. “If you can’t master or have a good grasp of these other four principles, your relationships are going to struggle,” he stated.
PODCAST EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
Surviving, Belonging, Becoming
“A human can’t go through positive transformation — they can’t become a better version of themselves — if the first two basic instincts, survival and belonging, aren’t being served. You’ll always kind of sit in this sympathetic state, this fight or flight state, where you don’t know if you’re going to survive. You don’t know if you’re going to belong to a group. […] You’ll never be able to transform into a better version of yourself. And that’s because the science says […] that’s the way the brain is wired.”
Reflecting the Good or Bad
“I say spread goodwill generously because a positive approach is going to pay dividends. Where this principle started was actually the negative version of that, which is ‘spite begets spite.’ If you’re cynical, if you’re spiteful, your life is like a mirror. That’s going to get mirrored back to you tenfold, at least. [Does] spreading goodwill generously and bringing that positive approach mean you’re going to get that back 100 percent of the time? No, that’s not what I’m saying, but more often than not, if that’s the approach you’re bringing as a leader or just a contributing team member, either way, that’s going to get mirrored back to you.”
When the Mask Slips
“We talked about mask leadership versus purpose-driven leadership in principle number three and in relationships. I’m talking about […] the kind of mask that we can wear or the mask that you put on when the lizard brain is triggered. The lizard brain is those primal instincts to survive, right? It’s really important that you recognize when your counterpart or your spouse or someone you’re in a relationship with, when one of those masks has slipped on their face because what they’re telling you is they don’t feel safe. They don’t feel like they’re going to survive. They don’t feel like they belong. And those masks usually manifest in ugly ways.”
Walking in Their Shoes
“I found that, over time and over through some very complicated and expensive negotiations that have been engaged in, there’s a lot more to it than just the facts and just black or white. Because you’re talking to another human who is going through all sorts of other stuff besides just whatever’s happening in your workplace or in the project that you’re working with them on. And that’s where that empathy component comes in. And that’s where real relationship building comes from. […] You can go through a really hard negotiation and still end up with friends on the other side of it if you approach it with empathy.”
What They Really Needed
“I was the head operations project manager for this multi-hundred million dollar project. I had a fairly large team on our side to manage the job. And it was really the first time in my career that I realized I couldn’t wear the cape. I can’t be the hero for everything here. This project is too big. That’s not what the other folks on my team really need from me.
They really needed someone who’s been there before, which I had, to be a guide for them so that they could grow — they could become or transform into a better version of themselves.”
LEARN MORE
Find out more about the Foundational Five Series at the Gamut Project Solutions website or connect with Josh Durham directly on LinkedIn.