David Horsager: Welcome to the trusted leader show it’s David Horsager today i’ve got a special guest he’s the CEO and executive director of source well, welcome to the show Chad, Dr Chad Coauette.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Thank you, David it’s a pleasure to be here.

David Horsager: Well, this has been a longtime friendship with you, with your organization, and so this is a special special treat for us, but for those that don’t know Dr Chad tell us a few things just about you, who you are what what you love.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: yeah well thanks that’s it that’s a big question i’ll keep it very, very brief but.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Farm kid from northwestern Minnesota and grew up on a crop farm with the couple siblings and some uncles and my dad farmed with grew up there learned a lot of great.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: work ethic from that group went to university of North Dakota came out of that great degree from that fantastic university got to give them a plug.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: and spent the first 15 years of my career in higher education progressing into various levels of leadership and, eventually, then.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Left higher education and i’ve been at source well for the last eight years as the executive director and CEO but outside of work, and I know you ask some questions around that.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Also, a proud father of two how has been 20 years and just really love spending time with our family outdoors and Hunting, Fishing, and just really enjoying all that Minnesota and central Minnesota where we live has to offer.

David Horsager: Well we’re going to talk about just briefly about leadership, you know source world’s grown by massive leaps and bounds over the last few years, even since you been.

David Horsager: at the helm, but what about you, you know, we find that leaders trusted leaders tend to lead themselves well, what do you have any habits or routines that you do every day to make sure you’re healthy as a leader, you know personally.

yeah.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Well, I tried to read some good news, as I can refresh up we get sucked into those that very, very deep traps of what seems like all the negativity that happens.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Very polarized political environment etc and trying to find it some good news to read on a pretty regular basis, I do enjoy.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Sports and going to watching some favorite teams and reveling in that and being around.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: My kids and their teams and their events as well, so really kind of pulling in some of that positivity intentionally on a regular basis, but I also.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: From a leadership perspective recognize that taking care of yourself and finding some time for you know a little solitude little quiet time but then.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Getting some exercise, and I could do a better job of eating better but try to eat decent my wife would tell you not quite as good as I could but getting a workout a couple times a week and.

David Horsager: what’s your workout what’s your work out what’s your favorite workout.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: yeah it varies I i’ve been called a runner and i’ve never described myself a runner in my entire life, but the last several years it’s it’s putting a couple.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Five k’s in a week just out my own out of patient with Three Mile runs I get a couple of those a week.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: When it’s nicer out in the roads are not icy I like to switch that up periodically with a nice long bike ride and then do some sort of physical.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: lift activity, most of the time now and it’s as i’m in my home office just outside these doors is a little room or a lot of you know just your own weight.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Type stuff versus them a great big weight room, which I do appreciate having access to those facilities and we have that facility at source well so whenever things get back to a little bit more normal I will look forward to sliding back into the weight room periodically as well.

David Horsager: When you’re back you know you’ve got a pretty.

David Horsager: Pretty long commute what are you doing on that commute.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: yeah it’s varied in my almost eight years of being at source, well, I will tell you early on some of my drives back and forth were either radio off just quiet, or just rocking it out do some good.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: At classic music just to kind of wind down for the day i’ve been switching it up a lot lately that i’ve been.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: audible different podcasts lots of learning opportunities as well, so it sometimes it depends on the day.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: What that looks like but typically it’s some some learning, maybe a phone call or two that I need to make on the way that I haven’t talked to someone in a little while it’s a great time to connect.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Not so much in the early morning drive they don’t appreciate that phone call if they’re retired and it’s seven in the morning, but that four or five six o’clock phone call on the way home as a nice way to wind down and connect as well.

David Horsager: For those that don’t know source well let’s jump then we’re going to jump back to personal a little bit, but you know source will, in my mind, you know it’s just an amazing story.

David Horsager: That is really built on trust yeah can you just give us a brief the story it wasn’t n JP became source well but just a brief of what you do and how you do it and the difference that makes.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: yeah thanks for that invitation, so I can give as as David could say I really long story i’ll try to keep it brief and source well is a self funded government organization.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: That really exists to help with Community success originally that meant distinctly serving the five counties in and around staples Minnesota where our headquarters is it’s expanded much beyond that.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: But we like to think of ourselves as a force multiplier for public agencies so think cities counties municipalities states nonprofits those entities.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: We are able to serve as a public entity and we bring services, alongside them that help them achieve.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Community success for whatever that means for them, and we do in a variety of ways, the largest service that David knows us best for something called cooperative purchasing.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Where we help and have on contract multiple vendors supplier partners that can help put the great.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: goods and services at the fingertips of those entities that sometimes have a hard time as a as a public entity accessing.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: and getting access to great products and services at a great price we help that process help streamline that process.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: And we do that service on a national North American quite frankly scale and then we also have a technology division which helps K 12.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: districts with similar technology opportunities, whether that’s helping make connections with some math challenges that students are having or if it’s an institution wide organization wide.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: er P system for for finance so that’s a technology side, and then we we do really spec pay some special attention to those five counties in and around the staples.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: they’re really the reason why we came into existence as an organization in the mid 70s, was to really help those five counties around staples.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: do things they otherwise couldn’t do on their own and really create some levels of the efficiencies.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: and provide professional development and training that just really lifts up those communities of school districts so cities and counties to achieve more, and really create a unique partnerships.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: So as David said we’ve been around for a long time we’ve been around since the 70s, we had a very entrepreneurial.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Member of our team joined in 1998 long before I started and the MIC hike is his name entrepreneur to give my credit and really Mike.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Put the organization on a course through how we have grown our cooperative purchasing services took about a dozen years really to get that momentum really built.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: But it’s it’s continued and grown and as allow the organization to grow from when I started July 1 of 2013 we had about 60 employees and today as we’re looking in March 2021.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: we’re at about 300 staff and have an office in staples Minnesota as well as a location in St Paul and serve again, as I stated really.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: With some of our services across North America, so what was an idea in 1998 to serve differently and and really grow how we help public entities.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: To trust through learning and connecting with the Members were serving how to best fit their needs and do it in a compliant way.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: and build incrementally over time that we have now been able to really accelerate that good work to serve even more people but it took.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: It took that entrepreneur in 1998 and a heck of a lot of trust between the organization and the Board and the region as a whole to get where we’re at today just very, very proud of that work.

David Horsager: I am too, and you know I that’s very close to where I grew up in one of the poorest counties in Minnesota.

David Horsager: And, as you know, and not only there’s there’s still the effect on Central Minnesota in such a positive way, but I remember when I started working with source well and JP at that time.

David Horsager: You know, less than a half billion touch now I think $5 billion worth of help in cooperative purchasing just that business unit right.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: yeah yeah we were as a volume of cooperative purchasing not necessarily revenue that comes to the organization just for clarity, but for the volume that goes to our cooperative purchasing.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Service when I started in July 1 of 2013 we the year closing prior to that was just a little less than $800 million as that total volume last year we were just shy of 5 billion and.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Really really excited for that growth that’s taken a tremendous amount of internal systems and built to get there and it’s, it is even though one person was the genesis to bring that idea together, it is taken so much of a team collaborative to build out that great set of solutions.

David Horsager: What I love about this is there’s a win, win, win right at least a win, win, win, win, win because there’s a win for the Community in a place where you’re educating and kind of a.

David Horsager: Poor part of Minnesota in many ways, so it’s helping there but it’s also helping companies in.

David Horsager: REACH, schools and cities and a fair way it’s also really helping schools and I don’t know if you can name some of them, but you’re helping big cities around the just just to name a few what are some some some cities and some places around the country you know.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Well State of New York as a whole in New York City we do a tremendous amount of work in the State of New York and do.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: and very proud of the partnerships, we continue to grow and the contracts that we have for some of the vendors products and services that are accessed by State entities and.

David Horsager: Those name of you would let us take snow removal or mowing for these i’m gonna get in trouble if I start naming all right let’s go.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: To the big.

David Horsager: The biggest thing what you’re able to do is help.

David Horsager: them be able to buy what they need the best quality specific.

David Horsager: Item for them that they could not have got alone, especially at the price so you’re.

David Horsager: you’re winning here you’re taking you know we talked about trust we talked about the challenge of of contracts and agreements and all these kind of things we have to deal with, and how it slows things down and.

David Horsager: And, and how, when when we increase trust because of who we work with or how we do it, or the boat the platform, the relationships, all these kind of things we can.

David Horsager: We can you know, speed up trust we can take costs down, and this is just a I think source will at a at the Court does such a great job increasing trust in a way that lowers costs in many ways for all involved, so I think.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: That you know your your example of the win, win, win is is is actually a way that I described the relationship with our cooperative purchasing as well, if I can just to build on your your comment, in the end.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: The user the person who’s going to use that contract to buy snow removal equipment or a photo copiers or help with their construction processes.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: There streamlining how they do that because they’re trusting our organization that we’ve done that process on their behalf.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: And we set it all up on the front end to make it easier faster simpler and less costly for them so that so they get a win.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: The vendor or supplier partner who’s supplying the photocopiers that the snow removal or the construction.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: They are getting access to in a connection with someone who sometimes they have a hard time making that linkage with just on how public entities have to buy things.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: And then the third win back to our organization where there’s an administrative fee for helping that make that work possible comes back to the Organization for one to keep the lights on.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Second, to do some additional organizational growth and the third part of that win back to our organization really falls right back into the region as you described David where you grew up.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: that the five counties immediately surrounding staples Minnesota I like to say, often fall in the wrong top 10 list.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: There in the top 10 poorest or most economically disadvantaged counties in the state, and if that revenue stream can come back into our organization and we can reinvest it.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: back into providing services for those five counties it’s a when it says, because of the value added service we’re providing.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: across North America it’s like we’re recruiting that administrative fee to come back in and really multiply itself and make a difference, back in the region, so it is truly a win, win, win in multiple ways, but without trusting process and organization, none of it happens.

David Horsager: And when I talk about my my childhood i’m so grateful for the school I grew up in, and it is.

David Horsager: amazing today, partly because of your input and and that kind of thing but ferndale Minnesota that’s a ferndale schools where I went I grew up eight miles from burned down little.

David Horsager: Little town I not a town that closest town was 500 person ferndale I grew up eight miles from there, and a little little farm my 91 year old parents still still live there, but the reason it’s bore is one you know we didn’t have the best soil in the state, but we try.

David Horsager: To farm and number two no legs everywhere else in the state has an enormous lakes, where all the money is and we didn’t but.

David Horsager: Which Minnesota is known for the lakes and we had one of the counties with the least in the state.

David Horsager: So you’re trying to farm on some of the tougher soil to farm on and you don’t have the the all the people coming up with a big money on the lakes, but we I tell you the school system there is.

David Horsager: phenomenal I believe and partly you know the the partnership of source was helped a lot of those schools be some of the best in class and i’m grateful for that.

David Horsager: let’s just take your leadership role, you know you’re leading in essence a government agency you’re dealing with corporate folks you’re dealing with.

David Horsager: Is such a unique environment to lead your you’ve led a whole lot of growth in number of people as as the CEO to now tell us you know what are some of the things you learn from when you started, you know jumped in the home, was it 12 years ago.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Oh no, it was in 2013 so.

David Horsager: eight.

David Horsager: Years ago that’s right, eight years ago, tell us what, what do you wish, you would have known then that you know now.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Oh wow man that’s a great question you know I I will tell you honestly there isn’t for sure, not a debt we’re not a week.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: But oftentimes a day that I don’t learn something dramatic and I mean not like you know something slops in Milan said the head dramatic, but something that is really.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: From the team we’ve brought on from the from the great group to interact with something that doesn’t somehow influence how we continue to be a learning organization and do something slightly different to to improve and or you know strategically get better and.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: I think one of the things.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: That I had to learn early on, and it was a part of my transition as as a.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: leader in higher education into the work that i’m in now and then being in the leadership seat, I had to start to figure out how to release some of those things that I love to do.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: There are positions at the organization that we were rapidly bringing on and growing moving from a 60 person organization to now 300.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: And there are many of those that I would love to delve deep into and like I can own this I i’m probably the best person in a 10 county area to do this work.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: But it wasn’t my work to do my work, then it was set to sit back and set up the conditions for success for the person who was going to enter that.

David Horsager: was really quick i’m going to cut you off because what, what are the conditions for success.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: What does that look like yeah so we had to have a trusting organization, we had to have a trusting relationship we had to have some organizational clarity of.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: What were they going to do what are they going to be responsible for what was theirs to really own and grow.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Many of the new things we are bringing on early on, nobody had done them before so when someone is entering that role they had to be able to be the decision maker.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: From the very beginning, maybe they weren’t the person who came up with the idea, but if they were moving into a leadership role over to that space.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: And to determine what’s our priority, how are we going to lead our strategy, how are we going to roll this out and if I was in their business every single day.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: It was going to inhibit their work, so we had to find people who are highly skilled, who were Doers could build teams could build leaders and start to shape out the organization, as we saw it.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: And where we’re going, and then we had to them build support I report into an eight Member board of directors, six of them are elected school board members who then get.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: elected from other school board members to serve on our board and to others are other elected officials typically county Commissioners or mayors and there are elected by their peers to serve on the board, so I made my sons.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: who come from really eclectic backgrounds and their common denominator, between those eight is service you don’t serve on a school board or a.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: township board or.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: county, Commissioner, because you want the glory it’s, it is about service to your Community so that is united.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Like mindedness about them, but the professional backgrounds are wildly different their visions for their own entities that they represent are wildly different and we had to then part of the role that I had to play was was paint where the organization was going.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: to garner support and buy in from the board members and how we were going to do that and then ultimately build that team to to execute it and then set up those conditions for success so it’s been a lot of learning along the way, believe me.

David Horsager: If you’re going to take one role, I mean you had to do a lot of hiring quickly yeah what one just one takeaway for hire hire someone you can trust.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: yeah wow I tell you what we’ve gotten better over that.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: We have a I think is very strong hiring process, you know it is, it is a process we’re public agencies, so we do have to follow a process it’s part of how we.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: do that work, but I think, as our human resources team has again we’re learning organization, we continue to learn what works what doesn’t work.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: But I think one of the things that was very important to us was to get a cross section of TEAM members to be part of those interviews, so if you’re interviewing for one department.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: You might the interview committee has a whole might have been made, primarily up of that department.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: But you’re pulling some third parties from other parts of the Organization for one to get a bit of buy in on who is joining the team.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: But just different eyes and ears on what they saw while they were in that meeting and does this person, whoever he or she is in the hot seat and the interview candidate see.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: look like they’re a culture fit not not not a Cone but if someone who would complement where we’re trying to go and bring a great skill set, now that the technical component.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: That was probably left to the people most likely in their department, but the character check did really come from other partners as well.

David Horsager: I know that one of the things you’ve tried to you know even get better at is kind of diversity inclusion equity challenges in the midst of.

David Horsager: You know you have a certain maybe smaller hiring pool up in the area up in northern Minnesota and then you but you’ve you know you’ve got the St Paul team you open new offices, how are you intentionally increasing this idea of of healthy inclusion equity.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: yeah well I tell you that, as we continue to work for it and we are as i’ve shared with David and another conversation we are very actively.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Doing equity inclusion and diversity training across our organization definitely.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: was a kick in the pants to do some to do more let’s just say that, with the Minnesota George floyd the death for last year.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: And being in our own backyard really meant something for us to say we need to be part of the solution so as one of the things we’re doing is some.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: considerable amount of internal training again not short term versus long term long vision on this, but the pandemic actually and how we have become better at telecommuting.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: will actually open up for us the pools of who we’re going to be looking to hire and not necessarily only advertise what you get to live in the greater staples Minnesota area which I think is beautiful.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: I love it I love the area, you know you can commute within you know 3040 miles of it live on the lake and live near lakes and be there.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Not everybody has that same desire to live in Minnesota in the wintertime so can we attract people who we might not otherwise have attracted to those positions.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: who live in various States different climates all across the US in the short answer that is yes.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Now the longer answer is, you know the, how do we do that, how do we have our best practices in place and some of those are coming together for us right now, but the pandemic.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: And how we’ve had to pivot to do more telework is opening up some of those doorways that otherwise just based on geography and weren’t always is readily available.

David Horsager: How are you talked a lot about being a learning organization yet what’s what’s one way you’re developing your people consistently.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: yeah one thing that I am super proud of and it’s a board commitment is is for all staff, we have a tuition reimbursement.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: i’ll say it it’s up to $5,000 per year per employee so that can be applied to either the employee themselves.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Or to one of their family members so to qualify as one of those it’s somebody who’s they still qualify for their health insurance so it’s a student I think up to age 25 or 26 and or a spouse.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: So it’s up to $5,000 a year to achieve degrees and certifications so we have staff members who are.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Achieving associate’s degrees bachelor’s degrees master’s degrees one who’s pursuing more than one I think right now we’re pursuing a PhD but then.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: In innumerable numbers of either spouses and our children in college age that are pursuing their next interests so.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: That that is been something that i’m really proud that the board, made a commitment to I think about seven years ago and the use of that continues to grow and we’re just really it sets a tone.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: within families and we want our team Members, our teammates to have their.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Families as a whole, be as educated, as they want to be, and as educated, as they can be.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: And really create and make an impact in the communities that we serve so whether they stay in ferndale Minnesota or they land out in Las Vegas, I hope, whatever that education is that they get.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: The impact that they’ve received from those tuition dollars coming from source well they get to help make an impact in a community and their family moving forward so it’s it’s creating that multiplier effect.

David Horsager: I bet that creates I mean it’s such a great that many people get a few thousand dollars or some at least organizations to themselves to get better you know the worker, but I mean that you extend that to.

David Horsager: Two spouses and kids and all that kind of stuff I just can’t believe that that wouldn’t keep in an immense amount of loyalty, you know and just wow they actually took care of our that kid in college or whatever so.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: We have great retention and we’re proud of that, the great hires and make and when people join our team and the folks that stay on the team.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: as well.

David Horsager: Well, I you know it’s about time for the lightning round, so you got to get ready for quick answers here my friend.

David Horsager: Sure, but which you know for a PhD like you well let’s see our doctor add you know I I before that I want to just say a huge, thank you, you know we only asked for.

David Horsager: sponsors by invitation and behalf, they have to be people we trust we work with anybody around the world will work on corruption issues and pro sports teams and whatever, but when we have people sponsor our trust work.

David Horsager: And so I just want to say a publicly a huge, thank you for sponsoring the trusted leader.

David Horsager: Movement the trusted leader book and and all that we’re trying to do, we have just loved partnering with you, seeing how you live it out on as we say onstage and offstage not just publicly but privately.

David Horsager: And i’m just grateful to have become friends with many of your team, and you and watch from Mike hike to others.

David Horsager: You know all the transitions and growth that’s happened, and he was here for a time for such as time then and now there’s people for the next.

David Horsager: version of source well and the impact it’s happening across all the States and North America, Canada, I know some of the great work much of it that’s happening so I want to say just to you publicly and on the podcast Thank you and so.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: on behalf of the organization you’re welcome and we’re pleased.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: To do that yeah.

David Horsager: So all right quick fire lightning round, here we go with Dr Chad, a favorite book or resource right now.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: yeah I read it’s probably the last two months, maybe three months, Simon cynics infinite game.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: very, very impactful work love it it’s about not necessarily like the one of his quotes really it’s not about playing to win.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Today it’s about staying in the game, as long as possible and for an organization like ours it’s a service based organization staying in the game, making an impact for as long as you possibly can, is success so it’s been a meaningful book.

David Horsager: mm hmm great one a favorite tech gadget or APP right now.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Just in general, like my phone my.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: phone just in general, just the power that is contained in that for multiple Apps multiple reasons, the ability to stay connected to my kids, it is a it’s I can name lots of hunting gadgets but nobody else cares about that.

David Horsager: right there you go.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: That phone works.

David Horsager: How about this a best just a best piece of advice or quote that runs through your mind that you think about maybe you make decisions by.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: yeah there’s there’s a couple there’s a quote, that I get a couple kicks out of when I say it, but I I often tell our team is that you can’t fire Canada.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Or you can at least do it once right, you know one time, well then you’re not sustainable, so the idea that you can’t fire, a kind of a canoe.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: And I get some chuckles out of that, as I say, when they say, which I will put you on the canoe will start one time.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: That the reality of it is, is that it’s about building a base underneath you so when you have repeatable processes you don’t just pull something off once.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: How do you really as a team and as an organization continue to grow from that and building that base systems processes people culture that organization.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Systems entrepreneurship, how do you innovate and not just win once, how do you do it over and over and over and build that base of success is really important, so that that’s something that that does resonate with me a lot.

David Horsager: Totally True, the foundation if you can’t if you don’t build the Foundation in our case, we say, if you don’t build that foundation and trust everything crumbles so absolutely true one thing left for Chad Colette 211 maybe it’s a bucket list or just some something you hope for.

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Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Oh, I would.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: wow.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: I would love to a bucket list love to go to New Zealand someday just as a bucket list trip spend some time there I do like to hunt I like to hunt and fish I would love it to be a hunting trip and New Zealand, but just to add to that beautiful climate that I see so much about.

David Horsager: And what what was the picture thought that, like New Zealand, of all the place in the world, you just thought boy you pulled that out to do, I mean I beautiful place, I know, one of my greatest regrets last time I didn’t go to.

David Horsager: Australia, but not New Zealand so it’s it’s it’s a special place what what drew you to specifically New Zealand.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: An image, I have in my head is I had met a woman from Christchurch New Zealand, when I worked at the College system, she.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: was on their summer break, was here there exactly six months basically weather wise flipped over on their summer break, came to visit Alexandria Minnesota and.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: She painted this beautiful image, where she lived where you could decide today, am I going to go to the beach or am I going to go skiing.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: and actually legitimately said, we can go see in the morning and from the ski hill where i’m going down in the morning, I can see the beach down below that i’m gonna be on in the afternoon.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: When I could pull it all off in one day and I said.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: You know what just based off of that description i’m gonna make that happen.

David Horsager: make it happen let’s do it alright well, this has been fantastic there’s a whole lot we can gather from this time together, and of course you can look that source will tell us about just working people find the most about source well.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: yeah you can look at our website go go look for source well, you can scroll through who we are, what we’re all about, and if you want to learn more.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: You can connect with me on linkedin Chad coed at linkedin pitch me a question i’ll try to guide you to her we either I can answer it or make sure that we have somebody who can get you the answer.

David Horsager: And we’ll put the spelling for both of those exactly in the show notes trusted leader show.com so everybody can see the show notes and we’ll also put the top takeaways as we see it from this show with Dr Chad quiet.

David Horsager: Before we close up Dr Chad, we got to go to the final question, this is the one we ask everyone who is a leader you trust and why.

yeah.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Great great question flashes back to my first professional supervisor or name is sherry also Dr sherry.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: sherry is currently college President in phoenix South mountain Community college great friend, in fact, I was just on the phone with her two weeks ago.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: She was the one who hired me back in first professional job in 1998 and saw something in a young mid 20 something kids that I probably didn’t see in myself gave me opportunity to grow followed her to another opportunity.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Beyond that first opportunity work together and really ended up leading a college through a very, very challenging time and.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Trust her a lot, and one of the things that I said when a the very first one of the very first conversations I had was sharing this give me to my point so I won’t ramble a longer than this.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: David is that we committed to when we started to work in this very challenging situation I said sherry.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: With all the things that are in front of us there’s not a way that the two of us are going to are going to conquer this list of 1000 things we need to do.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: We can pick a few we’re going to make a difference in the time that we’re here and I said, if we can commit to these three things we’re going to communicate.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: we’re going to follow through and we’re going to be transparent, with each other and with the team we locked into those three buckets communicate file through transparency.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: And we succeeded, we hung our hats on those and we live that out in the time with that organization they’re both interim roles as we were setting the College up for its next success.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: And because of my first interactions with sherry that time teaming with her, I have an ultra high.

Chad Coauette – Sourcewell: Just trust level in great partnership doing things for the right reasons, all the time onstage and offstage and I really treasure my time with her and as a trusted colleague and a friend rely on her on my phone or friend periodically so shout out to share meals.

David Horsager: that’s that’s a good example, well, we need those we need mentors we need colleagues, we need accountability partners, and we certainly need examples, and I think this is where we try to focus.

David Horsager: Not a lot on toxic leadership lots of studies and research does that all the things that are going wrong, we like to focus on trusted leaders that we can exemplify or or pull something from like the sherry’s and the doctor chad’s of the world, so.

David Horsager: Thank you for this Thank you against for Thank you again for just being an example of trust, thank you to source well and all you do for the Community in.

David Horsager: North central Minnesota but also just the world and for companies and i’m looking forward to joining you again.

David Horsager: This summer and that’s going to be fun at your annual event or a couple events coming up with your leadership team get the great opportunity to speak at so.

David Horsager: Remember, you can find everything we’ve talked about today at trusted leader show.com and you can find the show notes find out where to find source well and Dr Chad Thank you everyone for joining us until next time stay trusted.