barry_moline-pn78oywoq__raw-audio_barry-moline-robert-grantham_2023-sep-29-0837pm_robert_grantham -

book if you don't want. I'm going to, so this is for the editor, Brendan. Brendan, I'm going to do the outro first and then I'll go into the intro. Thanks to Rob Grantham for being our guest today and thank you for listening. If you want to get in touch or you know someone you think would be a great guest on the show, send me an email at bmolineatcmua.org and please leave a five-star review which helps others find their way to leadership secrets. Okay, outro's done. One other thing, Rob, is we're about to do the intro and then we'll start, is if you flub something, you want to start over, it's perfectly fine. I watched the time code and usually I'll flub up, I'll flub up a question. I just know the time code, you know, I'll start that question over again and Brendan, the editor, fixes it. So, yeah, there you go. All right, so now we're ready for the intro. Welcome to Leadership Secrets where we explore the key elements of leadership, communication, and teamwork. I'm Barry Moline and I believe everyone can lead from anywhere in an organization no matter what their job title may be. Let's learn some leadership secrets together. Today, my guest is Rob Grantham. Rob is the general manager of Rancho California Water District. Welcome, Rob. Well, good. I'm eager to hear about your journey to becoming the general manager of Rancho Water. As you describe how you got to this position, can you talk about a couple of the big lessons you've learned along the way? Sure, I think the biggest lesson I've learned along the way is that you have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. You have to be a leader. Hey, Rob. The printing in the background is making some noise. Oh, that's okay. If you can start out the, you said, when I was at the engineering firm, that's what you were saying. Yeah. Oh, it's okay. It's okay. But that noise, the editor would go like, ah, I can't get rid of that noise. Okay. Well, you know, for those machines you have, you know, for the top secret stuff in your own office. Okay. Yeah, that's good. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, I'm interested to understand more about those mentors. Were they like angels who just came along in your path or were they people that you sought out as a mentor? I'm going to say that again, that last part again, because I had a noise that came through. Okay. So, as a result of that experience, do you do similar actions helping bring others up? Well, those are micro moments. When something happens, it looks like there's a lesson, and then, you know, you're just sharing with your team, here's that lesson that we learned today on that, and, you know, those are those opportunities that you can take with folks, right? Okay. Yeah, that's a great example of somebody who's uncertain and then you providing that foundation to say, we're going to work together and succeed, and that I can imagine how somebody would feel more comfortable than jumping in with you to the deep end. So, being a CEO means that you're responsible for a lot of things, you know, your product, you know, water, your service, your customers, your staff, your community, you know, it's an awesome responsibility. How do you describe and how do you feel about your awesome responsibility? Okay. Okay. So, Rob, when you were a child, did you know that you wanted to run a water service? Did you know that you wanted to run a water system when you were older? What did you want to be when you grew up? Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Well, so was there a moment that you feel like you became a leader, some particular experience that you had? Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah, that's so interesting. So, the first time you became a CEO, was that at Rancho Water? So, how was that transition? Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah, I'm glad you brought up that point about it taking time, you know, two years. I think a lot of people may not admit this, I certainly do, that the first time they become a general manager or CEO, that there's a bit of imposter syndrome, imposter phenomenon, whatever that is. It's like, do I deserve to be here? Can I do all these things, keep all these balls in the air? I haven't had this kind of a job before. I'm not sure, you know, if it's within the same organization, now they're above people that they used to be peers of. And it's just very complex to navigate all those things and then deal with some insecurity. So, just hearing that you say it takes two years, I fully agree. You know, we have to give ourselves that grace to say, this is going to take me some time, and then find some trusted board members, some folks that you can share some of your, I don't know, concerns or sometimes vulnerabilities with, you know, am I doing this right, or what do you think about the direction of this or that? So, you know, people that will be honest with you and then also keep things confidential. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, that was a good way to turn that around into turning it into solutions, right? So, leadership philosophy, do you have one? How would you describe your approach to leadership? Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. So let me ask you about strategic direction, you know, having a larger purpose for the organization. How does that play into the day-to-day of what employees do? Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. How do you learn as a professional? I mean, what kind of things do you do to stay current with the latest technology, whatever it is that's the sort of latest and greatest or personal growth for you? What kind of things do you do? Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah, great. So lightning round. Let's learn a little bit about Rob. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Great. Great. How about a favorite book, movie, podcast? Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah, that's good. So it's kind of a weird question, but, you know, what's your brand? What do you stand for? If you had to, like, put down your philosophy into, like, a bumper sticker, is there a word or phrase that you live by? Well, I would vouch for that. You're a nice guy, and you're a great contributor. So you're definitely living your brand. Well, okay, so sort of last couple questions here on advice. What's some good advice that you've received in your life from someone else? That's good. Well, what advice would you give to just somebody else starting out in their career? They're maybe a recent college grad or a high school grad. What would you suggest they do in their lives? That's good. That's good. That's good. That's good. That's good. That's good. That's good. That's good. That's good. That's good. That's good. That's good. That's good. Yeah, that is great advice, because, you know, there's, I don't know, there's a handful of majors, and then there's thousands of different kinds of jobs. So you have to get involved from a few different angles to follow your interests to see what you really want to spend your time doing in your life. That is great advice. Well, Rob, I really enjoyed our time today. Thank you. All right. Thanks a lot. And we're done. Okay. Well, you are a leader. There's no question. And stepping up and taking responsibility and, you know, that's really what it's about. You know, even just like the opportunity on CMUA is it's just like, hey, I'll get in that pool. You know, I'll help figure it out with other folks. That's, you know, because sometimes people just say, ah, we'll let somebody else do it. Right? But it's good to just get in the game. Right? Because you never know what's going to happen. By the way, I'm going to stop the recording for a second. I don't think it will impact. Yes. Thank you, Brendan. All right. I'm going to stop it now.