Two-Thirds Vote
E32

Two-Thirds Vote

Summary

[00:00:00] Dr. Stacey Gonzales: There's a saying in Congress about two thirds vote. It's not even a saying. It's a rule, really. And in the growth path, we have three of us, and so there's three co-founders of the Growth Path education, myself, Renee, and John. And most of the time, all three of us. Are in agreement as we are building this company together. And so today we were discussing our assessment activity that we do with superintendents and their teams, and we were having a pretty intense discussion around the terms. and payment and money around that part of the business. And we were on a conference call and I could tell that two of us were very aligned. And so for about 15 minutes we went on and on around how we charge, why we charge, what we charge, the amount of people at the table. how school districts are funded and on and on and on. And the thing that became clear at one point is that me and one of my team members were going back and forth for about 15 minutes, and one person was quiet. And so when I asked, I said, so what do you think? , that team member said, I'm not comfortable with this, but if this is the direction that you two want and you two have more experience than I do and this, and I can, I can go with it, but I, I'm not comfortable with it and I don't like this part and I don't like that part. And, and the other person that I was in agreement with said, okay, well yeah, I get that, but okay, we're going to keep moving. and I knew that this was not the place and space for us to finish that conversation. And so delicately, I said, we're not in a rush and we're gonna pause. If one of us is not uncomfortable, we owe it to ourselves and to each other. to con come back and to continue this discussion at a later time because we didn't need to have it settled. It was a conversation through a, um, about a potential client that hadn't even committed yet. Right. We were, we were planning conversations for some client meetings that we have this week, and so after I said that, after I said, you know, I don't feel this is. Something that we should decide right here and now, and I don't think this is a conversation that we're ready for that quote, two-thirds vote, and however I said it in that moment was directly from my heart because I know that in order to really build something that lives beyond, me. That's legacy. That changes the world, that supports our nation's highest leaders and the challenges they face that we must, as the core team, as the team leading the work, must also be on our own growth path together. And so what that means and what that looks like is taking time to sit with discomfort and uncertainty. . And then when you're consensus building on a team, you're not looking for checking every single box, but you want more boxes checked than not in alignment. Consensus is about alignment. Consensus is about understanding. Consensus building is about conversation and collaboration. And so as I'm building these companies, , these critical conversations must be tended to and nurtured just like we do with our clients, our students, our family, those we love and care about. And so that is how I'm building in public today.

[00:00:00] Dr. Stacey Gonzales: There's a saying in Congress about two thirds vote. It's not even a saying. It's a rule, really. And in the growth path, we have three of us, and so there's three co-founders of the Growth Path education, myself, Renee, and John. And most of the time, all three of us. Are in agreement as we are building this company together.

And so today we were discussing our assessment activity that we do with superintendents and their teams, and we were having a pretty intense discussion around the terms. and payment and money around that part of the business. And we were on a conference call and I could tell that two of us were very aligned.

And so for about 15 minutes we went on and on around how we charge, why we charge, what we charge, the amount of people at the table. how school districts are funded and on and on and on. And the thing that became clear at one point is that me and one of my team members were going back and forth for about 15 minutes, and one person was quiet.

And so when I asked, I said, so what do you think? , that team member said, I'm not comfortable with this, but if this is the direction that you two want and you two have more experience than I do and this, and I can, I can go with it, but I, I'm not comfortable with it and I don't like this part and I don't like that part.

And, and the other person that I was in agreement with said, okay, well yeah, I get that, but okay, we're going to keep moving. and I knew that this was not the place and space for us to finish that conversation. And so delicately, I said, we're not in a rush and we're gonna pause. If one of us is not uncomfortable, we owe it to ourselves and to each other.

to con come back and to continue this discussion at a later time because we didn't need to have it settled. It was a conversation through a, um, about a potential client that hadn't even committed yet. Right. We were, we were planning conversations for some client meetings that we have this week, and so after I said that, after I said, you know, I don't feel this is.

Something that we should decide right here and now, and I don't think this is a conversation that we're ready for that quote, two-thirds vote, and however I said it in that moment was directly from my heart because I know that in order to really build something that lives beyond, me. That's legacy. That changes the world, that supports our nation's highest leaders and the challenges they face that we must, as the core team, as the team leading the work, must also be on our own growth path together.

And so what that means and what that looks like is taking time to sit with discomfort and uncertainty. . And then when you're consensus building on a team, you're not looking for checking every single box, but you want more boxes checked than not in alignment. Consensus is about alignment. Consensus is about understanding.

Consensus building is about conversation and collaboration. And so as I'm building these companies, , these critical conversations must be tended to and nurtured just like we do with our clients, our students, our family, those we love and care about. And so that is how I'm building in public today.