Tim Morgan, CEO of Oregon-Idaho AAA on servant leadership, continuous learning, and guiding principles
Tim Morgan is the epitome of a “Bamboo Farmer.” Tim embraces the power of the team, continuous learning, and evolving, even during the most challenging times, like the current health crisis.
In this episode, you’ll hear how Tim Morgan, the CEO of AAA Oregon/Idaho, is watering his bamboo.
Don’t miss this intimate look inside of a servant leader’s thoughts on running a successful organization.
Episode Highlights:
- 00:55 - Tim Morgan’s Water the Bamboo story
- 04:14 - Why building a team is crucial for leaders rather than being a singular leader
- 06:33 - The ability to execute an idea
- 09:12 - Getting people comfortable with being uncomfortable
- 09:39 - What the pandemic taught AAA about quick execution, innovation, and moving to a remote workforce
- 11:05 - Tim’s advice for emerging leaders
- 14:53 - Failures that turned out to be successful
- 20:53 - Habits of continuous learning
- 26:44 - Why Tim makes a habit of journaling
- 28:27 - What it was like moving into the CEO role of Oregon/Idaho AAA
- 31:38 - Which Bamboo Farmer trait resonates the most with Tim
- 36:35 - Revising guiding principles during the pandemic
- 39:44 - What question Tim would ask himself on a podcast
- 41:50 - Tim’s advice to his 15-year-old self
- 44:15 - What’s going well at AAA
Guest at a Glance
Tim Morgan is the President and CEO of Oregon/Idaho AAA.
Notable Quotes
- “I always tried to put myself in situations where I could try to be around a lot of bright people, and hopefully, a little smidgen of that might rub off on me.”
- “If you do things that make you uncomfortable or challenge your existing skillset, that's how you grow.”
- “I've also learned as time goes on, it's better as a CEO to express your opinion last, or else early on everybody's just kind of agreeing with what you're saying.”
- “Your point about these five years of building a foundation of roots for the bamboo to grow. I saw it all sprout right before my eyes, within a very short period.”
- “You're only able to propel yourself forward in an organization if you're exceeding expectations in the current role that you have.”
- Greg: “The harder I work, it seems the luckier I get.”
- “What I try to do as a leader now is that stay with a hundred percent positive reinforcement to the people that you lead, but also hold them accountable to the things that they've committed to.”
- “I'm a big proponent of asking employees to help us understand where they want to go, what they want to achieve, and then we can help them with the skillset and education if necessary to be successful in those roles.”
- On transitioning into a CEO role as an internal hire: “Nobody is going to accept you in your new role until you filled your prior role.”
- “There's an opportunity to not waste a good pandemic by reinforcing your organizational culture and values and how you treat people and how you want to treat people in a period of downturn. So, I think there's also a tremendous opportunity to reinforce the things that you think are most important in your organization.”
- “This is a competition against yourself and what you can achieve. And you can achieve things without them being at the expense of others.”
Learn more about Greg Bell
More than just a motivational speaker, Greg Bell is a Portland, Oregon based thought leader, business consultant, and leadership coach. His popular books, What’s Going Well? and Water The Bamboo: Unleashing The Potential Of Teams And Individuals, have inspired an array of organizations, from Fortune 500 companies like Nike, Disney, and Comcast, to the Portland Trail Blazers and Division I NCAA athletic teams like the Oregon Ducks Football and the Gonzaga Bulldogs Basketball.