How can relinquishing control and entrusting people’s journey unto themselves, help you retain staff? What is the mark of a true mentor? What does openness have to do with anxiety and fear? In this podcast episode, Billy and Brandy Eldridge speak with Ken Clark about leading one of the fastest-growing companies in the United States. Meet Ken Clark Ken is the Founder and CEO of Chenal Family Therapy PLC, a collaborative private practice with 15 offices across the state of Arkansas. CFT’s 100+ person staff (which includes both master’s level therapists and psychiatrists) serves over 1,250 clients per week across 15 offices. ​As a clinician, Ken has logged nearly 20,000 hours in the therapy chair. As an entrepreneur, he’s built a company that Inc Magazine named as one of the Fastest Growing Companies in the United States three years in a row. Visit his website and connect on Facebook and LinkedIn. Listen to his podcast here. In This Podcast Summary * Having the freedom to leave * Markers for when people are going in the right or wrong direction Having the freedom to leave Because we’ve made it a safe place, it’s where people want to be. That freedom to leave and not be punished or harassed or told you can’t take your clients is why people want to be here and it’s why people don’t leave here. I’ve found that that openness, that lack of control, that relinquishing of people’s journeys to themselves and not treating them as extensions of myself, that is what has propelled our business. (Ken Clark) As a business owner, Ken has found that by treating the employees at his practice with respect and humility and by making it easy for them to work in the way that best suits them, even if that means leaving at some point, paradoxically makes them want to stay for longer because they know that Ken respects them. In an environment where competition is kept to a minimum, where the workplace is not toxic, and where employees are able to work with the clients that they would want to work with, they have the room and autonomy to think about their own lives as well as their jobs. In Ken’s experience, employee freedom and safety breed low-level discontent because they are not in a hyperaware state due to some intense workplace friction. In the same way, if you do a good job at training them and encourage them to pursue the development of their expertise, they will leave because in a safe place they can consider what their happiness looks like instead of focusing on just surviving day-to-day. Markers for when people are going in the right or wrong direction In Ken’s opinion, openness is the noblest human state. If somebody is open … it doesn’t matter what their worldview is, doesn’t matter what their religious background is, if they’re open they’ll process through it and come to new realizations. The opposite of openness categorically is fear. (Ken Clark) Openness is a skill. When you lean into openness it equates to leaning into all different kinds of possibilities around a certain situation, and the opposite of that is fear, when people are willfully ignorant, thinking they know everything there is to know about situations or relationships and general life skills. That willful ignorance in Ken’s experience is a sign that there is work to be done. Books mentioned in this episode Sydney Finkelstein – Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent a href="https://robbell.com/portfolio/launching-rockets-17-observations-on-being-a-parent/" target="_blank" rel="noop...