This week I have a powerful conversation with Jocko Willink about ownership and leadership. Jocko is a retired Navy SEAL, extreme leadership expert and co-author of Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy Seals Lead and Win.

Jocko retired from the United States Navy SEALs in 2010, with a Silver Star and Bronze Star, and formed the company Echelon Front with Leif Babin, who served under Jocko in the Battle of Ramadi. Echelon Front offers training services that help build, train and lead high-performance winning teams. Jocko and Leif also co-authored Extreme Ownership as a leadership manual.

Mentorship is important as a Navy SEAL and a business leader. Jocko embraces mentorship from anyone with something to teach him. He realized early on that he needed to understand something in order to make sense of it.

“When you’re working with businesses and working with leaders, you can’t just tell them, ‘here’s the problem and here’s the solution,’ because every problem is different. There’s going to be nuances in everything, and so you have to take these principles that you learn and apply those principles. But you have to apply them not as a mechanic, but as an artist.”

Jocko relates the process of reaching understanding to a concept called Commander’s Intent, which describes the overall goals, purpose, strategy, and desired end state. A German general once said that the Commander’s Intent should not be added on to the end of a briefing, but replace the briefing entirely.

“Knowing where you’re heading, and what the end state you’re looking for is, and what the intent of the operation or the mission is, it should certainly be enough.”

Jocko’s military career and his current entrepreneurial lifestyle requires constantly adapting to new and different people, with new and different personalities. He doesn’t have a very large tool kit for adapting to different personalities, but he has effective tools:

• Listen.

• “Tool number two is what you’re going to take out of your box after you’ve listened.”

Jocko is a champion of Extreme Ownership, the central concept and title of his book, and he believes that it is the number one characteristic of a high performance individual or team. “The reason that extreme ownership is the most important characteristic is because, if you don’t take ownership over what’s happening in your world, how can you change any of it? … If you face the reality that what’s going on in your world actually is your fault, and if anyone can fix it it’s you, then you can actually take action.”

There’s always other things in the world to blame, but there’s only one you can fix, and that’s you. Taking Extreme Ownership can be simple:

1. Acknowledge that things aren’t going the way you want them to go
2. Identify the elements that play into the way things are
3. Take action to fix what you aren’t happy with

Ownership is integral to leadership, and to Jocko leadership is what makes or breaks a mission. Leadership isn’t just about taking orders – it’s about building a two-way relationship with trust and communication.

“My goal with every leader that I ever worked for, whether they were horrible or they were awesome, my goal was always the same: to develop a relationship with them where they trusted me and they let me do what I want.” If it’s en egomaniac, Jocko strokes their ego. If it’s a great leader, then out of the gate you are working with them, building a relationship and developing trust.

You don’t need to be in charge to take ownership. In most situations, whatever your boss is trying to make happen, you’re the one doing it. Do it the right way (or the wrong way), and you can have a massive amount of influence over it. “If my boss has a vision, I’m going to take ownership and make it happen, and I’m going to build trust. And when they tell me to do something that doesn’t make sense, I’m going to have the relationship to say, ‘Hey boss, this doesn’t make sense right here.’”

Jocko shares stories about some of the times things didn’t go well, but he always holds on to the will to win. “The will to win isn’t a short-term thing. The will to win is a deep-seated desire for a long-term end state. You have to recognize that, along the way, you’re going to take wins and you’re going to take losses.” What’s going to trip you up when you fail is when your ego doesn’t allow you to take ownership of the failure.

Success is often driven by ego, and Jocko embraces that. We should want to do well, and we should care how we perform. “Where it goes sideways is where the ego becomes so big that it no longer thinks it can do any better, no longer can you be corrected, no longer can you be coached, no longer can you change, no longer can you evolve, because your ego thinks you’re already there.”

To keep our egos in check, Jocko has a few simple tools:

1. Keep an open mind
2. Don’t believe your own hype
3. Make an honest self-assessment. The way that you make an honest self-assessment is to detach from yourself and look at yourself from an exterior point of view.

I’m honored to have gotten to speak with Jocko about his book, his business and his past experiences. He is a powerful speaker, and he has a lot to share about leadership, ownership and success.

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This episode is brought to you by SY Partners and Unstuck, helping you make a change by identifying the things holding you up. Their new program “Life Courses” are based on decades of learning about what inspires people to change. It is created by SYPartners, a transformation company that helps individuals, teams, and organizations become the best version of themselves, so they can create massive positive impact in business and society.

To start making your change, visit Life Courses by Unstuck on the web.

 

Download this Episode MP3.

 

SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:

• What are some steps Jocko takes to bridge the gap between knowledge and understanding?
• Is it enough to simply begin with the end in mind in order to get to understanding?
• How does Jocko adapt to different personalities on the fly?
• Why is Extreme Ownership the number one characteristic of a high performance individual or team?
• How does the will to win aid in recovering from a situation that is in essence failure?
• How does Jocko use The Leader’s Checklist with his fellow SEALS, and how can entrepreneurs adapt this checklist in their businesses?

 

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:

• Why extreme ownership is the number one characteristic of a high performance individual
• How to build relationships with the leaders around you
• How aspects of military strategy can improve business strategy
• How to use your ego as a driver, but keep it in check

 

DON’T BE A PODCAST JUNKIE…

• Learn more about Jocko: Echelon Front | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
• Listen to the Jocko Podcast
• Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy Seals Lead and Win

 

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

• Live to Tell, “Charlie Platoon & The Story of Marc Lee”

Today’s guest, Kelly Starrett, is a coach, physical therapist, speaker, co-creator of MobiltyWOD.com, and author of two NY Times Best Sellers: Becoming a Supple Leopard & Ready to Run. Kelly recently published his third book, Deskbound.

Kelly started the 27^th CrossFit gym in the country, with a private student loan from grad school. “It was a total calculated risk. No one knew this; they didn’t know what this was.“ Kelly thought it would be a great place for his friends to train, and he hoped to pick up skills that would make him a better physiotherapist. The gym evolved into a lot more.

“Then we started solving a problem. We started to see the way people moved … Don’t set up a business, be useful.”

Kelly didn’t have one distinct mentor, but he did have many talented colleagues and inspirations around him. “There’s this constant loop of creativity that doesn’t turn off.”

“Process begets process. For us, the mentorship is that we all feed each other and draft off each other and push each other and nudge each other, and that really is sustainable.”

Kelly’s third book, Deskbound: Standing Up to a Sitting World, was released in April, and it is currently the #1 Best Seller in Exercise & Fitness Injury Prevention on Amazon. Deskbound is a blueprint for living pain free in a sedimentary society. It identifies the epigenetic implications of not moving (pelvic floor dysfunction, jaw clenching, shortened hips, insulin insensitivity) and seeks to structure a solution.

“At some point, there’s going to have to be an intervention that actually works, and we think that this is one of those interventions that’s so simple – i.e. get human beings to be what human beings are, what they’re supposed to do, which is move.”

The book opens with, “The human body is incredibly robust. This is a good thing, if you have a plan for getting organized.” Immediately, you can divide your life into opportunities where you can sit, and opportunities where you don’t have to sit. It becomes optional and non-optional sitting.

The book is trying to encourage readers to adapt the environment around them to force more movement. For example, during this interview, Kelly and I are sitting on the floor. Because of this, we’re already in better metabolic positions. We’re not metabolically active, but we’re taking our hips through the full range of motion and we’re at least obeying the range of motion that the tissues are designed for. “What we’ve done is immediately program a whole bunch more movement in, and all we did was say, ‘Let’s not sit in a chair.’”

If you do find yourself having to sit a lot, you have to have a plan to address the tissue restrictions. The second half of the book provides simple tools to open up tissues that are stiff, restore normal sliding surfaces and regain function.

Kids who stand in school will burn an additional 15-30% more calories daily than kids who don’t, and they even focus better. Kelly’s partner at Texas A&M, Mark Benden, has research showing that kids are gaining about 2 percentage points on their body index every year they sit at school, and what Kelly’s seen is that in two years they’ve actually been able to reverse that trend.

“We have to start playing the long game: just do the right thing, day after day, and pretty soon it really makes massive change.”

Kelly is incredibly passionate about health and healing, and he’s doing great work with his wife at MobilityWOD.com. I’m grateful to Kelly for sharing his passion with the Impact Entrepreneur Show.

 

Download this Episode MP3.

 

SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:

• What is the premise of Kelly’s new book, Deskbound?
• What are some consequences of not being organized?
• What are physical cues listeners can pay attention to as they’re listening to analyze what they’re doing right now to see if they’re helping or hindering themselves?
• What can parents do to improve movement in their children’s lives?

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:

• The danger in sedimentary living
• How we can structure our lives and environments to involve more movement
• How standing can combat the trend of childhood obesity
• Why Kelly was drawn to CrossFit in its infancy

DON’T BE A PODCAST JUNKIE…

• Learn more about Kelly: MobilityWOD | Facebook

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

• Deskbound
• Ready To Run
• Becoming A Supple Leopard

This week I have a wonderful conversation with Ryan Hawk, host of The Learning Leader Show, Huffington Post contributor and executive at LexisNexis. Ryan truly has a passion for learning, and he shares that passion in this interview.

Ryan was a decorated college football quarterback at Miami University and Ohio University. After college, he wanted to learn more about leadership. He launched The Learning Leader Show in an attempt to build the ultimate PhD curriculum on leadership. Ryan also writes on the topics of leading and empowering others for The Huffington Post.

Ryan believes you learn a lot about someone by the questions they ask. One question that he likes to ask others, particularly deep thinkers, is, “What initial questions do you ask others to truly understand how they think?”

Ryan has done thousands of interviews with professionals over the course of his career. “What really differentiates some of the great ones from some of the good ones [are] the questions that they ask. How curious are they? How thoughtful? How good of a listener are they?”

Ryan suggests making a list of the people that you admire and believe are interesting – people you know or don’t know and people that are famous or not famous – and then ask if you can speak with them. It helps if you have a podcast or write for Forbes, but many people will be willing (and happy) to speak with you.

You can also employ this exercise to seek mentorship and education within your business, community or organization. At the end of this process, the people you admire (and who may be in leadership positions) will like you even more, and you will learn a ton. It’s a simple and repeatable process:

1. Make a list of the people who really impress you within the company, and then call them or send them a thoughtful e-mail asking if you can talk to them for an hour. By doing this, you are showing that you’re a curious and thoughtful person who likes to learn, and they will be flattered.
2. Listen, ask good follow-up questions and take really detailed notes.
3. When you are done with the meeting, send them a recap e-mail of everything you learned in that one-hour conversation.

A key aspect of this exercise is to do it because you want to learn and improve. Most people are trying to find a short cut to a promotion. You want to develop relationships. “Relationships are what this world is made of. People who are not willing or are not willing to build relationships probably don’t do well, and the ones that can usually do quite well.”

Ryan’s impact moment began during a dinner with Todd Wagner, one of Mark Cuban’s business partners. Later, after earning his MBA, Ryan was looking at PhD programs focusing on leadership. However, he did not see any curriculum that he enjoyed. “So I thought, why don’t I just create my own Leadership PhD?”

By creating his own Leadership PhD, Ryan is able to seek out the people that he looks up to and admires, and ask to speak with them. “In addition to just learning for myself, I could release those conversations for potentially all of the world to be positively impacted at the same time. I thought that was a beautiful way to share what I was learning with others.” This project grew into The Learning Leader Show.

There are a few things that happen when you give a speech, or record a podcast episode. “You can change the way people think, you can change the way people feel, and you can change the way people act. I want to do all three of those things for my listeners, and for anybody who comes to one of my talks in person.”

Ryan’s original plan was professional football. He received a scholarship to the University of Miami to play as a quarterback, as was Ben Roethlisberger. Other schools tried to pull him away from Miami, so that he would not have to compete with the best. Ryan did the opposite. He moved to campus the day after graduating high school. “My goal was to show the guys that I was willing to outwork everybody. My goal also was to learn every single teammate’s name.”

After two seasons at Miami, Ryan realized that it still wasn’t enough. “It was a great moment, for me, because it taught me that sometimes you can do everything within your power, everything, and you’re still going to lose.” It’s a powerful (and difficult) lesson to learn that helps Ryan overcome things that other people are unable to overcome.

It was a delight speaking with Ryan today. He is one of the most effective and passionate learners in the entrepreneurial space, and I highly recommend checking out some of his interviews with the best leaders in the world.

 

Download this Episode MP3.

 

SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:

• How have mentors impacted you directly?
• What are things that Ryan did to let go of one dream in order to move into a potentially greater opportunity?
• What does Ryan desire for his audience?
• What’s the most memorable experience that Ryan has had executing his process of requesting interviews from the people he admires?

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:

• A process for seeking out knowledge and mentorship from the people that inspire you
• How pursuing knowledge from the people you admire can improve your life
• What the questions you ask (or don’t ask) may reveal about yourself
• How Ryan embraces being a lifelong learner in every aspect of his life
• How Ryan learned a huge life lesson after working to be a better quarterback than Ben Roethlisberger

DON’T BE A PODCAST JUNKIE…

• Learn more about Ryan: Website | Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter
• Listen to The Learning Leader Show
• Join the Learning Leader Facebook Group

I have a lot of firsts for you in this week’s episode. Jason and Jodi Womack are my first married guests, my first live interview with two guests and my first co-author guests. We also have a lot of fun talking, as usual, and the result is a huge episode packed full of ways to make an impact and get momentum.

The Womacks want entrepreneurs to Get Momentum, over and over again. Get Momentum is an executive coaching and development program that is designed for busy people who want to work smarter, think bigger, lead better and achieve more. Since launching their business in 2012, they have expanded to include the Get Momentum Leadership Academy and Get Momentum: How to Start When You’re Stuck.

The Womacks are both big proponents of mentorship. “The purpose of a mentor is to have someone act as the visionary,” Jason said. “You’re looking at you right then, a mentor can look at you and see you months from now.”

Jodi added that, “I love to think of mentors as someone I have a real relationship with … a real mentor cares about you the person, and the big vision of you that they can see.”

Jason has a tactic he uses for clarifying, expanding or narrowing his vision. He looks at a subject as 100, 25 or 1. If you take 100 pennies, 4 quarters or 1 dollar, they all add up to the same amount. “There are some times you need to look at all 100 pieces of the problem, some times I just need to buck it into four quarters, and sometimes I just need to know what the problem is.” Mentors help you look at the problem from a different perspective.

Jodi’s impact moment came while she was Director of Public Events at a training firm. One day, all of the public events were canceled. “I realized I wasn’t the director of anything, as long as I was an employee,” Jodi said. Jason felt he was always running out of goals to reach for. So, they left the firm and started their own coaching and development business.

Eventually, customers were reaching out because they wanted more. They needed a continual refreshing of the content, so the Get Momentum Leadership Academy was born. “If you can get your clients to ask you for your next product before it is built, you are onto something,” Jason said.

Their book, Get Momentum: How to Start When You’re Stuck, is another project that was started after customers expressed interest in a book based on the course. The book is about how you reverse engineer that feeling you wish you had more: momentum. Jason described momentum as “the feeling that you recognize after you’ve had it.”

Being stuck sucks. “There’s no pretty way to dress that up. It is hard, it is lonely, it is depressing,” Jodi said. The other side of the coin is that, if you’re stuck, you’re trying to do something you’ve never done before.

When are you at your best? Every question Jason asks comes down to this central idea. If people consider when they are at their best, they give themselves what he describes as “the gift of their own attention.”

What do you want to be known for? The Womacks suggest you pick a role and pick a period of time. The answer is constantly changing. It’s a powerful perspective, because it makes the question actionable. The book does a wonderful job at providing actionable activities that reinforce the motivational message.

“Get Momentum” is broken into the Five Stages of Momentum:

1. Motivation – What did I do that motivated me? “The idea of catching someone doing something right is so bizarre, unusual and unique. If you try that for a couple days, you might just revolutionize what’s going on in your office. Since school and the red pen, we’ve been taught to find what’s wrong,” said Jodi. “People are starved for wins.”
2. Mentors – Jason has two kinds of mentors: Mentors he knows and mentors he doesn’t know. Learn from anybody you can. Jason picks one person from history every month to learn from.
3. Milestones – The Womacks take everything they are working on and break it out into 90-day chunks. People get overwhelmed with big projects, but this lets you focus on something you can complete – and completing builds momentum.
4. Monitor – You will know what to look for if you have clear milestones. “What is noticed is repeated. What is negatively noticed is repeated.”
5. Modify – A dictionary definition of modify is “to make a small change.” The Womacks are big fans of small things done incrementally and repeated. There are three changes you can make to gain or re-gain momentum:
   1. Automate
   2. Delegate
   3. Eliminate

If you consider yourself a life long learner, head over to Get Momentum. I’m grateful that the Womacks took the time to sit down and talk. Their program, and their book, provide a lot of actionable strategies and motivational messages that will help entrepreneurs gain and re-gain momentum.

 

Download this Episode MP3.

 

SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:

• Can the Womacks share a story where a mentor has impacted their outlook?
• What were the Womacks’ impact moments?
• Why do we constantly find ourselves getting stuck?
• What are the Five Stages of Momentum, and why are they important?

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:

• Why a good mentor is a visionary, and how they can help you shift perspective
• How to reverse engineer the feeling of momentum
• The Five Stages of Momentum
• The value of catching someone who is doing something right, as opposed to something wrong
• The three modifications you can make to your life or business gain or re-gain momentum

DON’T STOP HERE…

• Learn more about Jason and Jodi Womack: Get Momentum | Twitter | Email
• Get Momentum: How to Start When You’re Stuck
• If you want to get a cup of coffee with the Womacks during their travels, click here

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

• Your Best Just Got Better: Work Smarter, Think Bigger, Make More by Jason Womack
• Mentor Cloud
• Rajesh Setty – tell him the Womacks said, “Hello.”
• Tony Robbins

I’m excited to have Ryan Michler on the show today. His goal is to help men become better leaders through the Order of Man. Most entrepreneurs think about building a product, but Ryan is building a community.

Ryan grew up without a significant father figure in his life. After getting married and having children, Ryan realized he needed to learn a few things. So, Ryan started the Order of Man: a podcast, blog and community.

“I just had no idea how guys are supposed to do this thing, so I went on a journey for myself to figure this out.” Ryan realized that he couldn’t sit on the sidelines of this conversation. He had to be engaged and leading the discussion.

Six years into working for someone else, Ryan made the decision to start his own practice. “But the reality is I just didn’t know how to do it.” So he hired a coach, a mentor, who helped Ryan wrap his head around why this change could be a good thing. “He also got me thinking on a different level, and I think that’s what mentors do. They help you see things you can’t see yourself.”

Ryan has always been a structured, organized and deliberate person, and his experience in the military solidified that. There are other blogs like Order of Man, started at roughly the same time, but they aren’t all successful. Most of that is due to a lack of consistency. “If you want to have success: you gotta be disciplined, you gotta be committed, you gotta be consistent. Those are three things that you can do that you have complete control over.”

Ryan doesn’t believe everyone needs to be organized, but they do need to have organization in their life. If it’s a weakness, you don’t necessarily need to make it your strength. Maybe you’re a visionary; maybe you’re the person who can launch that idea. That being said, Ryan has a lot of tools that are easy to use that can help bring more organization to your life.

One of Ryan’s tools is his Weekly Battle Plan. He schedules everything out. “If you’re not going to schedule your day out, including the planning that you’re going to be doing every day, the likelihood of it actually getting done is very minimal.” Ryan goes through his list every morning, and there are certain things he does every day: exercise, meditate, read, journal, plan out his day.

In addition to his everyday routine, Ryan writes down daily tasks and goals. “What do I actually want to get accomplished today? What is important to me when it comes to the relationships I have with my kid, or the relationships I have with my wife? What’s important with my health, with my money?”

He makes this list every morning without fail, and then he also does an After Action Review at the end of the day. During the After Action Review, Ryan reflects on what he was able to get accomplished, and what he wasn’t, to help him plan the next day. Ryan’s goal is to be deliberate so that every step he makes is maximum efficiency.

Ryan’s goal for his community is to help them become better leaders. That’s the overarching vision. “I want them to become better leaders of themselves. I want them to be able to lead and preside over their own families. I want them to be able to lead in their businesses and communities.” But in order to have that, Ryan believes you need to focus on three strengths:

1. Physical Strength – Taking care of your mind and body
2. Mental Fortitude – Mental toughness, resiliency and the ability to overcome obstacles
3. Emotional Fortitude – Not being scattered or letting other people offend you.

“If I can help guys in those three strengths, in order for them to be better leaders, they’re going to live more fulfilled lives.” They’re going to have deeper relationships, more wealth and be able to succeed in business. Whatever a man is trying to accomplish, Ryan believes they can do that by becoming a leader and focusing on physical strength, mental fortitude and emotional fortitude.

Developing those strengths is a form of self-mastery; something that Ryan believes every man should strive for. Ryan refers to the natural man: a hypothetical man that tends to be lazy, unorganized, undisciplined. Self-mastery is about overcoming those things you have struggles with, and getting better in those key areas. You have to recognize that the natural man is actually there, and then realize you want to actually overcome it.

“Stop sitting on the idea that you have … and start taking action on it.”

I appreciate Ryan coming by to talk about how the Order of Man, the value of structure and his own life experiences.

 

Download this Episode MP3.

 

SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:

• What is Ryan doing to get clarity every day?
• What was the impact moment that inspired Ryan to star the Order of Man podcast and community?
• Did Ryan’s experience in the military shape his outlet for the Order of Man?
• What are things that anybody can do to exercise their organization muscle?
• What does Ryan desire for the Order of Man community?

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:

• How not having a father around in Ryan’s childhood drives him to become the best man he can be
• How the Order of Man helps men become better leaders
• How the structure instilled by the military has helped Ryan achieve success
• The three strengths that help men become better leaders of themselves
• The importance of self-mastery

DON’T BE A PODCAST JUNKIE…

• Learn more about Ryan: Order of Man | Facebook | Twitter

This is an incredibly powerful and authentic episode of The Impact Entrepreneur Show. My guest, Chris Faddis, is an author, speaker and entrepreneur. He launched Bene Plates, a revolutionary food and nutrition company serving the chronically ill and the walking well, just a year ago.

In 2011, Chris’ late wife was diagnosed with Stage IV Metastatic Colon Cancer. Fighting that battle with his wife made Chris aware of the importance of nutrition for the terminally ill: 85% of cancer patients suffer from malnutrition, and 40% of cancer patients die from it. “Ultimately, it was food that kept her alive.” Bene Plates mission is to provide high quality, great tasting and nourishing meals for their clients, whether they are chronically ill or one of the walking well.

Rather than going through institutions, which are always going to make decisions for other reasons, Bene Plates goes directly to the patients. “Our goal is to create the demand by proving to people – proving to doctors, proving to hospitals, proving to individuals – that, when they eat well while they’re in treatment, they will do better.”

Chris launched Bene Plates about a year ago, and mind mapping tools have been helpful in the early stages of the business. Mapping his thoughts helps him articulate a clear vision, which in turn makes it easier to delegate tasks.

Chris believes it’s really important to be able to articulate a vision to the people around you, and trust them to make decisions on how to build your vision. “I have to step back, and I have to let certain things go, because if I don’t just articulate the vision and trust the team around me that I put in place, then it’s always going to be me and it’s never going to grow.”

If Chris could go back and launch again, there’s two things he would make sure to do:

1. Don’t rush to launch. Take the time to read the market, make every small decision and fine-tune your processes.
2. Don’t launch with debt.

Mentorship helped Chris realize the value of authenticity. Chris has a background mixing corporate business, entrepreneurship and the church space. He used to segment himself between the different aspects of his life, mentally and as separate online brands. “Honestly what I’ve found is … people are more accepting.”

Being authentic – being who you were made to be and living to your full potential – is a big hurdle for a lot of entrepreneurs. Chris believes a key to remaining authentic is having the right partner, whether that person is a spouse, mentor or business partner. “If you ever feel like you’re a wannabe fake when that person’s around, you’re not going to lie.”

Chris overcomes the Fear of Feedback by maintaining authenticity online. “When you’re transparent in your business and who you are, as a company and as a person, all that stuff is accountability.” In one way, that’s where social media is a positive thing.

The idea of the “Walking Well” was born out of Chris’ authenticity on social media – and an accidental reference to The Walking Dead. Delivering healthy food to healthy people is important to Chris too. “I think there’s something really important about us working with the walking well. It’s knowing that, when you buy a product from us, you’re helping us support more cancer patients.”

If you feel stuck in your career and want to break away to start a business, Chris suggests you sit down and think through your intentions. Is it about making money, or is it about doing something good? You will know you are ready to break away from a stagnant career after you:

1. Articulate in three sentences, very clearly, what you want to do
2. Talk about it with other people
3. Start writing it down
4. Get advice
5. Make a business plan (Chris used com)

Chris Faddis is a born entrepreneur and an incredibly authentic human being. I’m so grateful that he came by to share his story and I’m excited to see how Bene Plates grows in the years to come.

 

Download this Episode MP3.

 

SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:

• How important have mentors been in Chris’ life?
• What are some steps Chris is taking to make sure he is checking what he is doing against who he is authentically?
• If Chris was starting this company again today, what are 2-3 things he would do differently?
• What’s a step someone can take to break away from a career they feel stuck in?

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:

• Why to be authentic online, in person and when running your company
• How to overcome the Fear of Feedback online
• The value of articulating a vision, then letting people help you build it
• Why it’s usually better to take your time and launch a new business patiently

DON’T STOP HERE…

• Learn more about Chris: Website | Twitter | Instagram
• It Is Well: Life in the Storm by Chris Faddis
• Bene Plates

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

• LivePlan

Geoff Woods is full of great stories in today’s episode. Geoff is host of The Mentee Podcast and he came by to share how he went from employee to entrepreneur in just 10 months.

Geoff Woods’ journey as an entrepreneur (and a self-described Super Connecter) began with tragedy, but a Jim Rohn quote helped Geoff shift his life course: “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” Geoff wanted to own his own business, wake up every day and feel like he was making an impact, but he didn’t have anyone in his life that.

Geoff wanted to make an impact, followed by the money, and he’s able to do that with a knack for networking. “I try to find a way to add value to people.” He always asks, “What are you working on and how can I help?”

Geoff didn’t just want to make an impact. He also had the courage to act. His first goal was in real estate, so his first step was connecting with people who owned property. “The very first time I opened my mouth, I had the opportunity to become the owner of a 10-story building on the water in North Carolina.” Things only got cooler from there.

Jay Papasan and Gary Keller approached Geoff because they were looking for a new CEO for a publishing company. Geoff took the call because he had a couple names in mind, but ultimately he discovered they were looking for a CEO just like him. “Because I led with trying to be a super connecter, because I led trying to add value, I now have the opportunity to call a billionaire my partner.”

Geoff’s success, and his constant endeavor to add value to other people’s lives, starts with overcoming the limiting beliefs that make us believe we don’t have value to add. “The reality is you have value to give, you just have to figure out how to give value to those people.” Learn new skills and meet new people to increase the value you have to offer.

Geoff is learning the value of leverage. He can only contribute time towards things that align with and further his goals, but he still wants to add value to the people who approach him. He is learning to create systems and hire a person to manage those systems, which in turn creates opportunity for people in his community.

Geoff has advice for how you can find the best mentors, available in a free guide. He provided a great overview:

• The mentor-mentee relationship is something that happens over time. “For you to walk up to a successful persona and ask them to be your mentor … is the same as men walking into a bar, seeing a hot woman, dropping down to one knee before you’ve said anything to her and saying, ‘Will you marry me?’”
• You don’t even realize the value you bring to the table
• Being in the position of the mentee is the most powerful position you can be in
• Successful people look for up-and-comers who are hungry

Geoff provided an extra tip not in his guide: drop your ego and speak from the heart.

I can’t thank Geoff enough for being so authentic and vulnerable with us. If you haven’t already, make sure you check out The Mentee Podcast.

 

Download this Episode MP3.

 

SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:

• How has Geoff been able to connect people to create awesome things?
• What doors have opened for Geoff because he has the courage to act?
• What filters can entrepreneurs apply so that they don’t lose sight on the impact and the value they want to have in the world?
• What are opportunities Geoff has had to turn down because he would not be adding value?
• Can Geoff share his approach to building the mentor-mentee relationship in the right way?

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:

• The power of adding value to other people’s lives
• Why success follows entrepreneurs who have the courage to act
• Geoff Wood’s approach to building a mentor-mentee relationship in the right way
• Plus much more…

DON’T STOP HERE…

• Learn more about Geoff: Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Instagram | LinkedIn
• Listen and Subscribe to The Mentee Podcast: Website | iTunes

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

• The ONE Thing by Gary W. Keller & Jay Papasan
• Expert’s Academy
• com
• Geoff’s Mastermind group: The Inner Circle

Today I have a delightful and authentic conversation with Honoree Corder. She is an entrepreneur, coach, speaker and prolific author. Currently, she is writing her 20^th book, You Must Write a Book, for professionals who absolutely should write a book as a differentiator. She calls writing a book “the new business card.”

Honoree was raised with an entrepreneurial spirit. “Being an entrepreneur means you get to eat what you kill.” Your effort is returned to you, and only to you. Entrepreneurs are punished or rewarded based on how much time and effort they put into their businesses.

“Go ahead and start the business, instead of having it as an idea that’s marinating. If it’s been marinating, it’s marinated.” If you start, your business will, over time, take on a life of its own. If you’re currently an employee with the hunger for entrepreneurship, turn your idea into a side hustle.

“Keep going. Be patient. Some day your side hustle will be your main hustle.” Carve out time to do the thing that you really want to do. That will fuel you, feed you and tide you over. If you’re waiting to jump from one situation to the next, you’re missing out on an opportunity for your passion to grow and be nurtured.

Honoree wrote her first book because she had a 15 second mentor. She met Mark Victor Hansen at a conference, and he said to her, “Everybody is a coach and a speaker, you need a book.” She took her most popular presentation and turned it into a book.

Honoree wrote the amazing book Vision to Reality: How Short Term Massive Action Equals Long Term Maximum Results. In order to get from where you are now to your dreams, there are certain steps that have to be taken. You have to take short-term, massive action that will compound, and it will lead to long-term massive results. Four things precede a successful new reality:

1. Think – If you don’t think you can achieve your vision, you want get to the next step.
2. Believe – If you don’t believe your vision is possible for you, it will not be possible.
3. Deserve – If you don’t believe you deserve your vision, you will reach an upper limit to success.
4. Commit – Finally, you have to commit yourself mentally, and commit your time, to your vision.

Be authentically yourself. Authenticity is so powerful because people want to know that others are imperfect, and that others are vulnerable. Those are strengths, not weaknesses. Honoree invents the word “authentistic” during the interview to describe the act of being authentic and fantastic. You mess up, you have struggles, you are human, and it’s okay.

If you want something, you have to give it away: this can be anything from money to love to authenticity. As an author, Honoree wants good reviews. So, one day she decides to review The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod on Goodreads. Now, she and Hal have a partnership to create The Miracle Morning book series.

“I think that people have the perception that successful people, in whatever they do, are somehow special people, and the only difference between successful people and people who aren’t as successful as they want to be … is that they have done a little bit more a little bit longer.”

Honoree truly exudes authenticity and positivity in the advice and stories she offers during this episode. I had a lot of fun talking to her, and I hope you got something great from it too.

 

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Download the MP3 Directly.

 

SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:

• How did Honoree go from single mom to prolific author?
• What are some ways that employees with a hunger for entrepreneurship can take their first step?
• Why did Honoree write Vision to Reality: How Short Term Massive Action Equals Long Term Maximum Results?
• How do people break through their own façade to be authentic?

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:

• How authenticity can be a powerful force for success
• Why, if you want something, you have to give it away
• How to bring an idea from vision to reality
• Why you should write a book
• Plus much more…

DON’T STOP HERE…

• Learn more about Honoree: Website | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
• Read Vision to Reality: How Short Term Massive Action Equals Long Term Maximum Results by Honoree Corder

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

• Authenticity is the New Black – TedX by Honoree Corder
• You Must Write a Book by Honoree Corder (coming September 2016)
• Giftology by John Ruhlin
• The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod

Today’s conversation with Bob Burg is packed full of authenticity, empathy and value. He is author of The Go-Giver, a business parable about consistently providing values to others, and he has made a career out of helping others.

“I choose to be in business for myself. I have a much better feeling of freedom and liberty that way. I have a better feeling about myself, and quite frankly I think I can help a lot more people by being an entrepreneur than I can working in someone else’s organization.” Bob’s entrepreneurial success is driven by an innate sense of empathy.

“Empathy can be developed, but I think the first step is understanding why it is important.” Empathy is a major aspect of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is understanding both your own and another person’s feelings, or at least understanding that they have feelings about something, and being able to regulate those feelings. By being able to act in such a way because of, or in spite of, those feelings, you are able to bring the most value to other people. “The single greatest people skill is simply a highly developed and authentic interest in the other person.”

Bob’s book, The Go-Giver, is a business parable that collects aspects of many true stories into the fictional story of Joe. In the story, Joe learns a very valuable lesson: shifting one’s focus from getting to giving, by which Bob means constantly and consistently providing value to others, isn’t just a pleasant way to live, but a profitable way to live as well.

For example, Joe asks a mentor if a product will make money. Joe’s mentor tells him that it’s not a bad question; in fact, it’s a great question. It’s just a bad first question. If your first thought is to ask if something will make money, then you’re not thinking about the marketplace itself. A better question to ask is “Will it serve?” or “Does it add value?”

The Go-Giver also provides five laws to guide the way Bob believes we should live our lives:

1. Value – Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment. We have to understand the profound difference between price and value. Price is a dollar figure, and it’s finite. Value, on the other hand, is the desirability of an end product.
2. Compensation – Your income is determined by how many people you serve, and how well you serve them. It’s not just value; it’s also how many lives you impact. Your compensation is directly under your control, and there’s no limit to your compensation because you always have more people to serve. Understand that success is a mindset, you can do it, and that building relationships is a skillset.
3. Influence – Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interest first. Don’t be a doormat or sacrificial, but make your success about other people’s success. The essence of influence is pull, as opposed to push. Great influencers attract people.
4. Authenticity – The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself. All of the skills in the world are for naught if you don’t come at everything from your true, authentic core.
5. Receptivity – The key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving. We breathe out, and we must also breathe in. All of the giving in the world is for naught if you do not make yourself available to receive in like measure. “This is why we say that money is simply an echo of value.”

“The Golden Rule of Business is that, all things being equal, people will do business with and refer business to the people they know, like and trust.“ There is no faster, more powerful or more effective way to elicit those feelings towards you from others than by making your win about the other person’s win. It’s moving from an “I” or “Me” focus to an “Other” focus.

Bob’s book emphasizes the role of focus and intention for entrepreneurs. “You have to be very focused on accomplishing what you know you want to accomplish every day, every week, every month, every year. Intention comes right along with that. You have an intention to do a certain thing, and you don’t stop until it happens.” Entrepreneurs need to be flexible with strategy and tactics in order to accomplish what they intend to do.

Bob’s passion for helping others is palpable in this interview. I’m grateful that he took the time to share his thought process and some stories about The Go-Giver. He definitely has a lot of value to offer.

 

Download this episode MP3.

 

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:

• A greater understanding of what makes empathy an important aspect of a successful business and personal life
• Why The Go-Giver is a valuable business parable for entrepreneurs
• The Golden Rule of Business
• The value of focus and intention
• How giving can create influence
• Plus much more…

 

DON’T STOP HERE…

• Learn more about Bob: Website | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | YouTube
• Read The Go-Giver by Bob Burg
• Listen to The Go-Giver Podcast

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

• Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
• The Purple Cow by Seth Godin

I had a very open and passionate conversation with Tom Bilyeu today. He is the Co-founder and President of Quest Nutrition, a company that endeavors to transform the entire food industry by creating foods that taste as good as they are good for you. In 2014, it was named the #2 fastest-growing private company in America by Inc.com. Tom also hosts the weekly thought leadership talk show Inside Quest.

Surprisingly, Tom says that he was not a born entrepreneur – he was actually inspired by The Matrix to challenge his construct of reality and change his mindset. “The Matrix really gave me the framework with which to begin thinking about my life … I think that our mindset is the real-world equivalent of The Matrix.” To get out of the matrix, you have to change the way you think. “You have to stop allowing yourself to believe things about yourself, even if they’re true, that don’t move you forward.”

Changing your mindset is a battle. For Tom, the process of becoming an entrepreneur was really the process of controlling his mindset and realizing it is possible to take control of destiny – not only realizing he didn’t have to be an employee, but also realizing that financial independence was achievable. “Your mind is everything, and the narrative that you tell yourself about yourself is the most important thing in your life. If you don’t take time to construct and repeat a narrative that is empowering, you are doing yourself a disservice.”

Tom’s Morpheus(es), or mentors, are the authors of books. He has a deep sense of gratitude for people who take the time to put their wisdom down in a book so that others can learn easy what they learned hard. “It’s a great tradition to write down that knowledge so that it can be passed on.”

On Tom’s site, it says that companies only have a chance at greatness when driven by a mission. He also says that the mission of Quest was born out of misery. When Tom first started working with his current partners, they were working to get rich. After a lot of success, Tom was miserable. He left to embark on a life of purpose and lasting fulfillment. However, his partners agreed, and fought to keep Tom on board. They came up with a new mantra:

• Work on something that brings value to people
• Believe in what they’re working towards
• Work towards something they want to fight for, even if they’re falling

The mission of Quest Nutrition is simple, but big: to put an end to metabolic disease. That’s what makes Quest more than just a food company. It’s a company that won’t stop innovating until global nutrition has been freed from the stranglehold of junk food. This is not a knock on money, but saying that money can come in the service of providing value to others and in service of a greater mission. “It’s about becoming something, rather than having something.”

When you’re solving a real problem, people are going to pay for that value, and what you’re doing is going to matter. Our world is so interconnected that companies can be punished for either having a mission or not having a mission, and your community cares about what you’re trying to do. “All of a sudden you live in this world where people can learn the truth of why your company exists, beyond your products.”

Tom demonstrates that Quest Nutrition makes decisions based on their mission and community, and people think they’re out of their mind for making some of those decisions. Recently, they switched to a different fiber source that costs a lot more than their pervious source, without changing the cost of their product. It nearly cut their profitability in half. However, the scientific community was questioning whether their previous fiber source was, in fact, a source of fiber at all, and the new fiber is much more metabolically beneficial. “If it’s really going to take us 25 years to end metabolic disease, we have to be relevant that long, we have to be trusted that long.”

The Quest Belief System goes beyond core values to draw the map of how Tom evolved from financial instability to confident business leader. “In all of that, I realized there are some real truths here that anyone can apply to their life to, in my language, ‘escape The Matrix.’” Highlights of the 25 bullet points in the Quest Belief System include:

• Personal growth is the highest priority of all Team Quest members
• Mistakes are a great teacher to those who are willing to admit that they’ve made one
• Build your self esteem around identifying the right answer and pursuing it faster than anyone else
• Take the red pill

Tom and his business partners at Quest Nutrition are doing some truly impressive things. Tom’s passion to end metabolic disease comes through loud and clear in this interview. We should all follow his lead, and work towards solving real problems.

 

Download the MP3 directly.

 

SOME QUESTIONS I ASK:

• What is the story of Quest Nutrition, and what is it’s mission?
• What steps can entrepreneurs take to ensure their product or service passes the “soul test?”
• How does Quest Nutrition you use their community and mission to make decisions?
• Can Tom tell us how they developed the Quest Belief System?
• What does Tom think has stirred up this renewed interest in self-awareness and mindfulness?

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:

• How the narrative you construct about yourself influences your success
• How the Quest Belief System can shape the way you think about yourself
• Why businesses that solve real problems often find success
• Why every business decision needs to reflect your mission statement and your community
• Plus much more…

DON’T STOP HERE…

• Learn more about Tom: Inside Quest Podcast | Twitter
• Learn more about Quest Nutrition: Website

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

• The Matrix
• The Quest Belief System
• Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck
• The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday