March 10, 2026 • 47 mins
In episode 56 of The Adaptive Mindset, Brett Gallant interviews executive coach Kim Sawyer. With over 20 years of experience, he shares insights on unlocking potential and building meaningful success. He also explains how his firm, The Wealth Source, helps people create wealth beyond money.
Tune in to learn about ownership, systems, and value propositions, and discover how to run your career like an enterprise for long-term success effectively.
TIMESTAMPS
[00:00:34] Running your career like CEO.
[00:08:07] Running your career like a CEO.
[00:09:53] Career as a business mindset.
[00:14:09] Career serves your life.
[00:19:07] Career mastery systems for success.
[00:25:31] Building social capital for careers.
[00:28:12] Personal development investment importance.
[00:32:32] Instructions are in the box.
[00:38:08] What are you pretending not to know?
[00:41:32] Taking leaps in careers.
[00:44:41] Loyalty to a company.
QUOTES
- "Sometimes it's what appear to be the failures, if I respond to them the right way, that lead me to the next best place." -Kim Sawyer
- "If you don't like how something is, you can change it. You're not a tree." -Brett Gallant
- "Do one thing every day that scares you." -Kim Sawyer
==========================
Are you a successful executive who feels stuck in your career and is not sure what to do about it?
Kim is offering you his $300 Career Mastery Session - FREE when you mention this podcast.
There are limited spots, so sign up now: https://calendly.com/thewealthsource
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Brett Gallant
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brett_gallant/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brett.gallant.9
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-gallant-97805726/
Kim Sawyer
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coachkimsawyer/
WEBSITE
Adaptive Office Solutions: https://www.adaptiveoffice.ca/
The Wealth Source: https://thewealthsource.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Welcome to the Adaptive Mindset. I'm Brett Gallant, cybersecurity thoughtleader and founder of Adaptive Office Solutions. Here, we
don't just talk tech, we unlock the strategies, stories, andmindset shifts you need to stay secure, lead boldly, and
thrive in a digital world. Let's get started. Welcomeback to the Adaptive Mindset. Let me ask you something. If
(00:25):
your career were a business, would you invest init? Would you track its performance? Would
you build strategic partnerships? Would you protect itsreputation? Or would you be running on autopilot? Because
here's the truth. Most professionalsdon't run their career like a CEO. They drift, they
(00:47):
react, they wait. And over 10 years,that drift can cost them influence, opportunity, and
hundreds of thousands of dollars. Today's guest, KimSawyer, has spent more than 20 years coaching senior executives, entrepreneurs,
and leaders inside Fortune 500 companies and high growth organizations.
(01:09):
This firm, The Wealth Source, helps professionals create extraordinarywealth, not just financially, but in relationship, leadership
presence, social capital, and long-term strategicpositioning. Today, we're talking about ownership, systems,
social capital, value proposition, and what it actually means torun your career like an enterprise. Kim, welcome
(01:36):
Hi, good to be here and welcome all you listeners outI'm so excited to have you with me, Kim. I
was saying before the episode that I hada couple of detours in scheduling, and you've been
so gracious to reschedule. So I'm very gladwe're having this opportunity to talk today. Beautiful
(01:59):
day. And it's just, I knowwhat we're going to share is going to help our audience. It's
such a pleasure to have you. Thank you for invitingme. I appreciate it, Brett. So let's
dig into it. Actually,the best way to start, give our listeners
(02:22):
a little bit more of a background on who you are, Kim, and then I'll askSure. Happy to do that. Because
my own journey is part ofwhat helped me discover the ideas and
tools that I've now packaged into my career mastery system. bringto my clients because the
(02:51):
career journey is a very unpredictable andoften surprising path. But
as I went through my own, and as I went through my own,I found that I could have more and more influence and
say on where it went andhow quickly it went and what happened next if I
(03:17):
began to really get involved in it. So Istarted coming out of college as a bit of an
adventurer, and I spent most of my 20s traveling,hitchhiking, doing all
sorts of challenging and fun things that helped form who Iam today, but they didn't do a lot to build a career. So
(03:40):
I decided to go the other extreme, and I said, you know, I really needto build some structure and focus in my life, so I joined the military. And
I spent the last part of the 80s inWest Berlin before the wall came down. And that
was a magnificent experience. And I learned a lot more differentcultures, different places to live, different aspects of myself. And
(04:04):
as I got out of the military, I thought I would make alittle extra money and avoid getting a job for a few months by starting
a little business back here in Houston, where my home base is.
And it turned out it was a really good idea. And it surprised meand took off. So all of a sudden, I had more calls
than I could deal with. And I got a partner. And we began hiring. And wegrew the business to a successful local service
(04:29):
business, probably $3 million a year through the90s. And I learned an entrepreneur or
CEO's perspective of running a business, the inside perspective.
And in the process, Ifound I was able to sell that business. and
launch into a new direction. And I wanted to try to start a bigger businesswith other people's money, which I attempted to do in the early 2000s,
(04:54):
management team, series A financing, everythingready to launch. And then 9-11 happened and
our business went down with the World Trade Centers as we lost our venturecapital. I thought that was a terrible turn
of events, like a failure. I was really distraught andreally upset and I didn't know what to do. So
(05:18):
I thought I would bide my time and do a little consulting in the smallbusiness world and entrepreneurship world, sort of
like I did when I got out of the military. However, asI began to do that, I uncovered some new things about myself, which
is I really was capable of workingwith the leaders and the people involved in the business and
(05:39):
improve the way they thought, related, interacted, andthe business became more successful, more so than all
the business consulting. So I discovered organizational development,like, well, look what I found, right? I jumped into a new area, I
thought, because it was a failure, and I found some new thingsabout me that I was interested in, in a new value proposition. Got
(06:03):
a master's degree in organizational development. And while I wasthere, I discovered coaching. um and
coach you the founder of coach you the first training schooland coaching in the business world had came to do a adjunct
lecture and i said this is my thing thisis what i meant to do this long-term one-on-one small
(06:24):
group relationship to help them build theirtalent and capabilities beyond what they would on their own.
And so I signed up, started getting training and coaching, andhave done that in one form or another ever since. Now, here's
the thing I really walked away from all that with,Brett. I would never have known about
(06:47):
this. And this is the thing I'm built to do and I love doing. Andexcept for the fact that the thing I thought I wanted to
do elapsed. Sosometimes it's what appear to be the failures, if I respond
to them the right way, that lead me to the next bestplace. So the career process is a very experimental
(07:10):
process that has to do with having a plan and movingforward, and then realizing my plan's just a guess, and
then capturing whatever actually happens and readjustingIncredible. I think we
often overlook that life hasthese unexpected transitions that we never
(07:37):
know where we're going to go or what blessing isgoing to be there. And you
had these transitions where it was revealed to you and you weren't even lookingfor it. It was just incredible. Absolutely.
So you often say someone shouldrun their career like a CEO. What does that actually
(08:07):
So I was blessed again, myexperience that I thought would never apply to doing what
I do now by being a CEO. andgrowing a business and learning how all the parts and pieces fit together.
I actually went back to school and got a bachelor's in entrepreneurship fromthe U of H Management School here. And
(08:28):
so as I began to grab holdof my career, and then as I began to coach executives watching
what they were doing in their careers, Ibegan to realize that a career is no
different than a business. beganto realize, because I'd never actually had a job in a corporation,
(08:51):
right? I'd always found my own ways to make money. SoI brought this unusual perspective to corporate executive
careers. And that, well, look, you're not an employee workingfor an employer unless you think of it that way, which puts you
one down and your employer one up. And it leaves you really atthe mercy of other people's decisions about where your career goes and
(09:12):
when. And so most of the people Icoached, very successful executives, were so dedicated
to their employer's success that they never thought abouttheir own. And they were doing great on pure talent
for a while, getting promoted until they got to alevel where there weren't many positions above them anymore in their company. And
(09:34):
they also found that the jobs that they were in, even though they were higherlevel, weren't really what they wanted to
be doing. It didn't really fit and they weren't necessarily fulfilledin their work because they had never had any kind of
say in it. So I said, look, let'slet go of that whole paradigm and do a mind shift here. If
(09:55):
you're a business bringing you to the market with all ofyour skills and capabilities like any other business, and
you simply have one customer at a time, how wouldyou approach it differently? As an executive, if
your CEO did nothing but spend all of your effortserving your current customers, raking in the money and
(10:18):
did nothing else, what would happen? Well,the business would soon fail. That customer would go away,
your products would become obsolete, the market would change, andnobody would think of running a business like that. So why would
Yeah, yeah. Thataligns a lot to the way I've always treated myself. Like
(10:45):
even before I started my own company, I always treatedmyself like a CEO. And
it was interestinghow entrepreneurship called me. Have
you ever seen people like, how do you help people change in their mindsetto approaching this? Like, it's a whole new way of thinking, because some people
(11:12):
are stuck in the grind of the nine to five. And, and,and there's got to be mindset shifts that you have
to help people overcome and see things from anotherperspective. Like, I know, and I'm not,
I know, I'm sounding like I'm tooting my own horn, but I've always had thatmindset so but I sometimes address
(11:34):
but I've seen people with where they've needed help so.
So mindset is a habit it'sa habit of thinking a habit of a way of looking at
things that is reinforced through actingon it over and over again and it's reinforced by
the systems and organizations and the culture around us thatsupport it. Yeah. So people come
(12:00):
into their careers with that mindset from the beginning. Ihope I can find a job. I hope somebody will give me a job. I'm going to
go to an interview and try to really impress them so they'll giveme a job. And I'll be so grateful that I will work so hard for
them that they can't not see my talent and advance mein their company. And that's
(12:21):
not a wrong thing. It's just it's what happens naturally.
So by the time I get to people, Unfortunately,they're not really happy in their career. They
just got passed over for promotion. Perhaps they got laid off.
A new boss came in that they can't get along with. They'remiserable going to work all day long. Their health is beginning to fail,
(12:46):
all of these things. So they're ready, they're open tolearning. They're open to a shift. They're also in business. So
if I were to say simply, if youor the CEO and your business were your career, how
would you run it differently? And it's like, it'snot a, it's all I say. I mean, it's like a light goes
(13:10):
on because it's so obvious, but like all paradigms andmindsets, you can't see them because they're
broad until suddenly somebody says, well,what if this? And then all of a sudden it's like, oh my God, Of
course. Yeah. And so so we go fromthere and all of a sudden everything opens up. It's like you have a say, just
(13:33):
like you do in your business. You build a strategy, marketingplans. You have sales activities. You're developing
your own capabilities and value in the marketplace. You have along term set of goals and you get involved while
you're serving your current customers, doing all ofthat. And so I remind people,
(13:54):
okay, here's your job, but thisis your career. And your job is what you're doing now.
All of this other stuff is your business. And not onlythat, keep in mind, this is your life. And
all those other areas of life where there's other forms of wealth tobuild, like you run up against things going on in your personal
(14:16):
life. Well, those things have to take precedent because my careerserves my life. as long as I have a career. And
my job serves my career. But it's so easy fora type A, very conscientious, highly successful
executive to get so focused on what they do intheir job that they lose all perspective of
(14:37):
the bigger picture. And that's my job as a coach, isto pull them up out of the fray and say, well, let's look at the big picture for
I'm going to take our conversation in a different direction for a minute,Kim. You're speaking to something that's just
on my heart right now. Whenyou talk about looking at your career like a bigger picture, the
(15:02):
whole bigger picture, a lot of people are in the grind. AndI saw this post yesterday that
triggered me a little bit because it was my old identity. I used tocelebrate, I thought winning was
working 15 hour days. Like,Oh yeah, I'm grinding 15 hour days, but I wasn't winning.
(15:29):
I was, I was forgetting to like, Iwas forgetting to put in the grind to putting keep
what mattered most that my, that sametime that, you know, CEOs lose sight of who their best customer
is themselves. Yeah.
And they lose sight of that. I Ibelieve the work you're doing is not only important for
(15:54):
what you do, but it's also to help people identifywhat fulfills them. And
I was speaking, somebody saw that post and they said, thankyou for posting that. I needed to see that post. I did a
video produced reel. They said, thank you for being a lighthouse. AndI spoke with her a bit privately. And I encouraged
(16:22):
her to look at her life a little bitdifferently because she was, I wouldn't say she was drowning, but she was in
the grind and she knew she needed to change. Iknow she would benefit from someone like you, Kim. I know that, we
all can. But I encouraged her to treat herselflike her own best customer. One
(16:55):
I just felt that I needed to bringthat up right now in the conversation. The work
you do helps people in not justAbsolutely. So we'll talk more about that
perhaps later because I have a broader paradigmabout looking at the whole picture of life and how to live it like
(17:20):
a business. The types of wealth we're creatingare different in different areas of my life. But in
this case, Iam my best, most important customer.
If I look at long-term, lifelong customer value,my relationship and the business I do with myself will
(17:44):
bring me more value exponentially thanany other customer I have, no matter how seemingly
important they are, even if it's the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. So,I have to put the time I spend with me on
my career, my life, that has to come first. Yes,yes. And it was a very great connection that
(18:11):
you made there. And at the end of the day, if Iwant to have a say in where
I go in my career, what I'm doing, what direction, howI'm being fulfilled, the money I earn, how it affects my
family and my life, I can't be apassive participant. I have to
(18:35):
be proactively engaged in exploring, searching,developing, finding, even while I do my day job.
Yeah, 100%. That's like, you can'tbe a passenger in your own life. You
have to be in the driver's seat. Sowhat type of systems work do you
(19:07):
So my career mastery program isabout building a management system, like any business
would have a management system. And for every business function,R&D, marketing, sales, human
capital, finance, there areanalogs of that, that I would be doing in my career,
(19:35):
really make my career flourish, berobust, and be growing. And
so the system is about building those pieces, oneby one. First, it's the mindset, and then it's changing
some ways of thinking, and then it's begin to learnsome skills and tools for creating,
(19:57):
it's got to be a system because I'm busy working full-time and Irespect that. I don't have a whole lot of time to run my
business. I've got to build systems that are sustainable withminimum ongoing effort from me that will drive
my business forward and that's the nature ofI've heard this said before a few times, I don't
(20:23):
know, and I'm sharing this just for the benefit of our audience. SYSTEMS,there's a really wonderful acronym that goes along with that. People may
not have heard it, but I've heard it so many times fromsomeone that I know. SYSTEMS stands for Save
(20:45):
Yeah. And withyour career mastery when you look at your career as a system, which
a lot of people and I'm really looking at my ownrelationship with with my career. I'm a business
owner, but a lot of some business owners, somebusinesses don't even design systems. And
(21:07):
and some business owners are and are notprofessionals. We need to look at our lives and having
systems. Giveus an example of how you've worked with somebody when
you first initially take them on the journey. Arethere struggles in initially discovering
(21:33):
that? How do you help people discover withPart of the challenge is that the people I work with
who are already successful financially and in termsof how other people judge career
(21:55):
success, that they think theyBecause everything they've been doing successfully got them where they are.
Their self-esteem is built and confidence is built ondoing things and thinking the way they think. So a
lot of times they come in with this, whathave you got? Teach me. And
(22:19):
of course, the first thing I have to say is what got you hereis not going to get you there. you keep doing and thinking
what you're doing and thinking and you'll stay exactly where youare successfully for the rest of your career. However,
if you wanna aim somewhere else, thenthere's gonna be some new ways and thinking to get there. So
(22:42):
a couple of years ago, a CTO withCalvin Klein at the time came to me. And
he was stuck and frustrated. He had beenin the technology place since
a young man, and he's brilliant, high energy, charismatic.
(23:03):
And so he just naturally kept rising, but he wastired of technology. He was tired of that small
world. He felt like he could bring so much more. He'd becomea great leader along the way, moved beyond management,
had an awesome presence, but he didn't knowhow to go someplace else. And the company he was in, Calvin
(23:25):
Klein, is a number of brands and a larger company. Hewasn't going to become a CEO. There was no path to
that within his company. So he came to me, and Iwalked him through the career mastery program, which is a six-month program.
And the first thing we did is help him take everythinghe knew about growing a technology enterprise,
(23:49):
and apply it to his career. And as soon as we made that shift, well, he'salready brilliant at running a business with P&L responsibility.
So we started out right away helping him build asystem for leveraging all of his current and past relationships,
building them into long-term social capital, where regularlythey get together with an alliance and an intent to help one
(24:11):
another over time. And so I began him slowly creatingthat, evaluating relationships, reaching out. There's a
certain model for building the relationship and maintaining it andputting that system in place. So right away, there
was this whole web of pathways of opportunity he was buildingwhere things could come in while
(24:33):
he was doing his job. that he mightnot even expect. And as long as he was communicating to
these people in his social capital portfolio, thekinds of things he's interested in and his value proposition,
which is really the next phase in it, let's look at everything you've everdone or learned or been through in
(24:54):
your career so far. And let's package that up in ways thatwe can see how this will help somebody who
brings you in as a CEO. And so we create clearstatements of, this is what about me can do
for you when I'm the CEO of your enterprise. Andso he begins talking about that to the people in
(25:17):
his social capital network. Now, remember, I have not said anything aboutlooking for a job in this whole process. No, no, no. Because it's not about
that, right? Oh, it's your network is your network. Andso then we began to look at what
were the gaps between what a CEO would need to doand be good at and what he was already good at. And
(25:38):
we had him get a couple of mentors who were CEOs of the kind ofcompanies that he might move to next and
began learning from them because mentorship is a powerful tool indeveloping career or accomplishing anything. And so
then he began R&D, researchand development. I'm gonna build new skills, values and capabilities. He
(26:01):
went and went through at Harvard a sixmonth weekend program to get a sort of MBA certificate.
So he could begin learning and get a credential that shows he knowsthe whole of the business enterprise. There were other things he did so
that he could bring a different product to market. Itwould be of interest to a different group of
(26:24):
buyers, that is, boards of directors wanting tohire CEOs. And he began
marketing himself while he was doing a great jobwith Calvin Klein. And ultimately, he
found an offer with a late growth stage company,an international enterprise, totally different industry
(26:46):
than what he'd been in, but they needed somebody who could bring hisorganizational capabilities in the large corporation to
help them scale. And so it took abouta year and a half. I helped him negotiate that position. and
the transition, and then actually he brought me in as hisexecutive coach inside that company to help him ramp up and
(27:10):
become a successful CEO. So that's an example ofhow, and of course, he never stopped doing that, right?
Because then a year or so later after that company hadlaunched, got new funding, he decided he
was ready to move in a different direction in his career. Andso the work he continued doing, while he even had
(27:31):
the job he was looking for, opened up new opportunities forInteresting. It was the path you
took him on and that he was on, otherpathways were revealed to him. It's like opening
up a door. Yes. Ilook at my life sometimes and when I'm speaking with other entrepreneurs, I
(27:59):
say, you need to surround yourselfby coaches and accountability partners. That's
the best way. It's an accelerant. You have to have a budget foryour own personal development, your career. I believe in
that. That's why I invest in myself. I also believein, this man had this journey
(28:23):
where things were revealed. I think sometimes entrepreneurs andprofessionals, CEOs, they get stuck and
they say, I can't change something, but you can. Ifyou don't like how something is, you can change it. You're not a tree. So
you help this man on his journey and then he sees otherpathways, but it doesn't stop there. And
(28:56):
I absolutely did. And I want to go back to what you said in a minute. But hefound, so he had
remarried. His new wife had a daughter. He hadtwo daughters in his previous marriage. Suddenly, there was this
bigger family and things he wanted to do. He alsohad some passion in the world were impacting men and
(29:17):
men in their lives so they could live more powerfully and more capablyin the world and in their lives. And he wanted to get more
involved in that. And he was also lookingfor a way he would have more control over his time and even be able
to scale his income to generational wealth rather thanjust a really good salary with some equity and benefits. So
(29:40):
we moved him into a consulting world Andhe took everything he learned so far, technical,
operational, including the CEO perspective, the entrepreneurial perspective.
And he went into companies with a package he built andwas able to get very large contracts and use subcontractors. And
(30:01):
so he would spend about half of his time managing twoor three projects, bringing in three times what he was making.
And then the rest of this time, he was able to distribute across thisnew venture in the personal transformation space
for men and to get more involved in his family becausewe kept looking at, well, what's bigger than what
(30:23):
you're doing now? What are your ultimate goals inwhat you choose next? Now, the
thing that's really important and drives all this process isletting go of this idea of having this picture
of what reality needs to look like and what I'm doing atsome point in the future and then doing nothing but working to
(30:45):
build it no matter what because evenif I succeed in getting there it's probably not going to be the
best place for me because There'sso much I don't know about me now. Yes. That
needs to inform where I end up. There's so much Idon't know about reality and not just what hasn't even
(31:07):
happened yet. It's going to unfold andit really is going to inform where I need to be. And
the answers tothose questions are not in a plan. The
answer to those questions are in what reality actually doesas I move forward. So there's this wonderful dance
(31:28):
between having a plan that'sattractive enough to motivate me and give me some direction to
take clear action and then act. 90 dayplan. I love it. And then step back and see
what reality does. And oftentimes itwon't fit my plan at all. And I've got to step back and go, this
(31:50):
isn't a problem. This is me having learned whatI need to learn, so now I adjust for a better plan, and I
take action. And I do this dance with reality, whichknows all the answers, which continues to
open up possibilities. But my first coach used to tell me, Kim, andhe told me this when I said, I'm thinking about having a child later in
(32:12):
life, but I have no idea how to be a dad. Youknow, I'm almost 50 years old and I've never been a dad and
my dad wasn't a very good example. And I need to learn howto do this. And he looked at me and he said, Kim, the
instructions are in the box, noton the box. You will dive in
(32:33):
there. If this is something you really want or passionate about, you openthe box and you dive in. And while you're in there
engaged, You're learning, you're asking questionsand you're finding out more and the answers you need will come
as you move along your path. And that I havetaken to heart with regard to everything I'm
(32:58):
Yeah. Yeah. Ask a better question. Andeverything you ever wanted to know is right there if you dive in. Yeah.
I can't wait to have the answer before Iact. By the time I do, those answers
Everything will change. And then you sit there with analysis paralysisand you don't take action. So the needle doesn't move forward because
(33:23):
you've been analyzing it, not taking action. Likesome of my best blessings have been because I had the courage
Well, here's a story for you. Oneof the clients I was coaching had been a lawyer for a long time and
very successful. but they were, they were, itwas a grind. It worked great when they were a young man, but
(33:45):
now they had a family. They had, they weremaking money, but they were looking for more out of their career. They
got to where they just hated law. They thought theyhated law, right? They wanted to get out of law and go do something
else. I want to go get in. And they wanted to get into the entertainment business.
Now they had no way to see how they were going to get fromhere to there. However, So
(34:10):
you don't have to see. First of all, you have to realizethat everything you've done, getting you where you are now,
there's a lot of gold and a lot of value there. So don't justleave it behind. Grab the best parts, and
then mix in some parts that aim you in this new direction, andthen package it up and see what it turns out to be, and then
(34:32):
seek one of those. So he decided the first stepis going to be become a general counsel inside a firm. a
company, an operating company. So oneof the things he did as part of his strategy was he started attending
conferences for general counsels. Sohe could meet general counsel, learn what needed to
(34:53):
be learned about being one, and hopefully find an opportunity. Sohe's on a plane going to a conference, traveling
first class, because I told him to do it because all the best people tomeet are traveling first class. worth the
money, if that's what you're up to. But while he was on the plane tothe conference, he sat next to a fellow who
(35:14):
had just launched a business usingsome new digital technology in the entertainment music
and video space. And this is way before streaming of television, whencopyrights were battling digital music. But
he had a really amazing patent, and hewanted to bring it to market. And so they began talking about
(35:38):
it. And my client began offering somereally good input about it. And by the time they got off
the plane, the guy said, well, look, I reallyneed someone to join me in this venture. minority partner,
base salary, but really the money's gonna be in the equity.
And I need somebody to be my key strategy officer,not even general counsel. So he got off
(36:05):
the plane with this offer in hand and he's like,this is amazing. He said, like, what
was the point of me doing all that other stuff, trying to be a general counseland going down that path? And I said, well, wait a minute, if
you hadn't been doing that, Would you have been sitting onThose are the things that are really possible, that are really the
(36:28):
right thing, but I can't think of it now. It won't even occurto me, like coaching never occurred to me when I was an entrepreneur. Yeah,
yeah. But the only way to discover them is beavailable to them by getting out there outside the realm
Yes, yes. Icall that getting comfortable being
(36:54):
Yep. Yep. Absolutely. Becausethis is what I know, Brett. This little circle, I keep forgetting
people may not be seeing me. I've got this little circle ofwhat I know in the universe and it's tiny compared to the
universe. But I operate in it because it's all I know.
But I can't get stuck there because then there's what I knowI don't know. So I have some goals and I can see some places
(37:20):
to go. So I begin learning what I know I need to learn.
Well, that's better. I'm moving forward. But it's a very incremental,slow path of discovery. Where the
true amazing and transformational possibilities areis this massive circle of what I don't know. I don't
know. But to venture there is scary. BecauseI don't know what's going to happen. I don't know if I'm going to be any good at it.
(37:48):
And so that's what coaches are for, isto give me the support to push myself out into that universe
Yeah, well, the question I've beenasking myself a lot lately, and I would encourage everyone to
think about it, which lends to whatyou were saying. In the world we live
(38:12):
in right now, What are you pretending notto know? When you
and I can have this great conversation right now, andbecause of technology, we probably would
never have met. I'vebeen exposed to your thinking, our audience here today
(38:33):
is going to be exposed to it. What are we pretending notto know? And especially when we
have AI, wherewe can, and the internet, that whole
world, that small world that you just said, suddenlybecomes so much bigger. As
(38:54):
long as you have the courage to step outside your comfort zone andask a better question, or ask the questions, and
Ask a question you've never asked before. Yeah, yeah.
And see what you learn. Take an action that'snot too high risk, but that you would never have thought of
(39:16):
taking that may not even make any sense. And then sit back andsee what happens or what you learn. I'll
tell you what, a long, long time ago when the very first Starbucks openedup here in Houston. And Starbucks was just this little box
and you go stand in line, long line, you get your drink andyou head out. They didn't have drive-thrus and they didn't have tables, but they did
(39:41):
this point of purchase merchandising. Theywere brilliant at it even then. And they would have all of these things along
the line. Nobody had done that yet. So I was standing in line andone of the things they had was a little carousel of greeting cards. But
like Starbucks, they were all very provocative, very unusualreading cards. And I was standing there waiting to order. And
(40:02):
I looked over there and one of them said, just this black card,white letters, do one thing every day that scares you. Yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm like, whoa, just one thing everyday that scares me. And if I can inject that little
bit of change into my everyday life, no telling whatIt makes me think of, are you familiar with Brian
(40:27):
Tracy's work? I am. SoI have on my desk, I'm not at the office right now, but I
would be holding it up right now if we were at my office. Ihave a green frog that I painted. Do
Every day eat that thing and do something that scares you. So I have thisfrog in front of my desk. That's my
(40:54):
reminder to do something that scares me every day. Gets meoutside of my comfort zone. So that frog I painted with my daughter at
a clay cafe. So there's that connection that I got todo something incredible with my oldest daughter. But I have this
frog where it's the one time I didn't paint outside the lines. AndWell, and not only that, what do frogs do? They
(41:20):
Yeah, man, I thought it was incredible. Yes, yes,yes. And we all need to leap more,
Yeah. So careeris taking a leap. Taking on this model of
running your career like a business is a leap, aleap in thinking, a leap in action. Yeah. And
(41:47):
I would love to be able to make an offer to your listeners thatYeah, this is a perfect time because this conversation turned
into such a wonderful conversation in ways I didn't evenexpect. So this is great. And we are getting close to the
end. So yeah, I would love to have our audience be exposed andSo here's what it is. If you're a successful executive
(42:14):
who feels stuck in your career, not sure whatto do about it, I'm going to offer you my
career mastery session. Init, we'll discuss your career history, where
you are now, and what's really possible for you. Andyou'll leave with some clear action steps that can launch you
(42:35):
forward. Typically, it's a $300 session.
But if you mention this podcast, it will be free toyou. It's a limited time offer with only a few spots
available. So sign up now. Brett will include theinformation you need in the podcast notes.
Yes, it will be in the podcast notes. And please,please take up, Kim, on that offer. Kim, where can
(43:02):
people find you on social media? Are you on LinkedIn andPrimarily, I'm on LinkedIn. That's where I focus most of my attention,
because it's a B2B marketplace. AndI also have my website, which you'll post in the podcast notes.
So they can, between all of that, they can learn a lot more about me. But theway to get into the Career Mastery Program is to go to my calendar link,
(43:30):
Incredible. I want to thankyou for that offer. I want to end our time
with just something a little fun. A rapidfire round questions. First thing that comes to your
mind. A few questions, nothingtoo hard, especially for a seasoned pro like yourself. What
(44:02):
that if I work really hard, somebody elseWhat belief
That ultimately, I'm responsible forwhat my life becomes and what my career becomes.
(44:26):
And it's my job to get in the game and play it wellNo, it's not overrated, but limits, boundaries
(44:46):
are not in place. Loyalty to a company meansI'm giving fair value to the company for
fair value received. And it may not just be cash, theremay be other things I get from that job and that opportunity. And
I wanna make sure I'm delivering value that's comparable tothat. But if I go beyond that, I'm
(45:07):
just giving myself away and that extra should be beingspent in my larger career, in my
Yes, it's a mutual relationship. Yes.
Absolutely. When I give a talk onsocial capital, hold on. When I give a talk on social capital, the first
(45:29):
thing I say is, how many people network? Andsome of them will raise their hands. And I say, well, stop it now
and never do it again. Because buildingsocial capital is not networking. Networking is building relationships with
an agenda to get something or not. And when I get it, Istop. Social capital is identifying potentially valuable
(45:56):
I needed to hear that, Kim. What'sIt depends on what it is that's worth getting up early for
(46:23):
And lastquestion. What does acting like the CEO of your career
Tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. is keeping that appointment youmade with yourself for an hour just before you go
(46:44):
home and sitting down with your action list fornext steps in your career and spending that hour on
And it ties back to what we talked about in the beginning. Beautiful.
Kim, thank you very much. And foreveryone that's listening, please share this episode
with someone in your network that you know, that you can helpsomeone. That's what we're here to do, help each other. And
(47:11):
Kim's Message isa message that needs to be heard by more and more
people. So let's spread this message andhelp some people in your network. Kim, thank you so much for being
(47:31):
Thanks for tuning into the Adaptive Mindset. If you found value intoday's episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave a
review, and share it with someone who's ready to thrive in the digital age.
Welcome to the Adaptive Mindset. I'm Brett Gallant, cybersecurity thoughtleader and founder of Adaptive Office Solutions. Here, we
don't just talk tech, we unlock the strategies, stories, andmindset shifts you need to stay secure, lead boldly, and
thrive in a digital world. Let's get started. Welcomeback to the Adaptive Mindset. Let me ask you something. If
(00:25):
your career were a business, would you invest init? Would you track its performance? Would
you build strategic partnerships? Would you protect itsreputation? Or would you be running on autopilot? Because
here's the truth. Most professionalsdon't run their career like a CEO. They drift, they
(00:47):
react, they wait. And over 10 years,that drift can cost them influence, opportunity, and
hundreds of thousands of dollars. Today's guest, KimSawyer, has spent more than 20 years coaching senior executives, entrepreneurs,
and leaders inside Fortune 500 companies and high growth organizations.
(01:09):
This firm, The Wealth Source, helps professionals create extraordinarywealth, not just financially, but in relationship, leadership
presence, social capital, and long-term strategicpositioning. Today, we're talking about ownership, systems,
social capital, value proposition, and what it actually means torun your career like an enterprise. Kim, welcome
(01:36):
Hi, good to be here and welcome all you listeners outI'm so excited to have you with me, Kim. I
was saying before the episode that I hada couple of detours in scheduling, and you've been
so gracious to reschedule. So I'm very gladwe're having this opportunity to talk today. Beautiful
(01:59):
day. And it's just, I knowwhat we're going to share is going to help our audience. It's
such a pleasure to have you. Thank you for invitingme. I appreciate it, Brett. So let's
dig into it. Actually,the best way to start, give our listeners
(02:22):
a little bit more of a background on who you are, Kim, and then I'll askSure. Happy to do that. Because
my own journey is part ofwhat helped me discover the ideas and
tools that I've now packaged into my career mastery system. bringto my clients because the
(02:51):
career journey is a very unpredictable andoften surprising path. But
as I went through my own, and as I went through my own,I found that I could have more and more influence and
say on where it went andhow quickly it went and what happened next if I
(03:17):
began to really get involved in it. So Istarted coming out of college as a bit of an
adventurer, and I spent most of my 20s traveling,hitchhiking, doing all
sorts of challenging and fun things that helped form who Iam today, but they didn't do a lot to build a career. So
(03:40):
I decided to go the other extreme, and I said, you know, I really needto build some structure and focus in my life, so I joined the military. And
I spent the last part of the 80s inWest Berlin before the wall came down. And that
was a magnificent experience. And I learned a lot more differentcultures, different places to live, different aspects of myself. And
(04:04):
as I got out of the military, I thought I would make alittle extra money and avoid getting a job for a few months by starting
a little business back here in Houston, where my home base is.
And it turned out it was a really good idea. And it surprised meand took off. So all of a sudden, I had more calls
than I could deal with. And I got a partner. And we began hiring. And wegrew the business to a successful local service
(04:29):
business, probably $3 million a year through the90s. And I learned an entrepreneur or
CEO's perspective of running a business, the inside perspective.
And in the process, Ifound I was able to sell that business. and
launch into a new direction. And I wanted to try to start a bigger businesswith other people's money, which I attempted to do in the early 2000s,
(04:54):
management team, series A financing, everythingready to launch. And then 9-11 happened and
our business went down with the World Trade Centers as we lost our venturecapital. I thought that was a terrible turn
of events, like a failure. I was really distraught andreally upset and I didn't know what to do. So
(05:18):
I thought I would bide my time and do a little consulting in the smallbusiness world and entrepreneurship world, sort of
like I did when I got out of the military. However, asI began to do that, I uncovered some new things about myself, which
is I really was capable of workingwith the leaders and the people involved in the business and
(05:39):
improve the way they thought, related, interacted, andthe business became more successful, more so than all
the business consulting. So I discovered organizational development,like, well, look what I found, right? I jumped into a new area, I
thought, because it was a failure, and I found some new thingsabout me that I was interested in, in a new value proposition. Got
(06:03):
a master's degree in organizational development. And while I wasthere, I discovered coaching. um and
coach you the founder of coach you the first training schooland coaching in the business world had came to do a adjunct
lecture and i said this is my thing thisis what i meant to do this long-term one-on-one small
(06:24):
group relationship to help them build theirtalent and capabilities beyond what they would on their own.
And so I signed up, started getting training and coaching, andhave done that in one form or another ever since. Now, here's
the thing I really walked away from all that with,Brett. I would never have known about
(06:47):
this. And this is the thing I'm built to do and I love doing. Andexcept for the fact that the thing I thought I wanted to
do elapsed. Sosometimes it's what appear to be the failures, if I respond
to them the right way, that lead me to the next bestplace. So the career process is a very experimental
(07:10):
process that has to do with having a plan and movingforward, and then realizing my plan's just a guess, and
then capturing whatever actually happens and readjustingIncredible. I think we
often overlook that life hasthese unexpected transitions that we never
(07:37):
know where we're going to go or what blessing isgoing to be there. And you
had these transitions where it was revealed to you and you weren't even lookingfor it. It was just incredible. Absolutely.
So you often say someone shouldrun their career like a CEO. What does that actually
(08:07):
So I was blessed again, myexperience that I thought would never apply to doing what
I do now by being a CEO. andgrowing a business and learning how all the parts and pieces fit together.
I actually went back to school and got a bachelor's in entrepreneurship fromthe U of H Management School here. And
(08:28):
so as I began to grab holdof my career, and then as I began to coach executives watching
what they were doing in their careers, Ibegan to realize that a career is no
different than a business. beganto realize, because I'd never actually had a job in a corporation,
(08:51):
right? I'd always found my own ways to make money. SoI brought this unusual perspective to corporate executive
careers. And that, well, look, you're not an employee workingfor an employer unless you think of it that way, which puts you
one down and your employer one up. And it leaves you really atthe mercy of other people's decisions about where your career goes and
(09:12):
when. And so most of the people Icoached, very successful executives, were so dedicated
to their employer's success that they never thought abouttheir own. And they were doing great on pure talent
for a while, getting promoted until they got to alevel where there weren't many positions above them anymore in their company. And
(09:34):
they also found that the jobs that they were in, even though they were higherlevel, weren't really what they wanted to
be doing. It didn't really fit and they weren't necessarily fulfilledin their work because they had never had any kind of
say in it. So I said, look, let'slet go of that whole paradigm and do a mind shift here. If
(09:55):
you're a business bringing you to the market with all ofyour skills and capabilities like any other business, and
you simply have one customer at a time, how wouldyou approach it differently? As an executive, if
your CEO did nothing but spend all of your effortserving your current customers, raking in the money and
(10:18):
did nothing else, what would happen? Well,the business would soon fail. That customer would go away,
your products would become obsolete, the market would change, andnobody would think of running a business like that. So why would
Yeah, yeah. Thataligns a lot to the way I've always treated myself. Like
(10:45):
even before I started my own company, I always treatedmyself like a CEO. And
it was interestinghow entrepreneurship called me. Have
you ever seen people like, how do you help people change in their mindsetto approaching this? Like, it's a whole new way of thinking, because some people
(11:12):
are stuck in the grind of the nine to five. And, and,and there's got to be mindset shifts that you have
to help people overcome and see things from anotherperspective. Like, I know, and I'm not,
I know, I'm sounding like I'm tooting my own horn, but I've always had thatmindset so but I sometimes address
(11:34):
but I've seen people with where they've needed help so.
So mindset is a habit it'sa habit of thinking a habit of a way of looking at
things that is reinforced through actingon it over and over again and it's reinforced by
the systems and organizations and the culture around us thatsupport it. Yeah. So people come
(12:00):
into their careers with that mindset from the beginning. Ihope I can find a job. I hope somebody will give me a job. I'm going to
go to an interview and try to really impress them so they'll giveme a job. And I'll be so grateful that I will work so hard for
them that they can't not see my talent and advance mein their company. And that's
(12:21):
not a wrong thing. It's just it's what happens naturally.
So by the time I get to people, Unfortunately,they're not really happy in their career. They
just got passed over for promotion. Perhaps they got laid off.
A new boss came in that they can't get along with. They'remiserable going to work all day long. Their health is beginning to fail,
(12:46):
all of these things. So they're ready, they're open tolearning. They're open to a shift. They're also in business. So
if I were to say simply, if youor the CEO and your business were your career, how
would you run it differently? And it's like, it'snot a, it's all I say. I mean, it's like a light goes
(13:10):
on because it's so obvious, but like all paradigms andmindsets, you can't see them because they're
broad until suddenly somebody says, well,what if this? And then all of a sudden it's like, oh my God, Of
course. Yeah. And so so we go fromthere and all of a sudden everything opens up. It's like you have a say, just
(13:33):
like you do in your business. You build a strategy, marketingplans. You have sales activities. You're developing
your own capabilities and value in the marketplace. You have along term set of goals and you get involved while
you're serving your current customers, doing all ofthat. And so I remind people,
(13:54):
okay, here's your job, but thisis your career. And your job is what you're doing now.
All of this other stuff is your business. And not onlythat, keep in mind, this is your life. And
all those other areas of life where there's other forms of wealth tobuild, like you run up against things going on in your personal
(14:16):
life. Well, those things have to take precedent because my careerserves my life. as long as I have a career. And
my job serves my career. But it's so easy fora type A, very conscientious, highly successful
executive to get so focused on what they do intheir job that they lose all perspective of
(14:37):
the bigger picture. And that's my job as a coach, isto pull them up out of the fray and say, well, let's look at the big picture for
I'm going to take our conversation in a different direction for a minute,Kim. You're speaking to something that's just
on my heart right now. Whenyou talk about looking at your career like a bigger picture, the
(15:02):
whole bigger picture, a lot of people are in the grind. AndI saw this post yesterday that
triggered me a little bit because it was my old identity. I used tocelebrate, I thought winning was
working 15 hour days. Like,Oh yeah, I'm grinding 15 hour days, but I wasn't winning.
(15:29):
I was, I was forgetting to like, Iwas forgetting to put in the grind to putting keep
what mattered most that my, that sametime that, you know, CEOs lose sight of who their best customer
is themselves. Yeah.
And they lose sight of that. I Ibelieve the work you're doing is not only important for
(15:54):
what you do, but it's also to help people identifywhat fulfills them. And
I was speaking, somebody saw that post and they said, thankyou for posting that. I needed to see that post. I did a
video produced reel. They said, thank you for being a lighthouse. AndI spoke with her a bit privately. And I encouraged
(16:22):
her to look at her life a little bitdifferently because she was, I wouldn't say she was drowning, but she was in
the grind and she knew she needed to change. Iknow she would benefit from someone like you, Kim. I know that, we
all can. But I encouraged her to treat herselflike her own best customer. One
(16:55):
I just felt that I needed to bringthat up right now in the conversation. The work
you do helps people in not justAbsolutely. So we'll talk more about that
perhaps later because I have a broader paradigmabout looking at the whole picture of life and how to live it like
(17:20):
a business. The types of wealth we're creatingare different in different areas of my life. But in
this case, Iam my best, most important customer.
If I look at long-term, lifelong customer value,my relationship and the business I do with myself will
(17:44):
bring me more value exponentially thanany other customer I have, no matter how seemingly
important they are, even if it's the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. So,I have to put the time I spend with me on
my career, my life, that has to come first. Yes,yes. And it was a very great connection that
(18:11):
you made there. And at the end of the day, if Iwant to have a say in where
I go in my career, what I'm doing, what direction, howI'm being fulfilled, the money I earn, how it affects my
family and my life, I can't be apassive participant. I have to
(18:35):
be proactively engaged in exploring, searching,developing, finding, even while I do my day job.
Yeah, 100%. That's like, you can'tbe a passenger in your own life. You
have to be in the driver's seat. Sowhat type of systems work do you
(19:07):
So my career mastery program isabout building a management system, like any business
would have a management system. And for every business function,R&D, marketing, sales, human
capital, finance, there areanalogs of that, that I would be doing in my career,
(19:35):
really make my career flourish, berobust, and be growing. And
so the system is about building those pieces, oneby one. First, it's the mindset, and then it's changing
some ways of thinking, and then it's begin to learnsome skills and tools for creating,
(19:57):
it's got to be a system because I'm busy working full-time and Irespect that. I don't have a whole lot of time to run my
business. I've got to build systems that are sustainable withminimum ongoing effort from me that will drive
my business forward and that's the nature ofI've heard this said before a few times, I don't
(20:23):
know, and I'm sharing this just for the benefit of our audience. SYSTEMS,there's a really wonderful acronym that goes along with that. People may
not have heard it, but I've heard it so many times fromsomeone that I know. SYSTEMS stands for Save
(20:45):
Yeah. And withyour career mastery when you look at your career as a system, which
a lot of people and I'm really looking at my ownrelationship with with my career. I'm a business
owner, but a lot of some business owners, somebusinesses don't even design systems. And
(21:07):
and some business owners are and are notprofessionals. We need to look at our lives and having
systems. Giveus an example of how you've worked with somebody when
you first initially take them on the journey. Arethere struggles in initially discovering
(21:33):
that? How do you help people discover withPart of the challenge is that the people I work with
who are already successful financially and in termsof how other people judge career
(21:55):
success, that they think theyBecause everything they've been doing successfully got them where they are.
Their self-esteem is built and confidence is built ondoing things and thinking the way they think. So a
lot of times they come in with this, whathave you got? Teach me. And
(22:19):
of course, the first thing I have to say is what got you hereis not going to get you there. you keep doing and thinking
what you're doing and thinking and you'll stay exactly where youare successfully for the rest of your career. However,
if you wanna aim somewhere else, thenthere's gonna be some new ways and thinking to get there. So
(22:42):
a couple of years ago, a CTO withCalvin Klein at the time came to me. And
he was stuck and frustrated. He had beenin the technology place since
a young man, and he's brilliant, high energy, charismatic.
(23:03):
And so he just naturally kept rising, but he wastired of technology. He was tired of that small
world. He felt like he could bring so much more. He'd becomea great leader along the way, moved beyond management,
had an awesome presence, but he didn't knowhow to go someplace else. And the company he was in, Calvin
(23:25):
Klein, is a number of brands and a larger company. Hewasn't going to become a CEO. There was no path to
that within his company. So he came to me, and Iwalked him through the career mastery program, which is a six-month program.
And the first thing we did is help him take everythinghe knew about growing a technology enterprise,
(23:49):
and apply it to his career. And as soon as we made that shift, well, he'salready brilliant at running a business with P&L responsibility.
So we started out right away helping him build asystem for leveraging all of his current and past relationships,
building them into long-term social capital, where regularlythey get together with an alliance and an intent to help one
(24:11):
another over time. And so I began him slowly creatingthat, evaluating relationships, reaching out. There's a
certain model for building the relationship and maintaining it andputting that system in place. So right away, there
was this whole web of pathways of opportunity he was buildingwhere things could come in while
(24:33):
he was doing his job. that he mightnot even expect. And as long as he was communicating to
these people in his social capital portfolio, thekinds of things he's interested in and his value proposition,
which is really the next phase in it, let's look at everything you've everdone or learned or been through in
(24:54):
your career so far. And let's package that up in ways thatwe can see how this will help somebody who
brings you in as a CEO. And so we create clearstatements of, this is what about me can do
for you when I'm the CEO of your enterprise. Andso he begins talking about that to the people in
(25:17):
his social capital network. Now, remember, I have not said anything aboutlooking for a job in this whole process. No, no, no. Because it's not about
that, right? Oh, it's your network is your network. Andso then we began to look at what
were the gaps between what a CEO would need to doand be good at and what he was already good at. And
(25:38):
we had him get a couple of mentors who were CEOs of the kind ofcompanies that he might move to next and
began learning from them because mentorship is a powerful tool indeveloping career or accomplishing anything. And so
then he began R&D, researchand development. I'm gonna build new skills, values and capabilities. He
(26:01):
went and went through at Harvard a sixmonth weekend program to get a sort of MBA certificate.
So he could begin learning and get a credential that shows he knowsthe whole of the business enterprise. There were other things he did so
that he could bring a different product to market. Itwould be of interest to a different group of
(26:24):
buyers, that is, boards of directors wanting tohire CEOs. And he began
marketing himself while he was doing a great jobwith Calvin Klein. And ultimately, he
found an offer with a late growth stage company,an international enterprise, totally different industry
(26:46):
than what he'd been in, but they needed somebody who could bring hisorganizational capabilities in the large corporation to
help them scale. And so it took abouta year and a half. I helped him negotiate that position. and
the transition, and then actually he brought me in as hisexecutive coach inside that company to help him ramp up and
(27:10):
become a successful CEO. So that's an example ofhow, and of course, he never stopped doing that, right?
Because then a year or so later after that company hadlaunched, got new funding, he decided he
was ready to move in a different direction in his career. Andso the work he continued doing, while he even had
(27:31):
the job he was looking for, opened up new opportunities forInteresting. It was the path you
took him on and that he was on, otherpathways were revealed to him. It's like opening
up a door. Yes. Ilook at my life sometimes and when I'm speaking with other entrepreneurs, I
(27:59):
say, you need to surround yourselfby coaches and accountability partners. That's
the best way. It's an accelerant. You have to have a budget foryour own personal development, your career. I believe in
that. That's why I invest in myself. I also believein, this man had this journey
(28:23):
where things were revealed. I think sometimes entrepreneurs andprofessionals, CEOs, they get stuck and
they say, I can't change something, but you can. Ifyou don't like how something is, you can change it. You're not a tree. So
you help this man on his journey and then he sees otherpathways, but it doesn't stop there. And
(28:56):
I absolutely did. And I want to go back to what you said in a minute. But hefound, so he had
remarried. His new wife had a daughter. He hadtwo daughters in his previous marriage. Suddenly, there was this
bigger family and things he wanted to do. He alsohad some passion in the world were impacting men and
(29:17):
men in their lives so they could live more powerfully and more capablyin the world and in their lives. And he wanted to get more
involved in that. And he was also lookingfor a way he would have more control over his time and even be able
to scale his income to generational wealth rather thanjust a really good salary with some equity and benefits. So
(29:40):
we moved him into a consulting world Andhe took everything he learned so far, technical,
operational, including the CEO perspective, the entrepreneurial perspective.
And he went into companies with a package he built andwas able to get very large contracts and use subcontractors. And
(30:01):
so he would spend about half of his time managing twoor three projects, bringing in three times what he was making.
And then the rest of this time, he was able to distribute across thisnew venture in the personal transformation space
for men and to get more involved in his family becausewe kept looking at, well, what's bigger than what
(30:23):
you're doing now? What are your ultimate goals inwhat you choose next? Now, the
thing that's really important and drives all this process isletting go of this idea of having this picture
of what reality needs to look like and what I'm doing atsome point in the future and then doing nothing but working to
(30:45):
build it no matter what because evenif I succeed in getting there it's probably not going to be the
best place for me because There'sso much I don't know about me now. Yes. That
needs to inform where I end up. There's so much Idon't know about reality and not just what hasn't even
(31:07):
happened yet. It's going to unfold andit really is going to inform where I need to be. And
the answers tothose questions are not in a plan. The
answer to those questions are in what reality actually doesas I move forward. So there's this wonderful dance
(31:28):
between having a plan that'sattractive enough to motivate me and give me some direction to
take clear action and then act. 90 dayplan. I love it. And then step back and see
what reality does. And oftentimes itwon't fit my plan at all. And I've got to step back and go, this
(31:50):
isn't a problem. This is me having learned whatI need to learn, so now I adjust for a better plan, and I
take action. And I do this dance with reality, whichknows all the answers, which continues to
open up possibilities. But my first coach used to tell me, Kim, andhe told me this when I said, I'm thinking about having a child later in
(32:12):
life, but I have no idea how to be a dad. Youknow, I'm almost 50 years old and I've never been a dad and
my dad wasn't a very good example. And I need to learn howto do this. And he looked at me and he said, Kim, the
instructions are in the box, noton the box. You will dive in
(32:33):
there. If this is something you really want or passionate about, you openthe box and you dive in. And while you're in there
engaged, You're learning, you're asking questionsand you're finding out more and the answers you need will come
as you move along your path. And that I havetaken to heart with regard to everything I'm
(32:58):
Yeah. Yeah. Ask a better question. Andeverything you ever wanted to know is right there if you dive in. Yeah.
I can't wait to have the answer before Iact. By the time I do, those answers
Everything will change. And then you sit there with analysis paralysisand you don't take action. So the needle doesn't move forward because
(33:23):
you've been analyzing it, not taking action. Likesome of my best blessings have been because I had the courage
Well, here's a story for you. Oneof the clients I was coaching had been a lawyer for a long time and
very successful. but they were, they were, itwas a grind. It worked great when they were a young man, but
(33:45):
now they had a family. They had, they weremaking money, but they were looking for more out of their career. They
got to where they just hated law. They thought theyhated law, right? They wanted to get out of law and go do something
else. I want to go get in. And they wanted to get into the entertainment business.
Now they had no way to see how they were going to get fromhere to there. However, So
(34:10):
you don't have to see. First of all, you have to realizethat everything you've done, getting you where you are now,
there's a lot of gold and a lot of value there. So don't justleave it behind. Grab the best parts, and
then mix in some parts that aim you in this new direction, andthen package it up and see what it turns out to be, and then
(34:32):
seek one of those. So he decided the first stepis going to be become a general counsel inside a firm. a
company, an operating company. So oneof the things he did as part of his strategy was he started attending
conferences for general counsels. Sohe could meet general counsel, learn what needed to
(34:53):
be learned about being one, and hopefully find an opportunity. Sohe's on a plane going to a conference, traveling
first class, because I told him to do it because all the best people tomeet are traveling first class. worth the
money, if that's what you're up to. But while he was on the plane tothe conference, he sat next to a fellow who
(35:14):
had just launched a business usingsome new digital technology in the entertainment music
and video space. And this is way before streaming of television, whencopyrights were battling digital music. But
he had a really amazing patent, and hewanted to bring it to market. And so they began talking about
(35:38):
it. And my client began offering somereally good input about it. And by the time they got off
the plane, the guy said, well, look, I reallyneed someone to join me in this venture. minority partner,
base salary, but really the money's gonna be in the equity.
And I need somebody to be my key strategy officer,not even general counsel. So he got off
(36:05):
the plane with this offer in hand and he's like,this is amazing. He said, like, what
was the point of me doing all that other stuff, trying to be a general counseland going down that path? And I said, well, wait a minute, if
you hadn't been doing that, Would you have been sitting onThose are the things that are really possible, that are really the
(36:28):
right thing, but I can't think of it now. It won't even occurto me, like coaching never occurred to me when I was an entrepreneur. Yeah,
yeah. But the only way to discover them is beavailable to them by getting out there outside the realm
Yes, yes. Icall that getting comfortable being
(36:54):
Yep. Yep. Absolutely. Becausethis is what I know, Brett. This little circle, I keep forgetting
people may not be seeing me. I've got this little circle ofwhat I know in the universe and it's tiny compared to the
universe. But I operate in it because it's all I know.
But I can't get stuck there because then there's what I knowI don't know. So I have some goals and I can see some places
(37:20):
to go. So I begin learning what I know I need to learn.
Well, that's better. I'm moving forward. But it's a very incremental,slow path of discovery. Where the
true amazing and transformational possibilities areis this massive circle of what I don't know. I don't
know. But to venture there is scary. BecauseI don't know what's going to happen. I don't know if I'm going to be any good at it.
(37:48):
And so that's what coaches are for, isto give me the support to push myself out into that universe
Yeah, well, the question I've beenasking myself a lot lately, and I would encourage everyone to
think about it, which lends to whatyou were saying. In the world we live
(38:12):
in right now, What are you pretending notto know? When you
and I can have this great conversation right now, andbecause of technology, we probably would
never have met. I'vebeen exposed to your thinking, our audience here today
(38:33):
is going to be exposed to it. What are we pretending notto know? And especially when we
have AI, wherewe can, and the internet, that whole
world, that small world that you just said, suddenlybecomes so much bigger. As
(38:54):
long as you have the courage to step outside your comfort zone andask a better question, or ask the questions, and
Ask a question you've never asked before. Yeah, yeah.
And see what you learn. Take an action that'snot too high risk, but that you would never have thought of
(39:16):
taking that may not even make any sense. And then sit back andsee what happens or what you learn. I'll
tell you what, a long, long time ago when the very first Starbucks openedup here in Houston. And Starbucks was just this little box
and you go stand in line, long line, you get your drink andyou head out. They didn't have drive-thrus and they didn't have tables, but they did
(39:41):
this point of purchase merchandising. Theywere brilliant at it even then. And they would have all of these things along
the line. Nobody had done that yet. So I was standing in line andone of the things they had was a little carousel of greeting cards. But
like Starbucks, they were all very provocative, very unusualreading cards. And I was standing there waiting to order. And
(40:02):
I looked over there and one of them said, just this black card,white letters, do one thing every day that scares you. Yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm like, whoa, just one thing everyday that scares me. And if I can inject that little
bit of change into my everyday life, no telling whatIt makes me think of, are you familiar with Brian
(40:27):
Tracy's work? I am. SoI have on my desk, I'm not at the office right now, but I
would be holding it up right now if we were at my office. Ihave a green frog that I painted. Do
Every day eat that thing and do something that scares you. So I have thisfrog in front of my desk. That's my
(40:54):
reminder to do something that scares me every day. Gets meoutside of my comfort zone. So that frog I painted with my daughter at
a clay cafe. So there's that connection that I got todo something incredible with my oldest daughter. But I have this
frog where it's the one time I didn't paint outside the lines. AndWell, and not only that, what do frogs do? They
(41:20):
Yeah, man, I thought it was incredible. Yes, yes,yes. And we all need to leap more,
Yeah. So careeris taking a leap. Taking on this model of
running your career like a business is a leap, aleap in thinking, a leap in action. Yeah. And
(41:47):
I would love to be able to make an offer to your listeners thatYeah, this is a perfect time because this conversation turned
into such a wonderful conversation in ways I didn't evenexpect. So this is great. And we are getting close to the
end. So yeah, I would love to have our audience be exposed andSo here's what it is. If you're a successful executive
(42:14):
who feels stuck in your career, not sure whatto do about it, I'm going to offer you my
career mastery session. Init, we'll discuss your career history, where
you are now, and what's really possible for you. Andyou'll leave with some clear action steps that can launch you
(42:35):
forward. Typically, it's a $300 session.
But if you mention this podcast, it will be free toyou. It's a limited time offer with only a few spots
available. So sign up now. Brett will include theinformation you need in the podcast notes.
Yes, it will be in the podcast notes. And please,please take up, Kim, on that offer. Kim, where can
(43:02):
people find you on social media? Are you on LinkedIn andPrimarily, I'm on LinkedIn. That's where I focus most of my attention,
because it's a B2B marketplace. AndI also have my website, which you'll post in the podcast notes.
So they can, between all of that, they can learn a lot more about me. But theway to get into the Career Mastery Program is to go to my calendar link,
(43:30):
Incredible. I want to thankyou for that offer. I want to end our time
with just something a little fun. A rapidfire round questions. First thing that comes to your
mind. A few questions, nothingtoo hard, especially for a seasoned pro like yourself. What
(44:02):
that if I work really hard, somebody elseWhat belief
That ultimately, I'm responsible forwhat my life becomes and what my career becomes.
(44:26):
And it's my job to get in the game and play it wellNo, it's not overrated, but limits, boundaries
(44:46):
are not in place. Loyalty to a company meansI'm giving fair value to the company for
fair value received. And it may not just be cash, theremay be other things I get from that job and that opportunity. And
I wanna make sure I'm delivering value that's comparable tothat. But if I go beyond that, I'm
(45:07):
just giving myself away and that extra should be beingspent in my larger career, in my
Yes, it's a mutual relationship. Yes.
Absolutely. When I give a talk onsocial capital, hold on. When I give a talk on social capital, the first
(45:29):
thing I say is, how many people network? Andsome of them will raise their hands. And I say, well, stop it now
and never do it again. Because buildingsocial capital is not networking. Networking is building relationships with
an agenda to get something or not. And when I get it, Istop. Social capital is identifying potentially valuable
(45:56):
I needed to hear that, Kim. What'sIt depends on what it is that's worth getting up early for
(46:23):
And lastquestion. What does acting like the CEO of your career
Tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. is keeping that appointment youmade with yourself for an hour just before you go
(46:44):
home and sitting down with your action list fornext steps in your career and spending that hour on
And it ties back to what we talked about in the beginning. Beautiful.
Kim, thank you very much. And foreveryone that's listening, please share this episode
with someone in your network that you know, that you can helpsomeone. That's what we're here to do, help each other. And
(47:11):
Kim's Message isa message that needs to be heard by more and more
people. So let's spread this message andhelp some people in your network. Kim, thank you so much for being
(47:31):
Thanks for tuning into the Adaptive Mindset. If you found value intoday's episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave a
review, and share it with someone who's ready to thrive in the digital age.
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