July 3, 2024 • 36 mins
In this episode of 'Work From Your Happy Place,' host Belinda Ellsworth interviews Scott Jeffrey Miller, a bestselling author, speaker, and podcast host. Scott shares his extensive experience from his 25-year career at Franklin Covey, where he served as Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President of Thought Leadership. He now holds the position of Senior Advisor on Thought Leadership. He discusses the importance of recognizing whether leadership roles are suitable for everyone and highlights the necessity of coaching and adaptability in leadership. Scott also talks about his personal journey, key accomplishments, and challenges, emphasizing the distinction between efficiency and effectiveness in relationships. Additionally, Scott promotes his upcoming books, 'The Ultimate Guide to Great Mentorship' and 'Career On Course,' and shares advice for budding entrepreneurs.
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(00:00):
Welcome to Work from Your Happy Place, the podcast that equips you with the
knowledge and inspiration to live your dreamsand find your own happy plays. You
will be encouraged by and learn fromentrepreneurs and artists who are already working from
their happy plays, all while pursuingtheir passion with a purpose. Be sure
(00:20):
to sign up for our free weeklynewsletter for our recap of the week's guests
and a preview of what's in store. We also have two special gifts for
you, a video, the fivecore Principles to living a half Yer Life,
and a printable download title Top tensales Strategies. Go to Work from
Your Happy Place dot com, forwardslash free. Fill out the attached form
(00:43):
to receive your gifts and be addedto our newsletter. And now here's your
host, Belinda Ellsworth. Hello everyone, I am here with Scott Jeffrey Miller
today and we're so excited to havehim on the show. Scott is a
highly sought after speaker, author,and podcast host. He is a Wall
(01:03):
Street Journal best selling author and currentlyserves as Franklin Coby's senior advisor on Thought
Leadership. Prior to his advisor Roll, Scott was a twenty five year Franklin
Covey Associate, serving as the ChiefMarketing Officer and executive vice president. It
is my pleasure to welcome Scott toour show today, Belinda, Thank you,
(01:25):
thank you for the platform and thespotlight. Delighted to be here today,
Yes, absolutely, So I justhave to ask, because I just
think it's so curious before we diveinto learning more about you, but tell
us about your background. What's allthe fun graffiti or whatever that you have
going on there behind you. Well, I'm joining you today from the set
(01:49):
of what is now the world's largestweekly leadership podcast that I host called All
Leadership with Scott Miller. And soI'll do my camera. This is the
set where I, like you,host a podcast each week week and had
the privilege to interview remarkable business titansand best selling authors and thought leaders around
the world. So I happen tobe in the podcast hosting, hosting,
(02:09):
and so today I'm going to bea guest in the podcast. So you
see behind me several thousand books ofdifferent thought leaders that I've interviewed over the
course of our five year podcast.Oh that is so fantastic. Well,
it looks just took books and nailedthem to the wall. Oh my gosh,
it looks fantastic. That's nice ofyou, Thank you. Yeah,
it's It's funny how the smallest thingscan end up making for great decoration,
(02:35):
right, yeah, definitely. Infact, I did not nail them to
the wall. Someone else did,But it was a vision that I have
because we feature so many authors,and I actually think book covers tend to
be a bit of an art formand an expression of the author's personality and
their topics. So I like to, like you, I like to shine
our spotlight on other guests as well. Okay, perfect, Well let's do
(02:58):
I call you jeff Jeffrey what youlike to be called? Theirs name is
Scott. You can call me Scott. Oh, I am so sorry.
You know what everyone calls me Jeffrey. I don't know why. It's not
a problem, Scott Jeffrey Miller.You can call me Blenda anything you want
to. I don't, okay,Scott fly, today's my birthday. I'm
fifty five. I'm way beyond caringwhat people call me. There you go,
(03:20):
Well, my brother is Jeffrey,and so then when I read your
full name, it just stuck rightthere. I was like, Okay,
so Scott, let's dipe in andlet's talk a little bit about your journey
and your entrepreneurial journey, and thenlet's talk about what you are doing today
to serve others. Sure, so, my entrepreneurial journey is quite short.
I spent a thirty year career withthe Walt Disney Company, and then the
(03:45):
Franklin Covey Company was with Walt DisneyWorld for four years, and then they
invited me to leave. You canread my books about that process. But
Stephen Covey, of course, theseminal author of the book The Seven Happits
of Highly Affected People, hired metwenty eight years ago and I moved from
Orlando, Florida, to Salt LakeCity, where the now Franklin Covey Company
is headquartered, the world's most trustedleadership development firm. Spent twenty five years
(04:10):
in that company, moving from thefront line to the c suite, where
for a decade I was the chiefmarketing officer and the executive vice president of
Thought Leadership. Retired from the firmthree years ago in good standing, and
now I'm an ambassador to that firm. I host two podcasts for them,
and then when I retired three yearsago, that's when I became an entrepreneur.
My day job is I'm a talentagent. I owned a thriving talent
(04:33):
agency as a literary speaking and talentagent called Gray Miller, and I'm also
an author and speaker. I've authoredseven books, as you mentioned in the
opening, and now I speak fora living and keynote around the world,
do a bunch of different things inthat realm. And here today to talk
(04:53):
about anything I've learned that can helpyour listenership and viewership build a better career.
Okay, perfect, Well, let'sdive in. Let's talk about your
level of expertise. Since you talkabout leadership principles, let's talk about what
advice you can give to others inthe area of leadership. No, we
have six hours for that, right, because that's about need for that,
(05:15):
So gosh, it depends on whereyou want to go, right, I'd
say, first, not everybody shouldbe a leader of people. I think
the leadership industry perpetuates a disservice onmany of us, which is that the
ultimate pinnacle of everyone's career to bea leader. I just don't believe.
I fundamentally do not agree that everyoneshould be a commercial airline pilot. Not
(05:36):
everyone should be an anesthesiologist, andnot everybody should be a leader of people.
I think people should be very thoughtfulabout whether or not whether or not
that's the right career journey for them, because in most organizations, how you
become a people leader is the onlyway to get promoted, the only way
to earn more money, the onlyway to have more influence. What happens
(05:57):
in too many organizations is that theypluck their top end of the dial,
contributors, they're top producers, andmake them the sales leader when they were
the top sales person, or thatdirector of the digital division when they were
the top digital designer. There isno correlation and you being an excellent individual
contributor you being a leader of people. So the first thing I would say
(06:17):
is be very thoughtful about whether ornot that is the right career path for
you. I've seen countless extraordinarily competentindividual contributors implode when they were promoted to
be the leader of the rest ofthe team because it wasn't the right rule
for them. Now, if andwhen you are going to become the leader
of people, you have to realizethat you must have a massive mindset shift,
(06:40):
paradigm shift. No longer is ityour job to rush in and save
the day, to achieve all theresults based on how you would do it.
But you have to now realize asa leader, your job is to
achieve results within through other people.I'm going to repeat that as a leader.
Yeah, your job is to achieveresults and through others. So that
(07:01):
means your job has to coach.Your job has to be building capability.
You have to slow down to bemore patient. Otherwise you'll end up being
the martyr and the victim, doingall the work yourselves and wondering why everybody
else is out taking their PTO Wand you're not because you didn't build capabilities
in others. And that isn't theright calling for everybody. It requires you
to be more patient, be abetter listener, recognize there's more ways to
(07:26):
achieve results than just the way youwould do it. MA could go on
for hours around leadership advice, butthose are two important caveats. I think
everybody should be thoughtful and mindful ofSo here's a question for you. Then,
as I'm listening to you, becauseI think you're absolutely spot on.
But you said a key point,and that is generally to move up the
(07:46):
ladder, to get a pay raise, to get a promotion of any kind,
it is to move from what youwere doing so successfully. Of course,
you got recognized into being a manageror being a leader, and you're
right, not everyone's cut out forthat. And I have seen people implode
in that position again and again tothe degree where they're not good at it
(08:09):
and now they're unhappy, and nowthey're not the star or that they were
before, and they don't even enjoytheir job anymore. And so what can
companies do to recognize this themselves?In the yeah, in this process,
delight? Did you set up thatquestion? This is my advice. Now,
I'm not a chief human resource officeror the ev of talent, but
(08:33):
I've sold a couple hundred million dollarsworth of solutions to those consumers, so
I know a bit about this,and this is my vintage point. I
think it's incumbent on every company tomake sure that they don't lure people into
leadership roles sit people down. Belinda, you've been crushing it as a salesperson
(08:54):
for thirteen quarters. I mean,you're extraordinary knowing our solutions the client needs,
asking the right questions, taking yoursales goal really carefully, and we
are so appreciate you in that role. Blinda. We have a sales leadership
role coming up in the next coupleof weeks or months, and we wondered
if you might want to enter intoa conversation to determine would this be the
(09:18):
right progression in your career. So, Blinda, let's tell you a couple
of things about it. Let's drawa teach art. Blinda. On the
left side, here are that eightor ten things you do extraordinarily well that
have gotten you success in your currentrole. Bam, bam, bam,
bam, bam, bam and bamand Blinda, I think it's important you
know that four or five of theseeight things that you do better than anyone
(09:43):
as an individual contributor, they're actuallynot going to serve you well in a
leadership position. You're going to haveto indeed stop doing them. That might
feel counterintuitive, but the things thatgot you here quote aren't going to take
you or keep you there. Andconversely, on the right side of the
teacher, Belinda, here are sixor seven competencies that you're going to need
to learn that you don't possess rightnow, that's okay, none of us
(10:07):
did. But these are skills thatyou're gonna have to accelerate to and assimilate
to extraordinarily fast. And you haveto determine whether or not you want to
leave behind all these competencies and buildall these new competencies because in many ways,
it's fundamentally building a new set ofskills. And Belinda, for decade
(10:28):
now, you've been the star ofthe show. Right You've been on stage
at the President's Club and the Chairman'sAward and Malia all the awards and top
of the scoreboard. And that isn'tgonna be the case anymore. You're not
gonna see your name anywhere. Youwon't be on stage. You're gonna have
to determine whether or not you trulytake delight in the success of those around
you, because that's now how you'regoing to define success. It's everybody else
(10:52):
winning within your stewardship, so tospeak, and not everyone can rise to
that level. And by the way, if you don't, that doesn't make
you anything other than an amazing salesperson. And we need you in that role
still. But Belinda, what wedon't want you to do is take this
leadership job on naively and then realize, oh, you don't like to interview
(11:15):
and terminate, you don't enjoy coaching, you don't like having high courage conversations
about people in the blind spots theyhave in their behavior and their innerpersonal skills,
and then you decide this is thewrong role for you, because rarely
does someone choose to step back down. They usually choose to step out,
and we don't want to lose you. So that roleplay was simply to say,
(11:37):
that's what companies should do to havea really courageous conversation around is this
the right role for you? Andwhat kind of coaching will you need along
the way? And do you evenwant it? Wow? I think that's
and that was so articulate in exactlywhat people need to be looking at,
because as they go into leadership,they often don't realize the things they're leaving
(12:01):
behind, and they are things thatthey loved and they miss now and the
ways in which they were validated andthe ways in which they felt valued and
they felt like a contributing person.I mean, you know, I don't
know about you, but I don'tknow many people that wake up and all
of a sudden are able to eloquentlygive people both courageous and diplomatic feedback on
(12:22):
their bekator. That's an art,and some people want to avoid that at
all costs. As a leader,that's what you're doing most of the day,
is you're coaching and mentoring and givingfeedback on, redirecting feedback and reinforcing
feedback. And for some people that'sinvigorating. For most people, it's exhausting
and depleting. Right. I rememberfor myself and you hit it, it's
(12:48):
like I was a top salesperson foryears and then I suddenly was in a
leadership role and now I'm leading asales team. And I remember that very
first convention of not being on stage, not getting any awards, and it
was hard, Like that was ahard It was almost like, Okay,
(13:11):
this isn't this isn't what you're doinganymore. But at the end of the
night, when I had like Idon't know four of my team end up
taking some of the top awards,it was extremely rewarding. But that is
a it's a difficult transition that noone really often explains that you're going to
go through it is a difficult transition. And let me reiterate something. I
(13:33):
don't think there's anything wrong with notwanting to make that journey. I think
high producing salespeople, if they wantto earn more money, it's one of
two ways sell more. Move toa new company with a new commission plan,
or maybe three take on the salesleader position. And in many cases
you won't earn more money. You'llhave people around you that are out earning
(13:56):
you, and that requires you toexercise some humility you may not naturally have.
And I would say to salespeople,really understand what your professional values are.
Because if you love the limelight andyou love the competition, you love
the leader board and the scoreboard andall the awards, don't move into leadership.
Stay there. That's great. Everycompany needs salespeople who want to lead
(14:20):
the leader board. Every company needspeople like that. So be really thoughtful
around is this the right transition.You might need to go to a new
company where it has a better commissionplan or has you know, a bigger
territory or higher margin products or somethinglike that. Don't be ever embarrassed that
you want to be in the spotlightand out earn other people. Every company
(14:45):
needs those you might even call somewhatself serving salespeople. There's nothing wrong with
that. That's awesome. So everybody'sgot their own set of superpowers and their
skill sets. So what have youidentified as yours? Crickets and dumbleweeds on
this one? My superpower, I'mreally great at taking nothing and turning it
(15:09):
into something. At taking an ideafor a book and then spending three thousand
hours writing it and getting it publishedand on the shelf at Barnes and Noble.
I'm good at taking an idea fora certification program or a webinar or
a podcast and not just talking aboutit in three days, having a set
(15:31):
built and cameras and editing and gettingit done. So I'm I promise big
and I deliver bigger. I'm anexecutor. Now, sometimes I'm that guy
that's the you know, fire aimversus aim fire ready, fire aim right,
And so my impulsivity, my biasto action is sometimes weakness. Like
(15:52):
all of our strengths have overplayed,they can become our weaknesses. So I'd
say my superpower is not just havinga creative mind, but actually building stuff
and launching it and shipping it.Secondly, I think I have a vracious
appetite for new ideas, new concepts. I'm a racious reader. I like
(16:18):
to improve things. I'm not avery linear thinker. I'm not very good
at managing all the steps in between. I tend to, you know,
sometimes run rough shot over people becauseI like to get things done. I
think it was I think it wasGeneral Schwarz Cough that said, if you're
not pissing people off, you aren'tgetting things done, and the spirit of
(16:41):
that I like. I don't thinkI think it can things done and not
piss everybody off. But I'm abit of a bulldozer. I won't bulldoze
over you, but you probably oughtto get out of the way because the
bulldozer is coming. So I'll honkthe horn and I'll i'll blink the lights,
(17:02):
but the bulldozers not stopping, sostep out of the way, right
exactly. Yeah, I totally getthat. I've done hundreds of podcasts and
no one's ever asked me that questionbefore, so really, oh wow.
I always think it's really good forpeople to identify, like really know their
(17:23):
strengths like, what is it thatI am really good at? I have
one more? Can I share onemore? Ah? I'm loving this question.
I'm great at reading a room,so I can walk in and I
can read the body language. Ican read the nonverbals. I generally have
a pretty good idea of what people'sagendas are. I'm pretty good at understanding
(17:47):
the power structure in a room.I can read it pretty quickly. Sometimes
I miss it. My wife saysI miss it more than I think I
do at dinner parties and things.That's what spouses are forward to keep you
in check. But I'm pretty goodat reading the body language and understanding who
thinks they have the power, andwho does have the power, who thinks
they have the budget and who reallyhas the budget, who has the signing
(18:11):
authority, and who is portraying theydo. I have enough decades in selling
to be able to read how doI how do I get something done with
this group of people? That that'sa superpower of mind. It's funny because
my husband and I we sort ofit's kind of one of my superpowers too,
(18:33):
and we play it in a littlebit different way, and we will
go into a restaurant or will goout to an event and we will create
We'll see a couple that we don'tknow and then create their story. Like
I think, I think they workin this, I think they do this.
I think I think they're on afirst date. I think they're not.
(18:55):
I think they've been married for thislong. And it's really funny because
we try try to work our wayinto a conversation with those individuals, and
I'm usually always like ninety percent spotup. It's as much fun as far
as their career and everything. Ijust have this ability to guess in reading
(19:17):
the psychology background I do not justsales, but I think so. The
answer is, yes, you dohave a psychology background at you and sales.
That's right. So let's talk aboutgreatest accomplishment or something you're super proud
of. Oh, I'm proud thatI'm still married after fourteen years. Uh,
first and only marriage. My wifeand I had three sons in the
(19:41):
first five years, which was illadvised and wow, tortuous. I'm very
proud of that. I'm proud thatmy wife and I are raising three young
gentlemen. Our sons are eight,eleven, and thirteen, and they look
you in the eye and they shakeyour hand, and they pull out the
chair for you, and they groomthemselves and tuck their shirts and their belts,
(20:03):
and they know that it was betweena salad fork and a dinner fork.
And they read books. Sometimes throughbribery or torture, they read.
So I'm proud of the three boysthat we're raising. I'll tell you,
I'm also very proud of no one'sever asked me this question. My wife
and I have a fairly traditional marriage. We were raised in a traditional family
(20:26):
where the husbands worked and the wivesmanaged the families and the house and the
business. Those roles could have beenreversed. But my wife and I,
we have thirteen years between us.There's so quite a bit of age between
us, and we just agreed thatif we were going to raise a family,
that one of us would work andone of us would be the primary
(20:47):
parent, right meaning like you know, homework and baths and that kind of
stuff. And although I'm a veryactive father, my wife is the stay
at home parent, if you will, running running our family and our house
and the finance. She manages allof our finances and my job is to
go earn the money. It's veryseventies or eighties, if you will,
but it works for us, soI think my wife feels very respected.
(21:08):
I don't want to do eight loadsof laundry today, and she doesn't want
to go out and be responsible forearning what it takes to pay three kids
tuitions at private school. I don'twant to do eight loads launching today.
Either does she, by the way, but that's what it takes with three
boys in the summertime. But Itake very seriously my role as a provider
for four people. I take itvery seriously. And although you know we're
(21:32):
not independently wealthy by any stretch,I'm very proud. I'm a little emotional
right now. I'm very proud ofin a tough economy, in the midst
of COVID and having retired from athirty year executive role, in launching a
new entrepreneurial business. I'm proud thatthe lights are on, and the cable
bill is paid, and the insuranceis there, and we can afford braces,
and we don't have everything we want, but we have everything we need.
(21:55):
And I'm proud of the role thatI've played as financial provider for four
people plus myself. I never thoughtI was responsible enough to even pay my
own bills, let it pay thebills for for other people. And so
I'm very comfortable saying I'm proud ofthat, as you should be. Thank
you, very good, thank you. So now let's talk about one of
(22:15):
the greatest challenges that the listeners justhung up because they thought I was like
an egotist or I showed me enoughon it at all. My wife and
I have decided on what our rolesshould be, and we played them both
very well. And you know whatthat that's the whole thing is. It's
communicating and deciding what it is thatyou're going to do. I remember I
(22:40):
was on a speech I was speakingand full time, and I had a
very successful business. And there areten years between my husband and I,
except that I'm the ten years olderand so he had never had children,
and so we were remarried and mychildren were already twenty and eighteen, and
(23:00):
so it was like, am Igoing to start all over for real?
And I said, well, youhave to be a sixty percent. You
have to be a sixty percent dad, Like we're not just doing talking fifty
to fifty. You're going to haveto step up and you're going to have
to be You're going to have tohandle it when I'm gone one hundred percent.
And when I'm here, I'll handleit one hundred percent. But when
(23:22):
I'm on the road, you're goingto have to handle it. And that
was our decision, that was ourchoice, that was what we made.
That was the agreement, and itworked, and it worked fabulously, and
some people didn't understand it. AndI took a lot of flak for being
the woman who was on the roadand while he's home, you know,
(23:42):
taking care of our daughter. AndI'm like, well, he's her dad,
so why shouldn't he And that's thethat's the agreement we made. So
I just think it works. Whateveryou're choosing, that's exactly right. I
think it's situational. You know.I take out the garbage every day,
and I ironed the clothes for theboys, and I unload the dishwasher and
(24:03):
I vacuum. I don't do laundrybecause she says I don't understand delegates versus
cottons and separating colors, so she'dsay it's not helpful, Scott, stay
away from the laundry room. That'sright, that's right. Yeah, I'll
stay okay, So let's talk aboutone of those greatest challenges, like what
in your career, what's a challengethat you faced, and then how did
(24:26):
you work through that. I'm veryclear on this. I mentioned that for
twenty five years I worked for theFranklin Covey Company. Stephen Covey, of
course, wrote the book The SevenHabits of Highly Effective People, and as
the chief marketing officer, Belinda,I was called constantly from the press wanting
to interview me on doctor Covey's book, The Seven Habits of Highly Efficient People,
(24:48):
and I would say, no,the book is called the Seven Habits
of Highly Effective People, not theSeven Habits of highly Efficient People. Lots
of people get those confused. Sure, sound a lot of like And doctor
Covey one of his lessons legacies withme was there's a big difference between being
efficient and being effective. Oh yeah, one is not better than the other.
(25:12):
They're just different. And as youmay and tell from my personality,
and if any of your listeners haveread my books or follow me on social
you know, I'm like a masterclassin efficiency. I get stuff done,
I get everyone at four o'clock,and I write articles and columns and books
and an entrepreneur, and I runthree companies, and on and on and
(25:33):
on and on and on. OnSaturday morning, I get up at four
o'clock and our yard is raked byfive, the cars are washed by six,
the lawn is mode by seven,the farmer's market flowers are planted by
eight, and I'm ready to startmy day at nine. And so my
entire successful career has been from myefficiency mindset. I don't make any apologies
(25:59):
for it. The problem is,like most people that have the default efficiency
mindset, when we move that intoour relationships, it explodes because, to
quote doctor Stephen Rcovey, with people, slow is fast and fast is slow.
(26:22):
And so I have to recognize whento be efficient mowing the lawn,
taking the garbage, cans out socialmedia, sending out invoices, blah blah
blah. Never with relationships, Ihave to consciously slow down and remember to
be more effective with people. Takeoff my watch, turn off my phone,
(26:48):
close my laptop, check in,genuinely try to eliminate all of the
legitimate distractions from my focus on whatyou're saying, and deeply understand it's not
natural for me. I'm not goodat it. I'm good at mowing the
lawn in forty minutes and being doneand taking the dishes out of bam,
bam and bam. So my biggestlesson in life has been not to diminish
(27:12):
the power of being efficient, butto know when to be efficient and when
not to be And that's been mybiggest lesson because most of my relationship challenges
come because I haven't listened. I'vejumped to conclusions, I've interrupted, I've
assumed I know the rest of thestory, and Okay, stop right there,
(27:33):
let's solve it. And that's usuallywhen I get in trouble with people,
trouble with human resources, trouble withwhatever it is because I've interrupted someone
shut them down because of my processingspeed or my arrogance and thinking, oh,
I've been here, I already knowthis, let's just move on.
Really, is that right? SoI think that's good advice for everyone,
(27:56):
is just to know when to beefficient and when to be effective. They're
both valuable, they're usually with differentsettings. Usually efficiency is with things and
effectiveness is with relationships and people.Wow, that was great, I think
that's a problem. Yes, SometimesI'll say, hey, Belinda can I
(28:18):
just have a real efficient conversation withyou right now, and you say yes,
and I launched right into the point. I don't ask you about your
weekend. I don't discuss the weather, I don't discuss last week's layoffs.
I'll declare, hey, Blenda,can I just have a quick, efficient
conversation now? You know, Ijust need to get some answers on some
things. Now. That can't bemy opening to every conversation, but I
(28:40):
think it's good advice for people likeme that find themselves to be very productive,
but sometimes they're not expert at relationships, which is a crucial leadership competency
is knowing how to develop and sustainmutually beneficial, mutually trustworthy relationships. So
(29:00):
this is kind of our signature questionof the show, and that is,
what does working from your happy placemean to you? What does working from
my happy place mean to me?Mm hmm, I'm going to disappoint you.
I don't know the answer to thatquestion offhand. Again, no one
has asked me that question. Iguess I would answer it this way.
(29:26):
Is probably the confluence of feeling satisfiedthat I've added some value to someone else,
feeling like I got credit for it, that it helped someone else lifting
them up, giving them validation,moving them forward, and that I was
(29:51):
economically rewarded for it reasonably. Ithink it. Probably I'm making that up
extemporaneously, but I feel pretty goodabout that answer. Or I've never I've
never found great joy and a lotof work. I'm a capitalist, and
so I work to earn money.I tend to find joy in other aspects
(30:17):
of life, and I'm very comfortablesaying that. And my number one professional
value is to maximize my income.Notice I didn't say my number one personal
value. I have a set ofpersonal values and a set of professional values.
I know exactly what they are.I'm very clear on them, and
I live my life and alignment withthem. And sometimes they're in conflict,
(30:37):
and that's okay. But because Iknow my personal values purpose, health,
integrity, loyalty, positivity, abundance, and learning, those are my personal
values, and I know my professionalvalues maximize income, work with a brand
that I respect, and work withpeople that I love. I tend to
find my joy. My happy placeis usually playing tennis, drinking champagne,
(31:03):
doing yard work, reading magazines,vacation with my family, going to church,
and for me, work is generallya means to an end. Okay,
long answer, I apologize, no, no, no, no.
And the last question is what advicewould you give to anyone just starting out
(31:26):
on this entrepreneurial journey. It's goingto take longer than you think, it's
going to cost more than you expect. You're going to be humbled many times.
Your deliberate strategy coming out of thegate will probably not be your emergent
strategy, meaning something like ninety percentof successful people, companies, entrepreneurs find
(31:52):
success with some different product or goto market approach or customer than they thought
they were going to have. I'velaunched lots of products I were convinced we're
going to be B two C productsthat flocked and the B two C market,
but found resonance and the B toB market. So I think you've
got to become really emotionally agile andnimble to say, okay, well that
(32:12):
didn't work, So what did Ilearn from that? Let's try something else.
It's going to be harder and moreexpensive and take longer than you think,
so be prepared for that and justlook at every setback, every failure,
every moderate success, as a learningOkay, so that didn't work.
What did I learn with that?Too? Arrogant? Did I not ask
enough questions? That I assumed toomuch? Had I not done my research?
(32:36):
Should it have been named wrong?That I marketed the way I wanted
to be marketed to or the waythe buyer wanted to be marketed to.
Am I using my language to describeit? Or way the buyer would describe
it? Have I looked at mycircumstance or the circumstance my client is in?
And so I think it's just constantlyreinventing self disrupting and being super gil
(33:00):
and nimble until you discover that rightnexus of what's going to be successful.
That's golden advice right there. Thatwas golden, golden advice right there.
So I hope our listeners will goback. If you're on your treadmill or
you're outlocking, that's the one youneed to go back and say, all
right, let me get my notebook. I gotta write that one down,
(33:21):
because that was very very good Itook not it's myself. You know,
I'm in the process. I thoughtI thought something was going to take four
months, and it took fourteen months. Yeah, I was convinced that this
would cost you know, thirty thousand, and it costs sixty five thousand,
right or I thought, I justthought I can have this deal signed in
nine weeks, and it took fourteenweeks or forty weeks. So don't put
(33:46):
all your eggs in one basket.Head your bets long enough to make sure
that you are convinced something is showingsigns of prospering. And always have a
plan. B. Always have aplan, and see always have a plan.
D. Never get caught with yourshorts down metaphorically by always having contingency
(34:07):
plans. It's exhausting and it canbe really rewarding. Great. So,
any new and exciting things that you'reworking on right now that you'd love our
listeners to know about. And whatbook would you really like to promote right
now? Well, first of all, all the books behind me, because
I'm big fans of all the authorsthat I've interviewed. I have a new
book coming out on July eleventh,called The Ultimate Guide to Great Mentorship Thirteen
(34:32):
Roles to Making a True Impact.This is a book for companies that have
mentor programs and universities and school districts. It's called The Ultimate Guide to Great
Mentorship. You can visit great mentorshipdot com. I have a certification program
on it. You can be certifiedas a new mentor. I have a
new book coming out in February calledCareer on Course tend Strategies to take your
(34:55):
career from accidental to Intentional. Froma guy who started in the front line
and moved to the C suite,I learned a lot from my own career
mistakes and successes in those of others, and so this is a really valuable
career book that launches in mid Februaryof twenty twenty four. It'll be on
sale for pre order probably in thefall. Okay, those are two things
(35:16):
I'm excited about. And I'm excitedabout all the great guests that are coming
on to the On Leadership podcast.Some awesome guest Brene Brown's coming on,
Tony Robbins, Scottie Pippin, gotsome great guests coming onto the podcast in
the coming weeks and months. Well, that sounds fantastic. Well, Scott,
thank you so much for pouring intoour guest today. I certainly do
(35:38):
appreciate it. Blinda, thank youagain for having me on and I'm going
to start playing that game with mywife to see who has a better batting
average of guessing people's backstory at restaurantsand parties. You'll have fun with it,
I promise sounds great. Thank youabsolutely to all of our guests out
there. Thank you so much forjoining us today. We know that you
have a choice of we're to spendyour time, and we're so grateful that
(35:59):
you chose to spend it with ustoday. Make sure you follow our subscribe
and check out our website because we'vegot lots of fun and exciting things going
on. Check out Scott's podcast andhis new book. Thank you so much,
and we'll see you next time onwork from your happy place.
Welcome to Work from Your Happy Place, the podcast that equips you with the
knowledge and inspiration to live your dreamsand find your own happy plays. You
will be encouraged by and learn fromentrepreneurs and artists who are already working from
their happy plays, all while pursuingtheir passion with a purpose. Be sure
(00:20):
to sign up for our free weeklynewsletter for our recap of the week's guests
and a preview of what's in store. We also have two special gifts for
you, a video, the fivecore Principles to living a half Yer Life,
and a printable download title Top tensales Strategies. Go to Work from
Your Happy Place dot com, forwardslash free. Fill out the attached form
(00:43):
to receive your gifts and be addedto our newsletter. And now here's your
host, Belinda Ellsworth. Hello everyone, I am here with Scott Jeffrey Miller
today and we're so excited to havehim on the show. Scott is a
highly sought after speaker, author,and podcast host. He is a Wall
(01:03):
Street Journal best selling author and currentlyserves as Franklin Coby's senior advisor on Thought
Leadership. Prior to his advisor Roll, Scott was a twenty five year Franklin
Covey Associate, serving as the ChiefMarketing Officer and executive vice president. It
is my pleasure to welcome Scott toour show today, Belinda, Thank you,
(01:25):
thank you for the platform and thespotlight. Delighted to be here today,
Yes, absolutely, So I justhave to ask, because I just
think it's so curious before we diveinto learning more about you, but tell
us about your background. What's allthe fun graffiti or whatever that you have
going on there behind you. Well, I'm joining you today from the set
(01:49):
of what is now the world's largestweekly leadership podcast that I host called All
Leadership with Scott Miller. And soI'll do my camera. This is the
set where I, like you,host a podcast each week week and had
the privilege to interview remarkable business titansand best selling authors and thought leaders around
the world. So I happen tobe in the podcast hosting, hosting,
(02:09):
and so today I'm going to bea guest in the podcast. So you
see behind me several thousand books ofdifferent thought leaders that I've interviewed over the
course of our five year podcast.Oh that is so fantastic. Well,
it looks just took books and nailedthem to the wall. Oh my gosh,
it looks fantastic. That's nice ofyou, Thank you. Yeah,
it's It's funny how the smallest thingscan end up making for great decoration,
(02:35):
right, yeah, definitely. Infact, I did not nail them to
the wall. Someone else did,But it was a vision that I have
because we feature so many authors,and I actually think book covers tend to
be a bit of an art formand an expression of the author's personality and
their topics. So I like to, like you, I like to shine
our spotlight on other guests as well. Okay, perfect, Well let's do
(02:58):
I call you jeff Jeffrey what youlike to be called? Theirs name is
Scott. You can call me Scott. Oh, I am so sorry.
You know what everyone calls me Jeffrey. I don't know why. It's not
a problem, Scott Jeffrey Miller.You can call me Blenda anything you want
to. I don't, okay,Scott fly, today's my birthday. I'm
fifty five. I'm way beyond caringwhat people call me. There you go,
(03:20):
Well, my brother is Jeffrey,and so then when I read your
full name, it just stuck rightthere. I was like, Okay,
so Scott, let's dipe in andlet's talk a little bit about your journey
and your entrepreneurial journey, and thenlet's talk about what you are doing today
to serve others. Sure, so, my entrepreneurial journey is quite short.
I spent a thirty year career withthe Walt Disney Company, and then the
(03:45):
Franklin Covey Company was with Walt DisneyWorld for four years, and then they
invited me to leave. You canread my books about that process. But
Stephen Covey, of course, theseminal author of the book The Seven Happits
of Highly Affected People, hired metwenty eight years ago and I moved from
Orlando, Florida, to Salt LakeCity, where the now Franklin Covey Company
is headquartered, the world's most trustedleadership development firm. Spent twenty five years
(04:10):
in that company, moving from thefront line to the c suite, where
for a decade I was the chiefmarketing officer and the executive vice president of
Thought Leadership. Retired from the firmthree years ago in good standing, and
now I'm an ambassador to that firm. I host two podcasts for them,
and then when I retired three yearsago, that's when I became an entrepreneur.
My day job is I'm a talentagent. I owned a thriving talent
(04:33):
agency as a literary speaking and talentagent called Gray Miller, and I'm also
an author and speaker. I've authoredseven books, as you mentioned in the
opening, and now I speak fora living and keynote around the world,
do a bunch of different things inthat realm. And here today to talk
(04:53):
about anything I've learned that can helpyour listenership and viewership build a better career.
Okay, perfect, Well, let'sdive in. Let's talk about your
level of expertise. Since you talkabout leadership principles, let's talk about what
advice you can give to others inthe area of leadership. No, we
have six hours for that, right, because that's about need for that,
(05:15):
So gosh, it depends on whereyou want to go, right, I'd
say, first, not everybody shouldbe a leader of people. I think
the leadership industry perpetuates a disservice onmany of us, which is that the
ultimate pinnacle of everyone's career to bea leader. I just don't believe.
I fundamentally do not agree that everyoneshould be a commercial airline pilot. Not
(05:36):
everyone should be an anesthesiologist, andnot everybody should be a leader of people.
I think people should be very thoughtfulabout whether or not whether or not
that's the right career journey for them, because in most organizations, how you
become a people leader is the onlyway to get promoted, the only way
to earn more money, the onlyway to have more influence. What happens
(05:57):
in too many organizations is that theypluck their top end of the dial,
contributors, they're top producers, andmake them the sales leader when they were
the top sales person, or thatdirector of the digital division when they were
the top digital designer. There isno correlation and you being an excellent individual
contributor you being a leader of people. So the first thing I would say
(06:17):
is be very thoughtful about whether ornot that is the right career path for
you. I've seen countless extraordinarily competentindividual contributors implode when they were promoted to
be the leader of the rest ofthe team because it wasn't the right rule
for them. Now, if andwhen you are going to become the leader
of people, you have to realizethat you must have a massive mindset shift,
(06:40):
paradigm shift. No longer is ityour job to rush in and save
the day, to achieve all theresults based on how you would do it.
But you have to now realize asa leader, your job is to
achieve results within through other people.I'm going to repeat that as a leader.
Yeah, your job is to achieveresults and through others. So that
(07:01):
means your job has to coach.Your job has to be building capability.
You have to slow down to bemore patient. Otherwise you'll end up being
the martyr and the victim, doingall the work yourselves and wondering why everybody
else is out taking their PTO Wand you're not because you didn't build capabilities
in others. And that isn't theright calling for everybody. It requires you
to be more patient, be abetter listener, recognize there's more ways to
(07:26):
achieve results than just the way youwould do it. MA could go on
for hours around leadership advice, butthose are two important caveats. I think
everybody should be thoughtful and mindful ofSo here's a question for you. Then,
as I'm listening to you, becauseI think you're absolutely spot on.
But you said a key point,and that is generally to move up the
(07:46):
ladder, to get a pay raise, to get a promotion of any kind,
it is to move from what youwere doing so successfully. Of course,
you got recognized into being a manageror being a leader, and you're
right, not everyone's cut out forthat. And I have seen people implode
in that position again and again tothe degree where they're not good at it
(08:09):
and now they're unhappy, and nowthey're not the star or that they were
before, and they don't even enjoytheir job anymore. And so what can
companies do to recognize this themselves?In the yeah, in this process,
delight? Did you set up thatquestion? This is my advice. Now,
I'm not a chief human resource officeror the ev of talent, but
(08:33):
I've sold a couple hundred million dollarsworth of solutions to those consumers, so
I know a bit about this,and this is my vintage point. I
think it's incumbent on every company tomake sure that they don't lure people into
leadership roles sit people down. Belinda, you've been crushing it as a salesperson
(08:54):
for thirteen quarters. I mean,you're extraordinary knowing our solutions the client needs,
asking the right questions, taking yoursales goal really carefully, and we
are so appreciate you in that role. Blinda. We have a sales leadership
role coming up in the next coupleof weeks or months, and we wondered
if you might want to enter intoa conversation to determine would this be the
(09:18):
right progression in your career. So, Blinda, let's tell you a couple
of things about it. Let's drawa teach art. Blinda. On the
left side, here are that eightor ten things you do extraordinarily well that
have gotten you success in your currentrole. Bam, bam, bam,
bam, bam, bam and bamand Blinda, I think it's important you
know that four or five of theseeight things that you do better than anyone
(09:43):
as an individual contributor, they're actuallynot going to serve you well in a
leadership position. You're going to haveto indeed stop doing them. That might
feel counterintuitive, but the things thatgot you here quote aren't going to take
you or keep you there. Andconversely, on the right side of the
teacher, Belinda, here are sixor seven competencies that you're going to need
to learn that you don't possess rightnow, that's okay, none of us
(10:07):
did. But these are skills thatyou're gonna have to accelerate to and assimilate
to extraordinarily fast. And you haveto determine whether or not you want to
leave behind all these competencies and buildall these new competencies because in many ways,
it's fundamentally building a new set ofskills. And Belinda, for decade
(10:28):
now, you've been the star ofthe show. Right You've been on stage
at the President's Club and the Chairman'sAward and Malia all the awards and top
of the scoreboard. And that isn'tgonna be the case anymore. You're not
gonna see your name anywhere. Youwon't be on stage. You're gonna have
to determine whether or not you trulytake delight in the success of those around
you, because that's now how you'regoing to define success. It's everybody else
(10:52):
winning within your stewardship, so tospeak, and not everyone can rise to
that level. And by the way, if you don't, that doesn't make
you anything other than an amazing salesperson. And we need you in that role
still. But Belinda, what wedon't want you to do is take this
leadership job on naively and then realize, oh, you don't like to interview
(11:15):
and terminate, you don't enjoy coaching, you don't like having high courage conversations
about people in the blind spots theyhave in their behavior and their innerpersonal skills,
and then you decide this is thewrong role for you, because rarely
does someone choose to step back down. They usually choose to step out,
and we don't want to lose you. So that roleplay was simply to say,
(11:37):
that's what companies should do to havea really courageous conversation around is this
the right role for you? Andwhat kind of coaching will you need along
the way? And do you evenwant it? Wow? I think that's
and that was so articulate in exactlywhat people need to be looking at,
because as they go into leadership,they often don't realize the things they're leaving
(12:01):
behind, and they are things thatthey loved and they miss now and the
ways in which they were validated andthe ways in which they felt valued and
they felt like a contributing person.I mean, you know, I don't
know about you, but I don'tknow many people that wake up and all
of a sudden are able to eloquentlygive people both courageous and diplomatic feedback on
(12:22):
their bekator. That's an art,and some people want to avoid that at
all costs. As a leader,that's what you're doing most of the day,
is you're coaching and mentoring and givingfeedback on, redirecting feedback and reinforcing
feedback. And for some people that'sinvigorating. For most people, it's exhausting
and depleting. Right. I rememberfor myself and you hit it, it's
(12:48):
like I was a top salesperson foryears and then I suddenly was in a
leadership role and now I'm leading asales team. And I remember that very
first convention of not being on stage, not getting any awards, and it
was hard, Like that was ahard It was almost like, Okay,
(13:11):
this isn't this isn't what you're doinganymore. But at the end of the
night, when I had like Idon't know four of my team end up
taking some of the top awards,it was extremely rewarding. But that is
a it's a difficult transition that noone really often explains that you're going to
go through it is a difficult transition. And let me reiterate something. I
(13:33):
don't think there's anything wrong with notwanting to make that journey. I think
high producing salespeople, if they wantto earn more money, it's one of
two ways sell more. Move toa new company with a new commission plan,
or maybe three take on the salesleader position. And in many cases
you won't earn more money. You'llhave people around you that are out earning
(13:56):
you, and that requires you toexercise some humility you may not naturally have.
And I would say to salespeople,really understand what your professional values are.
Because if you love the limelight andyou love the competition, you love
the leader board and the scoreboard andall the awards, don't move into leadership.
Stay there. That's great. Everycompany needs salespeople who want to lead
(14:20):
the leader board. Every company needspeople like that. So be really thoughtful
around is this the right transition.You might need to go to a new
company where it has a better commissionplan or has you know, a bigger
territory or higher margin products or somethinglike that. Don't be ever embarrassed that
you want to be in the spotlightand out earn other people. Every company
(14:45):
needs those you might even call somewhatself serving salespeople. There's nothing wrong with
that. That's awesome. So everybody'sgot their own set of superpowers and their
skill sets. So what have youidentified as yours? Crickets and dumbleweeds on
this one? My superpower, I'mreally great at taking nothing and turning it
(15:09):
into something. At taking an ideafor a book and then spending three thousand
hours writing it and getting it publishedand on the shelf at Barnes and Noble.
I'm good at taking an idea fora certification program or a webinar or
a podcast and not just talking aboutit in three days, having a set
(15:31):
built and cameras and editing and gettingit done. So I'm I promise big
and I deliver bigger. I'm anexecutor. Now, sometimes I'm that guy
that's the you know, fire aimversus aim fire ready, fire aim right,
And so my impulsivity, my biasto action is sometimes weakness. Like
(15:52):
all of our strengths have overplayed,they can become our weaknesses. So I'd
say my superpower is not just havinga creative mind, but actually building stuff
and launching it and shipping it.Secondly, I think I have a vracious
appetite for new ideas, new concepts. I'm a racious reader. I like
(16:18):
to improve things. I'm not avery linear thinker. I'm not very good
at managing all the steps in between. I tend to, you know,
sometimes run rough shot over people becauseI like to get things done. I
think it was I think it wasGeneral Schwarz Cough that said, if you're
not pissing people off, you aren'tgetting things done, and the spirit of
(16:41):
that I like. I don't thinkI think it can things done and not
piss everybody off. But I'm abit of a bulldozer. I won't bulldoze
over you, but you probably oughtto get out of the way because the
bulldozer is coming. So I'll honkthe horn and I'll i'll blink the lights,
(17:02):
but the bulldozers not stopping, sostep out of the way, right
exactly. Yeah, I totally getthat. I've done hundreds of podcasts and
no one's ever asked me that questionbefore, so really, oh wow.
I always think it's really good forpeople to identify, like really know their
(17:23):
strengths like, what is it thatI am really good at? I have
one more? Can I share onemore? Ah? I'm loving this question.
I'm great at reading a room,so I can walk in and I
can read the body language. Ican read the nonverbals. I generally have
a pretty good idea of what people'sagendas are. I'm pretty good at understanding
(17:47):
the power structure in a room.I can read it pretty quickly. Sometimes
I miss it. My wife saysI miss it more than I think I
do at dinner parties and things.That's what spouses are forward to keep you
in check. But I'm pretty goodat reading the body language and understanding who
thinks they have the power, andwho does have the power, who thinks
they have the budget and who reallyhas the budget, who has the signing
(18:11):
authority, and who is portraying theydo. I have enough decades in selling
to be able to read how doI how do I get something done with
this group of people? That that'sa superpower of mind. It's funny because
my husband and I we sort ofit's kind of one of my superpowers too,
(18:33):
and we play it in a littlebit different way, and we will
go into a restaurant or will goout to an event and we will create
We'll see a couple that we don'tknow and then create their story. Like
I think, I think they workin this, I think they do this.
I think I think they're on afirst date. I think they're not.
(18:55):
I think they've been married for thislong. And it's really funny because
we try try to work our wayinto a conversation with those individuals, and
I'm usually always like ninety percent spotup. It's as much fun as far
as their career and everything. Ijust have this ability to guess in reading
(19:17):
the psychology background I do not justsales, but I think so. The
answer is, yes, you dohave a psychology background at you and sales.
That's right. So let's talk aboutgreatest accomplishment or something you're super proud
of. Oh, I'm proud thatI'm still married after fourteen years. Uh,
first and only marriage. My wifeand I had three sons in the
(19:41):
first five years, which was illadvised and wow, tortuous. I'm very
proud of that. I'm proud thatmy wife and I are raising three young
gentlemen. Our sons are eight,eleven, and thirteen, and they look
you in the eye and they shakeyour hand, and they pull out the
chair for you, and they groomthemselves and tuck their shirts and their belts,
(20:03):
and they know that it was betweena salad fork and a dinner fork.
And they read books. Sometimes throughbribery or torture, they read.
So I'm proud of the three boysthat we're raising. I'll tell you,
I'm also very proud of no one'sever asked me this question. My wife
and I have a fairly traditional marriage. We were raised in a traditional family
(20:26):
where the husbands worked and the wivesmanaged the families and the house and the
business. Those roles could have beenreversed. But my wife and I,
we have thirteen years between us.There's so quite a bit of age between
us, and we just agreed thatif we were going to raise a family,
that one of us would work andone of us would be the primary
(20:47):
parent, right meaning like you know, homework and baths and that kind of
stuff. And although I'm a veryactive father, my wife is the stay
at home parent, if you will, running running our family and our house
and the finance. She manages allof our finances and my job is to
go earn the money. It's veryseventies or eighties, if you will,
but it works for us, soI think my wife feels very respected.
(21:08):
I don't want to do eight loadsof laundry today, and she doesn't want
to go out and be responsible forearning what it takes to pay three kids
tuitions at private school. I don'twant to do eight loads launching today.
Either does she, by the way, but that's what it takes with three
boys in the summertime. But Itake very seriously my role as a provider
for four people. I take itvery seriously. And although you know we're
(21:32):
not independently wealthy by any stretch,I'm very proud. I'm a little emotional
right now. I'm very proud ofin a tough economy, in the midst
of COVID and having retired from athirty year executive role, in launching a
new entrepreneurial business. I'm proud thatthe lights are on, and the cable
bill is paid, and the insuranceis there, and we can afford braces,
and we don't have everything we want, but we have everything we need.
(21:55):
And I'm proud of the role thatI've played as financial provider for four
people plus myself. I never thoughtI was responsible enough to even pay my
own bills, let it pay thebills for for other people. And so
I'm very comfortable saying I'm proud ofthat, as you should be. Thank
you, very good, thank you. So now let's talk about one of
(22:15):
the greatest challenges that the listeners justhung up because they thought I was like
an egotist or I showed me enoughon it at all. My wife and
I have decided on what our rolesshould be, and we played them both
very well. And you know whatthat that's the whole thing is. It's
communicating and deciding what it is thatyou're going to do. I remember I
(22:40):
was on a speech I was speakingand full time, and I had a
very successful business. And there areten years between my husband and I,
except that I'm the ten years olderand so he had never had children,
and so we were remarried and mychildren were already twenty and eighteen, and
(23:00):
so it was like, am Igoing to start all over for real?
And I said, well, youhave to be a sixty percent. You
have to be a sixty percent dad, Like we're not just doing talking fifty
to fifty. You're going to haveto step up and you're going to have
to be You're going to have tohandle it when I'm gone one hundred percent.
And when I'm here, I'll handleit one hundred percent. But when
(23:22):
I'm on the road, you're goingto have to handle it. And that
was our decision, that was ourchoice, that was what we made.
That was the agreement, and itworked, and it worked fabulously, and
some people didn't understand it. AndI took a lot of flak for being
the woman who was on the roadand while he's home, you know,
(23:42):
taking care of our daughter. AndI'm like, well, he's her dad,
so why shouldn't he And that's thethat's the agreement we made. So
I just think it works. Whateveryou're choosing, that's exactly right. I
think it's situational. You know.I take out the garbage every day,
and I ironed the clothes for theboys, and I unload the dishwasher and
(24:03):
I vacuum. I don't do laundrybecause she says I don't understand delegates versus
cottons and separating colors, so she'dsay it's not helpful, Scott, stay
away from the laundry room. That'sright, that's right. Yeah, I'll
stay okay, So let's talk aboutone of those greatest challenges, like what
in your career, what's a challengethat you faced, and then how did
(24:26):
you work through that. I'm veryclear on this. I mentioned that for
twenty five years I worked for theFranklin Covey Company. Stephen Covey, of
course, wrote the book The SevenHabits of Highly Effective People, and as
the chief marketing officer, Belinda,I was called constantly from the press wanting
to interview me on doctor Covey's book, The Seven Habits of Highly Efficient People,
(24:48):
and I would say, no,the book is called the Seven Habits
of Highly Effective People, not theSeven Habits of highly Efficient People. Lots
of people get those confused. Sure, sound a lot of like And doctor
Covey one of his lessons legacies withme was there's a big difference between being
efficient and being effective. Oh yeah, one is not better than the other.
(25:12):
They're just different. And as youmay and tell from my personality,
and if any of your listeners haveread my books or follow me on social
you know, I'm like a masterclassin efficiency. I get stuff done,
I get everyone at four o'clock,and I write articles and columns and books
and an entrepreneur, and I runthree companies, and on and on and
(25:33):
on and on and on. OnSaturday morning, I get up at four
o'clock and our yard is raked byfive, the cars are washed by six,
the lawn is mode by seven,the farmer's market flowers are planted by
eight, and I'm ready to startmy day at nine. And so my
entire successful career has been from myefficiency mindset. I don't make any apologies
(25:59):
for it. The problem is,like most people that have the default efficiency
mindset, when we move that intoour relationships, it explodes because, to
quote doctor Stephen Rcovey, with people, slow is fast and fast is slow.
(26:22):
And so I have to recognize whento be efficient mowing the lawn,
taking the garbage, cans out socialmedia, sending out invoices, blah blah
blah. Never with relationships, Ihave to consciously slow down and remember to
be more effective with people. Takeoff my watch, turn off my phone,
(26:48):
close my laptop, check in,genuinely try to eliminate all of the
legitimate distractions from my focus on whatyou're saying, and deeply understand it's not
natural for me. I'm not goodat it. I'm good at mowing the
lawn in forty minutes and being doneand taking the dishes out of bam,
bam and bam. So my biggestlesson in life has been not to diminish
(27:12):
the power of being efficient, butto know when to be efficient and when
not to be And that's been mybiggest lesson because most of my relationship challenges
come because I haven't listened. I'vejumped to conclusions, I've interrupted, I've
assumed I know the rest of thestory, and Okay, stop right there,
(27:33):
let's solve it. And that's usuallywhen I get in trouble with people,
trouble with human resources, trouble withwhatever it is because I've interrupted someone
shut them down because of my processingspeed or my arrogance and thinking, oh,
I've been here, I already knowthis, let's just move on.
Really, is that right? SoI think that's good advice for everyone,
(27:56):
is just to know when to beefficient and when to be effective. They're
both valuable, they're usually with differentsettings. Usually efficiency is with things and
effectiveness is with relationships and people.Wow, that was great, I think
that's a problem. Yes, SometimesI'll say, hey, Belinda can I
(28:18):
just have a real efficient conversation withyou right now, and you say yes,
and I launched right into the point. I don't ask you about your
weekend. I don't discuss the weather, I don't discuss last week's layoffs.
I'll declare, hey, Blenda,can I just have a quick, efficient
conversation now? You know, Ijust need to get some answers on some
things. Now. That can't bemy opening to every conversation, but I
(28:40):
think it's good advice for people likeme that find themselves to be very productive,
but sometimes they're not expert at relationships, which is a crucial leadership competency
is knowing how to develop and sustainmutually beneficial, mutually trustworthy relationships. So
(29:00):
this is kind of our signature questionof the show, and that is,
what does working from your happy placemean to you? What does working from
my happy place mean to me?Mm hmm, I'm going to disappoint you.
I don't know the answer to thatquestion offhand. Again, no one
has asked me that question. Iguess I would answer it this way.
(29:26):
Is probably the confluence of feeling satisfiedthat I've added some value to someone else,
feeling like I got credit for it, that it helped someone else lifting
them up, giving them validation,moving them forward, and that I was
(29:51):
economically rewarded for it reasonably. Ithink it. Probably I'm making that up
extemporaneously, but I feel pretty goodabout that answer. Or I've never I've
never found great joy and a lotof work. I'm a capitalist, and
so I work to earn money.I tend to find joy in other aspects
(30:17):
of life, and I'm very comfortablesaying that. And my number one professional
value is to maximize my income.Notice I didn't say my number one personal
value. I have a set ofpersonal values and a set of professional values.
I know exactly what they are.I'm very clear on them, and
I live my life and alignment withthem. And sometimes they're in conflict,
(30:37):
and that's okay. But because Iknow my personal values purpose, health,
integrity, loyalty, positivity, abundance, and learning, those are my personal
values, and I know my professionalvalues maximize income, work with a brand
that I respect, and work withpeople that I love. I tend to
find my joy. My happy placeis usually playing tennis, drinking champagne,
(31:03):
doing yard work, reading magazines,vacation with my family, going to church,
and for me, work is generallya means to an end. Okay,
long answer, I apologize, no, no, no, no.
And the last question is what advicewould you give to anyone just starting out
(31:26):
on this entrepreneurial journey. It's goingto take longer than you think, it's
going to cost more than you expect. You're going to be humbled many times.
Your deliberate strategy coming out of thegate will probably not be your emergent
strategy, meaning something like ninety percentof successful people, companies, entrepreneurs find
(31:52):
success with some different product or goto market approach or customer than they thought
they were going to have. I'velaunched lots of products I were convinced we're
going to be B two C productsthat flocked and the B two C market,
but found resonance and the B toB market. So I think you've
got to become really emotionally agile andnimble to say, okay, well that
(32:12):
didn't work, So what did Ilearn from that? Let's try something else.
It's going to be harder and moreexpensive and take longer than you think,
so be prepared for that and justlook at every setback, every failure,
every moderate success, as a learningOkay, so that didn't work.
What did I learn with that?Too? Arrogant? Did I not ask
enough questions? That I assumed toomuch? Had I not done my research?
(32:36):
Should it have been named wrong?That I marketed the way I wanted
to be marketed to or the waythe buyer wanted to be marketed to.
Am I using my language to describeit? Or way the buyer would describe
it? Have I looked at mycircumstance or the circumstance my client is in?
And so I think it's just constantlyreinventing self disrupting and being super gil
(33:00):
and nimble until you discover that rightnexus of what's going to be successful.
That's golden advice right there. Thatwas golden, golden advice right there.
So I hope our listeners will goback. If you're on your treadmill or
you're outlocking, that's the one youneed to go back and say, all
right, let me get my notebook. I gotta write that one down,
(33:21):
because that was very very good Itook not it's myself. You know,
I'm in the process. I thoughtI thought something was going to take four
months, and it took fourteen months. Yeah, I was convinced that this
would cost you know, thirty thousand, and it costs sixty five thousand,
right or I thought, I justthought I can have this deal signed in
nine weeks, and it took fourteenweeks or forty weeks. So don't put
(33:46):
all your eggs in one basket.Head your bets long enough to make sure
that you are convinced something is showingsigns of prospering. And always have a
plan. B. Always have aplan, and see always have a plan.
D. Never get caught with yourshorts down metaphorically by always having contingency
(34:07):
plans. It's exhausting and it canbe really rewarding. Great. So,
any new and exciting things that you'reworking on right now that you'd love our
listeners to know about. And whatbook would you really like to promote right
now? Well, first of all, all the books behind me, because
I'm big fans of all the authorsthat I've interviewed. I have a new
book coming out on July eleventh,called The Ultimate Guide to Great Mentorship Thirteen
(34:32):
Roles to Making a True Impact.This is a book for companies that have
mentor programs and universities and school districts. It's called The Ultimate Guide to Great
Mentorship. You can visit great mentorshipdot com. I have a certification program
on it. You can be certifiedas a new mentor. I have a
new book coming out in February calledCareer on Course tend Strategies to take your
(34:55):
career from accidental to Intentional. Froma guy who started in the front line
and moved to the C suite,I learned a lot from my own career
mistakes and successes in those of others, and so this is a really valuable
career book that launches in mid Februaryof twenty twenty four. It'll be on
sale for pre order probably in thefall. Okay, those are two things
(35:16):
I'm excited about. And I'm excitedabout all the great guests that are coming
on to the On Leadership podcast.Some awesome guest Brene Brown's coming on,
Tony Robbins, Scottie Pippin, gotsome great guests coming onto the podcast in
the coming weeks and months. Well, that sounds fantastic. Well, Scott,
thank you so much for pouring intoour guest today. I certainly do
(35:38):
appreciate it. Blinda, thank youagain for having me on and I'm going
to start playing that game with mywife to see who has a better batting
average of guessing people's backstory at restaurantsand parties. You'll have fun with it,
I promise sounds great. Thank youabsolutely to all of our guests out
there. Thank you so much forjoining us today. We know that you
have a choice of we're to spendyour time, and we're so grateful that
(35:59):
you chose to spend it with ustoday. Make sure you follow our subscribe
and check out our website because we'vegot lots of fun and exciting things going
on. Check out Scott's podcast andhis new book. Thank you so much,
and we'll see you next time onwork from your happy place.
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