Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Struggling to lead a
team you didn't build from the
ground up?
Sam Davidson's been there,stepping into a 13-year-old
organization with legacysystems, people and
expectations.
As CEO of the NashvilleEntrepreneur Center and a serial
founder, he's mastered the shiftfrom builder to leader.
In this conversation, we unpackhow to build trust fast, align
team around vision and lead withpurpose, even when the playbook
(00:21):
isn't yours.
As a leader, you will face thisscenario at some point, and the
outcome will hinge on yourability to adapt and elevate
others.
This episode will equip you forthat exact moment.
Welcome to the No LimitsLeadership Podcast.
We discuss ancient wisdom,real-world experiences, and the
latest concepts on masteringleadership of self and others.
(00:42):
If you're committed tomaximizing your life and your
impact on the world, you'rehome.
Welcome to the No LimitsLeadership Podcast.
I am your host, Sean Patton.
We are here where we explorewhat it takes to break through
self-imposed barriers and becomethe best leaders we can be.
Today, I'm excited to welcomeSam Davidson, the CEO of the
Nashville Entrepreneur Center.
(01:02):
Sam is a serial entrepreneur,author, and speaker who has
built businesses with purpose,including Cool People Care and
Batch.
Now, he's leading one of themost influential entrepreneur
hubs in the country, helpingstartups and businesses thrive.
And I'm really excited for thisconversation.
So thanks for coming on today,Sam.
Hey, you bet, Sean.
Thanks for having me.
You know, you've gone throughmultiple ventures now.
I've been an entrepreneur for along time and seen different
(01:24):
sides of this.
You know, from starting your owncompanies and now leading the
Nashville Entrepreneur Center,the NEC.
Was there like a defining momentwhere you first saw yourself as
a leader?
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (01:37):
And I'll talk about
it sort of outside the context
of entrepreneurship and thenwithin it.
Um, yeah, man, I, I was so luckygrowing up.
Um, great family, great parents,but also had a lot of people
around me from probably thosehigh school years who, who
believed in me, teachers, um,folks at my church, uh, people I
(01:58):
as I worked part-time jobs whojust gave me opportunities and I
remember some of my earliestlike again thinking way back to
high school when when life wasgosh so much simpler but you
didn't think it was I'm gettinga chance you know to lead
whether it's student groups orstudent government being on the
baseball team and then a churchfor for youth group stuff and
getting a chance to stand up andtalk in front of people just
(02:20):
those opportunities and eventhough I I didn't do it from a
sense of like, hey, look at meor hey, look at my resume, but
rather from the place of, hey, Ithink I have a story to tell or
I think I can help this group orthis team come together.
Having adults who said, yeah, gofor it.
(02:42):
was one of the best things thathappened to me.
Because at that early age, I gotthe chance to lead, to make some
mistakes, to not do it perfectlyearly.
And just like we would tell anentrepreneur, making those
mistakes is a rite of passage.
It's kind of needed.
It's kind of critical.
I think leadership's the sameway.
No one bats a thousand when itcomes to leadership.
The best you can hope to do isto win more than you lose, to
(03:06):
make less mistakes than you havesuccesses.
But knowing that you're notgoing to be perfect.
And that's kind of the wholeprocess of leadership, I think.
SPEAKER_00 (03:14):
I think that's so,
so critical.
You know, when I talk withanyone, but especially, I guess,
younger groups, I'm glad youbrought that up because, and you
can disagree with me on this,but I think if there's three
sort of critical skills in lifethat really maybe separate, for
lack of a better word, I'll saylike people achieve really, you
know, a greatness or impact,whatever you define that as,
(03:34):
right?
And those who, you know, havesome successes, but maybe hit a
ceiling.
And maybe in this, it'll have togo in this order, but I say it's
excels public speaking andleadership.
Because it's like, can Ipersuade one person about this
thing?
Can I then persuade more peopleabout this idea to get them to
come along with me?
And then once I've got themconvinced to come along with me,
(03:57):
can I actually get them tocontinue to do something and
drive them to an end state aslike leadership?
To me, it's like, if you can'tget those things down, you know,
you're almost destined toindividual contributorship.
if you will.
SPEAKER_01 (04:11):
Yeah.
Yeah, I think so.
And I think that's a good order.
I think leadership ultimately alot of times is convincing
someone or selling someone onthe idea that they can go
farther than they think they cango themselves.
And understanding that probablythe way they go farther is with
others.
So you're leading a group.
(04:31):
Maybe you just lead one personfrom time to time, but you lead
a group.
And so somebody that is sellingthe vision.
We're talking about high schoolstuff.
kind of always had a job,part-time job, something like
that.
And one of those, I worked atService Merchandise, which is an
old retailer, no longer inbusiness.
And I was just a cashier.
But part of what we did is wesold those dang extended
(04:51):
warranties.
You know, everybody sells themnow too.
But it's like, you know, peoplebuying a hairdryer, people
buying a mini fridge.
And it would pop up on theregister.
And like, that was my job.
Hey, do you want these extendedwarranties?
And then one week, the managerwas like, contest.
Who can sell the most of these?
And that's where I was like,let's go, dude.
Extended warranties are the bestthing out there.
And it We were getting like, ifyou sold them that week or you
(05:12):
won or something, you would getlike an 80% commission.
Like something just...
extraordinary because againthose things are never used or
redeemed or whatever and I soldone for like a camcorder like
where you actually put the wholetape in there the camcorder was
probably like two grand insteadof warranty was like$400 and
like as a 16 year old who neededgas money like that's real coin
(05:33):
and I remember doing thattalking about those things as
meaningless as I would say thatactual product was it was the
act of trying and selling andgetting to a place where you
were a little bit fearless andIn terms of somebody saying no,
not fearless where you're tryingtactics that are, you know,
unscrupulous or you're doingthings that are below board.
(05:55):
But just to the point whereyou're like, okay, say no, fine,
I'll just ring them up,whatever, give me the credit
card, swipe it, next.
And so I think that's where youhave to be with selling your
leadership vision is noteverybody's going to buy it.
Not everybody's going to want togo there, want to get on the
bus, pick your metaphor, butstill your job is to sell it.
I think any sales job, Iencourage young people coming
out of college or even in highschool, like, I want to get this
job.
(06:15):
I want to be in this industry.
Man, customer service and sales.
If you cut your teeth there, Ithink you get to fearlessness a
little quicker.
You build that confidence.
My first real job, paying job,full-time job out of college was
with a hotel company.
And I sold event technology,projectors and microphones for
events, but I serviced it.
(06:36):
dealing with hundreds ofcustomers a week.
And of course, I hated the jobat the moment.
But looking back, man, I don'tknow where else I could have got
better training, fresh out ofcollege, still not sure what I
was going to do for a living,than running customer service at
a major hotel brand.
So any of those things, man,you're selling something every
day.
And just the more you do it,it's rep.
So much of leadership is justrep.
SPEAKER_00 (06:57):
Yeah, you know, I'm
reminded, how I would describe
that, what you're talking aboutis really this term that I talk
about from a militaryperspective.
standpoint a lot that we talkabout in military is stress
inoculation, right?
It's like, it's, it's thatexposure therapy, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's like, instead of, insteadof, uh, you know, an
arachnophobia, you know, makingthem get closer to the plastic
(07:17):
spider until eventually thetarantulas walking on them,
you're just like, you'reeventually, you're just asking
or presenting and getting toldto know enough where the nose
just don't have the same impact.
And, um, and so much of that isjust, uh, you know, What is that
stoic philosophy, right?
The obstacle is the way, right?
It's like where the pain is, theprogress is.
And leaning into that, and Ithink so many people flee that
(07:43):
or avoid that because they avoidthe discomfort, they avoid the
conflict.
And then to your point, whenit's not an extended warranty,
now they're 10 years into theircareer, they need to have a very
difficult conversation withextreme either personal or
professional or financialconsequences and they haven't
(08:04):
put in the reps and it's like,man, you know, get in there and
get it done early and exposeyourself to those situations,
those critical situations asearly and often as possible,
right?
And it's never too late, Iguess, but early and often.
No, it's
SPEAKER_01 (08:15):
never too late but I
think that's why some of these
extreme things have beencatching on, ice baths and like
ultra marathons and like we seethese guys and gals who are
doing those things and it makesfor great, you know, social
media kind of motivation porn,whatever you want to call it and
because I think there is thisdesire that most of us have to
push ourselves.
(08:36):
So a great book called Flow,Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a Czech
philosopher, look up his TEDTalk.
You don't have to read the wholebook if you do that.
But he looked at this idea offlow state because we associate
it with athletes,high-performing athletes,
Michael Jordan, Serena Williams,et cetera.
And he was just like, man, canregular humans hit this flow
state?
And the answer is yes.
And we can do it in any job.
It doesn't matter theprofession.
(08:57):
But he defined flow state.
And it's this sweet spot betweenthis is too hard and this is too
easy.
And when we pick something, toyour point, that's so easy, a
career that's comfortable, arole that's easy, we actually
get bored.
It's not good for us.
We develop stasis, comfort,complacency, whatever.
Too hard, an anxiety sets in.
(09:18):
This is impossible.
I can't possibly do this.
I'm stressed out.
And he's like, man, if we findthat spot, And again, that's
what athletes are doing, evenhigh-performance athletes.
Michael Jordan didn't make everyshot win every game, but he did
it enough where he could hitthat flow state most nights.
So I think we were built to dothat.
For some of us, yeah, it's goingto talk to a stranger, making a
sale, drawing.
(09:40):
There's so many things.
Again, the ice bath stuff, fine.
But finding that spot whereyou're like, God, it's a little
bit uncomfortable,
SPEAKER_00 (09:47):
it will only make
you better.
Yeah, totally.
If there's anything that's...
I guess, synonymous to me withboth, I should say all three
entrepreneurship, leadership andlife is in my own personal value
system is, is growth, right?
To say getting better, um, onyour own schedule and, and, And
sometimes just and not notburnout, not over pushing, not
(10:10):
pushing yourself to your pointtoo hard.
Right.
On that far end of that stresscurve.
But that slow, steady growththat makes just life more
interesting and fulfilling.
It does.
We again, I
SPEAKER_01 (10:22):
really think we were
wired that way just as a species
is is not to stagnate growth.
Of course, the cool thing.
About us is growth can bemeasured in depth, not just
breadth.
So if you're a tree and you'regoing to grow, you just got to
get taller.
That's kind of your only option.
But for us, we can learn alanguage.
We can, again, teach ourselvessome sort of new hobby or
(10:42):
discipline.
Whatever those growth momentsare, we want them deep down.
We do not.
We do not deep down.
We don't want to just go homeand watch Netflix every night.
We don't.
That's the easy choice.
We do want to learn something.
It gets harder as we get olderbecause going to school, you're
there every day to learn.
But deep down, we want to keepthat going.
I think that's why things likeTED or Masterclass or some of
(11:07):
these things appeal to us somuch is because, gosh, we're
actually learning while we'redoing this.
And so whatever that opportunityis to grow, I don't know anybody
who's been upset that they tookthe opportunity to learn
something, to read a book, totake in art of some kind.
And so, yeah, we just got toseek them out because they're
not handed to us.
(11:27):
Everything else in the world ispointing at convenience.
You can fly from here toAustralia.
You can never leave your houseagain.
You can, again, fly from here toAustralia and never talk to
another human if you don't wantto.
Check in online.
Everything is seamless.
You stay in your house.
Again, never talk to anybodyelse if you don't want to.
Everything coming at you fromyour phone.
But that's not how we're meantto live or to lead by any means.
SPEAKER_00 (11:47):
You know, and I...
I want to, as we talk aboutleadership, I think that's
another key aspect for mebecause a key component of true
leadership to me is investing inother people.
And I think you've mentionedthat earlier.
I think you said that, likeinvesting in people and helping
them grow, right?
Helping them see, I don't wantto say your exact wording, but
(12:10):
you mentioned helping them seemaybe what they're capable of.
Beyond what they maybe see forthemselves and then helping them
get there and helping them growand investing in people and how
that in itself leading someonethat creates value for them.
And, you know, one of myfavorite questions for clients I
(12:30):
got from a mentor of mine, KenProctor, because I help, you
know, one of my things in mybusiness is I help companies
retain, attract and retain toptalent.
through strong leadershipcultures.
And it's like, everybody wantsthat, right?
Everybody wants top talent.
Everyone wants great employees.
And then you ask them, okay, sooutside of compensation and
benefits, why does top talentwant to work for you?
(12:50):
Right?
What's the secret?
Yeah.
Well, to your point, I thinkbecause if you help them grow,
right?
If you're pouring into peopleand they know that they're
growing personally,professionally, you know, if
they look forward to theirone-to-ones because they're
going to learn new things andthey're learning, you know,
self-discipline and they'recreating strong purpose and
(13:11):
they're aligning their workwith, like, their long-term
goals and all of that, like,that person's not leaving you
for an extra$5 an hour, right?
That person's going to stay withthat company for long-term.
But, You know, there is adifference there between sort of
management and leadership.
So in your experience, how doyou define those and how do they
interact with each other to besuccessful in running the
(13:31):
company?
Man, yeah, that's a greatquestion.
And I
SPEAKER_01 (13:33):
think both are
needed.
We don't need a world that'sonly leaders and we don't need a
world that's only managers.
And some of it, like, somepeople are great managers.
And so I don't want to dissuadeanybody who's listening to this
and is like, you know what,maybe my track is, you know, 80%
management and 20% leadership.
That's okay.
Not everybody can be...
C-suite, CEO level, totallyfine.
Sometimes, not that this iswhere this conversation is
(13:55):
going, but sometimes you needthat great number two, you need
that great first follower,whatever you want to call it.
But I think the problem or thedifficulty or the lost
opportunity is where someone whoreally could lead only manages.
And when I think aboutmanagement, and this is how it
was when I was startingbusinesses and was in the
trenches as an entrepreneur, onething I learned about myself is
(14:15):
probably the second company, isI am way better at starting and
leading than managing.
When I hear managing, I hear,again, a dedication to systems
and processes, a good manager.
I see, again, pointing to ourgoal.
But I probably see manageablegrowth.
Hey, we want to grow 2% a year.
We want to grow profit a pointand a half a year.
(14:35):
So sort of that slow, steady,realistic, achievable,
plug-and-play approach.
show up and run the playbook andyou're good to go.
We would talk about that like afootball, like a game manager is
like a negative for aquarterback.
They're not a leader, they're agame.
And again, they win a lot ofgames usually, so got it.
Whereas a leader, and where I'vebeen able to naturally,
(14:56):
talent-wise, challenge-wise,growth-wise, want to jump in is
be like, man, there is noplaybook.
And so we've got to kind ofdevelop that and go from zero to
one or zero to 100 as quickly aspossible or as smart as
possible.
And that's where I think theleadership piece takes root.
Again, the world needs both ofthese things, but there is a
difference between managementand leadership.
(15:19):
Because I don't think anybodymanages their way to a big goal.
I think you only lead your wayto a big goal.
So I think when something getsto a management place, and look,
whether it's you're running acity, you're running a company,
you're running a startup, you'rerunning a volunteer group at
your kid's school.
Again, understanding on thefront end, hey, am I here to
manage this or am I here to dothis?
And again, based on thetimeline, the era, any of those
things around, there's time formanagement, there's time for
(15:40):
leadership.
And so understanding that'simportant, but I don't think
anything gets managed to a biggoal.
I
SPEAKER_00 (15:47):
think it's only led
there.
You know, a lot of entrepreneursstart with passion, right?
They start with passion for thething they do, the product,
whatever that is, right?
The mission.
Then they start to grow.
And as they do that, they startbuilding a team.
And then maybe they strugglewith that management and or
leadership piece.
(16:07):
You know, As you've worked withmultiple entrepreneurs, I mean,
hundreds now at the EntrepreneurCenter, and you've seen it, what
struggles do you see, what arethe potholes that you see
entrepreneurs hit as they startto try to transition from purely
driven by passion to bringing inmanagement practices to then
transitioning to be, how do theyalso lead in the same capacity?
SPEAKER_01 (16:29):
Yeah, so I think one
of the, not wrong steps, but
maybe premature steps that anentrepreneur takes is like, I'm
passionate aboutentrepreneurship.
Um, and again, I had a friend incollege and he sort of dabbled
in entrepreneurship through hiscareer.
He's, he doesn't do it fulltime, but he was passionate just
about like being his own bossand any college.
And he was like, I will, I willrun a subway sandwich franchise.
(16:50):
I'll cut grass.
Like I just want to be my own.
Um, and that can be okay, but itrarely is self-sustaining.
So I think the bestentrepreneurs, meaning the ones
who can take an idea, turn intoreality and then grow it to some
kind of, uh, inflection point,selling it, going public,
merging, making a ton of money,whatever that is for you.
(17:11):
Are those who are firstpassionate about some kind of
problem.
And so they're like, you know,the world needs a better, lower
calorie barbecue sauce, or theworld needs this software that
can connect you to whatever.
And they're really passionateabout like, God, I wish this
thing existed.
This is a problem that doesn'texist.
They're passionate about thatproblem.
And when they develop a productto solve it, then they become
passionate about the product.
And so, hey, I was passionateabout the problem and I worked
(17:33):
so hard to solve it.
And my solution is the bestsolution out there.
Because then it goes back towho's selling that.
Because if you start a company,nobody's heard of it.
People may not even know it's aproblem.
And you're the only one outthere who sees it as a problem.
Now you've got to tell them thatthere is a problem and that you
have the solution to it.
So those two things can start anentrepreneur off on a better or
a more right foot than justbeing passionate about being
(17:56):
your own boss.
And so those two things seem tocreate success more quickly than
just I'm passionate about teddybears or cars or technology or
whatever industry is.
Now, the challenge is just comeup, see the problem and just can
develop a solution.
Now there's so much more tothat, especially if you're going
(18:17):
to scale and scale likemultimillion dollar company,
because usually you'repassionate about the problem
because you worked in anaccounting firm, you're an
accountant, And you saw this asa problem.
You build a solution, but again,you're still an accountant.
You've maybe managed a person,led a team, small team, but you
have not hired salespeoplebefore.
You have not hired softwareengineers.
You have not managed a board.
You have not raised capital.
(18:38):
So there's this entire kind ofcliff that a lot of
entrepreneurs jump off of whereit's a a talent deficit like
their own capacity deficit andwe like to think that the
entrepreneur because we glorifythem in our society some way
more than we should as like thatguy that gal knows all and can
(18:58):
do all and sometimes they canbut it's usually because they
they got the reps in they messedit up before their first six
companies or ideas crashed andburned and only when they emerge
do we get the the um You know,Mark Cubans or Sarah Blakely's
or Oprah's or again, fill in theblank, where they take a company
to great heights.
So understanding that aboutyourself, a lot of what we do
(19:19):
here at the Entrepreneur Center,and the reason it's called the
National Entrepreneur Center,not the National
Entrepreneurship Center, isbecause entrepreneurs at the
center of what we do is thatperson.
And so you as a person, you'vegot the problem, you've got the
solution.
Great.
But what do you need?
And we now do monthly mentalhealth curriculum because
entrepreneurs are notorious forhaving poor mental health as
(19:40):
they stress themselves out,leverage themselves in a lot of
ways.
But then we also train for someof these, quote, more hard
skills, like selling, likeraising capital, like managing a
board, like understanding how tohire, how to fire.
So a lot of those things we cantrain for.
I can't teach you what theproblem is and what the solution
is.
You've got to build those onyour own.
But then you can come here andwe can teach you the hard skills
(20:02):
and some of those other pieceslike the mental health.
We had a panel once on parentingand being an entrepreneur, just
to understand all these lifefactors.
So Long way of saying, yes, bepassionate, but be passionate
about the problem and theproduct.
And then as you grow it,understand your own deficits.
And I think that's a key mark ofa leader is A, knowing you can't
do it all.
And then B, knowing the thingsyou can't do, who can and who
(20:22):
can supplement that or where canyou get better yourself?
SPEAKER_00 (20:26):
I think that's so
critical.
And it sounds like through yourown growth and development over
time, you had thesemission-driven companies.
Now you're at the NationalEntrepreneur Center with with
all that background experienceand you get to see all these
different entrepreneurs andleadership styles come together.
So through that whole journey, Iguess, how has your personal
(20:47):
leadership philosophy changed?
SPEAKER_01 (20:49):
Oh, man.
It's a continual work inprogress.
I think leadership, you know, alot of times it's situational.
So leadership My first company,one of our first employees told
this story to a group ofentrepreneurs a couple months
ago.
I don't even know why she workedfor me more than one day.
I was in my mid-20s, and I justhadn't managed somebody before,
(21:11):
especially somebody around myown age.
I think when I worked in ahotel, I had a part-time college
kid or something.
But this is somebody who had alot of responsibility that I was
supposed to manage, and I wasjust not good.
And I think back to that of howmuch...
grace or patience or forgivenessshe probably showed me in those
moments where she probably knewlike this guy's in charge of
this company um so you're alwayslearning those things about
(21:34):
yourself it probably took meseveral more years before i came
way more self-aware and so forme i don't think you can lead
well unless you have a realsolid self-awareness i think
entrepreneurs uh leaders whodon't have that self-awareness
of knowing where they'redeficient or where they need to
improve or grow then those arethe ones that have just a ton of
hubris that that run on ego thatum people that see people as
(21:59):
numbers, objects, means to anend.
And that's not effective, Ithink.
It's not authentic leadership byany means.
So for me, that's what it startswith.
The other piece is that I'mstill living into is you lead
people.
It's easy to say you're leadingan initiative, you're leading a
company, you're leading aproduct line.
But no, man, you're leadingpeople.
(22:21):
And so understanding that humanelement is That's what makes it,
of course, so messy.
I get it why everybody wants touse AI and robots because
they're easier to manage how I'mfeeling.
But man, dealing with people andthe stuff that they're dealing
with, all the complexities oflife, that adds to it.
But all the effective leaders, Ithink, that we admire in our own
(22:41):
lives or that we can see andthat we idolize for what they've
accomplished, I think theyunderstand, at least people that
I love, understand and imaginepeople
SPEAKER_00 (22:49):
at the end of it.
As you continue to grow now, Youmentioned that, like, where's
your growth edge now?
Like, where are you atpersonally that you're trying to
work on to improve as a leader?
SPEAKER_01 (23:00):
So this is the first
time running the Entrepreneur
Center.
I've been here almost two years.
This is the first time in 17years that when I came in in
2023, the first time I steppedinto a job I didn't create for
myself.
And so there was a lot tounderstand coming in then, a
13-year-old organization thatwas very healthy, has a great
reputation, is doing so muchgood.
Something that I watched as Iwas an entrepreneur, I watched
(23:21):
this place take shape and launchand grow with so many great
leaders before me.
Inheriting that was a newparadigm for me, just to be able
to say, gosh, I didn't createthis.
This job predated me and it willbe around.
I will not be the last CEO ofthis place.
So that was new.
And so I'm learning a lot,reading a lot, trying to
(23:41):
understand a lot aboutleadership from that
non-entrepreneurial lens, eventhough it's something that we
here teach and coach every day.
It's also understanding that astaff of 13 folks, a board of
directors, And so manysupporters, we've got a little
over 400 active entrepreneurs atthe time of this recording that
we're working with through ourmembership or through our
(24:02):
accelerator programs.
So I didn't create any of that.
And so understanding the specialhonor that that is, is new.
and managing a team that Ididn't fully hire.
Again, as my most recent companyeventually got to a size where I
didn't make a direct hire everytime, but at least was there
when people were hired and sawthem on our first day.
(24:24):
So to walk in and to have peoplewho had been here two, four, six
years was also different.
So this is more of a CEO role,even though I held the title at
other places.
It was because I've created ajob, gave myself a title once we
got to a certain size.
And yeah, I earned it.
But here to walk into that isjust different and it's special
(24:44):
and it's something new to me.
SPEAKER_00 (24:45):
As you continue to
grow and navigate, especially in
this new role, are there certainhabits or routines that have
helped you grow as a leader?
Yeah, I think one is
SPEAKER_01 (24:55):
relying on that core
leadership team.
And one thing I learned as Igrew my prior company was when
we got to a point to hiresomebody who was in a sales role
of like, oh my gosh, that personis better than me.
Because I think sometimes as anentrepreneur, I tell every
entrepreneur this, even if youbuilt the product just because
(25:17):
you can code, you know,software, like you're still the
first salesperson of this thing.
You just are.
And until you get to a pointwhere you can hire a salesperson
who's better at sales than youare, then that's just where
you're going to be.
And I had done that at my giftcompany.
And then the first time we hirea salesperson who is better than
me, it was a relief, but it wasalso like good.
Because I think as you'regrowing something, when you say,
(25:39):
great, that person is best inclass and way better than me at
this job, that could be managinga warehouse, it could be a CTO,
whatever role.
And so So you see to have thaton our leadership team is very
special.
But then it's growing trust inthem.
I think trusting others.
Because as a leader, you canfeel so often that this is on
(26:00):
me.
I'm the leader.
I've got to do all of these 26things every day.
To get to a place where you'relike, no, there's A, I can't do
all 26 things.
And I don't need to because Ihave three other people and we
can all divide it up.
Equally, not equally, whatever.
So for me, I'm still leaninginto that and still learning
where to rely on them.
But you can't get there.
(26:21):
Back to the vision discussion.
If they don't know what they'retrying to manage and lead to,
then they're not going to be anyhelp anyway.
So still casting that vision.
We've got a great three-yearplan that we just kicked off at
the beginning of this year,2025.
That'll take us through the endof 2027.
And having everybody aligned onthat and head in the same
direction is such a key benefit.
And that is something that I...
(26:42):
had to set the tone and helpcreate through lots of input
SPEAKER_00 (26:46):
of where we wanted
to go.
How do you approach, especiallynow that you've got a team that,
as you mentioned, you didn'thire, right?
You didn't handpick each personthat you showed up and this is
the team you got.
What is your system or plan interms of aligning with them and
leading them personally?
Like creating that, we mentionedhelping them grow.
(27:06):
What does that look like for youin terms of developmental
coaching, counseling, weeklyone-to-ones.
What does that look like whenyou work with each member of
your team to help them grow andbecome better?
SPEAKER_01 (27:17):
Yeah, so there's
weekly leadership meetings where
the four of us get together.
There's one-on-ones.
And there's constant check-insbecause what I've told them all
along is, man, I can be gaspedal, all gas pedal all day,
but I rely on them to eitherbreak or tell me when to break,
allow me to steer a little bit,Cause I said, guys, the worst
(27:40):
thing that can happen is I'mjust running this thing off the
cliff.
And then the whole time you guysare like, great way.
Yeah, let's do that.
And so, and I, and so some ofthat is reassuring them because
again, I don't know their entirecareers, right?
Projectoring while they, um,work with and work for.
So maybe they were somewherewhere like, no, you never
questioned the boss.
You never questioned leadership.
Whereas I welcome that.
I'm like, man, poke holes in anyof this, please.
(28:01):
I tell my board of directorsthat cause I'm not married to
any single idea.
The only thing that I'm resoluteon is again, taking this
organization toward, um, ourstrategic goals that our board
of directors has blessed overthese next three years.
So I'm not going to deviate fromthat, but how we get there, how
fast we get there, man, I'm allears.
And so right now, I'll say atthis point in time, we're
(28:22):
looking really deeply atinfrastructure.
So my dad was healthcare hisentire career, ended up over
time being part of some foundingteams, was never the front guy
out there, but helped found twocompanies.
When I started my first companyin 2006, I asked him for some
advice and we'll talk aboutdifferent stuff.
And the, and the first piece hesaid, he was like, never outgrow
your infrastructure.
(28:42):
And I've never forgotten that.
Um, and I'm mindful of itbecause infrastructure costs
money and it takes time to setup and train.
Um, Meaning that you can be thegreatest storyteller salesperson
in the world and you can havePOs for a mile.
But if you don't have the actualoperational setup to deliver on
that, I'm sure I'm going to goaway.
And so there's this tensionbetween people who are building
(29:03):
companies or teams or leaderswho are like, how fast can I go
with who and how we're working?
And so that's something we'remindful of right now is as fast
as I want to go.
as where we've set thosegoalposts and making sure that
we've got enough engine, enoughgas, the game plan to actually
get there.
SPEAKER_00 (29:23):
What is that?
As much as you can share, Iguess, what's that three-year
vision look like?
SPEAKER_01 (29:26):
Yeah, so the
overarching strategic intent
statement is that by the end of2027, we want to meaningfully
help 1,000 entrepreneurs a yearstart or grow a business.
So we get to that number in acouple different ways, but some
of that is membership.
So we operate a membershipbasis, month to month, different
tiers.
We have an awesome building thatincludes co-working space for
entrepreneurs.
So no matter your idea, nomatter your stage, You can join
(29:48):
not only in co-working, but thatalso gets you access to over 150
advisors.
So you're stuck on something oryou have an opportunity, kind of
dial up an advisor.
These are all volunteers thatwill give you their time to help
you figure that out.
There's also an online communityresource library, et cetera.
So that membership is intendedto be longitudinal.
So we have 300 active membersright now.
(30:09):
The other way is throughaccelerators.
We have five accelerators basedon either your business stage,
that kind of idea stage, or justgetting started onto ones that
are more mature and want to hit,say, the million-dollar mark.
We have accelerators based onindustry, like fintech and
healthcare.
Those are 12-week programs.
We run those at the same time.
And so right now, we've got alittle over 100 founders
enrolled across those fiveprograms.
(30:30):
So we do that twice a year.
So hopefully in the fall, we'llhave another 100.
And so that's how the mathstarts adding up.
We're about halfway there forwhere we want to be.
A couple of the key metrics thatget us there, because as we
recruit more entrepreneurs, weneed to recruit more advisors
and mentors.
And so both of those things, wecan't just do one without the
other.
So There's eight different keymetrics there, but they're all
(30:51):
pointed towards, can we help1,000 entrepreneurs a year,
again, start or grow a business?
We do lunch and learns.
Anybody can come to those.
Just because you come to a lunchand learn, we've got one coming
up this month about capital andjust understanding, do I raise
money?
How do I raise money?
What kind of money?
Where do I start with this?
Should I look at a loan?
Should I look at venturecapital?
What's going on?
(31:11):
You can come to that.
Does anybody help definitivelyyou grow your business?
Tough to say, but if you're amember and you're Then yes,
we're helping you grow yourbusiness.
If you're going through our12-week curriculum, yes, we're
helping you grow your business.
So there's all of thoseopportunities that we do on a
very regular basis to get tothat number by the end of 2027.
SPEAKER_00 (31:30):
With, you know,
National Entrepreneur Center has
been around, like you said, like17 years, right?
Is that what you said?
15, yeah, 15.
15 years.
I know I got out of the militaryin 2015 and kind of started my
entrepreneur stuff around 2014,2015 in Nashville and have kind
of seen that grow as well.
What role do you think anentrepreneur center support
(31:54):
plays in interacting with thegrowth and development of a
city?
Yeah,
SPEAKER_01 (32:00):
I think they go hand
in hand.
And so that's part of our DNA asa center is that we were started
15 years ago because the city,city leadership at the time, 75
people came together, was partof this initial steering
committee convened by theChamber of Commerce to really
look at what can we do as a cityto help create more
entrepreneurs.
(32:20):
And other cities in Nashville'skind of peer set had resources
like that.
So before that, it was kind ofhard.
It was like, hey, I have anidea, but I don't even know what
to do now.
Who do I even call to ask?
And there wasn't a centralizedforce.
Some of our role still is to bethat first stop for
entrepreneurs.
Whether you move here with acompany from a different place,
(32:41):
or you're here working a day joband you've got an idea and
you're like, okay, what's thefirst thing?
Call us first.
And we may say, hey, who youneed, what you need is
actually...
over here and we'll send youthere happy to do it or we'll
say hey yeah yeah we've got thisprogram or this opportunity so
here's here's we can walk youthrough these things as we've
been around 15 years and um youknow have worked with uh well
(33:01):
over 14 000 entrepreneurs insome capacity in that time there
those companies have raised 100million in capital or created
400 million in revenue 300million in capital raise sorry
an exit 100 million exit value300 million capital rates um
thousands of jobs createdthey're absolutely the I think
cities that are growing are, aregrowing because of, um,
(33:23):
entrepreneurs, not exclusively,but it's a big ingredient and
cities that are shrinking.
I think it's because it's hardto, or people don't want to be
entrepreneurs there.
They're not seeing theopportunity again, not a
one-to-one correlation, butsomething that's pretty, pretty
caught, you know, um, uh, Prettysimilar.
The story rhymes, so to speak.
So I think by a city likeNashville, and there's several
(33:43):
others that have invested insupported centers like ours,
then they're seeing those ideascome to life, especially in
diverse or multiple industries.
Nashville is clearly healthcarecapital of the world.
There are lots of healthcarestartups.
We run a healthcare accelerator.
But the city needs to be morethan a healthcare city.
And it is.
Music.
Tourism is obviously huge here.
Advanced manufacturing in theregion is huge.
(34:05):
Supply chain distribution.
Construction, obviously, as it'sgrowing.
You need entrepreneurs in allthose sectors to be innovative,
to continue to help people growthe economy.
All of those things matter.
To your point, the thing that Ithink is overlooked, and we did
a workshop last fall, our firstworkshop with veterans for
business owners, entrepreneurs,to understand the veteran-owned
(34:25):
certification process and whatdoors that opens.
I mean, we're in the shadow ofFort Campbell.
thousands of military folks whoare leaving the military every
year, military families andspouses.
Entrepreneurship is such aviable career option
post-service for so manyveterans, and we're seeing that.
We've got a couple in ourcurrent accelerators that that's
part of their story.
(34:46):
And so I think there's a hugeopportunity in– military towns
or cities that are adjacent tosignificant bases where folks
are, again, ending their careeror spouses and family members to
really leverage and teach someof those skills.
Bunker Labs is a great examplethat for a long time they
eventually merged with theUniversity of Syracuse that was
(35:07):
training so many veterans tostart viable, sustainable
businesses.
There are venture capital fundsthat are just focused on veteran
businesses.
There are franchiseopportunities that are focused
on providing franchises toveterans.
So,
SPEAKER_00 (35:20):
so viable and so
needed.
That's funny.
I don't know if you knew that.
So yeah, I was a Bunker Labsambassador for two and a half
years under Blake there.
You get it.
Yeah.
Did that multiple cohorts,graduated and then ran four
cohorts out of there.
It's so important.
And then one of my clients isactually the National Veteran
Owned Business Association.
(35:41):
Yeah.
Certifies veteran businesses.
Yeah.
So yeah, very familiar in thatsector.
And I love the fact you'refocusing there because whether
it's what you're working onworking with Fort Campbell and
veterans.
I do think entrepreneurship orstartup world, there's a lot of
traits that veterans can bringthat give them a higher
probability and chance ofsuccess when it comes to things
(36:02):
like entrepreneurship.
I also know there's a lot ofpeople in the Nashville area and
I know in other cities adjacentto military bases that are
trying to make connections justfor management and leadership.
Like once those companies getgrowing and start scaling, it's
like you need leaders at allthose levels and you have such a
resource.
(36:22):
These people have been, youknow, have been the government
and have they put years andhundreds of thousands of dollars
into just leadership developmentfor these, you know, these
service members getting out andthey bring such a unique take
that, you know, there's not, Idon't know as much as I would
love for the clients I work withand companies I work with to be
(36:44):
able to do what the militarydoes, where you bring someone in
and then pull them out of theirjob for six months and just
train them on leadership for thenext role and then put them back
into their job.
That's just not the way that theprivate sector works.
And so what a unique way to grabsomeone who is not just has
nine, 10 years experience, butlet's call it two, three years
(37:04):
of that was nothing but justintensive leadership and
management training that youcan't replicate that in almost
any sector outside of it.
SPEAKER_01 (37:15):
No.
And I saw a presentationliterally this morning, and it
was the first time I heard aveteran who was then hired
private sector after her time inservice here.
And she talked about purpose.
So when I was in the military,work had purpose every single
day.
I knew why I enlisted or signedup or however she got into it.
And then you get out and you'relike, well, now what's my
purpose?
(37:35):
And she felt where she ended upgetting hired and her career
progression in that sectorprovided her with purpose again.
And again, her family gave herpurpose, all that kind of stuff,
but from a work standpoint.
And to me, that goes back tothis idea of leadership is that
company was able to provideleadership to her to say, here's
how we can connect the dots,even though I think it was in
financial services where sheended up, was still critical to
(37:57):
giving her that purpose that sheexperienced every day while in
the military.
SPEAKER_00 (38:02):
Yeah, I think I see
it all the time, especially with
my camera switched on me here,especially with anyone that goes
through transitions, right?
I'm sure maybe you've seen thiswith other entrepreneurs that
they grow a company, it's theirlife, it's their purpose,
they're solving the problem, andthen they sell it.
(38:23):
And then it's that Yeah.
Oh, now what?
For the last 10 years, I've beenthe guy or gal who has been
doing this amazing thing,solving this problem, making the
same pitch 10,000 times.
Now that identity is gone.
And it's like, what is that nextidentity?
And I think helping as leaders,when we can play that role in
helping someone find thatpurpose and that mission, and
(38:47):
when we can align, as youmentioned, the work they're
doing every day with this higherpurpose, higher mission,
personally, professionally, wecan create total alignment as
leaders.
That is the force multiplier,right?
That's when we can help peoplegrow and, you know, coming back
full circle to your originalpoint, being a leader who helps
people accomplish more.
You know, I think, what is it?
(39:09):
John Adams, right?
Has this quote.
It's like, if you inspire othersto dream more, do more and
become more, you are a leader.
Yeah, I don't disagree.
And
SPEAKER_01 (39:18):
that's, I mean, the
question is always, when do you,
how do you leave the stage?
I mean, we see an athlete stayway too long because that's
their identity versus like, hey,you know what?
I'm going to give up this slotto the younger guy or gal.
Who's ready?
And I'm going to, in my career,you know, the next two years,
instead of trying to grind itout and give myself cortisone
shots or whatever, I'm actuallygoing to train them and that's
(39:39):
going to be my legacy.
And you see that especially withentrepreneurs who are willing to
hand over the reins of theircompany, whether because they
sell it or they recognize it'ssomeone else's turn.
I mean, that's leadership, man.
It's, again, realizing...
not your deficienciesnecessarily, but the potential
in someone else to take this tothe next level.
(40:01):
Incredible amount of humility,incredible amount of leadership
to do that.
But it also requires that youfind purpose outside of that
job.
And I think that's what's so,because for entrepreneurs, and
this is some of what we hit onthe mental health stuff here,
it's because you can be sofocused And one year turns into
six, turns into 15 of being sofocused and resolute.
(40:24):
And even if you're not burntout, it's all you think about.
It's all you talk about.
It's what your entire futurewealth retirement is wrapped up
in.
So it has to succeed.
And then you just get to a pointwhere you look around and you
didn't develop keyrelationships.
You didn't invest in thosecommunity causes that were
passionate to you.
So that well-roundedness, forlack of a better term, is
(40:45):
critical in any job so that youridentity is not tied to one
thing.
And
SPEAKER_00 (40:49):
this, Sam, this has
been fantastic.
And, you know, you've, you'redoing such fantastic work.
You've, you mentioned so much ofkind of your growth trajectory
and different lessons.
And you mentioned, you know, howyou started off with those
opportunities in high school andstepping up and trying to lead.
And if you go back and see, youknow, that 17 year old Sam
(41:10):
stepping up in the church groupwhere I was like, what's one
piece of advice you give, yougive younger Sam?
SPEAKER_01 (41:15):
Yeah.
I think a couple of things, ofcourse, in retrospect.
One is, man, you're not going toend up where you think.
Not in a bad way, but just as away to say, lean into the things
that come your way.
The relationships, theopportunities, the
conversations.
Keep planning.
I definitely like to plan.
(41:35):
I like a strategy.
But leaving room for thoseunexpected things.
Again, those chance meetings,those random conversations,
those doors that open.
The other thing that I thinkYoung Sam was good at, but I
encourage everybody and couldonly encourage him more than, is
to continue to build yourcommunity before you need it.
I think more and more, I am onlyhere because of the people that
(42:00):
I've been privileged to bearound.
And that's everything fromfamily to parents to other
leaders and mentors andopportunities.
And we were built for community.
And the more that we can relyon, surround ourselves with that
community, the moreopportunities we're going to
get.
And so the more you can do that,the younger you can do that, the
more successful you'll be.
SPEAKER_00 (42:20):
If the audience
wants to learn more about you or
the Entrepreneur Center, Bestplace to go?
Yeah, man.
Yeah, check us out at
SPEAKER_01 (42:25):
ec.co.
So that's our website.
You can find our social medialinks on there.
I tend to be most active onLinkedIn, just sort of sharing
what I'm up to.
You can search for me, SamDavidson on there.
But the EC itself, we share winsfrom our entrepreneurs and the
work that we're doing there allthe time.
But be sure to check us out,visit us there, learn more about
what we're doing.
If you're in the area or we evenserve entrepreneurs who aren't
(42:46):
based in Nashville, if they'rein the healthcare fintech
industry, man, look us up.
We'd love to give you a tour.
Love to have that conversation.
SPEAKER_00 (42:51):
Awesome.
Thanks so much for your timetoday, man.
your wisdom.
I know I learned a lot and I'msure everybody else did too.
You bet.
Thanks for having me, Sean.
Thanks for being a part of theNo Limit Leadership family.
This isn't just a podcast.
We're building a movement of NoLimit leaders driven to unlock
our greatness and lead the worldforward.
If this made you think or gaveyou something useful, please,
please, please, right now, gohit follow and then share it
(43:14):
with one leader you believe in.
Challenge limits, developleaders, fuel greatness.