July 31, 2025 • 29 mins
In this episode, Keaton Turner kicks off with a warm welcome and introduction, delving into the impact of annoying problems on personal life. He shares weather updates and reflects on life, recounting an encounter with a podcast supporter. The conversation shifts to advice, the drama triangle, and the significance of self-awareness, particularly in leadership. Keaton shares personal anecdotes on overconfidence and the importance of feedback, discussing readiness for new roles and self-awareness exercises. Emphasizing the value of embracing constructive feedback, he wraps up with closing thoughts and gratitude for his listeners.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:39):
Welcome back.
Welcome back.
Still alive.
Still doing this.
One more day.
Grind after grind.
Welcome back to the Purdium podcast.
I'm Keaton Turner, and and appreciate youtuning in.
(01:02):
I am I'm leaving the office on a Wednesday, andI didn't really man, I I didn't really have a
topic, and I wasn't really in the right mood todo one of these.
So this one might be fairly short and sweet.
(01:24):
Might set a record for the the shortest podcastof this season, shortest episode of the season.
Just had some stuff going on the last coupledays.
Just stuff that's, I don't know, kind ofannoying, Stuff that will drag you down.
You guys know what I'm talking about.
(01:45):
Just little nothing big.
Nothing nothing's on fire.
No big monster problems in my life.
Just little things.
I have been somewhat mentally distracted thelast couple days, and so that spills over into
the personal life.
I, you know, I stopped I stop talk I stopfollowing the advice and doing all the things I
(02:10):
talk about, and and I, you know, I I getdistracted.
And when I get distracted, I take my eye offthe ball a little bit.
I don't tell my beautiful wife that she looksbeautiful.
I don't set up date nights.
I don't go out of my way to be super loving orspontaneous or flirty or fun.
(02:37):
I just I you know, you get distracted mentally,and it's kinda like you got it's kinda like you
got blinders on, and everything else is justkinda blurred out.
And when you do that for enough days in a row,you know, things boil up because turns out
women don't like to be riding in the back seat.
(02:59):
They like to ride right in the front seat ofyour life.
And and same with work, same with, you know,coworkers.
There's been a lot of little things stack up.
One of the things that has stacked up for mylife here recently, I'll get into the topic
here in just a second, but it's one of thethings that has kinda boiled up.
(03:25):
Before I get into that, what am I doing?
I'm I'm headed home.
It is still it's been it is I I've I've beensaying this all summer, and we got tsunami
warnings in Los Angeles.
We got an earthquake in the ocean somewhere.
It has been the craziest year of weather.
It's a 100 plus degrees, insane humidity.
(03:47):
It just makes you not wanna go outside, whichis which is not typical for for Indiana in the
summertime.
I mean, it gets hot.
It gets humid, but not every single day, dayafter day, all summer long.
And so that one's that is you know, it's it'sbeen a little bit little bit of a bummer with
the weather we've been having.
(04:09):
What else has happened in my life?
I went to a funeral this morning or visitation,and and that just kinda further brings down the
mood.
It reminds you how short life is.
I was talking to some young kid yesterday.
Shout out, Justin Rohr.
He, from Portland, Oregon, outside of Portland,stops by the the office in Indiana.
(04:33):
He happened to be, coming through town, landedin Indianapolis, hits me up on the Purdue
Hotline.
I was like, hey, man.
I don't know if you're gonna be around theoffice, but I would love to drop in.
So Justin drops in.
We we chop it up for a little bit in theoffice.
He got to meet the famous Patton Dysher.
He got to meet the famous Jeff Turner, our CFO.
(04:56):
He got to meet Thomas and some other folks.
So so it was fun to catch up and talk aboutsome leadership stuff.
The guy's 21 years old.
I mean, to ask some of the questions and talkabout some of the things he you know, we were
talking about, I I would have never had thefortitude to even think that way at 21 years
(05:20):
old.
So great to meet you, man.
Thanks for thanks for being a supporter of thepodcast, and and thanks for going out of your
way to stop by the office.
I I reminded him this is still Justin.
I'm on this topic.
We were talking about, you know, just somerandom things, some of the topics I've been
(05:44):
covering lately on on the on the podcast here.
I reminded him, like, dude, you're you're 21.
Sounds really young.
I know it is really young.
But even if you have a long life, you know,even if you live, know, 80 years old, 85 years
old, I mean, your life is a quarter of the wayover.
And and so, know, for me going to this funeralthis morning, you know, again, just further
(06:09):
reminds me that, man, it's it's time to takebig swings, and it's time to live life.
Don't let your bad days become bad weeks andand become bad months.
And this is advice I've had to really work hardto follow the last couple days for myself.
I got down and, like, I was telling you alittle bit of a mental rut, which means Shelby
(06:33):
gets upset with me because I'm not beingpresent.
I'm not being a loving husband and present anddoing all the things.
And so then I get mad at her, and there's thelittle drama triangle going on.
It's really hard to pull yourself out of that.
It's really hard.
And it's really hard for two married couplesnot to be proud.
(06:55):
You know?
Everybody wants to win the argument.
I I wanna win the argument.
I wanna be correct.
I wanna be right.
I want her to say she's sorry before I say I'msorry.
That's just how it goes.
It's really hard, though, to stop when you'rein that drama triangle and and say, well, wait
(07:19):
a second.
Life's short.
Why are we arguing?
This is a very small issue.
I love you.
You love me.
We actually are best friends.
Let's treat each other that way.
But I go through that same stuff just like youguys do.
So I've been dealing with that.
So just normal, you know, normal life stuff.
We we're gonna have a fun weekend upcoming,though.
(07:41):
All the family, we're getting together.
We're going to the lake.
And so we'll, you know, we'll have a good time.
There's a lot of kids.
I think there's seven, eight, nine, nine kids,10 years old and younger.
So I will I will gladly accept your prayers ifyou could remember me in your prayers and pray
for me and my sanity.
(08:04):
Nine kids under the age of 10 at the lake allweekend long.
I'm gonna need prayers.
I'm gonna need prayers, and I'm going to needwine.
Cold, cold wine.
And then everything else should be just fine.
(08:25):
What else is happening?
I'll tell you one of the I'm just gonna jumpinto the topics.
I don't have a ton of time.
One of the things that bums me out is whenpeople do not fully know themselves or have
(08:47):
self awareness.
A self awareness, I think, is a superpower.
It's it's one of these things it's hard to do,especially in the heat of the moment.
It's hard to be self aware.
I see a lot of guys, a lot of leaders you know,I've I've dealt with this in my own
organization.
I've dealt with this with myself a ton.
(09:07):
A lot of guys think they're way more capablethan they actually are.
A lot of guys believe in their minds they knowmore than they actually know.
A lot of guys think they can do the job that'sabove them.
(09:28):
They think they can do the job that's abovethat one.
They think they can a lot of guys just don'thave or don't practice or don't even try to be
self aware.
When I watch this play out, I it it usuallycatches me off guard.
(09:53):
Right?
Because this happens this happens to me in myown life.
Right?
I I will think I'm an expert on something.
My wife you know, anytime I start talking aboutsomething that I have no clue about and I'm
pretending to be an expert, my wife will kindof quiet the table, and she'll say, oh, wait.
Wait.
Wait.
(10:13):
Him interrupt your opinion.
No.
What does she say?
I'm gonna get the I'm gonna get it wrong now.
Let me ah, dang it.
I remembered it.
I had to pause for a second to get my bearings.
I was having a brain fart.
(10:34):
So she'll quiet the table, and she'll say, oh,wait.
Wait.
Wait.
He's going to interrupt your experience withhis confidence.
She'll say this.
She she because she knows I'm an overlyconfident person.
I'll be talking about something I have no clue.
Right?
I have no clue what I'm talking about, and I'mjust trying to be a part of the conversation at
(10:58):
dinner or whatever in a group of friends.
And she'll say, oh, he's gonna he's he's gonnainterrupt your expertise or your experience
with his confidence.
And we do this.
I mean, I do this all the time.
I it's how you know, a lot of people say fakeit till you make it.
There's a lot of different ways to think aboutit.
But truly being self aware, I I I have learnedis a superpower.
(11:25):
Knowing what you're not good at, knowing areasthat you're going to fall short, knowing your
blind spots.
Some people call this a three sixty reviewwhere you get a review or you get people to
give feedback.
You know, the five or 10 people that areclosest to you in your circle, you you do a a
(11:45):
feedback loop with them, and they tell you allof your blind spots.
They tell you areas where you're weak.
They can also tell you areas where you'restrong, but it's a three sixty review of your
life.
It's it's with your wife.
It's with your coworkers.
It's with your boss.
It's with your the people that report up toyou.
It's with your kids.
And and if you've never done one, do onebecause it's kinda wild.
(12:10):
I've I've had some of my guys on my team dothis in the past.
And and I'll tell you, a blind spot's a wildthing because you're blind to it.
Right?
Like, you don't know it's a blind spot untilsomeone catches you off guard and says, oh,
wait wait a second.
(12:31):
This is this is something that you can't seeabout yourself.
This is something that you don't know aboutyourself.
This is something that you're doing that isdetrimental to yourself.
That's why they call it a blind spot becauseyou're blind to it.
It's something you can't see.
(12:51):
Having self awareness and deploying selfawareness is a superpower in leadership.
And when leaders do not deploy self awarenessor at least attempt make efforts to become self
aware, they will run-in the opposite directionof where they should.
(13:17):
That's I see it.
I mean, I saw it.
I literally had a conversation today with oneof our guys who it's a bummer.
It's a bummer situation.
I'm not gonna talk a ton about it because it'sstill fresh, but it's easy to watch or it's
it's tough.
It's actually tough to watch.
It's tough to watch people do this, but it's soeasy to make the mistake of thinking you are
(13:42):
way more capable than you are, thinking you'reready for the next jump when you haven't quite
nailed the role you're in.
And and what happened usually what happens whenyou're not self aware and you make demands and
you say, you know what?
I am ready.
I want a promotion.
I want a raise.
(14:02):
I demand more.
I it's my time.
If you're not self aware, it will backfire.
And what happens is you will jump.
You'll you'll typically, you'll quit becauseyou're not getting the shot that you want.
You'll jump to another company.
(14:23):
You'll jump to the the job you want somewhereelse, and you'll realize later, sometimes it
takes six months, sometimes it takes a year ormore, you'll you'll learn later, woah, wait a
second.
I was not ready for this.
This is way more responsibility.
It it was gonna seem cool at first.
It's gonna be like, yes.
I finally got the title.
(14:44):
I finally got the bigger paycheck.
I finally got promotion.
I company finally recognizes me.
The other guys didn't see the value I couldbring.
You hear this all the time.
They're like, oh, my boss my boss doesn't knowhow valuable I am to the company.
My boss doesn't understand.
(15:04):
Somebody will get a different boss.
And and finally, this new company values me andwhat I can bring.
What realize is later, you might be in overyour head.
You might not have been ready.
May just maybe you jumped too soon.
(15:26):
You still had a little bit more to learn.
Being self aware or or or having these threesixty reviews, you know, amongst your team or
having open feedback loops will help you avoidmaking some of these decisions and running the
opposite direction of of really where youshould be running.
(15:50):
I one at one point in time, just bringing thissuper personal to me, at one point in time, I
thought I was the be all end all of runningprojects, running operations.
I thought, you know what?
I can do this better than anybody else.
I actually thought the same thing aboutestimating for a while.
(16:12):
I then, after that, thought the same thingabout marketing for a while.
I then thought the same thing about sales for awhile.
So I've I've done this multiple times, but Ithought I was the be all end all of running
mining operations across the country.
And and what that led to was a series ofdecisions that over the course of about two
(16:37):
years blew up in my face.
We we had a booming culture when I was at mypeak and thought I was the man, and then we
quickly saw the culture start to erode andcrash around us because, you know, a, I got
spread too thin, but b, it wasn't the best useof my talents.
(16:57):
I didn't know what I didn't know.
I had blind spots.
I had ego.
I had pride.
I had all these things that were blurring myvision and then therefore clouding my decision
making.
And so I watched some of my best friends quit.
I had to fire some people that I really liked.
I led us into some bad contracts with some badcustomers.
(17:19):
I missed details that we should have caught.
It just ultimately, I realized, wait a second.
I'm out over my skis.
I'm doing things that that I'm not the mostskilled person, that we could find to go do
these things.
I'm not the most uniquely positioned person inthe organization to go execute, management
(17:45):
across the organization when it comes to fieldoperations.
And so I'd have some hard conversations.
I had to look in the mirror.
I had to I had to self reflect.
And, like, what's broken?
What what honestly is broken?
Why do I feel the way I feel?
Why are some of these guys quitting who are myfriends?
Why am I having to fire some really goodpeople?
(18:07):
And and when you go through that, when you dothat, you realize, like, this is a this is a
this is an exercise in self awareness, and it'sokay, especially as a young guy, but I would
say at any age, it's okay to admit you're notthe guy.
(18:31):
It's okay to admit you're not ready.
It's okay to admit that you want somethingreally bad.
You wanna make more money.
You want the title change.
You want the recognition, but it's just nottime yet.
This is hard.
This is a really tough one because when acompany tells you I know I know this is gonna
(18:52):
hit somebody.
When a company tells you you're not ready oryou're not the guy or you're not a fit for this
new role or this new job, when the companytells you that, you don't wanna hear it.
But have you ever asked yourself, why is thecompany telling you that?
(19:13):
Like, instead of getting mad at the company,because a lot of guys do this, right?
They'll hear that they're not ready for thenext thing.
They're not ready for the next job.
They're not ready for the promotion.
They're not ready to manage the big project orthe big contract, and they get mad at the
company.
They're like, well, you don't you don'tunderstand.
(19:34):
You don't value me.
You're you're overlooking me.
They go into victim mode.
Do you ever stop and ask why the companybelieves what they believe?
Why do you believe one thing?
You believe you're ready.
You believe you're the best guy for the job.
You believe you deserve it.
You believe you should get paid more.
(19:56):
You should get the title changed.
You believe those things.
The company doesn't.
Have you ever asked yourself why?
Have you ever asked coworkers what they think?
What does what do your colleagues say?
What do other people outside your company inyour role think?
(20:19):
This is one that I'm again, because I alwayslike to take this back to me personally.
Like, this is one that I, as I'm watching otherCEOs, this is one that I'm trying to be self
aware.
I do not wanna be the guy that says I am in theright spot at the right time and that everyone
(20:40):
else around me is thinking I'm an idiot.
Everyone else around me is like, dude, when dowe get Keaton out of this role?
We gotta get him out of this role.
He thinks he can do that.
He's clueless.
I don't wanna be that guy.
I did that with estimating for a long time.
I would sit there and like run estimating andrun these estimates in my little Excel sheet
that I custom built.
(21:02):
And finally, I got around some other legitpeople and they're like, woah, hey, don't touch
the keyboard anymore.
You're not you're not actually allowed to doestimating.
You know, I've had this when I got aroundpeople that actually knew marketing.
They're like, hey.
Actually, wait a second.
Don't ever I'll never forget this.
Tracy O'Brien.
Shout out, Tracy.
(21:24):
I liked one of our logos, our Turner MiningGroup logo, and it had a drop shadow behind it.
And I loved it for some reason.
I don't know why.
When I look back at it now, it looks like thestupidest thing ever.
It was so tacky.
It looked like the old Enron logo or something.
It was, like, eighties design.
I'll never forget.
(21:45):
We're sitting in a meeting, and I had, like, Ihad, like, on our letterhead, the Turner Mining
logo with the drop shadow behind it.
And Tracy was like, okay.
Yep.
We're never doing that again, Keaton.
You're delete that logo from the files becausewe're never and everyone else was like, oh,
thank goodness.
Finally, someone told him.
I'm like, what are you guys talking about?
It looks sweet.
The drop shadow's awesome.
(22:05):
This is real.
Like, you guys sorry you don't know graphicdesign like I do.
This is legit.
And and they were all like, no.
It looks terrible.
You have to be self aware.
You have to be self aware.
What are your strengths?
What are your weaknesses?
(22:26):
Are you actually ready to do the job you wannago do?
Just because it's a different job title andmore pay and more money, if you take it before
you're ready, it's going to move you backwardsin your career because you're gonna struggle in
the new role.
You're gonna bite off more than you can chew.
You're gonna get out over your skis.
You might end up failing at the role, and thenyou're set backwards.
(22:50):
Then now you have a big L on your resume.
You don't want an L on your resume.
Sometimes people just need to be a little bitmore self aware that it's not your time.
Or maybe it is your time, but you do not havethe skill sets for the role you wanna be in.
I I I've young guys struggle with this one.
(23:11):
Right?
They'll be they'll be an equipment operator.
And I heard this one time from a guy.
He was an equipment operator.
He's like, dude, I wanna get on the sales team.
I wanna work I wanna do what Paul Moran does.
And I was like, okay.
Well, that's that's an interesting jump.
Paul Moran has been doing sales in his careerfor, like, forty years.
(23:33):
Okay?
First of all.
Second of all, he has ran a path to get wherehe is.
And and and no offense, I mean, it's just adifferent path.
His path didn't start operating equipment.
So not to say you can't go from from equipmentoperator to being on a sales team or being the
leader of a sales team, but you have tounderstand, do you have the skill sets?
(23:59):
Are you an outgoing person?
Do you like to meet and talk to people?
Do you like to schmooze people?
Even annoying people.
Like, the best sales guys out there can can sitand eat dinner with the most annoying guy for
three or four hours.
A lot of us, like me, I can't sit and eatdinner with an annoying person for three hours.
(24:21):
I can't do it.
Paul can do it.
He's great at it.
Equipment operator, do you have the skill sets?
And if you don't have the skill sets, no matterno matter what you say, no matter how bad you
want to be in that role, if you don't have theskill sets, you have to be self aware enough to
know you're not gonna fit in that role.
(24:43):
Don't go search for that role in anothercompany if you don't have the skill sets.
Like, maybe the company you're in is trying toprotect you from jumping into a role you're not
a fit for.
Being self aware, man, it's it's, it's tough.
(25:04):
It's tough.
And if you've never thought about it, my guessis you're not self aware.
If you've never thought about your blind spots,if you've never, like, listed out or talked
through your weaknesses, if you've never ownedthe areas that you think you are strong but
realize, I'm actually not that strong.
(25:25):
Like, if you've never done this exercise, youmight not be self aware.
If you've ever asked your boss, hey, boss.
What do you think my skill sets are?
Like, where do you see me excelling?
Like, what things am I good at?
What things should I stay away from?
What things do I need to work on?
Or or your coworkers.
(25:46):
Ask people that you love and trust.
The the key is you have to find someone that'swilling to be honest with you.
I have some people around me that are notwilling to be honest.
They just they're not willing to be honest withme.
They don't wanna hurt my feelings.
They don't wanna ruffle feathers.
They don't want me to fire them, so they won'tbe honest.
(26:09):
They won't tell me where I'm screwed up.
I have other people around me who are brutallyhonest, sometimes too honest.
My brother anytime I'm with my brother, helike, I'll I'll I'll, you know, put some
clothes on, come out of of the my bedroom forthe day, and and I'll and he'll be like, boy,
you're not wearing that, are you?
(26:29):
I'm like, well, yeah, I'm wearing this.
This looks legit.
This is a new shirt.
He's like, that is the dumbest thing I've everseen.
Go back in there and change.
You know?
I tell my brother, I'm like, dude, you overeat.
You you you just you have stuff all like, we'rebrutally honest with each other.
We're brothers.
Yet, there's someone around you.
If you wanna go through this like selfawareness exercise, this blind spot, this three
(26:51):
sixty you have to have people that are willingto hurt your feelings in a positive way.
You can hurt someone's feelings in a positiveway.
You can say it with a positive direction,positive tone.
You can say, hey, look, I know you really wannabe good at this, but I'm gonna break it to you.
You're not good at it, So you need to stopdoing it.
(27:13):
And once you stop doing it, you will then seemore results and success in your life when you
stop doing things you're not good at and startfocusing on the things you are good at.
It's is tough.
This is a tough one.
This is tough one for people to get.
I the only reason I bring it up, the onlyreason I talk about it is because I watch it
(27:33):
happen.
I it's happened with me.
It's happened with others.
It's it's it's a fatal flaw.
It's a fatal flaw of leadership.
Some of the best leaders out there are the guysthat are the most self aware.
Some of the best leaders out there are the guysthat willingly solicit feedback from people,
and it's constructive feedback.
It's like, hey, man.
(27:54):
How am I?
How can I better support you?
Where am I screwed up?
What's not working?
You ought to try it.
If you have not tried this, I highly recommendit.
If you've never thought about it, you might notbe self aware.
You might have some blind spots that needaddressed, but that's what I got today.
I am pulling into my house.
It is a it's a hot Wednesday evening.
(28:16):
I'm gonna go in.
I don't know.
Might pour a glass of wine.
It's kind of, you know, it's kind of been oneof those days as you can tell.
I I'm dealing with people that aren't selfaware.
And maybe it's me.
Maybe maybe I'm maybe the joke's gonna go in.
I'm literally gonna walk inside and ask Shelby,to list out all the things I'm not self aware
about.
This will be fun.
Maybe this is tomorrow's episode, which is afollow-up on all the areas Keaton has screwed
(28:42):
up and not self aware.
Maybe I'll share that with you guys.
So that's what I got today.
That's what I have.
That's what, the episode today is about.
I hope it brought some value to one or twopeople.
And and if you're, like, the most self aware,if you're one of these guys that, like, you've
got it all figured out, teach us.
(29:04):
Teach us Delberts how to become more selfaware, more refined, more open to constructive
criticism.
Teach us because I struggle with this one.
Pray you're killing it.
Pray you're getting your PDM.
Pray you tune back in another day.
Welcome back.
Welcome back.
Still alive.
Still doing this.
One more day.
Grind after grind.
Welcome back to the Purdium podcast.
I'm Keaton Turner, and and appreciate youtuning in.
(01:02):
I am I'm leaving the office on a Wednesday, andI didn't really man, I I didn't really have a
topic, and I wasn't really in the right mood todo one of these.
So this one might be fairly short and sweet.
(01:24):
Might set a record for the the shortest podcastof this season, shortest episode of the season.
Just had some stuff going on the last coupledays.
Just stuff that's, I don't know, kind ofannoying, Stuff that will drag you down.
You guys know what I'm talking about.
(01:45):
Just little nothing big.
Nothing nothing's on fire.
No big monster problems in my life.
Just little things.
I have been somewhat mentally distracted thelast couple days, and so that spills over into
the personal life.
I, you know, I stopped I stop talk I stopfollowing the advice and doing all the things I
(02:10):
talk about, and and I, you know, I I getdistracted.
And when I get distracted, I take my eye offthe ball a little bit.
I don't tell my beautiful wife that she looksbeautiful.
I don't set up date nights.
I don't go out of my way to be super loving orspontaneous or flirty or fun.
(02:37):
I just I you know, you get distracted mentally,and it's kinda like you got it's kinda like you
got blinders on, and everything else is justkinda blurred out.
And when you do that for enough days in a row,you know, things boil up because turns out
women don't like to be riding in the back seat.
(02:59):
They like to ride right in the front seat ofyour life.
And and same with work, same with, you know,coworkers.
There's been a lot of little things stack up.
One of the things that has stacked up for mylife here recently, I'll get into the topic
here in just a second, but it's one of thethings that has kinda boiled up.
(03:25):
Before I get into that, what am I doing?
I'm I'm headed home.
It is still it's been it is I I've I've beensaying this all summer, and we got tsunami
warnings in Los Angeles.
We got an earthquake in the ocean somewhere.
It has been the craziest year of weather.
It's a 100 plus degrees, insane humidity.
(03:47):
It just makes you not wanna go outside, whichis which is not typical for for Indiana in the
summertime.
I mean, it gets hot.
It gets humid, but not every single day, dayafter day, all summer long.
And so that one's that is you know, it's it'sbeen a little bit little bit of a bummer with
the weather we've been having.
(04:09):
What else has happened in my life?
I went to a funeral this morning or visitation,and and that just kinda further brings down the
mood.
It reminds you how short life is.
I was talking to some young kid yesterday.
Shout out, Justin Rohr.
He, from Portland, Oregon, outside of Portland,stops by the the office in Indiana.
(04:33):
He happened to be, coming through town, landedin Indianapolis, hits me up on the Purdue
Hotline.
I was like, hey, man.
I don't know if you're gonna be around theoffice, but I would love to drop in.
So Justin drops in.
We we chop it up for a little bit in theoffice.
He got to meet the famous Patton Dysher.
He got to meet the famous Jeff Turner, our CFO.
(04:56):
He got to meet Thomas and some other folks.
So so it was fun to catch up and talk aboutsome leadership stuff.
The guy's 21 years old.
I mean, to ask some of the questions and talkabout some of the things he you know, we were
talking about, I I would have never had thefortitude to even think that way at 21 years
(05:20):
old.
So great to meet you, man.
Thanks for thanks for being a supporter of thepodcast, and and thanks for going out of your
way to stop by the office.
I I reminded him this is still Justin.
I'm on this topic.
We were talking about, you know, just somerandom things, some of the topics I've been
(05:44):
covering lately on on the on the podcast here.
I reminded him, like, dude, you're you're 21.
Sounds really young.
I know it is really young.
But even if you have a long life, you know,even if you live, know, 80 years old, 85 years
old, I mean, your life is a quarter of the wayover.
And and so, know, for me going to this funeralthis morning, you know, again, just further
(06:09):
reminds me that, man, it's it's time to takebig swings, and it's time to live life.
Don't let your bad days become bad weeks andand become bad months.
And this is advice I've had to really work hardto follow the last couple days for myself.
I got down and, like, I was telling you alittle bit of a mental rut, which means Shelby
(06:33):
gets upset with me because I'm not beingpresent.
I'm not being a loving husband and present anddoing all the things.
And so then I get mad at her, and there's thelittle drama triangle going on.
It's really hard to pull yourself out of that.
It's really hard.
And it's really hard for two married couplesnot to be proud.
(06:55):
You know?
Everybody wants to win the argument.
I I wanna win the argument.
I wanna be correct.
I wanna be right.
I want her to say she's sorry before I say I'msorry.
That's just how it goes.
It's really hard, though, to stop when you'rein that drama triangle and and say, well, wait
(07:19):
a second.
Life's short.
Why are we arguing?
This is a very small issue.
I love you.
You love me.
We actually are best friends.
Let's treat each other that way.
But I go through that same stuff just like youguys do.
So I've been dealing with that.
So just normal, you know, normal life stuff.
We we're gonna have a fun weekend upcoming,though.
(07:41):
All the family, we're getting together.
We're going to the lake.
And so we'll, you know, we'll have a good time.
There's a lot of kids.
I think there's seven, eight, nine, nine kids,10 years old and younger.
So I will I will gladly accept your prayers ifyou could remember me in your prayers and pray
for me and my sanity.
(08:04):
Nine kids under the age of 10 at the lake allweekend long.
I'm gonna need prayers.
I'm gonna need prayers, and I'm going to needwine.
Cold, cold wine.
And then everything else should be just fine.
(08:25):
What else is happening?
I'll tell you one of the I'm just gonna jumpinto the topics.
I don't have a ton of time.
One of the things that bums me out is whenpeople do not fully know themselves or have
(08:47):
self awareness.
A self awareness, I think, is a superpower.
It's it's one of these things it's hard to do,especially in the heat of the moment.
It's hard to be self aware.
I see a lot of guys, a lot of leaders you know,I've I've dealt with this in my own
organization.
I've dealt with this with myself a ton.
(09:07):
A lot of guys think they're way more capablethan they actually are.
A lot of guys believe in their minds they knowmore than they actually know.
A lot of guys think they can do the job that'sabove them.
(09:28):
They think they can do the job that's abovethat one.
They think they can a lot of guys just don'thave or don't practice or don't even try to be
self aware.
When I watch this play out, I it it usuallycatches me off guard.
(09:53):
Right?
Because this happens this happens to me in myown life.
Right?
I I will think I'm an expert on something.
My wife you know, anytime I start talking aboutsomething that I have no clue about and I'm
pretending to be an expert, my wife will kindof quiet the table, and she'll say, oh, wait.
Wait.
Wait.
(10:13):
Him interrupt your opinion.
No.
What does she say?
I'm gonna get the I'm gonna get it wrong now.
Let me ah, dang it.
I remembered it.
I had to pause for a second to get my bearings.
I was having a brain fart.
(10:34):
So she'll quiet the table, and she'll say, oh,wait.
Wait.
Wait.
He's going to interrupt your experience withhis confidence.
She'll say this.
She she because she knows I'm an overlyconfident person.
I'll be talking about something I have no clue.
Right?
I have no clue what I'm talking about, and I'mjust trying to be a part of the conversation at
(10:58):
dinner or whatever in a group of friends.
And she'll say, oh, he's gonna he's he's gonnainterrupt your expertise or your experience
with his confidence.
And we do this.
I mean, I do this all the time.
I it's how you know, a lot of people say fakeit till you make it.
There's a lot of different ways to think aboutit.
But truly being self aware, I I I have learnedis a superpower.
(11:25):
Knowing what you're not good at, knowing areasthat you're going to fall short, knowing your
blind spots.
Some people call this a three sixty reviewwhere you get a review or you get people to
give feedback.
You know, the five or 10 people that areclosest to you in your circle, you you do a a
(11:45):
feedback loop with them, and they tell you allof your blind spots.
They tell you areas where you're weak.
They can also tell you areas where you'restrong, but it's a three sixty review of your
life.
It's it's with your wife.
It's with your coworkers.
It's with your boss.
It's with your the people that report up toyou.
It's with your kids.
And and if you've never done one, do onebecause it's kinda wild.
(12:10):
I've I've had some of my guys on my team dothis in the past.
And and I'll tell you, a blind spot's a wildthing because you're blind to it.
Right?
Like, you don't know it's a blind spot untilsomeone catches you off guard and says, oh,
wait wait a second.
(12:31):
This is this is something that you can't seeabout yourself.
This is something that you don't know aboutyourself.
This is something that you're doing that isdetrimental to yourself.
That's why they call it a blind spot becauseyou're blind to it.
It's something you can't see.
(12:51):
Having self awareness and deploying selfawareness is a superpower in leadership.
And when leaders do not deploy self awarenessor at least attempt make efforts to become self
aware, they will run-in the opposite directionof where they should.
(13:17):
That's I see it.
I mean, I saw it.
I literally had a conversation today with oneof our guys who it's a bummer.
It's a bummer situation.
I'm not gonna talk a ton about it because it'sstill fresh, but it's easy to watch or it's
it's tough.
It's actually tough to watch.
It's tough to watch people do this, but it's soeasy to make the mistake of thinking you are
(13:42):
way more capable than you are, thinking you'reready for the next jump when you haven't quite
nailed the role you're in.
And and what happened usually what happens whenyou're not self aware and you make demands and
you say, you know what?
I am ready.
I want a promotion.
I want a raise.
(14:02):
I demand more.
I it's my time.
If you're not self aware, it will backfire.
And what happens is you will jump.
You'll you'll typically, you'll quit becauseyou're not getting the shot that you want.
You'll jump to another company.
(14:23):
You'll jump to the the job you want somewhereelse, and you'll realize later, sometimes it
takes six months, sometimes it takes a year ormore, you'll you'll learn later, woah, wait a
second.
I was not ready for this.
This is way more responsibility.
It it was gonna seem cool at first.
It's gonna be like, yes.
I finally got the title.
(14:44):
I finally got the bigger paycheck.
I finally got promotion.
I company finally recognizes me.
The other guys didn't see the value I couldbring.
You hear this all the time.
They're like, oh, my boss my boss doesn't knowhow valuable I am to the company.
My boss doesn't understand.
(15:04):
Somebody will get a different boss.
And and finally, this new company values me andwhat I can bring.
What realize is later, you might be in overyour head.
You might not have been ready.
May just maybe you jumped too soon.
(15:26):
You still had a little bit more to learn.
Being self aware or or or having these threesixty reviews, you know, amongst your team or
having open feedback loops will help you avoidmaking some of these decisions and running the
opposite direction of of really where youshould be running.
(15:50):
I one at one point in time, just bringing thissuper personal to me, at one point in time, I
thought I was the be all end all of runningprojects, running operations.
I thought, you know what?
I can do this better than anybody else.
I actually thought the same thing aboutestimating for a while.
(16:12):
I then, after that, thought the same thingabout marketing for a while.
I then thought the same thing about sales for awhile.
So I've I've done this multiple times, but Ithought I was the be all end all of running
mining operations across the country.
And and what that led to was a series ofdecisions that over the course of about two
(16:37):
years blew up in my face.
We we had a booming culture when I was at mypeak and thought I was the man, and then we
quickly saw the culture start to erode andcrash around us because, you know, a, I got
spread too thin, but b, it wasn't the best useof my talents.
(16:57):
I didn't know what I didn't know.
I had blind spots.
I had ego.
I had pride.
I had all these things that were blurring myvision and then therefore clouding my decision
making.
And so I watched some of my best friends quit.
I had to fire some people that I really liked.
I led us into some bad contracts with some badcustomers.
(17:19):
I missed details that we should have caught.
It just ultimately, I realized, wait a second.
I'm out over my skis.
I'm doing things that that I'm not the mostskilled person, that we could find to go do
these things.
I'm not the most uniquely positioned person inthe organization to go execute, management
(17:45):
across the organization when it comes to fieldoperations.
And so I'd have some hard conversations.
I had to look in the mirror.
I had to I had to self reflect.
And, like, what's broken?
What what honestly is broken?
Why do I feel the way I feel?
Why are some of these guys quitting who are myfriends?
Why am I having to fire some really goodpeople?
(18:07):
And and when you go through that, when you dothat, you realize, like, this is a this is a
this is an exercise in self awareness, and it'sokay, especially as a young guy, but I would
say at any age, it's okay to admit you're notthe guy.
(18:31):
It's okay to admit you're not ready.
It's okay to admit that you want somethingreally bad.
You wanna make more money.
You want the title change.
You want the recognition, but it's just nottime yet.
This is hard.
This is a really tough one because when acompany tells you I know I know this is gonna
(18:52):
hit somebody.
When a company tells you you're not ready oryou're not the guy or you're not a fit for this
new role or this new job, when the companytells you that, you don't wanna hear it.
But have you ever asked yourself, why is thecompany telling you that?
(19:13):
Like, instead of getting mad at the company,because a lot of guys do this, right?
They'll hear that they're not ready for thenext thing.
They're not ready for the next job.
They're not ready for the promotion.
They're not ready to manage the big project orthe big contract, and they get mad at the
company.
They're like, well, you don't you don'tunderstand.
(19:34):
You don't value me.
You're you're overlooking me.
They go into victim mode.
Do you ever stop and ask why the companybelieves what they believe?
Why do you believe one thing?
You believe you're ready.
You believe you're the best guy for the job.
You believe you deserve it.
You believe you should get paid more.
(19:56):
You should get the title changed.
You believe those things.
The company doesn't.
Have you ever asked yourself why?
Have you ever asked coworkers what they think?
What does what do your colleagues say?
What do other people outside your company inyour role think?
(20:19):
This is one that I'm again, because I alwayslike to take this back to me personally.
Like, this is one that I, as I'm watching otherCEOs, this is one that I'm trying to be self
aware.
I do not wanna be the guy that says I am in theright spot at the right time and that everyone
(20:40):
else around me is thinking I'm an idiot.
Everyone else around me is like, dude, when dowe get Keaton out of this role?
We gotta get him out of this role.
He thinks he can do that.
He's clueless.
I don't wanna be that guy.
I did that with estimating for a long time.
I would sit there and like run estimating andrun these estimates in my little Excel sheet
that I custom built.
(21:02):
And finally, I got around some other legitpeople and they're like, woah, hey, don't touch
the keyboard anymore.
You're not you're not actually allowed to doestimating.
You know, I've had this when I got aroundpeople that actually knew marketing.
They're like, hey.
Actually, wait a second.
Don't ever I'll never forget this.
Tracy O'Brien.
Shout out, Tracy.
(21:24):
I liked one of our logos, our Turner MiningGroup logo, and it had a drop shadow behind it.
And I loved it for some reason.
I don't know why.
When I look back at it now, it looks like thestupidest thing ever.
It was so tacky.
It looked like the old Enron logo or something.
It was, like, eighties design.
I'll never forget.
(21:45):
We're sitting in a meeting, and I had, like, Ihad, like, on our letterhead, the Turner Mining
logo with the drop shadow behind it.
And Tracy was like, okay.
Yep.
We're never doing that again, Keaton.
You're delete that logo from the files becausewe're never and everyone else was like, oh,
thank goodness.
Finally, someone told him.
I'm like, what are you guys talking about?
It looks sweet.
The drop shadow's awesome.
(22:05):
This is real.
Like, you guys sorry you don't know graphicdesign like I do.
This is legit.
And and they were all like, no.
It looks terrible.
You have to be self aware.
You have to be self aware.
What are your strengths?
What are your weaknesses?
(22:26):
Are you actually ready to do the job you wannago do?
Just because it's a different job title andmore pay and more money, if you take it before
you're ready, it's going to move you backwardsin your career because you're gonna struggle in
the new role.
You're gonna bite off more than you can chew.
You're gonna get out over your skis.
You might end up failing at the role, and thenyou're set backwards.
(22:50):
Then now you have a big L on your resume.
You don't want an L on your resume.
Sometimes people just need to be a little bitmore self aware that it's not your time.
Or maybe it is your time, but you do not havethe skill sets for the role you wanna be in.
I I I've young guys struggle with this one.
(23:11):
Right?
They'll be they'll be an equipment operator.
And I heard this one time from a guy.
He was an equipment operator.
He's like, dude, I wanna get on the sales team.
I wanna work I wanna do what Paul Moran does.
And I was like, okay.
Well, that's that's an interesting jump.
Paul Moran has been doing sales in his careerfor, like, forty years.
(23:33):
Okay?
First of all.
Second of all, he has ran a path to get wherehe is.
And and and no offense, I mean, it's just adifferent path.
His path didn't start operating equipment.
So not to say you can't go from from equipmentoperator to being on a sales team or being the
leader of a sales team, but you have tounderstand, do you have the skill sets?
(23:59):
Are you an outgoing person?
Do you like to meet and talk to people?
Do you like to schmooze people?
Even annoying people.
Like, the best sales guys out there can can sitand eat dinner with the most annoying guy for
three or four hours.
A lot of us, like me, I can't sit and eatdinner with an annoying person for three hours.
(24:21):
I can't do it.
Paul can do it.
He's great at it.
Equipment operator, do you have the skill sets?
And if you don't have the skill sets, no matterno matter what you say, no matter how bad you
want to be in that role, if you don't have theskill sets, you have to be self aware enough to
know you're not gonna fit in that role.
(24:43):
Don't go search for that role in anothercompany if you don't have the skill sets.
Like, maybe the company you're in is trying toprotect you from jumping into a role you're not
a fit for.
Being self aware, man, it's it's, it's tough.
(25:04):
It's tough.
And if you've never thought about it, my guessis you're not self aware.
If you've never thought about your blind spots,if you've never, like, listed out or talked
through your weaknesses, if you've never ownedthe areas that you think you are strong but
realize, I'm actually not that strong.
(25:25):
Like, if you've never done this exercise, youmight not be self aware.
If you've ever asked your boss, hey, boss.
What do you think my skill sets are?
Like, where do you see me excelling?
Like, what things am I good at?
What things should I stay away from?
What things do I need to work on?
Or or your coworkers.
(25:46):
Ask people that you love and trust.
The the key is you have to find someone that'swilling to be honest with you.
I have some people around me that are notwilling to be honest.
They just they're not willing to be honest withme.
They don't wanna hurt my feelings.
They don't wanna ruffle feathers.
They don't want me to fire them, so they won'tbe honest.
(26:09):
They won't tell me where I'm screwed up.
I have other people around me who are brutallyhonest, sometimes too honest.
My brother anytime I'm with my brother, helike, I'll I'll I'll, you know, put some
clothes on, come out of of the my bedroom forthe day, and and I'll and he'll be like, boy,
you're not wearing that, are you?
(26:29):
I'm like, well, yeah, I'm wearing this.
This looks legit.
This is a new shirt.
He's like, that is the dumbest thing I've everseen.
Go back in there and change.
You know?
I tell my brother, I'm like, dude, you overeat.
You you you just you have stuff all like, we'rebrutally honest with each other.
We're brothers.
Yet, there's someone around you.
If you wanna go through this like selfawareness exercise, this blind spot, this three
(26:51):
sixty you have to have people that are willingto hurt your feelings in a positive way.
You can hurt someone's feelings in a positiveway.
You can say it with a positive direction,positive tone.
You can say, hey, look, I know you really wannabe good at this, but I'm gonna break it to you.
You're not good at it, So you need to stopdoing it.
(27:13):
And once you stop doing it, you will then seemore results and success in your life when you
stop doing things you're not good at and startfocusing on the things you are good at.
It's is tough.
This is a tough one.
This is tough one for people to get.
I the only reason I bring it up, the onlyreason I talk about it is because I watch it
(27:33):
happen.
I it's happened with me.
It's happened with others.
It's it's it's a fatal flaw.
It's a fatal flaw of leadership.
Some of the best leaders out there are the guysthat are the most self aware.
Some of the best leaders out there are the guysthat willingly solicit feedback from people,
and it's constructive feedback.
It's like, hey, man.
(27:54):
How am I?
How can I better support you?
Where am I screwed up?
What's not working?
You ought to try it.
If you have not tried this, I highly recommendit.
If you've never thought about it, you might notbe self aware.
You might have some blind spots that needaddressed, but that's what I got today.
I am pulling into my house.
It is a it's a hot Wednesday evening.
(28:16):
I'm gonna go in.
I don't know.
Might pour a glass of wine.
It's kind of, you know, it's kind of been oneof those days as you can tell.
I I'm dealing with people that aren't selfaware.
And maybe it's me.
Maybe maybe I'm maybe the joke's gonna go in.
I'm literally gonna walk inside and ask Shelby,to list out all the things I'm not self aware
about.
This will be fun.
Maybe this is tomorrow's episode, which is afollow-up on all the areas Keaton has screwed
(28:42):
up and not self aware.
Maybe I'll share that with you guys.
So that's what I got today.
That's what I have.
That's what, the episode today is about.
I hope it brought some value to one or twopeople.
And and if you're, like, the most self aware,if you're one of these guys that, like, you've
got it all figured out, teach us.
(29:04):
Teach us Delberts how to become more selfaware, more refined, more open to constructive
criticism.
Teach us because I struggle with this one.
Pray you're killing it.
Pray you're getting your PDM.
Pray you tune back in another day.
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