From Battlefield to Boardroom: Brent Bruggink's Journey of Leadership, Resilience, and Service

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What does it take to transition from the front lines of military and police work to the nuanced world of finance? Brent Bruggink joins us to share his extraordinary journey from Army infantry team leader and police officer to his current role as Director of Client Operations at CG Financial. Raised on a diverse animal farm in West Michigan, Brent offers a compelling narrative filled with personal stories about family life, love for the outdoors, and a unique passion for cooking exotic meats. Through his experiences, Brent reveals how the values instilled during his upbringing and military service have shaped his professional path and personal philosophy.

Growing up on a farm, Brent learned the significance of hard work and dedication from his father's dual roles as a physical therapist and farmer. He opens up about how becoming a parent himself brought newfound appreciation for the sacrifices his father made. This reflection leads into a broader discussion on the importance of self-care and finding balance amidst life's demands. Brent also reflects on how his leadership style has evolved through his varied career experiences, emphasizing the blend of structure and authenticity influenced by mentors like Denise.

Navigating the challenging transition from law enforcement to finance, Brent candidly shares the emotional and professional hurdles he faced. From door-to-door prospecting in Michigan's harsh winters to feeling unfulfilled in banking, his story is one of resilience and self-discovery. Brent underscores the value of servant leadership, mentorship, and consistent growth, inspired by his parents and mentors. Tune in for an episode filled with wisdom, encouragement, and actionable insights on achieving success through service and dedication.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to the Bamboo Lab Podcast with your
host, peak Performance Coach,brian Bosley.
Are you stuck on the hamsterwheel of life, spinning and
spinning but not really movingforward?
Are you ready to jump off andsoar?
Are you finally ready to sculptyour life?
If so, you've landed in theright place.

(00:21):
This podcast is created andbroadcast just for you, all of
you strivers, thrivers andsurvivors out there.
If you'd like to learn moreabout Brian and the Bamboo Lab,
feel free to reach out toexplore your true peak level at
wwwbamboolab3.com.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Welcome everyone to this week's episode of the
Bamboo Lab Podcast.
I'm your host, brian Bosley.
Before we get started todaywith our amazing guests, I just
want to give a very heartfeltthank you to all of you
listeners out there, all of you,members of the Bamboo Pack,
whether you've been with us forthe past two and a half years,
from the beginning or whetherthis is your first episode and
all of my amazing guestsincluding the one I have on

(01:05):
today, and all my future guests.
We were just informed two daysago that we are now in the top
10% of all podcasts around theentire globe.
And I'll tell you, when westarted this two and a half
years ago this journey I reallythought, you know clients might
listen, some family members willprobably listen, some friends
will pick up a few scragglersalong the way.
I had no idea this show wasgoing to go the way it has.

(01:31):
So it's been a great journey,it's a labor of love for me and
I just can't thank all of youguests and all of you listeners.
I can't thank you enough.
So much my appreciation to allof you.
So, all right, let's getrolling.
Today we have a guest on whoI've gotten to know really well
over the past two years,somebody who I have a great deal
of respect for as a leader andas a man.
We've been able to worktogether over the past couple of

(01:52):
years and work alongside ofeach other and talk on the phone
quite often.
Ladies and gentlemen, we haveBrent Brugink on.
Brent is a former Navy infantryteam leader and a combat
veteran.
After his honorable militaryservice, he served as a police
officer in special operationsunits in South Carolina,
including SWAT, canine andstreet crimes.

(02:13):
Currently today, he is thedirector of client operations at
CG Financial.
Now, I know a lot of youlong-time listeners know that
name because we've had three orfour guests from this amazing
company.
Cg Financial is a diversifiedfinancial services firm closing
in on almost $4 billion inmanaged assets with a laser and
extreme laser focus on helpingtheir clients and employees

(02:34):
achieve lifelong goals.
Brent himself leads clientfacing and operations teams
across multiple divisions of thecompany.
He's a certified plannedfiduciary advisor and that's a
mouthful.
Brent is on the board ofdirectors for the Greater
Lansing SHRM and the AssociateLeadership Board for the Junior
Achievements of Mid-Michigan.

(02:54):
When he's not working, brentenjoys adventures, traveling and
experience new things with hisamazing wife and daughter.
He's also an avid outdoorsman,aspiring home cook and
automotive enthusiast, so I'vebeen waiting for this for the
past month, my friend Brent.
Welcome to the Bamboo Labpodcast.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
Thanks, brian, I really appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
I've been looking forward to talking to you
because I want to see if you'reas much fun on this as you are
when we talk on the phone.

Speaker 3 (03:22):
Yeah, we'll see if I can live up to the hype.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
All right, brother.
Well, obviously I know a lotabout you.
I've gotten to know you well.
You've gotten to know me wellover the past couple of years.
But can you please share withthe listeners out there a little
bit about yourself, whereyou're from, your family, who or
what inspired you?
Just share whatever you'd like.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
Yeah, absolutely so.
I grew up in West Michigan on ahorse farm.
My mom was a special educationteacher, my dad a physical
therapist and a farmer, bothretired now.
So on our farm we raised horsesof all breeds.
We had ducks, chickens, turkeys, pheasants, pigs, goats, cows I
mean at one point I even had awallaby that lived on the farm.

(04:02):
So I grew up on a zoo.
Essentially, I'm the middlechild.
I've got a younger brother, anolder sister.
I was a difficult middle child,but today I'm blessed.
I'm married to my best friend,christina, who is an absolute
saint.
I've put her through so muchover the years I'm sure we'll
talk about some of that and I'mthe dad to just an incredible,

(04:24):
incredible daughter.
Her name is Sutton.
I'm going on 15 years ofmarriage and we got engaged
before I deployed to Iraq and wegot married nine months after I
got home and then, a few monthsafter that, we packed up our
stuff and we moved hundreds ofmiles away from family and just
her, my wife and I, relying onlyon each other, which was a huge

(04:45):
experience for us.
Personally, my greatest joy inlife is being a dad.
There's just nothing else likeit.
A lot of my time is dedicatedto my career, but when I can, as
you mentioned, I love beingoutdoors.
I love hunting, I enjoy beingbad at golf, I love cars, I
enjoy cars, I love Formula One.
Outside of that, that, cookingI thoroughly like to do that.

(05:07):
I like to cook weird stuff too,so all kinds of different meat
preps like kangaroo and cameland antelope, and when I hunt,
weird things like meal guy, umto eat that too.
So that's a ton of fun, um, andmostly I just I love seeing
other people enjoy, uh, some ofthe food that I cook.
I do some cookouts for thefolks at c Financial and it's a
blast.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
You know, I didn't know that that you were an
aspiring cook, a home cook.

Speaker 3 (05:32):
Yeah, yeah, I say aspiring.
I'm always getting better right, but yeah, I do.
It's something.
I've always enjoyed it, butI've started to focus on it
maybe the past 12 months or so.
I've started to dive more intoit and try new things and
actually try to get good andintegrate flavors and match salt

(05:53):
and fat and sweet and spicy andingredients and actually
produce and cook up some prettygood stuff.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
What does a wallaby mean?

Speaker 3 (06:03):
It's like a mini kangaroo oh, that's right.
Yeah, a mini kangaroo lived atmy house.
Her name was Ruby Ruby theWallaby.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
I was thinking of a sloth when you said I was
picturing a sloth.

Speaker 3 (06:19):
I'm surprised.
I'm sure that if my dad wouldhave had the opportunity to buy
a sloth at some animal auctionat some point in his life, he
probably would have bought it.

Speaker 2 (06:30):
I had a pet alpaca when I was married.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
Okay, yes, that's a good one.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah, when I was married our house was right next
door to my in-laws and they hadan alpaca ranch and they had
like a hundred alpacas and thatwas when alpaca fiber was a big
thing.
I remember him saying one timeand I don't think I misheard
this that at that point themarket was such at a peak that
when a baby alpaca was born, assoon as it came out it was worth

(06:57):
between $80,000 and $100,000.
Really Because of the fiber,because they would stud them out
.
And so he gave us one man.
I never did anything with it.
Unfortunately, I got a divorceso I lost my alpaca in the
divorce.
But I don't think I ever sawthe alpaca.
It was in a barn, in a farmwith another 100 alpacas.

(07:22):
I don't think I could havepicked mine out in a crowd.

Speaker 3 (07:26):
Yeah, it was a straight-up zoo.
I remember when I was a kidthere would be the schools, like
the local elementary schools,around the area I grew up in
Byron Center, Michigan, and theywould come to my house for
field trips.
So the schools, like I'd be athome waiting for the bus to come
up with all these kids that Iknew and I used to sell little

(07:48):
cups of grain for 50 cents a cupto all the school kids coming
to feed horses and that was myvideo game money when I was a
kid.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
You sold grain to your classmates.

Speaker 3 (08:01):
Yeah, yeah, I sold cups of grain to the classmates.
Classmates, yeah, yeah.
So cups of grain to theclassmates.
So when they go through thebarn and the stables, they could
, you know, feed the horses orthe goats or the cows or
whatever.
I mean we probably had, I don'tknow, I think a hundred horses
at one point.
I mean we just had animalseverywhere.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
What do you have now?

Speaker 3 (08:19):
Anything, personally, myself.
Yeah, yeah, we we've got a,yeah, we've've got a cat.
We have two dogs that hadpassed.
And then, um, my daughter, shereally wanted, she really wanted
a pet and we were about toleave on vacation, uh, to san
diego.
I was going for a conferenceand I was bringing christine and
something with me and then wehad there was a pregnant mom cat

(08:41):
that had a litter of kittensunderneath, like by my front
porch, and so I remember mowingthe lawn for vacation, I could
see him, see the kittens there,and then my neighbor took them
in and so of course we get home,uh, from from our trip and my
daughter's there in there, myneighbor's garage, every day,
every day, with all the kittens,right, because how how could a,

(09:03):
you know, six-year-old girl atthe time resist you know, six of
the cutest little cuddlykittens?
So we ended up with a kitten.

Speaker 2 (09:10):
So I've got a cat, I've got to tell you.
I was talking to Ashley lastweek and she knew you were
coming on the show and she saidshe just always appreciates
whenever you talk about Suttonin a team's call you just light
up.

Speaker 3 (09:23):
Yes, I mean it sounds biased, right, because she's my
daughter, but when you meet her, you see her.
She's an incredible, incrediblekid.

Speaker 2 (09:34):
How old is she now?

Speaker 3 (09:36):
She's seven.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
Okay, so she was five when I met her, because I met
her two years ago.
Yeah, yeah, I remember you guyswalking in because I had heard
your name before, and when youguys walked in, I asked somebody
Tony or Ashley or Pam orsomeone who that was and they
said who you were.
So that was the first time wemet.

Speaker 3 (09:54):
Yeah, yeah, no, she's the real deal.
I'll tell everybody and anybodyI can.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
Well, let's give her a shout out to Sutton right now.
Hello Sutton, if you'relistening.
Oh, she'll be listening, nicelittle girl, so growing up
obviously in a very unique way.
Byron Center, you had a bigfarm with a lot of animals.
Was there a certain person orevent or anything that inspired
you that you could look back onnow?

Speaker 3 (10:20):
You know, I'll tell you, I hated growing up on a
farm.
Honestly, I despised it.
I never got real big into thehorses, caring about breeds and
colors and patterns and the showthat was my dad and my sister.
Mostly I just saw them, as nowI've got to spend hours doing
chores that I don't want to do.

(10:40):
I would rather be doinganything else, but but but horse
in farm chores, that was.
That was what I saw living onthe farm.
So if anything it taught me, ittaught me to work, uh for sure,
and then I couldn't do thingsthat I wanted to do until the
jobs were done.
Um, and I, you know, in termsof inspiration, I think I I

(11:03):
don't really have anything thatcame to mind except within the
past.
I would say maybe seven, eightyears.
I would say my dad.
It's not something that I sawright in and there, but becoming

(11:25):
a parent, being a provider,taking care and protecting my
family, it was my dad and Ireally came to that realization
roughly seven years ago or so.
I've got wonderful parents, butmy dad he was a physical
therapist and then he ran a farmwith a ton of animals, a ton of

(11:51):
work.
I remember our living roomcovered in so much medical
paperwork stacked in piles andeverything.
Back then there was nocomputers or anything.
As a kid we'd be running allover the place and I remember my
dad would say papers, papers,papers.
Because we'd run through theliving room he had everything
stacked up, just perfect, and hewas shouting at us because if

(12:13):
we knocked over a pile, you knowhe'd be all, he'd be messed up
and have to put everything backtogether.
It's still a joke in the family, but you know he'd keep, he'd
leave.
He'd leave work in the morningor leave, leave home in the
morning, go to work, take careof people, right, serve, serve
people as a physical therapist.
And then he would come homefrom his day and do chores and

(12:33):
then you'd finish up with choresand come in and do all the
patient paperwork he had to do.
My dad worked a tremendousamount and I know at times you
think about like I'm like, oh,it works too much.
And you know I want to playbasketball and my dad and he was
.
He was grinding away and atsome points it kind of pissed
you off a little bit because youthink about it.

(12:54):
You know as a kid, but now asan adult, as a as a father, as a
husband, I totally get it.
I mean he was doing.
He was doing what makes senseto him and to provide the best
life he could for us and I grewup with a nice life.
We had a nice house, we tookvacations.

(13:14):
I was very fortunate to havetwo, two loving parents who took
tremendous care and providedopportunity for us, and that was
his focus.
And I see that now I don'tthink I got it then.
I definitely didn't get it thenI don't know if it really
clicked until recently.

Speaker 2 (13:31):
It sounds like it kind of clicked.
The realization came whenSutton was born or right around
that time frame.

Speaker 3 (13:39):
Yeah, absolutely a father.
It just it.
Just it put that intohyperdrive to provide and to
create opportunity and to takecare of and protect and, um,
that was it's.
It's always been a focus, Iwould say, but a laser focus for
me, obviously, when, when I hadmy daughter and I can see that

(14:04):
in me and then look at my dadand it was the same and those
were the same things, you know,and it just it was him
demonstrating how to be anincredible provider and that's,
and hard work comes with that.
Obviously, he works incredibly,incredibly hard and did back
then and put the hours in tomake it happen.

Speaker 2 (14:26):
But it's really hard for us to fathom how much our
parents love us until we havekids of our own.
It really it's.
You can't really describe thattype of love it's.
It's so surreal.
And when you have grandkids,you know, like I do with Jack
and now I've got two bonusgrandchildren it's just as such
a man.
It's man.
It's indescribable, it reallyis.

Speaker 3 (14:48):
Yeah, yep, it's next level.
It's next level, for sure.

Speaker 2 (14:51):
It really is.
It really is.
So, brent, I know you've gonethrough a lot of changes, I mean
professionally.
I know you have been gettingpromotions and getting new
responsibilities, but not justincluding professionally.
If I were to ask you in thelast 12 to 24 months, can you
describe to us a particularlearning you've had that's made
a difference in your life?

Speaker 3 (15:12):
Oh, you know, I feel like I'm learning every day.
Honestly, I don't think any.
You know, I'm trying to thinkof something.
You try to think of somethingearth shattering right.

Speaker 2 (15:24):
Just something that's made a difference.

Speaker 3 (15:27):
Yeah, learning every day, I'd say.
For me, it's what I'm trying tolearn, which I've learned I
need to do, and I'm trying toget better at it is prioritizing
myself a little bit.
Maybe that sounds selfish, it'snot intended to.
Uh, um, for a stretch of ofyears I mean from being a cop,

(15:52):
um, and then transitioning outof law enforcement into into
finance I was so focused on onwork and just and just working,
and I was very ambitiousambitious I was.
I was also impatient, um, andwanted to, wanted to go and get
up and move up and grow, and sofocused on work that I didn't, I

(16:14):
didn't focus on anything else.
Honestly, I, I didn't focus onhobbies, I I didn't have
anything I was really passionateabout.
I I didn't take any sort oftime for myself.
And I think that kind ofmagnified too, because when
Sutton was born, I was like Igot to be here all the time, I
got to be at the house, I got tobe with the newborn.

(16:35):
I can't go out and do stuffbecause Christina's at home now
taking care of everything, right, my wife does so much.
So I didn't feel like I coulddo much on my own or for my, for
myself.
And so I think over the past Ibet it's been about a year, uh,

(16:55):
christina has been she's reallypushed me to pick up.
You know we pick up hobbies,you know re-pick up hobbies,
explore some new things, trysome new stuff, and she's
encouraged me to do some thingsfor myself.
She understands how hard I workand how much I put into CG,

(17:16):
into my teams, into my clients,and she's helped me realize that
it's okay to do some things forme, because I think that's the
first question you asked me intime about myself, for you know
what I like to do.
If I would answer that questionthree years ago, I would have
nothing, I would have been justworking.
Just work would be it.
There would be no, you know,hunting or being bad at golf or

(17:39):
cooking.
It would just be work.
And so I think over the past 12months my wife's been a huge
factor in that.

Speaker 2 (17:47):
Well, I think Christine is exactly right.
There's nothing at all selfishabout that.
I know it's cliche to say, butwhen you're in that airplane,
what does that flight attendanttell you?
You put your mask on firstbefore you help the person next
to you, and that's somethingthat I think a lot of
hard-charging, high, highlyambitious people, hard charging
people have a hard time doing,and I mean it's one of the

(18:10):
things I do see now more as I'm,you know, 57 years old and get
to the opportunity to talk, tofind people like you and people
who are much older than me on myshow or have become friends
with them or coach them is.
I see these incrediblysuccessful people and I ask them
what their schedule is like andit's amazing how much time they
do take for themselves.
Now it really is.

(18:33):
I worked with a team of advisorsat one time and there were 12
advisors and I didn't work withthem long.
I did a couple of trainingsessions with them and there
were 14 total and they were allmaking a seven-figure income
total and they were all makingover.
They were all making a sevenfigure incomes.
They were all making more thana million dollars a year and out
of the 14, 12 of them workedless.
They worked 30 hours or less aweek.

(18:53):
And I some, you know, when theywere going through this and I
was a little bit perplexed, Isaid, well, you, they're not,
they're my age.
This was 10 years ago.
They were, you know, in theirforties.
Um, most of them were, you know, thirties, forties, fifties.
And I said, well, I'm assumingit's because you have now you've
worked for 20 years, 30 years,40 years, you have, you can do
that.
And they said, no, not really.

(19:14):
We kind of started off that way.
After about five or six years,we, we decided kind of as a
group, but they were close, theyknew each other real well and
they kind of had thisconglomerate and they said we,
we, we decided we were going todo this.
So 12 out of 14, we're doingthat, and they were having the
best damn life possible.

Speaker 3 (19:30):
And it sounds like I'm not saying go back, Don't go
back to Tony and Jeff.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
Hey, don't go back to Tony and Jeff tomorrow.
Million too.
He said I need a million in30-hour work weeks.
I'll let you know when it goesover Brian.
You'll be my last CG guest onthe show, no, but I think that's
incredibly true and one of thethings I've seen a lot lately

(20:01):
and I've been talking to one ofmy good friends, I've been
talking to several clients andeven telling myself this we have
to get better at breakingpatterns in our lives and we get
stuck in a pattern and we getstuck in ruts and we get stuck
in this groove of whatever itmight be, and sometimes it's
working a lot of hours, goingback home and taking care of
family, not having the properhobbies and taking care of
ourselves Some.
For some people it's not workingenough, it's just wasting time,
and over time, that monotonygets depressing and we get so

(20:25):
bored with it that it begins tofail for us.
And so I think I would tellpeople, even taking a different
way home from work can be abreaking of a pattern.
You know, as you know, I do alot of rocking and hiking and I
realized a week or so ago I'mlike I take the same damn trails
every time I hike, and so now Ithought, well, I'll break off

(20:46):
and take new trails and I'll gobackwards around the loops or
whatever.
You know, and little thingslike that are a little click
that make you have a differentperspective on life, and when
you can make bigger changes likepicking up hobbies and trying
new things, I mean those can bepretty macro level.
Um, uh, respectable perspectiveshifts.

Speaker 3 (21:04):
Yeah, I think for me too, like when, when COVID came
on, I was in the office and Iworked at a different firm, uh,
when COVID came and we, everyonewent remote, right, I just went
remote, and then that thecompany I worked for decided
that we're going to stay, stayremote.
So that was magnified right.
Like, uh, I lived, I lived atwork, lived at work.

(21:25):
Right, that's my wife.
She's like you live at work,you're working all the time.
It's very easy to slipdownstairs and sign on and next
thing you know, three hours passand everybody's in bed and
you're still grinding at thecomputer.
And she's like you live at work.
I think that really magnified itfor me, because it wasn't an
escape anymore.
I couldn't, I couldn't get awayfrom it at all.
Um, and it's, you're right,it's, it's not.

(21:48):
I mean, I think you know supernegative impacts on on your
mental health, on physicalhealth too.
Uh, for sure, I saw that and Ithink she, she's like she always
tells you if you work so hard,do something for yourself.
Because I've been so focused onwhen I commit to something,
like when I see a goal or themission, I'm in it, like, and I

(22:12):
I'm fully in it, fully committedand sometimes almost like it's
like too much, too much, um, orit's.
I can only think about and andgrinding towards this goal, or
working towards this goal orbeing a part of this mission,
and I think there's there's abalance.
For sure, and I'm typically notbalanced, I'm too far into it

(22:33):
and committed to what I'm doing,um, where it's it's hard to
take a step back and take sometime to reassess or just, you
know, be by myself, or self-care, whatever you want to call it
to refresh.
And we took a trip, my wife andI.
We planned this trip to Europe.
We just got back a couple weeksago.

(22:54):
It was me, son and Christina.
We went and we toured a coupledifferent countries and we
hadn't taken a big vacation inyears, like a decade.
It's been a long time and I hadnever come back refreshed from a
vacation that never might Ithat I can recall but this one,
this one, when I came back, Iwas, I was motivated, I was

(23:18):
refreshed.
I mean, I came back in theoffice, hitting it.
I could tell people wereprobably like never take a
vacation again, because I wasgetting my teams going and I was
ramped up, ready to go morethan I typically am, which is
usually a lot, but that's thefirst time I came back and I
made a focus.
I mean, I did work while I wason vacation just to maintain and

(23:41):
make sure clients were takencare of or my employees and
teammates and teammates weretaken care of too but it wasn't
the focus.
It wasn't the focus.
The focus was on being onvacation and when I came back, I
mean I, I was, I was hitting itand people were, I think, tell
you, my team looking at me whenI was rolling through, ready to
go, and they were ready.

(24:02):
They better be ready to gobecause I definitely was and
that was the first time I feltlike I really had that moment.
You always hear about people oh, I took a vacation, I come back
, and I was so refreshed andre-energized I remember thinking
like I'm never like that, likeit's daunting to take time off
of work.
I didn't want to take time offof work because I would be out

(24:22):
of work, you, I'd come back towhatever mess or pile-up would
be.
And this time I took adifferent approach to it, I had
a different mindset about it andI came back energized and
refreshed and with some newideas and ready to go, and
that's the first time it's everhappened for me.

Speaker 2 (24:41):
Well, you've got to start listening to Christina
more then.

Speaker 3 (24:44):
Yeah, sure, don't say that, because she's going to
listen to this and then she'sgonna, she's gonna hold me to it
.

Speaker 2 (24:49):
I mean, the thing is she already knows I'm not
editing in that I will not editthat part out, by the way.
Hey, by the way, I toldsomebody today and I'm gonna, I
want to keep a promise that Igive you some crap for, uh,
keeping your team at breakfast alittle long.
Today I was doing a coachingsession with someone, as they
were driving back from abreakfast session with you or a
breakfast meeting, and uh, the.

(25:10):
The topic of today wasmultitasking and distractions.
That was my coaching topic.
Perfect timing.
I think you know who it mightbe too.

Speaker 3 (25:20):
I know, yeah, I know what you're talking about.
That's also one of the people,when I came back and I was ready
to go, uh was kind of lookingat me in the face like, oh my
gosh, never take a vacationagain because you're coming back
too too strong.
So no, I'm very fortunate towork with some incredible people
at cg I've got.
The person you're talking aboutis on one of my new teams that

(25:42):
I've taken over over the pastcouple weeks and, uh, it's just,
it's incredibly exciting.
Uh, it's something I love.
I love to do it.
It motivates me to to build ateam, to build bonds and
relationships.
I to gain trust from folks thathave report to you that you're a

(26:03):
leader of.
I think that's I don't.
I don't think that can be saidenough.
I don't know if that's talkedabout enough.
We always talk about it fromyou know the leaders, the
leaders perspective.
But gaining your, gaining yourdirect reports trust, your
team's trust, is so huge and I'mseeing some of these, these, um

(26:24):
, these blossoms start to bloomwith this new group and it's
incredibly exciting the groupyou have right now is, uh, in
the group, both your groups.

Speaker 2 (26:35):
Um, obviously, I've had the opportunity to work
alongside a lot of them.
It's good, they're good groupsthey are.

Speaker 1 (26:41):
They've been a pleasure to work alongside of.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
For me, you know I've got a question.
You have a unique style of, Iwould say, leadership.
We talked about this, you and I.
Where you know you're a big man, you're a tall man, wide
shoulders, you've got a deepvoice, former military, former
police officer.
You kind of come in with thethere's a reputation that

(27:04):
follows you before you get thereand where it's like, oh shit,
we got Brent's going to be takenover our team and but yet it
works, you change their paradigmrelatively fast without giving
up that structure and thataccountability and that that
discipline that you teach you,you, you that it's almost like

(27:25):
the iron fist covered with avelvet glove.
So I want to ask you and I haveshared this with you, brent, and
I've shared it with a lot ofpeople, as you and I worked
alongside of each other for ayear or whatever it was, there
was never me coaching you onleadership.
It was us having conversationsabout what you're working, know

(27:46):
what you're, what you're workingon, your opportunities and
challenges, because I reallythought this guy's done it
before.
You had such a unique style.
I didn't think there was a lotI could coach you on other than
maybe some tactical things thatgive you names to things you're
already doing.
So the question for you iswhere did you acquire your style
of leadership?
Because it is high, it's highlevel and it's unique.

(28:09):
Where'd that come from?

Speaker 3 (28:11):
Yeah, I appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (28:13):
Oh, I've told you that before.

Speaker 3 (28:15):
No, I do.
I do it's it's, I do appreciateit.
It's something I'm incrediblypassionate about and I think a
lot of it comes from.
I had some pretty tremendousleaders in the military.
One was Sergeant Carter.
He was a tremendous example ofwhat a realistic leader was.
I mean, this is a guy that'smultiple combat tours, decorated

(28:38):
, veteran, seen a lot of stuff,but he kept it real.
It was never fake with him, hewas authentic, he was realistic.
When something sucked he wouldtell you it sucked and you know,
when something was great, he'dbe right there with it too.
He wasn't a sugar coater.
And then in in the lawenforcement I had some.

(29:00):
I had some wonderful folks thatI worked with, some leadership
there, similar skill set, right,similar delivery in terms of
hard exterior, soft interior andhow they can talk to folks.
And then being a cop.
Being a cop has beeninstrumental in the success I've
experienced outside of lawenforcement.
To be able to have difficult,awkward, challenging

(29:25):
conversations, to position andarticulate it in a way that
folks can understand it.
That's been huge.
Throughout my throughout mycareer I've seen some people do
it.
I put a little bit of my ownspin on it.
So the being a, the leaders Ihad in the military law
enforcement.
And then I had a tremendousmentor at Alaris, the company I

(29:49):
worked at before CG Financial.
Her name was Denise and she wasinstrumental in my career.
A true leader, almost pastoralin her leadership style, she
took mentorship to extremes,fully committed to finding the

(30:10):
right people and guiding themand mentoring them and providing
insight and creatingopportunities, challenging them,
testing capacity she was very,very good at that.
So I take a lot of bits andpieces from there, I think
sometimes I don't want to admitit, but I might make it up a
little bit as I go along as well.

(30:31):
Um, but it helps offset some ofthat stigma when I do come into
a room or take over a new teamand they, they know me for my
background, they they know thatyou know combat, batch and
infantry and special operations,law enforcement or SWAT team
and they think that I'm going tobe just this asshole, you know,

(30:54):
and it's it's not, it's notaccurate, right?
I mean, I totally can be.
You don't get me wrong.
There's, there's typically atime and a place, but so
sometimes I've got to turn thataround with the folks.
I think for me, settingexpectations, setting clear
expectations with people,letting them know what you
expect, what success looks like,how things are going to be

(31:18):
different, why they're going tobe different, being really clear
and eliminating some of thatuncertainty, eliminating some of
that gray area for people ishuge.
And when I do that and peoplestart to see that I care, I'm
committed and I mentioned itbefore like I know that I have

(31:40):
to get their trust.
They might not know me or theymight have a preconceived notion
for what my style is going tobe like, and I know that I've
got to.
I've got to get their trust.
I've got to show them and notonly show them, but do what I
say I'm going to do and deliveron what I'm saying.

(32:01):
And once you start to do that,people get into it and they'll
see that you're committed.
They'll see that you put yourmoney where your mouth is, that
you're not full of shit.
That's been huge for me.
So that's and that's stuff thatyou know I've learned and I've
watched folks too I mean in the,in the army, right in the army

(32:22):
we say you know, I'm not gonnaask you to do something, I
wouldn't do myself right.
So I do the same thing here if,if I ask you to do a project,
I'll.
It's not something I wouldn'tdo myself if I had to do.
It might be tedious or timeconsuming, but that's I think of
things from that lens and and Ithink that helps tear down some

(32:44):
of that.
Oh, my gosh, brunt's coming into tear things up, or he's gonna
be just a huge jerk or notflexible or too rigid or
whatever.
I've heard all of it.
Right, I've heard all of it.
But absolutely I think if youtalk to my teams, they see a
different side for sure.

Speaker 2 (33:04):
Well, I just want to address the audience right now.
I want to think of you outthere, whether you are in a
leadership role or not, you knowa technical leadership role or
not.
You are in a leadership role.
We all are, because we allinfluence some somebody out
there, whether it's our childrenor friends or family.
Just think of some of thethings Brent just said, I think
setting clear expectations,sharing the how and the why

(33:27):
things are going to be changing,you know, kind of eliminating
that uncertainty.
Show them what success doeslook like, gain their trust and
make sure they understand thatyou're not going to ask them to
do anything that you're notwilling to do yourself.
And those are some golden rulesright there that we can all
take away.
That's a nugget of wisdom rightthere that anybody in that
audience right now can take andsay how can I apply this to my

(33:50):
life, whether it's through myteam, my company, my family, my
friends or whoever it might be.
So thanks for that, brent.

Speaker 3 (33:57):
Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (33:59):
All right, now the million-dollar question that I
ask everyone.
You can refuse to answer it,you can deny or decline to
answer, but what is one of themost challenging or difficult
things you've ever gone throughin your life and how would you
say you overcame it?

Speaker 3 (34:12):
yeah, I think there's yeah, there's quite a few.
Uh, just in my past life is.
Sometimes I think about the.
The world I live in now issometimes it's much harder and
sometimes it's much, much easierthan being in the army or being
a cop, but I would say the themost.

(34:33):
One of those difficult thingsthat we've gone through was the
transition from police officerinto finance.
Um, that was almost the thingthat like defeated me, quite
frankly.
Um, but I almost gave up at um.
It was incredibly difficultwhen I left.
So the first 10 years of myadult life were spent in the

(34:55):
military or being a cop.
And as a police officer, I washigh level.
I mean, I was on the teams andI had the cool stuff and the
cool stories, did a lot ofreally neat things and I put
away a lot of real bad people.
I saved people's lives.
It did some really awesomestuff.
And when I decided to leave lawenforcement and transition into

(35:19):
some sort of finance, I had noidea.
I you know, when I was, when Iwas a police officer, I was
going to school at the same timeto get my degrees.
At the same time to get mydegrees, I didn't have the
opportunity to do an internshipin my bachelor program when I
was 20 years old, living at homewith mom and dad.
I didn't have that opportunity.
I was in my mid-20s, I wasmarried, I had a mortgage, I had

(35:43):
bills, I had responsibilities,I had all that stuff.
I had a wife and I was leavingall I knew, all I ever knew, to
go to something I had no clueabout.
And when you think aboutfinance, it's so broad.
I mean from corporate financeto accounting, to advising to
investments, to portfoliomanager I mean it's huge.

(36:06):
The spectrum is gigantic and Ihad no idea where I wanted to
fall into it.
I had some thoughts, but for me, when I left being a cop, I
knew that I had to move awayfrom South Carolina where I was
a police officer, because Idon't know the stats behind it.
But most cops that try to leavelaw enforcement end up back in

(36:30):
law enforcement Because it'sincredibly hard to do.
It's hard to transition out ofthat Because there's no other
job like being a cop.
There's no other job like beinga cop and all my friends were
cops.
I was only ever around cops.
That was it.
My whole life was being a policeofficer, because when you're a
police officer.
It's not a job, it's youridentity, right?

(36:53):
I mean, you're always a policeofficer, always.
You know, when I, when I gohome, I'm a cop.
When I'm out at the grocerystore, I'm a cop, you know,
today, working, as you know,401k advisor, client operations.
That doesn't matter if I'm atthe grocery store, like nobody
cares that I, you know, managed401k plans, right, like nobody
cares about that.
But people care if you're apolice officer.

(37:15):
So I, I go to leave lawenforcement.
I knew I had to move.
So my wife and I moved back toMichigan.
Um, so we moved from Michigan,got married and just her and I
together we got it all sortedout and and then moving back to
Michigan to get away from beinga cop, because I was like when I
commit, I commit, right.
But it almost broke me becauseI went to work for Edward Jones

(37:38):
for the first few months oftransitioning out and it was a
wonderfully terrible experiencefor me because it showed me what
I don't want to do and I'dnever had exposure to that.
So I didn't know what I didn'tknow trying to move into finance
.
And so I remember getting all mytraining and the licenses and

(37:59):
the studying and passing all thetests, and then I go out to do
prospecting and it's January inMichigan.
I'm wearing long johns under mysuit as I'm knocking on doors.
That was Edward John'm knockingon doors, right, edward Edwards
.
Edward John Slick knocking ondoors, right.
So I'm going door to door todoor for nine hours a day, just
constantly getting doors slammedin my face because some random

(38:21):
guys knocking on your front doordon't want to talk to you about
investments, and so you canimagine how well that goes over.
So I go from being on the SWATteam kicking in somebody's door
to the opposite end of thespectrum, getting doors slammed
in my face all day long, and Iremember just continuing to fail

(38:42):
, hearing no thousands andthousands and thousands of times
, and it was the exact oppositeof being a cop.
When I had to arrest somebody,they told me no, that I didn't
care.
They were getting arrested.
Like you can, you can tell meno, you want, you're gonna end
up in handcuffs in the back ofmy car.
I don't care how many times yousay no, I might even have to

(39:03):
fight you over it.
Well, now I can't do that right.
So I just gotta get the doorslam to my face and walk to the
next house and just it was hoursand hours of that and I thought
this is the worst thing ever ofall the.
I mean I've been to ramadi,iraq, I've been at war, I was a
cop in the ghetto.
I mean I was in the hood.

(39:26):
Knocking on doors was like theworst thing I ever did in my
life for a career and itseriously almost broke my heart.
I'm thinking getting back inthe car.
I parked the car in the coldsack and I would get out and I
would be walking.
And I remember getting back inthe car and just thinking like,
what am I doing?
I left, I left law enforcementfor this and so many times I

(39:48):
would talk to my wife.
I'd be so down and and you knowshe was like we moved and we
upgraded our life and we movedback to michigan and we're not
happy and it was tough.
It was so rough, um, it was sorough.
And then from there I went totry banking, because I again, I
had no clue where I wanted to goin the realm of finance.

(40:11):
So I was like, what aboutbanking?
Let's try that.
So I got a job at a bank as alicensed banker and I did that
for about nine months and Iwasn't too into it.
It was fine, but it wasn'twhere I wanted to be at and I
was interviewing for policedepartments because I was ready
to go back.
I was interviewing for policedepartments because I was ready

(40:33):
to go back, I was ready to giveup on transitioning out and I
was ready to go back to being acop.
And I submitted an applicationto a company I'd never heard of
about a position I knew nothingabout, and I got an interview
and I was negotiating salary forthe police department I had.

(40:55):
I had accepted an offer, um ata police department where we
were negotiating pay,negotiating salary.
And I came in and gotinterviewed at this other firm,
alaris at the time, and denisehad interviewed me and I said
and then I got offered the joband I told Chris yes, this is it
.
This is the last time I said ifthis doesn't work, I'm going
back to being a cop.

(41:15):
So I'm not doing this anymore,I'm not failing, I'm not putting
up with this, I'm not tryingmore things, I'm going to go
back to being a police officer.
I was good at it, it and thenthat was, you know, over a
decade ago and I haven't lookedback since.
That's nice, that was yeah,that was it man I I got so close
to.
I mean, like I said, if Iwouldn't have got that interview

(41:37):
I'd be, I'd be a police officerso how did you transition to cg
then?
uh, so cg, let's see I met.
So, uh, tony owns owns crookedfoot hunt club in awasa, the
pheasant hunting club, and so Iwas.
I came out for a veteranpheasant hunting event.
So he does this.
It's, it's a.
It's a wonderful, wonderfulevent, if any if anybody's in

(41:59):
the area as a veteran that'slistening, please check it out.
It's crooked foot hunt club.
They every october, november,every fall, they sponsor this
huge hunt where veterans cancome hunt for free pheasant hunt
for free.
And and so I don't know how Iheard about it, but I ended up
there and I met Tony.
I went up to him just to thankhim for hosting this hunt I mean

(42:21):
, it cost a significant amountof money to do that and the time
and the effort from his teamand the Crooked Foot folks and I
just wanted to thank him.
And then I started.
I started like research, likethe club and him, and I found
out he owned cg financial.
I was like, oh, cg fans, itsounded familiar.
Well, at alaris we had jointclients.

(42:42):
Alaris was the record keeperand the administrator for some
401k plans that some, some ofthe advisors at cg were the
advice rock.
And so the next year I wenthunting again, I started to talk
to tony about business becausein my head I was like, oh, maybe
we could partner on some morebusiness together and I could.
I could sell business, and youknow they were selling business,

(43:03):
they would, they could put itwith laris and then we found I
was looking at jobs, um, and Ifound there was an opening at CG
for a position of recruiterthat reached out to me and I
actually interviewed them withTony and we had some of that
common rapport from the huntingcomponent.
But it was a job that wasn'tquite framed out, wasn't quite

(43:26):
built out yet as a new positionthat they were creating to take
over and kind of lead their 401kbook of business at cg
financial.
And they made an offer,actually turned them down, um,
in late 2020.
I turned them down first andthen it was another year.
Year and a half went by and Ithought about it a lot.

(43:47):
I I wanted to grow, I wanted toget into a different change of
pace, I wanted to join adifferent firm who was on the
move, and that's no doubt CGFinancial.
And I saw Tony again and hesaid to me you ever think about
when I offered you that job andyou turned it down.
You ever think about that.

(44:07):
That's what he said to me.
I said well, well, you know,lately I've been thinking about
it a lot and he said let's havea meeting.
And we met a couple weeks laterand then they offered me the
the role to take to leave theretirement plan took a business
and I accepted it.
And I came aboard um 2022, one,one like one.
Three3, 2022 was my start date.

Speaker 2 (44:29):
Okay, Well, I'll tell you, Tony came out of the womb
negotiating and selling to thedoctors and nurses.
I'm pretty sure he did.
Yeah that's probably accurate.
I mean, I've never seen a guynegotiate and sell like him.
I saw it when we were both inour mid-early 20s.
It's something to behold.

Speaker 3 (44:52):
Yeah, it's like he knew too.
He could just look at me andknew I was thinking about it,
and then he said it.
I was like yep, that's exactlywhat I was thinking.
Let's do something.
A couple weeks later, here weare, doing the thing.

Speaker 2 (45:06):
He was patiently waiting.

Speaker 3 (45:08):
Yeah, next level.
For sure there's levels to thegame.

Speaker 2 (45:13):
So really, your career choice from the day you
got out you left home, you know,serving as a combat vet, swat,
then going to the financialservices really has all wrapped
around the term service.
You served our country, youserved the people of South
Carolina and now you're servingyour clients and your teams.
I mean, really that's been abig theme for you as you've

(45:33):
grown up.

Speaker 3 (45:35):
Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (45:36):
I wonder if that came somewhere from watching people,
watching your father and yourfamily serve these animals and
your dad being a physicaltherapist and serving his
clients and patients.
There's got to be something,because most people don't have
that track record of three verydistinct careers paths.
I mean, obviously, military andlaw enforcement aren't that

(45:57):
they're somewhat connected, butwhere it's, it's the same.
Your style hasn't reallychanged.
You know your, your whole model, uh uh.
Motto is in theme is to serveothers.
You know improve others,increase uh.
Motto is and theme is to serveothers.
You know improve others,increase.
You know other chances ofsuccess, and you know so.
There's got to be somethingthat clicked in your childhood
that made that happen.

Speaker 3 (46:16):
Yeah, I mean I think you know my mom.
My mom was a special educationteacher and I inner city, inner
city, Grand Rapids school, soall day long she was taking care
and teaching, teaching thesekids.
And you know my dad we talkedabout.
You know what he did and reallyfrankly, I mean I grew up in a
Christian home where service issuch a huge component of what we

(46:40):
do.
It's what you know Jesuspreaches throughout the Bible
and I grew up in thatenvironment and I can see it,
and you know, being servantleadership.
It's not just a cool catchphrase.
I mean I think there's so muchto it and you nailed it, brian.
I mean I love havingexperienced an incredible mentor

(47:07):
and mentors throughout my lifeand I've I can't I mean I can
draw specific success.
I can tie it to specific people.
I mean Denise I mentioned herinstrumental in in my finance
career and I see how huge it wasfor me.

(47:27):
I mean it impacted mepersonally and professionally.
It impacted my ability toprovide a nice life for my
family, my paycheck, myopportunities, success.
All of that from one person,one person who saw something and

(47:50):
took the time and dedicatedherself to me and to grow my
career.
I mean what a freaking coolthing to do for somebody.
I mean what an incredible thingto impact somebody, somebody so
greatly that it sets the coursefor their life.
I mean what, what a powerfulthing that is.
And if I've got the ability todo some of that, I mean I'm not

(48:14):
saying that scale, but if I'vegot the ability to see something
in somebody and share and teachand learn from them and they
learn from me and createopportunity and put them into
positions where they're going tofail and that's okay and
they'll learn.

(48:36):
And to be able to do that forsomebody, I think it's it's
special.
But to me it's an honor to tobe able to be a part of
somebody's life like that.
I mean you say you've got oneshot, you've only got one life.
You know, live it to thegreatest.
We say all that stuff andnobody, you know I don't care if
people don't do it.

(48:56):
I can tell you that Peopledon't do it.
They don't take advantage ofwhat you give or what they've
got.
And I mean I try to do that.
But if I can help peoplefulfill some of that stuff, I
mean that's just, that's anhonor to do that.

Speaker 2 (49:10):
That's the best word to use.
It is a complete honor and it'snot.
It's not, and sometimes it'sthe most challenging thing
you'll do.
But when you see the light bulbgo off and someone, you see
their life turn around or justeven turn that corner slightly.
There's not.
There's no better high in theworld yeah, I agree, because I
absolutely agree, because it'sthat ripple effect you're the
butterfly effect and thatperson's going to go out and

(49:33):
potentially do that for someoneelse or improve somebody else's
life.
And that's really how youchange the world is by working
better with the people that areclosest to you, serving them
better.
All right, I have a question.
If I come down to your neck ofthe woods tomorrow with my time
machine dragging behind me in myJeep and we get in it and you

(49:53):
go back to some time in yourlife, brent, you pick the time
frame when you were younger andyou're going to sit down and
talk to your younger self, I'mgoing to sit back and just
observe.
What would you tell the youngerBrent?

Speaker 3 (50:09):
What words of wisdom, recipes for success or advice
would you give yourself at ayounger age?
Oh, I wish such a time machineexisted because I would probably
buy the IPO of Apple and thingslike that.
It's like that's the financepiece coming out of me is invest
sooner, sooner.
But that sounds boring, uh, butit's something I'm teaching my
daughter.
So it definitely definitelycame to mind about investing.

(50:31):
But you know, I would say, uh,don't, don't feel like you
always have to hit home runs.
Um, you know, I mentioned Imentioned before when I get to
something, I go all in and I'mfocused on being the best at
whatever that thing is.

(50:54):
In some cases it can lead togetting burned out.
I mean, when I was a policeofficer, I wanted to do all the
things, all the cool guy stuff,you know.
I wanted to join a team.
I wanted to be on SWAT, Iwanted to be on K9, I wanted to
do all the things, all the coolguy stuff.
You know, I want to join a team, I want to be on SWAT, I want
to be on K-9.
I wanted to go after, you know,drug dealers, gang members, and
I got to do all that and Imentioned some incredible things
, but I thought I had to too.

(51:15):
Like I thought, if I'm going tobe a cop, I'm going to be a cop
, I'm going to be do all thethings right.
And I wanted to hit a grand slamand I did that and I burned
myself out.
That's part of why I left lawenforcement is I did way too
much.
I had no time, I was.
It consumed every part of meand that was because I was

(51:40):
trying to hit.
I was trying to constantly hithome runs when, in hindsight,
like it's okay if you hit asingle, it's okay if you hit a
double.
If you do, you're still goingto get around the bases.
Right, you might have to relyon a team member to hit another
single or double too, but you'restill going to score points,
you're still going to score runs.

(52:01):
It doesn't need to be a homerun every single time.

Speaker 2 (52:06):
I think that's one of the things I've learned really
is the same thing.
That's really where we come upwith the term bamboo lab,
because of the Chinese bambooseed.
You plant it.
It takes four years to grow.
Then it blossoms In the fifthyear.
It grows, I think, 90 feet inthe first six weeks.
But I think that's one of thethings I've learned really.
I'm 57, probably in the lastfive years I've learned that

(52:27):
it's not about those big, hugehits, those big moments.
It's about little, gradualimprovements every single day.
It's just, you know it's.
It's sometimes you have to buntand get on base, sometimes you
get hit, you know, sometimes youhave to, you know, get hit in
and walk um some, you know,sometimes it's single, sometimes
doubles, every once in a whileit's a triple and every once in
a great while it's a home run.
But you, you know, reallycelebrate the singles.

(52:50):
I mean because the singles addup and that's where you win
games, that's where you winabsolutely.

Speaker 3 (52:55):
I love that.
Consistent consistency, right,consistency put in the work for
a long time.
I mean that's investing tooright.
If I invest consistently over along period of time,
theoretically I'm gonna end upwith a nice sum, instead of
trying to try to day trade andhit home runs every time.
I mean that's so as so is inlife.

(53:16):
I think if you can beconsistent and working towards
what you want to work towardsand it's okay if you don't, if
you don't get it all tomorrow,right, some of it might come
next year, but as long as you'reworking towards it, it's
realistic, it's purposeful,you're committed to it, you're

(53:36):
passionate about it.
I think we underestimate, and Ithink we underestimate
consistency.
I really do.
I think you look online so much.
You see the guy wake up at 4.30in the morning, I take a cold
polar plunge, I read six books,I study Mandarin Chinese and

(53:58):
then I go to work and then Ijust crush it close deals all
day.
I mean that's what we see andthat's not life, right, that's
not life.
Not even close.
Right, not even close.
I said sometimes I don't wakeup until 10 minutes before I got
my dress pants on when I get inthe office.
So it's consistency.

(54:18):
I think it's underrated.
I really do.

Speaker 2 (54:22):
And if, yeah, it's consistency, and sometimes
during that you fall down, youget off your pattern, you get
back up and you keep doing it.
Because sometimes, whetheryou're trying that consistent
route, it's called theaggregation of marginal gains,
where it aggregates over time.
Then you'll get the wins downthe road.
Some days you feel like you'renot doing something right.
You feel like you're not seeingthe success.

(54:43):
You feel like you're not doingsomething right.
You feel like you're not seeingthe success, you feel like
you're failing a little bit.
Just keep going forward.
Step back up and move forward.
Keep doing it.
Keep doing it.
Make improvements every day.
What do they say?
If you improve by 1% every day,you're 38 times better at the
end of the year, or somethinglike that.
Yeah, brent, what's next foryou?

Speaker 3 (55:06):
I mean, I know you've had a lot of changes
professionally Anything in linefor you, either professionally
or personally, in your life.
Yeah, I mean I'm in it to winit at CG.
I mean I'm in it to win it.
I was just like you mentionedearlier.
I was recently promoted to theleadership team.
I mean, my coreresponsibilities are leading and
managing these groups,operational strategy you know

(55:27):
how it impacts clients, how itimpacts team members, focusing
on some of the talentdevelopment within the firm.
So I've got a lot of work to doin this new role that I'm
incredibly, incredibly excitedand motivated on, and I know
that when I can build thefoundation, I know you know
what's next is to step higherinto CG.
So that's what's next for me isto crush what I'm doing now to

(55:55):
make a hell of an impact to thefolks that I'm around, to the
clients, to the people, to thecompany, and then just keep
growing, keep growing my careerand, as much as CG will love me,
to continue my journey together.

Speaker 2 (56:11):
Well, they're pretty fortunate to have you.
I think there's no doubt aboutthat.
I appreciate that.
Okay, another question, acouple more questions here.
Would you right now, as you'veinto cg over the past two and a
half years um, yeah, obviously.
Sutton's seven years old.
You've been married tochristina for 15 years.
You've had two former lives inmilitary as well as a law

(56:32):
enforcement.
Right now, on this day, whatwould you consider a win for you
?
What do you say?
Is when something happens, yousay that's a victory.
What does that look like foryou?

Speaker 3 (56:46):
uh, I could think of a couple.
I can think of a couple, uh,going back to something we
talked about when, when a teammember grows.
So I talked about how important, you know, mentorship has been
in my life and how passionateI'm about it today.
I think a win is when I can seesome, when I see that light

(57:06):
bulb moment right, when I seethat that flower starts to
blossom whatever analogy youwant to use I think that's a
huge win.
And then when I can see that,when it clicks and connects, and
then you can reward it right,acknowledge it, you can, you can
uh, promote it or pay moremoney to it, all those, all

(57:28):
those things that that you wantto be able to do when somebody
grows, uh, professionally,that's that's absolutely a win.
A win for me, um, another oneyou know it's it's the, but true
is just is when my clients aretaken care of, uh, when I can be
, when I can be a solution and Ican offer solutions or good

(57:52):
advice, guide, guide a clientthrough a tough or complex
situation.
I mean, I'm working on ahospital merger right now, or
there's a couple of hospitalsmerging, merging retirement
plans together.
Where there's a couplehospitals merging, merging
retirement plans together andit's a lot.
I mean it's 1500 employees areimpacted by this.
You know, 50 plus milliondollars and I get to be a part

(58:13):
of that.
And when we come out, when wecome out of this transition,
it's going to be awesome.
I mean to be able to, to beable to do that, usher that and
guide that, because things likethat I love and are motivating,
um and I.
The last thing I would say isjust again, maybe selfishly, but
when, when talent andperformance is appreciated, like

(58:37):
when I can, like when I candeliver and and people like,
yeah, he delivered, you know,that's a win, that's a win.
I mean, like I said, I don'tsound selfish, but it's
motivating when we can operateat a high level and it's
recognized or you can see thatimpact in a positive way.

Speaker 2 (58:59):
So really, everything you just said comes to that one
word we used earlier.
It's service.
Yeah, your whole damn life iswrapped around service.
Yeah, that's great, all right.
Final question, my friend, isthere any question that I didn't
ask, that you wish I would have, or is there any final message
that you'd like to leave withthe bamboo pack?

Speaker 3 (59:22):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think just a few things thatthat I talked to my teams about,
that I try to think about andjust it's been.
It's an advice that's beenshared with me as I've, as I've
grown in my career, and one ofthem is is just, it's just take

(59:43):
it one step further.
Um, it's something I repeat tomy teams.
It's simple to think about andto do it, it could be one of the
smallest things, right, itdoesn't have to be some massive,
massive thing.
I mean, for example, and it'sinstead of asking for the answer
, take it one step further andresearch all the places before

(01:00:05):
you ask.
Or something super simple,right, if, if somebody asks you
for an excel report, maybe onestep further is naming the tabs
or color coding or everything inthe same font.
Or you know, if you're going togo on vacation, instead of just
an out of office, call yourclients or email your clients

(01:00:26):
and let them know you're goingto be out.
It's just, it's those littletiny things that it's just.
It's just one more, it's onestep further, right, I think
that's been something I preachand something I try to do.
For sure, it's incremental.
Like I said, it's not home runs, it's a bunt, it's a single for

(01:00:47):
sure.
But those things add up overtime and make a big impact.
They help position you in apositive light.
They help highlight the servicethat you do.
They help highlight the workthat you do or demonstrate
ambition or a thirst forknowledge.
It's just those little things,it's micro stuff, none of it's

(01:01:10):
earth shattering, but it'ssimple to think about.
How can I take this littlething one step further and then
deliver that result?

Speaker 2 (01:01:21):
And there's really nothing in life.
You can't apply that to.

Speaker 3 (01:01:24):
No, it absolutely, it's yeah universal.

Speaker 2 (01:01:26):
It is universal.

Speaker 3 (01:01:28):
Universal.
You know universal, and if Icould share one more, it'd be.
I had trouble with this when Iwas leaving.
Law enforcement is don't letyour ambition be confused for

(01:01:49):
impatience.
You know, it's ambition andimpatience can look like the
same thing if it's not properlyarticulated and ambition is
rewarded and impatience isannoying.
When somebody's impatient andpestering, it's annoying, but
when somebody's ambitious, it'scelebrated, and those two things

(01:02:11):
can look very similar unlessyou articulate it the right way,
and I didn't.
At first I was desperate togrow and to be more successful
and to get more clients or getmore assets or get promoted or
get a better title or make moremoney.
It was all the right things.
But the way I went about it wasthe wrong way because I was

(01:02:32):
also impatient, and so I'veshared this with a couple
younger folks on.
Some of my teams of current andof past is talking about.
You know, don don't, don'tmisconstrue it right, channel it
.
Channel your ambition the rightway to present it the right way
.
And that that was something Igot slapped down for that,

(01:02:53):
frankly, by by Denise, by thatwoman I talked about at Laris.
I mean she had slapped me downa couple of times because I was.
I was ambitious, but I was alsoimpatient.
And then we had this.
This conversation right herewas very impactful for me as to
how am I, how am I portraying it, how am I positioning it?

(01:03:16):
And uh, they, they're not thesame thing, but they can look
like the same thing If it's not,if it's not poorly, if it's not
properly portrayed.

Speaker 2 (01:03:26):
I wish you would have told me that 20 years ago.

Speaker 3 (01:03:29):
Yeah, sure.

Speaker 2 (01:03:30):
A lot of headache.

Speaker 3 (01:03:32):
Yeah, seriously.
I mean, you can think aboutthose times where you're like,
oh, why didn't I get thispromotion, or I should have got
it, or you know, all that clientshould have been mine and you,

(01:03:58):
you, all that client shit in mymind and you complain or you
moan and you groan, or you sayit too loud and somebody hears
it and that type of thing,instead of saying what do I need
to do to position myself to beable to do this next, to learn
from them, versus ready to justthink I can take over for them,
right when I, when I can't, it'sjust, it's those types of
things that I thought that forsure and absolutely improperly
displayed it and, like I said, Igot, I got slapped down more
than once and it seems a littleheartache and heartburn and

(01:04:21):
stress.
If you can do it the right way,but I think for anybody that's
listening who is ambitious, justare you channeling it the right
way to ultimately achieve thatend goal?

Speaker 2 (01:04:34):
That's great advice.
And I think when you thinkabout you know if you have a
goal in mind in life and you goat it like I'm going to hit a
bunch of home runs to get tothat goal, you're going to
practice a lot of impatiencebecause you're going to strike
out a lot.
But if you just say I have thatgoal but I'm going to go
doubles and singles and doublesand maybe a triple here and
there, that's more of theambition and patience right

(01:04:55):
there.
You know that incrementalgrowth, that Chinese bamboo seed
type stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:05:00):
Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (01:05:02):
Great advice, my friend, friend in great
conversation.
It was more than I expected andI expected a lot so oh, good,
that's good.
I appreciate you, my friend.
You're you're a good friend tome and you're a good man and
it's an honor to know you andit's been an honor to have you
on here.
I just want to thank you forbeing such a great wisdom filled
, inspiring guest on the bamboolab podcast oh, likewise, brian.

Speaker 3 (01:05:23):
It's been an absolute pleasure.
I mean I've thoroughly enjoyedour conversations and getting to
know you.
I enjoy talking about this kindof stuff too.
I know we both have that incommon and it's a pleasure, man.
It really has been.
I've been looking forward tothis.

Speaker 2 (01:05:39):
You definitely put on a damn good show.

Speaker 3 (01:05:42):
Good.

Speaker 2 (01:05:43):
Thank you, brother.
I appreciate it, appreciate youAll, right, everyone.
Thank you for tuning in thisweek.
Now, I know this is an episodeand I can tell certain episodes
and shows that are going to havea major impact on people.
So what I'm going to ask you todo is please sit down and
listen to this.
If you're driving, running,hiking, whatever you're doing.
If you can't take notes, listento it a second time and take

(01:06:04):
notes.
I've got a full page of notes.
I have no more room left on mypaper here and I've known Brent
for quite a while.
You're getting his message forthe first time, most of you.
So take notes and share thiswith three other people.
Just send the text off, or theemail or the text or the podcast
off.
Send it and share it with threeother people, because there's a

(01:06:27):
lot of wisdom here that canchange people's lives.
Please hit that like button,please rate and review us and
please keep sending those heartletters into us.
I love getting the emails andsometimes I still get a snail
mail for people who somehowfound my address, but send the
emails in.
Let us know what this episodedid for you.
I'll talk to each and every oneof you one week from today,
same time, same place.
In the meantime, please get outthere and give your best.

(01:06:48):
Please get out there and showlove and respect to others and
please, by all means, live withpurpose and passion.
I appreciate each and every oneof you.