Episode 199: You Don't Have "People Problems"—You Have This Design Flaw with Matt Granados

What if the real problem on your team isn’t “people problems,” but the problems your people carry? We sit down with Matt Granados—founder of Life Pulse, author of Motivate the Unmotivated and The Intentional Week—to rethink leadership from the ground up. Matt makes a clear, compelling case for aiming at optimal performance: high output at a sustainable pace compared to yourself. No burnout badge. No hustle theater. Just systems that help humans do their best work without losing themselves.

We break down a simple weekly cadence that top teams use to spot issues before they explode. Three questions—What are you focused on? What are you grateful for? What are you working toward?—surface trends, context, and capacity. Matt explains why leaders should listen for patterns over one-off answers, and how kindness (truth with care) beats niceness (comfort without growth). You’ll hear the four levels of performance, the pitfalls of managing like a babysitter, and the practical steps to equip rather than enable.

• the claim that people don’t have people problems, people have problems
• what equipping looks like versus enabling
• three weekly questions that reveal trends fast
• the difference between high and optimal performance
• why kindness beats niceness for real growth
• using structure and rhythm to prevent burnout
• Eagle U’s role in early systems thinking
• the Take Part Foundation’s focus on research, resources, storytelling
• daily disciplines to abide and lead with integrity

Matt also shares the heart behind the Take Part Foundation, co-founded with his wife Maria after their daughter Natalie was diagnosed with an ultra-rare genetic condition. Their mission—fund research, provide resources like genetic testing, and tell stories—shows what hope looks like in action. It’s a masterclass in leading through adversity: build structure, choose obedience over opportunism, and serve people with courage and clarity.

If you lead teams, coach leaders, or care about culture, you’ll leave with a playbook to boost output without sacrificing well-being. Try the three questions for four weeks and watch the signal emerge. Then act with curiosity, not judgment. If this conversation moved you, share it with a leader who needs it, subscribe for more thoughtful interviews, and leave a review so we can reach more uncommon leaders.

Connect with Matt Granados:
➡️ LinkedIn (primary): https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt87granados/
➡️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lifepulseinc7163
➡️ Website: http://www.lifepulseinc.com/uncommonleader

Thanks for listening in to the Uncommon Leader Podcast. Please take just a minute to share this podcast with that someone you know that you thought of when you heard this episode. One of the most valuable things you can do is to rate the podcast and leave a review. You can do that on Apple podcasts, or rate the podcast on Spotify or any other platform you listen.

Did you know that many of the things that I discuss on the Uncommon Leader Podcast are subjects that I coach other leaders and organizations ? If you would be interested in having me discuss 1:1 or group coaching with you, or know someone who is looking to move from Underperforming to Uncommon in their business or life, I would love to chat with you. Click this link to set up a FREE CALL to discuss how coaching might benefit you and your team)

Until next time, Go and Grow Champions!!

Connect with me

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
High performance is high output, undetermined pace,
meaning the pace is notnecessary at a high output,
unsustainable pace compared toothers.
And then optimal performance ishigh output if we don't
sacrifice results, but highoutput at a sustainable pace
compared to one step.

SPEAKER_00 (00:34):
I've got a great guest for you today.
I've already had someconversation with him that
should have been recorded andmade it a part of the episode
right off the bat, and you neverknow it may end up in there as
well.
But Matt Granados is myguest/slash uh victim, even as
we sit through this.
And he said, ask whatever is inhere.
But let me tell you a little bitabout him first and how the two
of us ultimately got connectedand why he's gonna be a great

(00:55):
guest for you to listen to onthe podcast.
He's the founder and CEO of LifePulse Incorporated.
He's a two-time number oneinternational best-selling
author, and we'll talk aboutboth of his books a little bit
today.
Uh, he's a mastermind behind asystem ultimately that's been
used by organizations up to andincluding Google and the U.S.
Air Force.
You know, the other thing we'regonna talk about today is a

(01:16):
little bit about what happens inMatt's life as well.
He's the co-founder with hiswife of the Take Part
Foundation.
We're gonna learn a little bitmore about that and how uh
that's had an impact on him interms of who he is as well.
And ultimately, we're gonnachallenge some of the main
paradigms of leadership that youreally need to listen into.
He argues things like hustleculture is actually a bad thing

(01:38):
in a system of bad design, thatmotivation isn't missing.
It's just that you'd never builtit into the system, that
ultimately the goal isn't highperformance, but optimal
performance.
And so, Mack Renatos, welcome tothe Uncommon Leader Podcast.
How are you doing today, friend?

SPEAKER_01 (01:52):
John, I am so excited to be here.
And one thing with that greatintroduction you have, uh,
anytime I get a conversationwith someone beforehand and I
know we're gonna enjoy thispodcast, I always like the
listeners to know that we'regonna hit some stuff that's
gonna probably offend thempretty quickly.
Uh, it's going to get them tothink, but we're also gonna give
them solutions.
We don't bring truth withoutbringing support because it's

(02:12):
hard.
So, what we'll do is if youstick around, you'll hear the
different topics we talk about,whatever comes up, because I
have no clue what's gonna comeup, but you're gonna see me
taking notes.
And what we'll do is we'll addany of the resources that I
bring up on here onto a specialURL.
We'll just do lifepulseync.combackslash uncommon leader.
And if you type that link in, bythe time this is published, we
will have whatever resourceswe've talked about, plus some

(02:34):
free ones on there for you tokind of dive in and take what we
do and actually put it intopractice.
So, John, I'm excited to behere, man.
The gloves are off.
There are no rules.
Whatever you want to talk about,we're gonna make happen.
So let's try it.

SPEAKER_00 (02:45):
So let's let's drop the gloves right off the bat and
challenge this first paradigmthat you often talk about.
As leaders, obviously, one ofour first steps is develop
ourselves, but then we have ateam to develop, which is
people.
You say we don't have peopleproblems.
Many leaders would say we dohave people problems.
What do you mean we don't havepeople problems?
Tell me more.

SPEAKER_01 (03:03):
Yeah.
So if you're focusing on yourpeople problems and you're
ending it right there, you'refocusing on something you'll
never be able to correct.
So here's what I have found.
And I have to bring it back towhere I found it.
We were out uh at Googleheadquarters working with their
team, and they brought us in forwork life that was very strange
for me because Google is the onewho created all of that, right?

(03:23):
Like the culture.
I mean, they have five-starrestaurants, you name it.
And we're having a conversation,and I'm asking them, hey, like
what's stopping us fromaccomplishing what we're trying
to do here?
And they kept bringing it up.
And what I realized was wait aminute, the people aren't the
problem.
People have problems.
And that's why we feel we havepeople problems.
It's not the people that are theproblems, it's the people's

(03:45):
problems that are the problems.
And what we do wrong is we don'tsit there and help equip our
people to solve their ownproblems.
And we've lost the concept ofuncommon leadership is really
just because leadership isuncommon, like true leadership.
We've changed leadership orwhich then kind of goes towards
management, but then it evengoes even worse because going

(04:07):
from leadership to management,in my opinion, is downgrading
what you're doing, right?
So there's nothing againstmanagers.
I told you we defend peoplepretty quick.
I didn't know it was going to bethat fast, but we got it right
away.
So you've got the leadershipdown to management, but then the
majority of people who aremanaging in 2025, 2026 are not
actually managing theirbabysitting.
They are making sure theirpeople do their job.

(04:30):
That is not what management is.
What management is, is ensuringthe people have the ability to
get their job.
Managers need to make surethings are where they need to be
so that employee A, B, C, and Dcan do the job.
So, all that being said, ourdesire when we work with
individuals, whether it's theirexecutive coaching, whether
we're doing team training,whether we're doing our group

(04:52):
community coaching, it doesn'tmatter, is that we want to
properly equip people to bridgethe gap back to the company, the
team, the desired outcome.
Too many times we've been liedto by the self-growth world, by
the consulting world, which isme, right?
So I'm part of this.
And we've been told, hey, youjust need to cater to your

(05:12):
people's needs.
That is not equipping, that isenabling.
Yes, it is.
Enabling is not part ofleadership.
It is a disaster.
Equipping is, and with all that,it makes it not easy and not
pleasant all the time, but it isprofitable.
So people aren't your problem.
People have problems.
That's why you have peopleproblems.

(05:33):
You want to stop having peopleproblems, start helping your
people deal with their problems.
Doing the job is not the hardpart.
It's doing the job while you'restill experiencing all the
hardship of life.
That's the hard part.

SPEAKER_00 (05:44):
Yeah, too many times, and I've heard this
before, kind of the old, youknow, check your problems at the
door when you come in.
That's not, that's not how humanbeings operate.
We know what exists inside thatspace.
And I love the word equippingthem, right?
I mean, that uncommon leaderabsolutely equips, does not
enable.
And then I I throw on top ofthat, inspire and encourage as
well.
They're there to create thatenvironment.
You mentioned the Googleenvironment.

(06:05):
So I want to know, you've beenin there.
I'm not even in theheadquarters.
All I know is the movie withVince Vaughn.
All I know is, do they reallyhave A, do they have pudding or
do they have sleep pots?
They have all of it.

SPEAKER_01 (06:14):
It's amazing.
What they've done is absolutelyamazing.
One thing you just said, though,which was really, really
interesting, because I've neverthought about this until you
just said it, was you said that,you know, we want people to
check the problems at the door.
We want people to not like justkeep your human side at the door
and just come and do thebusiness job.
And I think that used to workwhen their job was to pick stuff
off conveyor belts and move itto a new conveyor belt.

(06:36):
I think that used to work whenyou you would go to get an MBA
because we needed people whocould do more than just run the
conveyor belt.
We needed someone who could helpmake sure the conveyor belts
run.
So you got to learn a little bitmore so you can manage these
what would be seen as almostlike robots.
That's what humans were thoughtof, right?
They come in, they do their job,check the card, get out.
So you said somethinginteresting is like, I want you

(06:56):
to check your problems at thedoor.
But then what we do is then wego, but I want you to bring the
creative side of being a humanand the ownership mentality of
being a human and the changemanagement side of being a human
and the adaptability side ofbeing in human.
Yeah.
So John, don't bring yourproblems, but bring everything
else that is human about you.
But don't bring that stuff here.
It doesn't work that way.
It could, if you wanted yourpeople to be close to robots as

(07:17):
possible, the way employees werelooked at in the industrial
revolution, in that concept.
But unfortunately, in 2025,2026, and so forth, the humans
aren't the robots.
We actually have robots.
So the value of our people nowand into the future is the
wholeness of the human thatincludes the problems.

SPEAKER_00 (07:38):
Hey, man.
I think about that.
And I think, you know, what cameto my mind as you said that is
that, you know, we're most readyto help the person we once were,
right?
You're a consultant now andyou're teaching many of these
different things that exist.
There's got to be a story fromyour past that ultimately kind
of informed how you were, maybeeven as a child.
What were some of those thingsthat may have influenced you to
have the leadership style thatyou have today?

SPEAKER_01 (07:59):
Oh, well, first off, I school was always hard for me.
So I always had to adapt.
Like when I would learnsomething, and I didn't know
this was strange or valuabletill later, but strange till
more recent, was I need to learnsomething and then I need to
take what John says.
And in order for me tocomprehend it, I have to think
about how I would implement it.
And then I have to kind ofcreate a system about how I

(08:20):
would implement it.
So when I read Thinking GrowRich, I had to go through every
single chapter and go, how do Iimplement what Napoleon Hill's
talking about?
And what I didn't realize wasthis concept that we now call
learning with implementation inmind.
We actually teach people how todo this and that it's the best
way to experience knowledge isto learn with implementation in
mind.
I didn't realize how unusualthat was.
So every time I would learnsomething, every time I would

(08:42):
read a book, I had to create asystem to implement what it is
they taught me to do.
Otherwise, why am I reading it?
If I have knowledge and notwilling to implement it, what's
the point of it?
Like it didn't make sense to me.
So I started creating a systemaround almost every single thing
that I had to do because that'sjust how I'm not theoretically
intelligent enough to be able totake it, comprehend it, and do
something with it.
I have to put it into practice.
So all that being said, it youknow, when I grew up in school,

(09:04):
there was learning developmentissues, there was every acronym
you could put behind your name,ADD, ADHD, you name it.
Then what I started realizing isthe more of these tags that I
collect, the less restraints Ihave in school, the less trouble
I get in.
It's almost like I got out ofjail for free because, oh, he's
just has that problem going on.
So I knocked those tests out sowell.
And as I developed and grew intothe entrepreneurial side where

(09:28):
it's really all aboutadaptability, it turns out in
life, it's all aboutadaptability.
How well can you adapt towhatever's being thrown our way?
I've always had to do it.
I just didn't realize thatwasn't normal.
So my inability, my learningdisability is what forced me to
adapt in a way that I didn'tknow was needed that allowed me
to experience theentrepreneurial journey where

(09:48):
all it is is creative problemsolving all day long.
And that's what came to.
So that's how the practices cameinto play.
Now, how did the system comeinto play?
In 2014, I think I always getthe date wrong.
And then I then Maria yells atme, my wife, not in a bad way,
but because I shouldn't knowthese things.
Sometime far long, long ago,right?
We'll put it that way.
Uh I thought everything wasgoing really well.

(10:10):
And in about a 30-day period, Ifound out that employees were
embezzling from me about aquarter of a million dollars.
I found out that my uh healthwas terribly off track.
Like I wasn't gonna probablymake it past 40 at that time.
And I was in my 20s.
And I found out that uh, youknow, I wasn't spiritual that I
was completely dead.
There was no time for that.
I was too busy working, too busymaking money.
Now I had this multimilliondollar business in my early 20s

(10:32):
that everyone loved to ask meabout and I loved talking about.
And then my fiance and I wereleaving for Greece, and the day
before we left for Greece, yougave me the ring back and said,
I can't do this.
So in 30 days, everything ofmine was flipped upside down,
and I was the last to know aboutit.
So I sat there and I was like,How do I make this happen?
Prior to that, I wasn'tbeliever, I wasn't a believer.
In the middle of those 30 daysis where I found Jesus.
And then as I was going through,I was going, What do I do?

(10:54):
I have nothing relationship withthis guy I don't even know,
can't see, but seems to workwhen I go to talk with him and
listen to the teachings that hehas in this book that I've never
read before.
So, what where do I start?
What do I do?
And it was just make it toSunday, just make it one week.
If you can make it a week,you'll be good.
And I started living my life oneweek at a time.
And that's what created an LP,which is the planning system.

(11:16):
When I met Maria and she and Idecided to get married, she
said, Matt, I knew marrying youwas going to be hard, but I
didn't realize it was going tobe this hard.
Like, you're insane.
So, like, how do you processyourself so I can help support
what you're trying to do?
Right?
It's the nicest thing, and thethe most uh womanly thing I
think any wife could say was,Hey, let me, how do I make this
work with you?

(11:36):
Like that takes a lot ofleadership and confidence and
just strength in her.
I said, Well, there's these ninequestions I ask myself every
single week.
Here's what they are.
And she's like, Yeah, this isugly.
Can I make it look nice?
She went and got made it looknice, went and got it printed.
And her and I started using thisweekly planning system together.
And I was amazed at howdisconnected I was with her.
She's the one person in my lifethat we should be one.

(11:58):
And I don't even know what shewants to do this week.
I thought I knew what she wantedto do.
So I'm now serving her as ahusband the way I think she
wants to be provided for.
And then I find out that's nothow she wants to be provided
for.
So when I finally said, wait, Idon't really know you as well as
I should, I wonder who else Idon't know.
So I brought it to my assistantand I brought it to our sales
director and our sales team andour warehouse team.

(12:18):
And I started giving everyonethese little planners.
And I went, holy smokes, I don'tknow anybody in my life.
Like I have this false sense ofmatch the truth.
And I'm letting everything elsecome through that filter, which
is an absolute disaster.
Because my truth, nine times outof ten, is completely wrong.
Now, what I wasn't expecting wassome a group of entrepreneurs
asked if I would come in andteach our system because they

(12:39):
saw the success we were having.
And they're like, Yeah, I waslike, sure.
I was like, I don't really knowhow to do this.
They're like, Well, how muchtime do you need?
I'm like, I don't know.
Give me three hours.
I'm sure I'll figure somethingout in three hours, right?
We'll do a workshop and that wayI can, you know, I'm bound to
say something good in threehours.
Well, we did the workshop and itwas a huge success.
Someone grabbed the book that wepresented there, the nine
questions, the LP, offered itover to a large financial
institution, one of the Fortune100ths, and they called me and

(13:02):
said, Hey, can we reach out?
We found a copy of this planner.
It solves our biggest personnelproblems.
Can you come teach us?
And I said, Absolutely, I'd loveto, right?
Small entrepreneur going to dobest practice sharing with big
boys.
Any entrepreneur would love todo this if they believe in what
they're doing.
Now I had other businesses.
I didn't have life polls thatdidn't exist at this point.
I show up, I have theconversation, they say, All

(13:22):
right, that's great.
Thank you.
Really appreciate it.
And then as we were leaving,they're like, Why didn't you
invoice us?
And I'm like, what are youtalking about?
They're like, Well, we thought,like, is there a consultancy
behind this?
And I was like, no.
And they're like, Oh, thereshould be.
I said, Well, what do you meanby that?
I said, I didn't even know whatthe problem they were solving at
that point.
I was just sharing what we do.
And they said, We can't connectour corporate desire metrics
with our individuals' desiredlifestyles.

(13:43):
Your system does just this.
That was 2017.
So I said, That's interesting.
I know that date's accurate.
I said, Is this a problem thateveryone has?
They said, Everyone of our sizehas this problem.
And they say within the next 10years, every business is going
to have this problem.
We used to solve it by juststroking a check and then go
away.
They said it doesn't work likethat anymore.
I said, That's interesting.
So then obviously two years goby, 2018, 2019, and 2020, and

(14:08):
COVID hits.
And that's when our system blewup because no one knew what to
do, and no, everyone lost therhythm and structure.
And what our system does is itoffers structure, which brings
freedom and rhythm, which bringspeace.
And we were able to come in withthese large organizations,
Twitter, Air Force, Google,these big organizations, and

(14:29):
help them through this conceptof what do we do next?
And that's how life pollstarted, all by accident, all
because of a learning disabilityfrom early in the ages.

SPEAKER_00 (14:38):
And as we know with our faith, it wasn't an accident
that it happened that way, butit was just the perfect timing
that it was supposed to.
All right.
We don't have time to ask allnine questions.
Secondly, I don't frankly wantyou to give it away.
I want them to get in touch withyou about what these nine
questions are, but give me thefirst one.
What's the first question thenthat's helping folks get
started?

SPEAKER_01 (14:56):
I'll give you the first three.
Okay.
Okay.
And here's the reason why,right?
We talked about the two books.
There's the intentional week orthe ideal week, right?
I helped you out with that.
Yeah.
The intentional week or theideal week as you call it, but
the book's called theintentional week.
And then the other book iscalled Motivate the Unmotivate.
These three questions are thefirst three questions of the LP,
but if you use them, you canmotivate anybody in your life.

(15:18):
Okay.
So number one, this week, it'sall based on the week.
What are you focused on?
Number two, what are yougrateful for?
Number three, what are youworking towards this week?
Right?
What are the goals you're goingafter this week?
Right.
These are just the first threequestions out of the nine.
And what I found is if you askit for four cycles once a month,
once a week, Monday, Monday,Monday, Monday, four weekly

(15:40):
back-to-back cycles, you'regoing to start seeing trends
amongst your people.
So when they answer a question alittle off kilter, that's when,
as an uncommon leader, you cango in and lead where leadership
is needed.
One of the hardest things abouta leader is knowing when it's
time to lead and when it's timeto let go.
So if you're not askingquestions, you are never going

(16:02):
to guess this right.
Not on a consistent basis, notin a sustainable way.
So what are you focused on?
What are you grateful for?
What are you working towards?
And if I ask that question,John, and you answer this way,
this way, this way, this way,then on week five, six, seven,
you answer with a very strangeanswer.
I might come to you go, hey,John, what's going on, man?

(16:22):
If I'm if John, if you're aboutto uh you know go get married
next week and your one-wordfocus is marriage, that's
exciting.
I'm excited about that.
I also don't think your head'sgonna fully be in the game this
week with that big deal and thatbig presentation you have on
Friday.
So, hey, I just want to touchbase.
Like, you got that?
Are you good?
Because like you're gettingmarried on Saturday and you have
a huge presentation on Friday.

(16:43):
Is that a good idea?
But if John's been married for20 years and he says marriage,
but not in a happy voice, youmight want to have a
conversation with John becauselikely there's something wrong
with his marriage.
Same word, different context.
Uncommon leaders know what tolisten for.
You listen for trends, notanswers.

SPEAKER_00 (17:02):
Well, and I think that's it's so good.
Because that I mean, we knowthat those uncommon leaders ask
great questions.
They're not telling folks.
I often say, don't be ashithead.
You should do this, you shoulddo that, or whatever that means.
But you've got to learn how toask the right questions.
And when you get a question thatis peculiar, it's not correcting
them, but it's literally, as yousaid, tell me more about what

(17:23):
that says because there'ssomething, there's something
there that's a little bitdifferent than what you
responded.
The other thing I love about it,and I know you know, talking
about system and how you driveyour wife crazy with systems and
frameworks and structures andall those different things, is
that it's it is the same threequestions all the time.
Like there's a there's a rigorback to the intentional week or

(17:45):
the ideal, there's a rigor tosaying I'm gonna ask the same
three questions all the timebecause I can tell then when
there's variation.
I can tell when something isstarting to go haywire.
If I'm always asking differentquestions, I can't identify
those trends.
I can't identify the outlierthat says something different is
going on right now.
So important, so good.
And again, nine questions arenine questions.

(18:05):
Those three questions get themstarted off really well.
And I want to make sure that weuh provide folks the opportunity
at the end to chat with youabout how they can get in touch
with you and learn the otherquestions.

SPEAKER_01 (18:15):
Yeah, and we'll put that that will be that will be
one of the ones we'll put on.
I'm just making a note of it.
We'll put that on the thewebsite that we talked about,
the the backslash uncommonleader.
Excellent.

SPEAKER_00 (18:24):
The other thing that um going back a little bit even
to childhood stories that I Iread in it was either the and it
was the introduction to yourbook, Motivate the Unmotivated.
I often often think the introsand the and the conclusions or
acknowledgments are some of themost powerful parts of the
books.
Right.
Uh but you mentioned this uhEagle U and how it made a
significant impact on you.
What's was Eagle U and what itwhat did that do for you as a

(18:48):
young man and ultimately in yourleadership journey?
Yeah.
So Eagle U is a youthdevelopment program.

SPEAKER_01 (18:54):
It's still around, too, right?
So eagleuniversity.org.
Uh, you can check it out.
It's a fantastic.
Uh Eagle U, the best way todescribe it is it gives students
15 to 24 a seven-year careerhead start.
Basically, what happens is ifyou take the math, you go to
actually, you know, you grab youtake four years to guess a
major, is how like the world hastold us.

(19:15):
And then you take another threeyears to figure out whether you
were right or wrong with thatguess.
Like that's the seven years ofgraduating high school to three
years out of college.
And holy smokes, I hate being aveterinarian.
Like that's an expensive thingto realize.
What we want to do is get thatgoing at a younger age.
So bring them in at 15 to 24,walk them through all the things

(19:39):
you wish you knew now, right?
How do you bring the concept ofmentorship, of goal setting, of
understanding how to haveinterpersonal skills, how to
communicate effectively withpeople, uh, how to go find a
mentor, how to how to nurture arelationship with a mentor, how
to lead a mentor relationship asthe mentee, not as a mentor,
right?
All the things that that to me,it made a lot Sense because

(20:00):
remember, I had to createsystems on how to do what to do
and then I went to Eagle U, andthe systems were there.
So a lot of the stuff that weactually teach at Life Pulse, I
have to credit to Eagle Ubecause it came from that
mindset.
Now, with all that being said,it was probably the most pivotal
part of my journey of learningthat at such a young age,

(20:20):
because I got a chance toexperience it when I didn't have
the risk of it not working as aconcern.
Does that make sense?
So working with youth at ayounger age, introducing people
to truth as early as possible, Ithink is so vital.
We wait till they're adults.
And what's an adult mean in thisworld, right?
An adult, well, 18, well,technically 26.
No, actually, what I define anadult is the second you have

(20:43):
responsibility to others.
I don't care how old you are.
Okay.
But if you are a 13-year-old boyand your dad passes away, I'm
sorry, but you're now an adult.
There is now a responsibility toothers.
My son Zig, Zig is six years oldright now.
Zig has had to act like an adultsince he was about three or
four, because my daughterNatalie, who's eight years old,
has an extremely rare medicalcondition, extremely rare

(21:06):
genetic mutation, which put herin a wheelchair.
Her physical body doesn't workthe way that we would like it
to.
She's an absolute blessing,mentally 110% there.
But she's in a wheelchair.
So because of that, Zig, thesecond he could walk, and then
we had another little buddynamed Teddy, so his little
brother, who's two, Zig would gothrough, and this is why he's so

(21:26):
powerful and so strong.
He'd be picking up a passy andan iPad all while he's helping
the dog get out.
When we would have to call 911and the fire department would
come, my wife would get thebaby, I would be with Natalie,
and Zig would open the door.
He was he's part of theleadership team in our family at
four.
And you sit there and go, oh,that's so unfair for him.

(21:46):
No, I'm not saying it'snecessarily fair, but that's the
F-word that you're not allowedto use in our house.
Fair is not something that wefocus on in our house at all.
It is a disastrous word to focuson and a disastrous word to
teach your kids and let yourkids use that as the reason.
So Ziggy, at four, he is part ofthe leadership team in our
family.
Now, as our kids develop,they're all part of the
leadership team because they'reall part of the family unit.

(22:08):
Like I don't care if Teddy'stwo, he still has
responsibilities.
That's the biggest mistake Ithink we're running into is
we're not bringing truth to kidsas young as possible, and then
we're trying to counter liesthat have already been anchored
in their head with truths,going, no, no, no, no, no, no,
that's not true.
This is true.
Well, which one's true?
How do I know which one's true?
Every single study shows the onethat's anchored in first is the

(22:31):
one that has the best chance tostay.
Do you want to wait till it's acomfortable time to have a
conversation with your kid, withyour team, with that employee of
yours who's not working out theway it is?
Whatever hits first anchors indeeper, and it's a higher
likelihood that that's the truththey accept as real.

SPEAKER_00 (22:47):
Oh man, that is so good.
Again, going all the way back tothat definition of adult is when
you have responsibility forsomething.
I mean, yeah, you you thinkabout that, the first thing they
hear has the best chance atsticking.
That I mean, folks, justrewinding and listening to that,
knowing Matt, you know,ultimately what uh again, the
challenge and a blessing thatit's been with your daughter as

(23:09):
you've gone through that, he'shad to uh mature and take on
responsibility younger in termsof those things.
And I just think that's reallycool.
And as you even correlate thatto leadership challenges that we
face today, that if we leave apoor performer uh on their own
for too long, someone else isgonna get to them and say it's

(23:30):
okay to be mediocre.
It is excellent.

SPEAKER_01 (23:34):
So unbelievably selfish.
And this is what I tell everyoneI don't care if you're a leader
or a Christian.
This goes with the Christianwalk too.
If you're afraid to share yourfaith with someone, that would
be like letting them walk intohell and going, yeah, I don't
want to offend them, so I'mgonna let them go.
What?
Like the sacrificial love thatwe're to show everybody as an
uncommon leader is hey, John,this is really uncomfortable,

(23:54):
but I care enough about you thatwe're gonna say this.
One thing we teach is makingsure you're not confusing nice
with kind as an uncommon leader,yeah, right?
Nice, like we're all called tobe kind.
No one's called to be nice.
That is not a calling of human.
Nice people will not tell me myflies down.
Kind people will come up to meand go, hey, dude, your flies
down.
That's kindness.
It's uncomfortable, it's awkwardfor everybody.

(24:16):
But that type of understandingas a leader is what will
differentiate you from themanager and the babysitter that
we talked about before that weall fall trapped to.
And it's really sad that theuncommon leader is literally in
today's world, the status quobar has dropped so low, is it's
just a leader.
Like being just a leader is nowvery uncommon.
So I love what you're doing.

(24:37):
I love what you're coaching andtraining people on, and I love
the concept of an uncommonleader.
I'm just so sad to hear it'sjust being a good leader is
uncommon right now.

SPEAKER_00 (24:46):
Right.
Well, that's just somethingthat's why they need
consultants.
That's why they need podcastslike this.
Like the, you know, the uhharvest, you know, is short, but
the or the laborers are short,but the harvest is wide open.
We got all kinds of land to win.
You know, you talk about kindand nice, and I that went
through my head about about 10minutes ago in terms of when we
were talking, is that ultimatelyleaders who deliver truth, uh,

(25:08):
but they're, you know, they havetruth that they're delivering,
but they do it in a nice way.
Nobody grows, neither one ofthem grows.
Right.
If you can deliver truth anddeliver it in a kind way,
compassionate, caring for them,that's what you really need.
Because they end up eitherbullying, and you I think I
remember seeing this a littlebit inside your book because if
you want to be a bully as aleader, you can deliver all

(25:29):
truth, okay, and not have anycompassion with individuals and
get stuff done ultimately.
Yes, but it's not sustainable.
You you touched on that's wherethe burnout starts to exist.
Uh, and maybe this is you know agood lead into your other.
You say there's a distinctionbetween high performance and
optimal performance.
Yes.
What is the distinguish?
Uh, how do I distinguish thosetwo?

SPEAKER_01 (25:49):
Yeah, first off, so there's four levels of
performance.
There's lazy unaware, that'sunmo in the book.
We talk about unmo in the book,the main category.
Lazy unaware.
Below lazy and unaware is likeno heartbeat.
Does that make sense?
Like you're in one of these fourcategories, or you're not alive.
Lazy unaware, high potential,high performance, optimal
performance.
Four levels of performance.

(26:10):
What we have found is with oursystem, which is called
truth-based transformation,which we'll jump back to that in
a second.
Truth-based transformation issomething that it's how we do
what we do.
But because of that, we're ableto get people from any of those

three levels (26:22):
lazy, unaware, high potential, high
performance, ultimately tooptimal performance without
having to go to the next step.
Does that make sense?
Like you can actually make aleap.
You wake up a lazy person, youtake them from unaware to aware.
They don't have to like practiceas a hypo and then become a high
performer and then no, no, no,let's go get right to optimal

(26:44):
performance.
Here's what high performance ishigh performance is high output,
undetermined pace, meaningthere's the pace is not
necessary and high output,unsustainable pace compared to
others.
And then optimal performance ishigh output.
We don't sacrifice results, highoutput at a sustainable pace

(27:04):
compared to oneself.
Here's what happens status quo,we talked about this is so low.
So if you race a bunch of slowpeople and you win, in today's
world, you'd be able to sayyou're fast, but logically,
that's not accurate.
You're just faster than the slowpeople.
So maybe you're not as slow asthem.
Doesn't make you fast.
But if you are going to compareyourself to your own ability,

(27:27):
then we can talk about are youbecoming faster or are you not.
The other thing is making sureyou're at a sustainable pace.
What you're doing, that can beright.
If how you're doing it is wrong,you'll lose.
The what is not all thatmatters.
It is the what and it is the howcombined to get you the results
you want.
We talk about being obedient inthe walk we go.

(27:49):
If you're not obedient in it, itdoesn't matter how big of an
opportunity it might be.
Not every opportunity isobedience, but every chance of
obedience is an opportunity.
And we need to change our mind.
We need to be obedient, notopportunistic.
And if we can focus on that, andthat is very uncommon, you will
be able to lead people to dothings you've never thought they

(28:12):
would ever be willing to dobecause they know your heart,
they know you care, and theyunderstand that you are trying
to do what's best for them.
That is what people respond to.
That's what people follow.

SPEAKER_00 (28:24):
So common leaders, hope you're enjoying the episode
so far.
I believe in doing business withpeople you like and trust and
not just a company name.
That's why a strong personalbrand is essential, whether
you're an entrepreneur or aleader within a company.
Brand Builders Group, the folkswho have been helping me refine
my own personal brand, areoffering a free consultation
call with one of their expertbrand strategists.
They'll help you identify youruniqueness, craft a compelling

(28:45):
story, and develop astep-by-step plan to elevate
your impact.
So head on over toCoachJongGallagher.com slash
BBG, as in brand builders group.
Schedule your free call and takethe first step toward building a
personal brand that gets younoticed for all the right
reasons.
That's coachjohngallagher.comslash BBG.
Now, let's get back to theepisode.
I look at that and I thinkabout, again, the opportunity

(29:07):
and obedience.
The dichotomy of those two wordsis fascinating.
Matt, you've mentioned yourfaith a couple different times.
You've also mentioned the lifethat your daughter is going
through, that her mind is there,but her body does not uh
contribute in the way that shewould probably like and that you
would like as well.
You and your wife, and thisought to be good too, based on
how you are from the process.

(29:28):
You co-founded the Take PartFoundation.
Uh so now you get to work withyour wife in a not-for-profit
and talk about you know all thethings that she can do well and
what you can do well.
But tell me outside of that, uh,maybe you can talk about that
experience and working with yourwife in that organization.
What is the Take PartFoundation?
And tell me, you know, what thatmeans to you.
Let's talk about Maria first,because that's what's going to

(29:49):
bring this in.

SPEAKER_01 (29:50):
Maria actually is the owner of Life Pulse.
I'm just a dancing puppet thatgoes on stage.
It was her, remember, it was heridea of the business.
She asked me, how do you dothis?
It just happened to go furtherthan I think she thought it
would.
So when I called her after I hadthat meeting with the Fortune
100 company, I said, Hey, headsup, you're the president of a
new company.
We got to figure out what wecall it.
So Maria and I have workedtogether in the for-profit world

(30:12):
since the beginning of in youknow 2015, 16, 17, when we first
met.
We got started right away.
Working in the nonprofit world,that's her space.
Maria's smarter than me.
She's more business savvy thanme.
She understands branding.
She is the brains behindeverything that works.
I'm the bronze behind everythingwe try.
Does that make sense?
Like so, take part startedbecause we found out that

(30:35):
Natalie had this condition.
And when I the doctors came in,they said, hey, she needs to
outlift science.
I said, okay, that'sinteresting.
Don't really like that answer,but like, whatever.
And I said, but what are wegoing to do?
They're like, no, like there'snothing we can do.
We don't even know her geneticmutation is so rare, 17th ever,
that they don't even know whatthe gene does, let alone what we

(30:56):
need to get it to start doing.
So, like, we're so far away froma solution that to them, she
needs to outlive science, livelong enough.
And if you know our story or youwatch anything on our website,
or you go to taked part.org,that's the website for the
foundation.
You'll see videos of Natalie'sstory.
But I mean, we've doneeverything from you know quick
ER visits to, you know, herdying and coming back 20 minutes

(31:17):
later, like pronounced dead andmiraculously coming back
perfectly fine and rolling out12 hours later.
I mean, it's just crazy, crazy,nothing less than God type
experiences.
So as we started this, this TakePar Foundation, I went to Maria
and I said, Hey, I think weshould start a nonprofit.
And she goes, absolutely not.
She knows nonprofit.

(31:37):
She's like, Matt, you don't,it's such a heavy burden.
Like, no.
I was like, all right, fine.
You know that world.
I don't know that world.
So I'll find a way to start itas a for-profit, and we just
will have a no-profit, right?
Like we just won't have profit.
And uh, she's like, we're notdoing that either.
Just let's just wait and pray onit and think on it, and let's
see what happens.
So, all right, I'm like, allright, so let's figure it out.
And we went and uh she Googledand found a one doctor in

(32:01):
Australia who was doing researchon Natalie's specific gene,
which is crazy, right?
Everyone talks about how badsocial media it is.
Well, social media is bad whenwe create it as an idol, when we
use it as a tool, it's ablessing, right?
That's almost like everythingGod offers us, right?
When we crossed it, day 28.
Exactly, right?
So as we as we're navigatingthis and having this

(32:22):
conversation, uh, I starttalking with this doctor and I
said, What's the issue you'rerunning into?
She's like, Well, we just we'rerunning out of money, but you
have too much to worry about.
I don't want to burden you withlike trying to raise money for
your daughter.
I said, Look, you don'tunderstand, it's painful for me
to do nothing.
I'd rather try something andfail than not try and fail.
But right now, there is nosuccess as an option unless we

(32:43):
try something.
Like, failure is the onlyoption.
So I'd rather try and fail thando nothing and fail.
And she looked at me and shestarted kind of getting
teary-eyed.
She's like, no one's ever saidthat.
She's like, but I get that.
I said, Yeah, most parents wouldfeel this way.
Like I just happen to articulatein a way that made sense to you.
Most parents would feel thisway.
I said, How much do you need?
She's like, Well, we're about 20or 30 away from shutting it

(33:03):
down.
I'm like, man, 20 or 30 million.
Like, I that's more than Ithought.
That was kind of a deflation.
And she goes, not million,thousand.
I said, excuse me.
I said, here's a credit card.
I'm not joking.
Do not stop.
Like for$20,000, like, don'tstop.
Let me know what we need andI'll figure out, I'll pay 26%
for the rest of my life if Ineed to.
Let's keep going.
And she goes, all right, well,hold on.

(33:24):
We're not doing that.
But like, like, do you reallythink you could help us?
I was like, I have no idea.
I don't know anything aboutgenetics.
I don't know anything aboutmedicine.
I don't know anything aboutnonprofits, but I do know a
thing or two about making money.
So if it's about money, I canhelp.
I don't know how, but I canhelp.
I like telling people, I likeasking people for money.
Sales is fun for me.
So let's see what we can do.
I said, How much do you need?
She said, about a quarter of amillion dollars.

(33:44):
I said, that's not a lot.
We can do a quarter of amillion.
Let me talk to some people.
I reach out to a mentor of mineto ask for some guidance, also
kind of like guidance slash, doyou want to donate?
Right.
That's to some people, that's alot of money.
To other people, they're like,yeah, here it comes.
We'll pull it right out of thefoundation.
And uh he goes, Matt, he goes,how common is rare?
And I'm like, I don't know, man.
That's not what are you doing?
This is not what we're doinghere, right?
Do you want to give a check ornot?

(34:05):
Like, where he goes, no, look itup.
I go, I look, all right, I lookit up.
And as I look it up, there isthree facts that I'll never be
able to not see.
Number one is in the in America,one out of every 10 American has
a rare disease.
And I was like, that's crazy.
30 million people have a raredisease, 300 million people
live.
I was like, that can't be true.
I was like, but if that's thecase, then then rare is more

(34:27):
common than you think, whichjust so happens to be our
tagline, right?
That's where that came from.
But the other ones that I sawwas that 95% of these kids with
rare conditions have no FDAapproved treatment.
Okay, so now there is really nohope for these kids either.
And hope is a very big word inour life and in our faith walk.
And then the other one was that35% of them never make it past

(34:49):
the age of four or five, I'msorry.
And Natalie was four years old.
And I go, hey Maria, check thesethree things out real quick.
And she was happily, happy andangry at me at the same time,
right?
Because she's like, I get it,let's start something.
So we started this concept justto raise money.
We're like, what do we call it?
And Maria's like, you know what?
Everyone always asks me,everyone always asks how they
can help.
And the problem is when you havea kid with an ultra-rare disease

(35:10):
like Natalie, there's not a lotyou can do.
So you can donate to largerorganizations, but none of that
money will ever come to Natalie.
And it's not against the bigorganizations, it's just
Natalie's so rare.
Like when you look up rarediseases, Natalie's disease is
not even there, right?
So, all that being said, aswe're navigating that and
figuring that out, we're tryingto piece together what's the
next thing to do.

(35:31):
And Maria goes, we should callit take part because everyone
wants to take part.
Here's how you can take part.
So that's where take part camefrom.
And I said, Well, what are wetaking part in?
And she just brilliantly,without even like thinking, she
goes, We're gonna take part inthe fight for possible.
And that's what we do.
There's three things that we dowe raise money to help with
research, resources, andstorytelling.

(35:52):
So we'll do research, meaning,hey, if you have a rare
condition and a doctor doingresearch, we will help fund
that.
We will do resources.
One of the most specific onesthat we've done, which has been
so rewarding, is we will coverthe cost of gene uh genetic
testing that insurance won'tcover.
And then the third one isstorytelling, where we will have
an entire part of our pagededicated to what we call

(36:15):
warriors, which are kids withprofiles that has all have all
their medical records on it, sothat parents like me who don't
care about the privacy of my kidas much as I care about the
ability to get content over todifferent specialists all over
the world, I don't have to waitfor the doctors to get approval
because I found out that I, as aparent, own the right to keep

(36:36):
those medical records and Icould share them as I'd like if
I share them.
But the doctors can't share themfreely.

SPEAKER_00 (36:42):
Right.

SPEAKER_01 (36:42):
So those are the three things we do.
That's what we do at take part.
What's it like working with mywife?
It's hard, it's very hard.
She is a brilliant, strong, andconfident woman.
And when you have that Proverbs30 31 woman, which I you have to
ask yourself, are you willing tobe a Proverbs 30 or one through
30 man?
You see, we sit there runningthe 31, but we're not willing to

(37:05):
be the one through 30.
Oh, that's so good.
So as we sit there and go, whycan't I be why can't you be more
like her joint to our wives?
I say, read part of 31 where ittalks about what her husband's
doing.
While she's doing all thisstuff, her husband's sitting in
the center court havingconversations with the elders,
meaning either he was an elderor he was at least respectable

(37:26):
enough in the church communitywhere the elders wanted to talk
to him.
So yeah, we all want a Proverbs31.
I'm blessed enough to have one,but in order to make sure we're
experiencing the most of thatand not being knuckleheads and
I'm not destroying her in thatway, I gotta make sure I'm a one
through 30 man.
And I fail all the time.
I get angry, I get upset, I getshort.

(37:49):
I treat her as a businesspartner, not a spouse, right?
And you're sitting there going,well, she is a business partner.
Yeah, secondary.
There's priorities to theministry that we have to
recognize God first, wifesecond, kids, family.
Then you go outside.
What I do sometimes when I'm outof alignment as an uncommon
leader, what I do as a verycommon leader is I go, all
right, God, I'm gonna pray toyou, and then I'm gonna pray

(38:10):
about all these clients.
And because I'm gonna go fromGod to work, it's gonna provide
for my family.
So therefore, I can justify myambition.
I can justify my lack ofprioritization because look how
much money I'm making.
And that's what we run into.
Sorry, so that was a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 (38:24):
We rationalize that all the time.
And I love bringing it all theway back into the man of faith
that you are.
And I know regardless, you cameto know Jesus later in your life
as a result of, in essence, adesperation with regards to what
was happening inside of yourbusiness.
Craig Rochelle, great pastor,who also has a leadership
podcast, he says we changeeither out of inspiration or out

(38:45):
of desperation.
And clearly that was adesperation story.
Uh, you go through that as afamily, you're married, uh, you
have three kids, your daughterhas a rare genetic disease,
another opportunity, back tothat word opportunity, to uh
doubt and not have hope.
And so, you know, I'll kind offinish with this a little bit.
I use the term Romans 8.28, youknow, all things happen for uh

(39:05):
the good uh that God hasprovided for us.
In this case, that would be tome, uh if I'm owning that, and
you know, as rare as that is,even as an uncommon leader, I'm
saying, man, I find myselfsaying I feel sorry for you, and
then that's not what it is.
How have you andor your wifemaintained uh your growth in the

(39:25):
relationship and your faith uhthrough this situation?
Um, how has it brought youcloser to God?

SPEAKER_01 (39:30):
Inspiration or desperation, right?
This is desperation, which thenleads to inspiration, but then
in desperation, we come back toit.
I'm amazed how many times we canexperience a miracle of God, her
coming back to life, businessdoing something, her doing
something, whatever it might be,and then how quick we can forget
and turn our back on what Godjust did.
I mean, it's disgusting to me.
So, as much as we talk about,you know, the Proverbs 31 wife,

(39:52):
I always want to make sure I canalso be a Psalm 51 man, right?
And like David goes and repentsand is able to turn from his Way
and feel conviction and go fromconviction to correction and not
fall trapped to condemnation.
Like, how fast can I, as a man,do this?
And when you have a daughterlike this, I still get angry.
I get angry at her.
Like, I take out my anger on herbecause she needs something from

(40:17):
me when I'm busy.
But the silliness of it and therecognition of, you know, we
talked about Romans 8, whichwe'll dive into with struggle
leading to endurance, but alsoin the, you know, Romans 3, with
just the depravity of us.
Do we really recognize, like,man, I need him in so many ways?
And we jump to John 5 or 15, 5,where he says, apart from me,
you could do nothing.

(40:37):
Nothing.
Not nothing big, nothing, nothing.
Apart from me, you could do nothing.
So, all of that being said, heis our center, he is our
foundation, he is our rock.
Going into Psalm 1, he's thewe're the tree trying to anchor
ourselves as close to the streamas possible, abide in him, and
he will abide in us.
Like this is the stuff that youhear on Sunday school that when

(40:58):
you were put in the pressurecooker that we're in as a parent
and a marriage unit that isdoing the things we're doing,
uh, you can only rely on him.
And it always works because thatstruggle does bring endurance,
and that endurance does lead tohope.
And hope is what we rely on.
Because when you understand whatfaith is, it's the belief in the

(41:20):
hope, confidence in what is tocome.
And all of that is aboutunderstanding what is it that
Jesus actually did on thatcross.
And when you recognize, like Isaid, not how do I understand
who God is?
But no, no, no.
Who is God?
God is good.
Therefore, if God is good andGod is all powerful, all things
that happen, as long as God isthe one who's doing them, are

(41:41):
good.
And therefore, anything that isopposing him is not good.
So, therefore, as we see thingslike evil in this world, I can
confidently say evil is notsomething that is created of
God.
Evil is the absence of God,right?
And I could also, how do I howdo I make that argument?
As I sit there and I've seenthis argument made, it's not
mine, I've heard it otherplaces, but that, you know, does

(42:03):
darkness exist?
Yes, we know darkness existsbecause we see it.
But what is darkness?
It's the absence of life.
Does cold or light, does coldexist?
Yes, how do we know?
We felt it, yeah, but what isit?
It's the absence of heat.
We don't measure temperature bycoldness, we measure temperature
by heat.
So, all this stuff being said,it just makes you realize God is
good.
That's where it starts.

(42:25):
Everything else that happensgoes through that filter, not
Matt's filter.
So my daughter's situation, isit good, is it bad?
It is perfect.
It is perfect.
Why does my daughter have this?
Is because in chapter three, sinentered the world.
If that didn't happen, mydaughter's situation would be
different, but so would mine,and so was yours, right?

(42:46):
Now, did sin of her or me causethat to happen?
I can argue biblically, no.
However, in that situation, canI tell you how many people have
come to Christ because they seemy little daughter roll into a
room?
How many people come to Christbecause they've seen her come
back to life?
How many people she, when shegets to heaven and she gets a
reward for all the good that shehas done.

(43:08):
Because again, the thing I loveabout her is she'll randomly
like, Dad, I'm so glad I don'thave to get judged by my actions
to go to heaven because Isinned.
I wouldn't make it.
Thank God I'm judged by Jesusbecause he's perfect.
And she just says things likethat randomly.
And that's because she is soconnected to him.
We've never had a concern of herfaith, never had a concern of
what she knows.
But that does not mean thatGod's gonna get her walking.

(43:29):
We pray every single night forit.
Um hopefully excited about it.
But it doesn't mean she's gonnawalk on this side of heaven, but
she will walk eventually.
We know that for sure.
And if she goes to heaven beforeus, which is a very high
likelihood, and she knows thatshe's eight.
We don't hide truth from ourkids.
She knows that she'suncomfortably excited to go be
in heaven because she knows thepeace she'll experience being

(43:51):
with God.

SPEAKER_00 (43:51):
Paul talked about that as well.
I mean, ultimately, he talkedabout that, you know, it he it
would be much better if he werein heaven.
Uh and yet all the trial andtribulation that Paul went
through, and you can walkthrough many of his books uh in
terms of what he wrote, but thathe knew while he was here that
he needed to preach the gospel.

SPEAKER_01 (44:08):
And double down on that, because we do a keynote of
it that's called You're Not DoneYet, telling the story of when
she died and came back and goinginto Philippians, where he talks
about to live as Christ, to dieas gain.
And he says very clearly withwhat you're talking about is if
I'm here, it's for you becauseI'd rather be there.
And as an uncommon leader,right, as an uncommon leader, if
you're here, there's somethingfor you to do, not for yourself.

(44:30):
The gifts that God have givenyou are not for you.
The apple on the apple tree isnot to be eaten by the apple,
it's to be eaten by someonewalking by.
So, like the fruit that God hasgiven us, the gifts are to be
given, not just pulled on.
The gift that we receive fromGod is salvation through Christ.
But every other thing that'sgiven to us by God is to be
given to us as and then anoutpouring of that to others.

(44:51):
And that is when you get toexperience that fulfilled life.

SPEAKER_00 (44:54):
Man, I could talk about this and have fun talking
about it for a long time.
Because you mentioned John 15,5.
That's my favorite book of theBible, ultimately, is John 15.
I don't know if you're supposedto have favorite books or not,
whatever that means.
Oh, you're good.
But it's like stay connected tohim.
We can do nothing without beingconnected, staying connected to
the vine.
So uh help the uncommon leaderwho's still on that journey as
well, even as you've gonethrough that.

(45:15):
What are some of the ways thatyou stay connected to that vine
ultimately uh as a man?
And you know, it could bedisciplines, as simple as going
to church on Sunday, but there'sprobably something bigger for
that.

SPEAKER_01 (45:26):
Yeah.
So what I would say is I'm gonnaput another resource on this
page.
It's called Who is God?
It's a book we wrote uh 60 daysif you skip a day or two, right?
50 days if you want to go fast,but it goes through three books
of the Bible to understand whois God.
One of the biggest mistakes Ifind as leaders is we don't take
a second to understand who it iswe're working with, and then
we're expecting to be able toget results or do things the

(45:48):
right way.
Just like with your workers, youneed to know who they are.
If you're gonna serve somethingthat is considered to be the
almighty, all-knowing,all-powerful, all good God, I
would suggest to you to considergetting to know who this thing
is, who this person is.
And because of that, we walk youthrough three separate books.
But in that, the one thing Iwould tell you is yeah, you go
to church every Sunday.

(46:08):
And if you do that,congratulations, right?
That doesn't necessarily meanyou're a Christian.
It doesn't mean you're saved atall.
It just means you go to church,you're a church attendee.
Uh that's good.
It just isn't all that's needed.
My entire life changed when Imade it a daily practice to read
his word.
And it was 20 minutes, start atimer, read.
Don't try to finish a chapter aday.

(46:30):
You're rushing through it.
Only get what God wants you toget from it.
20 minutes a day reading hisword.
I had a mentor who said to me, Iwill meet with you as long as
you want, as long as you are inhis word.
I said, Well, why is that?
He said, Because all I'm gonnado is point you back to it.
Like, that's what discipleshipis.
Discipleship is not let me walkyou through and answer your
questions.
It's let me point you back toJohn 8, you know, or Romans 8.

(46:53):
Like, go there and learn aboutthat.
That's what I want you to focuson.
And then let's talk after youread that.
That's what true discipleshipis.
How do I know Jesus did that?
He had the whole book memorized.
He wrote it.
In the beginning was the word,the word was God, the word was
with God.
He knew it there.
And then if that's the beginningof John, and if you go to the
very end of John, it says, Hey,these are just some of the
things that were written about.

(47:13):
Because if we were to writeeverything, it wouldn't fit on
the earth.
And when I read those twoverses, it made me go, wait a
minute, there's power in thisword.
I should probably pay attentionto it.
And then it came to me and itsaid, Oh, wait a minute.
These things were selected,meaning there was a purpose of
why it's in here for us to read.
The third part of it is I wasgiven great advice as I was

(47:35):
coming to know Jesus was, hey,read the Bible.
And uh, if you don't believesomething, just mark it and then
let's talk about it.
But keep reading.
So if you're sitting therereading, you're like, water to
wine, right?
His first miracle, what I don'tknow if I believe that.
What happens is a logical type Apersonality, you're gonna dwell
on that and you won't be able toget past that.
And what happens is I had to sitthere and go, okay, water to

(47:56):
wine, hold on, pause.
I'm gonna read this just tounderstand who this guy Jesus
is.
And whether he did or didn't dothe water to wine doesn't take
away the fact of who he was froma historical figure.
Does that make sense?
Now, then you get to the partwhere he starts calling himself
God.
You got to have a conversationof a moral concept.
Is he a liar, lunatic, or theLord, whatever other, you know,
three ways that C.S.
Lewis says it, there's multipleways to say that, right?

(48:17):
But the conversation was, okay,now let's talk about water to
wine.
And I brought that to a mentorand he said, Hey, go with me on
this.
Because at that point, I didn'tbelieve that Jesus was God.
I didn't, I knew God existed,right?
I didn't think that this allhappened out of nowhere, but I
didn't think that Jesus was God.
And he said, Okay, so assumethat part is accurate, that God
is real and Jesus is God.
So if Jesus was God, I go, Okay,I can do that.

(48:38):
He goes, If God createdeverything, do you think he
could turn water to wine?
And I went, Yeah.
Okay.
So what I realized was there wasa fallacy in my logic that I
didn't even realize that I'msitting here going, there is a
God, but that guy couldn't dothis.
Well, how the dude andeverything happened.
Like, so I think he could turnwater to wine.
I think he could walk to water,I think he could create

(49:00):
everything with his breath.
I think he could tell clouds andstorms to stop, I think he could
heal people who can't walk, Ithink he could bring people back
from the dead.
This dude, Jesus, broughthimself back from the dead, and
that is the anchor truth thatour religion and our faith is
based on.
Because if he didn't do that, asPaul says, everything we do is
in vain.
So, all that being said, I wouldchallenge anyone listening, and

(49:22):
I'd be I'd be happy to be yourpunching guy.
Bring the hardest questions youcan, poke holes through it, do
not blindly follow it becauseevery true Christian can
confidently defend their faithwith love and respect.
But you have to be willing toask questions.
So if you're like, I don't knowwhere to offend anybody, I
promise you you won't offend atrue Christian.

(49:43):
Asking questions, investigatingwho Jesus is, you will never
offend a true Christian.
You might confuse them, youmight stump them.
And as a true Christian, ifyou're sitting there going, I
don't want people to ask mequestions, get comfortable
saying I don't know.
Because I don't know is an okaypart because there's this
element of uncertainty andunknown that needs to be there
in order for faith to be there.

(50:03):
If you were certain, there wouldbe no need for faith.
If there was proof, there wouldbe no need for faith.
So all that being said, ispeople ask why are you doing
this?
Because I'm betting my entireeternity on this being true.
Why?
Not just because I went tochurch on Sunday, not even just
because I read the book, it'sbecause I've taken evidence,

(50:25):
which is education, meaningknowledge, and experience, I've
combined them to get evidence,and I've used that to make a
conclusion.
And I'm constantly looking forother evidence out there that
can dispute what I have found,and in all of eternity, it seems
as if there is not any evidencethat can dispute the truth of

(50:47):
the words in those 66 pagebooks.
So that's how I've come to thatunderstanding.

SPEAKER_00 (50:52):
Love that.
Hey, listeners, uh, he warnedyou at the start that he might
say something that was going tooffend you or make you
uncomfortable.
I love talking aboutuncomfortableness because uh, if
we are comfortable, uh, we needto be uncomfortable about that.
There's no doubt about it.
Um, we have got to continue togrow as leaders, and we only do
that by challenging each other.

(51:12):
And we only do that, you know,as Christian brothers by
continuing to dive in the wordand and recognizing back to kind
and nice.
Yeah.
Matt, this has been phenomenal.
Uh, honoring time and thingslike that, because we could
continue to go on.
Where do you want folks to go?
What's the primary place youwant them to go uh to learn more
about you and to get in touchwith you?

SPEAKER_01 (51:31):
To go to lifepulsync.com backslash
uncommonleader.
That'd be the first place to go.
You can find us on Instagram,any of the major socials at
LifePoolSync.
I'd love for you to follow us aseverybody would.
And reach out directly.
Like I said, we'd love to workwith you, help you in any way.
Uh, we have everything fromone-on-one executive coaching to
group coaching to DIY stuff,programs you could do online.
Uh, we come into companies anddo big form keynotes, we do big

(51:54):
form training, company-widetraining, you name it.
We are we are doing an event uhin January of 2026, January 22nd
to 23rd.
Um, depending on when this ispublished, so I apologize if
this is published late or early.
Uh, I don't know how many spaceswe will have left available, but
if any interested in coming, goto realign r-e-a-l-g-n s t l

(52:17):
realignstl.com and grab a spotif it's still available.
We are bringing in uhexecutives, entrepreneurs, and
professionals to come togetherto go through two days of
training, which is a full monthof coaching, and then giving a
custom 90-day plan to get goingand take action.
So it is a full, we call it acomplete uh conference where

(52:39):
we're not sitting here going,hey, come on out that we're
gonna sell you a thousand dollarupsell.
No, you're good.
You're gonna pay for everythingup front, you're gonna take it,
you're gonna run with it, andyou will leave it a customized
plan as well as access andconnections to all the speakers
and the attendees as well.
So that's January 22nd, 23rd.
If you can get there, be there.
Uh, there's going to be anamazing amount of strong leaders
that you will want to connectwith, as well as amazing

(53:01):
content.
And we will take you through allthe processes we just talked
about.
And you'll have access actually,not just to the resources that
we're putting here, but all theresources we have, the entire
tool backs over a hundreddifferent tools for those 90
days as you're going throughyour program.
So that's how I would connectwith us.
And if you need anything, pleaselet us know.
We love having conversations, welove helping people and
continuing to bringintentionality back to life.

SPEAKER_00 (53:23):
Right.
So good.
Thank you so much.
I appreciate you showing uptoday because you did.
Always.
That's that's uh great for youto be there.
And hey, uncommon leaders, look,if you've made it this far
inside this conversation, I knowthat you know someone who needs
to hear this message.
You need to share it with them,you need to let them know.
You need to write a review onthis so that we can get this
message in the hands of as manyuncommon leaders as we can and

(53:47):
continue to grow this communityfor many different reasons that
exist.
I would encourage you to go outand follow Matt and let him know
that you appreciate how heshared today as well through uh
connecting with him on socialmedia.
Until next time, champions, goand grow other leaders.
Until next time, go and growchampions.