[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: [00:00:00] Thanks for joining us on episode 766 of the inspired stewardship podcast.
[00:00:08] Dan Miller: [00:00:08] Dan Miller from 48 days.com. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to find the work you love is key.
[00:00:25] And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this inspired stewardship podcast with my friend Scott Mader.
[00:00:39] Three legs, passion, talent, and money. That's what has to be present if something is really productive. So again, being in Nashville for lots of years, we have lots of people who have tell they really do and have passion, just unbounded passion for what they're doing. [00:01:00] Well without money, it's not a career.
[00:01:03] It's not a business. It's a hobby.
[00:01:06] Scott Maderer: [00:01:06] Welcome. And thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcasts. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true color. In the inspired stewardship podcast, we'll learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.
[00:01:36] In today's interview with Dan Miller, Dan and I talked with you about what leadership really is. Dan also shares the difference between a hobby and a business and how that can often involve finding one message, but sharing it multiple waves. Dan and I also talk with you about his tips on sharing your message using speaking, or writing.
[00:01:59] One reason I [00:02:00] like to bring you great interviews. Like the one you're going to hear today is because of the power in learning from others. Another great way to learn from others is through reading books. But if you're like most people today, you find it hard to find the time to sit down and read. And that's why today's podcast is brought to you by audible.
[00:02:20] Go to inspired stewardship.com/audible to sign up and you can get a 30 day free trial. There's over 180,000 titles to choose from. And instead of reading, you can listen your way to learn from some of the greatest minds out there. That's inspired stewardship.com/audible to get your free trial and listen to great books the same way you're listening to this
[00:02:46] Dan Miller: [00:02:46] podcast.
[00:02:48] Scott Maderer: [00:02:48] Dan Miller president of 48 days, LLC specializes in creative thinking for increased personal and business success. He believes that meaningful work, blends our natural [00:03:00] skills and abilities, our unique personality traits and our dreams and passions. He believes that a clear sense of direction can help us become all that God designed us to be.
[00:03:10] Dan is the author of the widely acclaimed 48 days for the work you love and no more Mondays books. 48 days was recently released in a 20 year anniversary edition. He hosts his podcast and is the founder of the online community that I belong to called the 48 days Eagles. And there's many active entrepreneurs there.
[00:03:32] I've learned a lot about how I view my vocation from Dan, his books and listening to him over the years. And I consider him one of my virtual mentors. Oh. And by the way, Dan and his wife, Joanne have three wonderful children and 17 grandchildren to celebrate. Well, welcome to the show, Dan.
[00:03:52] Dan Miller: [00:03:52] Well, thank you.
[00:03:53] I've been looking forward to our conversation.
[00:03:56] Scott Maderer: [00:03:56] So last week, Dan, I kind of asked you to define the word [00:04:00] stewardship. There's another word that I kind of asked the guests to define because I've gotten a lot of really great responses to that. And when it comes to influence one word that comes up over and over again is leadership.
[00:04:13] How do you define that word leadership?
[00:04:16] Dan Miller: [00:04:16] No, that's, that is a word that comes up too often. That's a word we're going to have to reinvent because it's been so overused in recent years, it seems, but here's how I define a distinction. That's kind of sets it alone. If we're looking at things that are quantifiable, things that are measuring, we're probably a manager, leadership implies something beyond that.
[00:04:40] We're going into territory where it's not easily quantifiable. We don't know exactly what the results are going to be. It's inspiring other people to go beyond what they're used to to me, that's leadership. And it's also the difference between managing, managing almost implies. Right. You know, [00:05:00] pushing, pushing a rope, whereas leadership you're out in front, you can't be a leader unless people want to, unless they choose to follow you.
[00:05:08] You can't demand leadership. It doesn't work. So if you are forcing people to do what they need to do and you're managing or leadership implies all, you're going into some new unexplored territory, Tori. And to me, that's extremely inspiring.
[00:05:28] Scott Maderer: [00:05:28] So one of the topics that I've heard you talk about before, and, and I think this will be valuable to, to folks that are beginning to think about these new work models is the difference between a hobby and a business.
[00:05:41] Not that a hobby is bad. Not that a business is good, but just the difference between them. And then also kind of building on that, how you can take one message or one idea or one core thing and multiply it and spread it in different ways and get paid for it in different ways. Can
[00:06:00] [00:05:59] Dan Miller: [00:05:59] you talk about how that
[00:06:01] Scott Maderer: [00:06:01] kind of fits in with this idea of doing the work that you love?
[00:06:05] Dan Miller: [00:06:05] Absolutely. Love your question. I see this whole concept as a, having a three legged stool and the three legs are passion, talent and money. That's what has to be present if something is really productive. So again, being in Nashville for lots of years, we have lots of people who have talent. They really do, and they have passion, just unbounded passion for what they're doing or without money.
[00:06:37] It's not a career. It's not a business, it's a hobby. And I've coached a lot of people where I confronted them with that, where they haven't generated any money in three years. But they go get their many cure every Wednesday because they have to play the guitar. I'm like, are you kidding me? How can you justify that?
[00:06:57] You don't have a business. You don't have a career go to [00:07:00] home Depot, put on an orange apron and start earning money legitimately. But, so there's that. So if, if you have a hobby and it, I mean a passion and a talent, and you're utilizing that. I mean, I have that. I mean, my goodness, I have things that I love as hobbies.
[00:07:16] That's it? But there, I don't confuse those with being a business because they're not. So that's a real key element there. Now, the other components of that, I mean, if you have something where you have talent and are making money, but are not passionate about it, You're going to burn out. And I would see lots of attorneys, physicians, dentists, pastors, who fall into that category.
[00:07:40] They have talent and money, but no passion. So any two combination of those, the stool is going to fall over just like a three legged stool. Well, if you have talent and passion, no money, we know that it's a hobby. You have talent and money, but no passion. You're going to burn out. If you have passion and money, [00:08:00] no talent.
[00:08:01] That's not going to last very long either. So you have to have all three of those, but then once you find that sweet spot, so you have all three of those in motion, then it doesn't matter what it is you're doing. There are ways to leverage that you mentioned being a coach. I'm a coach. One of the things that I do, but if you are a coach, well, let's take podcasting as an example.
[00:08:23] So we're here on your podcast. I have a podcast, so I love, love, love my podcast. But if you were effective is a podcast host. You're going to have people saying, wow, Scott. Could you sit down with me for a couple hours and help me kind of go deeper in what you just talked about there. Well, you get the opportunities for coaching of organizations.
[00:08:44] Say, we want our organization to hear what you just talked about. You get those speaking opportunities. You can put together a course, a seminar, a workshop workshop, an ebook, a traditional book, you know, just tons of products you can develop based on [00:09:00] your core message. You can. Put together a mastermind. If you want to, you can have affiliate relationships.
[00:09:06] We have a page on a 48 days where people can go and see other resources. There's probably a hundred things on there. A lot of those are affiliate links, whereby products that we recommend really believe in what's being offered, but we get a commission. Because other people are sent there, you can start an online community, which you're familiar with, where you have an affinity group where people, other people interested in stewardship.
[00:09:31] It can be people who are interested in growing herbs or having a particular breed of dog or people who play tennis or drive Corvettes. But you have an affinity group and you have the potential for that. And I, I love that, how exciting that is to take what it is you do, and then see the potential for leveraging that.
[00:09:51] Now the, the, the underlying assumption is you have a core message with me. My core message has not changed. It is to help [00:10:00] high potential individuals discover their strongest pal talents and passions. And to translate that into meaningful, productive, profitable work on Monday morning. And we do that in 48 days.
[00:10:10] That message is the same. But the application of what I've done over the years changes on a month by month basis. Anything that I do in terms of daily activity is on the bubble at any given time. We're looking at, does this still make sense? Some of those things we've removed and we've certainly added on a new ones.
[00:10:29] Yeah.
[00:10:31] Scott Maderer: [00:10:31] So speaking of that, you touched on a couple of different areas and I'd like to kind of dive in a little bit deeper on those. And one of them is this idea of speaking, whether it's a. No public speaking event or workshop, you know, any of these sorts of events around speaking. I know you've done a lot of speaking over the years at various conferences and other settings.
[00:10:51] How can people really do a good job of developing their influence, continuing to spread their message using speaking as a tool.
[00:11:00] [00:11:00] Dan Miller: [00:11:00] Wow. And they can indeed. Everything that I'm doing everything we've talked about. That's come out of 48 days to the work you love started. We didn't really talk about that.
[00:11:09] Started as a Sunday school class. Hmm. That's a really simple example, serve your community, serve your church. That's all I was doing. I had no intention of that becoming any part of my business. I was used to the dichotomy where if I did something in ministry, there's that, but certainly don't try to make money from that.
[00:11:30] That was totally different. But as the requests grew and grew and grew, and audience grew and grew and grew, and my time investment grew and grew. You know, my wife said, wow, if you're going to spend that much time doing it, it's going to have something to do with our income. And we very gently started to offer products, our personal coaching time speaking out of that.
[00:11:50] So that's a very simple example of speaking teaching a Sunday school class. If you get good response and have content that people care about, the opportunities are going to [00:12:00] grow out of that. I often tell people if you really want to experiment with speaking, develop a 25 minute. A 45 minute and a 60 minute presentation around your core message.
[00:12:10] That'll cover 99% of any speaking opportunity you've got. So that 25 minute contact every rotary club within 50 miles of where you live. They're looking for people every week. Civic organizations, chambers of commerce. We've seen people use just that alone and explode their coaching, speaking opportunities.
[00:12:31] That's a good place to start. And don't think that you're going to start as a $10,000 event. Speaker that's unrealistic. Do the things where you get paid nothing. I mean, I have so many. Mugs from rotary clubs I've got, and that's fine because those leads other opportunities as well, but find those opportunities where they're looking for speakers, craft your message, practice, practice, practice, practice.
[00:13:00] [00:12:59] Again, I can't emphasize that enough. I mean, really lean into learning how to speak well on a walk on the stage on a stand, how to use your hands, how to speak from your diaphragm instead of your lungs, where you get. Short on breath and going to vocal fry. Those are all things to be learned. If you're going to speak, learn how to do it.
[00:13:18] Well, there's some great teachers out there, information on doing that, but it's something that can be done. There's a lot of speakers out there. You can get opportunities today. No question about it.
[00:13:34] Scott Maderer: [00:13:34] One of those things, the, you know, speaking for free first I've done a lot of those events. And again, today, the world is different in that used to, you could go speak at a rotary that was down the road. Now there's a lot of places that are looking for someone to come speak that are a zoom call or a Skype call away as well.
[00:13:54]I've done a lot of virtual speaking events, especially this year where I've gone in and talked [00:14:00] again to for free, but. Just an organization that's 200 miles away because they're looking for that today, so that that's expanded those opportunities. And actually hasn't made them go away. Despite what a lot of people are saying,
[00:14:13] Dan Miller: [00:14:13] well, we want to be quick to add there too.
[00:14:15] Even those that were paid events and I had multiple paid events that were lined up. Now, some of those went away. Totally interesting. Some of those in the university arena that we had booked and they got postponed, then they got postponed again. And ultimately they said, you know what, not enough, not enough kids are coming back to campus.
[00:14:33] We're gonna, it's interesting to see how those went away. Those in the corporate arena did not. So I fulfilled a lot of those engagements with the compensation that was agreed on any way, even though they've done them virtually. So it doesn't mean the event, the opportunities have gone away. They've changed.
[00:14:53] They've changed. Opportunities are still there. Yes.
[00:14:58] Scott Maderer: [00:14:58] I hesitate. I hate to say this out loud, but [00:15:00] I will. I wonder if having come from the academic world where I was a teacher, you know, unfortunately, sometimes education is a little slow to adapt. To new ways of doing things. So I wonder if that has some, some influences or reasons for some of that change too.
[00:15:18] Dan Miller: [00:15:18] Yeah, you're correct. I don't think it's any secret that the academic community tends to catch up with what's happening in the real world. Tend not to be the leaders in that, but they catch up. I mean, look, how many schools now have schools for entrepreneurship? It didn't start out of universities. They saw what was happening with Michael Dells and bill Gates and Richard Branson.
[00:15:39] And so now they saw how popular there was universities used to resist having students graduate who wanted to be entrepreneurs. It didn't show up with their model and there's statistics for showing how many of their graduates got high paying jobs? Well, here's a kid who started a landscaping business.
[00:15:57] Wow. We don't want that in our record. [00:16:00] Now he's going to make a hundred thousand where somebody who got a job make 40. Anyway. Well, I didn't mean to go down.
[00:16:05] Scott Maderer: [00:16:05] No, no, it's right. Well, it's actually, there's a statistic. So I graduated from Texas a and M university and Texas a and M is actually proud of saying they have more CEO.
[00:16:15] Oh, those that have graduated from a and M than from Harvard. Now, part of the reason they can say that is because a lot of folks that grow graduate from a and M go and become their own business and they are a CEO there they're there. They're running their own business. And so they may not be a CEO of a fortune 500 company though.
[00:16:37] Zachary engineering is an example of somebody that graduated from radium that did become a fortune 500, but it's, it's still, you know, they, they are CEOs, they're running their own businesses. So it's interesting how some universities actually embraced that model in a different way. Then others too, you know, they're bidding
[00:16:57] on
[00:16:57] Dan Miller: [00:16:57] their bathroom.
[00:16:58] It came a far as the fact that [00:17:00] their graduates couldn't get a job.
[00:17:01] Scott Maderer: [00:17:01] Yeah. He hit it. They said they're CEOs only true.
[00:17:09] So you also have a passion for writing. You know, obviously we're talking about the 48 days book. You've got many other written material that's out there, and I know that you've referred to it. I've heard you call it before. That's one of your core passions, one of your core gifts. So what advice do you have for folks that feel that writing is the way they want to develop their influence?
[00:17:31] Dan Miller: [00:17:31] If it really is, then start writing, start doing a blog, start, submitted things to magazines and newspapers that are always looking for content. Okay. Submit content other people's websites. Let it be known that you have an area of expertise. Don't right here. Here's the catch 22 in this people say, gee, I think I ought to have a book.
[00:17:53] And so they force themselves to sit down and artificially create content that doesn't work. Don't write because you [00:18:00] think you want to have a book, right? Because you have something in a message you cannot contain. I mean that that's really that's a real significant difference there. If you see writing as a hardship, don't do it.
[00:18:14] You don't need to have a book. There's a lot of people successful. Don't have a book, but if you love writing, then nothing can stop you. Here's kind of a little bit more on that, Scott. I don't know how deep you want to go on this, but I put together. The rough notes from that Sunday school class that I was teaching where all this material started, where I was testing out all these concepts about how people navigate these relentless, inevitable transitions in their career in business.
[00:18:43] So I put together just those rough notes. Because people were asking me for it. They said, wow, I've got a son-in-law who's been out of work for three months. What do you have that I can give him, I didn't have anything. So, because the repeated requests I've put together, go to Kinko's and put together those rough notes in [00:19:00] a spiral bound workbook.
[00:19:01] And then I put a little single cassette with that. And then as time went on, we got a little more sophisticated, put it in a three ring binder. With two cassettes in there. Then I went to a Mark Victor Hansen conference called mega book university in Los Angeles. I saw that he was going to be sharing his ideas about selling books and Mark Victor Hansen being the coauthor of chicken soup for the soul.
[00:19:27] And they had already sold millions of copies at this point. It's it's half a billion copies. So this guy, obviously he knows a little bit about selling books. So I talked to Joanne. She agreed. I said, let's go to this. I tapped my good friend, Dave Ramsey. I said, Hey, we need to go to this. He had just come out with his own self published version of his little financial peace book.
[00:19:47] We both went, took our wives, Joanne and Sharon went with us. We sat there for three days. I came back and I just started doing what he had talked about in the next 30 months. I sold over $2 million worth of that three ring binder. [00:20:00] Now I had never talked to a publisher. I never talked to a literary agent ever go into a library then.
[00:20:06] I had publishers knocking on my door there, we see what you're doing. Can we please publish this in a traditional trade book? Now that's very much the reverse of what we see most people doing. They get an idea, Oh, I want to have a New York times best-selling book. Who's going to pay me money for my idea.
[00:20:25] So I can write this book. Well, that's like standing in front of the, woodstove a life saying, give me heat. And next year I'll put in some wood and the farmer says, you know, go or give me a really good crop of corn next year. I'll actually plant some seeds. You don't have to wait. You don't have to wait on anybody.
[00:20:42] If you want to write, write something, it has value. Have people affirm the value it has and doors will just start opening. Like Domino's in front of you.
[00:20:54] I just recently had Mark Victor Hansen on, he's got a new book out after all these years, I had him back on [00:21:00] my podcast, interviewed him and reviewed some of those early details. He was astounded. We had some really good memories there and we're going to do some things together. This coming year. But
[00:21:10] Scott Maderer: [00:21:10] that interesting that, that comes full circle.
[00:21:12] Dan Miller: [00:21:12] Oh my, you know, it was a delight to catch up with him again.
[00:21:18] Scott Maderer: [00:21:18] Well, and you know, and again, you were doing that before. Quote, self publishing was the big thing.
[00:21:26] Dan Miller: [00:21:26] I didn't know, even understand the mechanics of self publishing. I just knew that people were asking me for that content and I just started making them available for them.
[00:21:36] And we went from the little spiral binding to the three-ring binder with cassettes, and then we upgraded, went to CDs and it was in that version that I had that real upswing and sales and then went to traditional book. Yeah.
[00:21:52] Scott Maderer: [00:21:52] So what year did the traditional book first come out
[00:21:56] Dan Miller: [00:21:56] in? Hardback came out in 2005.
[00:21:59] Scott Maderer: [00:21:59] Okay. [00:22:00] Yes,
[00:22:01] Dan Miller: [00:22:01] dated the material in 40 days, every five years updated in Oh five, 10, 15, 20. And I've already got extensive notes for what will be included in the 2025 version.
[00:22:13] Scott Maderer: [00:22:13] You're already working on it. Awesome. That's
[00:22:16] Dan Miller: [00:22:16] already working on it.
[00:22:18] Scott Maderer: [00:22:18] So, do you have notes yet for the how are you going to do 48 years though?
[00:22:21] Cause that's what an increment of five.
[00:22:23] Dan Miller: [00:22:23] I'll probably do a special . Yes, absolutely.
[00:22:30] Scott Maderer: [00:22:30] You can follow Dan on twitter@fortyeightdaysteamrfindhimonhiswebsiteatfortyeightdays.com and that's the number's 48. He's also active on LinkedIn at 48 days. And Dan has made a free gift available, including how you can get a free chapter of the book and some other great resources available over@fortyeightdays.com slash.
[00:22:54] I guess for inspired stewardship, I'll have links to all of these in the show notes as well. Dan, is [00:23:00] there anything else you'd like to share with the
[00:23:01] Dan Miller: [00:23:01] listener? You know, there's something, as you've talked, I've gotten a better feel for who your audience is and how you think. And you know, so often I hear people who think they've missed their window of opportunity, unity.
[00:23:11] And I hear from 27 year olds who think they might majored in the wrong thing in college, you know, now they just have to kind of coast into the grave now. Oh my goodness, that you aren't even old enough to ask the right questions and yet hang in there. But if there's one piece encouragement, I don't love to leave with your listeners.
[00:23:27] It's that? It's never too late to have a new beginning. So it doesn't matter if you're 27 or if you're a 57 or 77, it may be a time where you have fresh insight into really what your core passions are. The things that you really have to offer that could make a dent in the universe. And now's the time to step into that.
[00:23:50] And you can walk into the most productive, fulfilling time of your life. So never too late to have a new beginning.
[00:23:57] Scott Maderer: [00:23:57] Awesome. Thank you so much for coming on. And it has [00:24:00] been great to have you.
[00:24:01] Dan Miller: [00:24:01] Thank you so much. God, my honor.
[00:24:08] Scott Maderer: [00:24:08] Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode, please, please do us a favor. Go over to inspired stewardship.com/itunes rate.
[00:24:36] All one word iTunes rate. It'll take you through how to leave a rating and review and how to make sure you're subscribed to the podcast so that you can get every episode as it comes out in your feed. Until next time, invest your time, your talent and your treasures. Develop your influence and impact the [00:25:00] world.

00:00:00 Thanks for joining us on episode 746 of the inspired stewardship podcast. I'm Braden Douglas. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent and your treasures to live out. Your calling. Having the ability to lead with impact is key. And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this,
00:00:27 the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott Mader. The people in your life. You need to count on people, whether it's your employees, your customers, your congregation, your volunteers, friends, family, whatever it is, you absolutely need people. And I talk about it. There's there's three people and or three kind of positions that I think are really important for everybody.
00:01:01 The first one is a guard. Welcome, and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcasts. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true color. In the inspired stewardship podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.
00:01:38 And today's interview with Braden Douglas, Brighton shares with you, his definition of leadership. And I also talk with you about how developing a team can help you make an impact as a leader. And Brayden also talks with you about how you can be a mentor and find a mentor for yourself. One reason I like to bring you great interviews. Like the one you're going to hear today is because of the power in learning from others.
00:02:04 Another great way to learn from others is through reading books. But if you're like most people today, you find it hard to find the time to sit down and read. And that's why today's podcast is brought to you by audible, go to inspired stewardship.com/audible to sign up and you can get a 30 day free trial. There's over 180,000 titles to choose from.
00:02:29 And instead of reading, you can listen your way to learn from some of the greatest minds out there. That's inspired stewardship.com/audible to get your free trial and listen to great books. The same way you're listening to this podcast. Brighton Douglas is the founder of crew marketing partners. One of the fastest growing marketing and creative agencies in Canada founded in 2007 crew has won numerous awards for their service and brand leadership.
00:02:59 Braden started his career in brand management over at Frito lay and Procter and gamble. But throughout his life, his passion has been helping leaders make a significant impact in the world. He currently volunteers with leader impact as a member of the global advisory board, where he plays a key role in mentoring leaders, speaking and developing content. Braden lives outside of Vancouver,
00:03:24 British Columbia with his wife and two kids. Welcome to the show Brighton. Yeah, thanks Scott. It's a pleasure to be here. So the last few weeks we've talked a lot about, you know, leadership becoming a leader of impact what that looks like. But I, but I haven't asked you the, the obvious question, which is how do you actually define that word leadership?
00:03:49 I've always liked John Maxwell's finishing of a leader. You know, leadership is about influence. And so whether you are influencing somebody on like a, as a friend, if you have, you know, the higher positions that you were in, you know, the greater, the influence that you're going to have. So even, you know, if you get into,
00:04:11 well, one would argue that say president of the United States, it's like, well, you're going to have a lot of influence. What you say is going to get scrutinized. It's going to matter. And, but even if you're an, you know, even if you're at home taking care of your family, you're going to have influence over them. You're gonna have influence over your friends.
00:04:30 And so for me, leadership is about influence and impact is about influence that inspires. And I think that's the, that for me is where it takes influence because you can have influence for good or for bad, but I want to see people use that influence to inspire others for perpetual positive behavior. And it's like, you're taking it, you're depositing something in somebody's life and it keeps going.
00:04:55 So like that old mantra, you know, give a man a fish, feed him for a day, teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime. And for me, giving of the fish is, is, is helping, right? That's kinda like, Hey, you're helping, you're being generous. That's great. But teaching them to fish is about impact is about you're taking the time and it's going to take a lot more time than just giving the fish.
00:05:18 You're investing into them. You're teaching them a skill set that now they're going to be able to then pass on and really develop a better life because of your influence with them. And I think that's, that's how I want people to kind of think about impact. Hmm. Awesome. And just by the way, so, you know, John Maxwell is actually a mentor of mine who I've,
00:05:41 I've gotten to attend many trainings with them, including in very small groups where they're joining, just like, you know, 40 or 50 of us in the room with him and talked to him. One-on-one a little bit, so He's great. I love his, like, he's got a, such a good radio voice. You could listen to him. I he's another One on my list of,
00:05:58 I handed him the phone book. Just read that for a while. I'll listen. It's okay. And, and he's yeah, again, going back to external internal, because I've gotten to see him in environments where he wasn't quote onstage, as far as I can tell, he's the same person on stage off stage, you know, hadn't done the pool,
00:06:19 whatever, he's the same guy, you know, he really is. So that's, that's one of the things I think that makes him so such an influential leader. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, no, he's great. So part of the purpose of a leader is to recognize that, you know, we're talking about making an impact, but as a leader,
00:06:39 you can't do that alone. It takes team. It takes other people, it takes building that around you. So for leaders, what does that look like? What does that mean to be trying to develop a team, to make a bigger impact? Yeah. And I think this idea, you know, really started from, you know, I was watching this documentary of this leader who owned a whole bunch of car dealerships in Michigan.
00:07:05 And he was going through this, like going through his house and looking at everything. And you know, it's a huge, it's a mansion. It's amazing. And he came to this like statue and a fountain and he said, you know, everything in my house, this is my favorite piece. And it was a statue of the self-made man. And he was saying,
00:07:23 you know, I didn't come from a lot, but, but man, I just, I worked hard. I did it. And I feel like I embody this self-made man. And I remember thinking to myself, wow, he is really missing it. And if he thinks that he alone really helped him be successful, like how wrong is he as a leader?
00:07:45 And what would have been like to be, you know, working for him, if somebody was just very narcissistic in the way that they thought, because no one succeeds alone, nobody, you need people in your life. You need to count on people. Whether it's your employees, your customers, your congregation, your volunteers, friends, family, whatever it is,
00:08:06 you absolutely need people. And I talk about there's, there's three people and or three kind of positions that I think are really important for everybody. The first one is a guard and this is somebody in your life that knows you intimately. Well, they, they love you unconditionally and they have your best interest. And for some people that's their spouse. Other people might be a family member,
00:08:31 a best friend, somebody that protects you as a leader because leaders, you sometimes you need that. You need that. Somebody that's going to call you out. That's going to keep you accountable. That's going to say, Hey, you're working too hard. Or Hey, Braden, put down your phone, like play with us. You know? Like,
00:08:48 like pay attention. I'm like, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. You need that person. That's going to really guard you and, and help you. The second one is that you need a pusher and I kind of use this, this, this vision of if you've ever been to Japan, they have these, these pushers at the subway that makes sure everybody gets in.
00:09:06 Cause it's really full. They said pre COVID obviously, cause now you look at it. You're like, Oh, that's really unsanitary. But you know, they would have, they they're like, you know, very politely just kind of make sure everybody's in and give you a little shot of if you needed it because the doors are closing. And I think that there's this pusher in,
00:09:22 in your life is somebody that pushes you to step out, to do those things. And sometimes it, for me, it was, I went to El Salvador in the early two thousands with leader impact. And we were meeting with a whole bunch of different business leaders and you know, young leaders. And I was, and the next day there was a university event and the Nathan Hildebrand,
00:09:46 who was the coordinator of the trip. He said, Braden, I want you to speak at it tomorrow. And I was like, I'm not ready. I'm going to go speak at this. Like, this is crazy. Like you didn't give me any time. Like I'm going to embarrass myself and embarrass you. And he's like, no, no,
00:09:59 you can do it. We believe in you. And I might go great. And so I remember just preparing and just getting my heart is just going crazy and, and, and you do it. And it, and it was a huge growth thing and it was awesome. And it turned out really well. And, and at the end, you're like,
00:10:16 why was I so afraid in the first place? Like, and, and I think you need those people who see potential in others and they give you that push. And we need people to push us. And, and we also need to push others because we all need that kind of role. And the third one is a board and a board is a nonprofit organization,
00:10:38 you know, should be helping direct and steer and give feedback and be objective for you. And for a lot of leaders, they, they don't have a board in their life. They, you know, they have like their, you know, they have their guard and they might have some certain people, but they need people around them. So that's why even leader impact has groups of leaders that meet.
00:11:00 And there's thousands of groups around the world of leaders who want to live a life of impact and they help each other and they learn together they're growing, but they also know each other well enough to push them into guard them and to help them see themselves differently and to keep them accountable and, and to say, Hey, you know, Scott, I think you've got more potential than you realize.
00:11:21 I want to help you. I want you to really realize that make an impact. How can we support you? Or, and it's just feels like you get together. And it's like a group of people that are like, they're on mission. And it's like, okay, let's really make this happen. And I think that's really those three areas. So you need a guard,
00:11:38 you need to push her in a board So that board can take, I mean, you know, different forms for different people, but I, and John Matt, again, going back to John Maxwell, he talks about your inner circle, which has kind of that same relationship, that idea of who are the people that you bring into your room and you allow to have that intimate access,
00:11:56 both directions, you know, you're, you're, you know, their life, they know your life and you're building each other up, you know, it can be a mastermind. It can be a small group of some type it can be. But, but having that, that inter accountability I think is vital. And I agree with you. I think that's probably the single,
00:12:14 that's probably the one that's missing in most of our lives. Yeah. Yeah. It's very true. And it's hard to cultivate and some of these are seasons of it where I've been in part of, you know, groups that they kind of fizzle out a little bit and you feel like, Oh man, we failed a little bit. But now that you're older,
00:12:27 I realized that no, like life ebbs and flows, you know, but there's always going to be those people that, you know, that are going to be able to really build into. And I think that it's easy as a leader to surround yourself with the S people or you don't get into the hard questions, but I think you really need people that are going to call you out on your stuff,
00:12:46 you know, regardless of your position, I don't care if you're the CEO of, of whatever organization it's like, you've got personal, you got a spiritual life. You got, you know, there's some things because I don't want you to fail and I'm going to, I'm going to help you win. So do you have any advice for people if they're kind of looking at that board position and thinking about what that looks like for them or how they could start finding those people?
00:13:10 Well, you know what, there's, this is kind of where there's lots of different organizations that are around there and there's like, you know, C, 12, and sometimes even, you know, some churches have these set up or there's YPO, which is young president's organization or Vistige, or, you know, even leader impact. That's kind of where I've been involved in for decades where it's about this,
00:13:31 you know, a small group it's intentional. And what I love about leader impact is that it's all about your professional personal and your spiritual life, which the groups that I've been a part of and they don't, they either address professional really well, or they might integrate personal really well. Or some groups just really talk about the spiritual life really well, but to really mix all three together in a very intentional way is,
00:13:54 is rare. And that's why I think, you know, for people to check out leader impact.com and see if it's see if it's the right fit for you. But I would recommend that you need to find something don't, don't just let, let it go into, you know, you know, on an a to do list that never gets done, like really make it an intentional say to,
00:14:12 you know, I really want this to happen in my life and I guarantee you, you will love the results. So that also brings up the question of, of mentorship. You know, that's, again, a topic that comes up over and over again, when you look at leadership, would you go read the leadership literature or they, you know,
00:14:32 they talk about having mentors, they talk about being a mentor, what that looks like, but can you talk a little bit about in your view, you know, what does mentorship mean and, and how can leaders think about this the right way? Yeah. You know what I would say, it's funny, the idea of mentorship comes up a lot.
00:14:50 And so we did a survey when I wrote the book, we did a survey to 500 leaders and asked them all the different questions on your professional, personal, inner, spiritual life. And we had a question on mentorship and in there less than 10% of the leaders had a mentor that was committed to them in all three areas. And most of them,
00:15:09 the 32% had a mentor in their workplace, whether it was a supervisor or a direct report, but that was the highest 32%. And that was in a work context. And I think this idea of mentor, and I think we kind of have this vision of, Oh, I would love to just sit at the feet of Warren buffet and just get all his little oodles of wisdom.
00:15:31 And he would just build into me and, and stuff. And I think that this concept is, I think it doesn't always happen. And I think for those of you who have a mentor in a formal relationship, that's a really special, that's a really special thing. And I think it's rare and so really treasure it. But for some of you that don't have that,
00:15:52 I think, I think it's okay for me, it's about having many different people in your life that you are being intentional to reach out to and asking them questions. And I think this is where, what I have found is that there are people that are older, that are wise, that, that I seek out and I say, Hey, I'd love to,
00:16:12 I'd love to go for lunch. Love to ask you some questions, just, you know, on life and leadership. And I would say 95% of the time, they're always willing most, most older people know that they're getting near the end, whether it's of the end of their career, their lives or whatever. And they want to impart stuff, but they just need people to really,
00:16:32 to lead the relationship. They're not going to lead it for you. They're not going to be like, Hey, Scott, I'd like to mentor you now. And we're going to sit down every month and I'm going to ask you these questions. I think you have to go to them and say, Hey, I really respect your opinion. I'd love to be able to,
00:16:46 you know, do this maybe once a month, that you're open to that. And I, and then you have a list of questions that you can go through with them and say, am I missing anything? What should I be thinking about? But you really have to do direct it from them. And I think that's, I think a misconception for a lot of people,
00:17:02 even younger people is that, yeah, I want to mentor, but they don't, you have to take the initiative and that, and it has to be reciprocated and it's not. And some people just don't have the time for it sometimes. And sometimes we ask them like, Hey, I'm really looking for a mentor. And it's like, Oh, that seems like a lot of commitment and leaders don't have a lot of time,
00:17:19 so sure. I'd like to help you, but I, I can't invest in you in that way. So I think you just have to really say, Hey, just try to find it. Don't try to force anything there, but really take the initiative, lead the conversation, lead the stuff. And if it becomes recurring great. And if it doesn't,
00:17:37 then that's okay too, from, in some, some universities, some churches, some organizations, they have formal mentor programs, then they can work out really well. But I do think it's something that they to really care about you professionally, personally, and spiritually, if you're going to get the most out of it. Yeah. And, and I love that idea of,
00:17:58 and it's something I've done in my professional life of, you know, showing up with a list of questions and then, and then actually showing the folks how you put their answers into action, you know, because that's the worst thing in the world as a mentor is to have people say, well, you know, help me, help me, help me,
00:18:14 help me. And then they don't do anything, not even get around to it. It's like, well, so much for that, you know, that's the quickest way to kill a mentoring relationship in my opinion is to not actually do the, you know, cause that it, and it is hard. You have, I mean, you actually have to work at it to,
00:18:29 to create a mentor relationship. It doesn't just come easily. No, you know, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. And I think sometimes you have to be ready to be happy to be mentored and to be able to, you know, practically put things in, you know, into place. You're right. It's a great point.
00:18:49 You can follow Brighton Douglas on Instagram as Braden J Douglas, or find him on his website@bradendouglas.com. Of course I'll have links to those in the show notes. He's also active on LinkedIn as Braden Douglas. And you can find out more about the book@bradendouglas.com forward slash book Braden. Is there anything else you'd like to share with the listener? You know, I think that,
00:19:15 you know, even as we've been talking, you know, through these times, I'm, I really want every listener to realize that they have a purpose and a passion that can really make a difference in people's lives. And if they think about people first and differently, it's not just about big data. It's not just about stats. It's about, these are all,
00:19:39 those are real people with real lives that they can have an influence on that for me is, you know, is where it can start. And that's the movement that, you know, that I really hope really takes off as leaders becoming leaders of impact because they can really change the world. And I hope that they do Awesome. Thanks so much for coming on the show.
00:19:59 We've loved having you here and again, check out the book leader impact, check out Brayden. Hopefully if you get a chance to hear her speak or attend one of these seminars, that would be fantastic. And thanks so much for coming on the show. That's awesome. Thanks Scott, for having me Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast as a subscriber and listener,
00:20:31 we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode, please, please do us a favor. Go over to stewardship.com/itunes rate. All one word iTunes rate. It'll take you through how to leave a rating and review and how to make sure you're subscribed to the podcast so that you can get every episode as it comes out in your feed until next time,
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