Episode 986: Develop Your Influence - Interview with Kyle Sullivan creator of Unleash the Champ - Part 3

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 986 of the inspired stewardship podcast. I'm

[00:00:07] Kyle Sullivan: Carl Sullivan. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, talent and treasures, to live out your calling. Having the ability to find that live your championship run is key.

[00:00:22] And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this. The inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott Mader.

[00:00:30] And so if I note though, okay. When things are handed to me, when things are given to me, if I handle them well, I'll get more. If I am a good steward, I will be able to increase and enlarge my territory. And that's what it is. It's open-handed, it's going, Hey, it's going to flow to me. It's going to flow through me.

[00:00:50] It's going to have Colby because of me and sometimes in spite of me,

[00:00:56] Scott Maderer: welcome. And thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship [00:01:00] 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 treasure. For your true call in the inspired stewardship podcast.

[00:01:13] Cool. Learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

[00:01:22] And today's interview with Kyle Sullivan. I asked Kyle what he thinks leadership really means. I also asked Kyle to share his definition of stewardship and what its impact has been on his life. And I also asked Kyle to share with you the key characteristics of the successful people that he knows. One reason I like to bring you great interviews.

[00:01:45] Like the one you're going to hear today is because of the power in learning from. 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. [00:02:00] 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.

[00:02:11] 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 podcast. What does a D one athlete drug dealer, husband, pastor, father, and founder of a coaching company have in common, you might be surprised to learn that these are all stages of life for Kyle Sullivan, it's quite the journey and all paths have built upon it and led to the creation of unleashed.

[00:02:50] Kyle founded, unleashed the champ to create powerful coaching experiences for people and organizations that lead to discovering and stepping into the champion. They were [00:03:00] created to be with over 10 years of organizational leadership and team development, leading thousands of people, plus a growing desire to learn at all.

[00:03:08] He strives to inspire people everywhere to unlock the cages they are in and unleash the champ. Welcome to the show, Kyle,

[00:03:18] Kyle Sullivan: Hey Scott, I am super excited to be on today and to have this

[00:03:21] Scott Maderer: conversation. So Kyle, one thing that people often think of as developing their influence is being a leader. But I've also figured out, and this is one of the reasons I keep asking this question all the time.

[00:03:34] And my guest is leaders and leadership is one of those words, like stewardship. And we'll talk about that as well, probably, but that people define it different ways. So what does the word leadership mean to you?

[00:03:46] Kyle Sullivan: I suppose subscribed to John Maxwell's definition of leadership and that it's influence, but I build upon it.

[00:03:55] And I have a little bit of a little bit of a taboo definition for leadership [00:04:00] Scott. And I've I'm until this point have not really said it publicly. So welcome world premier, go with me here, leadership. Is manipulation with the right heart.

[00:04:12] And before your, all your listeners like jump off and blow my DMS up and say that I'm terrible manipulation by definition is to handle something or someone with extreme care and precision.

[00:04:27] So when we think about how. Beings are manipulated metals and irons and all of this stuff. It always produces something

[00:04:40] Scott Maderer: beautiful.

[00:04:41] Kyle Sullivan: Diamond's being made. I needed to get back on the golf course, cause I'm thinking golf clubs, like how those are made glass being blown. That's a manipulation, but with the right intent and heart.

[00:04:55] And so for me, my definition of [00:05:00] leadership is going on my goal is to inspire you to change. It is to take where you're at, break it down, handle it carefully and skillfully and inspire you to become someone you don't even recognize us. So leadership is manipulation with the right heart.

[00:05:24] Scott Maderer: Now, I'm going to tell you something that listeners of the show know.

[00:05:28] So I actually use the word influence here in the question, and you've never heard it unless you've been a long time listener, but again, long time listeners have heard it. I define influence and manipulation is two different things. And here's my definition. Manipulation is when I use my skills to get you to do something because it's in my best.

[00:05:54] And influence is what I do the same thing, but it's because it's in your best interest. So [00:06:00] I would, I love your definition. I would actually use the word influence, which is John Maxwell's word. Of course, in that set is because of the way I define those two words. And the intent behind him, we're saying the same thing.

[00:06:10] We're just putting different words on it, but it's the same thing. It's the intent that makes it leadership. It's not the action.

[00:06:15] Kyle Sullivan: Exactly. I love it. I'm like, oh, of course. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:06:20] Scott Maderer: And that's the truth though, is, cause I think all of us have been in that situation where, and I use sales as an example of it just because that's the one that almost all of us have been in a bad sales relationship where you were manipulated into making a purchase decision, you get home and you're like, wait, how did that happen?

[00:06:37] It was a terrible decision, why did I do that? And that's manipulation. You've also probably had the benefit of being in a wonderful sales situation where you spent just as much money and you came home and you went, dude, that was the, that was awesome. I want to do that again tomorrow.

[00:06:52] That was great. This was a perfect thing for me. I love it. And it's an awesome thing. And the difference is the intent behind it. That one of those salesmen [00:07:00] was making a commission. The other one was making a customer, 100% that. So we mentioned, I'll ask you about stewardship as well.

[00:07:09] And again, this is another one of those. I asked people about this. I've been doing it for years. I very seldom get the same answer two times as from people. And that is what is the word stewardship mean to you? But I want to go a little further and ask how that definition has actually impacted your life.

[00:07:25] Kyle Sullivan: Yeah. I think the stewardship from my definition would be to. To responsibly manage. What's been. And so there've been things that were given to me in the natural and the supernatural. There's been things like influence. I need to steward that well and handle it with care. And there's been finances that have come, and oftentimes I think that's where most minds initially go with stewardship is handling the natural money, the properties, whatever.

[00:07:59] But I think [00:08:00] stewardship is that. The careful and responsible management of what's been given to you, how is. How it's been affected in my life is it's just that it's understanding, like I'm here to be open-handed with, what's been given to me because I know that I had a part to play, but I was not the provider of it.

[00:08:23] And so if I know, okay. When things are handed to me, when things are given to me, if I handle them well, I'll get more. I am a good steward. I will be able to increase and enlarge my territory. And so that's what it is. It's, open-handed, it's going, Hey, it's going to flow to me. It's going to flow through me.

[00:08:44] It's going to flow because of me. And sometimes in spite of me. And so it's the careful management. Of what's been given to.

[00:08:53] Scott Maderer: So when you think about, people that, you talked a couple of weeks ago about having a lot of [00:09:00] different influence in your life, people that have mentored you, when you think about the people that you think of as truly successful, what are the, some of the characteristics or things that have made them successful?

[00:09:14] That's an open word too, as well. You may want to go there from your perspective.

[00:09:20] Kyle Sullivan: Yeah. I think one, what you, what the laughter was, everybody defines success differently. However, there are some things that if we're going to go with the stereotypical definition of success, successful business fluence influence, that type of thing.

[00:09:36] I would say the number one. Is that at least those am around. They're incredibly generous and they understand that, man, I'm going to give of my resources. I'm going to care for my time. I'm going to give. Now I do understand that like affluence, fluids, and money, it's just a magnifier of who you already are.

[00:09:59] If you're [00:10:00] an a-hole and you get money, you just don't have more resources to be an ale. But thankfully I've been blessed with people that they get a lot, so they could give a lot. So I think that's one thing. Another thing is of all the people that, that there's a contentment. But there's not a satisfaction.

[00:10:21] So like they're content with where they're at, but they're not satisfied to stay there. So I think that there's this constant, like goal-setting, there's this constant evolution that happens and they understand that what are what I get to do is too big and the opportunity is too large and time is too short to stay put.

[00:10:43] And so they're very futuristic. They're very okay. Hey, we're working with this right now. We're really excited about it, but Hey, in six months, 12 months, 24 months, five years from now. Hey, here's what I think would be really cool if we were working towards building towards, and [00:11:00] then I think within their circles of influence, they're incredible motivators, and they're just able to have this magnetism about, then it says.

[00:11:11] I don't quite know what they're a part of, but I don't want to be at the table. And so I think that is what allows a lot of folks to have the success and those in my life. That's what they did to create an impact in my life, to where I want to model after what they did.

[00:11:27] Scott Maderer: So one of those areas that I've seen and you've had the pleasure of get to do a lot of speaking and public speaking and different events and that sort of thing.

[00:11:37] And of course, somebody just heard, public speaking threw up in their mouth a little bit, but for those folks that hear that and want to use speaking as part of their influence and, sidebar secret, all of us actually end up using speaking as part of our influence because whether it's public speaking or not, What do you see as some of the top tips or ideas for how people can actually effectively use speaking [00:12:00] to, to influence others?

[00:12:01] Kyle Sullivan: One, I want to speak to the person that just threw up in their mouth. So I had a conversation with a gentleman one time and he was telling me he's like how he helps people get over. People say, I have a fear of public speaking. And he's I don't think you do. You just have a problem with the environment that you got a Publix begin.

[00:12:22] So like Scott and I, we went to a restaurant and the waitress came up and said, Hey, what do you want to drink? And you said, oh, I'd like a sweet tea. Because we recognize that we're both from the south in previous episodes. We want a sweet tea. I

[00:12:36] Scott Maderer: hate to tell you this I'll lose by Southern card, but I actually don't like sweet tea.

[00:12:40] I don't like tea. I know exactly what it is. I'll drink water. I may lose my Southern cord. I have a problem.

[00:12:47] Kyle Sullivan: Wow. Hey, you know what I appreciate the integrity has got for say a day, because you could have just

[00:12:53] Scott Maderer: my wife drinks enough for both of us.

[00:12:55] Kyle Sullivan: So the three of us are at dinner. Me and your [00:13:00] wife. We'll get, we'll

[00:13:00] Scott Maderer: get a sweet tea.

[00:13:01] I've ordered water, but it's all good.

[00:13:03] Kyle Sullivan: Guess what we just did. We spoke in public. And so for the person that says, oh my gosh, I could never do that. Take an account of how many times that you actually public speak. The only difference is that it's a larger group of people that you're sharing that information with.

[00:13:26] It's a very funny analogy, but it's like, there's probably been. 15 times today that I have Polik spoke, and I went to the gym and I had dropped my daughter off at her area. And I picked my daughter there's all of these things that I'm public speaking all the time.

[00:13:42] And so that's one for those that are wanting to get on, larger groups of people to public speak with and stages and things like that. I think it's important to know that, Where there's a ton of places that you could go speak for free. There's a ton of [00:14:00] places that you could go and just put yourself in the room of a team meeting or of a council meeting or a, whatever.

[00:14:09] A buddy of mine asked me, how do I buy more bins? And I was like, there's a whole section on event. Bright, just free events. Facebook events. And so what it's understanding this to Scott people. Aren't just going to reach out and say, Hey, I want you to come speak for me. That's not gonna happen.

[00:14:31] You gotta put yourself out there and put yourself in the environments to get those opportunities, to have, the willingness to share. And then What is the message that you're going to share? For me so often does, as I've gotten to be on, I gotta be on podcasts like yours and others is because I owned my story.

[00:14:53] So many people go, holy crap, man. Do you want to athlete drug dealer, pastor [00:15:00] husband, father, founder of a company. I got to hear more. Was because through all of that, there's some lessons, there's principles, there's things to apply, but you get our own where you're at. And I didn't have hardly a fraction of the opportunities I have when I was trying to hide what I've gone through.

[00:15:22] It's so cliche and, lot of pastors will say, but really my message is the message, the setbacks in my life or the setups. And so to the person wanting to get out there, be like Nike and just go do it, put yourself in any environment, understanding that the proximity principle is real, identify where you want to go and they go there.

[00:15:46] You don't have to say anything you don't have to, but being in the room helps so much.

[00:15:51] Scott Maderer: You can follow Kyle on Facebook is Kyle John Sullivan or find him over on his [00:16:00] website@kylejsullivan.com. He's also active on LinkedIn is Kyle John Sullivan. And on Instagram is Kyle J. Sullivan. All of course have links to all of that over in the show notes as well. Carl, is there anything else you'd like to share with.

[00:16:13] Kyle Sullivan: Yeah. One of the things that I'm learning most in my current assignment of my championship run is that oftentimes we want peace. That's what we want in decisions, but peace is rarely proceeded without action in obedience. And so understanding that the piece you want you'll gain when you take action, not just when you think about it.

[00:16:39] Scott Maderer: 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 do us a favor. [00:17:00] Go over to inspired stewardship.com/itunes rate.

[00:17:06] 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 world.