Speaker 1 (00:01):

Hello everybody. Welcome to building my legacy podcast. I am here today with Rhett Power. He has done some really rather remarkable things if very involved with business leaders in, in many places actually living between Brazil and the U S at the moment. He is part of the Marshall Goldsmith 100 group. He’s a business adviser. He won last year, 2018 the best small business coach of the year award he has done a tremendous amount of work with entrepreneurs and business leaders. So with that you write for Forbes magazine, you write for inc, you write for CNBC, you certainly have made your face and voice heard and now you’re on LinkedIn live lunchtimes with Brett

Speaker 2 (00:57):

Well, no, go ahead. I’m sorry.

Speaker 1 (01:01):

So if you’d like to just share a little bit about how you got to where you’ve gotten so people can get to know who you really are.

Speaker 2 (01:10):

Yeah. Well, thank you. First off for having me on the show. This is a real delight and that just to have a conversation with you is just amazing and I do appreciate that opportunity. Yeah, that’s the story. I didn’t have a man, the life plan, I always [inaudible] The person that went with the moment and went with my gut. And what my gut told me, and I think for me the most sort of critical time is I was a peace Corps volunteer back in the early, late nineties, early two thousands, and really fell in love with it. I had done a bunch of jobs. I was kind of late going into the peace Corps. I was, I was 30 and sort of going through a, I wouldn’t say a midlife crisis, but I was, I think I was going through my a crisis of of doing.

Speaker 2 (02:08):

I wanted to do something that was meaningful. I had been working in a bunch of different careers and it really hadn’t found for me what was, what was, what my life’s calling I guess. So peace Corps seemed like a good option at the time. I was intrigued by the idea of it I mean, Kennedy’s words still spoke to me when he talked about serving your country and, and, and doing something greater than yourself. And so the peace Corps changed my life in a lot of ways because after peace Corps, I continued doing international development for USA ID and was, was really, for all intents and purposes, I had a great life. I mean, I had a great job. I got to travel at the, fill my passport pages and see new places and do work that helps people.

Speaker 2 (03:01):

All things I thought were very important to me, but I still had that nagging feeling in my gut that said, okay, you’re not quite there yet. This is, this is good but there’s something else missing. And I had a friend that I worked with and we talked for years about starting her own company. And finally one day we said, okay, we’ve got to do this. I can always come back to this, this work overseas if I want to, but I’ve got to, we’ve got to take this chance. And so we started a company, it was a children’s toy company. We bought a company in South Carolina, a one product company that we fell in love with. And that, the day I got the keys to that business, I said, okay, this is it. I mean, this is, this is what I was supposed to be doing right now.

Speaker 2 (03:52):

And and, and that’s sort of where this whole journey of coaching and we exited that company in 2014. We sold, sold the company I started again thinking about what was next and you know, I started meeting people like Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Thompson and people like that. And this whole coaching idea kept coming up and coming, coming back. And I remembered my days as a peace Corps volunteer as a teacher and how much I really, really loved that and how much I love seeing that light bulb moment go off in people’s heads, you know, when something clicks. And so I, you know, here I am as a coach now, and I, and an advisor, business advisor, and again, I’m in where I need to be and where I’m supposed to be. And I think when you find that in life, you hold onto it and you, you, you embrace it and you, you know, you go for it, you know, you go all in. And that’s kind of where I am now. And I, I wouldn’t change that.

Speaker 1 (04:55):

Can I ask you a question about that? Cause I just had a very interesting conversation with a executive the question was how do you know when you have found that purpose and part of the struggle, I think for people, as many people have a big notion, purpose is big. So when you arrived at that, how did you know you had arrived at it?

Speaker 2 (05:23):

It’s just this feeling of, I don’t know, I hate to use the word completeness or being female, you know, but I don’t feel when I get up in the morning, I don’t feel like there’s something missing. I don’t feel like there’s, you know, that I’m lost or I don’t feel like I’m off course. I feel like I’m where I’m supposed to be. I F you know, and I think that that’s part of that is paying attention to yourself and paying attention to be more self aware and being tuned in to what how you feel and what’s going on mentally and emotionally. I think that all plays into it, I think so I, I don’t know if that’s a great answer, but I think that some of that is just listening to yourself and listening to what, what you’re thinking and what’s going on with you. And I think that’s how, you know, I mean, I just know I, there’s not a magic thing to it. I, I just, I feel like I’m there. Right. I’m not wanting something else.

Speaker 1 (06:24):

Okay. So do you take time to reflect? Is that part of how you arrive at that? Is, is introspection a big part of what you do?

Speaker 2 (06:35):

I, I look ahead more than I look back. I don’t you know, we all make mistakes. We all have said, oops, I shouldn’t have done that or I should’ve have said that or I shouldn’t have gone there or whatever. And I think it’s okay to, to understand, understand that and to fix those if you make mistakes or to think about how you made that mistake, but dwelling on it and, and, and rehashing it and, and living in that I live in the future and I, I think about the future more than I think about the past if I made a mistake in the past and say, okay, is there something I can do to fix that? , then I tried to do that, but I don’t, I don’t dwell on it so much and, and reflect on it so much. As much as I say, okay, what’s next? What am I thinking about, you know, tomorrow, the next day, next year, you know, where am I going? Making sure that I’m going where I want to go.

Speaker 1 (07:31):

So one of the interesting things that you provide, Brett, is this marvelous combination of having done your own business and also now coaching. And I think so many times people in the consulting world and coaching world haven’t lived in it and gotten their hands and feet really dirty. So if you wouldn’t mind just sharing a little bit about what’s, you have seen some of the biggest challenges being for leaders and how that experience of yours has shaped that thinking that you have sure. I think, you know, I see a lot as you do, you know, in your, in your practice we see a lot and, and, and there’s not one or two things that are the most common. I think that there, I probably have a list of top 10 things of things I see most regularly. I think it, it, you know, and because I work in small businesses and I’m not only a coach, but I’m an advisor so I do a lot. I do some different things. And then a lot of coaches I do process stuff. I do, you know, HR and team building and culture and, and even manufac, I mean, I, you know, I’m a product guy at heart and so, you know, I know product pretty well and not to make it know how to sell it. And so I work in a lot of, I work a lot on those kinds of things as well.

Speaker 2 (09:05):

but I, I see a bunch of things, communication as a leader you know, getting people to understand the vision understanding their role in that and that in the company you’re understanding how important they are and, and communicating that to your teams, I think is one of the things I see a lot of of inspiring people to work towards that mission is something I see a lot of people have trouble with balancing life integrated, you know, not work life balance, so much as integrating work and life and other important things into your and to how you manage your, how you, you know, exist, I guess and then, you know, building a team, building a culture the fundamentals. I see people who really struggle with the simple things in managing a business, a burnout, C, a lot of burnout and also see a lot of people sort of crippled by decision making and fear and, and worrying about what their impact of their decisions. And so those are sort of the common things that I end up working on. A lot of the businesses that I, that I take on I don’t know if that answered the question, but that’s, that’s sort of sort of what I see most commonly.

Speaker 1 (10:27):

Right. And you talk about with entrepreneurs, how entrepreneurs know how to start a business but not know how to grow a business what if, what is it that you’ve seen there that has drawn you to that?

Speaker 2 (10:42):

Well, I did. I didn’t know how to grow my business either. I mean, it took us years to have that.

Speaker 1 (10:49):

How many years did you do your business?

Speaker 2 (10:52):

So we were in the business for seven years before we exited the event from basically broke to you know, a multi million dollar business and working in 30 countries and wouldn’t make making product to 30, 35 countries. And so we didn’t know how to scale it. We didn’t know how to grow it. We didn’t know quite what the model was. And we fumbled around for a bit to sort of figure that out. And I think, you know, for most entrepreneurs it’s a learning, you know this whole leadership thing, this whole entrepreneurship thing is a learning process. If you do it with an open mind, right? And you do it with the intent of growing and being successful at it. I think it’s a learning process and it’s a maturity process. I know, I know things that me, when I was early in the business don’t bother me now in running another business, right?

Speaker 2 (12:00):

They, the things I worried about and kept me up at night early on a year or two years, three years in, didn’t bother me anymore because I knew that there was a solution. I knew that I could deal with that and, and, and work it out so I think I guess the point of that is, is that it’s a growing and learning process. And if you, if you have an open mind you, you learn and you mature and you get better at it and you figure out how to scale and you figure out how to grow. And I don’t think anybody really, I mean, we had a 600 page business plan that made a great war stop. You know, we thought we, we thought we knew it all right? We thought we had gone in with a really solid plan and we had, there were two big management consultants who’d been working with businesses all over the world, right? So we knew what we were doing, but we didn’t know what we were doing. I mean, you know and we learned that pretty quick. So that business plan went out the window and we had to redo it and we had to rethink it and we had to constantly rethink it so I don’t know know.

Speaker 1 (13:06):

So for you, as you look at small business owners and entrepreneurs, biggest piece of advice you’d have for them.

Speaker 2 (13:17):

focus and persevere. I think gosh, I could go on and on make processes have, have a system that you can that you can teach people. Make it simple focus on your core product, your core competency and the thing that makes you really good, that things really good at if you’re not good at something, try to learn something about it but then hire someone to help you with it. Learn enough of it that you can tell people what you need and what you want, but that you can give to somebody delegate or hire somebody to come in and do that and I think that’s, that’s it. I mean, and then persevere and know that they’re going to be up and up and down and up and down moments. And you know, never give up and, and, and you know, we, there were so many times that we were on the brink of like disaster, you know, and, and you just, you keep pushing through and then you get that breakthrough. And I think so many people don’t know how hard it’s going to be, but, and it’s hard. It’s really hard.

Speaker 1 (14:36):

You know, I, I think I, I have been in the same shoes as you. I’ve also had a startup manufacturing company ticket globally, but nobody can prepare you for the amount of hard work and the amount of resistance that you also experience in the process. So you, you can hear it, but it’s quite different to experience it, isn’t it?

Speaker 2 (15:04):

Oh, I mean somebody asked me the other day, would I do it again? And I said, yeah, I would probably would, because I think that’s just, that’s who I am as my nature, I think. And I, and I actually enjoyed that phase of it immensely but phase I actually did not like very much at all was when we were in a really good position globally and you know, with product and we were humming along very nicely with no problems that’s what I was bored

Speaker 1 (15:40):

knowledge was gone. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (15:42):

So, yeah.

Speaker 1 (15:43):

Then entrepreneurs sometimes have a way of creating problems just in order to have that adrenaline constantly going. But let me ask you a question you had with all the writing that you do and traveling that you do, the people that you meet, you surely have thought about your own legacy and what it is that you want to leave behind. Would you mind sharing what that might be and how you develop that?

Speaker 2 (16:13):

I actually, I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately I just recently, last week in fact was at, well, I spent the last three weeks in the US , back in the US my cousin, somewhat considered my brother, I think in a lot of ways I was an only child with died of cancer. And I spent the last two weeks with him where he died. And the what made me really think about my legacy and all of that was to see the impact that he had on so many people. He was a teacher. He was he was at a elementary school teacher and a soccer coach.

Speaker 2 (17:02):

And the, in the city where he was from. And to see the outpouring of support for his family and his kids to see the response on social media and in the cards and the people coming by the house. And and then the, I gave the eulogy at his funeral and to see 700 people fill this place and it was over full. It was, people were out the door, you know, who wanted to come and, and just say their goodbyes and, and give their condolences and to S and they see the students. I mean one of the principals stood up and read comments from, from students in the letters from students to his family to see the impact that he had on young people’s lives and how he really took on the most challenging kids and, and, and and made, made them, you know, his, his projects.

Speaker 2 (18:09):

, it made me think a lot about what I do and I, and I think the answer to that question is for him it was very simple. He was doing what he was supposed to be doing. He was doing what he was called to do. And I think if you do that and you , do good work and you work with good people and you have good intent and you try to be good and you associate yourself with good people, I think your legacy will take care of itself. So I, you know, I don’t, I don’t know that I focus so much on a product or a company as a legacy or I, I think to me it’s about doing good work, making a good product , being a good father. And being a good spouse doing those kinds of things really well and having living with sort of that intent in my life, then my legacy will take care of itself.

Speaker 2 (19:10):

You know, I don’t think he took, I don’t think he thought about his legacy at all. He just loved teaching and he loved coaching. And so to me, if I do that and I do something I love and I do it like that and do it with the, the passion and the intent that he did it with, then my legacy will, will be what? It’ll be good. There’ll be a good legacy. Right so I think that that’s how I look at it you know, I think when I was 20, I probably would’ve answered that question differently or 30 when I would have probably said, well, this company is my legacy, you know, I’m leaving, you know? , but I think as I get older and, and, and I, I think that has shifted for me to, to be to live more with intent and just to be good.

Speaker 1 (19:59):

You know, it’s always sad to me when I see people at a funeral, I guess. And a family is fractionated person was successful financially, but there’s no family. And there’s a sadness about that, isn’t there?

Speaker 2 (20:16):

It’s a real sadness about that. Yeah. And I don’t want that. I mean, I don’t at all. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:25):

Well you won’t because you’re focused in such a different place and, you know, being focused on people I think shifts everything doesn’t it, to really grow and build people. So I’m curious, what are you grateful for me, you, you have, I just really appreciate your, and your honesty about that. And so I think when people are reflective, they’re all so grateful. So what are you grateful for most in your life?

Speaker 2 (20:59):

I think if you’d asked me that six months ago, I’d probably given you a different answer. I think today you know, having been through last few weeks it’s probably not much different, but I think for family and friends and, and life itself, and, and I think you know, I think in this time where public officials are calling people names and we live in the time of, you know, just everything seems so ugly I’m, I’m thankful for being around people that are more of a light and more of surrounding myself with people that are more positive and, and who are doing good. I mean, the mg 100 is a prime example of, of, of people who are trying to do good in the world. And I think so I’m grateful for that. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be able to do that and to be able to be in a position where I can focus on being around people that give me energy and, and, and that I can learn from and be better so I think those are the kinds of things I’m grateful for. I you know, wow. I’m just, I’m fortunate and lucky and I, I, I know that. And and so absolutely grateful for that every day.

Speaker 1 (22:32):

So Rhett, our time is, goes too quickly and it’s almost stuff. And it’s that one last question for you as you look at emerging leaders and you have seen what you’ve seen, advice that you have a, a yeah, a single thought or two that you think is really important for people to think about,

Speaker 2 (22:57):

, surround yourself with people that challenge you, that have different ideas and you maybe surround yourself with people that are positive and give you positive energy and that support your dreams and where you want to go in your life people that, I’ll tell you the truth but even in that truth will support you in what you want to do the S the other thing is, is to build a network. I think the importance of our network is is so I can’t say it enough. I think, you know, do things that and, and be active in your community, be active in business networks because it’s such a valuable way to learn, it’s such a valuable way to to be associated with people who can help you and the other thing is don’t be afraid to ask for help. That, that’s, that’s probably the best piece of advice I’ve ever gotten, is don’t be afraid to ask for help because when you ask for help, people are more likely to help, you know and I, I, that’s sort of hard to do for a lot of people. It’s hard to ask for help, but it is amazing when you do.

Speaker 1 (24:16):

It is, you always have to get past your own fear, don’t you? When he asked for help,

Speaker 2 (24:23):

it’s not easy. It’s an easy cause. It’s a vulnerability, vulnerability to it.

Speaker 1 (24:31):

we wanted to think of ourselves as being smart and self-sufficient, I think is part of it. So, yeah. Rhett, thank you so much for making time and on your very busy travel schedule and to talk with our audience. And for those of you who are listening today, thank you so much for your time if you would like to get some further information Rhett has done a great deal of writing any resources that we can have available to you from him, we’ll certainly be glad to pass on. Just simply connect with us or email us and we’ll be glad to do that for you. Thank you very much for your time today.

Speaker 2 (25:16):

Thank you.