The Ryan Leak Podcast - Know Your Why

Episode Date: October 29, 2021

If you don’t know your why, when you fail, you won’t be motivated to get back up. Season 2 is us going through Ryan Leak's book Chasing Failure and giving insights on how followers can embrace risk-taking in their work environments. You can purchase Chasing Failure at ryanleak.com.

Welcome to followership with Ryan Leake, a podcast designed to equip followers with the tools they need to succeed in the workplace. I don't know what kind of leader you have, but I do know that the type of leader you have does not have to determine the type of team member, the type of follower you can become. I know there's a great deal of resources that are spent on leadership every single year. I decided I wanted to create a resource for followership and for followers and people that are following those leaders because I think each and every one of us has to own our stuff, own our presence in the workplace, and show up as best as we possibly can. And so this particular season of followership with Ryan Lee, a great team member of mine, Lacey, has been interviewing me on every single chapter.

And so I want you to hear some insights that we pulled out of chapter three of my book, Chasing Failure, if you've not purchased a copy of Chasing Failure, I encourage you to go do that right now. So hey, enjoy this episode. Ryan, so last episode, we talked about Kobe and how you met Kobe. Can we just touch on what happened within a 12-month window? Because most people don't even make it to the Kobe story in their life. And then you fast forward 12 months to go from meeting Kobe to trying out for a professional NBA team.

Just walk us through how that happens. Well, you know, you walk out. So, you know, I'm in this, I'm in this room with Kobe. And Kobe's, you know, I tell him about chasing failure, this idea that, you know, I want to ask a lot of people, what would you do if you knew you couldn't fail? And I think it just sets people free. And he's like, you got to do it.

And I'm like, man, I think I'm going to be in the NBA. And he's like, yeah, do it now. And I'm like, crap. You know, it's like, like, what are you? It's like, like now Kobe, you're so telling me how much harder it was, but he's like, no, you've got to go for it now. Wow, man. All right.

So I'm like, where do we go from here? Because I only had planned as leading up to meeting post that. It's like, this is all the NBA connections I have. You know, it's like I don't, there's no, and like NBA connections, they're not like going to like, they might help you get tickets, but a tryout? That's not an ask. Does that make sense?

Like, you don't, you don't call your boy for like, hey, you think the coach is like, you like, that's, that's weird. So I really didn't know what to do. So I just, I googled it. I went to the internet. I find the public relations emails for every single NBA team. And I just started emailing them one by one saying, hey, my name's Ryan Leak.

I'm 6.3, 200 pounds looking for failure. Here's the deal. I think you got fans all across the city that are afraid to fail. I don't think they should be imagined if they had this mindset that they, you know, what would they do if they weren't afraid to fail? I think we could take a lot of your fans' dreams off the shelf together. why don't you give a stranger a chance to trial for your basketball team sincerely Ryan Lee? You know, I'm like, this is absurd.

Like, who's going to say yes to this? So the Boston Celtics actually wrote back in about 30 minutes. Oh, that's awesome. Like, hey, Ryan, great story. It's just not for us. Best of luck in your future endeavors. And I'm like, oh, there it is. The thing we're all afraid of, rejection.

and I was discouraged for about five minutes until I realized, like, wait a second, the Boston Celtics just emailed me on like a Tuesday. Like, this is amazing. So I got real brave, like, I got real great. I don't know. You know, I'm, I'm email Nike. I'm an email, you know what I discovered that day? You can email people for free.

It's not illegal. It is not illegal. to email anybody. Like you can just, you can email. The worst thing that can happen is, well, one, they say no or two, they just don't respond.

And what's, you know, what's the worst that can happen? Well, after five emails, the Phoenix Sun said, come on Monday. And I was like, like this Monday,

they're like, yeah, bring your camera crew. And I'm like, camera crew, I don't have a kid. Yeah, of course, I have a camera crew that we'll find.

this week to fly with me to Phoenix. And I'm like, you know, so I didn't have a camera career. A guy named Chuck, who was awesome. Wait, did we paycheck anything for this? Like, are we begging and borrowing favors to get Chuck on a plane? We are begging and borrowing. And I was broke. I'm like, dude, I have a few miles.

I think I use Miles to get him to Phoenix. I might have flown standby to get, I mean, it was, it was, I didn't know where we were going to stay when we got there. It's too good. I mean, it was just, it was just, it was this absurd, the whole thing. I was like, what in the world are we doing? A buddy of mine picked this up in Phoenix.

I was like, did I got you a hotel across the street from, you know, the Phoenix Sondering? I was like, this is crazy how this all just unfold. I can't even, but it felt too good to be true. Oh, and there's no way they're going to let me play. There's no way. But they did. They did. Ladies and gentlemen, I need you to go to chasingfellier.com or Ryanleek.com

and you can go watch the chasing failure documentary. Spoiler alert, I failed. That's why we're here recording this podcast and writing books about it because I failed. And it was seriously one of the greatest experiences I've ever had and most embarrassing at the same time. it actually was I think they were trying to prove a point they were trying to kill me I really believe they were trying to

to make sure that I never came back and you know I think part of what I learned there as I was doing a drill where I literally thought I was going to pass out is I just kept going past this logo and

as I'm going back and forth past this logo. I'm like, that's the Phoenix Sun's logo. Usually I'm out of breath or falling apart, you know, with the lifetime fitness logo, the 24-hour fitness logo, you name it. But on this particular day, it was the Phoenix Sun's logo, and I realized chasing failure took me further than chasing success ever did. You know, I had done a lot of things in my life, but I had none of those things landed me on an NBA practice court. And Ironically, that story continues to allow me to play a very, very small part with a few professional sports teams now. And that it's, you know, I learned that chasing failure took me further than chasing success did in, you know, 2014, 2015 when I tried out for the suns.

You know, in 2021, I think I'm learning. there's more than one way to be in the NBA. Yeah. There's more than one way to be in the NFL. There's more than one way to work for Facebook or do some of these things we dream of. And so I think we have to realize, like, man, the journey of just being willing to put yourself out there and not being deteriorate by that. Because ultimately, I didn't make the team. And that was very discouraging for me, but also at the same time,

It was very revealing for me. Yeah. And I think that is really the heart and point of chapter three is really going, did you really fail? Or did you actually learn something about yourself that you wouldn't have learned if you didn't fail? And to me, that's a win. Yeah. And so Phoenix was crucial for my life and crucial for my career. The other thing I think that you do so naturally, and I know it didn't come easy at first,

and I know in many ways your decades into a practice of a lifelong journey of mastering this, but you have such a way of reframing failure. And when I've heard you talk about the Phoenix Sun story, you normally lead or it'll come up naturally, when you talk about that story, you never talk about the tryout and failing first. You talk about the three minutes in your life that you were coached by coach Jeff. That's like, it's like, that's almost the lead in with you is like, oh, man, one time I was like coached by this NBA coach. And right? And it's like most people would lead with the failure or, you know, a story for another day, the time you almost had dinner with like president Barack Obama.

Right. It's like most people would focus on the failure or what didn't happen. But you tend to reframe failure always in the light of what you learned or what was awesome about that. That can't be easy. Can you talk about how hard that's been for you to almost assume that mentality or how hard it is for you today to continue to do that or how you've gotten so good at it? Well, I think our situations are always going to be our situations. But how we frame those situations is what can change. And so there are horrible things that have happened to people in their past.

And I'll sit with them and just give them a different perspective. I didn't change what happened. I changed how they see what happened. That's the beauty of perspective. So I remember there was one time when, because I didn't grow up. My parents didn't have a lot of money at all. I mean, we were paycheck to paycheck or less. I remember during a day and age where if you went to the gas station,

you had to, you could pump then pay. So there was a time where people would pump gas and then dash and just dart off and not pay for their gas and basically steal gas. Now you have to put in a credit card or pay before. well, I remember my dad pulls up to the pump and somebody had just dashed. Someone had just pumped gas, put it back in the deal,

and then my dad was stuck with the bill because he started pumping and realized, oh, that's not zero. It was already at 21. And I remember, I remember sitting at this gas station waiting for my mother to bring us like $10. before we could leave the gas station

or else they would call the police. Like I just remember being so embarrassed and so mad. And I just remember, I wasn't mad at my dad. I think I was mad at the situation. Yeah. And I was just like,

I'll never be poor. I just remember thinking that. I just remember thinking, I'll never be poor. And as weird as it sounds, I thought our gas tanks will always be full. Right. That's the rich life.

Yeah. Yeah. It's like rich people get full of tanks and their cars are washed. So our car is always going to be clean and it's always going to be full of gas. So first new car got when we got married, it's so funny. Every day. Every day, lace. Or if we're like, where are you going?

Gas station? She's like, why? Well, we got three quarters of a tank. We need to be full. She's like, Ryan, we have like another 300. miles before it's on empty. Nope, not in this house. Sorry.

Get the car locks every day. Yeah, it's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, uh-uh. Nope, we're not playing that game. Uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh. The gas light is for poor people, and that's not us. We're not going to be that. Not in this house. You know, it was just this crazy gas obsession.

It was just nuts. It was like, Ryan, what the world's wrong with you? And I just remember sitting with somebody and I was telling him the story and they said, you may see a poor father, but I see a dad full of integrity that was willing to pay for somebody else's gas.

And it was just like, that's not the story I had in my mind. Yeah. But that is the power of perspective. Like what kind of man would stand there and do that and be brave enough to do that? And it was just like, I gained more respect.

for my dad and thinking about like, man, that also set me on a path to be pretty entrepreneurial as well of going like, I don't ever want to be, I don't ever want my kids to have to sit at a gas station in the parking lot waiting for my wife to come. That was one way, but man, I do hope my kids see me as a man of integrity that, man, if ever in a situation, hey, we pay for somebody else's bill, even if it wasn't our fault. Yeah. And just think about his demeanor, right? Not blowing up. I mean, that's why that narrative shaped your childhood so much

just because you didn't see an explosive response. So you're caught between the shame and embarrassment and fear, right, versus had your dad blown up like the rest of us, shared some commentary about the gentleman before. It would have shaped your narrative. Yeah. Oh, and he never did. He was super chill.

Like, he wasn't embarrassed. He's like, I'm waiting for my wife. I'm glad to see it. I'm like, what? This is wrong. The world is not right. And we shouldn't have to pay for somebody else. But it's just like, no, your dad was incredible.

Long after he was gone, I was still getting perspective. So I think when people think about, you know, some of their setbacks, some of their challenges, and I really think that they really have to gain, you know, what's the best possible perspective? I'm not talking optimism. I'm talking just a different perspective and going, did I learn from that experience? And if you did, you won.

Take the W and keep moving. So I think it's, I wasn't always that way. That's for sure. So I wasn't always like this positive reframer. I do think there is some natural optimism in me. but it wasn't always at the level that it is now where it's like, man, if somebody has had a colossal failure, I'm going, hey, your only failure is in how you respond to this failure.

So let's get off the ground. What do we learn? And let's keep moving. But what really breaks my heart is watching people fail the same way over and over and over again. to me, I'm going, you're not learning your lesson. You're not paying attention to the signs. If you've been, if you're listening to this and you've been moved within the same organization six times on six different teams, it's not the organization that has the problem.

You've got to look in the mirror and go, why am I not working out with all of these? other leaders. You've got to stop the bleeding. And I think some people are just going, it was them. They're the issue. Not six times. Not four times.

Not three times. At some point, I think we've got to take ownership of our stuff and go, listen, if I'm continuously failing in a particular area or with a particular team, at some point, it's not the team. at some point it's us.

It's so good. We have a rule in our house or I guess just more of a saying, but we always say if you've met more than one coconut in a day, you're probably the coconut, right? Or if you've met one or more jerks in a J, you're probably the jerk in many ways. But I think that's so true. Right.

So I think your public failure came with a documentary. So it's really easy to talk about. Is there anything recent that we can, kind of like bring to light that just I think is more vulnerable or not as public and hasn't maybe essentially in the same way propelled quote unquote a career created a platform for you yet to meet people but anything come to mind that you're willing and able to share so we can continue down this path of just how to reframe in a moment that feels uncomfortable I fail every single week most people don't know that I think people can see um

you know, whether it's social posts, LinkedIn, you know, they may have listened to me speak at a church or at their company or wherever. And think, he's doing well, which, hey, you know, we've had, we've had a, we're doing just fine. No question about it. But the failures continue to pile up, Lace. It is It is It is I wouldn't say it's nonstop But it's I always have a recent failure story

Um Was getting ready to speak for A rather Large Organization Set up everything Virtually The Zoom had the mics, the lights, the lights,

everything set up and the mic chord slipped out when we hit record. And I presented for 50 minutes, 50 on a volume of about a one. Oh. They were texting me, but what did I put my phone on? Do not disturb. You do.

Yep, that's right. You're an attention presence going to be. I had slides. that made it full screen. I couldn't see the chat. And I just, I went to town and I gave my best. Oh, I went off. I was in it to win it.

And I'm like, I am going to knock it out of the park for them. This is a huge client. And at the end, they said, your slides are great. Your energy was great. We just couldn't really hear you. And I was embarrassed. Oh, I was embarrassed. I mean, it's still painful to think about.

What did I learn? I learned that you need to triple check everything from your lights to your slides to to everything. I was I was presenting to a larger movie production house. I was doing one of their. event. And I said, hey, today I've got eight questions, eight questions that I think every single person needs to be asking. And as I'm clicking through the slides, number two disappeared. I don't know where it went, Lace. I don't know where it went. And so I just kept talking and

just somehow made it to number three and just kind of kept. And I'm just going, how did I, number two accidentally got deleted. I know it was created. I saw it before we started. Yeah. But maybe I clicked through it too fast or I just, it's embarrassed. I mean, it's just, now, maybe they didn't notice, but I noticed. you know, it's like he just, he's got to own it and just, hey, you know, mistakes happen.

And they thoroughly enjoy the presentation, but at least they could hear it. So I moved on. I moved up. So they heard the entire presentation. There's one audience member who's like still laying in bed. What was number two? Yeah, right? They're like, this guy needs to get it together. I'm like, dude, text me.

I'd be happy to tell you what it is. You know, I think the. one that really stinks the most is, you know, it's interesting. Last fall, getting ready for chasing failure to come out. My team, I sensed a level of boredom that I was very uncomfortable with. The level of engagement from the publisher to marketing to social, all of that was just very mundane. And then I remember I was sitting on an airplane and I just. I just emailed the team and I said New York Times.

I'm shooting for New York Times. And it was like everybody woke up. Everybody woke up at a whole different. I mean, it was like, everyone was like, well, if we're going to do that, everyone's going to have to bring their A game, which what were we doing before? Everybody. And just knowing you that bothers you so much. I'm like, what do you mean?

Like there's levels of this thing. And if there is, then why aren't we giving our best? Like, then let's go, you know? So, base you on Bobby. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

So, you know, hitting New York Times is very like, there's no, there's no real way to do it. If that makes sense, it's very, it's up to the New York Times.

They get to decide what it is. It's not even based on selling a certain number of books. I did not hit New York Times. We worked very hard. We, sold enough books to hit New York Times. We compared the numbers of the books that hit the list versus how many we sold the first two or three weeks.

And so it's not just a numbers thing. We also wanted to hit Wall Street Journal. We didn't. Once again, we had enough. We sold enough books to do so. And that was very, very disheartening, very discheartening, very discreet. discouraging. And, you know, it's so funny.

Publishers like, hey, you did hit USA Today. And I'm like, I didn't want to hit USA Today. And they're like, and then like, I'm like just, you know, living live in life and hang out with people. They're like, dude, that's pretty great, man. Congratulations. I'm like, don't congrats me. We lost. And they're like, what are you, what world do you live in?

But again, we were chasing failure. Yeah. We were going for it. It ignited our team. We shot for the moment. We landed on a star. It's great. It's very, very successful.

The book has done very, very well. Just not the kind of well that I wanted it to be. So we fell short of our goal. We still had some success in that. And so, and I just, I learned a ton through that whole book process, the whole authoring process. Publisher was great. I had not had good experiences before. And so there's just a lot of, a lot of lessons learned.

And, you know, we hit some other list. And that, that's all great and dandy. but yeah, those are some recent, recent failures, some small, some bigger. It doesn't get easier. But yeah, I mean, it's like you, you, I mean, so here's something I have to deal with. And I love this conversation because I don't talk about this stuff anywhere else. Right, right. So I have a speakers bureau.

what this Speakers Bureau does, premier speakers group, they're awesome. They literally pitch me to clients all around the world every single week. And so what happens,

skimming y'all a little bit behind the scenes, they'll say, hey, hey man, we're presenting to this Fortune 500 company. I won't name names, okay? But we're presenting, we're presenting you to, to this company, and you're like, oh my gosh, man, that's incredible.

Are you serious? Oh, okay, that's awesome. It's say, hey, can you hold the date? Hey, it's November 15. They're going to consider having you for their event on November 15th and November 16th. Can you put a hold on your calendar? You're like, yep, you bet your bottom. That's exactly what I'm going to do.

My hold is on my count. Well, you start seeing holds for all of these amazing companies all around the country. it's incredible. You're like, oh my gosh, I can be speaking here, I can be speaking here. I can be speaking here. It's great.

But then slowly but surely, you start getting these emails that say, release the hole. There's no other information, which just kills you, Ryan. You're such a learner.

None. Yeah. Not a thing. Release the hole. Release the hole. So you're looking at 10 holes. And you're like, oh, man,

tell you what, ball going to be real good. And then all of a sudden you get like eight release the whole email. You're like, oh, man, that's, that's cool. Yeah. Okay. And then you get one like, yeah, they're going to get you. You're like, man, that's great.

And so people will hear about the one. It'd be like, dude, you're speaking there? Dude, you, that's incredible. Dude, you've made it. I'm looking at the other nine going, no, I have not made it at all. But you have to have a very strong mentality to handle those sorts of things. You are going to win some. You are going to lose some.

And even in that particular situation, it's really not personal. They're looking at three or four speakers, and they're picking the one that's best suited for their event, not my event. You know, in the book I talk about the former Hewlett-Packard CEO, Carly Fiorina. In her book, she talks about what she had learned from running from president. Yeah. And you just, and most people, and I've done this because it's just fun for me.

I research what it takes to run for president. first off, you need about $10 million just to get the party started. Then you got to get signatures from, you know, all of these states and just like, and I was just looking at the process. And I'm just going, man, this is, this is a lot. So I really, she was somebody that ran for president and lost and just kept moving. And I love what she said. She said, I was prepared to win and I was prepared to lose.

I also obviously knew that it was a really tall order. It was a very long shot. So while I put everything into it and believed I was highly qualified to do the job, I was also very prepared not to do the job and to go on and find other ways to make a difference consistent with what I believe. And so I think that there is often this idea that it's, well, it's either I'm going to be president or bust. It's championship or bus. bust. It's Grammys or bust. It's Oscars or bust. It's a million subscribers or bust. It's viral or it's a bust. It's like, no, there is a middle. And for me, I thought, it's New York Times or bust.

That's not true. It's you write a good book that adds value to other people and maybe you get put on a list. But if you don't get put on the list, it doesn't detract from the value that you've added to other people. Does that make sense? So I think, so when I think about, you know, encouraging people to step outside of their comfort zone or to take a risk or try out for a team or shoot for the Olympics or anything like that, I just go, hey, enjoy the journey. And sometimes what happens in all of this is, you know, chasing failure can also be a process of elimination for you. Sometimes to discover what you're supposed to do, you have to discover what you're not supposed to do.

And so I think that's what, that was some of the perspective that I gained in Phoenix. Gosh, that's so, so good, Ryan. I think, too, just having people around you that are willing to tell you what you're good at and not good at, right? And knowing that they're doing so out of love and how do you build this team around you or this family around you or mentors around you

that are willing to give you the hard truth, but are also really to like invest and build you up in the areas that make sense for your career or make sense for who you are or kind of your passion. But what I love so much about your reframing failure chapter, I don't know if we've ever really talk about this with just you and I,

but I love that in that chapter, you could have ended it a page early with just Carly's quote because I think it's so meaty and it's worth just people reflecting on how to prepare for losses and wins and to do both well. You tap on at the end of it your why and your purpose and you talk about how you realized, you know, what your why is and why that's sustainable. And the reason why I thought that was such a beautiful dichotomy is because your why sustains without this like tallyboard of outcomes. And so I'd love to just hear from you as we wrap up kind of this episode, we've got some

more time. But can we just talk about how you accomplish things living with the results, but also just being in the zone of why. And maybe for those who haven't read the book, kind of as you realized your why, maybe you can start there of why this is what you want to be doing, why the book almost doesn't matter. It's just another tool in kind of the Ryan League tool belt. Yeah. You know, I had, in terms of my own personal goals in my 20s, I had pretty much reached most of them.

It wasn't until I turned 30 that I realized that they weren't really that big. So I'm like, yeah, of course you did. Well, we heard earlier, Ryan, one of them was just gas in the gas tank. Yeah, right? So it was like, yeah, if I, no, seriously. seriously though, it was like if I could make enough money to have gas money, like gas money was what I grew up on like, man, if you got gas money, you're rich. You know, and it was just like, hey, I have enough money to keep my gas tank feel. I was like, man, I feel great. Yeah, yeah. That really is not, you know, gas. I think we've been like $1,200 a year on gas. You know,

I was like, it's really not like that much, you know. But I think at 29, I was on the executive team at our church. And I just, I thought we were doing great work, our church, making a big difference in the community. I was getting ready to turn 30. and I just thought I don't know that I I don't know that I want my 30s

to be marked by what I'm doing now just personally that was just where I was at and I was getting ready to speak at this like I forget exactly what it was but the person that that grabbed me at the end was like

hey you did a great job but you're not you're not just a great speaker like you pull somebody's life off the floor. You know, they, you know, their kid was dating somebody that they didn't approve of, you know,

they were on drugs, and they were, like, literally sleeping in like a shack somewhere. And they said, hey, they, they wouldn't listen to one of your messages, but they, they would watch your documentary

and they actually like basketball. And so they watched your documentary, met with, you know, their parent that they hadn't spoken to in forever. And applied for, junior college and they're actually going to be playing basketball for junior college in the fall. You turn somebody's life around and I thought, I want to spend my 30s creating content that pulls people's lives off the floor in some way, shape, or form. That's what I want to do.

My why is, you know, I think there's somebody working somewhere, living somewhere that's just down. They've got their head down and I'm thinking to myself, you know what, the day their job brings me in to speak is going to be the best day they've ever had in their career. That's how I think. That's how I show up. And you know what? The other day I was speaking for a mortgage company.

And somebody wrote the CEO, and it was their first day on the job. And they had me come speak for their lunch and learn. You know what I mean? And they were like, what kind of company Is it like you would bring in somebody like this, this is the best place I've ever worked in my life. And I'm like, yeah.

That's what I hope, you said. One person wrote them and said, this was the greatest 62 minutes of my entire life next to the day I got married and when my daughter was born. And I just thought, yep, that's my, I like he didn't know it but it's like I made a decision six years ago to dedicate my life to helping people in their darkest hour to go you know what? Nope.

Today things change. And so I just so if it's a book, podcast, keynote, sermon, a lunch. I'm thinking today's the day. like let's bring it and sell for me you know all of these other measurements that I think are good business practices you know yeah we'll measure some stuff

but at the end of the day I'm going do we have value to other people do we help our clients was the event about me or was it about them did we help them score a touchdown in some way to perform that's my why And I think it's important that each and every person has, and this is why I'm getting out of bed.

That's right. And because it's really hard to stay motivated if you don't have that. Yeah, now more than ever, right? Oh, my goodness. Last episode, I thought you did such a great job breaking down some of the chaos and confusion in the employee-employer relationship. But it goes both ways. We don't often talk a lot about leaders feeling. exhausted and confused at the employees.

But we talk a lot about employees being confused by their leaders and decision. But I mean, it's so true, Ryan. Like, how do you, how do you wake up now more than ever on fire and in passion?

And how does somebody find their why? Especially they're sustaining why through all of that chaos. Do you have advice or coaching to people that are thinking about Ryan? That sounds amazing for you. That's actually the best bumper sticker ever, right? For why, but how do you do it?

How do you find your why? Well, the reality is I think most people already have a why in some way, shape, or form. Most people's why is I got bills. That's why. Why am I working today? Because I got bills. So I think the first step is realizing what your why is. For some people, it's the money.

For some people, it's the power. For some people, it's the safety. It's comfort. Why am I still here? Because I was too afraid to try something else. Why am I still here? I'm four years from retiring. Why would I jump ship now?

I miss my bonus. I miss payout. So everyone already has their own why. I think what most people need to do is wrestle with. Is it the why they want to have? And what do you want your why to be? So for me, it was like I felt like I was making a difference in my previous role. I just didn't, it wasn't the difference I wanted to make.

And it wasn't the one that I thought could make the biggest difference. And so to make a bigger difference, I had to make a tough decision, which was to step away from that. Mm-hmm. In some capacity. And so I think understanding what your why currently is and being honest about that, then asking yourself, is that the why that I want to have? Some people are like, no, I just want to make money.

That's their why. I'm okay. Mission accomplished. It's just not mine. Like, that's just not, I need, for me to get out of bed, I need a bigger why than the almighty dollar. So, so my, my, my wife. is impact. And so what steers a lot of what we do,

which I'm in the content business essentially, so what steers a lot of our content is impact. FYI, the bigger impact you make, the more people will want to buy your products. The more value you add to customers, the more they're like, yeah, I want to spend money with that. So even, you know, you've obviously developed a great relationship with Whitney, but who is, you know, our C-O, again, it's going, you know, people will reach out to us and say, well, do you do this? And for Whitney, she'd be like, well, Ryan, do we do this?

I said, not today, but we can tomorrow. She's like, well, how? I said, we're going to go figure out a way. to add value if that's in our wheelhouse. If it's not in our wheelhouse, we make up something. But it's like that's what we do here. We go figure out ways to add value to our customers.

And so I think as long as we can continue doing that, it's not going to be a surprise that our clients continue to pay us because we keep adding value to their organization and their employees. the things that we do for them put them in a position to make more money. Isn't that the goal? And have happier employees, right? Exactly. So our Y continues to sustain us.

So I think, you know, every person can have a different sustainable why. But the vision's got to be bigger than just something that's in it for us. Yeah. It's got to add value to other people. Especially right now because I think we're all being challenged. or we've been challenged over the last, call it, year and a half, two years, to think about what we're willing to tolerate or what's convenient for our passion and our why, right? Your opening remarks about even just the state of the union as it relates to where people are doing work,

I think that's what's challenging so many people is what we were willing to tolerate or what we thought our passion and our why were like the zone that they were in. we thought it, you know, it was worth a 45-minute drive into work. And now it turns out it's not worth that, right? Or, you know, we found out we don't have to do that. And so we're all making some tough decisions, I think, where a lot of employees are and leaders are. I think right now as well,

because you can recruit talent a lot easier and a lot faster. You're seeing leaders not have to tolerate some of the whys on their team, right? People that are passionless or agenda. filled on your team. So it's interesting time for sure. Yeah. Love it. Yeah.

Well, I think that's what we have time for today. I was going to hit you with a heavy question, but you hit it on it at the end. Why and how do we find our why is and why it's important? So thanks so much. It's awesome. For sure. Thank you so much for listening to this episode,

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