Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Paul Epstein - Former NFL and NBA Executive, Founder of “Purpose Labs,” Host of “Playmakers Impact Unleashed” podcast, Speaker, and Author of “The Power of Playing Offense”

Transcript

Paul Epstein - Former NFL and NBA Executive, Founder of “Purpose Labs,” Host of “Playmakers Impact Unleashed” podcast, Speaker, and Author of “The Power of Playing Offense” · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

0:04
Speaker 1: Welcome to Money Making Conversations. It's the show that she
0:07
Speaker 1: has the secrets of success experience firsthand by marketing and
0:10
Speaker 1: Brandon expert Rashan McDonald. I will know he's giving me
0:13
Speaker 1: advice to many occasions. In occasion didn't notice, I'm not broke.
0:17
Speaker 1: You know. He'll be interviewing celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry
0:20
Speaker 1: decision makers. It's what he likes to do. It's what
0:23
Speaker 1: he likes to share. Now it's time to hear from
0:25
Speaker 1: my man, Rashan McDonald. Money making Conversations Here we come.
0:29
Speaker 1: Welcome to money Making Conversations. I'm your host, Rashan McDonald.
0:33
Speaker 1: It's time to stop reading other people's success stories. Come
0:35
Speaker 1: on now, and I always start reading it just really is.
0:38
Speaker 1: I look around and when I talk to people, and
0:41
Speaker 1: it gets a point where I'm not frustrated, but I'm
0:43
Speaker 1: really getting to clear understanding that because of social media,
0:46
Speaker 1: because of television, people tend to watch videos and they're
0:50
Speaker 1: trying to watch motivational things and they don't really understand
0:53
Speaker 1: it's about what they do for themselves. So I always
0:56
Speaker 1: tell people it's time to start writing your own story.
0:59
Speaker 1: My show is just uh he's supposed to take the
1:01
Speaker 1: little the advice, but not mirrordy expectations. And that's why
1:07
Speaker 1: I always tell people to leave with their gifts and
1:09
Speaker 1: don't let your age, friends, family, or coworkers stop you
1:12
Speaker 1: from planning or living your dreams. My interviews to include uh,
1:15
Speaker 1: celebrity CEOs, injury, decision makers, entrepreneurs, and my next guest
1:21
Speaker 1: is he's a decision maker. He's a he's a CEO,
1:24
Speaker 1: he's a celebrity in the world that he runs, he's
1:27
Speaker 1: the most important. He's an entrepreneur. His name is Paul Epstein.
1:30
Speaker 1: He's a fifteen year NFL and NBA executive, keynote speaker, host,
1:35
Speaker 1: and author of the Power of Plan Offense. And I'm
1:38
Speaker 1: gonna asking about because I'm a former comedian. I just
1:40
Speaker 1: always do there's an offensive comedian and I said, not
1:43
Speaker 1: offensive enus for fanity, but you can be an aggressive
1:46
Speaker 1: and non aggressive. So we'll see if we're aligned in
1:48
Speaker 1: that approach to how he's doing this this power playing mode.
1:52
Speaker 1: Paul is an expert in leadership and organizational culture with
1:55
Speaker 1: nearly fifteen years of experience as a professional sports executive
1:59
Speaker 1: for multiple NFL on the NBA teams. Wow a global
2:02
Speaker 1: sports agency in an NFL league office, leading and coaching
2:05
Speaker 1: business teams, most recently the San Francisco for the Niners.
2:09
Speaker 1: It was there that Paul had a life changing transformation.
2:11
Speaker 1: He found his why to inspire purpose and others so
2:14
Speaker 1: they can play offense in life. It's found a Purpose Lab.
2:18
Speaker 1: This Purpose Labs, Paul is on the mission to impact
2:21
Speaker 1: millions of lives by sharing his message of playing offense.
2:24
Speaker 1: As an author keynote speaking of business coach, He's on
2:27
Speaker 1: the show to talk about leadership and the culture of
2:30
Speaker 1: being successful. Please work with the money making conversation. Paul Epstein,
2:36
Speaker 1: Hey Rashan, what an intro. My man, that's awesome. I
2:39
Speaker 1: can't wait to dive in and just you and I
2:42
Speaker 1: aline on so many levels. So let's do this. Well,
2:45
Speaker 1: you know, the first of all is it's about lighting,
2:48
Speaker 1: and let's talk about that. Because of the fact that
2:50
Speaker 1: uh no, let's let's get let's get the little march madness,
2:54
Speaker 1: it hits you out to wait first. You know what
2:56
Speaker 1: I'm saying. There's love here, Paul. There's love here, Paul,
3:00
Speaker 1: but so pain and Paul. I'm a graduate of the
3:04
Speaker 1: University Houston you're a proud graduate of the Michigan Warrooms
3:09
Speaker 1: and a couple of years ago, you know your your
3:13
Speaker 1: Wolverine knocked out my Cougars or what I call the
3:16
Speaker 1: last second Jalen Sugs type shot. Oh Man, because sports
3:24
Speaker 1: has always played I'm not an athlete, and I don't
3:27
Speaker 1: know a few histories it stems from being an athlete.
3:30
Speaker 1: But you know, sports is what this this this isn't
3:33
Speaker 1: such a strong analogy and professionalism in corporate speak and
3:39
Speaker 1: so many different Why does sports align itself so well
3:43
Speaker 1: when you're talking about organizations, when you're talking about motivation,
3:46
Speaker 1: when you're talking about teamwork. How does sports play such
3:49
Speaker 1: a major role like that? Paul, Yeah, that's a great one.
3:53
Speaker 1: And look, I think on the surface everybody tapping into
3:56
Speaker 1: this conversation can understand that what you look for in
4:00
Speaker 1: all put it in the performance bucket. Whether you're performing
4:02
Speaker 1: on the court or the field or in the boardroom,
4:05
Speaker 1: you're looking for a lot of the same traits and characteristics.
4:10
Speaker 1: So you want people that have that leveled up work ethic, positivity, coachability,
4:16
Speaker 1: that sense of passion, and they ultimately need to have
4:21
Speaker 1: a deeper purpose. In other words, do they believe deeply
4:25
Speaker 1: in the game that they're playing, regardless of what walk
4:29
Speaker 1: of life. When your why is strong enough, what I
4:32
Speaker 1: have discovered is you'll figure out the how because inevitably
4:36
Speaker 1: life and business and sports. If it was all blue
4:39
Speaker 1: skies and it would be easy. But you and I
4:42
Speaker 1: both know, and we're coming off one of the more
4:44
Speaker 1: tumultuous years that, at least personally I've seen. I'm sure
4:47
Speaker 1: a lot of folks listening have experienced that being and
4:50
Speaker 1: so when you think about that adversity, it always strikes
4:55
Speaker 1: it's inevitable. We don't know when, we don't know how big.
4:58
Speaker 1: And my argument for purpose is that it is the
5:01
Speaker 1: fuel of courage, purposes, the fuel of resilience. And here's
5:07
Speaker 1: how I boil it down. Purpose is going to keep
5:10
Speaker 1: you on the treadmill of life, especially on the days
5:14
Speaker 1: you want to get off. And that's really what I
5:17
Speaker 1: think can apply whether it's sports, whether it's business or
5:21
Speaker 1: zoom out, and whether it's about life. And that's essentially
5:26
Speaker 1: how I approached the power of playing offense. It's universally applicable.
5:31
Speaker 1: You know. They're really interesting thing about is that some
5:33
Speaker 1: people get it right away, and I admire that, you know,
5:37
Speaker 1: and I had. I wasn'tto my forties that I really
5:40
Speaker 1: trusted myself. I think purpose and trust is tied together.
5:44
Speaker 1: I believe so, and uh and so And why is that?
5:48
Speaker 1: You know, because you know, you see, talented people have
5:51
Speaker 1: to be coached up here that were coached up you know,
5:53
Speaker 1: have to be motivated because sometimes they don't believe that
5:56
Speaker 1: the gifts that God have given them, or that the
5:59
Speaker 1: innate talents that have made them special or or shouldn't
6:03
Speaker 1: be shared on the court, shouldn't be shared at the
6:05
Speaker 1: level that they feel they can even expect of themselves.
6:08
Speaker 1: And you always hit the story that Michael Jordan didn't
6:10
Speaker 1: play vosity, you know, because he was cut. So it
6:14
Speaker 1: was that because he didn't realize how great he could be,
6:17
Speaker 1: or he didn't realize the talent he had at that moment.
6:19
Speaker 1: So when we're talking about purpose, let's dive in a
6:22
Speaker 1: little bit deeper. Not so much the book. The book has.
6:25
Speaker 1: The book is like a course in understanding the layers
6:28
Speaker 1: of how to find it within you. That's what I
6:31
Speaker 1: loved about your book. It's not a book that because
6:34
Speaker 1: I read a lot of books, Paul, they just tell
6:36
Speaker 1: you do this do this to this. But your book
6:39
Speaker 1: tells you that, but also tells you gives you steps
6:42
Speaker 1: on the look inside you and define your mission. And
6:45
Speaker 1: that's why I talk about telling people write your own story,
6:48
Speaker 1: and that's what you're asking people to do with your book. Correct, Yes,
6:52
Speaker 1: And I love where you're bringing us about not only
6:55
Speaker 1: knowing who you are, but really, in a nutshell, that's leadership,
6:58
Speaker 1: see the Yasus Rashan. Most books, when they're inspired from
7:03
Speaker 1: the right place, sometimes it comes from pain, right, and
7:07
Speaker 1: my pain was this is the playbook that I never had.
7:11
Speaker 1: And what I mean by that is I was trained
7:13
Speaker 1: to be a manager, and I was trained to achieve results.
7:17
Speaker 1: I was training to gain success, but nobody gave me
7:21
Speaker 1: the playbook for significance. Nobody gave me that playbook of what.
7:25
Speaker 1: Now I look at his leadership, which is, before we
7:28
Speaker 1: lead others, we must first lead ourselves. Where's that playbook
7:33
Speaker 1: in the world? And that's that inward look, that's that
7:36
Speaker 1: look in the mirror, that's that accountability to self. Because
7:38
Speaker 1: if we're not doing a great job of leading ourselves,
7:41
Speaker 1: why are we trying to lead others and teams and
7:43
Speaker 1: cultures and organizations? And that's really where this was, so
7:47
Speaker 1: that that's ultimately you know, kind of what inspired it.
7:50
Speaker 1: But also I spoke about the pain rashan and one
7:52
Speaker 1: of those things is this is a harsh reality. But
7:56
Speaker 1: six out of ten leaders in Fortune one thousand companies quote,
8:01
Speaker 1: have never received a single day of leadership training. That's
8:07
Speaker 1: a scary statistic because what that leads to is, and
8:11
Speaker 1: this is very public information, seven out of tend working
8:14
Speaker 1: folks in the world are disengaged. They don't like what
8:18
Speaker 1: they do, who they do, for where they do it. So,
8:20
Speaker 1: you know, you kind of understand people's painting those challenges.
8:23
Speaker 1: So I'm on a mission to flip that on its
8:25
Speaker 1: head because the working world and just the world in general,
8:28
Speaker 1: I imagine is I want folks like you and I
8:31
Speaker 1: and everybody listening in to be inspired to step into
8:35
Speaker 1: each day to make a contribution and an impact that
8:39
Speaker 1: matters to them. And then on the back end, I
8:41
Speaker 1: want them to be fulfilled. And here's where your story
8:44
Speaker 1: aligned so well with mine. I know that part of
8:46
Speaker 1: your piece is leading with your gifts. Imagine if every
8:51
Speaker 1: day you had an opportunity to exercise your gifts, your talents,
8:57
Speaker 1: your passions, that that's the world that I imagine. And
9:01
Speaker 1: that's not only why I wrote the book, but that's
9:03
Speaker 1: how I that's the spirit that I attack each day with.
9:06
Speaker 1: You know, here's the interesting thing. I my degrees in
9:09
Speaker 1: mathematics and minor and sociology and sociology really changed my
9:13
Speaker 1: life on how I look at people. It really helps
9:15
Speaker 1: me shape my decisions today. Now, I my career launched
9:20
Speaker 1: on stand up comedy, stand up comedy, and so when
9:23
Speaker 1: you start talking about that leadership, you know, that's the
9:25
Speaker 1: natural part of me because I always figured if I
9:28
Speaker 1: was in a room of a hundred people, if I
9:29
Speaker 1: got seventy people to laugh, then I was winning. You know,
9:32
Speaker 1: I was gonna I wouldn't walk off because you're not
9:34
Speaker 1: gonna get everybody, you know that. And so the conversation
9:37
Speaker 1: we're having here you have small work environments as leadership,
9:40
Speaker 1: and then you have a larger small corporation than large corporations.
9:44
Speaker 1: Is that culture that we're talking about, that leadership culture.
9:47
Speaker 1: That's when you're saying, how do if leaders aren't trained
9:50
Speaker 1: to be leaders, then they will fail as the as
9:53
Speaker 1: the as the crowd gets bigger, they can't hear you.
9:55
Speaker 1: You know, It's like everybody hear your conversation. Are you
9:59
Speaker 1: talking to the people in the back? I remember Paul
10:01
Speaker 1: that was with Stephen and was talking about playing big
10:05
Speaker 1: arenas like three thousand and seven thousand and twenty thousand
10:08
Speaker 1: seat arenas. That's a lot of people to control. And
10:11
Speaker 1: whenever we would go out on stage, we will always
10:13
Speaker 1: make sure we pointed to the rear of the arena
10:16
Speaker 1: just to let the people know we see you. And
10:19
Speaker 1: that's what leadership is all about. Acknowledging that you see everybody,
10:24
Speaker 1: even if you don't really see them, but you acknowledge
10:27
Speaker 1: that they're there. And that's what leadership falls apart by
10:31
Speaker 1: not acknowledging everybody and giving them a sense of purpose
10:35
Speaker 1: and also acknowledging they have a gift that can be
10:38
Speaker 1: utilized significantly by this company or the role that you play.
10:42
Speaker 1: Am I on the same page with your book. Literally,
10:46
Speaker 1: the third killer Brishan is called salute the long snapper.
10:50
Speaker 1: Now you don't need to be a sports fan to
10:52
Speaker 1: get this analogy. I'll just break it down in five seconds.
10:54
Speaker 1: The long snapper is the guy that hikes the ball
10:57
Speaker 1: to the punter. They are the person in life that
11:00
Speaker 1: if they do things right, they'll never hear a word,
11:04
Speaker 1: but they do one thing wrong and they'll never hear
11:08
Speaker 1: the end of it. And the reality is we've all
11:12
Speaker 1: been a long snapper at some point in our life.
11:15
Speaker 1: And so my mission, in my message here is we
11:18
Speaker 1: need to shine a light on those long snappers because
11:21
Speaker 1: there's way more long snappers in the world then there
11:24
Speaker 1: are star quarterbacks. But in business and in a lot
11:28
Speaker 1: of walks, all we do is praise the quarterback. We
11:32
Speaker 1: only praise the leader. When you and I both know
11:35
Speaker 1: that it takes a village and until everybody long snappers included,
11:40
Speaker 1: they feel like they genuinely, genuinely have a seat at
11:43
Speaker 1: the table, that's when they know they matter. That's when
11:46
Speaker 1: they're gonna give their all to the cause because they
11:51
Speaker 1: actually feel recognized, valued, seeing heard. So, yes, you and
11:56
Speaker 1: I are kindred spirits in that way. Well, that doesn't
12:00
Speaker 1: important because when you're trying to, you know, to write
12:03
Speaker 1: a book, a book as good as I'm reading a book.
12:07
Speaker 1: Yet people keep telling them I need to write a book.
12:09
Speaker 1: And so so when I run across a book like
12:11
Speaker 1: this and talks about leadership, talks about trust, it talks
12:14
Speaker 1: about being able to show your role and something you
12:17
Speaker 1: said earlier about what do you the your level of significance,
12:21
Speaker 1: Because I always talk to people about significance because that's
12:24
Speaker 1: that puts a statement of your value. Because you know,
12:27
Speaker 1: people can say, you know lebrod Jays getting a lot
12:30
Speaker 1: of money, well because he stated his significance. Okay, so
12:34
Speaker 1: so because he states significance, that can apply to you.
12:38
Speaker 1: If you in the mail room, if you're a significant
12:41
Speaker 1: person in the mail room, then guess what, They're gonna
12:43
Speaker 1: move you out of the mail room because they see
12:45
Speaker 1: value in you talk about how people and generally don't
12:50
Speaker 1: understand that that's the key. Uh. I always tell a
12:53
Speaker 1: story about when I was intern. Actually I work in
12:57
Speaker 1: the college intern at IBM, and they had told me,
13:00
Speaker 1: Paul that they only kept people there for one semester
13:03
Speaker 1: and that was it. While I stayed there for two
13:05
Speaker 1: and a half years because I showed them that you
13:08
Speaker 1: couldn't let me go because I had value to the
13:11
Speaker 1: employees that you hired. There were full times and so
13:15
Speaker 1: I played that game out because I trusted my natural instinct.
13:18
Speaker 1: Now you're saying the same thing is that you wouldn't
13:21
Speaker 1: You wouldn't in the sports world for fifteen years successfully
13:24
Speaker 1: because they liked you. That can get you in the door.
13:27
Speaker 1: But you understood being able to open up lanes of
13:30
Speaker 1: significance that people value, and that's why you retain that
13:34
Speaker 1: high level of success. Can you break it down for
13:36
Speaker 1: my viewers and listeners, And the way that I will
13:40
Speaker 1: break it down is this, And to your point, Rishan
13:42
Speaker 1: is super important here. Yes, the success, but ultimately, especially
13:48
Speaker 1: in the world I was in, you had to perform
13:51
Speaker 1: or there was no seat at the table. And so
13:53
Speaker 1: I understood that track record and street crediting, all these
13:57
Speaker 1: different things matter. But let me zoom out for a
14:00
Speaker 1: second and then I'm gonna come back to success and significance.
14:03
Speaker 1: I think at a larger societal level, one of the
14:05
Speaker 1: challenges is we, especially here in the United States, we're
14:09
Speaker 1: raised in a way where we look at your trophies,
14:14
Speaker 1: we look at the brands that you represent or that
14:17
Speaker 1: you associate with. We're always chasing success, and that's the
14:22
Speaker 1: first mountain of life. And I did not know that
14:24
Speaker 1: there was the second mountain coming, which is the one
14:26
Speaker 1: about significance. But let me come back to the first
14:28
Speaker 1: mountain of success. So you're climbing and you're climbing, and
14:32
Speaker 1: the better you are, the better your LinkedIn profile looks.
14:35
Speaker 1: You just keep climbing and then inevitably what I do
14:39
Speaker 1: because like you, Rajan, on my podcast, I'm interviewing some
14:42
Speaker 1: of the most successful people in the world, and you
14:45
Speaker 1: know what, one of the common things that I hear is,
14:47
Speaker 1: as I'm sure you've heard, I get to the top
14:50
Speaker 1: of the mountain and I look around and I asked myself,
14:54
Speaker 1: is this it? Like I did all that work, I
14:57
Speaker 1: want all these trophies. I got the ultimate double of success,
15:01
Speaker 1: and on the inside, I don't feel fulfilled. The goal
15:04
Speaker 1: post keep moving further away. I get one promotion, I
15:08
Speaker 1: just want the next. I get one pay raise, I
15:10
Speaker 1: just want more, and it's a game of more and
15:13
Speaker 1: more and you never get there. That's the first mountain
15:16
Speaker 1: of life, which is success. What I graduated too because
15:20
Speaker 1: of some hard times, because I wasn't feeling alive on
15:24
Speaker 1: the inside. Significance is the second mountain, because if success
15:29
Speaker 1: is about self, significance is about serving others. I didn't
15:34
Speaker 1: know that was important when I was younger. I was
15:36
Speaker 1: told it, but my ego got in the way. So
15:39
Speaker 1: now I step into the world of service of contribution,
15:43
Speaker 1: of impact, of leaving it better than I found it,
15:46
Speaker 1: whether that means of people or place. And I'll tell
15:51
Speaker 1: you Rashan. Ever since I started to focus on significance
15:54
Speaker 1: over success, that's when my life took off. And here's
15:58
Speaker 1: the last piece for you. I've met many people that
16:02
Speaker 1: have success but don't feel significance. However, I have never
16:08
Speaker 1: met a single one person that has achieved significance and
16:13
Speaker 1: is not successful. It's interesting how that works out. It's
16:17
Speaker 1: finally here, the season of celebration. And no matter how
16:21
Speaker 1: you celebrate with family and friends, whether you're preparing for
16:24
Speaker 1: Reis magos or Karamu lighting the Manura, are going to
16:28
Speaker 1: midnight mass, Coals has just what you need to make
16:31
Speaker 1: those traditions special. Plus you'll find gifts for all your
16:34
Speaker 1: loved ones. Send warm wishes with cozy fleeces, sweaters, loungeware,
16:39
Speaker 1: blankets and throws. Support minority owned or founded brands by
16:43
Speaker 1: giving gifts from Human Nation and shame moisture, or treat
16:47
Speaker 1: them to everyone's favorite active wear from top brands like Nike, Adidas,
16:51
Speaker 1: and under Armour. And in the spirit of giving, Coals
16:54
Speaker 1: Cares is donating eight million dollars to local nonprofits nationwide
16:58
Speaker 1: committed to the health and well being of our communities.
17:02
Speaker 1: No matter how you celebrate, when you shop at Coals,
17:05
Speaker 1: you're right where you belong. So this season give with
17:08
Speaker 1: all your heart with great gifts from Coals or coals
17:11
Speaker 1: dot com. Look for your children's eyes to see the
17:14
Speaker 1: true magic of a forest. It's a storybook world for them.
17:18
Speaker 1: You look and see a tree. They see the wrinkled
17:21
Speaker 1: face of a wizard with arms outstretched to the sky.
17:25
Speaker 1: They see treasure and pebbles. They see a windy path
17:28
Speaker 1: that could lead to adventure, and they see you. They're fearless. Guide.
17:33
Speaker 1: Is this fascinating world? Find a forest near you and
17:36
Speaker 1: start exploring it. Discover the Forest dot Org brought to
17:39
Speaker 1: you by the United States Forest Service and the ad Council.
17:42
Speaker 1: Look for your children's eyes to see the true magic
17:45
Speaker 1: of a forest. It's a storybook world for them. You
17:49
Speaker 1: look and see a tree, They see the wrinkled face
17:52
Speaker 1: of a wizard with arms outstretched to the sky. They
17:55
Speaker 1: see treasure and pebbles. They see a windy path that
17:59
Speaker 1: could lead to a check and they see you. They're fearless. Guide.
18:03
Speaker 1: Is this fascinating world. Find a forest near you and
18:06
Speaker 1: start exploring and discover the forest. Dot Orgon brought to
18:09
Speaker 1: you by the United States Forest Service and the Council.
18:12
Speaker 1: You know, it's really it's really a great conversation we're
18:15
Speaker 1: having because you know, I can share so many examples,
18:18
Speaker 1: and one of my dominant examples was when I was
18:21
Speaker 1: managing Steve Harvey. Despite all my success, I was confused.
18:25
Speaker 1: And confusion can block your significance because you have to
18:29
Speaker 1: have a clear path to what you're trying to achieve
18:32
Speaker 1: in life. You know, I don't care about the m
18:34
Speaker 1: ag is, the image awards, the number one box office success,
18:36
Speaker 1: the number one books, family few being, number one, talk
18:40
Speaker 1: shows being launched. I I lost my significance. I lost
18:44
Speaker 1: my I was confused as to where I wanted to go,
18:47
Speaker 1: you know, the next five or ten years. Because in
18:49
Speaker 1: two thousand, when I started to manage, I was clearly
18:51
Speaker 1: had a path of what I wanted to do with him.
18:54
Speaker 1: He had clearly a path what he wanted to do
18:56
Speaker 1: with me. We wanted to change the game. We wanted
18:58
Speaker 1: to do talk shows, we want to do game shows.
19:00
Speaker 1: We wanted to just be a dominant force. But along
19:04
Speaker 1: the way you know you, you you you. You start
19:06
Speaker 1: realizing is that the same dream for you now? And
19:10
Speaker 1: that's when the confusion said in for me and as
19:13
Speaker 1: you want to let people know that when you start
19:15
Speaker 1: talking about finding your significance, finding your why, it cannot
19:19
Speaker 1: be tied to confusion. If you're confused by anything you're
19:21
Speaker 1: trying to do or achieve, you will not achieve significance.
19:25
Speaker 1: And I wanted to and one of the reasons I
19:27
Speaker 1: wanted to talk to you today I wanted to be
19:29
Speaker 1: honest because I felt after reading your book, I had
19:31
Speaker 1: to be honest to be able to tell people why
19:33
Speaker 1: this book is relatable to me and what it's readable
19:36
Speaker 1: because of the fact that you can see people label successful,
19:40
Speaker 1: label got everything you want the cards, and they've got
19:44
Speaker 1: all they amplified on social media, but what is their
19:48
Speaker 1: point of view? I did not have it. I did
19:51
Speaker 1: not have it, and reading your book helped refocus me
19:55
Speaker 1: and realized I had it. I just didn't. I just
19:58
Speaker 1: didn't drill down and just start saying you can't have this,
20:02
Speaker 1: this is not it, this is not it, this is
20:03
Speaker 1: not it, this is you. And that's what your book
20:06
Speaker 1: enabled me to say. Now on this call is that
20:09
Speaker 1: my lead with my gifts. That's Rushan McDonald and everything
20:12
Speaker 1: that I've done in building to this moment money making conversations,
20:16
Speaker 1: that's what Sean McDonald. These are brands that have been
20:18
Speaker 1: built out out of what I want to talk about.
20:21
Speaker 1: And that's what this book is about. Is when I
20:23
Speaker 1: tell people, you know, stop reading other people's success stores
20:26
Speaker 1: and start writing your own. And that's what your book
20:28
Speaker 1: is telling everybody. Paul talk to us, bingo, Yeah, you
20:33
Speaker 1: just nailed it. That's that's essentially when I could say,
20:37
Speaker 1: are you living and leading with purpose? Which that's an
20:39
Speaker 1: honest question for us to ask ourselves and where whether
20:43
Speaker 1: it's this playbook or whether it's just the way that
20:46
Speaker 1: you enter each day. Think of it from this framework,
20:49
Speaker 1: I call this your identity model, right, and everybody listening
20:52
Speaker 1: to this has an identity. And my challenges are we
20:57
Speaker 1: being authentic to identity? So let me break this down.
21:02
Speaker 1: The inner layer of your identity is your purpose. Your
21:07
Speaker 1: purpose is your why. The next layer are your core values,
21:13
Speaker 1: and your values are your who. So if the innermost
21:17
Speaker 1: layers of your identity is a combination of your why
21:21
Speaker 1: and your who, what that then does they inform your
21:24
Speaker 1: belief system, how you make decisions, your daily behaviors, and
21:29
Speaker 1: last but not least, your actions. So this outermost layer
21:34
Speaker 1: is how you show up every day. The question is
21:38
Speaker 1: your outer layers connected to the inner layers? In other words,
21:42
Speaker 1: are you showing up in a way that's aligned and
21:46
Speaker 1: connected to who you are at your core? Prior to
21:49
Speaker 1: finding my purpose? The answer was heck no, absolutely not, Rashan,
21:53
Speaker 1: I was not I was misaligned, I was not connected.
21:57
Speaker 1: I lacked some sense of authenticity because was over chasing success.
22:02
Speaker 1: But now I'm on this second mountain of life called significance,
22:06
Speaker 1: and that's where I started to align who I am
22:09
Speaker 1: on my best day and I just rinse and repeat
22:13
Speaker 1: every single day. But it means nothing unless I show
22:17
Speaker 1: up through my actions, behaviors, and decisions. That's how you
22:21
Speaker 1: live and lead with purpose. And it's something that I'm
22:23
Speaker 1: so grateful that I realized that lesson over the course
22:26
Speaker 1: of my life, because that's literally what I do for
22:29
Speaker 1: a living. My calling is to pay this gift forward
22:33
Speaker 1: because I want people to experience the same transformation that
22:36
Speaker 1: I had. It's amazing. I'm talking to Paul ifs Abstain
22:39
Speaker 1: and he's an expert in leadership and organization of culture.
22:42
Speaker 1: But of the last fifteen years he's been a success.
22:44
Speaker 1: But he defined and redefined himself when he discovered his wife.
22:48
Speaker 1: And here's the funny thing about you know, if you
22:50
Speaker 1: if you would have been watching me read this book,
22:52
Speaker 1: you know I'm very animated. And so it's two phrases
22:56
Speaker 1: I always use. Paul always tell people, don't be afraid
22:59
Speaker 1: to fire people because you're stopping them from living the
23:01
Speaker 1: dream they want to live. Okay, remember that phone. Okay.
23:04
Speaker 1: And then I always tell people, you know, because a
23:07
Speaker 1: lot of people, you know, racism does exist. But I
23:09
Speaker 1: always tell people, at least give yourself a shot. And
23:12
Speaker 1: I always tell people that if they're the way you
23:14
Speaker 1: give yourself a shot is decisions are always made looking
23:18
Speaker 1: by a person looking left, looking right, and in front.
23:21
Speaker 1: Nobody turns around and makes a decision. Okay, if you're
23:24
Speaker 1: standing intentionally standing behind somebody, or you're standing behind somebody,
23:28
Speaker 1: why they're making a decision. They're not gonna pick you.
23:30
Speaker 1: So understand you. You understand why you're there. You may
23:33
Speaker 1: want to get you might need to get fired or
23:36
Speaker 1: fighting a job now and reading your book, this line
23:38
Speaker 1: really made me dance. It says is in the it's
23:40
Speaker 1: in the transformation of disengaged to inspire. Look to your left,
23:46
Speaker 1: look to your right. Seven out of ten people don't
23:49
Speaker 1: want to be here. They'd rather be working somewhere else
23:52
Speaker 1: for someone else. That let me knew that I was
23:56
Speaker 1: perfectly a line because you took two of my concepts
24:00
Speaker 1: and sitting in one sentence, I'll tell people look to
24:02
Speaker 1: the left, look to the right, looking front. If you're
24:04
Speaker 1: not in that person's visual site of decision maker, you're
24:08
Speaker 1: not part of that culture. And that's what you're talking about.
24:11
Speaker 1: If a person is at your state of employment, they're
24:13
Speaker 1: not working up to your expectation, fired them, let them
24:16
Speaker 1: go so they can go do the job that they
24:18
Speaker 1: really want to do. But you need to push them
24:20
Speaker 1: and enable them doing by disenfranchising them from this opportunity
24:24
Speaker 1: that they don't want to be at. And that's what
24:25
Speaker 1: you're saying. Tell us the significance of that statement right
24:28
Speaker 1: there in your book, because it was transformatable for me,
24:32
Speaker 1: because it made me align myself with saying stay focused.
24:35
Speaker 1: With Sean, you're doing the right things, because that's what
24:38
Speaker 1: he's saying in his book. Stay focused and align yourself
24:41
Speaker 1: with people who follow the same path. Yeah, I think
24:46
Speaker 1: it's not only aligning yourself with people that that connects
24:50
Speaker 1: you in terms of your core spirit. But I also
24:53
Speaker 1: think in a very practical way. I'll actually let the
24:56
Speaker 1: audience in on a little bit of a backstory. So
24:58
Speaker 1: this is what led to that Jerry McGuire moment when
25:00
Speaker 1: I took that leap of faith away from sports, which
25:03
Speaker 1: is a decision I never thought I would make. But
25:05
Speaker 1: it was my executive coach who and you called it
25:08
Speaker 1: out earlier with Sean from the University of Michigan. So
25:11
Speaker 1: Go Blue, my executive NBA coach. Her name is Suanne
25:15
Speaker 1: so And and I had a combo when I was
25:16
Speaker 1: head of sales and business development for the San Francisco
25:19
Speaker 1: forty Niners, and literally this was it. She said, Paul,
25:22
Speaker 1: I know what you do, What do you love about it?
25:26
Speaker 1: What do you hate about it? And what's in the middle,
25:29
Speaker 1: meaning what do you tolerate? So love, hate, tolerate, And
25:31
Speaker 1: I want everybody to ask yourself those three questions about
25:34
Speaker 1: what it is that you do. And then she said, Okay,
25:37
Speaker 1: go deeper on that love bucket. And I said, all right, Suanne,
25:41
Speaker 1: I love being a coach just like you. I love
25:44
Speaker 1: the people side, the culture side of business. I love
25:47
Speaker 1: investing in relationships. And she just said, awesome, on a
25:51
Speaker 1: good day. What percentage of your time are you doing that?
25:55
Speaker 1: And I started to sing down in my chair because
25:57
Speaker 1: I knew the answer was a little ugly. Literally, I
25:59
Speaker 1: was in strategy meeting after meeting. Sometimes meetings talk about
26:02
Speaker 1: meetings and all this noise. But I wasn't doing what
26:06
Speaker 1: I love to do. I was working in an industry
26:08
Speaker 1: that I loved, but the job I fell out of
26:11
Speaker 1: love with it. And here's the reality, and here's the
26:14
Speaker 1: takeaway for everybody listening in. From that point forward, I
26:18
Speaker 1: started to say, what I do on a day to day,
26:21
Speaker 1: every activity of each day, it either gives me energy
26:25
Speaker 1: or it depletes me of my energy. There's no in between.
26:29
Speaker 1: Something gives you fuel or it depletes you of your fuel.
26:33
Speaker 1: So you need to be honest with yourself, and not
26:35
Speaker 1: only in the mirror, but if you're in a leadership position,
26:39
Speaker 1: how do the people around you feel? And so when
26:41
Speaker 1: I said that seven out of ten people being disengaged,
26:44
Speaker 1: and you just shined a light on that statistic. Rashan.
26:47
Speaker 1: I'm basically saying that most of us do things every
26:52
Speaker 1: day that deplete us of our fuel. We are disengaged.
26:55
Speaker 1: It's not tied to our purpose. It's paycheck over purpose.
27:00
Speaker 1: And so how can we get in tune with who
27:03
Speaker 1: we are, what energizes us? Because that's the key. What
27:06
Speaker 1: are you curious about? What gives you energy that will
27:09
Speaker 1: help you find your passion, that will help you find
27:11
Speaker 1: your purpose. But don't worry about the purpose thing that's
27:13
Speaker 1: too big on step one, that's step five in the game.
27:16
Speaker 1: Step one is what are you curious about? What gives
27:19
Speaker 1: you energy? And there's hints in there about your passion.
27:23
Speaker 1: That's where I would start, you know, And it's absolutely true.
27:26
Speaker 1: And the one thing that really launched me I was
27:29
Speaker 1: doing an interview, Oh what and that we were talking
27:33
Speaker 1: about age. We was talking about so many people just
27:35
Speaker 1: stop their dreams when they get fifty or sixties, seventy,
27:40
Speaker 1: They think they can't do anything beyond that. And as
27:44
Speaker 1: we wrap talk to about audience about not letting age
27:49
Speaker 1: diminished your significance, diminishing your purpose and stopping you from
27:54
Speaker 1: living your dreams. Yeah, that's a great one. And and
27:59
Speaker 1: look I think we're we can all align. Is even
28:02
Speaker 1: if the word conversation for some you know, some people
28:05
Speaker 1: find themselves in a career, others in a job, so
28:07
Speaker 1: we're not all in the same spot there. But here's
28:09
Speaker 1: where I think we can align and find common ground relationships.
28:14
Speaker 1: And in this case, I would say, the way that
28:16
Speaker 1: I boil it down is every day you're with the
28:20
Speaker 1: wrong person is the day that you're not with the
28:24
Speaker 1: right person right. So like if you think of life
28:27
Speaker 1: in that sense, is it ever too late to meet
28:31
Speaker 1: the one? Is it ever too late to transition from
28:34
Speaker 1: job to career to calling It's never too late. Age
28:40
Speaker 1: has nothing to do with it. I would argue that
28:43
Speaker 1: even if I could fast forward decades ahead in my life,
28:46
Speaker 1: if I was not feeling significance or purpose, it would
28:49
Speaker 1: still be the greatest gift that I had ever received.
28:52
Speaker 1: Ages the number, the mission is, the goal is you
28:56
Speaker 1: want to feel alive, And every day you don't feel life,
29:00
Speaker 1: you're only getting in your own way. So let's lock arms,
29:03
Speaker 1: let's need it the fifty as I say, and let's
29:06
Speaker 1: feel a lot. You know that that the infamous fifty
29:09
Speaker 1: yard line. You know you can need you know, and
29:12
Speaker 1: That's why I go back to sports man. I you know, I,
29:14
Speaker 1: I um. I've never played professional sports, nor collegiate or
29:19
Speaker 1: high school, but for sports, tend to people with your female, male,
29:24
Speaker 1: different age groups. In your role and being a guy
29:28
Speaker 1: who's who's walked in stadium sold out, what is the
29:31
Speaker 1: most just maybe a question that the question that was
29:34
Speaker 1: in your book, just a question about a person who's
29:36
Speaker 1: lived at that glorified world of seeing people fans fandom.
29:41
Speaker 1: What is your biggest takeaway that fans can take away
29:45
Speaker 1: while watching sports that they can give to their personal
29:47
Speaker 1: life and professional life. Yeah, so let's say here in
29:54
Speaker 1: a pack stadium, and other people may look at seventy
29:58
Speaker 1: thousand folks and see seventy fans my perspective and this
30:03
Speaker 1: is a great life lesson. Every seat has a story.
30:08
Speaker 1: So when I look out at seventy people, I see
30:11
Speaker 1: seventy thousand stories that are in the making. So I
30:15
Speaker 1: see somebody that just came back from serving overseas. I
30:18
Speaker 1: see somebody that just battled cancer and is now in
30:21
Speaker 1: remission and top of their bucket list. Let me go
30:23
Speaker 1: watch my favorite team play. I see a mother, father, daughter, son,
30:28
Speaker 1: a family of four creating a lifelong memory that they
30:31
Speaker 1: just don't realize that the next three hours is about
30:34
Speaker 1: to deliver. That's how I see a stadium. That's how
30:38
Speaker 1: I see the world, and that's how I see people.
30:41
Speaker 1: It's about humanity and at the end of the day,
30:44
Speaker 1: we all have a story. And just remember, whether it's
30:46
Speaker 1: a company or even inside your house, every seat has
30:50
Speaker 1: a story, the power or planned offense. Paul Epstein, I
30:54
Speaker 1: want to thank you for coming on my show Mind
30:55
Speaker 1: and making conversations. Man, can we be friends? Brother? I
30:59
Speaker 1: know we we've done. Of course. You know this is
31:03
Speaker 1: a lifelong journey. You know, because I come out to
31:05
Speaker 1: California and I lived in California fifteen years. I know
31:08
Speaker 1: exactly what Pasadena, California one of my favorite communities to
31:11
Speaker 1: go out that e and so Stephen A Smith and
31:13
Speaker 1: not doing a lot of TV projects out there, So
31:15
Speaker 1: I'd love to introduce you to him. I think it's
31:18
Speaker 1: somebody that you love meeting, sit around and talk because
31:20
Speaker 1: he's a journalist background, and we're doing a lot of
31:23
Speaker 1: productions and I think that we may want to slide
31:25
Speaker 1: indu some productions together on the TV media side as well. Paul, Okay, Yeah,
31:29
Speaker 1: I would love to would love to meet you at
31:31
Speaker 1: the fifty as well as stephen A. So appreciate you'll
31:35
Speaker 1: be able to hear him before the fifty. You know that,
31:38
Speaker 1: I know, I know. Brother. Thank you for coming on
31:42
Speaker 1: money making conversations, Paul, all right, thank you be well.
31:53
Speaker 1: In this season of giving, Cools has gifts for all
31:56
Speaker 1: your loved ones. For those who like to keep it cozy,
31:58
Speaker 1: find fleeces, ters, loungeware, blankets and throws, or support minority
32:03
Speaker 1: owned or founded brands by giving gifts from Human Nation
32:06
Speaker 1: and Shame Moisture, and in the spirit of giving, Coals
32:10
Speaker 1: Cares is donating eight million dollars to local nonprofits nationwide.
32:15
Speaker 1: Give with all your heart this season with great gifts
32:17
Speaker 1: from Coals or Coals dot Com. At ADP, we understand
32:21
Speaker 1: the importance of building the right team and offer the
32:24
Speaker 1: data insights to help. Just as importantly, our AI technology
32:28
Speaker 1: helps you pay the team accurately, grow stronger with a
32:31
Speaker 1: dp HR, talent time and payroll. Mama, what does the
32:39
Speaker 1: chicken say draft draft? Really? Giraffe d draft? You're not
32:49
Speaker 1: gonna get it all right, Just make sure you nail
32:51
Speaker 1: the big stuff, like making sure your kids are buckled
32:53
Speaker 1: correctly in the right seat for their agent's eyes. Get
32:55
Speaker 1: it Right visits n h s A dot gov as
33:00
Speaker 1: the Right Seat brought to you by the National Highway
33:02
Speaker 1: Traffic Safety Administration and the AD Council