The Trend Report

Your Genius Spark with Rex Miller

• Sid Meadows, Rex Miller • Season 5 • Episode 131

Share episode

Join me and Rex Miller as we uncover his transformation of a historic ranch into a tranquil retreat and delve into the inception of his cutting-edge software, Genius Spark. This episode is a treasure trove of wisdom, where Rex's path from bustling city life to the stewardship of a serene ranch unfolds, offering executives and leaders a novel space for growth and reflection.

His experiences breathe life into discussions on major capital projects and the fine-tuning of workspaces, while his Resilience Lab podcast shines a spotlight on the diverse aspects of resilience in our lives. The stories shared are a testament to Rex’s rich industry background, resonating with the complexities and challenges of modern times.

Ever wondered how crises can spark innovation?

That’s what we explore next, as Rex takes us through the crisis that led to Genius Spark after the dot-com crash and how the Clifton Strengths assessment helped reclaim his innate talents. We probe into the concerning drop in our imaginative prowess as adults compared to our childhood selves, and why living authentically matters profoundly. Our conversation weaves through the essence of performance science and the elite mental strategies that can be harnessed to cultivate everyday genius, with Genius Spark software standing as a testament to integrating these powerhouses into daily life.

The episode rounds out with a deep dive into the art of self-improvement and the potency of small, consistent advancements, drawing parallels from the UK cycling team’s rise to prominence. As a certified tennis professional, I bring my own insights into the conversation, showing how such principles transcend sports and apply broadly across professional landscapes. We also tap into the rich vein of personal strengths, decoding how Gallup’s color-coded categories unravel traits like trust and authenticity to forge successful relationships and leadership. Building a persona of strengths isn't just theory; it's about piecing together the puzzle of your natural talents to navigate life with finesse and influence.

Connect with Rex:
Rex Miller
The Resilience Lab Podcast
Email | Instagram | LinkedIn
YouTube


Connect with Sid:

www.sidmeadows.com
Embark CCT on Facebook
Sid on LinkedIn
Sid on Instagram
Sid on YouTube
Sid on Clubhouse - @sidmeadows

The Trend Report introduction music is provided by Werq by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4616-werq License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Sid Meadows:

Hey friend and welcome back to the trend report. I'm glad you're joining me today for what I can tell you is going to be a really fun and revealing conversation with my guest, Rex Miller. Now Rex and I talk a little bit about what he's been doing in the book that he wrote and we dive deep into this conversation about what is your genius part and hang on, because I get put on the hot seat. I hope that you enjoy today's conversation. I'm Sid Meadows and I'm a business leader and coach and the long time student of the office furniture industry, and I love having conversations with real people that are doing things to impact their business and our industry. So let's dive in to today's conversation. Hey everybody, welcome back to this week's episode of the trend report. I'm glad you're joining me today for what I know is going to be a very, very interesting and fun conversation and, I think, maybe revealing as well. So I'm happy to welcome back to the show today Rex Miller. Hey Rex, how are you?

Rex Miller:

I'm great and happy new year to you.

Sid Meadows:

Yeah, absolutely, and, Rex, I should have looked this up before I hit the record button, but you were on the show, I think in 2021, and we were talking about stress and anxiety in the workplace and we've run into each other a few times and I'm excited to welcome you back and talk about some new things. So give us a little bit of a Rex update. What are you doing these days? And you had a big move in your life and stuff, so give us a Rex update.

Rex Miller:

Yeah, so at the time we spoke I was still in the North Richland Hills, which is near your area. But we bought a ranch in Glitteros, a historic property, and it had seven buildings on it. Have no business buying a ranch I'm a Chicago boy but we have and we spent 18 months building out these seven buildings that were not in great shape. We put in a meeting facility. We've turned it into a retreat center and opened it up this spring, and so we've had some clients here. We've had executives come down. We've got an incredible guest house.

Rex Miller:

The property is in Glen Rose, texas, which is about an hour south of Fort Worth. It's on the Palluxy River, which is known for dinosaur footprints, and people come down and we invite them in, stay at the guest house. We've got leadership teams that come in. So that's number one. Number two is I launched a software company called Genius Spark and I know we're going to talk about that a little bit more. And then, number three, I've been deeply involved in either very large capital projects to try to help them, help the teams work well together what I call play well in the sandbox, or provide adult supervision when they can't and also helping organizations go through the changes. You know. Space allocation is changing. The mission of a lot of these organizations is moving from user experience to optimizing real estate. Lots of change, management, challenges and struggle. So those have been the main things I've been engaged in.

Sid Meadows:

Well, you forgot one.

Rex Miller:

What's that?

Sid Meadows:

You started a podcast.

Rex Miller:

Oh, the Resilience. Yeah, thank you, I appreciate that. Yeah, I'm going through my learning curve for that Now. This year we're shifting the theme to education and we've added something. We've added not only this new theme for the year. So when we do people interviews, it'll be around education, engagement, mental health, environment, all of that.

Sid Meadows:

I'm going to drop a link to the podcast, but tell us the name of the podcast the Resilience Lab. And you're part of the Imagine Place network of podcasts, which we've had a couple of those other podcasters on, alexander for sure. Sure, how are you liking being a podcaster, Rex?

Rex Miller:

You know it's. I love it because it's creative. I'm a writer. This is a new creative expression. I get to talk to individuals that I have deep respect for, who do great research on resilience All things resilience and it just fuels my learning and my curiosity. This last year we added an element where I'm doing some solos, and so you'll start seeing not only just no video solos, but you'll also start seeing some video solos as well, and you know I'm 69 this month and I've been in the industry since 1978. There's so many stories and lessons learned and I keep seeing now all of these challenges being flushed up, so it gives me an opportunity to just reflect on the story or two that might be relevant to what somebody's going through.

Sid Meadows:

How do you feel about doing solo episodes?

Rex Miller:

I'm learning.

Sid Meadows:

I chuckled when you said no video, because I love solo episodes but I struggle doing them. They get a lot of feedback when I do do them, but it is so hard to do a video with a solo episode to go on YouTube and look at yourself Like there's nothing there. There's no interaction.

Rex Miller:

I know, I know I agree with you. So when I do the solo I enjoy no video. So it's like me thinking of an imaginary audience like radio Sure. I grew up as a radio fanatic and so that I'm rediscovering and I love the medium and for me it's all learning right.

Sid Meadows:

So I appreciate you sharing all the things that have been happening with you since the last time you were here. But you mentioned something a couple of seconds ago about you've turned your ranch because in Texas we call them ranchous gas, not farms and you turned it into a retreat center. So what kind of retreats are you actually hosting and who are your ideal customers that are coming to the retreats?

Rex Miller:

Well, we've got a variety. The main thing, the Barn Dominium, can handle up to 30 people, but most leadership teams are under 15. And it's a really neat barn. By the way, patrick Donnelly designed the barn. He was with BDHP and we bring in like Fortune 500 company leadership teams. I've had three in so far. We work on what we'll talk about later is helping people discover who they are at their best, appreciate the differences in others, learn how to bridge the communication and provide better, more candid feedback. In other words, create a more cohesive team.

Sid Meadows:

Sure.

Rex Miller:

We bring in local chefs to do the catering. The overnight part is real easy. I'm a five minute walk to the downtown square, which makes this property pretty unique, and there's a hotel across the river from us which handles 25 people, and then there's a dozen Airbnb's and bed and breakfast. So all of that's handled. We just want to facilitate a great user experience.

Sid Meadows:

So if you're not following Rex on LinkedIn for sure, please go do so. We'll be sure, as LinkedIn link is in the show notes for you, because I follow your content on LinkedIn and I love seeing the images of the groups that you have out in the building. They're taking rocks and building things and hunting for arrowheads and stuff, and so I think the content is really cool to be able to find, and I get to see a glimpse of the ranch while you're out there. So that's cool, all right. So, Rex, you've also been. You said you created a software company, which we're going to talk about, but you wrote a new book. How many books does this make that you've written?

Rex Miller:

Number seven.

Sid Meadows:

Number seven. Wow, that's a lot of books. It's a lot of books.

Rex Miller:

Yes.

Sid Meadows:

Tell us about Genius Spark and what was, if you will, what was the spark behind it?

Rex Miller:

Well, the spark was my experience of rebuilding my life after the dot com crash. I don't know if you remember that period of time. Were you in Texas? You weren't even in Texas at that time.

Sid Meadows:

You were probably in part of it. No, that was a year, was that 2000. We were in Georgia, I think. Okay, georgia, I think.

Rex Miller:

So that was a life-altering moment for me. I went from moving from Washington DC back to Texas to become vice president of sales for an office furniture distributor that had most of its business in the growing telecommunications internet, the emerging internet world. And then that spigot turned off overnight and we lost 70% of our revenue within a few months and we were on life support. I had a 10-year contract. I come in one day. My internet's not working I think it's a technical issue, you know where this is headed right. And it wasn't. And so the owner ripped up my contract, said we don't need a VP of sales, we need sales. So I had two choices leave that day or go back into commission sales. So this was kind of the tip Everything over.

Rex Miller:

I was in financial stress, almost declared bankruptcy five times in the next five years. I was 50 pounds heavier than I am today, very stressed Teenage kids, not a great dad, not a great husband, and I can literally see all of this falling apart. And then I run into the book called Now Discovery your Strengths. It just came out in 2000. So I take the assessment and I begin to think about this explains why I love doing these things. These things I can do, but it doesn't turn me on. And I began to see that I had built my career and life around things that I was good at but not really excited about, not natural to me. So that slow process then began looking at well, why is this such a mystery to people? I got certified in coaching in it. Since that time I've coached more than 19,000 people in the Clifton Strengths and the next piece to the puzzle was this genius part of it.

Rex Miller:

Nasa had an assessment called the imaginative index. They developed in the 1960s to pick the best and brightest for the moonshot program, and this assessment was so natural. It was questions like how many uses can you think of this coffee mug? And they would look at the number, the novelty and the quantity of the different kinds of responses. And the creator said we can give this to kids. So they did. They picked 1600 kids in the Head Start program and for those of you who don't know the Head Start program, it started in the 60s. It was to give kids in at-risk neighborhoods a leg up before they got to school. So these are 1600 five-year-olds, and when they got the results back, it blew their minds. It was astonishing. Guess how many of these kids tested as geniuses.

Sid Meadows:

Okay, I actually know the answer to this question because it's in the book, because I'm reading the book right now.

Rex Miller:

Okay, so 98% tested as geniuses.

Sid Meadows:

Yeah, that's a lot. This part of the book I was really surprised at, by the way.

Rex Miller:

And it tells us something that we innately know. We were all born with this creative curiosity, bold, venturesome abilities, where we're wired uniquely, and over time we begin to learn that it's more important that we fit in and play it safe than to be who we truly are. I mean, guess what? The number one regret is on your deathbed?

Sid Meadows:

Number one regret. So my immediate thing that comes to my mind is I didn't do what I loved. I didn't work a job that I loved.

Rex Miller:

Very, very similar that I didn't live my true self and that I lived up to other people's expectations. That's the number one regret. So we have this capacity and I'm rediscovering what that looks like in our grandson and just fascinated by how much of a sponge we are, how open to failure we are none of those things. Those kids don't even think this is failure, it's just try and learn new way. So as we begin, they track these 1600 kids and five years later, at age 10, it drops from 98% to 30%. Then at age 15, it drops down to 12%. By age 30, it is 2%. Of us keep that genius capacity.

Rex Miller:

So the whole premise behind Genius Spark is that first we have to rediscover who we are at our best. And so I like the Clifton strengths because it's measuring the strongest elements of your brain, what naturally fires strongest and fastest. So that's a proxy for what we naturally do best and enjoy most. Then, since the time, since the 2000s, we've got all this new understanding of performance science. Think of Michael Phelps and what he does. He imagines his performance at his best.

Rex Miller:

Well, we can do the same if we have a picture of who we are at our best and imagine every day we're performing right now. Right, we're either showing up at our best or not, and then we can reflect on well, how did I show up? Was I present, was I genuine? All those things. Now, if you have a description of what that looks like and you reinforce it, then there's another part that activates, and it's called the reticular activator. That's the part of your brain that guides your actions and your thoughts towards the things you want or the things that'll kill you. That's what the brain is designed to do two things. So this is the reprogramming, and so we call this the genius spark finding that hidden spark, refining it, giving it descriptive language, and then a simple process of what performers do musicians and athletes in terms of reinforcing it mentally, rehearsing it and reflecting on it. That's the simple process.

Sid Meadows:

So you take the cliff to the strength finder and you use that information and then you take it into your software genius spark. And what happens with it once it gets into your software? What do you do with it from there?

Rex Miller:

We take you through a filtering process and give you traits for each strength that describe. Give you a little more description of what this is. Because when you get the results back and you just got the results back.

Sid Meadows:

You get three reports. I took the test. Yeah, sorry everybody, I took the test and Rex and I are going to review my results. I have not really seen them, so we're going to review the results here in just a few minutes. But keep going, Rex, Sorry.

Rex Miller:

So you get a lot of content, and so what you're getting is a computer generated report on a range of how this strength might look for you, but it's not tailored to you and you're not taken through any kind of tailoring process, filtering and sorting, and what you find, or what I found over the years, is that maybe 2% of what they give me actually is what I need and want. That captures me at my best, and then you put it together in a paragraph or a micro script or a mini narrative. That's what the software does. Once it's in that format, then it's easy to read. For I read my portrait this morning. I read it every morning and then I asked myself well, how is this portrait going to show up at their best with Sid today?

Rex Miller:

Now, all the work happens behind the scenes. If you trigger it, prompt it with reading it, imagine how I would show up and then reflect on it. That's the simple process. That's how we grow the old models and everything I was trained is that the more content I learn, the more manuals, the more stories I read. It's going to change me, but it doesn't. We have to change our stories, we have to reprogram our brains. We have to be more aware of when our chemicals tell us we're on and when we're not. That's the process of personal transformation.

Sid Meadows:

So I'll simplify this because, as you were talking, what I was hearing and what I was seeing, what I was visualizing was this paragraph is like a beacon, it's like a guiding light for us, and check in with it every day and reminding yourself, hey, this is who I am. And then asking yourself how are you going to show up today and all the various different tasks that you're doing? And then, to me, the most important part of that is what you said at the end, which I think a lot of people don't do you probably have statistics about how many don't is the reflection. How did I do today? And in that reflection, looking at, okay, what went really well today, what didn't go really well today, and then, what did I learn from all this? Like, what did I learn from all this? And then the next one for me is how are you going to show up differently? What are you going to do differently the next time? Right, the reflection is so important to growth and, as you said, transformation.

Rex Miller:

And it only takes five or 10 minutes to do. It's not an easy thing to do. It's not long.

Rex Miller:

The alternative is we live every day, like Bill Murray and Groundhog's Day right, yeah, yeah, we just go through and whatever happened the day before, it doesn't stick, and so there's no growth, there's no learning going on. So this is where we've gotten to after 25 years of my trying to rebuild, figured out, working with several thousand people, and all the latest performance science. And what some people may not know is that I'm a certified tennis professional, so performance.

Sid Meadows:

I did not know that.

Rex Miller:

What's that? I did not know that. Yeah, I just got my 40-something year.

Sid Meadows:

hey, you stuck in here long enough sticker, so you teach people how to play tennis.

Rex Miller:

Yes, when I first moved to Texas in the 70s, that's what I did before I got a real job as a project manager. Yeah so, but but that's always been important to me. You know high level performance and all the little things that you know. I'm a geek on that stuff and, and so this is part of it.

Sid Meadows:

So professionally, whether you're an athlete or you're a project manager, an interior designer, a leader, wherever you are in your life, it to me and I think you're echoing this, and athletes definitely understand this it's about getting one percent better every day. How do we continue to improve?

Rex Miller:

Right, we call that marginal gains. Didn't come up with that. But we've got examples. In our training of the UK Blue Sky, the UK cycling team went from one of the worst to the top through those little incremental daily improvements.

Sid Meadows:

So I either read a book that had them in it or I watched a video that highlighted that improvement. So it's great and I talk about it. A lot on the show is like how do we get, how do we move forward? It's forward progress, one percent better, one step forward, whatever you want to call it every day. So, all right, Rex, I'm ready to dive in. Ok, so if you're listening on an audio platform, Rex is going to share his screen and we're going to go through and see all of this, so you might want to jump over to YouTube. Those of you watching on YouTube are going to see the screen. So this is all new to me, so you are going to experience this with me. So let's go.

Rex Miller:

All right, so I'll give you an orientation of what we've got here and what you see are your five strengths with different colors. So what Gallup has done and other systems have done is that they've created categories and they're all pretty much the same of strengths that are relating strengths and those are blue. So your relator is one of the relating strengths, and a relating strength really is instincts around nonverbal elements that make relationships work. Relator is around trust, authenticity, genuineness. It's also got the best bullshit meter. So I am going to guess that when you're with a group of people, you can feel this radar of I immediately feel comfortable with this person or I don't.

Sid Meadows:

And what?

Rex Miller:

happens is you can't control, it'll shut it off. If there's somebody now, it doesn't mean that you will distrust them forever. But you're now in the trust but verify mode and I've got the same thing. We were at an IFMA event, my wife and I, years ago. And we walk into this event and my wife just jabs me in the ribs and I go what's going on? She says now play nice. And I said what do you mean? She said I don't know who you saw, but your whole body changed. And sure enough, there was someone on the other side that I have had some challenging encounters with over time and again. So remember these strengths. We're going back. Lifting strengths is capturing those things that fire the fastest and the most instinctive. There's a magical side to it and a survival side to it, and that's part of it. So yours is around trust or bullshit, that's it.

Rex Miller:

Now the red strengths competition and winning others over, that's what Wu stands for.

Sid Meadows:

Okay, I didn't know. Okay, when I see Wu, I think about Wu, wu, right. Yeah, but winning others over Go ahead.

Rex Miller:

Right, that's that persuasion, that charm, that persuasion, that little bit of mischievous all of that's part of that. And then competition the red are the motivational strengths. So if the blue picks up on nonverbal elements, think of it as a thermometer and think of the red as a thermostat. It senses individuals, readiness, their engagement. When someone has a wall or a barrier up, you're winning others over, instinctively wants to go and warm it up, take that barrier down. Now what's interesting is that in other people, let's say someone's got really good sense of what's going on, someone's got relator and someone's got winning others over. They're on the opposite ends. Winning others over is like a bumblebee in a flower patch. Every person has a little bit of pollen to grab and take to. The next flower Relator is tight relationships. Think of the movie Meet the Falker Circle of Trust. They're either in the circle or out of the circle. You've got both of them. So it means you've got a tremendous capacity to be friendly with the who, to be genuine with the relator and to help people open up, and that gives you insight into individuals. By by being able to do that. It may be a wonderful combination for a podcaster.

Rex Miller:

Now the competition as a motivational strength, knows what it takes to win or lose. So, instinctively, someone gives you an opportunity, or even with a guest, you immediately know is this going to be a winner or not? And if it is going to be a winner, what will it take and are we a header behind? What are we going to need to do to make this work? So think of it in sales. You know you get a bit opportunity, someone with competition. Again, remember the energy level this is wired. So if you're looking at this, you instinctively know is this wired for someone else to win or do we have a chance If it's wired for someone else to win? No energy, you know it's kind of like gotta go through. The most it's a drain. And if you're working with the team, you automatically know are we a header behind and what do we have to do to pick up the pace? So that's what competition brings to the table okay, I'm with you so far, good okay, activator is that urgency, that instinct, that let's get it started.

Rex Miller:

So you've got another very interesting combination. Now activator is internal, inside of you. The red and the blue are triggered by people. So you, you're what I might call an ambivert, you're great with people and you're also great just Launching off as a pioneer, getting your own stuff done. And so that activator is let's get it started. Like a sprinter, like the first leg of a sprint. You want to hand off the baton and put it to somebody else and you've got an eye on what the finish line is. So boom, as soon as you know what the goal or the destination is, there's not a lot of time or thought put into deep planning. It's let's figure it out as we go. Now you add to that strategic.

Rex Miller:

Strategic is a unique strength because gal says you either have it or you don't. It's not something you develop over time and it's the instinct to begin with the end. In my, it starts with the end in mind and it works its way backwards, and so that strategic is like a mountaintop view of where, where's the goal, and that acts like a gps. Once you get the coordinates, it'll navigate, call, audibles, pivot, and so you're very much. You know this is football season. You're very much an audible quarterback. You'll see the landscape.

Rex Miller:

But the challenge may be for others who work with you. They may not see what you see, what you think is instinctive and easy, so you may throw them off. Or they may be moving down one, one road and you're moving in a new direction. They may feel a little whiplash from time to time that oh, he's changed his mind, he's shifted directions, what's up with that? So part of this is understanding that you know you've got great instincts to take risks, to see the big picture, to put it into immediate action, to learn by doing. You know and so you don't have a failure mentality. You either succeed or you learn. That's that activator, very resilient activator, very resilient, always on the upside, that winning others over, has this positive outlook and the ability to bring people together for a common purpose. That's kind of the combination that I see here.

Sid Meadows:

So I'm smiling and chuckling a little bit at the same time because, okay, I cannot disagree with anything that you said at all. I have there, I have nothing to disagree with, and I remember the first time I took one of these and it was a long, long time ago when I was up for a leadership position at Hayworth and I take a disc profile I had to meet with a psychologist to judge my readiness for a leadership position and they gave the results to me and then I gave them to my wife and my wife read them. She goes this is like reading a book into your mind, because everything in here is true. That was twenty seven years ago, right, and still here today Now. There's a lot of advances and changes in this, but I mean this you couldn't be more accurate at what you described interesting to change lanes, like I see.

Sid Meadows:

It's really interesting because I bet every step of these I thought of something and I often say to people that are around me and that are working with me I can't see it yet, but once I see it, once I have the vision of where we're going, we're off to the races. It takes me a while sometimes to see what I'm looking for, what I'm searching for right, but once I see it, let's go.

Rex Miller:

So funny Well and so recognizing it, that about yourself. What our process helps you with in the software is not only create that genius element you know what's your sweet spot description but also the things that get in your way, the kryptonite, because people may work with you and not know or not feel like they've got permission to say Sid, you know, you left me in the dust, I have no clue what we're doing here. I've got some similar traits that you do in terms of high level thinking, fast moving. My son, on the other hand my oldest son is very detailed oriented. He's got analytical as one of his Strengths, which is not only detailed, linear, rational, data driven, but also skeptical. So I'll jump out with a let's go this direction and my gut will tell me yeah, it's pretty good. Your gut will probably tell you it's pretty good and he'll it'll raise all kinds of red flags for him and he will tell me that it feels like I pulled that out of the air.

Sid Meadows:

Now uses a different three letter word starts with an A. That's great.

Rex Miller:

But this has helped us bridge that difference. Sure, knowing that and then him understanding I'm going to operate this way, and we always talk about let's be effective. It's not about being right or wrong, let's be effective. So there's 33,600,000 different combinations of these top five. Oh my gosh, yeah.

Sid Meadows:

So now we're going to go through and create my genius paragraph right.

Rex Miller:

Yes, we are.

Sid Meadows:

Okay.

Rex Miller:

So we'll start out with strategic. There are eight choices, and so we're going to abbreviate the process a little bit, just so we can experience, and then you and I can go back and tweak it. But we have a description of the strength and a little headline for life as a chess game. There are eight traits, and so the process is looking at the eight traits, picking the one you think captures strategic for you at your best. And again, we're going to abbreviate because we have ways of editing these to tweak the language. We have ways of combining them. Our goal is not to create an algorithm, but to create something that's tailored to you. You feel this captures me at my best. When you look at these eight, which one do you feel stands out strongest for you?

Sid Meadows:

So I'm going to read them just for the people on audio.

Rex Miller:

Oh sure, Right.

Sid Meadows:

I need to hear the big idea before actually hearing all the details. I need to understand the why behind the mission. Whenever I'm in a conversation, I look for common themes and patterns. I can cut through the clutter and get to the point. I can pivot quickly when I sense resistance or an obstacle. I naturally think in categories and themes. I can see the end of the story, often before it's finished. Then I start with the end in mind and work my way backwards.

Sid Meadows:

Ok, so my gut here is telling me it's not number two, right, and you need to understand the why that's number two. Yeah. So, thank you, Rex, you don't need to understand the why it's not number two. It's not number three either. Ok, I'm going to say it's probably you're pointing in number four and number five. I mean, I pivot all the time. Ok, because life's about pivots, right. It's about, hey, this didn't work, let's pivot, let's. We still have the objective, we still have the mission to grow our business. We tried something. It didn't work, let's pivot into something else and let's just keep going. So I'm going to, I'm going to go with. I can pivot quickly when I sense resistance or an obstacle.

Rex Miller:

And so think of this first version as a schematic level. It's just color by number. The process again is that the clearer the paragraph becomes, the clearer the coordinates to the brain. So I revisit mine very often, oh OK, so we'll start with this and you can see, here we've got a text editable box. So we can we can change it, and a lot of the value comes when you're doing it in conversation, like you and I are.

Sid Meadows:

OK great.

Rex Miller:

So imagine a manager with a new employee or whatever going through this and just having the discussion. So the discussion is the golden nugget and the artifact is just an artifact. So you can see how it's now left this up here, and now we've moved automatically to activator. Now one of the things that is unique in our system is that some of these strengths can fit into one or two zones. Sure, we call them chameleon strengths. So we're going to start with activator and look at the two possibilities. One is I can't wait to get started. Or, number two, my energy motivates others. Which of those two is more true?

Sid Meadows:

Why can't he select both?

Rex Miller:

They're two sides to the same coin and again we're trying to drive towards clarity.

Sid Meadows:

OK, so I'm going to pick. I can't wait to get started and I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you why I love the holidays and they're great, but I cannot wait to get back to work. I cannot wait for everybody else to get back to work, like the fact that during between Christmas and New Year's I only got 10 emails freaks me out. Let's just go, let's get back to work, right? So I'm, I'm going with. I can't wait to get started.

Rex Miller:

That's a great choice. That's a great yeah, and it picks up all kinds of visual images for me as to you know how long you're willing to sit on a couch and have a leisurely conversation versus getting up and going and doing something. So, as you're looking at these, let's go ahead and read them again All right.

Sid Meadows:

So now we're under activator. So they are ideas spark action and action makes ideals real. The next one is the anticipation of launching, exploring and innovating something new and valuable thrust me into action. My sense of adventure motivates me to launch new initiatives. When I get the feel and the flavor for direction or goal, I want to spin into action, into attentionality, wake up every morning ready to go. I'm fearless on taking new challenges. I believe action, not talk, gets things done and I'm the go to person for getting something started. So, going with my gut in the one that just like totally resonated with me, I wrote down is between number three and number four. So my sense of adventure motivates me to launch new initiatives. I have no problem launching new things. But number four when I get the feel and flavor of a direction or goal, that's the vision. And I see the vision for something. Yeah, yeah, I just want to spin. I want to spin talk into action and ideas into intentionality. I'm going to go number four.

Rex Miller:

Okay. So look at how your strengths are interplay. The strategic is the vision side, the activator is the let's get it moving, spin it into action. The competition defines the parameters of winning or success immediately. All that happens behind the scenes, real time, instantaneously, and it's a unique combination that you've got. So, again, we could change this. We may do that in the future, but I'm just going to save it, and you can see that we're building up the paragraph Now. It's gone to winning others over short, short names. So what are the eight?

Sid Meadows:

So I come alive when, in front of a group, I can make quick connections and find common ground. I love social events where I can meet new people from different backgrounds. I'm like a bumblebee that spreads positive energy to the world, to everyone around me. I am transparent, even with people that I just met. I am fearless when it comes to meeting new people. I can sell just about anything to anyone. I'm laughing at that. Had a boss tell me one time. Said you could sell ice to an Eskimo. My friendly dialogue motivates and mobilizes others. Oh my gosh, Rex, so many of these are I resonate with. But I'm thinking about something that I did in December and I spoke in front of an interior design IDA emerging leaders group. There were nine of them and, dude, I was just so alive talking to this group of young ladies, and so I'm going to go to number one.

Rex Miller:

Okay, now recognize that all of these could fit.

Sid Meadows:

Yeah.

Rex Miller:

But what we're trying to do is filter down to the strongest, clearest message to your brain.

Sid Meadows:

Yeah.

Rex Miller:

Over time we can combine, edit, add, but right now we're just putting the training wheels on. So this is a great process. So let's read these. This is now competition that we're on.

Sid Meadows:

All right. So I instinctively know if I can win or succeed or not. I know what it will take to win and whether I'm on target. I perform best compared with others, and the stronger they are, the better. I like to turn work into a game. Keeping score keeps me motivated. I hate to lose more than I love to win. I don't play for fun, I play to win. I help others perform their best by helping them see themselves as winners. I don't waste my energy if I see that myself or my team can't win. Oh goodness, so it's between number one and number two, I think. So I instinctively know if I can, or we can, succeed or not. You talked about that earlier. I can pretty much know that. But then the next one is I know what it will take to win and whether I'm on target. I mean, I can see things like these are the things we got to do to make this happen. So I'm going to go with number two. Actually, I know what it will take to win and whether I'm on target.

Rex Miller:

Now they're cousins. So what I'm going to do, just for demonstration purposes, is I'm going to combine those two. All I have to do is copy that and then go down to this number two and add it Okay, and save it, and they're both in there now. Okay, great, now we're at. Relator, the final one.

Sid Meadows:

Okay, here are the eight. I have a fine-tuned sense if someone is genuine or not. I have a tight circle of trust that my closest friends are a part of. I am the go-to person and confidant for my friends and colleagues because they value my trusted advice. I have conscious and subconscious guidelines or rules that help me form trusting relationships. Sorry, guys, my glasses are. I'm going to look down to read. I have close relationships that go back to grade school. I enjoy building relationships that I have a history with. I speak candidly with those in my circle of trust. I practice the golden rule and treat people how I want to be treated. I work best on teams and play well together Without really much hesitation. It's number three, Rex. I am the go-to person and confidant.

Rex Miller:

Yeah, and I can imagine that. So it created an archetype with the four strengths. So that's unique. About 20% of individuals have strengths in the four zones, which means that you're a natural connector, you're a jack of all trades, you have an instinct sense, this particular leadership style instinctively knows if a team is functioning well or not, like a master mechanic listening to an engine, knowing if a cylinder is out, and you're able to naturally elevate team performance. You see the gaps. You're instinctive in filling the gaps. Growing up, you probably had a wide variety of groups and friends that you were comfortable with. You were a jack of all trades and that's what this combination looks like. So we've finished, kind of phase one, which is we've built the framework for your strengths.

Sid Meadows:

So for those not listening or not watching on YouTube, basically it took all of my responses and it created a persona that says you are a connector.

Rex Miller:

Correct.

Sid Meadows:

And so I'll read you here. The connector archetype possesses strengths in all four personality zones, allowing them to connect with people and teams effortlessly. With the ability to launch from any zone, they build bridges and can quickly adapt to new environments. Their wide-ranging interests make them expert generalists excelling at everything they do. That's what a connector is.

Rex Miller:

How does that resonate with your experience?

Sid Meadows:

I can't argue with that, and I'm sure people that know me, that I've worked with me or worked for me today, are listening to this, laughing because they're going. That's exactly who he is.

Rex Miller:

That's neat. Now let's read the paragraph in the white aloud. Now that we've assembled it, let's see what it sounds like as a paragraph.

Sid Meadows:

I can pivot quickly when I sense resistance or an obstacle, when I get to feel or flavor of a direction or goal I want to spin talk into. I want to spin talk into action and ideas into intentionality. I come alive when I'm in front of a group. I know that. I know what it will take to win and whether I'm on target. I instinctively know that, if I or we can succeed or not, I am the go-to person and confidant for my friends and colleagues because they value my trust and advice. How does it feel? I'd reword it a little bit, but that's the right Sure. You could reword it a little bit.

Rex Miller:

Is that right? Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Sid Meadows:

But no, I mean again, it resonates with me, I mean it. I have nothing that I can say against it at all. Rex.

Rex Miller:

Well, and so this is step one in the process, and step two will be to wordsmith it. Yep, and you can easily do that and I'll follow up and circle back and show you how. But you can see, I can highlight any of these paragraphs and then pull it up and we can wordsmith Make some changes.

Sid Meadows:

Okay. So, Rex, I know you have a stop, a hard stop, here in just a couple of minutes, so I want to respect that and I have access to this, so I'm going to go and play around with this, but I want to ask you if you'll come back, because I think it would be really interesting to do. Take this once. I kind of get it to the next level and then reveal the kryptonite.

Rex Miller:

Yes, that's going to be the fun, interesting part, Yep. And then the whole, the reason we've developed it. First of all, did you find this pretty easy and intuitive?

Sid Meadows:

So take your hey Rex, you don't stop the share for a second. Sorry, that way everybody's not looking at it. So what I would say is I got the test. I took the test took 30 minutes for me to take it. It was super easy. I was sitting here nice and quiet, and then so this I enjoyed it. I enjoy learning about me, I enjoy learning how I can continue to improve, and so I really liked it very much so, and I actually look forward to diving into it a little bit more. And this is part of what you do as your consulting service with groups and teams right.

Rex Miller:

Yeah, it was show teams and groups and companies, and I think one of our goals is to make this easy enough that you don't need somebody like me to have the kind of conversation you and I had, and so that lowers the threshold and it broadens the number of people that can get into this dialogue. Conversation and the team dynamics is something we can talk about in the future too. So yeah, this was fun, it's always fun for me to do this.

Sid Meadows:

Yeah. So we're going to have part two of this coming up soon. We'll get it scheduled and get it recorded, so stay tuned. You're going to get to not just see who I am, but get to see what my kryptonite is, which I think will be quite funny. So very interesting to reveal that.

Sid Meadows:

Rex, I can't thank you enough for coming on today and sharing a little bit about what you've been up to and where you've been headed and the new things you're doing. Congratulations on the book, the software company and your continued success, and I look forward to coming down and hanging out with you one day soon, because you're not too far from me. So with that, Rex, if our community would like to get in touch with you, what is the best way for them to do that?

Rex Miller:

LinkedIn is probably the number one area, and then number two. The website is rexmillercom, and then my email is simple as well it's rex@rexmillercom, so it's all very easy peasy.

Sid Meadows:

We'll be sure that all of that is down in the show notes for everyone to access. If you do reach out to Rex, please let him know. You heard him here on the trend report and that's why you're reaching out and having a conversation with him. So, Rex, thank you very much. Everybody, go out there and have a great day and we'll see you again soon. Take care everyone.

Rex Miller:

Take care.