[00:00:00] Dr. Nate Salah
Hello, my friend, and welcome to this episode of A Call to Leadership. I'm Dr. Nate Salah, your host, I am so thankful that you join me on this episode as we uncover an area of leadership that I've talked about before, but not in this context. One aspect of the journey as an effective leader, a leader who discovers influences and achieves rolled-around shared purpose, is your connection with other leaders is your ability to have a diverse group of leaders around you who can help stimulate that aspect of discovery, that aspect of influence and that critical aspect for effective leadership of achievement. Oftentimes, as leaders, we're isolated, we are by ourselves, doing what we need to do we sometimes feel like no one understands, especially in an entrepreneurial or business context.
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Sometimes, in a family, you feel alone, perhaps there's issues challenges we're facing with disagreements with a spouse trying to work through raising children, whether it's a loved one or a sibling, all kinds of challenges come across our purview, whether it's business, family, or life in leadership, and we need community we need others who are facing similar challenges have faced similar challenges, perhaps in different contexts that can share in our burden, who can perhaps illuminate a better path, eliminate pathways that do not lead us to our better future state? How do we do that all kinds of ways? One way that I want to share with you today is something that I embarked on four years ago, and it was been transformational for me.
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I didn't even know what this idea was, before I went on this journey was called a mastermind. You think what the heck is a mastermind I'd heard of the word, but I didn't really know what it was. I didn't know how it helped me as a leader. In fact, I was asked to start my own mastermind, a colleague, friend of mine said, Nate, you need to start a mastermind. And this was way back in 2019. I said, Well, I'm finishing up my doctorate. And I'm not going to take on any more responsibilities until that's completed writing my dissertation. But when I'm finished, I will entertain the idea. So I finished and instead of just starting one, I decided to join one and understand the mechanics of it as I was working out the details on perhaps starting my own.
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So, what is a mastermind? Well, I found that this was a group of people. In my context, this was entrepreneurs who gathered on a regular basis every four months, for two days to discuss their biggest challenges they were facing over the next course of their days and months and years, but not just discuss it, we focused primarily on what is the starting place for your discussion, the starting place for your discussion is your vision. This was a central aspect of my journey in the mastermind experience, in fact, and I love it, because well, my PhD work is in visionary leadership. So, vision is very near and dear to my heart. Listen to the show. If you watched it, you know that vision is essential to effective leadership, you can't see where you're going, you won't know where you're going.
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And no one will want to follow you to an unknown, dark, and undisclosed location. Because that's just wandering friend, you need vision. In fact, you know, the old proverb if you listen to the program long enough, without vision, the people perish. So this aspect of vision became more real to me when I heard it through the mouths and the lives and the stories of other entrepreneurs. And I was able to feed into their lives they fed in to my life, helping me with blind spots, helping me with looking at ways that perhaps I could see my context, my situational differently, I came to rely on this group of individuals to help me to navigate some very difficult places some tough decisions to make, I would go in to the two-day retreat is what we call them. And I've got this idea and this thing I want to do. And after I explained my decision making some of the things I wanted to accomplish, some group members were able to help me to see some things that I didn't know, in my purview, helped me to make better choices.
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Sometimes, the decision I was going to make was radically altered based on the input of these high value high performing entrepreneurs. And so I began to really find that the impact for me was great, and I wanted to make sure that when I started my own mastermind, my own mastermind coaching program, that I infused, that same level of integration in that journey so I started to recruit invitation only just like to start join me in this journey of a mastermind and so the mastermind is part connecting with the other leaders part connecting with the coach the mastermind leader and having a monthly one on one. And so as both of these tracks were developing, I found tremendous resources. And here's what happened, friend what happened not only in the mastermind that I was attending, but also the mastermind, which I was building and my mastermind launched toward the end of 2020.
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And here we are, this recording 2024. So going strong just came off of a two-day retreat. In fact, and this is one of the reasons why it's still fresh in my mind, I want to share with you the level of bonding that has happened through this group to all people who are from diverse areas of business, some of them are from similar areas, and they're all from in different seasons of their businesses, some are getting started, some are in a season of they've been in business for 20 plus years, they've all had ups and downs, they all share in the struggle. And sometimes it's not just business leadership is not just business, sometimes there's something going on at home, whether it's a family member, a spouse, you have all kinds of pressures happening in your leadership journey. Well, this is an opportunity for each of these individuals to uncork that pressure in a very safe, confidential environment where they can share what's going on.
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And inevitably, there are breakthroughs and the way these individuals describe their experience; it's a family, it's a fraternity, it is true love, they care for one another. Now, that's the environment that I've developed and fostered in this culture, if you will. And this isn't something that I'm doing where it's a big business, and I've got lots of different mastermind groups, one group, one group 12 People, I'm good with that this is a wonderful opportunity for me to invest in these individuals from a leadership perspective, particularly with all of the leadership training that I've had over the years academic and non-academic and practitioner world in the academic world, and really just invest in them and watch each of them grow tremendously as leaders. In fact, we just had an exercise where and I've mentioned this before on the program, writing a letter from your future self to your current self. And that letter, five years in the future, explaining who you are, how you've found this ideal future.
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And as the ideal self, what are some of the milestones? What are some of the things that you are thankful to your current self for putting in action as you begin to grow and trend, just being a part of listening to each of these stories unfold on paper, because we extract the vision from your mind, put it onto paper, and to hear the depth and care that each individual has put into their future self, it is moving to see the effort to foster to craft a future because here's the thing about the future, it's coming five years from now is coming regardless whether or not we do anything we plan we create, invent or not, it's coming. So why not predict the future? You say, Nate, I don't know how I can predict the future been said like this, the best way to predict the future is to invent it. If you can imagine your best future, state your ideal self in the future and begin to develop that extract it from your mind and develop it, put it on to paper.
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And then that begins to manifest itself as you take action, day by day by day with discipline, with determination, with resilience with fluidity to author that future self and in that five years, when you meet that future self that future self is thankful gratitude, appreciation that you took those steps for change for progress for improvement can start with just what's one thing, one thing in five years that I will want to have accomplished that I have not accomplished today. One thing for me from 2015 to 2020. That thing was I wanted to walk across that stage terminal degree or my PhD and I did whatever it took I imagined myself first I visualized myself walking across that stage. Just like with cutting the nets on the basketball court, you cut the nets after you win the championship, right cut the nets in your mind, cut the nets physically as you prepare your mind prepare yourself as you dream, but dreaming is not enough friend, dreaming is only one aspect of this equation.
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Dreaming is about foresight, but you must have insight you must think about what I must do day to day today. And you also must have hindsight looking at the past to understand to learn from what you experience. So the past is the learning, the present is the building, and you must see the future you must see the future you because that is the believing, and if you cannot believe, I guarantee you, you will likely not receive because you have to be living to say to I believe something is to be living it day by day by day it to believe that you can become that ideal self in the future. There's all kinds of things that are going around right now, you may say, Nate, I can can't predict the future because I don't know what's gonna happen along the way. Hey, listen for it. There's a lot of things that we don't control. There's a lot of things we can't control in life. But there are some things we can control, I can always control my attitude. My attitude is an attitude that will find a way I don't know the way will find the way that doesn't mean I have to be massively optimistic.
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That doesn't mean that I'm struggling. If I'm pessimistic, it just means that there is a solution available, and I don't always have it. And that's why we have to circle back around with a group of individuals who have our back. If you don't have that in your life, I would encourage you now is the time get connected with others. Look up the word mastermind and see on social media, see if there's one that fits you and your desire to grow. Maybe there's three people that maybe there's five, maybe you start one, maybe there's 10, or 12, whatever it looks like, get together with masterminds in your genre in your area, maybe you're in real estate, maybe you're in construction, maybe you're in manufacturing, I started a mastermind, that was multi-disciplinary. So I wanted a very diverse group of individuals, because I believe that diversity has massive power to create progress. If we're homogenous, if everyone's the same, perhaps I don't have as much resources to learn from different industries in different segments that will inform me I found that in businesses is critical.
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Think of Steve Jobs and Tiffany's right. He wanted to create a high-value brand as if it was a Tiffany's as well, how he one of the things he did with Apple, he looked outside of his industry in Southwest Airlines when they went to NASCAR to see how these pit crews can get these cars out so quickly, to help them with faster more on-time flights. Of course, NASCAR only used one kind of car. Southwest only uses one kind of plane to this day. 737. So the point is, is that that for our group, diversity has been immensely valuable, it may be different for you, the point isn't necessarily having this kind of group or that kind of group. It's taking the steps today to say, Who can I bind with that can challenge me in a healthy way that cares about my future that I can invest and pour into as well?
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If that's not something that you've endeavored to do, I suggest it is time. And if you are currently doing it, if you're listening, and you're like Nate, I'm in a mastermind, I absolutely love it. Fantastic. Now is the time to continue to develop and harness that. And don't take your foot off the accelerator when it comes to growth in a collaborative fashion. Don't lose sight of that don't ever get isolated isolation is desolation, make sure that you continue to grow, these individuals will challenge you to rise, because when the tide rises, all ships rise, sometimes your vision might be a little too low for your abilities.
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We see that quite a bit here. And there in our group. Sometimes, when someone's vision is a little lower than their aptitude or their ability, then I say, Hey, come on, bring it up, say in five years, I want to have X dollars in liquid reserves based on this, this and this now not enough, bring it up, you can do better bring it up again. And I'm not saying you set goals that are unachievable. Don't do that you want achievable goals. Of course, you've heard the smart method: write specific, measurable, achievable, realistic time bomb, there's a lot of merit to that, however, make sure your goals are stretch goals, you want to stretch, just like if you're if you're physically exercising stretch, if you want to just like a mental exercise, spiritual exercise, emotional exercise, whatever the discipline is just stretch, because that stretch creates progress far beyond what you may perhaps thought was possible. You do it in collective, you do it with others, you find people who share your values, and you light up the world together.
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Well, my friend, thank you for joining me on this episode of A Call to Leadership. If you've been listening, you've probably heard me talk about our accounting and advisory business. And this show was actually born out of that business, those relationships, I found that entrepreneurs and professionals were missing aspects of their leadership that fed into their bottom line and help their businesses be successful. So I'm so thankful that I've had all those years in that area to feed into this. And the truth is that so many people still need Accounting and Advisory help and they don't know where to go. If you're in that place where you feel, oh my goodness, my tax person or my accountant, I can't find them. Or maybe the service wasn't up to my expectations did not disappear. I'll leave how you can find us in the show notes. And one of my team members can do some discovery and help you along your journey. You're not alone, my friend. You always have help. I'm Dr. Nate Salah. Can't wait to see you on the next show. A Call to Leadership.