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How you talk to yourself is how the world's going to treat you too. So if you really embrace this idea of your past, you have all these things you've learned. What do you need to unlearn or reprogram? You're actually perfect the way you are. There's nothing wrong with you. It's just the matter is that you maybe picked up some bad habits. We are our habits. So if we always talk to ourselves in a way, all these things like a war going on and Covid and all these things that we put limitation on ourselves, that's only gonna create our future. Because the only thing we control right now is the thoughts we have. And our thoughts end up becoming words which ultimately become actions if we take them that create results.
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Come on this journey with me each week when you join me, we are going to chase down our goals, overcome adversity, and set you up for a better tomorrow. Fasten your seatbelt.
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I'm ready for my close up.
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Tell me, have you been enjoying these.
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New bonus Confidence Classics episodes we've been dropping on you every week? We've literally hundreds of episodes for you to list. So these bonuses are a great way to help you find the ones you may have already missed. I hope you love this one as.
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Much as I do. Hi and welcome back. I'm so excited for you to meet Aaron Bear. His life's purpose is to create 1 million exponential leaders. He is the Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author of Exponential Theory and the creator of the XMBA Exponential Mindsets Beliefs Attitudes group coaching program. Beyond traveling to over 90 countries and all 50 states, I don't know how he has time for that. Aaron has facilitated innovation and Strategy at over 500 companies. He's highlighted as 10 leaders to watch in 2022, listed on 50 under 50 leaders, 40 under 40, 35 under 35 entrepreneurs and his company has been awarded most innovative company in the US his award winning digital strategy firm has clients such as Google Council for Foreign Relations, Coca Cola. Maybe you've heard of a few of these. Harley Davidson, Emerson. The list goes on and on. He's also a certified Big Historian, Certified Professional Philosopher and was the creator of the Oxford Leadership Online Certified Coach. This is insane. He's a former entrepreneur in residence at Thunderbird School of Global Management and Singularity University at NASA. He currently focuses on helping individuals explore ancient wisdom, repeating histories and modern science through his EX MBA program that focuses on unlearning, reprogramming and creating the growth mindset to ultimately create exponential Mindsets, beliefs and attitudes. Aaron, thank you so much for being here. So excited to speak with you.
A
Thank you, Heather, thanks for having been looking forward to this conversation for the last few weeks. So glad to finally get to it.
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Okay, that is a crazy bio. And my sense was, you know, anytime that I interview someone who's very, very successful in business or has written a strong business book, there tends to be a lot of tactical business takeaways. Tactical, you know, strategies around business. But what was different about your work, your book, you know, your content is. There is a very strong through thread that I saw in regards to growth, mindset, personal development I haven't seen before. These merged together in such a way do you see yourself and is a little bit different in business and success, leadership in that regard?
A
Yeah. So Heather, I got a. I mean I'm probably an overthinker and that's where I've spent a lot of time thinking about these things of how to build a leader and leaders. I think you start personally, you know, and then professionally, then organization. The book really represents some of the organizational strategies of exponential thinking and theory. But we start really in the book at the personal level. Like how do you have the belief systems to actually create exponential things? It's part of an architecture that over a time, if you're going to be an exponential thinker and really think big about the world, then you've got to start with yourself and your own limiting beliefs. What are your beliefs about the past, what trauma that you're holding on to, what baggage, what are your limitations, your regrets? All these things that, you know, we're learned, you know, and I think you, you learn guilt and you learn shame and some of these very negative things where we need to unlearn them because we're perfect as human beings. When we come into the world, we come in as love and you know, sometimes we're beaten down into these people that have, you know, resistance to all the things around us. And then thinking about the future, we have stress, worries, anxieties that it won't go the way we think instead of just being in a moment where we control that, and that's part of my ex MBA group coaching program, is really to get people so they're really in that current mindset so then they can then start thinking bigger. And every day we're in that program is to challenge people to think bigger than they did yesterday. And it's the idea that 1% gain every day gives you a 37x result in a year. So part of that is that becomes an exponential curve pretty quickly as long as we can get you out of the past and not worried about future or doubts or whatever it is that you think won't happen. Because the reality is, you and I, right now, there's no other moment that matters because we're right here, right now, and we're making the best of this we possibly can. And if we're not, we shouldn't be in this moment.
B
Agree with everything you said and I'll tell you something funny came to mind. And everyone listening knows this is. I had a moment where I think. I think bigger than anyone and everyone out there. I think every day I wake up and it's almost to a detriment of me that I'm always pushing the envelope to what's the next thing? And how can I turn my new book into a movie and how can I, you know, I drive myself crazy easy going bigger. However, I learned a couple weeks ago, I was on a call with, I have a creator manager at LinkedIn. His job is to help creators grow exponentially on LinkedIn. And at the end of the call, he said, well, what can I do for you? And I said, well, I need you to get me featured for Women's month on the LinkedIn feed in front of the 400 million audience and the entire platform I want to feature on me. His response was, heather, don't you think you should think a little bigger? And it was one of those mic drop moments, Aaron, that it made me have a realization. Sometimes we only know what big looks like to us, right? We don't understand what that other person might know. I didn't understand. He was in charge of casting a TV commercial for LinkedIn that was going to play in front of billions of people because of their ad budget. And to him, he thought my idea was so incredibly small when I could have been pitching to be a star in this commercial and, and reach billions of people, not 400 million. So what are your thoughts on? Sometimes we think we're going so big, but it's only because we're lacking knowledge.
A
Well, I think that goes to who do you surround yourself with and how do you spend that time? So if you look at the five closest people to you, are they actually pushing your, your barriers or are they becoming your villains to your, your book? You know, at the end of the day, you spend a lot of time with, with probably five, give or take one or two people. And in that, are they actually saying that you should be bigger than you think and that goes to Have a mic drop did with the gentleman from LinkedIn is just to think of people that, you know, it seems like you cross paths with a lot of important people that could open the door for you greatly. I think it's you just putting out there. Like you by putting out there as much as it was big for you, by planting the seed, I want to be on this. He was able to grow that. And that's the type of people that you want to surround yourself. You know, they see in you your greatness probably beyond what you do yourself. Because at the end of the day, part of our own limiting beliefs were built on all the things that we learned and people wanted to shrink us into a world so that we'd be a cog and a wheel, that we'd grow up to be middle managers and we'd just be happy with two weeks vacation and some of these very limiting thought processes and we'll retire. Maybe we have like three to five years left in our life and that was the goal or whatever historically. Now you see this generation that values time, value energy, I'll use energy more than time, even where you can spend that in the right way. So the energy that you put out there by saying to you a big goal created someone else to say, well, I even have something bigger for you. I think it's part of that manifesting, you know, at the end of the day we, you know, there's affirmations, there's all these ways that visualizations, things that, you know, what you think you will create. And that's, that's in my book and my first chapter really around the personal piece of it is to think is to create. And I think we have to be careful with our thoughts because a lot of times we build ourselves up and then we get right to the point of like almost creating it and then we pull ourselves back by saying, ah, well, you know, I don't really need to do that. Or we want to pull her back to a reality that already exists, where what you did is you actually got outside of your own comfort zone asking something. And now it's even expanded more. That's part of thinking big is pushing yourself. Because once you think bigger, you'll help other people think bigger for you just by putting it.
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So actually at the beginning of your book, I had printed this out, you give seven universal truths. And the first one is we are always right. To think is to create. Your perception is your reality, which you just mentioned. And for me it makes perfect sense reading that. However, like so many people Listening right now. And I think that you'll empathize with this. When you're in in the grind and busy at work and you've got kids and you're racing home and there's a pandemic and there's a war and there's so much you're not stepping back from everything to think, wait a minute, pump the brakes. These thoughts I'm putting out to the world and universe right now are actually creating my future. How do you get people to embrace this woo idea of manifestation? Because a lot of people see it as something so bizarre and not applicable to business or success.
A
Well, I think you know, my goal, it's one of the things our team is like to make the woo woo sexy, not to make it woo woo. The end of the day, what you realize is how you talk to yourself is how the world's going to treat you too. So if you really embrace this idea of your past, you know, and you have all these things you've learned, what do you need to unlearn or reprogram? You're actually perfect the way you are, you know, and that's where self help really is not. And it's why it's not a self help book. At the end of the day, you know, self help says there's something wrong with you where there's nothing wrong with you. It's just the matter is that you maybe picked up some bad habits. So if you look at universal truth, if you go down a couple more, we are our habits. So if we always talk to ourselves in a way, you know, with all these things like a war going on and, you know, Covid and all these things that we put limitation on ourselves, that's only going to basically create our future. Because the only thing we control right now is the thoughts we have. And our thoughts end up becoming words which ultimately become actions if we take them that create results. So the basic of making this sexy is the fact that if you can really be careful with your thoughts. And Lao Tzu has a quote in my book that I put in there that you know, is 2,000 plus years old, you know, that goes back before him that says words became actions became destiny, become your character, that right there will tell you that your future really relies on what you think now. So anytime that you say, I want to put yourself out there, your example is a perfect one of saying, you know, hey, I want to be on this, because that would be huge for me. You're actually putting out there where people will surprise you with bigger ideas. So your ability to already think bigger is going to help you expand that mindset because we never know exactly how it's going to happen. And I'll take the woo woo out of it. It's just the fact that persistence and determination of thought. So if I think something and you know, and I think bull terror has a quote that basically says no problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking. And that's exactly to this idea of how you think about yourself. So if you just think about yourself, that you're going to be exponential, that you're going to be big, doesn't really matter. You're going to spend time on that and energy and if you don't let anyone get in your way of that and you just continue that thought process, it's an exponential curve. It may take some time, but eventually you're going to have an inflection point where things are going to start going your way. Along the way you're going to have lots of obstacles. But that's where most people give up. They're like, well, wasn't meant to be. Where the reality is, once you overcome those obstacles, then you start seeing some of the success of your labor. And that's whether you're building a social media platform, whether you're building a company, whether building your friend network or you know, anything, your podcast, whatever it is, it's your belief that if you continue to do this that it'll make a difference. And the reality is the stories we tell, whatever that story is, if it like right today, being on this podcast, if one person takes something from this, we've expanded our mindset. I'm part of growing my own exponential vision of creating 1 million exponential leaders. And today is the first day of that, as Jeff Bezos says is day one. Every day is. So if I start over every day saying that I'm going to create 1 million exponential leaders and I just continue on that path, then I will eventually get there. Whether it takes me two years or 20, it doesn't matter. I'm enjoying doing it. So it's just part of a process of enjoying the journey, which is another universal truth in my mind. And I very much live those principles because they're very much. I see them over and over again. In fact, in the thousand plus business books and self help books that I've read, I boiled it down to those seven. I was diligent at taking journals and notes. And it always came back to these seven things that I have in my book that I start off like, hey, here's some universal truths that you can apply throughout this book. And then the book itself helps expand your mindset. Based on the world's leading companies and exponential leaders like Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, you know, all these people that have now created, you know, really trillion dollar companies. How did they do it? Because beyond what anybody thought at the time when they were creating it, they were able to see a vision much bigger. Like in 1976, Bill Gates said, hey, we're going to put a computer in every home. Well, at that time there weren't even computers in the workplace. Well, now you can only say that Bill Gates underestimated his ability because there's a computer in every pocket. But that goes to elon Musk in 2006, writing a blog post that basically outlined how he was going to get to where he is now in Tesla is he put it out there and he didn't say it was going to happen. In short term, it generally happens a little bit longer. Like Bill Gates has a quote that says in one year we often overestimate what we can do, but we almost always underestimate what we can do in 10 years. So part of my ex MBA is to help people think a little bit longer term because we don't know how this is going to unfold or manifest. It's just the fact if we keep focused on it, it will happen.
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Meet a different guest each week.
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It seemed like I had to have.
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I asked you to try to find your passion. You bring up one of your universal truths which is around enjoying the journey and I have to tell you for me that that's a hard one and I think some people listening will feel the pain on this. When you're in the suck right before you've had the inflection point. Whether you know it was for me. When I first started in the radio business, I had no clients on. I wasn't an exceptional salesperson. I was learning the product and services. I had no strategy to what I was doing but I knew I wanted to get to the top of the company. You know, those first few years were hard and I didn't have a lot of money. So it wasn't like, oh, on the weekends I'm enjoying my big life, and during the week, I'm in the grind. This is so much fun. And it sucked, right? It was like, I don't live where I want to live. I'm not living my best life. Everyone else is going and having this great life, and I'm working, working, working. Granted, it paid off in the end. I made it to the C suite. I made it to where I wanted to go. However, that journey part was not so fun. And I've actually had to, as a newbie entrepreneur now, remind myself of that. Like, okay, you've seen this movie. You know, the stock, it's not great right now. You know where you're going to go. You know you're going to get there. There's zero doubt in my mind, but how long does that suck have to go on for? And when I had Gary Vee on my show, he was all about enjoy the journey. And, you know, I said the same thing to him. It's so easy for people to say, and I'm sure I used to say it when I was at the top of the media business. You know, you've got to enjoy when you're learning. It's easy to say when you look back, but when you're in it, Aaron, it's hard.
A
I agree. But I think you make a key point. There is. When you look back, you realize that there's not a point in your life. And I've had many, you know, peaks and valleys again, as we all have. But once you hit that peak, it's not necessarily the peak that, like, hey, I hit my goal. It's the fact that what you did to do it is really enjoying the journey. If Gary Vee said this, it's like looking back, you know, at what you say, the suck, and just saying, well, what did I learn there and how did I learn it? The bottom line is the faster you learn these lessons, the faster you. And we have this kind of a saying around here, and the companies I have is, either you win or learn. There's no failure. And that's a hard one. And I used to run the national association of Sales Professionals, so I've been through every sales training there is and, you know, learn sales from. That was really my chosen career because I felt, you know, I really embrace sales as, like, the best career there is for an entrepreneur. And ever since I've been an entrepreneur just because I can sell. But the bottom line of selling is Going out every day and improving that process 1% and enjoying that journey is that you'll never make those mistakes again. You learn from them. You know, failure is, is your biggest key and indicator to help you succeed. The more times you fail, the faster you're going to succeed. To what you just said about yourself, you went through that exponential curve and you had that persistence, determination. But through that, looking back is to understand is to celebrate the little things. And if you get to a point where you can celebrate the little things. And actually, in any of my companies, I have this rule that if you do three great things in a day, you can leave or do whatever you want. What's crazy is if people come into work and they have something they want to do. I'm from Arizona, so it's spring training baseball. So every afternoon there's spring training games. Generally this time of year, everyone starts doing three great things. They stand up in the company and they share with everyone else these three great things. And they're great things, but they do them by 10am because they want to get out of there. And it's just the fact that it's, don't punch a clock, just do great work. And once you put that energy in and then every day you improve 1% and you take, what did I win today? Or what did I learn? Then the grind doesn't become such a grind. The suck because. And that's just, you know, how do you enjoy the process of learning to say, I'll never make that mistake again, but don't hold onto it as baggage. And I think that's where so many people hold their trauma close to their vest and say, hey, I want to keep this trauma with me always. It's mine. Where instead of letting it go, which is another universal principle, is just, how do I get to a place where, you know, I can take that and actually learn from it versus, like, really failing? Because the only time you really fail is when you keep doing the same thing over and over and over again and you don't learn from it. And that's the goal of my ex mba, which is a group coaching program. That's the goal, you know, when I coach people in my companies is like, hey, you know, today you're gonna either learn or win. And the great thing about that is let's celebrate either of them and let's talk about the things that you learn, because in those may be failures. And the reality is, when you go to any entrepreneurship conference, everybody loves the failure speeches, right? It's like, you know, And I failed at more companies than I've ever started. I've sold 12 companies, but I failed at more than that. And when I say more than I'm saying a couple dozen companies, I failed that. So when you really look back, you know, all those, I did learn from those and now I feel a little bit less and I'm learning or I'm winning. And I think that's part of just my own mindset that I've come bring into my companies and it creates a mindset within my employees as well as my coaching program. If people are in the coaching program, they start to adapt this, they're like, okay, at the end of the day is do a little reflection because you know, we are so busy running ragged because of the 24, 7 news cycle and social media always, you know, endless scroll and cancel culture and compare culture and all this crap going all different which directions where at the end of the day we have to really think about our own mental health, which I think we're, we're entering a period where mental health is a serious, serious issue. Not, not just for, you know, what we'd say. Consider, I'm saying for all people on this planet because of the stresses of social media, of cancel culture, compare culture. I talk about that in the book because it's part of creating that exponential mindset is to take the positives from things but to leave the negatives behind because there is so much negative in the world. And you know, and candidly there's more people that are probably glass half empty then our glass half full and they're going to want to, you know, take water, take a drink out of your drink as much as often. So how do you avoid that? By helping move forward where you want to go to your long term purpose, your massive transformative purpose is what we talk about in the book or you know, a purpose that mine is creating 1 million exponential leaders. Well, that's such a big purpose that I could work on that the rest of my life and be completely satisfied in the grind or the journey of that. So it's also creating a goal so big that you can just continue to work on it. It's not like saying, hey, I'm going to create a million dollars in sales and then six months later I do that and then I want the next thing. It's creating a goal so exponential that you realize that I really got to step out of my comfort zone every day to get.
B
So it's so interesting you're bringing this up. A friend wrote a book about money and how to manage and grow your wealth. And one of his strategies that he shared, which I actually deployed on one of my clients, and it worked beautifully. To your point, is when somebody's not motivated or they're detached from what they're doing and you're trying to get them to go bigger because you see that potential within them, you know they can do it if they can engage. Is aligning that bigger, massive goal like yours, which is very much, you know, true to you, it's mission driven. You're doing good in the world. Finding something that they believe in, that they care about, that is mission driven, maybe totally separate from their business, but that you can tie that goal back to that when you hit this revenue number, you can do a give back that gifts the charity or that it funds this operation, but really making it about doing good in business. And it worked unbelievably well because so many people aren't tied to some big mission in their life.
A
That would be, to me, part of the celebrating the win. Right? Like, so I'm going to celebrate in this way. And candidly, the one thing that we found, I have a charity called Arizona foundation, is we get more intrinsic value from giving money away than we do. So there comes a point where teething or really just giving back or helping others. And that's my mission, is that. But beyond that, I have a foundation that does all kinds of different work in the community. Very satisfying. But you can just see the people in that community, how much they get from the value of just being involved in this greater mission. I think that's the other part of the book. Exponential theory is really how do you create a mission that others can align to and get involved? And that's a big part of, you know, when you're creating a movement, which I really consider exponential theory a movement. If I'm going to create a million exponential leaders, I've got to create a whole bunch of other people that are helping do that. And that's kind of part of my process.
B
Well, Aaron, let's get into some of the business examples that you provide in exponential theory, because I'm so interested to learn more of them. And let's jump in with the concept of exponential virality. I love this example, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, Black Lives Matter movement. What is the business or strategy behind going viral?
A
It's to just what we just launched off on. And I mean, part of it is finding a common interest, a universal interest with a group of people and then really creating a common piece of Content around. So, you know, a lot of times people attempt to. I take is like, if I just went out and I asked for donations and I just went around door to door, you know, that's an old model that will work. It's kind of linear. You know, you're. You're going to just knock on a lot. A lot of doors or whatever. The LS Ice Bucket Challenge was something very, very. Where ALS was this disease that they ultimately created this ice Bucket Challenge. And if you remember, it was very trendy and very social media and created $100 million of. Even though most of the people that did the challenge did not donate. They created this awareness for it. And that was the viralness of it, is everybody started to do it. I remember at the time, my daughter's 13, she's probably 7 or 8 at the time. She's like, I want to do the ice bucket challenge. So I'm in the backyard getting an ice bucket. She's pouring overhead, you know, and all of a sudden I'm doing it too. And you realize then you post on social media, and now people are having a conversation about ALS that they weren't having before. So it shows that other groups. Movember is another one. If you, you know, where you grow a mustache in November, that went very, very viral. And then every November, this foundation, I actually worked with them in the past, basically now, you know, creates a lot of interest in what they're doing, you know, just by taking a piece of content and make it important. So content's king online. So creating something that's common, that everyone can do. And It's. It's where TikTok, you know, you see any trending meme is doing the exact same thing. So we've gone into hyper content or certain songs, certain things you do certain dances. You see them over and over and over again. That's really around the virality. One of the chapters I have is the viral loop, which basically talks about how companies create their viral loop is how easy is it for them to grow. And a viral loop. There's something called the viral coefficient, which now I'm getting a little technical, but a viral coefficient is if I invite you to my network and you invite three people, then we have a 3x viral coefficient. So then those three people would invite three people, and you see the numbers go out. Facebook is the best example of a network that grew by viral loop because you could not ignore it, you could not get it off of it. You know, even the people that dislike Facebook aren't able to like really relinquish it, especially after they bought Instagram and WhatsApp. But you see this is that they were tied into your high school, tied into your college. So all these pieces of content, again content is king. Facebook realized is making relevant content was going to pull you back in. So even those people that left eventually came back and we are where we are today. There's a lot of issues with it that I talk about it in my book of where we are and some of the issues because they the algorithms start to choose what we see and start to separate. You know, your ability to have your own opinion, which is probably politically one of our biggest problems today is because we have a very decisive world that sees one point of view and doesn't believe in another point of view because they see it over and over again. And it just the belief systems are created and you know, then here we are today with a very polarized and extremely opinionated public on, you know, whatever issue there is out there.
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Meet a different guest each week.
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B
I asked you to try to find your passion. You know, I'm thinking about my own journey with micro viral content. I've never had anything like ALS challenge, obviously hashtag goals, but the first time it happened to a piece of content of mine where I received over a million views on something that was a couple of years ago. I remember thinking, oh, wow, this is possible for me. I had never set that as a target. I had never thought like, okay, let's go for viral posts. I didn't even know, you know, I just, I never thought that big around my content. But once I saw it happen, I remember watching tick, tick, tick, tick and the numbers just kept going so fast. Once I saw that, then I kept envisioning every post that since I've worked on that one, every post I look at, I'm like, does this have the potential? No, I bet this one doesn't. This one could. Like, we got to go all in on this one. You start thinking bigger once you have these micro big moments, right?
A
Yeah, no, it's success breeds success. So it's also a belief system that you're expanding. So the fact that it opened your mind up to this, if you can create it as an expectation, then you, you start actually creating the habits to create that. So it's again, learning every day about how do you get back there. But it's not to say that it can happen every time. And candidly, what social media has done over the last three to five years is really locked that down. You know, it used to be able to, you could go viral on your own. Now social media is going to say, hey, we want to, we want money if you're going to go viral. So we're going to limit this so it becomes much, much harder to go viral. That's why TikTok, which doesn't have an advanced algorithm yet, it's starting to get it, as Instagram didn't have it three years ago, as Facebook didn't have it seven years ago. You know, LinkedIn, even LinkedIn has an algorithm now that, you know, your content barely gets seen by anybody, where you could have 17,000 people. But I could put a post out that's seen by 100 people because of algorithm. So unfortunately, like, we're battling a system that is really controlling what we see. I think that's part of the overall inherent issues with some of these control mechanisms that have been put in place now. They make good business sense. Don't get me wrong. I understand why they did them. It's just candidly our own ability to control our future now we have to buy into that future. And part of it is creating the habits to do that. So there's, there's so much more that goes into it today than there used to be. My owned a digital strategy firm I sold in 2015 and I feel like I'm a newcomer when I talk about social media. I'm very much the newbie where in 2015 I probably knew more than just about anyone there was at that point. But that just shows you how different it is.
B
Oh, that's so true. It's changing so quickly. Okay, why linear companies will eventually die and how to embrace the new circular economy by implementing the Rhodium rule. What does that mean?
A
Linear companies? Generally, companies that are fairly large, they grow at, you know, their goal is 3 to 10% growth, which is a linear line. Companies always grow at that. What the problem with that is is that you have all these other companies in different industries or inside their industry that are growing exponentially. What it means is they're doubling and tripling and they're hitting this curve. They're going to start buying market share because there's not infinite market share. So, you know, it goes to companies like Mercedes Benz, which has a very quality car. But then you think about Uber, think about Tesla, and you think about all these other externals that you wouldn't think maybe takes market share from them, but every time they grow a little bit, they're actually taking market share in very urban markets, you know, younger demographics. You know, teenagers aren't getting cars like they used to. I'm getting driver's license, which I. I find crazy because that was the most exciting probably moment in my life when I got my driver's license. But they're not thinking that they want to grow up and have a Mercedes as a car. That's not even part of their thought process. So as a company like Mercedes, they got to reset, really think about how they can. So they're a linear company that actually is growing fairly considerably. Good line. But there's all these exponential companies. And over the last year, they've really felt those pressures. The circular economy to the point of the Rhodium rule is you've probably heard of the golden rule, right, Heather, Treat others as you want to be treated. Then there's the platinum role, which is treat others as they want to be treated, which I think today is demanded with me too. And all these different movements cancel culture in general. But then there's the Rhodium Rule, which is you have to think about the entire ecosystem, which I think is for leaders today, a very important part of being exponential. If you're going to think big, you cannot think about people that look like you are your religion or everything. You got to think about all people. And I think that's a very important part to growth of society in a culture, in a place where we have to start thinking about the greater good of all people, because it actually hurts each one of us when we're not thinking about all people. And I think that's where for far too long, we've had a few decision makers think about themselves and, you know, their friends and their families and not think about the rest of the world. So we have to actually start to think about those beggars. And if you look at the some of the large tech companies they've actually started because they represent all people. It actually has made them more conscious in their policies and their decision. And so it really is around conscious capitalism or conscious business capitalism should not be in question. It's just how do we make it conscious so we start thinking about it. Even BlackRock, the $7 trillion asset manager, has basically put out some calls to consciousness around how do we diversify board of directors, how do we actually invest in companies that are not for the deterioration of the plan around climate change. So some of these things are whether or not the reality is, in the long run of where we see the future, how do we think about things differently? Because what we've done hasn't necessarily worked perfectly. Now, how could we think about something bigger and better? I think that's an important part of leaders in very big companies and my clients that are boards and different things is how do we actually take a customer base? And if we're going to go exponential, we have to start thinking about customers that we've never had before because we have to grow in a different way. And that's an important conversation I have at the board level and the C suite as well as with startups, because at the end of the day, if you can find a meme or a discussion to really drive your business, we see those companies being more successful every day, and content is king. And that's where some of these companies that actually stand for something versus a company that stands for nothing, we see the difference in them in the marketplace. You know, one, we're in a period of persecution where you're not doing the right thing when no one's looking. You're going to be found out sooner or later. I think that's an important role of social media, is how do we actually level the playing field? And how do we actually give a voice to those that have never had one? And not only a voice, but give them a seat at the table, but also start to listen. Because I think for so long we're. We've given a lot of talks to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Pei. But the reality of it is, until we actually start to listen and drive business in that direction, that's where companies really can reap the rewards. Because if we look at it, we live in a more diverse culture than we ever have before. We need as companies, and what I do with very large companies, help them really think through how to actually embrace that diversity, because that's part of my future. How do I actually help those people understand that we're part of that? Well, it's by making decisions for all people, not just for the people that are in the boardroom or family out on the farm or whatever it is.
B
As a female board member, I'm all for more females at the table because typically, as you know, it is elderly white males. And it's about time for some fresh voices there, for sure. All right, parting gifts here. What can you share with everybody about thinking big? What do you want to tell them about the power of thinking big that we didn't touch on already?
A
You know, we touched on a lot. And I think the key points that I would take from is once you get digital, once something becomes digital, it becomes exponential. You know, it's just a matter of time. So obviously embracing the digital future, you know, companies that haven't, we've seen them perish, that's a big part of it. And then just having a longer term vision of who you want to be personally, professionally or organization, you know, however you're looking at the world and then, you know, as you grow in the world, it's obviously adopting new beliefs. You cannot hold on to beliefs from the past that have been limiting if you're actually going to move into an exponential future. So the fact is for you, Heather, is just to continue to ask for those big things. Because obviously you've already created a lot of big things for yourself and been in front of all these different audiences and had all these great guests and been on all these different podcasts. It's like just continuing asking and creating that and expanding your own mindset is only going to bring unbelievable things for your future as well as all of your audience members. It's just, it's part of creating that confidence, you know, overcoming your villains, you know, not to wrap it into what you're doing, but it's going through that process to enjoy the journey because every day you win or learn and just having a long term vision on that because at the end of the day, you know, success doesn't happen overnight. Now if you believed it would and you had no resistance to that, it probably would. It's just you have to work through your own self talk and demons, but reprogram them and unlearn some bad habits and limitations and regrets and, you know, really unlearn the. All these things that were brought to limit us and put us in a box is how do we expand that box? I think the most important thing to thinking big is just to know you have every piece of equipment. Everyone on this planet has every piece of equipment that everyone else does. It's just a matter of they actually can create the mindset, beliefs and attitudes and a lot of that is who they're surrounded with. So there are different societal elements where people are born into different neighborhoods or different races that may cause additional boundaries. But regardless, we've always seen and we always love those story of the hero's journey, of the hero actually coming through and winning. And that's why we love these stories of people that were down and out and obviously found their way to this conundrum and overcame it and then found Success, I mean, that's part of my ex MBA group coaching program, is to write your own hero's journey. Because at the end of the day, if you're a hero to yourself, you can be a hero to the world. And any way you want to choose to change the world, you just have to see it. And that's part of, you know, writing your own story and not letting others write it for you. There's so many. We like to turn the pen over to someone else instead of just writing our own chapters and say, this is what the next chapter is going to be. And today's the day. Today's the only day you can do that. So starting right now.
B
I love that. And to paraphrase from Kanye west documentary that's out on Netflix right now, which for anyone that wants to go bigger, you got to watch this. When Jay Z says to him, a closed mouth doesn't get fed, you would have got nothing if you had an ass. And that guy asked his way onto Jay Z's hit single, you have to open up your mouth and then start asking bigger, just like Aaron said. And if you really want to go bigger, you got to pick up Exponential Theory, the power of thinking big. Aaron, where can everyone get your book?
A
Well, it's available Amazon, Barnes and Noble. You can always go to exponential theory.com or Aaron Baer.com and learn more.
B
Well, thank you so much for all the work that you're doing making the world a better, bigger, more fabulous place. We're so glad that we got to be with you today, Aaron. Thank you.
A
Thanks, Heather, for your time and appreciate everything you're doing for the world as well.
B
All right, everyone make it today. Today's the day you're going bigger. Shoot me a dm. Let me know how you're going bigger after this episode. If you love the episod, share it. Tag me and Erin and we will repost and reply till next week. Keep creating your confidence. I decided to change that dynamic. I couldn't be more excited for what you're gonna hear.
C
Start learning and growing.
B
Inevitably something will happen. No one succeeds alone.
A
You don't stop and look around once in a while.
B
You could miss it. Come on this journey with me.
Episode: Confidence Classic: Reprogram Your Mind for Exponential Success with Aaron Bare
Date: October 15, 2025
Host: Heather Monahan | Guest: Aaron Bare
This episode features Aaron Bare, best-selling author of Exponential Theory and creator of the XMBA Exponential Mindsets Beliefs Attitudes group coaching program. The conversation centers on how to reprogram your mind for exponential success, break through limiting beliefs, and build a life and business fueled by a growth mindset. Heather and Aaron dive into practical mindsets for personal mastery, strategies for embracing the “journey” of self-development, the importance of mission-driven business, and why thinking bigger than you ever have is the gateway to unimagined growth.
Aaron’s closing advice:
Heather echoes the importance of self-advocacy, quoting Jay-Z: “A closed mouth doesn’t get fed. You have to open up your mouth and then start asking bigger, just like Aaron said.” (43:29)
Aaron Bare:
Heather Monahan:
The conversation is uplifting, candid, practical, and rooted in both personal vulnerability and ambitious vision. Both Heather and Aaron emphasize actionable strategies but also normalize the struggles and doubts all high-achievers face. The dialogue is equal parts motivational, tactical, and grounded in real-world business and personal growth experience.
This episode is a masterclass on reprogramming your mind for exponential success by starting with belief, surrounding yourself with the right people, setting mission-driven goals, and embracing both the journey and the setbacks as essential for growth. Aaron Bare’s frameworks provide a practical blueprint for “thinking bigger,” with plenty of real talk about how hard (but worthwhile) the path can be. The closing challenge: Start asking for, believing in, and building bigger things than you ever have before—today.