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Excellent Executive Coaching: Growing Your Business and Enhancing Your Craft.
EEC 428: From Purpose to Profit - Building a Life and Business That Matters, with Reed Nyffeler
00:22:31
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- [00:05]
A
What are the key ingredients to be a successful entrepreneur? And how do you know if you're going to be a successful entrepreneur or a successful key performer in an organization? Let's ask Reid Niffler what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur today. Welcome to the excellent executive coaching Podcast. My name is Dr. Katrina Burus, and today we have the pleasure of inviting Reed Niffler.
- [00:42]
B
Thank you. Yes, that's correct.
- [00:44]
A
So, Reid, tell us how you help and support someone to discover their true purpose in business and in life.
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B
Yeah, so I think, you know, obviously they say the power of life is one, being born and then second, figuring out why. And I think that's what your purpose is, effectively, right, is figuring out why. And so have written what is effectively three books. The first one is about leading yourself, and that's how to transform to purpose and what you can lead yourself. Then the next step is leading others. And that's what that second book is, Lead Exponentially. And I think we can really achieve scale in our lives, businesses, and really our leadership endeavors by leading others. And there's a structure and a system to everything we do. That system is whether it's, you know, just living life or ultimately conducting our lives. And so I learned early on that if I can develop a system to lead others effectively, it makes my life easier, makes their life easier, and helps enhance and expand their development. And so the nature of how we do that is first, and you would see this in the leading others book is choosing who we lead. I think sometimes we do it by proximity or people that are early fans of what we're doing or believing in us. Even as a business owner or a leader, or over time, we'll say, you know, we want to lead this person, instead of saying, really, who can we have the greatest impact on? And I think that's a first step in leading others, is understanding that. And that's a large part of my purpose in the franchise organization is to lead others to help them achieve their unique purpose.
- [02:11]
A
Okay, so lead others to have them achieve their purpose. But sometimes you can't choose who you want to lead. So what do you suggest in that situation?
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B
Well, then, if you can't choose who you want to lead, you can choose how to lead them. So, you know, if there's a family member or, you know, someone that you have been assigned in your role that you didn't get to choose to hire them or lead them, then you can choose how to lead them. And I think, you know, I always attempt to lead them to purpose, and it starts with why? Because we won't follow anything unless we understand why. Why are we doing something? Especially this next generation, right. If they want to understand why. And then later, as that progresses, we understand why we're leading them and then where we're leading them. And then the next question I always like to help them understand is why not? Right? Why not? Why not you? Why not the subjective? Right. Because certainly we always want to look opportunistically at why and where we're going, but at the same time, as if we look at what are the things that could potentially hold us back or the things that would be limiting. Because I think we never trul. Truly reach our full potential because of two things, fear and focus. We either are too afraid to take a step or develop or change the status quo, or we are willing to do that, but we are not focused on achieving that objective. And so I think those are the two things that stop us. And so if we can't choose who we're leading, we can choose how we're leading them. And that is essentially a structure and we're leading them towards an objective.
- [03:39]
A
Okay, so let's see how we. Would you advise someone if someone has leading, someone that has fears versus someone has lack of focus, what's your approach?
- [03:52]
B
So I think fear is when you first are making a decision you're afraid of making happen, but you're already making a decision not to do something. And so there's consequences of that. So as an example, I have business owners in our business. And so there I say this, I said, you're working for the next 10 years, is that correct? I'm like, yeah, okay, so you are either going to be afraid to start a business and what is the consequence of starting a business? And of course there's an upside, but then you look at the downside of that and saying, okay, what do you really lose? Right. Okay, so it didn't work and what are your losses? And we kind of quantify that. Conversely, let's stay in your job, right? And I think an easy one to understand is a government job, right? Let's say the military. A lot of our franchisees are in the military. So you go and everyone gets hired at the same pay and rank, essentially based on how they test you into the military. And then a lot of it's based on time, over time. And so you can progressively show where your income will be and where your life will be in a 20 year commitment to the military.
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A
Wow.
- [04:49]
B
And then predictability, very predictable. And so you'll know where that is and say, is that the life you want in 20 years? Or let's say you're an entrepreneur and a business person and you say, here's where you start and you may be a little bit less and there's certainly not a pension or certainty on the other side. But then you extrapolate that out against similar people in a similar experience over 20 years and look where they're at. So the fear is really short term because usually as an entrepreneur or a business owner, you're sacrificing short term stability or predictability for long term benefit. Whereas, and said another way, if you're an employee, you're letting someone else define your career by the job description. If you're an entrepreneur or a leader, you're defining your career as the leader. And so there's stability when someone else defines it for you and predictability, but there's opportunity when you define it for yourself. And I think life works the same way, right? We, by assuming or falling into that, we accept the default life. What is someone else we're defaulting to what other people are giving us? Or do we want to define our life? And I think that's the difference. And then if we can define our lives, then we can define and help others as a leader to define their lives.
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A
Very interesting. So also, let's say they lack focus. So how, how do you approach that?
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B
Yeah, so first of all, I think focus is a discipline in many ways, right? Because we want to say, I will not allow myself to be distracted. So, and then we look at what is distracting me, what am I naturally gonna be distracted by, right? And so we have to decide to not be distracted. I think that's a key thing, right? I remember as an example, in junior high, I sat in class and I realized, you know what, I can look at what my friends are doing. I can, you know, pay attention to certain parts of what the teacher is saying. But I want to focus. And then I created a trigger that would focus on things that are relevant and valuable. And this was a technique I learned that has served me my entire life. I said, I want to focus on things that are worth retaining, right? So the teacher would say something, this is going to be on the test. And I thought I should listen to that, you know, because it was very defined versus she may go off on, hey, this is what I did on the weekend. Or you know, I had a student one time or whatever, right? Stories, I'm like, that's not worth focusing on. And so I had hyper intentive Listening when there was things to focus on. And so the first thing is, I wouldn't be distracted when she said, this is going to be on the test. So that's the trigger. And then I would listen intently and try to recall that information. And I think many of us listen and retain information that is never to be used. And so what should you focus on as a starting point for a lot of people? And I always say it's into these three categories. Eternal, transcendent, or universal. Eternal. Something that I would use the rest of my life. Right. Think of as a child. Something you use the rest of your life. You learn how to eat. Well, that's something I should focus on learning to do. I should learn on speaking English because that's what I'm doing the rest of my life. Right. And then transcendent. What is something that's not about me because that is much more useful than things that are only about me. Right? Transcendent. And then three is universal. I should focus and listen on things that are universally applicable every area of my life. Right. So if I'm listening, gravity is in every area of my life as an example. Right. Whereas if I. Many people focus on, say, memorizing movie or song lyrics. Well, is that entertaining? And where is that applicable and how is that there? So how much of your time and mind and space and effort is into things that are temporal, right. And they're not there? The news of the day. So. So the first is focus. Focus on what? Focus on transcendent, universal and eternal items and then listen and retain those. And then free space by forgetting those things that don't fall in that category. And then it's techniques to learn how to focus.
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A
Okay, so, for example, you wouldn't go and look at a film if it's not internal.
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B
Well, no, I would, but I wouldn't memorize all the lines. We need to be entertained and we need to break from focus. Right. But I understand its role. Right? I understand, you know, the role. So I personally, for the sake of progress and development, am focusing on things that can aid that direction. Right. So maybe you are a filmmaker, then it makes sense to focus on the film, right? If you're a filmmaker, learn about that. That's something you're going to use. But if there's things that are. I see generationally people focused on only entertainment value things, and they wonder why they're in the same place every day. As opposed to educational, compounding things. Right. You obtained your doctorate because you were able to focus on a curriculum that Helped you go to the point of ultimately writing, you know, a dissertation that someone approved and that category. Because you focused on a category. Right. It wasn't. I'm assuming your doctorate was not in a broad doctorate of the globe, you know, global understanding of entertainment. Right. I mean, no, it was something very specific and that allowed for the focus. And then you became an expert in and validated through the doctorate. Right. I mean, that's what I'm saying. With focus.
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A
PhDs are highly focused. Highly focused on.
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B
Exactly.
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A
To the detriment of being generalist. Yes. Okay. So what you referred to this generation. Any comments you have about the difference between leaders today and leaders 20 years ago?
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B
Yeah. And so I understand you are originally from Switzerland. Well, my great, great grandfather immigrated from Aardvagan, Switzerland, a really small community. And I. I look at generationally, why he did that. The first was because of scarcity. Right. He was one of four boys, and there was only a couple of acres of land. And he looked around at 18 and he said, there's not enough for all of us, so I'm going to leave. That's scarcity. So he immigrated the United States, you know, got money from his dad and got on a train and never saw his mother but one other time in his entire life, because that's just the generations, the late 1800s. And so then he had four boys, and they were looking at opportunity because they then saw the Land act and they started getting their own farm. And then that was my great grandfather then my grandfather was a farmer on the same land, and production had gone way up because tractors were invented and they really figured out seeds, et cetera. And so he made an economic decision as an entrepreneur, and he's saying, hey, this didn't make any sense. It wasn't profitable, et cetera. And so my dad had a conversation with my grandfather, and my grandfather asked my dad and said, what do you want to be? He said, I want to be a farmer. Said, no, you're not. He said, I'm going to be a farmer so that you can go to college and leave there. And so my dad left and became a teacher of industrial arts and, and pivoted out of that marketplace, right. Because of, again, back to opportunity. And so, you know, at that point, you know, that generation, which is my dad's generation, is. Was taking opportunity to have autonomy as they retired, right. They're working all the way through so they could, you know, you know, no matter what the job was, no matter where it was, they want to earn a good income. So that at 65 or you know, whenever that age is, they could have autonomy, go retire, have income and do whatever they want to do. At that point, my generation is saying I want opportunity, but I'll work between the twenties, in my twenties, so that in thirties I have autonomy. Right? I have flexibility to buy the house I want, have the family I want, have the car I want, travel and go on vacation as I want. Right. And so then we look at the next generation, my kids generation, and they're looking at autonomy, meaning I want to go where I want to be, do what I want to do, and I'll find the best opportunity inside of that. So as a leader, you have to understand which generation and which mentality each of those individuals at that stage are thinking through and what drives and motivates them. So as a result, I have people that are in each of those three, my dad's mine and the younger generation and I lead them according to their, you know, and not everyone has those value sets, but a large section of them do. And so I'm building businesses that allow for autonomy first, opportunity second for the 20 year old generation. Why? Because they're the leaders of the future. They're building organizations in the business, they're going to drive the economy just like my generation right now is largely driving the economy. Right. We have the disposable income, we're making the investments in society and humans and individuals. And so that next generation is carrying that after that. And so I really look at my adjustment to leadership style as a result of the generational interest they have as a result.
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A
So my next question is, what are the first steps to becoming a successful business owner? Given it's a little bit different from depending on what generation, but can you comment on that?
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B
Yeah, for sure. I think first and foremost people make a mistake of starting a business based upon what they enjoy doing. And if you just enjoy doing it, it may not be a viable business. Sometimes it is, but sometimes it's not. So I think that's you don't want to do something you don't enjoy, but that shouldn't be the first decision. So every industry, every business that I built and every, if you look at successful business, I took a step back and I said what have been long term successful businesses? And it's largely when they invented technology or leverage technology with ownership, right? Someone decided to make a difference, right? We know the long told story of Henry Ford, he got there was innovation of vehicles and he created the assembly line. And so it's innovation, the innovation was the assembly line to produce vehicles that got the production masses down. And he took ownership of that, right? That was his day to day focus. Right? And so you look at that throughout that. So what did I do? I looked at industries that have been largely unchanged for 30, 40, 50 years, right? I mean, Uber was successful because they looked at the taxi cab industry and said, what's wrong here? Why can't we do this better? So if you see an industry that needs to be changed, that's the first step, leveraging technology and someone that owns the outcome. The second is then what do you do? You map the user experience. So there's three industries I'll give as examples that were totally dynamically changed that we still. And they all intertwined together. The first, and I kind of gave you was Uber, right? The taxi cab industry. And they map the user experience. The user experience for the taxi cabs were poor, right? You'd have to wait in the side of the road, wave your hand when somebody drove by, hope they were available to pick you up, and you never knew when they were coming, how long would it take you to get there and what the cost would be. Uber said, wait a minute, what's an ideal experience for the driver, for the rider and for everyone involved? And they mapped out an experience. Second is going to be Chipotle, right? And so Chipotle is like, wait a minute, how do we get people through with a healthy option relatively quickly? And they can then go select their ingredients and they built a user experience thing. They want to select their ingredients, they want to put that in a different state. We're going to have them all right in front of them and they can just build that as they go, right? So they built the user experience there. The third is the Apple iPhone, right? There was a series of phones that were available previously, but Steve Jobs says, hey, wait a minute, what would be an ideal user experience? Right? They have the stylus in their fingers, we'll use a hands and we'll build an app that's easy to understand, that even a, a child can quickly learn how to do that. And so here, here's each of those three were built on user experience. But right now, today, any of your listeners could go on their Apple iPhone, order a Chipotle to have Uber eats, deliver it, and all those, these three things work together. So if we are businesses and understand that we can work with user experience based businesses, that's where the consumer is going to go. So we pick an industry, they can leverage technology as all three of those did to have someone that owned that decision and process to map the user experience, then we can build our business and hopefully we enjoy doing that. That becomes the last part. Because you don't want to be in a business you don't enjoy.
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A
Yes. Okay, great. That's. So how do you develop leadership skills that actually drive results? So you referred to it. It's really seeing the motivation of who you're talking to. Any other comments?
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B
Yeah, I think for sure, you know, you want to help them understand why they want to do it, not for your sake. Right. I always, I always tell people, you know, don't look at me as your leader, look at yourself as the future you want. And I am your mentor, coach, support person to help you achieve that. And so if you're working with someone and they have an aspiration to be a franchise owner in my business or a leader, at some point, say, hey, where do you Want to be 20 to 30 years from? Where are you going and where do you want to go? And then first thing, okay, what are your skills today and what do you need to develop to do that? And break that down step by step and build from there? So I think then they break that down and then you organize your calendar accordingly to lead and develop categorically. So I think there's a five steps to that, by the way, which. The first one is the vision. I think a lot of people go straight to project management and that project management is saying, what are the tasks I need to do that day? And then they're saying, okay, team development, who helps me? But I think you invert that. You say first vision, where am I going? Second step is, what's the strategic plan? How do I go there? And a vacation is a good example of this. We never plan a vacation by where we're starting, right? We always plan where do I want to end up. And so that is how our life works, right? A great vacation is one where you plan the destination first. You develop a strategic plan how to get there, right? Am I going to fly? Am I going to drive? Am I going to take a. And then I say, okay, how much is it going to cost me? Can I afford this? Financial acumen is third. And then fourth, who's going to come with me? Is the whole family coming? Is, you know, I'm inviting friends, who's coming? And then it's project management. I need to pack my swimsuit, I need to pack my skis. Whatever your vacation is, that's last. But we live life invertedly, right? We're like what do I have around me? What do I want to do Right now that's a project. I have skis. What am I going to do with this? I don't know. Let's get some friends together and I can't afford this vacation. Oh, where are we going to go? There's no mountains around, right? They lose sight, they go backwards. And no one would build a vacation, a real good vacation, at least backwards. And so that's how life is. Think of it, that's a structure. Vision first, strategic planning second, financial acumen third, what am I going to make or what's it going to cost me? Team development 4th and then 5th, it's at project management. And so if you think about a career or a life or leading someone in that order, you're going to see much more success than if you invert that, which is the way most people live their lives.
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A
What would you say is the difference between someone that that you believe in will be an entrepreneur versus someone that is probably a good performer but will never leave the company?
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B
Yeah, that's a great question. I think many times it is less about your success as an employee and more about your mentality as an owner. Right. And so you know, if you step into an entrepreneurial role or you're a leader, you cannot do so motivated by the approval of others. Actually you're going to be at the tip of the spear as they say, and you're going to get there. So you have to so determinedly or dogged determination, believe in the mission and vision and what you're trying to achieve. To truly be successful, you're gonna have to break up status quo. And quite frankly we're creatures of habit. We don't like our day to day disrupted without us driving that disruption. And so if you are great performer, the leader is taking the heat for disrupting the day, right. And we can hear that in the water cooler talk like why are they making me do this? I was is ever don't, you know, leave good enough alone, right? Where if you're the leader, you have to be breaking up the good enough to make it great. Right? And you should be believe that this vision is going to be life changing and world changing as you're building on top of that. And so I think ultimately in that end, if you're a great performer and you don't want to disrupt the stats core or take the heat for disrupting the status quo, you should never be an owner. Conversely, if you were a status quo, this is what was my beginning. I Said I can't live with a status quo anymore. I can't live with it anymore. I can't handle it. I can't do it. I know there's a better way. I know it. And I'm not going to sit around idly anymore. I'm going to go change it. And that's when I knew that I was going to be an entrepreneur.
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A
Very good. Thank you for sharing that. And my last question, what would you suggest or advise to young entrepreneurs so they have the desire, the mission and then the focus and they can also overcome their fear. So what would you advise to them?
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B
That if you don't have persistence, don't start. Right. Because here's what happens. Every business plan on paper is perfect until you meet your most resistance. And what do I mean by that? Is there are people that quit quickly. Right? I mean, it's interesting. And it all starts with your language, right? Your persistence is in your language. If you are excusing every activity that, oh, the weather, oh, the politics, the taxes, ah, the tariffs, whatever your current issue is, you are not ready to be an owner because the owner is the one. The circumstances you cannot change. However, the approach you can. So I don't care whether there's a hurricane coming, I don't care if there's taxes, I don't care if the political government changes. As an owner, I know I will be able to handle that better than the next competitor or otherwise. So those who don't know that are not ready, if they don't believe they can execute better than someone else, don't start. And then if you are better to execute, be persistent in doing it.
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A
Great. Thank you very much. Reed, tell us where people can get a hold of you.
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B
I'm on this podcast and other content for the sake of others. And so that's where the next in Leadership.com is a site that I've developed and it's really about three things. Leading self, first leading others and then leading organizations. And so there's content there that they can get. This is really a way to set up the next generation to carry our economy so they can go to the next in leadership.com and they'll see a series of content there. This podcast will be posted on my side there as well, among many other things. And hopefully the next generation leaders can go and change the world because we're a result of all those who changed the world before us.
- [21:54]
A
Yes, very much. Thank you so very much for sharing your knowledge and experience, Reid.
- [22:00]
B
Thank you, Dr. Burst, thank you for listening. To the Excellent Executive Coaching Podcast. You can subscribe to all Future podcasts@excellentexecutivecoaching.com join us each Wednesday to learn more about the latest trends in leadership techniques and bring your coaching to the next level. To learn more about Dr. Burris CEO mastermind, use the contact form@excellentexecutivecoaching.com.