← Miracle Mentality with Tim Storey (Motivation, Self Help, and Mental Health)
Miracle Mentality with Tim Storey (Motivation, Self Help, and Mental Health)
How Personal Leadership Generates Professional Success with Black Hawk Pilot Elizabeth McCormick | E7
00:47:18
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- [00:00]
A
Sometimes you don't have anything but yourself. Your family doesn't believe in you, or you feel like no one sees what you see. I want people to know it's okay. It's okay to believe in yourself first. Other people may not see what you see.
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B
Elizabeth McCormick, US Army Black Hawk pilot turned leadership speaker. What was your assignment when you were in the helicopter for the Army?
- [00:22]
A
So I flew what they call general aviation support, command and control, military intelligence missions. I can't tell you about that one. I didn't know that. I was an early pioneer. I didn't know less than 1% of all the military pilots were women. I just again, had that really clear vision that this is what I was supposed to do. You have to focus on what you can control, the things you can do. And I had to find a lot of techniques. In flight school, when I drew the flight instructor who didn't believe women should fly and try to fail me, I had to find techniques. At my first duty assignment when I was being stalked and physically abused by another pilot in the workplace.
- [01:00]
B
Hello, my name is Tim Storey. Welcome to Miracle Mentality. Remember rooftops, drawing spaceships on the ground. It's for the dreamers, the doers, the believers in something greater. In each episode, I'll invite you to rise above the mundane, to push past the messy and learn to live boldly in the miraculous. Every episode will have practical wisdom, spiritual insight, and my guests will explore what it takes to activate your miracle mindset. Remember to subscribe, follow and like. Welcome to Miracle Mentality. And I'm talking to Elizabeth. How are you doing today, Elizabeth?
- [01:39]
A
Excellent. Glad to be here.
- [01:41]
B
So I've been studying you on stage, and I love speakers. I love watching speakers. I love watching comedians. How much did you learn from comedians to have the style that you have on. On stage?
- [01:58]
A
Oh, wow. I. I was a student of the industry when I first started 16 years ago. I studied, like, not hours, I studied days. I studied weeks of footage of motivational speakers and comedians and sat with a notepad and had a plus and a minus. What did they do that I liked that I wanted to incorporate in my style? And what did they do that I didn't like because I didn't know? Like, it doesn't come. It doesn't come naturally. You have to figure out what you like.
- [02:28]
B
Yes, I think that the best speakers are comedians because, as you know, they are looking for some type of a laugh or some type of return, like every minute and a half or two minutes. And this is what I found with you like your on stage presence, body language is so, so good and very refreshing because I also speak different places and I think that a lot of people are a little bit robotic and I find your style, like very refreshing, the speaking side of things. Tell me how much you like it because I know you do a lot of it.
- [03:14]
A
Yeah, I do around 100 ish, 110 events a year plus virtuals now. I love it. I love that they're all different industries and all different objectives. And I have to make it, it's like a puzzle. I have to fit what I have, my stories into what they need every single time. It's never the same. Even though some of the stories are the same, how I relate, it is never the same. And it's always their first time.
- [03:45]
B
Yeah, and I love how you built yourself out because like if I look at notes, US Army Black Hawk pilot turned leadership speaker and then I, you know, I studied all the things about your military background and that, but I love how you, you've taken your background and brought it into leadership and to teach us how we can step into stronger leadership. And one of the things that you talk about is soar to success. So when you think about soaring to success, let's break that down a little bit.
- [04:20]
A
Okay, so soar is. Well, one of the things I'm famous for is I teach the audience how to fly a helicopter. So literally I get that interactive experience. You probably saw that on the videos, that interactive. Right hand, left hand feet, the whole room leaning together and creating that rapport, building it experience. And what soar, soar and fly all mean is that you are in the pilot seat. Like you're in the pilot seat of who you are, how you show up, what you say, what you don't say, what you do, what you don't do, what you procrastinate on, what you take care of, how you, how you interact in your relationships. Like there's no autopilot in life.
- [05:00]
B
I want to, I want to go a little deeper on that because my background is, my doctorate's in world religion, my master's is in counseling therapy. And a lot of what I do is in the area of therapy. So when I started seeing you touching on some of these topics, you really piqued my interest. Not just to interview you as a guest, but I was really liking what you are saying because I think sometimes when you soar, you have to soar even while you are hurt or you're in pain. And so you with your military background and then you with all the responsibility in the military. Talk to me a little bit about the importance of playing hurt, because some days you don't feel good on a Monday, but you still have to find a way to take care of your kids or do your job or live your life.
- [05:51]
A
Yeah, yeah. So, you know, sometimes when you are hurt, the only thing you can do is show up. Right. So that you have to focus on what you can control, the things you can do. And that might include your mindset and what you're thinking about yourself in those moments and everything. And I had to find a lot of techniques in flight school. When I drew the flight instructor who didn't believe women should fly and try to fail me, I had to find techniques. At my first duty assignment when I was being stalked and physically abused by another pilot in the workplace for. It went on for almost a year. Like, those were all situations. I had to find the strength and fortitude within myself because nobody was going to do that for me.
- [06:35]
B
Yes. And I see that you talk a lot about, like, resistance, not always using that exact terminology, but I call it like an opposition to your mission. So whether it's a situation that you're saying of. Of a person doing what they did to you, which was unfair, but still having to show up. Okay. Probably fighting personal battles in your own life, having to show up. Tell me one thing that helps you to have that type of resilience in. Inside of yourself.
- [07:13]
A
It's really about focus. Right. It's. It's what you're. What the. The battle in. The battle in here and how, like, I had to compartmentalize. I had to be like, I can't do anything about this right now. Like, I can't do anything about the situation I'm in. I can't do anything. What can I do? And really focus on, like, what's next? What can I control? What can I do? And so I really learned how to compartmentalize, like, the things that I couldn't do and put those in a box. I'll worry about those and stress about those later. Because worry and stress just eat away at your energy, eat away at your physical. Your physical presence and how you're showing up. And it wasn't helping me. And I learned that really fast as a pilot. Like, you can't show up impaired in any way.
- [07:57]
B
Yes.
- [07:58]
A
There's lives on the line and. And missions to fly.
- [08:02]
B
Yes. So I obviously know from watching you and studying you the. Your fascination with the helicopter, which I find that very interesting because I know a lot of people are Fascinated with other things, but not necessarily saying, oh my gosh, a helicopter. And someday I'd like to fly one of those. Try to explain that type of fascination. I think that it's interesting because in my opinion, it's almost like God pulling you towards something. Or some people may want to say the universe pulling you towards something, but it was like something supernatural was pulling you towards an attraction, towards this helicopter.
- [08:45]
A
Yeah. I didn't grow up saying, I'm going to be a pilot. Like I thought I was going to be a lawyer or a jewelry designer or, you know, all these other things. Ended up going to school for architecture and, you know, never wasn't on my radar. But at some point I. When I went out to the flight line and I looked at the helicopters for the first time, knowing I wanted to join the military, that's a whole other part of the story. But I knew that this is what I was supposed to do. So I don't think it's necessarily that I had a fascination with helicopters or even flying. It was having that deep, visceral knowledge that this is what I'm supposed to and meant to do. And listening to that inner voice and that inner story that comes out in those moments.
- [09:34]
B
Talk to me about stepping into the helicopter the first few times and you see all these instruments. You see instruments, and I'm just going to use layman's terms, what I would consider gadgets. I would find that to be very intimidating. I'm intimidated at CVS when they want me to check out for myself.
- [09:58]
A
Well, are you sure it's not the four foot long receipt you get afterwards? I think that's part.
- [10:04]
B
Exactly. Use all that for coupons. Right. Because we are coupon people. But I usually, at my stage of life, I usually go find somebody that's about my age at CVS who works there, or maybe someone who's doing it and saying, can you walk me through this? So when you're, when you're sitting in the seat, do they call it the seat of a helicopter or do they call it something else?
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A
It's the pilot seat.
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B
Okay. So when you're sitting in the pilot's seat and you see these gadgets and these things in front of you, how long did it take you for those to be like your friend and your ally rather than. Yikes, that's a lot coming at me at one time.
- [10:45]
A
Well, first they don't put you in an actual aircraft. They start you in like a mockup. So now it'd be like a simulator. But we didn't have fancy simulators when I went through. And so it was just a mock up of all the gauges. And we had to like know what every single gauge meant, what it was telling us. We had to know the limits, like how high it could go. We had to have all that memorized before they would even let us get there. So the preparation to be ready to get in there was super important. Yeah. There's a reason flight school was 42 weeks at that time.
- [11:19]
B
Wow. So 42 weeks. So one of the things I have found in helicopters is that they're tighter than being in business class on my way to Germany. They're tight. Did you ever go through feeling a little claustrophobic? Like this is such a tight space because in that tight space you still have to do your job well, the.
- [11:45]
A
Tight space is intentional because you have to be able to reach everything. So you have got, you got your cyclic on your right hand, your collective on your left hand. You've got gauges in the middle, you got gadgets and gauges, all four feet of cockpit display. You've got circuit breakers, you've got an upper console up here. You've got the circuit breakers behind your head that you might have to check in an emergency. So there's, there's a lot and it all has to be, it has to be within reach. So everything needs to be. In fact, one of the tests when to get into flight school as part of my physical was arm span.
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B
Yes.
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A
Like you had to have a minimum arm span, you had to have a minimum leg reach. Like you had to meet these, these standards before you could even be considered to get a spot in the flight school. So it doesn't, it doesn't feel claustrophobic.
- [12:35]
B
So for some that do not know your story, because a lot do, because you speak, as you said, over a hundred times a year, probably all over the world and then the books that you've written and all the shows that you've been on. What was your assignment when you were in the helicopter for the Army? Can you tell us your, about your, your assignment or assignments?
- [13:01]
A
So I flew what they call general aviation support, which is command and control, vip, military intelligence missions. Can't tell you about that one. If I did well, you know what would happen. So I, I, you know, I, I did a lot multi ship missions. Most of the time, I, after, when you first get there, when you first get to your, you finish flight school and you have what's advanced training. So that's when I learned how to fly the blackhawk specifically because you don't train in an advanced aircraft. You train in a more basic one. For me, that was the Huey and then got to Blackhawk. And then you go to your duty assignment. And even when you first get your duty assignment after almost a year of training, you're not ready. You're still not ready. You have to go through, you have to learn the area, you have to learn the traffic patterns, you have to learn the routes to go in and out so you're not flying over people's homes. You have to, you have to a lot to learn.
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B
Yeah.
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A
So you, you fly with an instructor pilot until they, they sign you off and decide that you are qualified to start flying as a co pilot.
- [14:10]
B
Yes. Okay, help us with this because you're, you're talking to a bunch of lay people today.
- [14:16]
A
It's okay.
- [14:17]
B
Is that, do you always have a co pilot with you or do you fly alone?
- [14:23]
A
So I will say almost every military helicopter is a two pilot aircraft. The Blackhawk specifically is technically the Huey that I flew in flight school could have been flown single pilot, but it had two seats and two sets of controls. And the military basically said you're flying two pilots even if, even though the aircraft has the capability of one. So there's always a pilot, pilot in command and a co pilot.
- [14:49]
B
Okay. So once again, I'm fascinated by what you're doing. You're taking a lot of what you've done from your background, your history and really like life coaching people, training people and so talk to us a little bit about the power of partnership because you are, in my opinion, strong willed. I see that, I see the humor and all that that's there, but I also see that woman that's like strong, that gets things done. How important is it to be in alignment with the co pilot?
- [15:26]
A
Well, okay, first I want to, like, I didn't used to be this strong person. Like I, like this is cultivated. Like this is hard fought, hard won. You know, still could be that little shy girl in the background that wants, watches the world go by. Right. So I just, I just really want people to understand like this is, this is, it's an evolution, right, of who you are and how you want to show up.
- [15:52]
B
And I want to stay there for a minute because I felt that from you because I saw how genuine you were in different audiences. In my opinion, any audience that we speak to, I need to know the climate and the culture, the climate of what is the crowd like that time is it at 2 in the afternoon? Maybe they're Tired, is it early morning. You were talking to early morning crowd and you talked about maybe some of you need your coffee first. But I saw the way you're able to work with crowds. And in my opinion, so genuine. And that's coming from the side of you that is the one that you are talking about where you, you lead with love, you lead with your heart. Right. So. But then you have to have that other side of you of responsibility. And you are in the military. So you, you were saying that the grit was almost learned. So talk to me, just one little point about how one develops this type of grit.
- [17:06]
A
Well, that, you know, grit, the resilience, some of it just comes from. Keep showing up. Right. So even when it's hard, it's. It's a. It's a muscle. Right. It's a learned skill. It's not like you're born with that. You're not. No one's born with that. Right. We learn it by falling down and getting up again and again and again, which we do as children and then as adults, we suddenly lo lose some of that. We don't want to fail. We're. We're afraid. We're afraid of failing. We're afraid of success and what it might bring. We just, you know, it's a lot of. A lot of autopilot and not being proactive and, and just responding to what happens in life instead of being. Shifting your awareness and being aware and being willing to try new things. So I think a lot of it, it's definitely a muscle that you can cultivate and skill, but it requires you to be out of your comfort zone and keep trying new things and build that muscle.
- [17:57]
B
I'm going to step into another subject in just a minute, but I want to stick with you and on this subject for a moment. So when I would think of the elements that you might have to be challenged by as a person that only knows so much about this, I would think of like fog. I would think of birds. Give me two or three other things that we might be dealing with in your type of job that you had.
- [18:24]
A
You know, emergent mechanical emergency procedures. Right. Might happen. I have one of my stories is about almost crashing the helicopter. We don't have time for that one today. Right. But so mechanical. There's weather. There's weather phenomenons. There's, you know, poor communication. There's all kinds of different things that go on. There's, there's the training issues, the lack of training. You know, we like when, when we flew the secret of defense We. We did the entire mission, start to finish, without. Without the VIPs the day before. Like, the preparation level that we went through was unheard of. I mean, you don't see people going through doing a full day of rehearsals before they do a presentation or a pitch deck. Right. You just, you know, the level of preparation that we had, I think. I think as civilians, that discipline we need to cultivate more of so that we're being proactive and we're prepared when something does happen, and we can handle things better.
- [19:31]
B
Okay. So, Elizabeth, I'd like to take you out of the helicopter for a minute, if you don't mind. Brene Brown, her signature message is on authenticity. Grant Cardone is 10x. Ed Mylett is max out. If I was to describe you to a friend of mine, I would say her signature message is what personal leadership. Okay, tell me why the interest in that Grant Cardone. I know 10x. Because he didn't have much when he was a kid. Ed Milet felt like his family did not max out. Brene Brown, out of her own personal experiences, trials, talks about dealing with weight issues, challenges, just life. So how did you come up with. This is one of your signature messages?
- [20:32]
A
Because when I was in the military, when I was in flight school, I was the only female, and I didn't have a mentor, I didn't have a role model. I mean, Amelia Earhart, then, you know, we had. We know what happened with her. Right. So I really didn't feel like. I didn't feel like I had anyone but myself. And when you don't have anyone but yourself, I think a lot of people, you know, listening or watching, like, sometimes you don't have anything but yourself. Your. Your family doesn't believe in you or. Or, you know.
- [21:03]
B
Yeah.
- [21:04]
A
You feel like no one sees what you see. And I just. I want people to know it's okay. It's okay to believe in yourself first. In fact, you should believe in yourself first. Nobody. Other people may not see what you see, and it's okay.
- [21:19]
B
Yeah, I think we need to stay there just for a second, because, like, with Amelia Earhart, you make such a very good point. Like, for me, I could see other male motivational speakers. You can go back to the 40s, and guys were famous for being talkers, Right. So if you look for a reference, there really wasn't really much that was. That was there. And so in. In this case, whether knowing it or not knowing it, you became, like, a pioneer in the space. And when you're a pioneer, it's not always such a easy thing because you're going into faces and places and spaces that maybe others have never gone. So tell me, were you more intimidated by that or were you more motivated by that? And this is going to tell me a little bit about your personality.
- [22:17]
A
Well, I can tell you at first I didn't know, like, I. I didn't know that I was an early pioneer. I didn't know they'd only let women in 15 years before. I didn't know, like, that there was less than 1% of all the military pilots were women. I didn't know there were all these obstacles. I didn't know it was going to be hard. I just again, had that really clear vision that this is what I was supposed to do. So I think that actually helped me kind of going in blind and not knowing all the obstacles and odds. But it was, and it was hard and. But I didn't really look for role models when you're in wasn't until like afterwards I went kind of hindsight and looked at it and went, wow, that was really hard. And I didn't really have like a, you know, the role model poster up on my. My imaginary wall in my head to look at. It just was, again, I stayed true to the kind of the vision that I believe was, was, you know, divine for me, that gave me, that said, this is what you're supposed to do. And I think when we're given any kind of vision like that, like our not to mess it up.
- [23:26]
B
Yeah, I like, I like that. Elizabeth, do you think that in leadership and people trying to find their purpose in life, do you think that it's more decided or you think it's more discovered? And I want you to really take your time with this because on the male side, most male leadership coaches are all about the decision. The decision, the decision where I find that a lot of women that I'm close to that teach leadership, they talk a lot about discovery, which is like the unfolding of something. And obviously it's a hybrid. But from the way you teach leadership, do you think it's more on the decision side or discovery side or what would you do with this subject?
- [24:13]
A
It's both and neither. How's that?
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B
Okay, so this is interesting to me. Yeah.
- [24:20]
A
Okay, so I think it first comes from trusting yourself and your intuition. Right. Because you can make decisions in a vacuum without trusting your experience or background. And you can discover things about yourself but not trust them and take action and do something with it. Right. So I think it, I think it really, like before you make a decision and before you or during that path of discovery, you have to find that awareness of yourself where you trust your instincts and you trust your vision and you trust your decisions and you trust the discovery that you have in that. I think without that Inner navigation Is a decision going to work? Is it going to be the right decision? Are you going to second guess your decision? Right. Or is it going to. And even in the discovery, you might find the perfect thing but not have an awareness to see it.
- [25:22]
B
Yes. Okay, so when you are about to speak to an audience and you speak to very large audiences, and you also speak to mid size audiences, but I see you in a lot of large audiences, what are you thinking about as far as the people in the crowd? One of the things I like to do, I've been on this tour called the Aspire Tour for two and a half years straight. And we hit city after city after city. And what I like to do is I go out before and I shake hands with people. I like to hang out in the lobby. I don't like to be in the green room. Like most of my buddies, they like to meditate or something in the green room. I want to be with the people because I want to see why they came. Good. I want to see why they came. Like, what made you come? And like, oh my God, Tim, I know this is in Phoenix, Arizona, but we drove 12 hours from and they named the city to come. So that excites me as a speaker because now I'm talking to like people that I know a little bit of the stories. What gets you in the mood to talk to certain crowds?
- [26:32]
A
Well, first of all, it's not about me. It's not about you, Tim. Right. It's about how our story, our presentation, what we're presenting with, the education, the content, the delivery, the story, the humor, the presence, it is all a tool, right? It is all a tool to help that audience experience, to help that audience shift in their behavior or change. And I think, you know, I'm with you. I don't meditate in the, in the green room. I don't want to stand behind stage until right before. I want to be walking through the crowd and feeling their energy. Are they nervous? Are they excited?
- [27:14]
B
I could see that. I could see that. I didn't see you doing it, but I know in one video I watched when they introduced you, you came from the back of the crowd and then you kind of danced and you had very good dance moves. I don't know where you Got those. But you have good dance moves. Yeah. So I could see that like you coming from the crowd. My friend Marcus Lemonis is very much like that. He likes to leave the stage, get into the crowd. Jesse Itzler's a lot like that. And I think that that's very needed because otherwise we're like those people up on like a 25 foot stage talking down to people. And I think that you are more like the communicator, maybe.
- [27:55]
A
Yeah, I try to make it conversational. I mean, some of it is a little, you know, getting them engaged and putting them in activities and different things to make it interactive and engaging for them. But it's always like I had one, I did this last week that I got partway through and I went, okay, they, they need this. No slides, no anything. But you just kind of like have that again, that intuition, that awareness and that trust and say they need this. And so on the, on the excuse, on the fly, I had to adjust and you know, I cut something else for time to keep us on time, but I also added this piece in and afterwards the, the, the big boss, the chief of the whole department, and this is in Austin, came up to me and said that was what we needed.
- [28:46]
B
Like, yes.
- [28:47]
A
I didn't know that going in. I just knew from enough, you know, enough experience doing 2000 plus engagements that I could feel that, that that was an issue. I could, I overheard the stories they were talking about when they didn't know who I was yet. And I'm walking through like I knew that there were, there were some issues that needed to be addressed that I knew I could address. So I think again that kind of comes back to that. Trust, awareness and personal, personal leadership and being willing to make those, those changes on the fly.
- [29:17]
B
Okay, let me step into one of your strengths. From seeing a lot of the subjects that I've studied you online is staying with this leadership idea. I want to ask you a couple questions about leadership. So with my family, we were lower income, but I'll never forget my mother said, we're lower income, but we're not lower class. So. Compton, California. Seven people in a two bedroom apartment, but it was always clean. You never saw dishes style packed up. Me and my brother could do the dishes, but when we finally got a house, my all three sisters could mow the lawn as good as the boys. So everything about our family was discipline. And so many times people say, like, how did you guys rise out of like the inner city but in a tough environment to, to step into all of you really succeeding in, in life. A lot of it was my mother being an amazing leader. So talk to me about old fashioned leadership. Compared to what you see as the leadership that we see today.
- [30:28]
A
I think old fashioned leadership is more like military style. It's, it's rank. It's positional leadership. Right? It's do, do what you.
- [30:38]
B
I knew you were going to give. I knew you were going to give me. I knew you're going to give me a great answer. No, I knew you were going to give me a great answer because you just hit me with something. And I interviewed some pretty smart people. You, what you just said, even on the military, in the rank side. Okay, keep going with that for a minute because this is interesting.
- [30:59]
A
But I see it in corporate America too, right? Versus like my first leadership job. When I got out of the military. I worked in a warehouse. And when I worked in that warehouse, like it was 120, it's Dallas, it was 120 degrees in the summer. On the second story, where we had equipment and I didn't send a warehouse person, male or female, out there. I went out there like I got dirty. I had. So they had, we built that respect because they saw me doing. It was a union shop so I couldn't touch anything or move anything, right. I had to work with the parameters I was given with that. But I still could be out there with them and I wasn't, you know, so they saw me and because of that built respect. And because of that I got promoted faster, up higher and ended up working being over the warehouse for, for a while when someone else was injured. Like they trusted me and I built that. So I think if the first part of it is that internal trust, I think now with leadership we have to cultivate more relational trust, not positional trust.
- [32:14]
B
How do we make sure that you don't get grouchy and I don't get grouchy because we're so into being on time, strong leadership. Because this is just the way I've been raised. So I'll give you an example. I walked into a Starbucks one day and I love Starbucks. So if you guys ever want to do something with me or Elizabeth, we love you guys. So we will speak for you. We love you. You can endorse us, you can sponsor us. We love you. But I walked into a Starbucks and everything was in disarray. I mean, they had the Starbucks uniform on, but the kids were joking with each other. Then they finally came to me. I was in the Starbucks. Then I Placed my order. I was getting something for me and a friend of mine. And then they never said that the drinks were ready, and they never put them there on the table like they usually do. And I found myself, even though I'm such a nice, kind human being, I found myself getting grouchy for a minute thinking, like, who trained these kids? Okay, so does that ever get to you when you see the lack of effort and the lack of the high standard?
- [33:34]
A
Sure, of course. I think it gets to everybody. Right. I mean, it impacts us all. We see it sometimes, you know, the. That's not my job. I can't help you. I don't know. You know, it's annoying.
- [33:49]
B
Yes.
- [33:50]
A
Right? It's annoying. And what are the things we can control typically? That's a leadership issue, right?
- [33:57]
B
Yes.
- [33:58]
A
They were. They weren't trained or they're not being supervised or they're not being held accountable. So what I would do is talk to a manager, talk to their. Who's their leader? Who's their regional manager? Right. And talk to. Because that's not the standards that Starbucks. We need to hold Starbucks accountable to. Right? Because if you don't say something and I don't say something, maybe the manager doesn't even know. Maybe they're not even aware. Right? You're laughing.
- [34:28]
B
I'm laughing because I'm loving you. Because. So yesterday I was at a place called Farmers Market in Los Angeles. Have you ever been there before?
- [34:40]
A
I don't think I have.
- [34:43]
B
It's a great experience. It's in a nicer neighborhood. It's been there forever. And they have vegetables, they have fruits, they have all kinds of things. And I needed to go to the restroom, number one. So I was drinking a lot of water, and so I needed to go to the restroom. So I kindly come up to somebody who's working at one of the stores, and I said, do you know where the restroom is? And watch what he does. He goes, but he doesn't say anything. He speaks very good English, but he goes like this. And he had nobody with him. So I said, sir, help me with something. What does that mean? He goes, it's that way. I go that way and then straight or that way. Then what? This is a true story. He goes, you go that way, and then you take a right. Do you get it now? So here's what I. Here's what my backlash was. Number one, I can't believe I'm an older guy now, because I still feel 11.
- [35:54]
A
No. Where did it go?
- [35:55]
B
But. But this guy was probably at least 40. And he's doing like this. I think this half effort side of things has got us in a lot of trouble in companies, in politics, in colleges, in everything we do. And this leads to one reason why you are on the road so much and doing so many zoom calls on leadership. Tell me how you're helping to fix this leadership problem and then tell me how you're going to fix America.
- [36:33]
A
I was going to say whose fault is it? Right. We don't. We'll not talk about fault. The fact is we are where we are. Right? We are where we are. People. We have to meet people where they are, not where we wish they were and not where they, they and see that potential.
- [36:48]
B
Okay, slow down on that one. Slow down. Some of your things are so good, I need to let them marinate. You said we have to take into account, like, who we're dealing with, where.
- [37:01]
A
They are, where they are. Because, you know, I had a very enlightened company in Nashville, brought in high potential talent. They're developing those frontline first level employees that they want to groom. So smart. Like, so more organizations need to do that. Right. And develop the next level in their succession plan and deepen their bench. And so I'm there with them and I'm like, look, you're, you're here getting this training, but your coworkers aren't.
- [37:33]
B
Yes.
- [37:33]
A
Like, and you don't know, like, where are we teaching resilience, emotional intelligence, coping mechanisms in school? We're not. Most people are coming into the workforce for the first time, whether it's from high school, tech school, or college, whatever that they're where they're entering in from with, with no coping mechanisms. They're not getting at home. They didn't get it at school. Like, as employers.
- [37:59]
B
Yes.
- [38:00]
A
We now need to equip our workforce. We need to teach them how to lead themselves, have more emotional intelligence, you know, boost their own confidence so that they can handle things better. Because if you're not doing it at work and they're not getting it at home, like, how are we making the world a better place? How are we making society better? How are we making our work better? Like, they can only, they can only give what from what they have.
- [38:30]
B
Okay, I'm loving what you're saying. So we have about seven more minutes of this interview. Just so you know. How do we onboard people in a better way? That's part of what you're doing with companies is teaching people proper leadership. And I think we would both agree that onboarding them is so important. I think Chick Fil A, what a job they do. So I'm the guy that yells at the kid and says, hey, Oscar, how long was the training for you to get this good at Chick Fil A? And then Oscar tells me, like, how they did it. Or we have this thing in Southern California that's now in Las Vegas. I think they have them in Texas now. Have you heard of In N Out Burger?
- [39:18]
A
Got warm one right up the street.
- [39:19]
B
You've had it. Okay. Do you see the excellence of these people that are working there? I mean, it is like boom, boom, boom. You know what they're telling me they're training so so many of these places are onboarding people correctly. Tell me why onboarding people correctly is so. So needed, so essential.
- [39:46]
A
So can we back up, though? Because it's not just the. It's not just the onboarding. It's the hiring. Ah, it's hiring. Well, Chick Fil A does an exceptional job in their hiring and their. How they interview and how they hire, how they select their franchisees is an.
- [40:02]
B
Why do you always have to say something that's a little bit brighter than what I say? You never thought about that? Yes. It's the hiring before the onboarding.
- [40:14]
A
Right people, right. Going into the right roles. So I know you've done some work with personalities and motivators and things like that. Like if you put a introvert at the front counter, are they going to excel?
- [40:32]
B
No.
- [40:32]
A
Right. Probably not. They're going to be frustrated. They're going to be, you know, they'll be all up in their head, right. They need to be in the execution piece, right? Where they're doing those. Those. So, like, making sure the right people are in the right roles from the beginning, from the interview process, from the hiring, even from how you write the job description. Is the job description have words that will motivate the personality style? Of what? Of who you want in that role?
- [41:03]
B
Like, no wonder everybody wants to hire you. My gosh, she's on fire. You guys. You guys, I'm talking to Elizabeth McCormick. So, Elizabeth, tell us how we could work with you. Do you have online courses? Online classes? A lot of companies follow us. I think the biggest thought leaders in the world follow me. And I will tell you something. If you were to go to my Instagram, you will see in my instastories, I would say as high as 75 to 80% of our top speakers are all in my Insta stories, because I am the person that is not a threat to them. I come From a seminary background. A lot of what I do is just like inspiration and educating people. I'm not their competition, so they follow me. So for the conferences that are out there that need you to speak, the companies that need to hire you, tell us what you speak on or what you will do for companies and how people can connect with you.
- [42:13]
A
Yeah. So first off, pilotspeaker.com. easy to remember, easy to spell. Pilotspeaker.com is the website and that's the hub for everything. And then I speak on again, personal leadership. Leadership. And I can tailor that around an organization's object. Most times I'm the opening motivational speaker. The dreaded after lunch spot. I love that spot. That's like my favorite spot. Right. Because I know my energy can hold them. Tim, I know you have that energy too. Right. To hold them. So the after lunch spot topics, sales, safety, leadership and then just general motivation. And occasionally I get asked to do banquets and just tell the stories, no lessons.
- [42:56]
B
So I, I like that. So, Elizabeth, I want to tell you something. Thanks for being you. It's. It's so needed in the space because I think a lot of people are, are in the space for, for various reasons. And I always think somebody's son's out there, somebody's daughter's out there, somebody's mother's out there. And by watching all these videos of yours the last many days, I see that you like. You so, so care. You don't just care, you so, so care. So thank you for traveling and doing all that you're doing to, to help people's lives. Okay, last question. So when they do a movie about you, when they do about a movie about you, we're going to figure out who you want to play you. But you could have two choices if you like. So when they do your movie, because you're the first at many things, when they do your movie, give me an idea of who you would consider wanting to play you in the featured role.
- [44:02]
A
So if, if this has been a. It's, it's been a few years, right. I've been doing the 16 years full time professionally. So at the beginning I would say I would have said Keira Knightley, which.
- [44:12]
B
Who I like a lot. But why not? Well, just why not still, if, if.
- [44:18]
A
The stories, like I guess, like, I guess with cgi, they can make her look younger. Like it's been a few years. Right. So like I was in my early 20s when all this was going on.
- [44:28]
B
But yes, I think that she still could do that. I like that.
- [44:33]
A
I liked her in Domino. Like, she had, like, the muscle and the toughness.
- [44:39]
B
Okay, now you see, you're telling on yourself because you're talking about the grit. You're saying she's got the grit to play you.
- [44:46]
A
Yeah. So. Yeah. And I think a lot of the younger female actresses are. They don't have that. They don't have that, you know. Yet. Yet it might come. But, you know, they seem a lot.
- [45:00]
B
Seem a little softer just because I. I'm in the entertainment business. I think you should work on a script. I really think you should, because I think your story is so unique on what you've done in the military. And. But that's just me thinking, okay, so I've already written.
- [45:16]
A
The book's already written.
- [45:18]
B
Oh, my gosh, look at you.
- [45:20]
A
So it is.
- [45:21]
B
But ladies and gentlemen, you're hearing it here right now.
- [45:24]
A
It's not. It's not the right time yet to put the whole thing out. It's. It's. I've got another. My next book coming out this fall is Fly First Lead Yourself is more of a business book. And so I want to make sure it has it. It has some gritty, grainy content in that. In that Life Story biography, so. Which would be great for movies. But, yes, I want to. I want to make sure that, you know, some of the things that I went through don't define me as a business leader and as a business. As a business speaker. Right. So I. It's on the shelf. If a movie producer calls, I have it ready. But.
- [46:03]
B
Okay, I like this.
- [46:04]
A
I'm going to wait. And nobody else knows that. Tim, you're like, threw it out of me.
- [46:10]
B
Listen, but sorry for using my gift on you because I am a really good life coach and I know how to draw things out of people. And I see more than the speaking, more than the books. I also see the entertainment side of you. So this is going to be really fun to watch and fun to get to know you better. Okay. So, Elizabeth McCormick, what a great interview. I love your personality, love the way you think, your mindset. You're helping us all in leadership. Thank you for being on the podcast today.
- [46:41]
A
My pleasure and honor. And it was great to get to know you better. Tim.
- [46:46]
B
Thank you for sharing space with me on this episode of Miracle Mentality with Tim Story. If today sparked your courage or helped you understand why you're created for success, I invite you to carry that miracle mentality forward. Visit me at timstory. Com that story with an ey on the end. Until next time. Walk by faith, embrace possibility and create your own comeback story.