B (3:03)

We check ourselves out. Yeah. We're like, how do I look, man?

A (3:06)

Yeah. How do I look? Then you may look at your spouse. I mean, if you're an involved parent, you might look at your kid first, but you're by default, you're going to look at yourself. It's who it is. We're on an airplane. We're even advised by the flight attendants and the captain. But put the mask on your face first, save yourself first, and then you can help the somebody else. But it's important.

B (3:29)

Yeah.

A (3:30)

So just human nature. Why? Why is his test the best?

B (3:37)

Yeah, I could definitely answer that question. Okay, so this one is a very different test than the other personality tests that are out there. Because the personality tests that are out there are really putting you inside a box, Right? So this is quite a fascinating thing because I realized as well, these other personality tests, they would label me a certain way. And so when you answer the questions, you'll often answer it in things that you're most focused on. Right? So if I'm going to answer it, I'm going to answer in things that are important to me. So the business is important to me. My family is really important to me. My health is really important to me. So let's say in those areas of life, all of a sudden, like, if I take one of these tests, I'm considered, you know, someone who is highly productive. Right. But if you ask me about, like, my backyard and gardening, it's really bad. Like, unless I hire someone like, that looks so bad.

A (4:27)

Okay.

B (4:27)

Because I'm very unproductive in things that I don't actually like and are not important to me. So the personality test will label you, but they're only giving you part of your life and they're showing you that you're highly productive or this or that. But you're only those things in the areas of life that are either important to you or if it's something where it says, like, you know, you're so slower or lazy and whatever nice word they Say it right then. Like I said, I'm lazy in gardening, but I'm highly productive in my business. So am I lazy or am I highly productive? I'm both. Right. And so that's why I don't like these, because they really shove us in a box with these certain characteristic traits that everyone has. We all have them. They just show up in different ways. The values assessment is really inspiring. It's based on axiology. And so axiology is the study of the meaning of life and the meaning that we give to things. And this is cool because, like I say, I love business, right? That's not me labeling it as positive or negative. Business is just a thing. And when it comes to business, I can be both nice and mean. Right? So I have times when I'm highly productive in business, and if it's a part of business I don't like, I'm going to be unproductive there. Those are usually the parts that I like to delegate. And so I have all the qualities that all these tests are kind of boxing me into. But it all falls under the umbrella of what's truly important to me, which is my business. And so the questionnaire goes through to ask you those questions to see what your true telos is. And telos is like the teleology, which is the. The Greeks actually, you know, came up with this, where it's focusing on the end in mind. You know, people call it the life purpose, but this is the end in mind. This is what you're truly here to do on this planet and actually get to. And the more that you can refine this process, which this is, like I said, I love this process. It's one of my favorites. I use it not just personally for leadership stuff, but I use it within companies to help them increase, engage. Um, and we'll. We can dive into that. It's very inspiring and help them to understand, like, why things are going on the way they're going on with people. Um, but it's. The more that you can refine it and the more that you can understand who you are and the more that you accurately answer those questions. Because I'll go and I'll do it every probably six months now to a year, because I've refined it to such a degree that when I got the answers, you have about three values that are your highest values. And when I got the answers, I just burst into tears because I just. It was so inspiring and I was so grateful. Right. So you can connect with yourself to such a degree at that level. And it, it takes time because you got to get all the noise out and the comparisons and stuff. But when you do that, you know where you're going, you know what you want, you're on track. You know that you're going to be nice and mean, kind and cruel, honest and dishonest. And you're going to do it all to fulfill these three things that are most important to you. And it's just super helpful. And let me know if you have any questions. Hopefully I summarize that.

A (7:10)

Well, let me, let me break, let me pull out from that because that was a. A very detailed answer. But is it provides. I'll go back to Simon Sinek know your why. And it's what I found was talking about your why. That's what I deduced from your long answer or detailed answer. Why. And you're going to focus on what you like or what you're good at. You mentioned the gardening. It's not your thing. You don't have a green thumb. I suck at it. And you know, I used when I was married, I used to get for my ex or for my wife at that time. Why can't you go and fix this? I said, no, I'm gonna pay a handyman. It's not a good use of my time. I don't enjoy doing some of these things. Even hanging paintings is not my thing. Am I capable? Yes, I'm intelligent, but I don't want to do it. I don't want a garden either. I'm gonna pay somebody to do it. I don't want to sweep my pool. It's not rocket science. I'm paying somebody to do that. I believe I'm a big fan of delegation. And does this test provide that type of analytical or that level of analytics of like, hey, you should be focused on this versus that because it comes out in like versus dislike. Or is it competency?

B (8:35)

It's not going to talk about dislike and it's not even about competency. Because here's the realistic part too. Like when I say I love my business and it's my favorite thing and it's like my number one reason for being alive is like, let's get into business and personal development and do all the things. I am going to be very good at it and I'm going to excel, but I'm also going to suck. And anyone on this planet who tells you they're amazing at anything and they've nailed it is full of it. Like, it's just so I'm fully competent But I'm also incompetent, except because it's so important to me. I will go through the pain of incompetency, and I will go through all of the things, and I will see it as something that's on the way to my future and my vision and their challenges that inspire me. And so it really is actually tapping into parts of you that are fully highly resistant or, sorry, resistant and resilient as well. Like, you have more resilience in your values. Because if I go in, I garden. The minute I hit a problem, I'm like, I don't want to do this anymore. If I go in business and I hit a problem, I may be a little cranky from time to time because I have unrealistic expectations. But simultaneously, I'm like, I'm going on to focus, figure this out, and I will do what it takes. So our value system are the things that we're willing to go through, pleasure and pain, to get to the other side of. And that's why it's so important to know. Because if you're focused on something that you're not willing to go through the pain to actually get to the other side, and you're judging yourself for failing because you don't like going through the pain to actually get what you want, it's probably not a value. You know, like, let's be real. It's not a value because I know that there's things that you're doing every day that you're embracing both pleasure and pain for, and that's your values. So not really competency, but really actually looking at what your life already dictates. So it's not really a guessing thing. If you answer the questions and you're guessing or you're saying what you want it to be, you won't actually see where your true genius lies. Like, the more authentic you are, not what it should be, supposed to be, has to be what it truly is, the more you're actually going to understand what's truly important to you and focus on that. A really great example is, like, we manifest in our values, too, by the way. It's really fun. Like, once you get clear on it. I love fashion. I am obsessed with fashion. I love it so much. And, oh, ever since, like, I really got grounded in that and understood the greater degree of what it meant to me, it was really funny. I was like, I'm gonna start selling clothes more. I'm gonna figure that out. And ironically, I attracted an opportunity to help a company who's Liquidating to sell their stock, which is about 141,000 garments. Right. And so that's an opportunity. I got to, like, do what I love in, like, a bulk opportunity. And this is me doing business and just my own values. So someone else didn't want to do it because they hate it because it's not their values. I was like, I spent last week going through all the racks, getting everything prepared. 141,000 garments. I had a great time. I'm not exhausted at all. So, again, it's like, if you know what's important to you, someone else will walk in there and be like, this is my nightmare. I hate this. If I see another article of clothing, like, I just want to shoot myself. Or I went in and I'm like, I got it all cataloged. I got it all recorded. And now it's like, I've been making sales calls to connect with people who would be inspired to purchase it.

A (11:47)

I love the. The part of going through. Let me. Let me back up a second, because I. You. You dropped a really good gem a little bit ago. Is going through the pain. Because if you like something and you want to become competent, you must endure the pain in order to become more competent. And I would say mastery. It's a process to get to mastery. And one example that I can use for myself and I think our listeners can possibly relate to is sports. If we are. If we love basketball or we love martial arts or whatever the sport is. I don't know if you played any sports yourself when you grew up. You sucked in the beginning so bad. Well, I mean, nobody comes out and is. You know, there's that adage, oh, he's a natural. She's a natural. I don't know too many of those. If they actually. You. You have a passion you like. I want to be like Mike. Let's think of Michael Jordan, the commercials that came around. Hey, everybody wants to be like Mike. He paid the price to get there.

B (12:54)

Yeah.

A (12:55)

Practice early. He left last. And that was his commitment to his craft. Endured that pain. And I love that analysis that you just mentioned. It's. You go, growth. I wrote this down. Growth, pain. Even if you're incompetent. And then you get to a mastery level.

B (13:16)

Yeah.

A (13:17)

And that. That matters because you've got to go through it. I know my. My particular sport was Taekwondo. That was what I embraced. I loved it. And I had the broken bones, the broken noses, fingers that, you know from breaking all of that pain, bruises, etcetera, Before I got to black Belt level and then I stuck with it. Now I'm a 6 degree black belt, but I paid my dues to get there. Every blemish, every black and blue, black eye, etc. Getting to where I am, and I was terrible in the beginning, sucked. But you go through the pain and tell us an example in the corporate world. I mean those are sports analysis that we can relate to. But tell us the analogy there in work in the workplace.

B (14:10)

Yeah, I, I want to add two great books to read on stuff like that. Is the Malcolm Gladwell book the Outliers and then another one.

A (14:17)

Loved it.

B (14:18)

And he goes through all that in detail. Oh yeah. And I. Because what you're saying is so spot on. And this is even when we think about owning businesses, building our businesses, even individuals who work into leadership. Right. Is you'll start your company. Let's say you start your company and it's your business. You start it at a certain level and all of a sudden like you make your first sale, right? And now you're doing, you're either doing a service or you have products and you have your first level of incompetence, then you figure that out and then you get the next level of incompetence and you figure that out. Next level. And all of a sudden you hire your first person and you're completely incorporated, incompetent. But then you figure that out and you get better at the second one. And you know, by the time you've hired, you know, maybe 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 people, maybe you're really starting to get this down now, you know. But again, it takes a very long time to build that level of competency. And it's not just the studying and the education on the background, it's the implementation and the trial and error. Right. So sometimes we try to miss out on that trial and error. We're sort of the most like really inspiring things come to life. I have one client, I love working with him. He's so fun, but he is, he's technically started out as a sales individual in the company and now he's one of the top leadership team. Right on the top, top, top. And just when I started working with him, he had a vision to be a part of the company in that way that was part of his telos. Right. Thing that inspired him the most. And.

A (15:42)

Hold on, hold on one second, hold on. You've said that word a couple times and I'm not clear. You said it very fast.

B (15:47)

Yes.

A (15:48)

What's a telos for people that don't understand that because I heard that until today.

B (15:53)

Okay, cool. So that's. The Greeks, they call it that. And so it is basically, it's the end in mind. Right. So when we think about our life, like in Elon, Musk's end in mind is definitely helping us to be able to move to other planets, because in his perception, we have limited time here. And I think his estimation is maybe less than I would give it, but he really, truly believes we won't be on this planet and that we're going to be screwed. He's not wrong. You know, we are a ball in a universe going to a black hole towards a burning sun. Like, I mean, we got it some time, but to get to these other planets, like, he's starting to pave the way there. That's, that's, that's his telos, his end in mind. I'm sure there's other dynamics, but that's some of the things that I've heard him speak about that he's very.

A (16:43)

That's his prediction. Yeah, it's just. Because when we use words that aren't normally there, I'd like to make sure that everybody understands that.

B (16:50)

Yeah, that's the meaning behind what he does. That his company is not just about his company. It's literally about saving humanity.

A (16:57)

So it's a mission, really.

B (16:59)

It's a mission. Yeah, it's the mission, it's the message. And so that is it. It's. That's the mission and the message. And I'm just using the word. Tell us.

A (17:07)

Oh, okay. All right.

B (17:08)

Yeah, I could change the mission, though. It's probably easier.

A (17:11)

All right. Yeah, it's easier.

B (17:12)

Yeah.

A (17:12)

Just because sometimes people use vernacular that isn't common speak. People get lost. And I. Yeah, I'm. I'm a reporter by. By education. So question. You also have something that I thought was a great dynamic when I looked into your background. And I want to break down a little bit while we have time. How do you keep young people inspired? I can't. I have a challenge relating to somebody under 20. It's like I'm communicating to Martians. We talked about we're going to Mars with Elon. At some point, humanity is going to get there, whether it's in his lifetime or the next. How do you communicate with Martians, people under 30?

B (17:55)

So, yeah, this is really fun because again, everyone, no matter what age they are, has a very specific set of values. Right. Very specific set. So I have a client and he is eight years old. He's eight years Old and he's, he's very cool kid, but he loves, he loves race cars, he loves sports, and that's most important to him. So when I'm communicating with him, I find out what his values are. So I ask him questions to understand what his values are, what's most important to him, and then I change my language to communicate in that form. The youngest individual I worked with, she was six and she was having trouble at school. And you're like, how do you communicate with a six year old to get him engaged in school? Well, her favorite game was Minecraft and she loved Cats. So we went through how math is all Minecraft and all like Minecraft and cats together. So I'm learning how to communicate in someone's values language that goes and spans all the way to present day. If I sit down with someone, like, we have obviously similar interests. So we're going back and forth and it's really flowing. Right. Because we have similar interests and some sort of similar value system. So that's going to be an easy conversation. But if I'm around someone who doesn't have the same value, it's important for me to check in and see what's important to them so that I can actually communicate with them more clearly.

A (19:09)

So you want to find the common thread.

B (19:12)

Yeah, they're going to talk about it, they're going to want to bring it up on a regular basis. Usually like when you see cubicles, this is kind of fun because when you work in big companies and you see cubicles, you'll see them decorated in a certain way and you'll see other people have family or pictures of like maybe friends or they have flowers, their dog, and then, you know, they're putting around them what's most important. I have books, I have art. Right. So you can see like, it's like what's most important. Yeah.

A (19:40)

This is.

B (19:40)

Carly, this is not your husband.

A (19:42)

Okay. It's art and books.

B (19:47)

And he is another thing. We have a little momentum, fun thing. But he's here too. But yeah, it's like, but it is, it's what's on my desk. It's going to demonstrate like what's most important to me because I want it closest. And so this is cool because the more you learn about someone, you might think that they're very disengaged. Right. But simultaneously it's like, well, why are they disengaged? Because what, what do they think they're doing at this company that's not actually linked to what's most important to them. And this is what we do with the values. When we go into companies, what we'll do is we'll go and we'll do workshops with the companies and their employees, and we actually find out and have the employees find out what all their values are.

A (20:27)

And.

B (20:28)

And then we get their job duties, and we link their values to their job duties. So let's say they're an accountant, right? If they're an accountant and they're entering information in and they love sports, I literally ask them over and over again and have them write answers. About 50 answers. Plus, it's like, how does doing this accounting process actually help you understand sports? And they just keep answering. In the beginning, it's a little bit hard for them to get. So we'll usually help them with some feedback. But once they start flowing, they really get it. And at the end of the day, they look and they're like, I had no idea that all the things that I do at work is actually, like, helping me with what I love. And that changes it from being. Being something that's hard to show up and do to something that they're really inspired to do. And so it's. It's a really cool opportunity when we get to do this in companies, because it's just giving people the chance to really, again, show up at work and love their job. Like, which changes your company culture too, by the way. Like, it really benefits you.

A (21:29)

Yeah. Well, how. How do people. I'm curious, how do people take one of these assessments? Where can they go?

B (21:36)

So I actually have it on my website because I'm one of their senior facilitators, so they. They made me, like, a special link.

A (21:43)

You've got me interested because probably nobody. Yeah, okay. All right. So that's where I go. All right.

B (21:49)

Yeah. And it's under the tools and tips, and it's called the values assessment. So it's really easy to find. Yeah.

A (21:55)

Is it free? Is there a charge? What's the.

B (21:57)

It's free. Oh, yeah.

A (21:59)

My favorite word in English.

B (22:01)

And do it again. Like I said, like, when you start, you can do it and then redo it and kind of keep refining and testing it out, because the better that you get at answering those questions.

A (22:14)

We had a. We had a pause. Oh, okay.

B (22:16)

Okay.

A (22:17)

Restate that again. The. Yeah, all right. Say that again. Where can they go to find it?

B (22:21)

So head on over to my website, go to the tools and tips section, and it's called the values assessment.

A (22:26)

Your site, your website is West Coast.

B (22:30)

Growth Advisors dot com.

A (22:34)

Wow. West Coast Growth advisors dot com you get the longest website of the of the month award.

B (22:41)

Do that all the time. Makes me.

A (22:43)

Oh, my gosh, West. Say it again.

B (22:47)

West Coast Growth advisors dot com.

A (22:52)

That is the longest website I think I've heard of the year. All right. All right. Well, there at least we know where to go and we can take that free assessment and then that's the entree to learn more about ourselves. Okay.

B (23:03)

Yeah. Who you are, why you do what you do. And it's cool because even as leaders, it'll give you more drive and energy and focus to make sure that in your leadership position and as you grow your business, you're just focused on the things that are most inspiring to you because that's where you know. You said you're a firm believer in delegation. I agree. Delegate out the things that are low on your values.

A (23:25)

Well. And I also love the delegation component. I love the competency part. You mentioned the Outliers book. That was a game changer of understanding a lot. When I read Malcolm Gladwell's books, I love and I consume his books. The guy is an outstanding, insightful writer. And I've conducted workshops in Singapore because I live in Asia. And in the lifelong learning, you walk up to the second floor on the wall, it says 10,000 hours, which is the embracement of Malcolm Gladwell's teaching from the outliers. It's that it says 10,000 hours. That's how long it takes to have secondary absolute competence where you don't even have to think.

B (24:07)

Yes.

A (24:07)

It's a natural reaction. You've trained yourself to such a degree that you get it and that that highest level. Well, you've been a great guest today. Thank you so much. One more time. Where do they find you and the assessment, Carly?

B (24:24)

So they can head on over to my website, which is westcoast growth advisors.com and the assessment is on the tools and tips section. So have fun with that one.

A (24:35)

All right, great. Well, you've been a great guest today. Thank you so much for your time.

B (24:39)

Thank you.

A (24:41)

Thanks for tuning in to the amazing Authorities podcast. If today's episode inspired you, take a moment to subscribe, rate and leave a review. It helps more experts like you rise to the top for behind the scenes access and free resources to boost your authority. Head to Mitchell Carson.com until next time. Stay amazing.