#224: How To Build Customer Connection When Speaking Publicly With Chip R. Bell

Life happens, and not always the way we expect it to. Every single day we face change, stress, and uncertainty. What if you could learn to thrive no matter what life throws your way? Resilience expert Adam Markel and his inspiring guests explore breakthrough strategies to fully embrace change and build the resilience required to become change-proof.

Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode Welcome to another episode of the Conscious Pivot Podcast. I'm your host, Adam Markel. And I just want to acknowledge how blessed I feel in this moment just to be able to say that, to be able to say that I'm your host. I'm not taking that for granted in this moment. I know we take a lot of things— I tend to take a lot of things for granted. And more and more, I'm finding myself just wanting to stay in a place, in a true place of gratitude. I've even started, when people ask me, how am I doing these days, I say, I'm good and grateful. That's great. Because I feel good. I want to feel good, but more than how I'm feeling in the moment, because I don't know if you're anything like me, my moods, they change, like the weather. Sometimes it's clouds, sometimes it's sun, sometimes it's rain or something else. My moods are shifting. They don't shift every 10 seconds. Certainly, I don't think they do. But what is constant and what is always producing my best self, my best outlook, the sunny outlook, is, is when I feel grateful. So I am good and grateful to be here, and I feel excited and really lucky as well to have a colleague on the show today, somebody that I get to interview, but we're just going to have a conversation. And he's somebody that I absolutely look to as a representative of what's best in the industry that I've been in for the better part of 12 years. He's been doing this a little bit longer than me. And I think he's somebody that has just done this remarkable job of modeling what thought leadership really is about. It's not just a term, but a way of living. And I think this man models that. He is the author of 24 books, which I've written a couple of books and I'm in the process of a couple more. And just the idea of having 24 books under one's belt is pretty amazing. And actually, I did post in a couple of places just about a month ago about his new book, Inside Your Customer's Imagination: 5 Secrets to creating breakthrough products, services, and solutions. He's also a bestselling author of Kaleidoscope: Delivering Innovative Service That Sparkles. And I just, I was so blown away really by the creativity of the project of his book, the latest book. And I thought there's a lot to learn there. And most importantly, I think he's modeling exactly what he teaches at places all around the globe now virtually. Chip Bell is my guest today. I'm going to bring Chip on in just a second. He serves as a keynote speaker, consultant, trainer, on innovative service, innovative service, again, not just a term, but a way of operating, to the kind of major organizations that probably all of you have heard of: GE, Microsoft, that little company, Nationwide, Marriott, Lockheed Martin, Cadillac, KeyBank, Ritz-Carlton Hotels, Caterpillar, Eli Lilly. I mean, the list goes on and on and on. And he teaches them, he speaks to them, he enlightens leaders on topics such as customer loyalty and partnering with customers, creating innovative service experiences, And the list goes on. He was also, if that wasn't enough, a highly decorated infantry unit commander in Vietnam with the elite 82nd Airborne, served as guerrilla tactics instructor at the U.S. Army Infantry School. His training programs have won awards, including the Stevie Award in 2018. So without further ado, I just want to say thank you, Chip, for making time out of your day to be with us now, and thanks for being on the show.

Thank you, Adam. I'm grateful to be with you, to be a guest on your show. I've been looking forward to this. I'm looking forward to having a good time and hopefully making a difference in the lives and the work of your listeners.

Resilience. It's the unsung hero in every success story that you will ever hear about. And in times of massive change and disruption, the kind of rapid change that we're all experiencing as leaders, as business owners, as entrepreneurs, we have to learn how to not only increase our own resilience, but that of our So right now we have a powerful opportunity for you to find out just how resilient you are. Some years ago, my team and I created the resilience assessment that more than 5,000 business leaders across the globe have taken. And all you have to do to get your own free resilience leader assessment is go to resiliencerank.com. It takes less than 3 minutes, and it's our gift to you for being the leader that you already are. Other free resources and tools will accompany your score instantly. So, go to resiliencerank.com and find out just how resilient you are. So, one thing I want folks to know just at the outset is that Chip and I weren't introduced by anybody else. We kind of may be running in some overlapping circles or parallel paths, if you will. But Chip was kind enough out of the clear blue one day, maybe 6 months ago or so. It was after the pandemic had begun and in the public speaking world, things changed pretty radically overnight. You know, gigs that were booked, events that were scheduled were put on hold, some were canceled. You know, a lot of things were just really up in the air. And all of a sudden, I get this introduction, this email where Chip Bell is introducing me to a very good client, a company that regularly puts on events and hires speakers. And Chip made this introduction. He said, I think this is your guy and you guys ought to talk. And Chip and I had never spoken before. And so, I just thought, There's a word that you don't hear very often anymore. It's kind of a word that maybe is going to make a resurgence at some point, but the word is magnanimous. And I think about Chip and that act, what he did was just— it was wonderful. I mean, look, he was obviously wanting to be of service to his client, but he did something really magnanimous that I appreciated, Chip. So if you don't mind, I'd love to just ask you about that right now. Is that sort of the way that you operate typically, or is

I'm on this world for 2 reasons, Adam, to have fun and make a difference, to make a contribution. And I have had many who've been before me that have done that for me. And so it's always an opportunity to give back. So yes, it's an integral part of my company and what it represents. You know, I always say to deal with your clients and colleagues in a way that would make your mother proud.

Hmm.

Except where I come from, it's your mama.

Make your mama proud. Well, I still— I'm really lucky that my mama's still alive, and I, and I call her my mama. So, it's funny. And I never did that for, I don't know, 50 years or something. I would call her mom, but over the last, I don't know, bunch of years, I just, uh, I call her mama, and she— I think she really likes

it. That's great.

That's great. Yeah. So, Chip, you know, I read a lot from your bio just about all the amazing things you've been up to in the world. What's one thing that's not a part of that beautiful bio that you would love for people to know about you?

I once opened for the Backstreet Boys. Not too many people get to do that. The operative word, Adam, is once.

And

it's a great story that, you know, I sometimes tell at parties, but it is a true story. I did open for them. I enjoy music and enjoy writing music and performing music and have studied music. So it was a situation in which They were performing in a concert. I knew the organizer, producer. They were running late. They needed somebody to entertain the crowd. So they rolled out a grand piano and I got to do my Billy Joel routine and, and get the audience to sing until they could arrive and, and set everything up. So, and that gave me a chance to meet them at the time. This was at the peak of their career. So

holy smokes.

Yeah. So I'm serious. It did. So, um, anyway, I'm proud of that.

Yeah, that's one of those things that, that just must have, uh—

It was a lot of fun.

Yeah. So how'd you get into public speaking? Give me the— if you don't mind, let's get the origin story. Because you come out of the Army and you're a decorated veteran, you know, how does it turn into this?

Well, I've always been somebody got sent to the principal's office for talking too much.

Well, now I know why you and I have got connected.

Yeah, there you go. And so, but you know, I've I've always enjoyed being in front of a group and was president of student body when I was in high school. And, you know, as you read in the bio, I was a guerrilla tactics instructor in the military. And so teaching and training and presenting have always been a part of my professional expression. So it's, you know, I've been doing it for a long time. I'm still learning a lot about it. And it's been interesting to watch How it's changed, that whole world of keynotes and public speaking has changed over the years. And, and it's, you know, it's hard to— the challenge is to kind of create continually new content so you're not a one-trick pony and you can continue to have something that's of interest to people that they want to hear you year after year after year. You can't give the same old speech, you know, over and over and over. You've got to continually And that's exciting to me because I love to learn. And so, it's a part of who I am, I guess.

Yeah. Being relevant, it's pretty important in a world that is so rapidly being altered by technology and so many things predictable and obviously many that are disruptive in a way that's not so predictable. But what was it like for you getting started in this industry? And what, you know, give us a sense of sort of how that journey, as you say, lots of things have changed. Could you pinpoint some major catalytic moments?

Absolutely. You know, Ralph Waldo Emerson was misquoted in saying, you know, if you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door. That's not true. They won't do that unless they know about your mousetrap. And so, you know, part of when people get in, in speaking, and I've coached a lot of new people who are getting into that, they think, I'm a great speaker, you know, I really got a great message. Well, that's terrific, but unless people know about you— so in many ways, the most important part is building the kind of brand, the publicity, and most important, the networking, so that if you do have a great mousetrap, people will want to come to your door, so to speak. So I think that's the hard part. You just, it's like a great chef who says, let's open a restaurant, not remembering that, you know, people gotta know about it to find your restaurant or wanna try your restaurant. So it's the same thing. I think, you know, it's a critical part is, is that never-ending marketing, never-ending promoting, and never-ending network. 'Cause it's a small community. There's a lot of competition, but it's a small community in a, in a sense that you want people to be connected. I mean, like you and I over my client who was saying, who's the greatest mind in the world on resilience? And I go, okay, I think I know who that might be. And so, you know, it's having the connection and having the network. And, you know, so there are a lot of components to that. It's like selling a book, you know. If you sold a book to your village, it wouldn't be enough. You know, you got to borrow other people's villages. And so I think that's the most important part about having a— there's a lot of great keynote speakers out there, but they don't get to get on the stage. Now it's all virtual, of course, but unless they're known and got a reputation.

For sure. March comes along and no surprise, the events that we had scheduled for latter part of the year, or, you know, even just a few months later were put on hold or canceled. So moving to virtual, what was that like for you? What's been some of your big learnings there and where do you see that maybe there's some best practices that have evolved that other keynote speakers or other people that want to have an impact in the world and have a bunch of fun doing it, like you said earlier, where these best practices might actually help them at this point? Because I still hear from a lot of speakers. We have a lot of people in our community who are struggling.

Right. Well, I think there's several reasons why they might be struggling. Part of it is there was a decision made by particularly new speakers that they would give it away. I'll do my virtual keynote for free. That way the bureaus or meeting planners will hear about me. And when I, when it's back live again, they'll invite me to come back and speak. Well, obviously what that did was deteriorated the value of a virtual keynote. So that's one impact. But you know, organizations are still having virtual meetings, still bringing people together. It's not the networking opportunity that it once was when it was live. It's not the exciting kind of opportunity where there's an energy in the room when you've got a speaker on the stage and, you know, you're trying your best to be passionate and electrify the audience. It's not the same feel. I miss the stage big, you know, obviously, but that's— we don't have the stage now and I understand that. But I think through it all, whether it's live or virtual, the thing that I think is the most important component of being a great speaker is the degree to which you are totally authentic and genuine when you're with your audience. You know, having an audience, whether it's virtual or live, that feels like you're sort of a neighbor and your keynote is not just an oratory, you know, perfect practice. You've done it 100 times and you got every nuance down and every movement down like an actor might. But rather it feels like a conversation. It feels like an interaction, even though you may have done it 100 times, the degree to which you come from who you are, not what you remember, and deliver a kind of that kind of transparent, authentic, genuine presentation that's delivered with great confidence. And as you say, delivered with great relevance. But I think the authenticity is a critical part. It's much harder to do that. I think through the camera. It's much easier when you've got real people and you can see their faces and see the impact you're having on them by the nonverbals. But nevertheless, you know, usually when I'm doing even a virtual keynote speech, I'm not in the room alone. I have people in the room. I have usually my wife's here, sometimes friends that are in the room just so I can feel that human connection.

Right.

With that audience.

You know, Chip, that's a really interesting best practice, I'd say, for some folks that are struggling with the having to break through that imaginary fourth wall, speak into the camera as though there's somebody there with you, that that's an option, is to have people live.

Sure.

They're in the room. I mean, we're seeing it in other places too, obviously. You know, the late night folks like Seth Meyers or Jimmy Kimmel, you know, they've got scant audience or they've got their camera crews and other, you know, producers and people that are around who are, you know, they're not just providing the support of, you know, kind of holding space for them, but there is this exchange of energy. I think for those of us who've been doing this a length of time, you know that there's something you don't hear often, but with speakers, you're really managing energy. Like you said—

Yes, you are.

You know, content's important, but the context is really, I think, the king, the queen. And that context is how you're, as you say, engaging with an audience conversationally where they can feel you and where there's a sense that this is unique and special, not just sort of Memorex, you know, like—

Exactly.

Exactly.

Charlie Daniels, the late Charlie Daniels, who we lost not too long ago, wrote a book called Never Sing to the Empty Seats. And to me, it's a powerful line, but it— both for the speaker and the audience. And that is, you don't worry about who's not there. You focus on making it as great as it can for those who are there. And even if that's 1 or 2 people in your studio, it's still, that's what you want to connect with and not think about the empty seats or people who are not there. You know, so I've remembered that line, which was the title of one of his books. It's always helped me say, why am I here? And who am I— for whom am I here? It's those that you're connecting with.

Absolutely. So that's a serious takeaway that you can have people in the room. Part of our business, in addition to the keynote speaking aspect, is we train speakers. So we train people to do TEDx events, TEDx talks, as well as other, other high-stakes speaking engagements. And certainly those events were done live, as you'd expect, and we could coach people live, we could film them, we could, you know, give them feedback, and all that kind of stuff was really intimate. We weren't sure whether we'd be able to do it virtually, and the first time we did the entire program, we did it in April virtually, and then just Now completing actually tomorrow night the second round of that we started in September, and I've been shocked at how well people have been able to do it through the— through this sort of artificial, you know— Right.

Exactly.

Camera. And I think it's one of those things that just practice. I mean, if I'm gonna sort of share a lot of what we found and have, you know, now think would be best practices, is that you just practice it enough.

Yeah.

You know, and I don't mean practice to become rote, memorized, robotic, but practice so that you feel comfortable, so that you could in fact— like you and I, right? We've never even met before, and yet we're having a conversation. We could very well be in the same room.

Of course.

It wouldn't be any different, right? I mean, but that's not something you just— I don't think you necessarily do that by default.

No.

It's something you have to get comfortable with.

And that takes practice.

It takes practice. Yeah. So, do you see that there's been any kind of shift in the— and I had this conversation, interesting enough, with Nick Morgan, little just one question kind of conversation around what's the status of our industry. And do you see that buyers, the companies and the bureau or the planners are now appreciating the value of the kind of professionalism that an experienced keynote speaker delivers in a virtual setting versus, you know, wanting to get it for cheap or get it for free or something like that? Do you see—

I think I'm seeing that. I mean, I'm looking at what I'm, you know, the keynotes I'm booking out in the future, 2022. They're clearly recognizing there will be a life after a vaccine, and they're recognizing that the context of a live event with a great speaker is important. I've talked to some of them that have booked as I do some of my homework about what you expect and as we all do as part of our preparation. And they're recognizing that the keynote speaker is not just a deliverer of content, but they're a catalyst for energy and connection with people because bringing people together in a big convention room or a ballroom at a hotel Is more than anything a chance for people to connect with each other around a particular topic. Otherwise, you could do them all virtually. Why would you spend the money on a hotel or a convention center to bring people in except for that connection, that opportunity to network and get to know each other and, and all the things that come with a major gathering like that? And they more and more are viewing the keynote speaker again as a catalyst to that connection. So how it changes for me is that using much more, as we go into the future, much more things that will engage the audience with each other, not just as people who sit in the audience and listen. I think there's going to be that much more of that requirement going forward than we've seen in the past where they're just quietly sitting and applauding and that kind of thing, but they don't connect to each other. There are speakers who do that. I ask the audience questions, raise your hand if, that kind of thing. It's quick small group activities, turn to the person beside you and do this. But I think that kind of connection is going to be much more a requirement and not just a talking head.

What we've come to know as accelerated learning, where it's much more interactive. And now when it comes to the virtual speaking, what we're finding is that, and I don't know, Chip, if you've found the same thing, is it going on for more than about 5 minutes. I mean, you have a great story, you know, any of us have got our stories and things, but my stories now tend to be 2 to 3 minutes long, and then I'm asking a question or putting them into a process like you said so that they're engaging with each other or engaging with the larger group because people just have, you know, I think it's called Zoom fatigue, you know.

It is. Yeah. Their attention span is a lot shorter than it used to be, you know, much shorter. And here again, there's I mean, part of the reason is that it's not interjected with sort of what I call water cooler conversations, because I'm on a Zoom call and I'm ready to get it off. I mean, I'm ready for any— the efficiency becomes much more important and a priority in how we do it. So therefore, they've trained their psyche to be much more, you know, short attention span. If you've got a story, it needs to be quick, get to the point, cut to the chase. And most important, give me stuff to take away that I can do something with, I can use. So here again, it's going to change. I think it will change the way in which keynotes are delivered going forward.

Wow. The pace of change over the last couple of years has been rapid. And if you're a leader, a business owner, an entrepreneur, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Every day it's something different and something new, but the one thing that I've learned in performing at the height of all of those roles has been that we must be resilient. In fact, it's the unsung hero in every success story that you will ever hear about. And it's the reason why my team and I created the resilience assessment that more than 5,000 business leaders across the globe have taken. And all you have to do to get your own free resilient leader assessment is go to resiliencerank.com. It takes Less than 3 minutes, and it's our gift to you for being the leader that you already are. Other free resources and tools will accompany your score instantly. So go to resiliencerank.com and find out just how resilient you are. How does this dovetail, Chip, with the work that you teach? You teach on innovation and on customer experience. And, and so Everybody's going through this now. That's one of the most interesting parts about this is this sort of a global change. Rarely in our lives do we ever see one thing that's a catalyst for across the globe change to the way we conduct business and how we interact with people.

Right. And I think what it does for me, and here's the parallel between service as it's delivered at its best and a keynote. People don't talk or tweet about good service anymore. It's gotta be unique. It's gotta be something over the top and different. And what we used to say, what I want is a, I want a retained customer. I want a customer I keep. Well, I think there's a level higher than that. Loyalty goes higher than that. Then we got in on the bandwagon that says, I want people who will recommend. We got net promoter. Would you recommend me to a family member or friend? There's a level higher than that. And, and that level higher than that, and this is where it dovetails with the keynote, is when you have a customer say to another, you're not going to believe what happened to me, and they tell a quick story. And the storytelling to me is the highest form of loyalty. It is an expression of advocacy rather than, yes, I would recommend them to— let me tell you a story about That turns the customer. We've done research around this to say, you know, what causes that to happen? What causes somebody to want to tell a story? Well, they tell a story about service that's innovative and different and unique and ingenious, not just good, not just effective. And so therefore, the more we are the creator of stories in the minds and lives of our customer, the larger their advocacy and again, the pinnacle of their loyalty. The same with a keynote speaker. You know, if I can just stand up there with a PowerPoint and go through facts and figures, I'm not— my audience is not going to be moved or remember it. But if I can make my audience feel special, valued, and important because of a story, a short story that I tell them, you know, their lives are going to be influenced. And they will tell people, that was a great speech. We think back over the greatest teachers that we all can name over history, and they all use stories. They all use parables. They all use coins. They used whatever we called them, but it was a story metaphor kind of approach. And I think it's the same with great speaking and great service.

It almost sounds like people that are not speakers The work of being able to craft a story, deliver an impactful, effective story is something that helps them in a variety of ways outside of just like if you were ever going to present to anybody.

Sure. Yeah. It's a mark of a great leader. You know, you think about the greatest leaders. We just lost one over the weekend, Tony Hsieh. They were storytellers. You know, Herb Kelleher was a storyteller. You know, we can go down the list. And they tended to speak in stories. And again, it's, I think it is a leadership art. It's certainly a keynote speaking art. It's the way we now influence people because their lives are so filled with short facts, figures, that kind of thing that just goes in one ear and out the other. So taking the time to say, let me tell you a quick story that will illustrate this point. I think that's to me there, that's where it's going to go. We're going to see more of

that. I read an article, I can't think of the name of it at this moment. I could actually send you this link, Chip, and maybe we'll put this— we'll put this for sure in the show, including links to where you can buy Chip's latest book, which I recommend, or any of the other 23 books that Chip has written.

More than I've read. I've written more than I've read.

We'll put those in there as well. I read this article about how companies like KPMG and Microsoft and Google, they actually bring in consultants to help their folks, their leaders, learn how to speak their personal narrative as well as the company narrative more effectively with

impact.

Absolutely.

I've taught some of those classes.

It's remarkable.

Yeah.

I want to talk about resilience for a moment. As you might imagine, I want to get your beat on it, your definition, if you will, and where it is that you've even seen in, in whether it's recent or, or not so recent time, you had to develop your resilience. What did that look like?

Well, I'll start there. The, you know, there's no place that requires resilience more than in combat. I had the good fortune or misfortune to spend a lot of time in combat. And that's particularly when you're a commander and you're in charge of a number of troops. Not only do you have to be tough and resilient and keep going long after your body's screaming at you to stop, but you have to be the role model for that. When you're in the— and to keep your cool. But I guess one particular incident that will be embedded in my memory as long as I live was I was with the 82nd Airborne, as you mentioned, in Vietnam. And we were getting overrun one night on ambush and we were outnumbered about 10 to 1. And so I realized that in the middle of the night, 2 o'clock in the morning, if they kept sweeping the area, they were going to come walk right over us and we wouldn't live. And so I literally called in artillery from behind and walked it up to where our site was. And they kept moving and I kept dropping artillery rounds to the point where we're getting shrapnel all around us. And then the last one I called was literally on our location where the artillery battalion had us located. And you can hear it coming. It's fired usually 2 or 3 miles away, but you can hear that round coming. And you've just whispered to all your troops, here it comes. It's going to be— say your prayers because we're going to take these folks out with us. But this is the only way we're going to go, so we might as well take them with us. Of course, it's the worst sound you can imagine. Your ears are— you can't hear for 2 or 3 days after that because it's right on top of you. But a miracle happened. We took the enemy out, but I didn't have any troop, one single soldier get hurt.

Wow.

And we walked out the next morning. But being able to walk that, know that they're approaching us, walking that artillery behind them, and how it sounds is, drop 25, drop 25, drop 25 meters, and they keep firing one round after us that comes toward you with them in the middle. That takes a lot of courage to just know that the next one's going to be your goodbye. But you've got to do that because you've got troops who are dependent on you. And so, you know, I learned like after that, that I'm here for a reason. I'm here for a person. I should have died in that moment. But let me tell you, when I walk in a CEO's office,

I'm not nervous.

I think to myself, this is nothing.

That's a different context.

I've been nervous. This ain't nervous. Yeah.

Right. And, you know, moving beyond an event like that, or not just that event, but the duration of a conflict like that, how did you develop the ability to— I mean, I think part of your definition of resilience hinges on what fear really looks like.

Yeah.

Because you were able to be courageous at the face, or in a moment where you were facing almost certain death.

Right.

So, yeah, like you said, getting on stage or walking into a CEO's office, not the same fear.

Not even close. Not even close. And I think, you know— For

that matter, you know, wearing— I'm not making a political statement here, but wearing a mask or doing your work on Zoom or any of the things that are causing a lot of angst for people, like, compared to the context you just described, not all that

Yeah, the Zoom— and I don't mind making a political statement— the one— the people who don't want to wear a face mask because of personal freedom is the one that I just flat don't get. So have them— that, you know, I want to— I say to those people sometimes who are saying, well, it's my personal right not to wear a face mask, nobody can make me wear a mask, but I go, okay, walk in your kid's grade school class and light up a cigarette and see how long you get to stand there and smoke.

Yes.

You know, You know, and why do we do that? Why did— why do we say no smoking in a public area? Because people don't want to get exposed to a secondary smoke. Well, why do we want to have people wear masks? Because people don't want to get COVID from somebody who may have it.

Hey, Jim.

It seems to me the principle is identical.

I, I— it's funny, you and I, very simpatico. So, I don't— the cigarette example is a really good one. The one I've been thinking—

It's identical. It's identical.

I just thought to myself, how about the seatbelt? I mean, I'm old enough to— you didn't have to wear a seatbelt.

No, no, no. And if the highway patrol stops you and you're not wearing a seatbelt and you say, look, it's my personal freedom not to wear one, you're still gonna get a ticket.

You get a ticket. Exactly. Well, that's fine. It is your personal right. And here's a little something for you. Yeah,

right. Absolutely. I just— that's a silly concept to me. I believe in freedom, but we learned a long time ago, you— just because you got freedom doesn't mean you can cry fire In a crowded theater, you know, there's a limit. So—

Indeed, sir. I couldn't agree with you more. And I really want to take this opportunity. I don't know that you ever can hear this enough times, but thank you. Thank you for your service.

Oh, my pleasure. Well, there were a lot of people there who supported me, you know, I'm always grateful for.

Yeah, it's a team. I mean, it's, it's an effort of so many people who are committed to the same, you know, important ideals. Doesn't mean you do it perfectly. Doesn't mean anything's ever done perfectly.

No.

But we learned from all these experiences.

That's right. That's right.

And that's really what I think matters so greatly. So, Chip, as we wind things down, I want to ask you just about your own personal rituals for your resilience because I'm not disclosing, you know, how long you've been doing this, but you've been doing this a while. It takes a while to write 24

books. 40 years. I started my company 40 years ago.

40 years ago and you've written 24 books and you're out there on the trail, although our trail is virtual. Yeah, yeah. All right.

I'm still— yeah, I can't wait to get on. I still can't wait to get back on that airplane and go to a stage.

And you got gigs lined up in 2022?

Yes, 2022.

Yeah. So what I'm imagining is that in addition to maybe some good constitution, some, you know, some good genes and all that—

well, we were talking about our mama. My mama lived to be 102.

All right.

So there you go.

Got some— there's genes that are working.

I hope. I'm counting on it.

But I want to know what—

I could be walking across the street and get beer truck tomorrow, you know.

Are you You're killing me now. I want to know what—

You're gonna be laying there going, dang, I could have had buttered popcorn.

People are laughing right now. They know where I'm going with this. Like, I want to know what you do to take care of yourself.

Oh, oh, great. Yeah, well, I'm an early riser. I get up every morning at 6 o'clock whether I need to or not. I'm at work by 7 because I love my work. I have, uh, exercise. I walk every day. I eat right. I drink good whiskey. So I've been happily married for over 50 years. So I think all of that kind of helps. And I have a deep faith in the Almighty. All of those things, I think— I get plenty of sleep. I don't have any trouble sleeping. So I think all of that from a physical standpoint helps, you know. So I feel a very fortunate, blessed person.

I really hope you're enjoying this episode. Of the Change Proof podcast. If you've not yet gone out and gotten your own copy of Change Proof, it's not too late. You can get your copy right now by going to changeproof.com and not only getting the book and all the bonuses there, but getting access to our proprietary resilience assessment tool. It'll just take you 3 minutes to do, and it's something that will really help you to utilize the book even more effectively to create practices and rituals and habits that will increase your mental, emotional, physical, and even spiritual resilience for the long term. Again, go to changeproof.com to get your copy today. I think you just outlined not just the physical because I think a lot of people do believe that even when they hear a story like the one that that you shared, that resilience is that physical ability to just continue to move forward, like no matter what's going on, bombs could be dropping around you, but you still keep moving forward. And what we find, and the research is pretty clear on this, is that it's not just physical. It's mental. It's emotional. It's even spiritual. And what you just outlined in what you said, the rituals that you keep, very much I think were mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual.

And spiritual.

Yeah,

all of which are important. Yeah,

all of which—

I've got a cartoon that hangs on my wall that's a— you know the picture. It's a blue heron on the edge of the water, and he's got a frog in his throat, and this bullfrog in his throat, and the frog has his front legs wrapped around the blue heron's neck, and the caption is, never ever give up.

Yeah,

look, Google it. Google it sometime. Google Blue Heron and Frog, Never Give Up, or any of that, and you'll see the cartoon.

Yeah,

Never Ever Give Up. You know, it's a clever cartoon.

In post-production, I'm sure this is going to make it into the episode, so it's perfect. It's just wonderful to have you as a guest. I'm closing it out. I'll remind myself and remind those that In need of reminders like me that—

Yeah, me too.

The way for me, I go back to my— not to my mama, but to my grandmother who would say, leave the house on the right foot, start the day on the right foot. And I thought later in my life about what that actually means. I mean, I've done everything from had, you know, the way ballplayers don't step on the lines, you know, as they walk across, you know, like the manager doesn't step on the foul line. I tend to, before I'm going to leave for a speaking engagement or any of those things, always consciously leave the house with my right foot.

That's right.

But I started to deepen that practice some years ago and thought, well, what's the first opportunity to do that? And I thought, well, it's just waking. You know, the moment I wake up, that's the opportunity to start on the right foot. And so, my own personal ritual, which was the subject of a TED Talk I gave a couple of years ago, was about 4 simple words to start the day. It's really a 3-step process. The first is to wake up, right, Chip? So, we're gonna— can I get your agreement on this? You're gonna wake up?

Absolutely. Absolutely.

And it's interesting because you just agreed to that and I was a lawyer for 18 years. So, I got you on record now. You agree.

There you go. That's good.

But we all know that none of us really have a contract for that. So, it's really God's grace or whatever, however it is that you—

Absolutely.

You know, where you give your thanks to that which we can't understand. I mean, that we wake up in the morning is a miracle on some level because there are people at that same moment that you're waking up, they're not waking up. They didn't wake up that morning.

That's right.

You're taking that first breath there, somebody's taking their last. So, step 1 is certainly that waking piece. And step 2 is something we talked about earlier, which is the importance of gratitude.

Yeah.

To just for a moment even feel what it is that is there in the moment to be grateful for is so much, including Just the breath that you've taken. And then, those 4 simple words and my 4 simple words, not easy all the time, not easy when things aren't going exactly how you want them, but they're profound, I think. And that's, I love my life. I love my life. And it's funny, I got just an advanced copy. So, we've got a book that's coming out in January.

Oh, cool.

Called the I Love My Life Challenge.

Yeah.

So, it's a 28-day workbook and there's a companion book that comes out some months later. But this idea of I love my life and how do you love your life even when there are things about your life that you don't love? I mean, ironic. So, Chip, are there words that you say at the beginning of the day or near the beginning of the day?

Yeah. My daddy always told me, don't forget who you are and what it means. Now, just a little backstory is, He was somebody who really took great pride in the family honor, family tradition, what the family values were, a super big deal. So when he would say, usually when I was going out the door or going out with the guys or going out on a date or whatever, he would say, don't forget who you are and what that means. And so he was reminding me of those core values that made you, you, that made the Bell family who they were. And so I still am, you know, every time I leave, don't forget who you are and what that means. And I, you know, pass that on to my own son who's now got his own family. From time to time, he and I have talked about and revisited some of those values like, you know, honor, integrity, and a sense of fairness and those kinds of things that were very, very important A sense of kindness. Those were all a part of who we were as a family growing up. So I think grounding is really what I'm talking about. The more we find grounding is, to me, is as important as that allegiance to a higher power.

That's what I find is the reason I started to say those words was I used to put my feet on the floor in the morning. We'd expect because I don't levitate. But When I was doing work that didn't really suit me, I mean, I did this legal work for 18 years, and much of that time, I would put my feet on the floor and I'd feel this anxiousness.

Yeah, yeah.

Sometimes even anger or dread at the beginning of the day. That's not a grounded— to use your words, you're not grounded when that's the feeling. And so, I wanted to feel something entirely different about my life.

Yeah.

And I started to put my feet on the floor and I started to say, I love my life. Even when it was, you know, I was in the midst of change and, you know, love, you know, change can be messy.

Oh, sure.

It is messy.

It should be.

Yeah. It should be, right?

Yeah.

I so appreciate you, sir. Thank you so much.

Oh, absolutely. It's been a joy to be with you, Adam. I've been, uh, this is great.

Everybody, you will find out more when you consult the show notes. You'll find out more about Chip Bell, his work, his books, his, the opportunity to book him as a keynote for your event. All those things are right there. And we hope you do that. And we'd love to get your comments as well. You can go to adammarkel.com/podcast, leave a comment, subscribe, tell a friend. If you know somebody that would really benefit from listening to this conversation, please feel free to share, and we'll see you soon.

Thanks for listening. We hope you now have even more tools and greater insights to build resilience and become change-proof. Remember to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. And you may be featured in an upcoming episode. For more resilience tips and strategies, including support for building change-proof teams, visit adammarkel.com. To get your own free resilience assessment, go to rankmyresilience.com.