Level Up Your Workforce: Scott Abbott on Coaching, Systems, and Purpose-Driven Profit

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And I tell you, I've heard more than I care to tell you how many times people have said, I can't take care of myself because I'm too busy taking care of other people. Well, the flawed thinking is what happens if something happens to you and you're the one that's responsible for everything? It's in your head, it's in your heart, it's in your body. There are no systems, there is no infrastructure, there are no processes. And if something happens, somebody can't just come in and take it over, right? You're a burden. You're not an asset. And so, yes, counterintuitive to a lot of people, and especially with AI now, the more systemized you get and the more you do follow good and appropriate standard operating procedures and you know your roles and accountabilities, you have your goals that tie into your measurables, it actually liberates you.

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It's funny when you have a guest on who you've researched and read about but hadn't made the connection that we have crossed paths, perhaps in some of the same cities, especially where I live right now, Redondo Beach. So, Scott, you're now in Indiana, but thank you so much for joining us on Your Brand Amplified today.

Thanks, Anika. Appreciate you having me on the show.

Yeah, absolutely. Now you have a really rich story over 35 years, starting, building, buying, scaling companies. You've now turned this into a coaching system to help leaders change and really understand how to operate. So you are a founder, a CEO, a coach, an investor, an author, and the creator of the Boss Up Framework. I'm so thrilled to have you here. So Scott, take us back a little bit. When did this start for you? What is the origin story of Scott the entrepreneur?

Yeah. Well, actually, back to sharing with you about being in Redondo Beach in Manhattan. So, let's see, about 35 years ago, I moved out to LA and lived there pursuing the LA dream. I had had a successful couple few years in business working for other companies, was in the tech world, and moved out there with a tech job. But, when I moved out there, that was the, what, third to last recession. So, I got this cool place right down by the beach. I had my fancy sports car, literally a truckload of furnishings and everything else. And, 6 months later, Anika, I was in trouble. Lost my job, lost my money, literally ended up living in this apartment where I was hiding from the rent collector, had no electricity, couldn't pay my bills. Very genuinely, I was down to selling CDs for a couple of bucks to go buy some food at the local cantina. And it wasn't just that I was impoverished and near bankruptcy on a personal level. I was near bankruptcy on an emotional, spiritual, relational level as well. It was real low. I think I should be in the world and I was irredeemable. But thankfully, through some serendipitous and I would say some spiritual and family and other motivators, I perked up one day and said, "It's time to get my shit together." And so, I packed my bag and I snuck out of Dodge in the dark so the bill collectors couldn't find me. I traveled all the way back to the Indiana where I had another job with a tech company. But literally, the guy was like, "Get back here in 2 days and I'll hire you." And I made it. Still broke. I actually lived out of a motel, the kind that you see in the movies where the bed folds out of the wall and you don't want to talk about what you're hearing between the walls. And I lived off of PB&J and soup and crackers for about 90 days. And then, I got real lucky with a new technology that came out from IBM. And we were able to basically embrace that. And long story short, a couple of great years. And through that time, I really said, I'm going to be an entrepreneur. I'm going to start a company. Hey, how much lower can I get? And so I just said, ah, let's go for it. So it's about $500 in my pocket. I started my first company in '95, right after Al Gore invented the internet. I hooked up with my buddies at IBM again, and we created this new wave of e-business, e-commerce, building extranets and intranets for legacy Fortune 1000 companies. And literally it was almost a movie type scenario where I grew too fast, raised 10+ million, bought a bunch of companies, and then got caught up in that whole dot-com crash boom bust. But that was my first entree to entrepreneurship. I also think it started in my youth living overseas and moving around with my folks. But you asked about being an entrepreneur. I think it's in my genes, my DNA. But interestingly, today I'm more of an engineer and a mechanic like my dad and helping companies learn and implement good systems. Processes, good protocol. That's kind of my passion is to fuse entrepreneurship with systemization.

Nice. Um, that's music to my ears, I guess is the way I wanna phrase it. Because I've set up businesses with systems and without, and now I help podcast entrepreneurs set up all their systems and processes so that they can find success. Because without those, it's really, really hard to get where we can go and to achieve what we can because something is not gonna work and it's all gonna fall apart. Before we get into that, I'm intrigued about your living overseas. Can you talk a little bit about that part of your life and how you think that might've also influenced your decisions?

Yeah, 100%. My dad actually was, uh, had his degree in mechanical engineering and, but basically earned a reputation for taking engineering and systems and mechanics and, and using it to build, run, and scale companies, specifically one company, International Harvester. And he was kind of a, a troubleshooter. So he'd fly in and fix things and we'd come in with him and a couple years later we'd we'd move out of there. So I moved out of Chicago over to London and London to Paris, Paris back to London, Chicago to Spain. It was a lot of bouncing around, but while it had its lows, it had a lot of highs. I think it taught me resiliency and how to adapt and adopt. I think again, it was the instigator to becoming an entrepreneur, but now also becoming this fusion of, you know, we love the entrepreneurial spirit. As Jim Collins says, magic happens when the spirit of entrepreneurship meets a culture of discipline, right? So I kind of gravitate towards that type of thinking. But yeah, that upbringing certainly helped me create intestinal fortitude and the ability to get into new environments and persevere and be resilient and get through. And now though, I've been in the same little town for about 25 years and I love it. So, you know, amazing what happens when time moves on.

Yeah. So what was the pain point that you experienced that made you realize I have a system and process. I have built, scaled, bought companies successfully. Now I need to codify this.

Yeah. So, you know, like a lot of things, I think there's a bunch of moments that generated momentum. It wasn't one thing in particular. In fact, I'd say I'm a big fan of, of talking with, I do a lot of work with startups and entrepreneurs and, and young organizations. And I often say, hey, I never really thought I invented anything, right? And I've been blessed to actually have won a couple awards and probably got more credit than I should for being an entrepreneur. But I actually think what I do is I take other people's stuff that they've invented and do something else with it. So, in addition to being an entrepreneur, there's this concept called being an intrapreneur, right? If you don't invent something and you don't think maybe you should start an actual company, go to work for another company and bring that spirit and that energy. And again, that fusion of good motivation and attitude and let's grow and go, but also do it in a way like most companies want with some operating rhythm and rigor. So, I think between my startups in the internet era, then I actually got, believe it or not, booted out of my own company by my venture capitalists and they sold it and said, you know, see you later, alligator. Then I was fortunate to actually go to work for a $34 billion company out of Phoenix, and I was asked to basically be their intrapreneur. And I ran a bunch of cool programs with the likes of Oracle and SAP. I was in charge of global alliances with other software companies, and I loved loved it. Very honestly, I love big companies and small companies at the same time. They all have their uniquenesses. So after I left there, then I started Straticos. And Straticos I've had for about 15 years. And about 3 and a half years ago, I spun up the new Boss Up Coaching Solution Academy because Straticos was just me. I was kind of lonely and I felt like I wasn't really giving back. And so I created this social enterprise called Boss Up. We now have 70+ coaches around the world. We're basically a learning management system. We provide tools, resources, and support to help other coaches generate more impact and income for themselves and for their clients. So it's kind of that classic pay it forward. I had a great run at Straticos and I was either going to sort of retire or I was going to do something bigger and better. And that's when we created the Boss Up Coaching Solution Academy. I wrote Boss Up and Boss Up Moments books, and we're just having a blast getting started, helping other people learn how to, again, build, run, and scale great companies through this fusion of systems and soul and purpose and profit and kind of the yin and yang of doing the right thing in business, work, and life.

Yeah. All of that is exactly where we need to be though. So many times people, they don't understand who they are, what their purpose, mission, vision, and values are as an individual. When you understand that, it serves you better in business, right? And it helps you be more clear. I always approach it from, from that branding perspective, but then I also work with a former Zen monk. And that's bringing in the mindset work and the clear communication that you get out of really level setting with yourself first. Then you're able to create systems and processes that work really well. You're able to share that energy and your expertise with other people.

Yeah, because, you know, counterintuitively, Anika, to a lot of people, by taking care of yourself and having that right mindset philosophy and wellbeing physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, it's actually selfless, not selfish. I work with a lot of alpha owners, let me, and I tell you, I've heard more than I care to tell you how many times people have said, I can't take care of myself because I'm too busy taking care of other people. Well, the flawed thinking is what happens if something happens to you and you're the one that's responsible for everything? It's in your head, it's in your heart, it's in your body. There are no systems, there is no infrastructure, there are no processes. And if something happens, somebody can't just come in and take it over, right? You're a burden. You're, you're not an asset. And so yes, counterintuitive to a lot of people, and especially with AI now, the more systemized you get and the more you do follow good and appropriate standard operating procedures and you know your roles and accountabilities, you have your goals that tie into your measurables, it actually liberates you. And with AI, I truly believe this today. I talk a lot about this in both my books, Boss Up Moments. If it liberates you to have 20, 25% more time in your life, Put a third back into the company to grow, build, scale, do new things. Put a third back into yourself to be a better version, to be a better leader, coach, and then you ready for the third, other third. Hey, you've earned it a little bit. Go do something you like. Take up golf, start painting, have a hobby, take that afternoon nap. And again, I know it might sound a little privileged and blessed and fortuitous in these days and ages, but again, I think that's another good thing about good systems and AI and automation. It's not just the founders and the senior leaders that can benefit from what I just said, the concepts, tools, and disciplines. I think all employees can.

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I think most people reach that point where they have overextended, whether they are an entrepreneur or working a 9 to 5, and they go, what am I doing here? Or they're an entrepreneur and they think we have to do the grind of 60 to 80 hours to get our businesses started, and then something happens. I know for myself, the last couple of months I have been experiencing some different health issues, and so I had to take a step back and go, okay, these were my goals for this year with some of my podcast initiatives and coaching and the, my teaching at USC and all of that stuff. But what's really important and how much time do I really wanna spend and how much time, to your point, do I need to take back for me? So that the time I am serving is better utilized. And because I'm kind of almost in a startup mode again, everything you're saying is resonating with me deeply because I'm training up a team, but I still have to walk through a lot of the information, right? I can create an SOP, but I still need to show them exactly the process so they understand it. And then hopefully they can take it from there. But it is a little bit of a, you know, it's a scary point when you realize, wow, if it, we don't have my voice, we don't have my experience and teachings and systems, then there is no company.

And I know you well enough, and I've heard your show, Anika, that you know that while we need you and you're, you're central, it's not about you. And so if it just is and you're not putting in good systems and you're not, you know, from a purposeful agreement-based commitment standpoint, committed to leaving a legacy and paying it forward and all these kind of concepts, right? You know, you're kind of, halfway in and halfway out, right? So I think you get it. And that's where good, good structure and systems— and systems don't always have to be overly systematized. It could just be making sure you're scheduling properly and you've got the right tools to assess and determine where you're at. Again, intellectually, emotionally, IQ, EQ. And they're out there today, especially with AI. So frankly, my opinion, you know, I don't like the expression bootstraps and meritocracy alone. It's, it's a more nuanced world we're in today. For sure. But, I do think thanks to, again, this thing called the internet and AI, the frameworks, the awareness is out there. You have to choose to own your situation. And sure, there's bad days and good days, highs and lows. I get it. I'm coming off a 5-day water-only fast to your point. I launched this new program called Lead with Scott, which is a leadership development experience. That we put a lot of time and effort. I was working 18-hour days. I had a team design a bunch of stuff and I put on some weight. I lost my way. I got kind of sick, not just physically but just didn't feel good. And, I've been doing 5-day fast for about 5 years. I'm into holistic healing and red light and cold plunge and saunas and this. So, I got to tell you, the difference I feel now, Anika, today, literally 8 o'clock tonight will be 5 days. And if you want to go to Scott Abbott ABC on Instagram or LinkedIn, seriously, I call these commitment devices. And when I tell the world and I show them that I'm committed to doing, for example, right now I'm doing the 150 push-ups a day to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project. And then, I've got the fasting, but I don't share it to check myself out. I actually do it to keep myself in check. You follow me? Again, one of our favorite concepts, tools, and disciplines is what we call the ABCs, agreement-based commitments. Especially when you talk about young people and you say, hey, here's the expectation. Well, that could be actually kind of passive-aggressive and lazy, right? But if you say, hey, here's the job, here are the roles, accountabilities, responsibilities, here are the goals, here's how we measure, and let's make sure we're all on the same page, right? And then we say, okay, are we? Sure. Okay. Are these agreement-based commitments? Because you don't want to disappoint somebody else, let alone yourself. You follow me? So again, these are systems. You call them frameworks, whatever you want, but that's where I think sometimes, and especially we know today, systems can make some people go, ooh, right? It could be a lot of is in system. Know that. But I say to everybody, systems aren't bad in and of themselves. People make it bad. So yeah, to your story, you know this, Again, if I could go back in time and change, I wouldn't be on this podcast because I might be a billionaire. So that's good, right? But I do think it's important for you and thanks to your show and what you share, you know, kind of the concept is if I know now what I'll know then, and you do that by taking other people's hindsight, using it as foresight, and that becomes insight. So you'll avoid a few more mistakes than I experienced and you don't have to go through some of the real dark days, but bumps and bruises actually make for, you know, learning, right? And so, you know, it's an end-all be-all.

Yeah. So I'm amazed that you are this clear on a 5-day water fast. I've never tried a 5-day water fast, so there's also that, and it's something you're experienced at. But I love the fact that you've built in some systems for yourself to hold yourself accountable to yourself via socials and via other systems. But then also, you know what works for you, and I think that's something that we all have to figure out along the way. But I do want to talk about your BOSS UP system is business operating systems, AI, which you've mentioned a few times, and coaching all combined. So, can you talk to us a little bit about how you decided on that structure? What made most sense to you?

Yeah. Yeah. So, by the way, back to my story, if you could see it, day 4.25, and again, I studied the heck out of fasting, and this is where I have to apologize. I'm actually kind of in a bit of a buzz, man. I'm not kidding. So, there's actually— I've studied fasting for a decade. I don't even want to tell you. Here's a summary. If you look at all the videos and all the documentaries about fasting from Mayo Clinic to Sweden to globally, the summary for most doctors is if fasting came in a pill or scalpel, it'd be one of the most recommended procedures. It's amazing. But anyhow, so actually, I'm kind of buzzed right now organically. It's true. It actually cleans out a lot of the junk inside your body, your brain, your It's just like this wonderful little reboot. A day from now, I'm gonna be pretty low. So you gotta go like this. So back to boss up moments. You know, there's a lot of great frameworks in the world. Beautiful books written by the Collins, the Druckers, the Demings. You got motivational things from the cynics and the, and the Brené Browns and the Kim Sandborns. I get it. But I've been in systems for 40 years, technology, and I just honestly felt, me and my team, that there was a more modern, accessible, inclusive, and affordable way to build, run, and scale. Second, we know a lot of people are very design thinking pitchers, right? So it's really interactive. We have assessments, we tie in videos, we tie in QR codes, we tie in AI. And so it's just this lightweight framework to take you from your visions, including your values, your goals, your process, your structure, your accountability in a fun way. So that's That's really the engineering, the mechanics, the framework to build, run, and scale as a company and an organization. And then we have these things called humans. And so Boss Up Moments is really about the humanization. And so this ties in again, video and AI and journaling. So you could take it from the office and the boardroom to the kitchen table and the nightstand, because we've all heard this silly expression. It's not personal, it's business. That's rubbish, especially after COVID. Five Generations of the Workplace and AI, it is personal. And so ideally we're investing in our people so they're not only better and more confident and courageous and successful in work that extends into the lives, and then that extends into the communities, and then that extends into this planet Earth we have. So yeah, we happen to think, and I think if you use a Kurt Sognetti at Indiana, Google us, it's a pretty modern, inclusive, effective, accessible, and affordable way to build, run, and scale a good company, but also to be the best versions of yourself. So that was the motivator. Been doing this for a couple of decades, but finally said, all right, let's take it to that next level of tangibility. And just again, and kind of gravity and Mother Nature's working in our favor. I think we're scratching an itch because the more automated AI cloud work from everywhere we happen to get, Up until recently, we've becoming less human and less together. And us humans weren't born and it's, we're not an animal that wants to really be by ourselves. We don't. And so I think today the importance of leadership learning and development cannot be underestimated. In fact, back to P&Ls and balance sheets and investment, I literally insist with my clients that L&D specifically with regard to leadership management, teamwork, and accountability is literally on the P&L as an infrastructure expense. It's not a check the box, Anika. It's a, the box shall be checked. Now, how much you're going to spend and how much work you're going to do, it's dependent on the size of the company, a stage and the phase. There's been a cartoon out for about 3 decades, 2 people sitting side by side. You think that the president and the finance in the company and the finance person says, what if we invest our people and they leave? And the president says, what if we don't and they stay? So, you know, some of these classic concepts and paradigms just kind of motivated me to say, hey, let's figure out a way to make this accessible and simple yet comprehensive for startups, small, mid-market, even large companies. We're working a lot of large companies now on L&D and bringing in our materials. So yeah, it's pretty good. And again, ideally we're hopefully doing something that's beneficial, not just for us, but for those we serve.

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It strikes me, just thinking through your systems processes, the future of work, how much AI is able to do for us or with us that gives us time to be more human and maybe spend more time coaching and taking training and communing with other people in our— whether it's at our work community or our home community. I teach grad school at USC. We do have leadership classes for students, but a lot of them haven't— they're not even at that point yet, right? Many of them maybe have a starter job or internships. Some of them are in the workforce, but certainly there's a large swath that aren't and a large swath that's going to go back to other countries and work there and not stay in the United States. So, I'm buying everything that you're saying. This is, these are all values that I hold dear and things that I think are really important for people to know and understand and work through and work on. But I also would love to hear a little bit about your perspective on that future of work and the fact that a lot of grad students and people coming into the workforce, the entry-level jobs are perhaps not there. They're not necessarily getting the same kind of training that we had the opportunity to get by learning on the job or by having great mentors.

Amen. So, not to again keep plugging, I don't have a copy of it.

Oh, do it.

But, my very first book, Anika, that I wrote 15 years ago, again, with the advent of social media and mobile technology. So, I've been through 4 of the biggest tech waves, if you will, the internet, mobile technology, social, especially in the enterprise and the workforce, and now AI. So, about 15 years ago, I wrote a book called Level Up to Professional. And it was to help career-centric young adults enter the workforce, not just to be a CEO or an entrepreneur, but to be a great barista. I think schools, and I do a lot of work with schools. I've got partnerships with several. My biggest is with my hometown, Indiana University. You can see this online. We're doing some really cool things to invest in upskilling and cross-skilling leaders, both young and old, and in whole various companies from Latin America across the world to the US. But Level Up was all about things to your point that says get your head around concepts like how you approach things with a perspective, an attitude, aptitude, and mindfulness. How do you initiate your personal brand? How do you bring to the table an awareness irrespective of what the J-O-B ends up being that's going to help you get from one level to the next? Because you're absolutely correct, like businesses in life, we all grow and move and have to appreciate that it's about phases and stages. We think there are 5 stages to every company from startup to Fortune 1000 status. And the same thing with humans, right? And that concept of what got you here is not going to get you there. So what we try to do is not overwhelm. We try to be clear and simple. And this is why I think we complement what most people are getting in curriculum. Let's be honest, a big percentage of our country's not necessarily blessed or privileged even to go to college. They barely get a GDP. So yeah, the whole concept of Level Up and even the work that I have now in Boss Up and Boss Up Moments is know thyself, appreciate thy situation, and irrespective if you want to be a kooky entrepreneur and go for unicorn status, silly thinking, just want to be a great contributor, or you just want to be a better version of yourself in life, irrespective of the job. That's why we always harp on a couple of core tenets, the essential concepts, tools, and disciplines. We believe there are 9 core competencies that you've got to be in charge of and ideally master to be good in business, work, and life. So, we try to keep it simple, but keeping things simple isn't easy, as you know, especially as a teacher yourself. And yeah, I think one of our favorite, we've got a lot of principles and frameworks in our world. One of them that is really embraced by all of our coaches, it's taught by everybody, is the concept, tool, and discipline of CLEAR. We seek clarity for ourselves and others, especially when we're dialoguing or collaborating, but it's also an acronym. And CLEAR stands for collaborative, logical, empathetic, authentic, and resilient. And if you literally embrace those as bylaws for yourself and others, right there, and you commit to holding each other to those, that gets you 5%, 10% more propensity for success. You follow me? And back to AI and efficiency and effectiveness. This all might sound like corporate jargon, but it's true. But at the same time, I always tell everybody about this wonderful commercial. That was out a while ago from a burger joint that competed against McDonald's called Steak 'n Shake. They were started here in Indianapolis and they make great shakes. Kind of like what's the big burger joint out there in California?

In-N-Out.

In-N-Out. Yeah. Yeah. So they're known for their shakes and they had this great commercial that I still talk about today where it's obviously a dig on McD's and it's got this video of an assembly line of milkshakes being made and you know it's a poke on on McDonald's. And a voiceover says, we agree their way is more efficient. Did you see that? And then they show somebody scooping up ice cream, put it in one of those containers, another scoop, milk, chocolate syrup, whipped cream, blend it, pour it into this glass container, throw on some whipped cream and a cherry and a straw. And she looks at the camera with these free shakes and she goes, but when was the last time you had a milkshake and said, mm, that tastes efficient?

That's really good.

And that's, bring it to today, right? We are inundated with "overly pushed on systems" or this or that, and it could feel overwhelming, but we're also humans and we have touch and taste and feelings. We want joy, but yeah, we need to produce. We need to deliver. We need to earn that paycheck. Nothing's given, right? And, if it is, those are for reasons that God puts you in a situation where you deserve to be invested in because you don't necessarily have the ability, the capacity, to do something to earn your way. You follow me?

Yeah.

And so that's why, you know, what's cool about today is if you get your head around it, this fusion of, again, systems, coaching, leadership, you know, contribution, live, work, love, it can happen, but you gotta own the reasons and the way it's gonna happen. You just can't assume it's gonna happen.

Yeah.

Thanks for listening or watching to this episode of Your Brand Amplified. Don't forget to leave us a rating or review on your favorite podcast listening platform. And if you want to learn more, check us out at yourbrandamplified.com.

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