S5:E92 🎙️ LIVE with Christian Torres

Hi, I'm John Maxwell. When the top companies in the world are looking for trainers, speakers, and coaches, there's one name that stands above the rest, and that's Maxwell Leadership. Our certified team members have gotten proven results for companies all over the globe, and our reputation, I'm proud to say, is second to none. Some of our members have risen to the top of their profession, including the one you're going to meet today. I proudly introduce you to my friend Bob Fabien Zinga.

Welcome to the Leadership and Success Podcast with your host, Coach BZ, where we help you lead with purpose and succeed with impact. If you're ready to grow into the kind of leader others want to follow, this podcast is for you. If you're determined to elevate your success and leave a lasting legacy, this podcast is for you. As my mentor, Dr. John C. Maxwell, reminds us, everything rises and falls on leadership. Our goal is simple, to inspire you, challenge you, and equip you with insights that can transform the trajectory of your leadership journey.

Welcome aboard to another episode of the Leadership and Success Podcast with Coach I was subjected to about 18 months of solitary confinement over a period of time of almost a decade. And during that time, I was forced— I had no other choice but to live inside of my own head. I had to build systems in my own mind. I had to play out what would happen the day that I was released. What is my next chapter? What am I going to do? I didn't have an iPhone, I didn't have a laptop, I didn't have the internet. So all I could do was play out these scenarios in my head. And eventually I got really, really comfortable thinking critically, thinking about all the steps and what follows and the consequences of those steps. And so when I finally got a chance to get out of that hole, I got a job at the prison factory and they set me in front of a computer and they said, we need you to crunch some numbers, do some basic data entry. And they introduced me to Microsoft Excel. And Microsoft Excel, those simple spreadsheets, those things that most people hate and leave to the accountants, that became my creative medium. That became my entryway. That became my portal, my escape.

All right, do we have a very special edition of the podcast for you today? We have a very special guest waiting in the green room. But before I bring him on, let's do our moment of gratitude. This is the part of the show where we take just a moment to be grateful. And we really try to practice gratitude every single day. So if you would, maybe close your eyes, put yourself in your happy place. And think about one thing you are grateful for right now. If you need to take a Very deep breath, slow down your nervous system. And today I am really grateful for people like the guests I'm going to be introducing you today who are really brave. I believe nobody is perfect and we all make mistakes, but it really takes someone with a lot of courage to say, okay, this is my life story. I really messed up and this is how I was able to turn things around. I guess I am really grateful for redemption, for second chances. That's, I don't know, As most of you know, I am a Christian, and that's really the love story of the Bible, right? Redemption. Man messed up and man got really, really bad, but then man got a second chance, and that is really, really powerful. And I am so grateful for that and all of the lessons that we can learn from brave leaders like him. So let me see if I can properly introduce my guest today. Today I am really honored and privileged to have a discussion with Christian Torres. He's really not your typical leadership voice. He's a decision intelligence speaker and strategist, founder of Stark Analytics and director of business intelligence, helping leaders make smarter, faster decisions under uncertainty. But his story didn't start in the boardroom. It started with consequences, from serving as a New York Police Department officer to spending nearly a decade in federal prison, including 18 months in solitary confinement, to rebuilding his mind, his discipline, and his life from the inside out. Christian's journey is the definition of ownership, resilience, and reinvention. Today, he teaches leaders how to stop guessing and start simulating better decisions. One thing you are going to learn is the real reason smart people still make bad decisions and how to fix it. So ladies and gentlemen, without any further ado, please help me welcome to the Leadership Success Podcast, Christian Torres. All right. Good afternoon, Christian. How are you doing today?

I'm doing great. How are you, Bob Fabien Zinga?

Great. Great. It's really a great privilege and honor to be speaking to you today. I think this is probably going to be one of the most impactful and insightful podcast of this season. Again, thank you so much for the courage, the bravery to put yourself out there because I think your life can only teach a lot of lessons to so many, many people. But just to get started, what is one thing you are grateful for today?

I am grateful for love.

Yes.

And that seems like something that would be pretty obvious, but it is actually sad that a lot of people forget just how powerful of an influence that can be in your business, in your personal life. Because one, if you don't have love for yourself, you're already bound for failure. If you don't have the love and support of your friends and family, it's going to be a very difficult climb. If you don't love what you do, you're probably in the wrong business. There's just so many different ways. So I would say love.

That is so true. And I know in the green room and, um, prior to today, we, we had talked. I know you are a father. You have a daughter. I have two. And, uh, I feel like there's just a very, very special kind of love once you become a father. I, I really believe the day I became a daddy, I became a grown man. I became an adult that day. Prior to that, I was just a boy, you know, I didn't really care much about life, but when I knew my daughter was on the way, I did absolutely everything I could to make sure she would come in a safe and loving arm. And I, I became responsible pretty much overnight. And, uh, you know, it's, it's a love I can't really explain. I thought I understood what love meant, but until you become a father and you see your little girl in your hand, it's like, wow, I've never experienced anything like that.

Yeah, no, we can probably spend hours talking about that kind of love. And like, I often say that the first grays started popping out when I found out that my daughter was on the way, but it was all for the right reasons.

I think it happened to me, to me too. But, uh, So for the people who meet you for the very first time, who don't know you, what is something about you that they may not know?

Well, the people that don't know me would probably be surprised that I have a pretty eclectic mix of interests and skills. So I love Marvel, like Marvel Comics, Iron Man. I literally named my company Stark Analytics. So yes, you see like some Iron Man stuff there in the background. Unique combination of Iron Man, Microsoft Excel, analytics, AI, and coffee. So if we're talking about outside of the family, the things that kind of like fuel me, it's a pretty interesting mix. And that's every single day. I am, you know, just really surprised, almost dumbfounded at how I ended up where I'm at right now. And not just a story which we'll dive into, but all the things that make us tick and the things that actually drive us. I've had the privilege of being able to sit down and wonder, okay, how do these things play a role in our everyday life? And so I get a little bit deep. You know, if I have one or two glasses of wine, I will definitely contemplate the meaning of life. But, you know, I mean, honestly, what are we doing if we are not asking those questions and we're not wondering what is the greater purpose?

That is really insightful. We really get on to a very strong start. So let me ask you, I know people change through time. Today, I am not the person I used to be 10, 15, or even just a couple of years ago. So if I ask you, who are you today and what mission are you on? What would your answer be?

The mission that I'm on is to help business leaders make better decisions. That's the cleanest way to describe it. And I often joke that I am uniquely qualified to talk about decision-making because I've made the worst decisions ever. You know, I often talk about how decisions have consequences and say that they— those consequences, they ripple across time, space, and other people's lives. Yes, it is a misconception to think that your decisions are only going to impact you and the quality of your life. So when you get to that next level, when you realize that everything that you do is having that ripple effect on your business, on your customers, on your partners, on your family, it changes the way that you perceive everyday decision-making.

Man, that is really, really powerful. You often say, "I didn't learn decision-making from a book. I learned it from consequences." And you just mentioned consequences from decision. What does that mean?

So I thought I had everything figured out. I thought that my life was planned. I thought I knew exactly where I was going to go. And obviously, I made a series of very stupid, quite frankly, decisions, right? I mean, we all do things that we just regret. And that was something that cost me everything. I lost my career. I lost my apartment. I lost my belongings. I lost my fiancée. I lost my identity. Everything that I thought I was building toward. And those consequences are what forced me to go back to the basic operating system. Those consequences are what stripped me away of everything that I thought society had for me. The money, position, the title, the status, the respect, all of those things. I lost all of it. And so at the end, it was just me sitting in silence with myself. And that's when I realized, okay, those decisions got me here and I don't like this place. I don't like where I'm at right now. So the only way to change that is to think about how am I going to make better decisions? So that was my first and most important lesson, which is if you don't like where you're at today, if you don't like the status, the state of things today, you have to accept that everything in your life today is a result of the decisions that you've made before. And everything that's going to happen in your future will be a result of the decisions you make today.

Well, now, having heard about your story, you went from New York Police Department officer to federal prison. What happened? And more importantly, what were the decisions behind that path?

Yeah, you know, I would like to say that it was something very strange and out of the blue, but honestly, it's some of the forces that have been plaguing mankind for centuries. I was greedy, I was desperate, I was in a bad situation. I was, you know, felt a lot of pressure and I was looking for the easiest, fastest way out. You know, when, when people commit crimes, usually it's because they are trying to solve some kind of problem, especially when you talk about financial, right? So whether it be people that decide to sell drugs or find other ways to make money the wrong way, it's because they're trying to make money quickly. They're trying to take shortcuts. And shortcuts are always enticing because we are struggling and we want an easy solution to our problems. And that always leads to bad decisions.

Wow, that would really make you think. And throughout that experience, how did that make you feel?

I, I thought that everything was going to come crumbling down, which is the irony, right? Is that when you think that taking a shortcut or doing the wrong thing is going to solve your problems, that's usually the thing that actually ends up destroying everything. And that's what happened for me. So a lot of people can go and, you know, look me up online. My charges were bank robbery. Obviously, I decided to take the most efficient path rather than trying to, uh, commit other crimes. I said, well, this is where I can get money, it's federal. You know, your mind justifies the things too. And that's the scary part, which is when you believe that you found a solution to your problems your mind is really good at trying to create the justifications. So some of the crazy thoughts that were going on in my mind when I was a 19-year-old man, I was thinking, well, they're federally insured and, you know, it's not— no one's going to get hurt and it's not a big deal. These banks have billions of dollars. What's a little bit? You start creating all these justification loops and that's, that's actually very, very dangerous because if you're just doing this in your own head, you're going to end up doing something that you're going to regret like I did.

Yeah, because when we go through your story, actually, I think the chief of your police station there in New York said you were one of the most exemplary officers. And I guess one of the questions I have is what was going through your mind?

At which point? Like while I was making my mistakes?

Yes. And especially with the reputation that you, you had within your department of being one of the best ones, they, they wanted all of the new officers to pretty much model after you.

No, great question. The audience and the people that you interview are usually in leadership positions or in business, and you don't get to that point without having a certain amount of risk tolerance and also like an advanced level of intellect, right? People that are very bright, very motivated, very good at what they do. That's all the recipe for good business and good entrepreneurship and leadership. But it can also be the thing that convinces you that you can do things and get away with it. So in my mind, what I was thinking was, I've got this all planned out. I'm very smart. I've got it all figured out. I know exactly how I'm going to do it. This is the plan. I treated it almost as if it was a business operation, right? I said, this is the plan. This is my business plan. I'm going to do it this way. I'm going to go here. This is the timeline. And because I did that, I was thinking that this was a smart idea. This is exactly how it's going to happen, how it's going to go down. And when it's done, I will just live my best life and ride off into the sunset. That's not how it happened.

I guess you have a question I have, because as a police officer, you are really a pillar of the community. You are a leader, whether you see yourself as such or not. How did that make you feel when you went through, especially once you got officially convicted, not just as a leader, but also as a man. How did that feel?

I often tell people that I don't try to convince people to believe me in this regard, but while I was working, I genuinely, and still to this day, have always been the type of person that I don't like bullies. I don't like seeing people victimized. I will always run towards the danger and try to help. That's always been who I am. And so while I was committing those crimes, I really had to kind of switch and go into a different mode where I just convinced myself that no one's going to get hurt. This, you know, the, the, the victim in the crime was a financial institution where it was going to be a rounding error. So it took a lot of kind of psychological switching for me to be able to do something like that. And yet I knew that the very next day when I went to work, I would still be the person that I am. And to me, that just is indicative of the fact that we all have different dimensions to who we are. You can look at any business leader, and if that person is a great communicator, he's a great strategist, he is A perfect example of who you want in a leader. He cares about his people. That doesn't mean that he doesn't struggle with things when he goes home. And there are other dimensions to that personality that maybe have a darker side. We all have that living within us. The question is, how do we choose to use those forces that are at play in our day-to-day? And those are decisions that we have to make every single day. You know, that little voice that says you want to curse that person out, or that voice that says you want to write that nasty email, that little voice, it's there. And we have to consciously choose to not let it take over.

Wow.

Now, later, when you were convicted and you went to federal prison, 10 years, but you spent almost like a year and a half in solitary confinement. And I feel like as a human being, we are really social animals. We need to have connection with other people. So, uh, solitary confinement is probably one of the worst punishments any human being can go through, and especially for that long. Was there maybe a moment where you almost didn't push through?

Uh, several moments. There was not— yeah, there were several moments where I had just pretty much given up. I, in my mind, I knew that there was, or at least I thought there was nothing on the other side for me. I had ruined my reputation. I had ruined my, you know, career. That's what I went to school for. I, I figured that when I got out, I was just gonna be labeled as an outcast, blacklisted everywhere. So I had no idea. I'd just given up. And the, the way that it's structured in the federal system is that you get what's called 23 and 1. So 23 hours in your cell, and then for 1 hour you get to come outside and go to somewhere to a different cell just to walk around and get a little bit of sunlight. It was, it was brutal. And only after I got out many years later that I actually start looking at some of the science and the research behind it, what that does to the human brain. Individuals that are subjected to that kind of confinement, they suffer from a high rate of recidivism. They have anxiety, depression, impulse control issues, anger issues. It's very, very, very tough. And I consider myself, I mean, just blessed that I did not come out that way. There are several influences and reasons why that happened, but I know that I am in the minority of the people that have gone through that and come out, and they don't get the opportunities to change their life. They don't have the same, you know, path that I've been so fortunate to walk these years. So I think that part of the reason why I'm telling my story now is because I do want the people that are going through that, that are coming out now, to realize you don't have to let that define your life. There are real— there are really good people in the world that will hear your story and say, you know what, okay, but you paid the price for it, and you should not have to have that held over your head for the rest of your life. So let's talk about what you're going to do in the future. And that's where the best opportunities come.

Man, you literally reached bottom. I think you are a walking miracle, a real testimony of what it means to almost rebirth, right? To reinvent yourself. What do you think changed for you? What was the turning point?

Well, so I'm a Christian as well, and I try not to intermingle too much about my faith with business because I also feel like a lot of people have misused the banner of faith. But definitely my personal relationship with my creator, that's something that I have my own unique perspective on. But reaching back down into who you are as a human being when I was in solitary confinement, like I said, everything was stripped away. So in a weird way, it's kind of like Elon Musk with his first principles thinking. The whole idea is get rid of all the assumptions, get rid of everything that you think you know or how something is supposed to be built, how it's supposed to work, and just go back to the core foundational ideas. And that's what I had to go through. And there were two other influences that really helped me during that part of my journey. One was a book called Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, which, if you've ever read it, you know, it's not about— yep, there it is. It's not about making money and building organizations. It's more about building yourself up and thinking about how you organize and plan within your own self, how you add value to the world. And we can revisit a little bit more on what I'm doing today that ties back to that. But Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich and then Microsoft Excel, which I know people, they're like, wait a second, Excel, like those spreadsheets that the accountants use? And I say, yeah, actually, that was the, the canvas, that was the creative medium that helped me get out of that dark place. Because once I was released from solitary confinement, I was given a job at the Federal Prison Industries, which is like the factory inside of the prison. And they put me inside of a position where I was able to use Microsoft Excel every day. And it all— it just made sense to me because everything— it was a blank canvas where I could inject logic and reason and systems and I could see how the different inputs, right? So if you put a number into a cell, it changes the whole sheet because everything is connected in formulas. It just made sense that we are the sum of our decisions, just like the spreadsheet. That final number of the report is the sum of all the different input fields. And it just opened up to me and I said, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life, which was not just Excel, was around analytics, systems thinking frameworks. I wanted something that was going to give shape and form and discipline and structure to the way I was thinking.

Because your story is quite incredible, from New York PD officer to federal prison and now to tech CEO. That's just amazing. Was there maybe a person or a couple of people, a moment or a decision that you believe really shifted everything for you?

Yeah, there was a gentleman actually in the prison who, you know, I won't mention his name, But this gentleman had built an empire for himself. He was very successful in business. He had reached the highest ranks of executive level, you know, C-suites. He had millions of dollars and he was there, right, sitting right next to me. And he had lost everything as well. The difference was that he was already in his mid-70s and he was still facing 50 50 more years on his sentence. So that's not a death penalty, but essentially everybody knew, he knew that he was gonna, you know, that was his final resting place, which is sad and in all types of ways. But what's really powerful about this, he decided he was going to use his final years to pass on knowledge, like all of good that he had learned throughout his years with those inmates that were going to be leaving soon so that hopefully he could make an impact for the good.

Wow.

And that to me just blew my mind because I said, wow, you know, I don't know if I had the power, if I had the strength to do that. If I thought that I was just going to die, would I just give up or would I do what that man did and try to make my last years on this earth even more impactful.

That is really incredible. I must tell you, for many people going through what you went through, they would probably just fall apart, maybe even try to commit suicide and just will not have the fire, the resilience, the grit to keep pushing through. When did you realize, "I am not staying here. I am going to rise"?

Once I started building in Microsoft Excel, I realized that the skills that I was developing while I was there had real market value. And I started building business plans well before I was ever released. I mean, I probably still had a good 6 years before my release date, but I was there in the prison factory building business plans, subscribing to every business magazine that I could get my hands on. So while other people were playing cards and maybe watching reality TV, I'm sitting there reading, you know, Entrepreneur Magazine, Inc. Magazine. I'm reading Wired Magazine, trying to stay up on the technology in the business because I knew that what I had, the skill that I had developed, was something that had real value out in the world. And so my job was to continue harnessing that and refining it so that the day I got out, I would be able to hit the ground running.

That's really amazing. So for your experience, what did you start doing differently? What type of things you started doing that really, I guess, was building momentum on your way out to really rebuild yourself to who you are today?

Yeah, I changed two very critical things. I changed my daily routine and I changed what I was feeding my mind.

Wow.

So I, I didn't wake up and just drag myself to work, come back and, you know, just go through the motions every single day. I would wake up and I would put on like NPR, I'd put on like the business radio, I would listen to the news. I would always feed myself, okay, what's going on? I can't sit here and just wallow in the, the darkness of this place. I need to get my mind freed out of here before my body ever is. And so that's where I use books, magazines, radio— like, I did every medium to try to keep my mind focused on the things that were going to be helpful. And that was the first thing, part of my routine. Then I introduced meditation. I made sure that I was taking care of my body. So in the afternoons, I would go and do exercise outside. I structured my day as if I was trying to build something intentionally. And I was, I was trying to build myself intentionally. And so what I fed my mind and how I structured my day was all geared towards a future that was still 5 or 6 years out. But if I could do it now, if I could do it in this place, right? It's like Frank Sinatra, "If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere." Well, if I could do all that in there, I knew that once I got out and had access to the internet, computers, technology, networking opportunities, real jobs, like, you know, libraries. It was— it just made sense to me that if I can do it in a small scale, right, if I can do it with a little bit, I can do it with all the resources that I would have access to once I got out.

Wow. Did that experience kind of change the way you lead and show up today?

Absolutely. And too many people take for granted the resources that they have. I often look at my desk. I wake up in the morning and I look at my desk and I say, wow, I— this is exactly what I dreamed of.

This is—

I imagined having this opportunity to work on the things that I want to work on. I have, you know, I have 3 monitors, I have my mouse, I have my notebook here. It's just a nice little cozy setup. But for me, it was everything. To look at this and say, this is why I do what I do, because I know what it was like to have nothing. And I don't think a lot of people really understand what that feels like. So when I'm thinking about a decision that's going to impact me, my business, the people that I work with, my partners, I'm doing it from a place of this is a blessing and an opportunity just to be able to be thinking about this decision., and I can never take it for granted. And that fuels the kind of the framework, right? The morality behind it is, yes, this is too beautiful of an opportunity to pass up or squander or to make the decision as if it has no consequence.

Wow. So how did that experience change you? Have you noticed you've become a much better version of yourself, maybe showing more empathy or having more of an understanding of what your red lines are that you will never, never cross, and just helping you be a better person and contributor to your local community.

Yeah, I think back to who I was before everything collapsed, before I destroyed my life, and I was selfish. It was all about me. It was— I was prideful. I was arrogant. I was just trying to figure out how I was going to make money. And that is sadly, um, who I was at the time. And after going through the entire experience and the entire arc to today, a lot of people that knew me back then and know me now, they do see the difference. Um, I feel like I'm a better son, a better brother, a better friend, a better— I mean, obviously I'm a father now. And All those things were enhanced because I had to go through the harsh reality and the consequences of my choices to then come out the other side who I am today.

Has your definition of success changed throughout all of that experience?

Yes, because today I— money is important, don't get me wrong. You need resources in order to seize opportunities, to be able to get better tools and software and travel and do experience the life that you want to have. But that's not success. It's just money is a tool, right? And that was the thing that I didn't understand before. The real success is if you wake up every single day and you love— right back to the first, the most important thing—

love.

You love the life that you're living. Doesn't matter if you have goals. You should have goals to make it better. But if you love the life that you're living right now, you love what you're doing, you love the people that you're surrounded with. That is success. And then everything else is just different versions or variations with more resources or different types of projects. All of that are there, peripherals, right? Think about a computer. If you have a powerful computer, yes, you can get a nice printer, a nice mouse, a nice ring light or camera. But you got to start with the right computer, the right processing power. And then everything else is just extras on the side.

That is really powerful. And talking about love, what do you hope your daughter— so like me, you are a father, probably one of the most important function for me right now, but even future children you might have or grandchildren or even great-grandchildren. What would you like for them to really learn from that chapter?

Of your life, that you can always bounce back from a bad decision, right? Because children inherently are going to make mistakes. So for example, when, when my daughter makes a mistake and she thinks that I'm going to get upset at her, the first thing I establish is I say, look, I'm not mad, I, I just want to talk about why this could have gone wrong. So, you know, for example, if she goes to touch the stove or something and I have to stop her in the moment, I want her to know the reason why that was a bad action, because the consequences, you know, you could burn your hand. And so really explaining, so teaching and parenting through explaining versus just the traditional no because I told you so. Or don't do that because it's bad. Well, why is it bad? I don't understand. I think a lot of us don't understand the potential consequences. So when— what I want them to know is it's okay to make mistakes, but it's even more important to go back and understand like why that was a mistake, how it could have gone wrong, what you could have done better. And that kind of reflective posture is honestly the thing that I gained and I want to pass on.

That is really, really powerful. I like what you said. Coming back to something you went through when you really, really reached bottom, like I said earlier, implied, most people would have probably just quit and just given up right there, but you did not. Why didn't you?

I think I got to the point where I had to decide simply between two options. I boiled it down to two options. I'm going to live a miserable existence, or I'm going to figure out a different way. There was this— it was this TV show. Honestly, I can't even remember the name of the TV show. It's not important. But it talked about a master teaching a student, and he said, I'm going to present you with a challenge. I have this stick, and if you tell me that the stick is not real, I will beat you with it. If you tell me that the stick is real, I will beat you with it. What do you do? And the student pondered, said, I honestly, I don't know. And the master said, when the situation is so untenable, so ridiculously stacked against you where you have no other choice, you reach up and you break that stick.

Wow.

So I was like, all right, well, I'm stuck in a position right now where no matter what, I feel like I'm going to get beat by that stick. So there's no path that's already laid out for me that's going to fix this problem for me. No one is going to magically step in and say, okay, don't worry about it. It's going to be okay, it's going to be okay, here's what you're going to do, here's the plan. I had to break the mold, break the stick, figure it out on my own, and just decide that, you know what, I'd rather do that than to just sit here waiting for the next, you know, blow from that stick.

Wow, that is really powerful. You could say that again. How did that— what did that teach you about yourself that you didn't know before?

That I am way stronger than I ever thought. And this, it's not about me, right? I think all of us, this applies to everybody. When you're put in a situation where that pressure is going to be kind of like that make or break moment, yes, it's true. Some people may actually just give up and break, and that's not a reflection of them as a bad person. That just means that they need to go through that a couple more times to kind of build up that strength. But that's honestly the opportunity to be that stronger version of yourself. When I, when I was in school, I mean, I was picked on as a kid. I was a little nerd, right? I was, I was not the cool kid. I was not the big athletic kid. I was a smart kid that just kind of blended into the background. But this experience really forced me to think of who I am as a human being. As a man. And that changed what I thought was possible because it was no longer about, can I solve problems? Can I take tests and score highly on them? It was, can I face and do really, really hard things and come out the other side?

That is really, really, really powerful. Thank you so much for sharing that. I really do appreciate this. For the people who are listening right now, and they are in the same dark place you used to be, what would you say directly to them?

Throw away everything that you think you know, because the same ideas, the same mindsets, the same assumptions that got you to where you are are exactly the things that you need to dispense with and start from scratch. There's nothing wrong with hitting the reset button and deciding intentionally that you are going to live into a different identity. Who you were yesterday does not need to be who you are tomorrow. And there's only one person on the planet that can actually decide that for you.

Hmm.

I mean, we know who it is.

Yes. Wow. That is really, really, really powerful. And for those listening right now, how do we recognize when we are about to make a decision that we are just about to regret?

When you're doing it with no inputs, external inputs, and that could be the voice of reason from trusted friends and family. Obviously, if you're getting advice from other people who are making bad decisions, that may not help, but other voices in the room That's why mentorship and having a coach, having somebody that you look up to is so important because sometimes their greatest function is to help identify when an idea that you have or a plan is actually going to lead you to a place you don't want to end up. So having that external voice or support system and if you are going to make the decision by yourself, then now you're talking about the information.

Right.

If you play out a scenario in your head and it makes sense and you can visualize how it's going to end up being a great decision, it's going to work out perfectly. You're going to get exactly what you want out of it. And then you just start living into that and you're like, oh, it's going to be great. I'm going to make so much money. This is going to be awesome. But you haven't done the work to actually play out what all the numbers are and what it's going to take to get there. All the scenarios. If you haven't done the work, that's immediately an indication that it's probably a bad idea. So you need to pressure test your ideas, whether through inputs from other human beings or information, data, analytics, forecasting, whatever tool you're going to use. But you have to put your idea to the test. You have to pressure test it, because if you don't, it's probably a bad idea, man.

And something you said, no, it is It's difficult to take it off of my mind, you know. You were forced to live inside your own head. Now, you and I, we both love the book Think and Grow Rich. I read it every single year by Napoleon Hill. I feel like a lot of what happens in the natural really happens mentally first, and then it is manifested. I started reading this book when I was about 16, 17. Years old, and I've read it every single year since. And everybody I mentor, I ask them to read that too. But can you maybe share a little bit about how you began building the mental system for decision-making, again, without tools, without technology, and without external input? What was that process like for you?

There is a chapter, and I encourage everybody else to read the book in its entirety, but in the final chapter, he talks about the highest level of thinking, which he talks about the sixth sense, right? This, this connection to a greater intelligence, the whole, the universe, however you want to describe it. But the way he would achieve that higher level of thinking to avoid making bad decisions, he would close his eyes and he would channel the great minds, the mentors, the advisors that he wished he had physically present there guiding him.

And these were mastermind.

Yes, it was this— the invisible counselors is what he called them. And it was comprised of individuals like Lincoln, Ford, Carnegie, Edison. These were the great minds of his time. And what he would do is imagine they were all convened at a roundtable there to help him become a better person, to pressure test his ideas. He would run his plans by them, and then each one of them would inject like kind of their own expertise and their suggestions on what they thought about his idea. And he would go around the table and this would help him pressure test his ideas through this invisible counselors method. And that's what I did when I read the book when I was in solitary confinement. My invisible counselors consisted of Tony Stark, my dad. Like, you know, it was a very different group of people, but still the idea was the same, which was if you know that you have these minds, these individuals that you trust their guidance on, then that's who you wish you had in the room. Okay, imagine if you did. What would they tell you? Would they tell you that's a good idea? Would they tell you that this is who you are? Would they advise you against it? And it was a great mental exercise.

This is really powerful because now you are the CEO of Stark and you have what you called StarkAdvisoryBoard.com. You've done something really, I think, very special with the power of artificial intelligence. Can you tell us about that StarkAdvisoryBoard.com?

Yeah, absolutely. So I started off using AI you know, back when ChatGPT first came out and I saw the potential and the power, I knew how disruptive it was going to be. And what I started doing was thinking about all the individuals that I read their books, I follow them on YouTube, I read their articles, and I went down a path that other people have been doing something like this. You'll ask ChatGPT to give you advice as if it was, you know, Warren Buffett or something like that. I said, okay, that's great. I can structure the right prompts. But I started attending live events and actually capturing. I have like AI wearables nowadays. They can transcribe and everything. And I started asking questions on how that individual might perhaps advise me on my specific issues or questions or problems. And then I started doing that so much that I now had a collection of individuals that I was building custom GPTs for, right, to represent how that person would help me. So if I had a Steve Jobs custom GPT or an Elon Musk GPT, a, you know, I could have Tony Robbins. It doesn't matter who those people are. It's people that you wish could help you through their perspective.

Like, right now on your website, you have Oprah Winfrey, Warren Buffett, Elon Musk. And Jeff Bezos advising you. That's pretty amazing.

Yeah.

So I had a crazy idea. I said, what if I could get all of these people, these personas that I had started building using AI in one room together, and then also force them to work together, which includes disagreement, synergy. I forced that construct to basically take those individual advisors, learn deeply me as an individual, my decision-making frameworks, my strengths, my weaknesses, and then construct an environment with governance rules that I would then be able to go to my board and say, I have an idea for a product or for an event. Can you help me pressure test this? And each person in the board will go around the room, right? This is an AI. So it would go around the room and each person would it answer me and advise me from their own unique perspective. And then the board would work together and do a board synthesis to give me an output that represents the best solution that, that, like, think tank, that mastermind of brilliant minds could actually produce to help me with my ideas. And what's powerful about this is that if you ask ChatGPT or any other tool, if you ask any tool to build you a plan to do something, it's going to follow the command. It's going to give you exactly what you're asking for. My board, the one like what I built and what I build for other leaders, doesn't operate that way. I'll give you a perfect example. I asked my board, I said, I want a plan to be able to, you know, retire early. I want to be able to retire in the next 2 years. And it came back, said, You're asking the wrong question. That is not what you should be trying to focus on. You should be focused on how do you grow your business? How do you add value? You need to actually think about— because it was identified that I was trying to take a shortcut, right? Which, if you think back to my personal background, that's what got me in trouble in the first place. And my board told me, Christian, you have a tendency of maybe being impulsive. So what's actually changed? Why are you trying to take this shortcut?

Yes.

Or I gave it a screenshot of an app that I saw on Facebook. It was a new AI tool and I gave it to my board. I said, I want my board to tell me, is this something that I should buy today? And the board said, Christian, you're getting distracted. You have shiny thing syndrome. Stop worrying about this tool. Maybe it helps, maybe it doesn't, but that's not what you need to focus on. You have an upcoming webinar on Thursday. Focus on that. Get back to work. And I was like, oh, okay, I'm sorry.

Okay, that's pretty amazing.

That's how I built it though. That's what you need. You need pressure, you need feedback. You don't need a yes man. And now that's exactly what we're building with AI, is you give it an idea, it's going to say, that's a great idea, here's 12 steps to make it happen. And you know what? You're going to end up where you don't want to be. So back to decision making.

Yeah, I think there was some, something was a couple of years ago with ChatGPT. Someone had an idea, I think, to sell dog poops in France or by the stick or something. And ChatGPT was like, oh yeah, this is a wonderful idea, let's do it. I mean, it's just ridiculous. But yeah, so you do have something you are offering to my audience right now. If they go to your website again, starkadvisoryboard.com, they scroll down to this page, build a private board around the most brilliant mind in history, they can set up time with you and look at the demo. Is that Can you tell us about that offer?

Yeah, absolutely. So that is completely free. What's going to happen is you grab time on my calendar and I will show you how the board works. I'll give you an example, like an inside look into my board. And I've done this already a couple of times. And every time I do this, the person says, okay, can you make sure that you send me— can you email me what the board said? Because they'll ask questions live and they'll say, okay, I have a event planning business and I need to know how do I get more market share, you know, and I'll put the question to the board and the board will go around the room and give an answer and they are just watching like, oh my God, yes, that is, that's a great idea. I love that. Can you send me that please?

Yes.

Now you see the benefit of this because it's not generic. It is tailored to exactly the problem you have. But more importantly, it's through voices that are the experts in their industry. It's not generic web scrape of all the collective knowledge out there in the internet. It is exactly through the perspective of that individual.

That's really powerful. And let's— we have about a dozen minutes left. Let's talk about your book, which they can preorder right now, ChristianTores.info. The book is coming, you said, like July, right? Is that when you're planning?

Yeah. So like mid-June to July.

Yeah. So again, the book is built in the Dark: How Solitary Confinement Rewired My Mind and Excel, not Microsoft Excel, Saved My Life. You only heard part of the story. You're going to have to read the book to get everything. So why did this book have to be written, Christian?

I did it for myself. This is going to sound like the worst marketing pitch in the world. I don't care if anybody buys it. And that sounds terrible, right? I shouldn't be saying that. I should be saying, everybody go out there and buy my book. That's not how I operate, right? I am not interested in trying to get people to buy something for the sake of buying it. I wrote it because I felt like I needed to actually put it out into the world for myself. I needed to be able to share the story. And oftentimes when I talk to somebody, they say, wow, That's really fascinating. I would like to learn more. I was being told like, wow, you should write a book. This could be a book. You got to do a TED Talk. And yes, so I heard it so many times that eventually it sat in my subconscious and I said, I'm going to write this because I also think that if I go through the process of writing the book, I'm going to force myself to go back and relive and reflect on all the things that happened along the way. And I'm going to be a better person for it.

That's really powerful. Talking about key lessons and reflecting, what are 3 lessons from the book every leader should understand about decision-making, consequences, and personal accountability?

Yeah. First one is that when you're going to make a decision, So many people are focused on what it— what the goal is. They confuse decision-making with goal setting. Yes, they do this all the time because they try to make the decision based on what their intended outcome is going to be. I say, no, no, you're— that you're starting backwards. Let's figure out why you need to make a decision at all, right? Why do you think that you have to make a decision? What are you choosing between? What are the actual paths in front of you? What are the options? Because people don't even realize what the options are. They think that I want to get to California. Here's an example. I want to go to California. And so they whip out the map and they start thinking, okay, if I take this interstate and I go to this juncture and this and this, I'm like, wait a second, time out. So somewhere along the line, we just assumed that the only way to get to California is through a road trip in a car. Did you ever consider a plane or a train or a boat? Oh, I didn't even think about that. You're making a plan already on a road trip, trying to figure out the best routes when you haven't even stopped to think, what are my actual options here? How do I, you know, what's at my disposal? So decision-making, starting with the decision process itself to understand what your options are. Next one is going to be your actual alignment to your values and alignment with the resources that you have. Because I can decide that I want to become the— I want to become the leader of the, you know, Church of Scientology. That's a goal. And I say, okay, how am I going to do that? All right, first step, I need to learn all about, you know, the doctrines. I need to become an expert. This is how I'm going to do it. Wait a second, hold on. That doesn't align with my values. That's not what I want to do. You could create a whole plan to get you somewhere that you don't want to be. And the scary part is you can succeed at it if you're good. You decide, you plan, you execute, and then you find yourself somewhere that is not where you want to be. A lot of people climb the corporate ladder. I did this. I actually— I have such an amazing team. I, I work for a company named Foresight and. I am currently the director of business intelligence there, but only about a year ago I was the director of operations, and it was because they saw in me qualities and traits that they knew would help, you know, the team, and they wanted to give me the opportunity. But I learned the hard way that I didn't want to be a manager of people. I didn't want to, you know, set people's pay rates and do kind of like the HR side of things. I didn't want to— that wasn't the role that was right for me, even though it was a great opportunity. And I love them for, for letting me explore that. But I came back and I said, I rose to this level and I realized this isn't where I want to be. And they said, no problem, we're going to work together to get you into a role that aligns with your strengths, your genius, your passion, your values, and also intersects with the value that you can give this organization. Which for me was in the world of business intelligence.

Yes.

And so being able to make that shift, I'm like, this is a great example that you can succeed and still find yourself in a place that you don't want to be.

Wow. That is really, really insightful. And you do talk about isolation, forced clarity. Now, how can leaders today create that same clarity without going through what you went through?

Turn off the phone.

Yes.

Turn off the phone. Step away from the computer. Yes. Let me see your hands. Step away from the phone, back up. It's really, honestly, that's, you know, short of committing some crimes and going to prison, which I do not recommend.

I—

that was how I got my opportunity to have some reflective time. You don't need to do that. Don't do anything stupid. Do not try to follow the path that I did.

Yes.

Instead, step away from the phone, turn off the computer, go outside, take a walk. And actually block out all of the noise that is inundating us every single day. We have so— we are bombarded by so many inputs, it's a miracle that anything gets done. The notifications, the emails, the messages, the phone going off, the news. It's like everything is shouting and trying to fight for your attention. And your attention, your time, your like That is the most precious commodity that you have, and it's always being hijacked. So get away from all that. I wake up early in the morning not because I don't like sleep. I love sleep. I wake up early in the morning because there's something magical about being awake at like 4:30 in the morning. Everything is dark. Everybody is, everybody is asleep. Even in my own household, nobody is expecting me to be available on this, right? The emails, nobody's expecting a response to an email. It's like the world is asleep and I can just be by myself.

That's powerful. That's powerful. Yeah, for me, it's 5:30 every morning regardless of the time zone since I joined the Navy 21 years ago. I remember the first time I went to boot camp for like 2 days, we hardly slept, maybe 1 or 2 or 2 hours. But anyway, since then, 5:30 AM, I am up no matter what. But that's, that That is really insightful. Again, we're talking about the book, Built in the Dark, which will be available in mid-June, July, and available for preorder right now. If you go to Christian's website, which is christiantorez.info, you can preorder the book today. So, let me ask you one last question about the book before we go to the last segment. What was the hardest part of writing this book? Oof.

So because I use tools and technology, I, I started off by recording myself, because rather than trying to write everything down the first time, I recorded myself. And so what I did was I made some coffee and I, you know, just paced. I walked back and forth in my home for probably about 6 hours, and I just recorded myself telling stories, reliving those stories, and I went on a roller coaster ride. I mean, I went— I was laughing at myself. I'm laughing at different memories, and there were parts of my story where I was literally in tears. I'm just by myself recording myself talking about these stories, and I had to relive some of the darkest moments. Um, of my story, which for me, the one that still is very hard for me to talk about. And I mean, even like right now, if I try to just talk about it without controlling it, I will literally start crying. It was the way that I experienced my father's death.

Wow.

I was— I was still incarcerated, so I was 15 minutes on a prison phone. That's all you get, 15 minutes, and then the phone drops, the call ends. And I hadn't been able to reach my dad for quite a few, like, days, which was out of the ordinary. And then when I finally got through, it was my cousin who picked up the phone, and she told me that he was very sick and that probably wouldn't even make it through the day. Yeah, I, I heard my dad's last, like, breaths, his last gasps for air through a prison phone.

Wow.

In another state, completely helpless, couldn't do anything about it. So I literally had to like hear him die on the phone, and then the call drops, and I had to go back to my cell and continue on as if nothing happened. Because what was I gonna do? I, I can't leave. I can't go attend the funeral. It was the hardest part. And I mean, till this day, that is the thing that reminds me If you make stupid or bad decisions, that's exactly the type of stuff that happens. I should have been there. I should have been there with him, but I couldn't. Why? Because years before that, I did— I made a very terrible decision, and I was still paying for it. I'm still paying for it now.

Wow, thank you for sharing that. That is quite powerful, man. We really all could be just one decision away from really making one of the biggest mistakes in our life, aren't we?

Yeah, every single day.

Wow.

But you can also be one decision away from doing something that completely changes the trajectory in the most beautiful way.

That is so true, man. Your story is just so inspiring. I really I love it. I think it's gonna give people a lot of hope. People who think that their life is done and they feel like they're defined by their mistake or what they did yesterday. What you're really saying is no, there is hope. You can have a new beginning. And now you are the CEO of a tech company expert in decision-making, business analytics, and artificial intelligence. Let me ask you this, for the people who are listening right now, what is one of the biggest mistakes leaders make in the age of artificial intelligence?

They use it as a shortcut, right? Going back, recurring theme here, right? People, they get pressure. Business leaders have pressure too. The pressure is to make money, to meet certain quotas, or they have a KPI they're trying to achieve. There's pressure on leaders. And then what they do is they succumb to that pressure because they see AI as a shortcut to an answer to their problems. And at this point, we have so many different tools, right? You can have any of these AI tools give you an answer to your problem. If you say, what should I do? It's not going to say, sorry, I can't answer your question. It's going to— it's forced to give you an answer. And that's the dangerous part, is that we forget that these AI tools are programmed to give us something, some kind of response. It's not going to come back and say, hmm, you really stumped me. I don't know what you should do. It's going to give you something. And so we are swimming in answers.

Hmm.

And somewhere along the line, we forgot what the question is.

Wow, that is really insightful. Say that one more time, please. I think we need to hear it again.

Yeah, so absolutely. I, I tell people that we are swimming in answers, and somewhere along the line we forgot what the question is. And you can take that and apply that to any situation, any business decision, whether it be a financial, you know, capital expenditure, accounting. It could be new hiring decision, new product development. It doesn't matter what it is. You can ask AI and you're going to get all the answers you could dream of.

You're going to be—

you have so many answers thrown your way and not a single one of them actually gets you closer to a real, proper, valuable decision that's aligned with where you want to go. And so that's why before you go and rely on AI, stop and be a human being.

Yes.

Think about what it is that you're trying to decide. What's the— what do you gain if you're right? What do you— what happens? What's the cost if you're wrong? And really measure that out first before you ever think about asking AI.

Wow, that's really wise. We have one question from the audience. Daniel say, when you are teaching leaders to rehearse better decision before the test comes, how do you hardwire accountability into their framework so the data won't end up rationalizing their ego?

Oh, I like that one. There's, there's a lot in that question right there. I mean, especially the thing I like there is rationalizing their ego because data can be misconstrued and shaped in any way that you want. There's— I don't know if you've ever heard this. They say that there are, there are lies there's damn lies and there's statistics.

Yes.

Because you can, you can squish or shape a chart or graph or anything. You can misconstrue the numbers any way you want. It's all relative. So I think that that's how I would answer this question, that do not rely on the relative interpretation of the data, because the data, if you ask somebody that's really good, I'll use myself as an example. You give me a set of data and you tell me that you want me to use this data to make an argument that we should take a specific action, I will find a way to make that data tell that story and justify that decision. But what I cannot do, what AI cannot fake, what data cannot fake, is if you actually go back down to the values, right? The human values that this decision implies and what it says about you as a person and as an organization. And if you play it out and say you're going to make this decision, okay, great. Let's forget about the dashboard, the presentation, the data, all that stuff. If you make this decision, what does that say about you as a person? What does it say about your company, your values, and hold that truth across every step of the process.

Yes.

When you're answering, when you're doing your investigation, collecting metrics, analyzing, presenting, deliberating, all of that stuff, keep that true all the way through the process. And that will be the anchor, the source of truth that should be present in everything that you do on the business side.

That is really, really powerful. Well, if people don't get anything else but that from this podcast, I think this will be a great success. Okay, we are literally out of time. Can you give me about 5 more minutes before we land? Yeah, you have to go. Okay, really quickly, so for the very last segment, let me ask you, what is one of the greatest lessons you think you've learned so far, whether in life, in business, or just in general?

I think I mentioned this earlier in the call before, but I'll restate it because it is honestly the most powerful thing that I've learned. And that is that where I am today, what I have, what I don't have, what I've succeeded in, what I've failed in. When I look around my life and I take inventory, everything I am today is a result of the decisions that I made in the past.

Wow.

And that may seem like, okay, well, you can't go back in time. We don't have a time machine. But the powerful part about that is that if you accept and you realize, acknowledge that who you are today and everything that you have is a result of the decisions you've made before, that means that it also has to be true that everything that comes next, everything that you will have, everything that you will be, everything that you will experience in life is being shaped today by the decisions that you're making.. And so, if you want to have a different future, it's not about planning and figuring out the next, you know, big tech move on where to invest or Bitcoin or this. No. Just start with make better decisions.

Wow.

In everything that you do in life, from the food that you put in your mouth to the stuff that you consume on social media to the work that you do, the quality of your effort, the people that you surround yourself with. You have the ability to make that decision. Those are choices that you're making. Make different choices.

That is really, really, really powerful. I think this is really timely, especially in this time of uncertainty we are living in right now. So many people feel like they don't really have a say, or— but this is quite powerful, especially for you, right? You don't just talk from theory of a book you read. It's really through your life experience you've gone through it. Wow, that is, that is powerful. And why do you think, uh, you've been really successful in life? You had a second chance, you pretty much rose out of nothing, and here you are, tech CEO. What, what is the, the reason you think for your resilience, your grit, your success?

I shifted my mindset from a scarcity mindset which is the very same thing that led me to seek easy money and fast decision, you know, or fast solutions. That's from a scarcity mindset, which is, you know, there is not enough out there. There's not enough time. There's not enough money. There's not enough opportunity. I, I, I, I— that breeds desperation and fear, and then you make decisions from the wrong place. But if you shift to a growth mindset, an abundance mindset. You know, this is, this is not about magic crystals or meditation or finding gurus. This is literally just change the way that you think about what you're doing every single day. Growth mindset, abundance mindset. And if you realize that there is more than enough for you to be able to go out there and do what you love become better every single day, then you're going to find yourself a month, a year, 2 years from now in a place that you're going to look back and say, wow, yes, this is— this is where I wanted to be. And look at that. Like, here I am. How did I get here? Well, because you believed that you could and you started taking small steps in that direction. And you can't do that with a scarcity mindset. So switching to a growth and abundance mindset changes everything in any field for any person.

That's really powerful. And what does success mean to you today?

For me, it's being able to wake up in the morning, have my quiet time, enjoy my cup of coffee, and be able to control the pace of life. Like being able to control the pace of life. Because when you have days where your entire calendar, your, your, your attention, your energy is hijacked by the world, by everybody else. You feel helpless, and now you feel like you're just a cog in that machine. Success— we all have responsibilities. We have things to do, right? You know, right now, maybe you wish you could be on the beach instead of sitting here talking to me right now, but you have committed to doing this as part of like your mission and your brand. So we do have commitments. I'm not saying that we shouldn't have those. But the ability to build your life and structure your days the way that you want, that freedom is— that is success for me.

That's powerful. I know leaders are learners. What are you learning these days?

What am I learning? I'm learning more about myself in the capacity of communications and sales. And the reason why I did that was because I knew that that was a weak point for me, which is actually why I said I know that the best way for me to get better at this is to just put myself out there and talk more about what I do. There's a, there's a speaker, I don't know if you're familiar with her, her name's Jen Gottlieb, and she, she has— other people have said this, but I remember her standing on a stage and saying that if you don't put yourself in front of the people that you can help, right? If you don't sell your service, sell your product, if you don't promote and talk about the thing that you do, you are doing a disservice not only to yourself but to those people that actually need your help because they're going to find something. They're going to get a solution from somewhere. And maybe it's from someone that doesn't care as much as you do. That isn't as good as you are. And so you have a moral obligation to go out there and talk about what you're really good at, because the impact that you can have on somebody else's life, it, it's mind-blowing to think that's true. If I helped a business owner in a way that transforms their business, imagine what that means for like their children being able to send their kids to college, their employees Like, you can— it's a ripple effect. Like I said, my decisions have a ripple effect. If I can help somebody, that can have a ripple effect on other people. And so I'm trying to learn how to get better at marketing and sales because— not because I want to make more money, but because I realize that if I don't do that, then I will continue to just— I'll be building and living in the dark because no one will ever know how I can help them.

That's really powerful. So for your next mastermind, who are 3 people you would like to have on your table? Who and why? They could be alive, dead, or even fictitious character, as you know.

Yeah, no, that's a good one. So I mean, I already have a board right now, but if I were to add somebody to my next board, I would actually be looking for individuals that have a, like, a more of a futures perspective, like futures thinking perspective. And so fictitious character— this is going to sound interesting if you've ever seen the show Billions by Bob— with Bobby Axelrod as the main character. So it's called Billions. But what I loved about that show was that he was always planning and strategizing ahead in a way that it was completely above everybody else. He saw the chessboard, right? So For me, you think of like Sun Tzu, Art of War, like military strategy. Yeah, I'm not going to war anytime soon, but guess what? The ability to play out and understand the landscape and understand the strategy.

Yeah.

Yes, that strategy. I mean, that's super powerful.

That's required reading for junior officers in the military, by the way.

But yeah, Sun Tzu, Art of War. Sir Richard Branson, that's another good one, right? I mean, what he was able to like build and the cleverness and ingenuity. He showed the world that you can, you could start an airline without like, you know, millions of dollars. Like, his story is just fun to listen to. So, you know, somebody that brings that level of creativity and ingenuity to be able to say you, you don't have to be stuck where you are, you can build and create a better life for yourself.

Yes, that's powerful.

Yeah, I think that, that to me is That's brilliant. And then the other leader that I would include in there, I would say, is Tony Stark, which he's not on the board right now because I thought that was too cliché. But I, I do it because now if you watched all the movies, you will realize that his full story arc ends with him making the hard decision and sacrificing himself. But that story, again, that story of somebody that had everything lost everything, and then gave everything.

Wow, that is powerful. Some people say Elon Musk is the new Tony Stark, at least in real life. But yeah, that's, that's, that's pretty cool. Okay, uh, we're definitely running out of time now. I want everybody, like I said, to get a copy of your book, Built in the Dark. They can pre-order right now. So why should people read Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill? Classic. I think it's still the, the number one, right? Self-help book in the world.

Oh yeah, it was written in 1937. But guess what? It is still applicable to every single thing that I'm seeing in the world today. You read this book and the first thing I had to overcome was I thought like, oh, Think and Grow Rich. Okay, this is— what is a business book about business tactics in the 1930s going to help me with today? They didn't even have like the internet. What do they know?

Yes.

And it's not that at all. It is your own internal operating system, like the process of organized planning, the mastermind principles. I mean, everything in there from like the way that he would set goals and write them down. You— the medium has changed. Maybe you put it on your iPhone, maybe you put it, you know, whatever you store files in the cloud. AI helps you with it. It doesn't matter. The principles that are taught in that book will just make you a better person. And if you're a better person, then you can be better at what you do, which includes business.

That is powerful. Okay, to end the show, let me ask you this couple of questions. If you had one and only one day to live, what would you have liked your final contribution to be?

I would be completely selfish. I'm sorry. My final contribution would only be to be with my daughter like that would just be— I'd spend the day with her. Because if I think about where I could make the most impact, I'm not going to spend the last day of my life trying to help 100 business owners. I would rather spend all that time and pour it into one person that I love, that I would, I would hope would be able to take that and do something with it in the future.

Wow, that is powerful. And if you had a magic wand and you could solve any problem, what is the one problem you'd like to solve first thing tomorrow morning?

Hmm.

Well, first thought was hunger, because I feel like it's a problem that we shouldn't have based on the resources and technology that we, that we currently struggle with. Yes, I think that abolishing that scarcity mindset, because everything that is wrong with society, I feel like is born out of that.

Mm-hmm.

Wars, like crimes.

Yeah.

Everything that we see that is, uh, in contrast to what we know is morally right comes from a scarcity mindset. Once you get rid of that, then there's no need for crime. There's no need for war. There's no need for conquest and, you know, being, uh, holding back resources. There's no need to fight over oil or water or like access to information. Yes, it's all rooted in scarcity mindset. You wave a magic wand and get rid of that. The world is a different place.

All right. We are getting towards the end. What can we do to add value back to you, Christian?

I, I'm a— I like getting told how my ideas are going to fail. That sounds weird. I like the feedback. I literally went on Instagram the other day and I said, I'm looking for people that are going to be brutally truthful with me, you know, truthful with me and tell me if my ideas are trash or not. So all I just want honest feedback, really. I want people to look at the Stark Advisory Board, tell me how it could be better. Tell me why that wouldn't work for them. Tell me what they think about the stuff that I'm doing. And to me, that's more valuable than if someone just anonymously signs up and like buys it. Okay, great. That helps me. For a little bit of time. That's not going to change my life. But if somebody gives me feedback that helps me rethink about the product and what I'm doing with it, that can change my life.

Stockadvisoryboard.com. And how do they get the preorder a copy of your book?

Yep. So yeah, you've got the website up. It's ChristianTorres.info. Scroll down, there's a little button right there, preorder. It's a simple Stripe link, and then that's going to lock you in for the preorder. So I try to make it as seamless as possible.

That is so, so wonderful. Thank you so much for your time, sir. If I could ask you one last question is, if you could go back, I think this is the youngest picture of you I have, police officer in New York, maybe in your 20s, I am guessing. If you could go back and speak to that young man, knowing what you know now, after going through everything you went through and then coming out on the other side and not being a successful tech CEO. What would you say to this young man right there? What would be your message for him?

Stop letting your job define your identity. You know, I mean, at the time I was so proud. I was, you know, I said, I'm doing what I want to do. This is who I am. There was, you know, I mean, yeah, white gloves and everything. It was this prestige, this identity that I had built for myself in my head. And if you tie your identity to the title or the label that you have, the uniform that you wear, I mean, you as a military man, you know that life after the service has to continue. You have to have something inside of you that outlives the rank, the title, the uniform. Who you are as a person needs to be able to outlast that position.. And that was a thing that I didn't know back then that I wish I could tell them.

So, so powerful. Okay. I like to end on a positive note. What is one thing you are feeling optimistic about these days?

I'm feeling optimistic about what AI is going to do for the world. I mean, I think a lot of people—

Utopia or dystopia?

No, utopia. No, I think that it's going to be a net positive because what it's going to do, it's going to help more people consider more questions that they wouldn't have thought of before because now they're going to be engaging with this, looking, you know, interacting with it. And it's going to give us access and democratize access to information that previously was the barrier. And now that's not there anymore. So when we talk about being able to solve difficult problems and ask hard questions, This is going to accelerate that.

That is really, really powerful. Okay, this is it. This is the end of the show. And the last question I'm going to ask you, one word that describes or represents our shared experience on this podcast today. One word.

Hope.

Hope. Yeah, I am so, so grateful for your time. We went a little bit over, but thank you so much for being one of our master teachers today, Christian Torres. I really appreciate you sharing your story. I think it gives a lot of hope and inspiration. And thank you for making the world a better place. Really appreciate that.

Well, thank you so much for having me.

All right. All right, everybody. This is one for the book. Again, follow Christian Torres. That's ChristianTorres.info and follow him on LinkedIn as well. That's LinkedIn.com/ChristianTorres1286. And also try Stack Advisory Board, at least try the demo and see how you like it. So this is it for today. And later today, I believe it's going to be 4:00 PM Eastern time. So 7:00 PM, no, 4:00 PM Pacific time, California, 7:00 PM Eastern time. I'm going to have a great pleasure of speaking with really a financial genius. Let me get his picture here, we are going to have a conversation about the wealth gap. And I think it is a problem today and we definitely need to learn how to bridge the gap. I'm going to be speaking with Papa— Okay, here we go. I found the flyer I designed for this. I encourage you to join us if you have time. This afternoon. It's really going to be quite insightful. I'm going to be speaking to Papayoh Konno. We're going to be talking about closing the wealth gap from Wall Street intelligence to Main Street impact. So I hope to see you there. And until then, have a wonderful rest of your day. Bye for now.

Thank you for tuning in to the Leadership and Success Podcast with your host, Coach BZ. If today's episode added value to your leadership journey, be sure to subscribe, share, and join us again for more wisdom nuggets on how to lead better and achieve greater success. Remember, leadership is the most critical skill of our time. The world will always need leaders to inspire others, drive innovation, and execute meaningful strategy. So why not count yourself among the bold leaders shaping 21st century. Until next time, stay inspired, stay committed, and keep leading with excellence.