The Golden Triangle To Building A Better Coaching Community With Keith Cupp

Welcome to beyond you'd why podcast, where we go beyond just talking about your why and actually helping you discover and then live your why. So if you're a regular listener, you know that every week we talk about one of the nine whys and then we bring on somebody with that why so you can see how their why has played out in their life. And so today we are going to be talking about the why of better way. So if this is your why, you are the ultimate innovator. You constantly seek better ways to do everything from the most mundane task of brushing your teeth to improving the rocket fuel that powers the space shuttle. You can't stop yourself. You take virtually anything and want to improve it, make it better and share your improvements with the world. You invent things and take what has already been invented and improve that too. You constantly ask yourself questions, what if we tried this differently? What if we did this another way? You contribute to the world with better processes, better systems, and operate under the motto often pleased, never satisfied. You are excellent at associating and taking from one industry or discipline and applying it to another, always with the aim of improving something. You generally operate with a high level of energy because after all, that too is a better way. So I've got a great guest for you today. His name is Keith Kupp. Now, having served in multiple high technology companies at almost every seat of the management table, building teams and cultures, Keith continues a life of service and as president of Gravitas Impact Premium Coaches for over a decade he has been quietly conceiving and executing long term strategy, building great teams and ensuring that our coaches are cared for, successful and that we are all positively impacting the world while having fun. He is a talented communicator and proven leader who understands corporate culture, collaborative process and how to assist organizations and and their leadership to optimize the balance between people, performance and profit. In his downtime, Keith discusses geopolitics, strategy and worldviews with his children and strangers in the airport. He reads the Economist and National Geographic and makes a fantastic habanero deviled egg with bacon garnish. Keith, welcome to the podcast.

Gary, thank you so much. I appreciate it. I'm humbled by the introduction and by the way, the reason I've said it. Every seat on the table, I got fired from one inspired by the other.

Well, take us through your story. Take us back. Where did you grow up? Where did you go to school? Kind of take us on your journey to becoming the CEO of Gravitas Impact.

Well, I was born and Raised in the Willamette Valley in Salem, Oregon, the son of a fireman and a farmer. And one story that comes to mind, Gary, is about John Tucker. So my father, he was a great man. He's passed now, but he worked three jobs growing up and he was kind of a classic workaholic, so I didn't see him much. So I didn't believe in myself growing up. But I had a baseball coach When I was 13, I played Babe Ruth and baseball and John Tucker was my coach for three years. Gary. My first year I went 0 for 13 at the plate and I was the worst player on the team. But John pulled me aside near the end of the season and said, keith, I think there's a better way for you to become a great player and I believe in you and I'm going to invest in you. And over the next two years, my 14 year old year, I hit like 250 and played a lot and learned to play the outfield. And then by my last year 15, I was starter hitting.400, leader on the team, went to the All Star tournament and we lost the championship game in the state of Oregon in the seventh inning by three runs. But I attribute that to John Tucker, who believed in me and saw a better way for a young man to go. And so I'm grateful for John.

Love that. Great story. The power of a coach, right?

Absolutely. And maybe that's why I do what I do. Maybe it's honoring John Tucker's legacy without even thinking about it.

Love it. Where'd you go to college?

Yeah. So after high school in Salem, Oregon, I wandered around a little bit, but I ended up at Louisiana State University. Go Tigers. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where I met my wife and went through school there, Had a very good run and incredible experience in Baton Rouge, Quite different than Salem, Oregon, but in 82 when I graduated, the economy fell and so I found myself as a honors graduate without a job. And so I reflected a little bit and I said, well, what should I do? So I got in touch with the United States Navy, the submarine program, and I qualified and was recruited into that because of my science background and my grades and performance at lsu. And so I joined the United States Navy, went through two years of engineering school and found myself on the USS Enterprise. Not a submarine, a carrier in the San Francisco Bay area for the next three years, three and a half years of my life.

And so then you were in the Navy for three and a half years and then got out right after that?

Yeah. So total six and a Half years, four and a half active duty, two years of school, three years at sea, essentially. And just a side note on that, Gary, my father was on the Enterprise in World War II and we were the last before when dad passed. We're the last father son living legacy of two generations of enterprise. But after that I got out because the Navy didn't want my better way. Gary. They had the Navy way. We say there's the right way, the wrong way, the Navy way. They weren't interested in a better way. So I didn't fit. But I had a good run, loved it. A lot of great history there. And then from there I got out and went into business and started my business career in sales.

And who was that with?

That was a company called Ray Kim Corporation, and at the time they were the number one best company to work for in the United States. So I got to go to the very top of the heap of public companies and had a good run with them for five years. And my accounts were Boeing here in Seattle area, Freightliner Truck in Portland, and Hewlett Packard in Boise, Idaho. So great customers to work with. Learned a lot about great companies.

So how did you pick that company to work for? And then what was the moment when you said, I got to get out of this?

Well, you know, Gary, in a younger year, I would attribute that company a lot of it to ego. They were really a great company, there's no doubt. But I always wanted to be somewhere associated with number one. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. But in retrospect, there may have been a better company that I could have been a part of at the time with my career. But after working with Ray Kim for five years, I realized that a public company was a good place to be to get pedigree brand systems and learning. But it was not where I could have the level of influence on the lives of the people that I would serve and lead. And so I knew I needed to go into a privately held company, something smaller that I could move up in and then put my fingerprints of service I'll call business, love, care for people and results on. That was my better way.

That was your better way. So you were there, couldn't put your stamp on it, said, okay, I got to do something different. Where did you go from there? What were you doing before you left there?

Let's see, at Raychem, I was in sales, essentially. So my engineering background, highly technical. And so some of the, what we call the black programs at Boeing, the top secret, secret Programs. Some of the, like the B1 bomber, B2 bomber, the V22, some of the systems on those, I helped the Boeing engineers with design.

Okay, so now you say, I'm done with this, I got to go do something different. Where did your path take you next?

Well, I went to a privately held company right in the Seattle area. So I was still living in Seattle. We were building our family. I can talk about that a little bit later and how better way impacts the family. But it was a privately held company, two owners. One was the general manager and he was looking for a younger, I will say aggressive, energetic salesperson to help build out their territory of five western states. And so I joined Foster Chase and joined a company called Voicetel. We had another good run for five years, became one of the top 50 companies, fast growth companies in Seattle, Puget Sound, which at that point in time was a pretty big deal because we had some, you know, big competitors in Puget Sound, but enjoyed that run. Sales manager, general manager, ended up, had the opportunity to run the company and then we sold it to a public company and had the opportunity to shepherd that process.

Okay, so then Voice, so now Voicetel has been sold and now what does Keith do?

Well, I just went across town because I knew that was a telecommunications company. And telecommunications is essentially was a closed box as we call it at the time the world was going open systems and it there was a little company that was growing up down the road called Microsoft. I went to work for a company in the shadow of Microsoft that did information technology consulting and in a similar manner, privately held. And the president wanted a national footprint. And so we built out a national footprint of sales marketing, brand with salespeople across the United States and just had a lot of joy finding the right people and helping them grow.

And so how long were you with them?

Let's see, another five years. Things come in fives.

Yeah, I've noticed that. I've noticed a similar pattern here and I bet you the listeners have too. But. Okay, keep us going then. So you're five years there and then what?

Okay, and then what happened after that? Mom and dad were hitting their late 70s, so we're living in Seattle and I wanted my kids to know and love their heritage of my parents. And so they had a 20 acre farm outside of Salem, Oregon. So we moved from Seattle 180 miles south to the Portland, Oregon market, which was one hour from the family farm, which had been in the family 100 years. And so the kids went to school here in the area and then they Got to see their grandma and grandpa, you know, almost monthly on an ongoing basis as all five of our daughters and our one son grew up.

And so how did you get from that was your next stop, then into.

Coaching in 2000, when the bubble burst. So when I moved down here, we started up a wireless company called World Voice. And we were going great guns for about a year and a half, and then the bubble burst and we lost our investment. And on June 1, 2000, I closed the company down and came home. Jeanette was pregnant for our six child, Camille. And so we were a family of eight without any income and no career in a burst tech bubble. And so that is when I realized, Gary, I had to get up every morning and I really had to figure out, how am I going to feed this family? And I tell a little bit of a story. I would help make breakfast for the kids in the morning and get them going and energized. And I'd say, hey, Dad's going off to work. I'd go out the door, close the door. And I had no idea where I was going to go or what I was going to do. I had to reinvent. And that created eventually an opportunity to do some consulting, which then led to coaching, which I have been in since about 2006.

So tell us, what is the difference between consulting and coaching?

Great question. We see a consultant as someone who has deep vertical expertise in an industry or a role. For example, a former CEO is a great financial consultant or someone that comes up through software for 20 years in their career. They're a great vertical software industry consultant. So consultants come into a company, they scope and define a problem, and then they help solve it with their experience and their expertise. Where a coach comes in and works with a CEO and their leadership team brings a system of growth and helps the leadership team learn how to make the decisions. And they don't give the leadership team the knowledge or what to do. They give them the system and through coaching, help lead them to the solutions until they are mature and do it themselves.

So would you say consulting is faster, coaching is more long term?

I would say yes, absolutely.

Good. Okay. So you started your first coaching business and what was it called back then?

Let's see. So as a coach, it was just ascendancy partners, the concept of helping companies ascend. And so I hung my shingle here in the Portland Seattle market and began to help CEOs and their leadership team build business plans.

And from there kind of take us through your coaching career, because now you're At Gravitas, that's how many years later. But how did you get from ascendancy to Gravitas?

What I learned, Gary, when I was in Seattle working for the IT company and the telecom company prior, that if I had a coach as a leader in those companies, we could accelerate our success. So my coach in the Seattle years, Ron Huntington, he helped us accelerate both of those companies and my leadership. So I learned at that point, everybody needs a coach, and a coach will help you accelerate. And so what I did then is working with Ron. Ron continued to mentor me, and he reached out to me in 2006 and said, hey, you should take a look at this organization called Gazelles. I think there's something here. And so he recruited me in. And so I carried the Gazelles banner as a coach for about 12 years. And after a year, Ron surprised me and said, keith, I'd like to turn the organization over to you. I didn't realize Ron had built trust and admiration in me, and he recruited me in not only to be a coach but also to succeed him because he was the president of Gazelles International, which was the coaching organization at Gazelles. So I found myself one day as the president of a small community of about 35 coaches, and I was coaching also. But then I began to say, there's probably a better way to grow this community. And so there we go.

We don't sit still very much, do we? That's better weighing people.

Well, that's what I love about working with you too, Gary.

So it's interesting when I look at your. And I bet you the listeners are seeing this as well, because there's an interesting pattern and it's very common for everybody with the why of better ways. We get in to something, we kind of figure out what the game is, and then we want to put our stamp on it in some way. We want to influence it in some way. If we can, we stay. If we can't, we leave and go do it somewhere else. Every five years. I heard you say, well, I wanted to have some influence here, and I couldn't, so I had to go.

That's exactly right. I call it. I'm attracted to a mess. I love to help clean it up through and with people. And when it's looking clean enough, man, it gets boring. I got to go find another mess. Now, that doesn't always apply to messes. If I may share another story outside of business. So there's a local high school here in the Portland, Vancouver area. Vancouver, Washington. So they are a very Intellectual school called Cedar Tree. It's a classical Christian school. And so they excel in the classroom. And each of our children, four of our children went to school there growing up. But it was interesting, Gary. I love the intellectual horsepower they had. They learned Latin and Spanish and Greek their senior year. But the concept of real world learning and how to become a leader I saw as a gap there. And so I had the opportunity to go to the headmaster and the founder and say, can we create a trip to Mexico, Baja, take the students every two years and build homes for families who would otherwise never have a home? And they said, heck yeah. And the goal there, Gary, was we live in a pretty wealthy society. And so I wanted the students, these are 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th graders. I wanted them to experience poverty, to experience service over self, and to really be in an uncomfortable spot. And so we create a relationship in Vicente Guerrero, Mexico and the Baja. And for the last 15 years, every two years we take students down there, anywhere from 15 to 30. And Gary, we thought that we go down there. The students say, man, I can't wait to serve someone. But when we cross the border in Tijuana, we stop at the In N Out Burger. That's where we celebrate back on American soil. They say, man, we were really served. They taught us. And so that's an example of a better way for a student to learn about life and leadership. And I'm so grateful for the opportunity to having started that, but I haven't left that in five years.

You're going to stay with that one.

That's right. As long as they will allow me to be involved in one way or another, I will keep hanging around.

So tell the listeners, what is Gravitas Impact? Why did you name it Gravitas Impact and why did you even start it?

Yeah, so great question. So as Gazelles International, as we grew it up from Ron, who led it for about five or six years, from no coaches in 2003 to about 35 committed coaches in in 2007. Ish. And then I had the baton to take it to 250 coaches worldwide, six continents. It was a great journey to learn about other cultures and people. And then in 2018 we split from Gazelles. It was rather adverse to be authentic. It was painful. But that's when I started Gravitas and the last few years in Gazelles. What became clear to me, Gary, is there was a better way to build a coaching community that is not thought leader centric. Because if you zoom out and look at great authors and thought leaders they all struggle with something when they step off the scene. Their personal brand is so strong, but they're gone, and it's hard to take that business into the future. And that's what I love, Gary, about what you're doing. It's the Y Institute. It's not Gary Sanchez. You're critical. And so I saw the better way to build gravitas as a community whose strategy is coach at the center, not the thought leader author. And so I'm relatively unknown out there in thought leader circles, and I'm absolutely great with that. I do have my first mini book coming out here in April, though, seven Attributes of Agile Growth. But my journey is not about authorship. It's about two things. A coaching community where the coach is at the center. And then our just cause is creating economic freedom for families worldwide through servant entrepreneurship. So if we can help a coach, help a company that has employees with families to become free or help start up a business anywhere in the world, that is an amazing thing. So that has become our better way. If I may just real quick, Gary. Gravitas, the root word, means dignity or gravity. It has the essence of having substance, of character and skill and excellence. And so Gravitas is about coaches who are often senior in their career, top of their game, high character and very, very good at what they do, yet very humble.

And then impact means obviously to have an impact. But so when you put the two words together, what does that mean to you?

Yes. So where Gravitas is the strength of the coach and character and delivering results, impact is actually our core purpose for the company is impact making a difference together. So impact is when we help a coach go from a $200,000 a year income to a million dollars a year, or they help their company go from 20 million that they're serving to 100 million that is impacting the coach's life, the company's life. And then we extend that to our service, which, if you'd like, I'll tell a little story about the entrepreneurial project in Uganda as really the extension of our purpose.

Sure, let's hear Leah tell us.

Okay, so as we were getting good momentum in mid-2010, so 2015 or so, I had the time just to think, well, I'll even tell this story. So I was at a local church that we attend in Vancouver with our family. My daughter Michelle was sitting next to me. She was, I think preteen at the time. And we had a guest speaker from Uganda. His name is Alex Mutagabya, and he's Just a really inspirational speaker. So he was speaking to the fellowship there and my daughter Michelle. So at the time, I'm president of Gazelles international. We've got 200 coaches, lots of resources, we're at the top of our game. But my daughter Michelle at the end kind of elbowed me in the side and she said, hey, daddy, he speaks funny Ugandan queens English and you should help him. And so out of the mouth of a babe, a young child that challenged me. And for the next couple of weeks I said, what does that mean? And so the conclusion, Gary. I was entrusted with all this resources and success. And Alex told the story of what was needed and what his vision was. Number one, created an organization that had social change in Uganda, youngest country in the world.

Social change, economic change, and spiritual change. And he said the hole they had was in the economic. He had a vision, but he didn't know how to help economics in Kampala. So I rang Alex up and we went for a walk. And over the next three years, as he came to Portland, we'd go for walks in a park and we would dream. And we invited a staff member in from the local fellowship, Julie. And one day we went to a whiteboard and we designed a entrepreneurial program for emerging countries, cities where a young entrepreneur can learn our tools and process to build a company and they can be coached by a coach. And then we, our coaching community brings capital to them. And we go to Uganda, we teach a three day course, and we have business mentors who are not part of gravitas. They are in churches across the US that just want to come and help. And often they're retired businessmen that have capital. And so we get on a plane, we go over there, we teach the entrepreneurs. And it's celebrating its fifth anniversary this year. And there's some amazing stories of economic freedom that has come out of that. All because a somewhat distracted father took the time to reflect on what his young daughter said. So I want to encourage the listeners, pay attention to some of your best teachers because they are your children.

Wow, that's a great story. So, Keith, what has it been like for you to go from working for a company to being a business coach?

How do you compare those?

Well, it's a great question, Gary. When I think working for a company, public companies are driven much differently than private companies, which are much different than nonprofits. So as I look at the world of organizational business, I see public companies who are driven by shareholder value and return. And so they are less focused on culture and more on Results. But there are some great cultures out there in public companies. And as a leader, you're more of a piece of the system apart as opposed to really creating change. Nonprofits, of course, are highly, highly purpose driven, but they can benefit from more systematic process of growth and so on. And we actually help many nonprofits. But the privately held business is where a younger leader can get into the saddle and make a big difference and eventually lead the company to where they want. And so I have had the privilege of actually doing both at the same time, being the leader of a company that I could help drive where I want. It's called Gravitas. But also be a coach whose career is at any one time. Our coaches are multiplying their life through 10 to 12 other CEOs building great privately held companies. And so our coach is typically very experienced, successful, certified. But I challenge them. Gary. When we talk to a candidate, I say, hey, do you want to go run another company or lead another company, that's fine. But do you want to Multiply your life 10-12x every year by finding someone who's younger, who needs your skill, experience, mentoring and the scars on your back to become a great CEO? And I call it the third career effect. And so it's just privilege to do both.

So you see coaching as a way to multiply yourself?

Yes. In fact, I was with a gentleman this morning, David Irvine, up in Calgary, and he had a very interesting term. He said business is a unique way for each of us as leaders to express our lives. And so yes, a coaching is a unique way to multiply your life using your experience through those who are often younger, impressionable, coachable, who are changing their world. And when you add that up 10 to 12 times, it is no small change you are making as a coach.

And it has got to be a lot of fun and very gratifying. Basically, from my perspective, it sounds like you are showing. You're showing or teaching or other CEOs a better way.

Yes. Yeah. In fact, that's what we like to do. We like to, you know, build the CEO's leadership skills. Without a doubt. Excuse me, develop the CEO's leadership skills, help them build their accountable leadership team and then simplify what they do through the use of one page tools, which is part of, you know, our learning the why process. But absolutely that's true.

So when you hear Culture eats strategy for breakfast, how does that resonate with you? Is that what you've seen as well?

So you know, I heard a derivative of that Culture eats strategy for breakfast. And where I go with that, because I've been thinking about that a little bit. I think that is true. But I am very much a genius of the. And. And so it's not either or. But how do you take two. Two things that compete in our minds and how do you join them together? And one of our core values. It's a little bit late now, is one plus one plus one equals seven. What in the world? Well, when you take three good ideas or three really smart people, you're going to get a multiplicative effect of the outcome. And so what I like to say is quality relationships drive great culture, which then will result in an amazing strategy. And I think those three things together is what make great companies.

I love that. That makes even more sense when you add the first section there. Quality relationships. Because I don't think we think about it that way. I don't know that I do. And when you said that, it kind of almost hit me in the face, making me think, huh, how can I have better relationships with my team so that we have the right culture, so that we can use that to build the right strategy to get the right result?

Without a doubt. And Gary, a few minutes ago used the word fun. And so if you look at my story, which you're doing a fantastic job of hitting some of the key points, it's a story of adventure, whether it be going from Oregon to Baton Rouge for school or the United States Navy all over the world, business, gravitas, six continents. But one better way in a coaching firm or a coaching career is to get out and get with it. Well, what does that mean? Our coaches? I've had again the privilege of being with our coaches in the Reichstag in Berlin, in Germany. We've been in Kampala, Uganda, as well as South Africa. We've stood where Nelson Mandela was in prison and in the Supreme Court there. But this journey called gravitas, the better way is we have our coaches around the world, go to other continents when we have events pre Covid to teach other coaches. So I think it was three, four years ago in Berlin, we had a coaching Summit. We had 35 coaches in the world. We had some from Europe, but some from North America. And we had a hoop dairy. We had a hoot connecting cultures and learning from one another. And so for the faint of heart, don't hang around me.

You're going to take him on an amazing journey, right?

Yes. In fact, we need to get you on a camel in the Middle east or something. An elephant in Africa one day together.

Gary, that would be a lot of fun.

There you go. Better way to find your why.

Better way to find your why. Get on a camel and see where you end up.

Yeah, see who's chasing you.

See who's chasing you. I was having lunch today with a friend and we were talking about creating a movement and how you need to have a villain, you need to have a fight that you're in. You need to be solving a big problem. And what problem, what fight? Who's the villain for Gravitas.

So fantastic question.

The villain, interestingly enough, is the limits we place on our own mindset in a coaching career. And so we have encountered coaches who are mid career and they're making good money, but there's a disconnect in that they're working. It's time for income we call the time trap. In order to raise their income, they have to work more hours. And they often in the organization they're in or associated with, they're the smartest person in the room. They've gone to the top of the heap, they're teaching, but they're not being fed and they're not learning because they're at the top of the heap. And then also they've lost their way. The integration of your personal purpose, your why with your business. And so we like to challenge coaches when they join us. We call it the golden triangle. We want you to set goals around, number one, your income that feels scary to attain. Okay, that's the bottom leg of the triangle. Then the next one is freedom. How many hours do you want to work a week making that income? And you know, be wise because your family is first and then third is what is the legacy that you want to invest some time in to build so that when you're gone, your business, your income, your time and your legacy are integrated. And so the villain is a limited mindset in income, time and legacy.

I love that. And yeah, I bet you could use the. Probably you do use that same triangle with your coach's client.

The way I like to look at that, Gary is the CEO and the coach are twins, but they're not identical twins, they're fraternal twins. So they live a similar life, but one is leading and running the company and the other is right next to them doing a lot of the same work and learning and sharing. And so yes, it absolutely transfers directly to the CEO. Is your business serving you? Are you serving your business? Are you building the wealth for your family and their future and your children and grandchildren and Then are you working more than 45 hours a week? If a CEO is working more than 45 hours a week, then the question is, is that discretionary or is that required? Because some people just love their work and they fly through 50, 55 hours. I think you and I may be guilty of that. And then others, they're slaves to their business. So it applies directly with a little bit of nuance.

As you're talking, I'm thinking about myself, and I'm the first one here, and I'm the last one to leave. And I have unlimited energy for what I'm doing. I mean, every day I can't wait to get here and get going. But I would say there's definitely more than 45 hours. I'm not sure. I don't really pay attention to it, but I don't know what else I would want to be doing. This is what I want to do. And it's so much fun for me now that I'm not doing dentistry. This has just been wonderful. And I can imagine you felt that same way and still do, probably with Gravitas.

Well, very, very much. And yet my role is and needs to change somewhat. Where it's one thing to be the leader, but the higher calling eventually is building the leaders that come after you, whether they be coaches or within Gravitas or even in our community here or in Kampala. So increasingly, my better way as I pass through 60 into the next decade, is not being out front, but being behind the scenes to find the right people to help them enjoy and find a journey and a privilege that I found. And, Gary, I don't want to over publicize this or over.

There is a lot of scars and failures and errors on my journey, both in the business, outside the business, and so on. And yet it's been a privilege. You know, just get up every day and take another shot at it. Another shot at it. When I wake up in the morning, I throw my legs over the bed, I put my feet on the floor, and from a little town in southwest Washington, we can impact the entire world through economic freedom and families. Boy, what a privilege.

I love that. That's awesome. Have you had a coach yourself? I know you did, you had your baseball coach, but have you had a business coach yourself?

Boy, have I. What do I mean by that? Yes, I have a coach now. In the last 10 years, I've had a very specific coach for Gravitas and for me as CEO, because coach not only helps the CEO, but the leadership team in building the business. The Reason I laughed a little bit. Our entire community wants to be our coach, too. And so one of the challenges I have, I talk to our community pretty regularly, and many of them have a better way. And so it's hard to reconcile 75, 80, 100 people giving you a lot of ideas. I drive my team crazy because I get these ideas from all these coaches, and then I need to slow that down a little bit.

So for those of us that are listening, that have never had a coach.

Can you tell us what is it like to now have a coach? Okay, don't have one yesterday. Today I have a coach. What is that like? What is the benefit to me? What is the excitement? What does that feel like?

Let's see. So, a few things. There are high performers listening in right now that are doing well, and then there are folks that are probably struggling. And Gary, you and I have probably been in both of those places in our life. But for either of them, what a coach is going to do, it's going to help get the great ideas as well as the head trash out of your head in front of you and dealt with. And so that's one of the big ones, is getting the mental mindset limits and the great ideas out in front of you with someone who can draw them out and then take off the weight of the head trash and create the vision of the idea. So that's one thing. Second, there's an edge with the coach that helps you grow. It's like having a personal trainer is you go to the gym and they kick your butt about 20% more than you want. You go home exhausted but happy. And so a coach will stretch a leader beyond what they can do so that they can be a bigger leader tomorrow. And then third, if you're a leader in a company or a nonprofit, if you're at the top and even near the top, but at the top, often you feel lonely. And so a great coach can be a mentor and help solve the loneliness, which sometimes creates dysfunctional life situations. So often leaders have trauma that is undealt with the right coach will create a safe space where you can go back and deal with things you never thought you'd be able to deal with. And that has nothing to do with the business and everything to do with caring for the leader. So those are three things that come to mind.

Wow. So, last question for you, Keith. What is the best piece of advice that you've ever given or been given?

Boy, I tell you. Oh, that's a tough one. I'm going to have to just grab with what comes to mind because there's much. But I think the one that comes to mind is always think long term and never lose your vision. And so having led a family and a company through two major recessions, 2000, 2008, always keeping your eye on the horizon of the vision and never losing that and staying true to that is so very, very important.

I know I'm supposed to let you go after I just said last question, but I still have another last, last question that just popped into my head as I was listening to you answer the last question. But some things I know about you and have experienced with you is that you are a very deep thinker and you have rituals and you have ways about you that don't necessarily show how busy you really are because you are very busy. You got a lot of stuff going on, but it never feels that way with you or around you. Even just what you told me about your house when you left your house that you just moved out of and moved into another house, and the process you went through in letting your house go.

Wasn'T the sign to me of somebody who's too busy to experience life. How have you been able to do that?

Yeah, boy. Again, fantastic questions. I. I want to reference a book called the Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath as I share this. And so for some reason, I feel I've been gifted with the desire to create powerful moments in life that are memorable, emotional, and inspire people to do something great, to find their better way. And I don't know why I have that, but that's part of my journey. I will share one that's an example of this, which is really important to me. So my father, who served in the Navy, also In World War II on the USS Enterprise, I mentioned he two and a half years ago, was struck and killed out in front of our farmhouse outside of Salem, Oregon. So we lost dad in a moment. And so I made the commitment to my family that I would bury his ashes at sea. But I had a good friend, my mentor, Ron Huntington, I mentioned earlier, he called me after dad passed and said, keith, we're going to go to Iwo Jima because your dad served in the Navy at Iwo Jima in World War II. And we're going to say goodbye to your dad, right? And so Covid put a year's breaks on this. But next October, it looks like now we're going to fly to Honolulu and then Iwo Jima, and I'll have my dad's ashes will climb up Mount Suribachi and I'll look out over the pacific where years ago a war was going on and a 17 year old man named Ted Kupp was giving his all for freedom. And I'll be able to open the urn and spread dad's ashes in the wind. And that moment will be the closure of dad's tragic passing. But also it's a moment that I want my children and others to pay attention to and what I mean by that. Gary, for the listeners, what is a powerful moment that you could create and communicate your legacy around with those who matter most to you? Read the book power of moments. Go create that powerful moment because it will never be lost to history. It will be in the hearts of those you leave it with.

Wow. I love that, Keith. Now if there's somebody listening to this that is looking for a coach, a business coach to work with where they're wanting to know more about gravitas impact and join your tribe, I know you've got what, 85 coaches or so that are with you. How should they best get ahold of you?

Best thing to do, you know, I'm a people person. Just send me an email. Keith K e I t hravitasimpact.com and that's good enough and I'll take it from there and get you to the right team member or I might lean in and give you a call anyway and we'll get to know each other.

Awesome. Keith, thank you so much for taking the time to be here. I know you're busy and I'm glad we got to catch up on your story because now I know even more about you. So thank you for sharing all of that with us.

Okay. Gary, it's an honor to be with you and your audience. Thank you.

Have a great day.

Okay, bye. Bye.

So it's time for our new segment which is guess the why. And so I wanted to use this time. So we pick somebody famous and this time let's pick the Dalai Lama. Think about the Dalai lama and what do you think his why is? Now this is an interesting one because when I speak at big events around the world, I teach the audience the nine whys. And then I put famous people up on the screen and I have them text in what they think that person's why is. And so then I get to poll the audience on this. And so the Dalai Lama is one that I use. And so most people think that the Dalai Lama's why is trust to create relationships based upon trust to be that trusted source. Second most that comes in is contribute but then actually third most is challenge, believe it or not, thinking differently and challenging the way things are done and so those are the top three. I also believe that it's probably trust because the relationship is so important to him, the way he speaks and being open and honest. So I think it's trust but those are the top three. What do you think the Dalai Lama's why is now? If you have not yet discovered your why, you can do so@why institute.com use the code podcast50 and you can do that for half price. Now if you love the beyond you'd why podcast and I sure hope you do. Please don't forget to subscribe below and leave us a review and a rating on whatever platform you are using to listen to our podcast. Thank you so much for listening and I will see you and be with you next week. Have a great week.