WHY Not Wednesday with Jeff Pottinger

There's a certain kind of coach who believes what we believe.

Who leads people to greatness, who gets people unstuck, who unlocks all of your passion. A coach who helps people discover what drives them to tap into their superpowers. Then knowing your why is the first step.

To untap potential.

To focus.

To breakthroughs.

A coach who's looking for a better way.

Are you that coach?

Hello, and welcome to why Not Wednesday. Can you believe it, Jeff? Tax day is over. It is the second to last why Not Wednesday of the year. And I'm so excited to introduce our guest today, Jeff Pottinger, who is a career transition coach. He's a newly certified YOS professional, a Gallup certified strengths coach. His company is Swing for the Fences. But what we're going to find out is there's a lot more to Jeff than just swing for the fences. As I mentioned, he's all those things. A career transition coach, a certified professional, Gallup certified strengths coach. But what he does is he helps other people discover their purpose, harness their strengths, and create or craft a new narrative about who they are, what drives them, and how they achieve results. Welcome to the show. Jeff, how are you doing?

Hey, thanks, Dan. I'm doing great. Great to see you again. As always.

It was so good to reconnect with you. You know, we were. We've been talking probably for about a year. Right. And I love that you've joined our community. Watson, Jordan's on. He said hello, and Isabella is on. She's asking the question, how has Gallup worked with why? You're going to hear about that, Bella, because Jeff's got a lot of thoughts and Aiden is on. She's saying, hey, Jeff, thanks for joining us today. So we're going to have a great show. We're going to have. We have a lot to talk about because, as I said, you and I have known each other for about a year. We've been talking back and forth. You are involved in so many amazing things, the least of which is your organization where swing for the fences. So what I always like to start with, Jeff, is your yos. So your why is to find a better way and share it with others. Your how is mastery, which means you like to dig deep and learn things at a deep level. And. And your what is to make sense of the complex and challenging. I love that combination. Because with a why of better way. The way you find better ways is by learning things at a really deep level and understanding them so that you can contribute by making better ways. But Ultimately, what you could deliver, what you can be counted on for, is to make sense. And when you take mastery as your how, you almost need to make sense, what to help understand everything that you know. And when I look at you, you know, you've had a 24 year naval career and then a 21 year corporate career helping companies and people succeed. So you got a breadth of knowledge and talent. And we're just so excited that you're part of our community.

Well, I'm excited to be a part of it. And you and I were talking beforehand. It's taken a while. It's taken me close to a year. But as I was telling you during our conversation ahead of time, it's because I was using my why, my how, my what, and my Gallup strengths. I needed to think about stuff. I needed to think about what you had to offer, the other things I was doing, offered and figure out a better way to figure out how to use all this stuff to help the people, the veterans that I help.

Yeah. And that is such a great cause. You know, if you look behind me, if you've been on a zoom call with me or you watch the show, you know that I'm a veteran. And I had the privilege of training with Army Rangers when I was in the Army. And so the SOCOM community has a special place in my heart. And you do a lot of work with the Honor foundation, which works with Special Operations Command veterans to help them transition into the civilian world. And so tell us a little bit about that work, Jeff.

Yeah, so it came about in 2014, 2015 timeframe. I was working at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, and I was doing some pro bono work for the Navy SEAL Foundation. And they reached out to me and they said, jeff, we'd like you and Darden to do something more than just screen scholarship applications. Right. We'd like you to get involved in career transition for our Special operations veterans. And there's this guy out on the West Coast, Joe Musselman, who started up the Honor foundation to do just that. And I'd like you to go out and meet with him. And if you think it's something worthwhile, come back and let me know and we'll make a big donation so we can get it started on the East Coast. So, long story short, I met with Joe. I loved what he had to offer. I let the Navy SEAL foundation know that, and they made a large donation. And when Joe came out to look for a place to put it, and I drove him around for three days. At the end of those three days, he said, I'm going to need your help finding somebody to stand up the campus here. And I raised my hand and I said, joe, I'd be happy to do that. So I joined the honor foundation in 2015. And yeah, for those of you on the call, if you just go to honor.org, you can learn more about the Honor Foundation. But essentially they're a nonprofit that specifically focuses on helping special operations veterans transition to the private sector when they're ready. And it's a three month program. They go to class twice a week for three hours. They get assigned an executive coach. And the thing that got me to join them is I'm a veteran. I transitioned. I went through the standard transition course, and I didn't realize it really didn't help me transition. And the piece that was missing is what Joe Musselman at the Honor foundation figured out was that we didn't take the opportunity to take a deep look inside ourselves before we made all the decisions about what we wanted to do. So I worked for them for three years. I stood up three of their campuses. I was the chief operating officer when I left.

Yeah.

And I left specifically because I realized I have a bigger impact on these veterans when I'm just teaching and coaching and not running the business. So I left in 2018, and I still teach and coach for them.

That's fantastic. You know, I was going to mention that, but you helped build three different campuses for the Honor foundation. And so that's a lot of hard work that went into that. And now you're really making an impact. As we were talking beforehand, and I think what you brought up is very important. You know, we all transition. You transition from the military. I transitioned from the military. There's a special kind of person that goes into special operations and lives there. So I had the opportunity to go through training with those guys. They actually live that life every day. The SEALs, the Rangers, the Special Forces. And then they got to come out of that world, which is so very different. And I know we've all seen the movies and then transition to a civilian world. And like you said, you got to take a really hard look inside before you just release this. These amazingly talented individuals into society. And they're no longer major, captain, or sergeant. They're Joe.

Yeah.

So what have you learned, especially as you work with these veterans, to help them transition is the most important thing for them.

Yeah. So the most important thing, I think, is let's back up. And so I retired in 2001, and since then I've been mentoring veterans. So I mentored a lot of veterans before getting to this, the Honor Foundation. But since I've been with the Honor Foundation, I've been directly involved with probably 1500 special operations veterans transitioning to the private sector. And you can probably relate to this. Here's what I've learned. The two things that most veterans have difficulty with is figuring out what they want to do and how to talk about themselves in a way that the commercial sector will understand. And so when, when I started with the Honor foundation, they actually use Simon Sinek's personal Y Discovery course, right? And they use the Gallup strengths assessment, and they use these in the very beginning of the program. And I became certified to deliver cynics version of the Y Discovery. And I must certify Gallup Strengths Coach. And I realized after teaching both of these the very first time I taught them both, that I can take the words that resonate with the individuals out of both of these things, the why and the strengths, and I can craft a way for them to talk about themselves without any military acronyms or abbreviations. So I, I changed the way I taught. I changed the way I approached why. I changed the way I approach strengths. I created this whiteboard narrative coaching session you and I have talked about. And I just started coaching them around this. And I do 90 minute coaching sessions where I help them take the results of their why, the results of their strengths assessment, and turn it into a 90 second personal narrative that they can use when they're networking, having cups of coffee, interviewing. They can take pieces of it, put it in their resume, their LinkedIn profile, and what I found when I first started doing this, I didn't let them read the narrative. I read it to them.

Interesting.

And then I watched their reaction. And to this day, I've done over a thousand of these whiteboard coaching sessions. They are dumbfounded at the end and they always say, I'd hire you.

And I just look right at them on the zoom and I say, yeah, but that wasn't me, that was you. Right? And they're just floored. And the impact that has on them and the confidence it gives them because they believe in their why and they believe in the strengths. We show them that in class and now they can use these words in a way that they can talk about themselves differently. And it's just been so impactful. That's why I left the Honor foundation full time, is I realized I could be really, really good at this. Stuff if I just stepped out and did just this. So that's all I've done for the last three years, is dive into why more deeply, including with the Y Institute, dive into strengths more deeply. But again, it's not about helping people be better at what they do. It's helping special operations veterans find that next job.

Right?

So.

So that's what I do. Well, well, Jeff, and you have, you know, we. I've got a bunch of questions just on what you talked about. Let me ask you this question. You know, we. We talked about a year ago, and then we. We. I. I got an email from you. This is one of, you know, for. For. For the chief growth officer. This is a great phone call to get. Right? You know, you and I had talked, and you said, you know what, Dan? At this time, it's not. I don't think it fits what I'm doing. But I said, let's stay in touch because I love what you do. And we did stay in touch, and we continued. I followed you, you followed me. And then one day you said, hey, Dan, I think here's what I want to do. And I think when I showed you the yos and the new process to help you get to the why, how and what faster for your clients, you said, this is what. This is what exactly what I was looking for. So what made what. What was the tipping point for you that made you say, you know what I want to know. I want to be a YOS coach because it's going to add value to what I do. What was it for you?

So it's really practical with the cynic y discovery. I'm only allowed to do that with the honor foundation, so. And as people started seeing what I was doing, they. People outside of the veteran space started asking me about doing it, and I couldn't do it. So I started to research what other options were out there, and that's how I found you last year. And I did the initial why, just the basic why. And then you and I had several conversations. And, you know, I saw. I saw how closely the Y and then the yos tied directly to my original Y from. From the cynic y discovery, right? And then I saw how it ties to strength. So for those of you out there, I know there was a question around the strengths. My why from the cynic y discovery is I clear the playing field so others can swing for the fences. And how that ties to my yos is swinging for the fences is my interpretation of better way and clearing the playing field. I Do that by mastery and making sense of what I've learned and then sharing it with others so my clear the playing field so others can swing for the fences is very personalized to me, and it's based on a personal story, but it ties directly to my yos. And then I started thinking about this because that's what mastery and makes sense people do.

Right.

To find a better way is I looked at my top five strengths, and my top five strengths are maximizer, learner, responsibility, arranger, and relator. And the three I lead with the most are maximizer, learner, and arranger. And maximizer is better way.

Right.

Learner is mastery, and arranger is makes sense. So I had always felt from when I first started teaching both of these things that lion strengths are very tightly related.

Right.

And I've now seen it done in multiple different ways. I've actually, in my last seminar, I did special operations group down in Savannah, Georgia. One of the individuals didn't do the yos before they came into class.

So I just asked them to tell me which of their top three strengths did they think aligned with the descriptions, the basic descriptions, and they told me that. Then during lunch, they went and took the yos and it matched, and it matched up exactly. Wow. So I'm convinced that Y and strengths are tightly interrelated. And it's because of that that I use it so extensively in my work with veterans because it gives them a way to talk about themselves.

That's fantastic. So I want to recognize a few people that have joined since we. We last had a break. I want to make sure. And welcome Nancy Solomon. I know she's having some Internet issues, but welcome, Nancy. I think this is your first time joining us. And then Tanika had a question. First of all, she said, thank you, Jeff. That was really powerful. But then she said, do you include just the Y or the full yos in your whiteboard coaching session? By the way, Tanika, he spells it whiteboard. W, H, Y. Whiteboard, right?

Yes. And that that term is trademarked.

Good stuff. I love it. I love it. So tell us. So let's answer her question. Do you include just the wire, the full yos on your whiteboard sessions?

So I haven't done any whiteboard sessions with the yos because that's only for the full cohort with the honor foundation. However, I create a whiteboard in my seminars. It's not a coaching session. It's a class session. And I include both. I include both my cynic why the yos and the strength. So I Include it all.

Excellent.

Excellent. And I actually, if we have time, I have mine, my full whiteboard narrative based on my why, my yos, and my strengths.

Yeah, we'd love to hear it. I think here's one of the things that we've learned, Jeff, and you know this from my work in BD and reaching out to all different types of coaches. You know, one of the things we say is, and we're getting better at this message, we're not competing with disc. We're not competing with strengths finders, we're not competing with Colby. What we have found is the yos complements every single one of those assessments, because we're not an assessment, we're a discovery.

Right.

We help you Discover your top three, why's, your, your why, your how, and your what so that, as Watson Jordan said earlier, you can unearth and reveal your confidence. I think that's one of the things that, and you were doing that before you met us. You were, were giving people these comments, the, these narratives. And, and when they said, when you said it to them, they'd say, I'd hire you. And then you said, wait a minute, but I'm talking about you. That's your narrative.

Yeah.

And, and while you talk about giving a veteran some confidence to go out there and, and you post very often on your LinkedIn, the veterans that, that, that are doing amazing things in this, in their civilian sector jobs. So I, I'd love to hear more about that. Let, let's, let's, let's, let's go ahead and unearth it.

Yeah, it's a, it's only a minute, minute and a half. So you, you. When I read this, this is what I read to the folks down in Savannah last month.

I'm a veteran, so it's going to sound like I'm a veteran, even though I, I'm not. But here's how my narrative sounds when we put all of this together.

Yeah.

And it answers the interview question. So, Jeff, tell me about yourself. Yeah, well, I'm a veteran transitioning to the private sector in the summer of 2022. I'm currently looking for opportunities right here in Savannah in organizational development in the tech industry. But before I tell you more about what I do, let me tell you why I do it. I love clearing the playing field so others can swing for the fences. I believe that success happens when we find a better way and we're able to share it. And how I do that is by seeking depth, breadth, and the details. And ultimately what I bring are Solutions that make sense. I'm a teacher, mentor, and coach who actively seeks new opportunities, experiences, and relationships to help others achieve what's possible for them. I work well with individuals and small groups who are working on challenges and issues that resonate with me. And as a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, I help them identify and use their talents and strengths to become more engaged, solve challenges, and create solutions. So that's my narrative, and that's what I create for each of these special operations veterans. And then they can use that networking cups of coffee, interviewing, LinkedIn resume so they create a consistent brand message so that no matter how they're viewed or heard.

People get the same message. Because I'm convinced, I'm convinced that the. That the key to all of this is.

When you're a veteran transitioning the private sector and you're networking, you want to create interest and be memorable, right? So I guarantee you that there will be multiple questions somebody will ask an individual when they share this.

So that it turns into a conversation. And special operations veterans, they don't like pitching themselves, right? They're really good at conversations. So they pitch themselves for a minute, turn it into a conversation, and then they're very comfortable. And I have other tricks that I use that I won't share on the call to help people see. I have some ways to make it personal so that they can tie other stories. Watson knows what I'm talking about because I love that. I did a quick one with him yesterday.

I love it. And I got to recognize Gary Sanchez, our founder and CEO is listening. And he said, love the way you can connected the yos with your why statement and your strengths. And that's one of the things. I was just talking to Jason Cochran in Indianapolis, and he's an industrial organizational psychologist. That's the work he does. But he talked about how simple this looks, how simple it makes it. Because here's what I bet your veterans are finding out when you lead with that statement. Now, the questions the interviewer is asking is to tell me more about how. Tell me about how you found better ways. How do you do that? Tell me about how you seek breath and depth, and then tell me about how you make sense of it, because guess what? Those are your strengths. And now the interview is about your strengths and what you do best and your zone of genius, as Watson would call it. Because when you're operating in your yos, when you're, when you're finding better ways, when you're seeking mastery and you're helping people make sense of Things. I bet Jeff loves doing that all day long, and she's not going to run out of energy. And now they're asking you about those things. So that interview goes a lot better. And I have found. Found that to be truth with people that I work with, and our coaches find it to be true. So I love that you're providing just even more depth because you're bringing more of the other assessments into it, too.

Yeah. And the other thing that happens is a lot of times you get asked a question about your why, particularly the way you say it. But before I tell you more about what I do, let me tell you why I do it. You'll get asked a question about it, and that's where I tell veterans. That's where you want to tie that personal story. Where did your why come from? Because storytelling, which is something we do in our first phase with the Honor Foundation. What a lot of people don't understand is that if I network with you last night, I'll forget 60% of what you told me by this morning and 80 to 90% by the end of the week. But if you tell me a story, I'm six times more likely to remember you. So we create a narrative that leads to questions that allows you to tell a story so that you'll be memorable. And. And it's. It's really interesting because many of the fellows get really emotional when they hear themselves described this way. Absolutely. And you're right. I could do this all day every day and never tire from it. I don't, because I love playing golf, too.

So. So you and I and Gary are going to have to get together and we'll even invite Jerry. So I think we've. We've got to force them. When you get to Albuquerque, Jeff, and it's gonna be a lot of fun. I want to. I want to answer some of the comments after. After. Gary, let's see is Bella said, what a mastery. How. Lol. That. I mean, that's what you get from a mastery guy. He's going to bring it all in and make it all put it all together. Bill Summers wanted to know, can we get a copy of Jeff's explanation? So, Bill, as you know, this will be on YouTube. You can grab it as soon as it's over. And I'll be posting some of these snippets throughout the coming weeks. Watson said it was amazing. I think he's talking about your experience because you used the snippet with him. And then Tanika says, I like the way you communicated Your yos with your purpose statement. So. And Watson, of course, Doc Watson is going to say, cognition is nothing without retention. And so, you know, this is so great. I love that you brought all of these things into the forefront for our other Y coaches, because I think what's important for us as we build our community, a lot of the people listening are coaches that are with us or are planning to join us. And I love that you brought that dimension to it. So thank you very much. Let me ask you this, because, believe it or not, we're running out of time. Let's talk about your biggest why not moment. Listening to your story, I probably have an idea of what that was. But the question we always ask on this show is tell me about a time when you said why not to an opportunity, a circumstance, or a choice that you made, and it made a significant, positive impact on your. On your life.

Yeah. So it's interesting you say that because in your note to me, you said you might ask me about how it impacted my personal life. And. Yeah. So. So the way I was going to respond to that is, first, I don't believe in this idea of personal life and work life.

Okay.

I don't try to balance those two. It's just life.

It is.

And after. And about 60 years ago, I realized that throughout my career, both Navy and the private sector, I've been pretty good at a lot of things, but I hadn't. And I'd been very successful, but I wasn't an expert in anything. And I always felt like I was missing something. And so when I discovered this combination of why and strengths and brand narrative and whiteboard coaching and yos, and I really. And I stepped away from the Honor foundation to just focus on this stuff, I felt like that's when I became an expert.

Yeah.

And I look back on my Navy career, and when people ask me, what was your favorite tour of duty? I always say it was when I was on the staff at the Navy Supply Corps School because I got to teach and coach. Yeah. And when I look back and look at those successful times in my career, I may have been doing a lot of stuff. I wasn't a technical expert, but I was teaching and coaching.

Yeah.

And now focused specifically on teaching and coaching, I feel like not only am I happier doing it.

Right.

More engaged in what I do. Right. And I feel like my contribution to others is much more significant. And because I'm happier overall that that crosses over into all aspects of my life. And my wife, Terri, she was, I think, is on. She when she sees this in me and she sees how much different it's been over the last five or six years. Right. And she's been so supportive in, in the direction my life has taken. And so I tell everybody, remember, my, my, why is I clear the playing field so others can swing for the fences. I don't go to work in the morning. Yeah. I go to, I go to the ballpark and start playing. Yeah. And my ballpark happens to be this home office. And I get to help people clear their playing field so they can swing for the fences. So my why not Moment was actually realizing at the same time, become an expert in what you really love doing.

Right.

And be willing to take that chance to step out and go for it. So that's what I did.

And you tell a great story about, you know, you live near a ball field as a kid, right?

Yeah.

So, I mean, it's really, you're, you've loved, you've always loved baseball. So it, yeah, all kinds of comes. Let's see.

Yeah. So. So in the special operations community, when you leave, they give you a paddle. It. Especially the seal. The seal community in particular because it signifies rowing together in their rubber boats that they go. Go out. Out in.

Yep.

And so when I left the Honor foundation, they didn't give me a paddle. They gave me.

A Louisville Slugger wooden baseball bat.

Oh, I love it.

It's wrapped in the blue and do the paddles, but you can see that baseball bat. So I walk in here every day and I see that bat and it reminds me of why I'm here and what my contribution is. It reminds me of the story of my mom, which is where my why comes from. Right. And I smile when I step through the door of my ballpark and start playing baseball.

I love it. Yeah. And you know what? You're, you're as James Madison was on, you're living your life on purpose. You're in on purpose and you're creating purpose. I think it's all so interrelated. You know, let me ask, let me ask you, you know, a final question.

When, when you're talking about work, life balance, how does your speaking, training and coaching fit into your life? You talked about, you come into the office and you're, you're playing ball overall, you know, how do you make it all. Because you're busy. You've got a lot going on. You're going to put about 400 veterans through the Yoshi whiteboard and strengths process this year. So how do you keep it all together?

So the whiteboard coaching takes up the most time. So I teach why, and I teach strengths in the cohorts. I teach why in strengths in the seminars that we do. And then for the cohorts, I do whiteboard coaching for the fellows, and we run about 200 through the spring, another 100 in the summer, and another 200 in the fall. So 400 to 500. I don't have the bandwidth anymore. So I've trained some other coaches to do this. And because it's my process, I get the first shot at the calendar. So I don't do any coaching sessions in the afternoon. I coach at 9 in the morning and 11 in the morning, and at 1 I'm done. I grab some lunch and I go play golf, or I'll head out and do something with Terry, take a walk, whatever. But I just. I've just learned how to schedule my time to be doing the things I love to do. And I've learned, you know, responsibility is one of my strengths. And it means I'll do it if I say I will. But I have a tendency to say yes to too many things, right. So I've learned how to say no to those things that aren't a high priority, and I've learned how to say no. If it's not strengths, why, or narrative focused, I generally say no. And that's freed up time for me to do other things that I really enjoy doing.

I love, love, love that. And, you know, we talk a lot about, you know, if it doesn't fit in your top three, so. And I think you've said it, you know, if it's not a better way, if you can't learn about it at a deep level and it doesn't make sense, you're probably going to say no to it. And I bet there's a lot of pretty places for you to play golf in the Carolinas, so. And I'm sure today I'm keeping you from that. So thank you very much for being here with me.

No, you're not. I'm going out at five.

I love it. Yeah. What you got? You got sunset. You. You'll get. Will you get 18 holes in?

Probably sunset? Not till eight. But even if I only get nine, that's fine.

That's fantastic. Well, Jeff, it has been a pleasure. We can't wait to have you in Albuquerque to play golf with us. We can't wait to continue to hear your story. I want to have you back because I know you've got some cohorts that you're going to, that you're going to do. You've got, like I said, just that the difference you're making for the veteran community is outstanding. The difference you're making for us, you've made us better with your presence and bringing your, your community on board. I noticed your LinkedIn post was, was getting a lot of attention from, from some of your fellow veteran community and some of the people that you're probably working with at the Honor Foundation. So we thank you for bringing your community into our community. I know Watson and Bill and Tanika and, and Bella and Gary, all of us thank you for, for, for the work that you're doing and for being part of our community. We look forward to continuing to keep up with you. Have a great rest of the week, Enjoy your golf and I look forward to hearing the next update.

Yeah, it's my pleasure. And any of you that are out there, I enjoy cups of coffee. Just reach out to me on LinkedIn and we'll schedule something like I did with Watson. Happy to connect and share ideas.

I love it. Thank you so much, Jeff. Take care. We'll talk to you soon.

All right, thank you. Bye. Bye.