Michael Brandt Recap: The New IQ

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How much time do you invest in your brain? Well, look, our brain dictates so many things. It's our largest asset. We've got to look after it, right? But often we're putting things on our skin and we're doing all these other things that care for our bodies, but our brain dictates so much. I came across a product a while ago called Flow State and it's made such a difference. And look, they offer functional mushrooms that sharpen cognition, they really boost energy and definitely strengthen immunity. And they actually use one of their key ingredients is lion's mane. Right? So Lion's mane is popular among really peak performing athletes and those wanting an edge. It's known as the brain mushroom and it's currently being studied extensively for its nerve growth factor potential as a means to ease the symptoms of Alzheimer's and for treating inflammation in the body. The thing I love about these products, they don't taste like mushrooms. You can mix them in with your tea, they're a great replacement for coffee. But I actually love the PM mushroom blend, the evening one. It really helps me sleep and to know that my brain is getting extra nutrients is just next level. The one thing that's really important for me is hey, what' in there? So they have tested heavily at Hill Laboratories for heavy metals, pesticide residue, microbials, and also at Massey University for active compounds. So I urge you, if you love your brain and you want to go the extra mile to nurture it, head on over to Flowstate NZ and you can use the coupon code LEADONPURPOSE to get 15% off.

Everything Michael Brandt does is fast and intense. Aside from being the CEO and co founder of Health Via Modern Nutrition HVMN, he cruises through marathons at a cool 6 minute mile pace. With the launch of Ketone IQ, Michael and his team created an entirely new category of Ketone shots which have taken over elite sports and high end workplaces. Michael has quickly scaled the business to multi millions in revenue including a $6 million contract with the U.S. department of Defense. As CEO, Michael is focused on cultivating a world class team. He actually scored the 99th percentile on his GMAT but decided to skip business school and go straight in to entrepreneurship. He's a co founder of the company and they were awarded the Forbes 30 under 30. Outside of work, he's an avid triathlete and lives in LA with his beautiful family. Look, what are ketones? Well, look, ketones are a super efficient source of fuel for your brain that leave you feeling energized and clear headed. Kind of like what we think coffee does, but it doesn't really do it effectively. That's what ketones do. So please do go back and check out the full episode. But here were some key takeaways. Number one. The general works for the troops. That's leadership. That was Michael's words. The general works for the troops. How can I help everyone around me? If you're fortunate enough to be a leader, whether that's you're a parent and you lead your family, whether that's in a team, you know, maybe it's a sports team, it could be a hobby, it could be a professional thing. Whether that's in your place of work, you lead one or two others or you lead hundreds of others. Remember that the general works for the troops, not the other way around. It takes me back to conversations I had with Anton Gunn, former senior advisor to Barack Obama. He talked about the active servant leadership grit. Leaders serve their people. Mahatma Gandhi served others. Mother Teresa served others. When we think of the greats, Nelson Mandela served others.

You must always think about how you work for your people. Another big takeaway was this. When there is a problem, poor leaders avoid it, deflect it and never accept it. Good leaders solve the problem. But here we go, great leaders solve the problem and, and the meta problem. What do we mean by that? What is the big thing that actually caused the problem? Solve that. That's what the great leaders do. They're not brushing it under the carpet, they're not forgetting about it. They're not avoiding great leaders. Hit it head on, take ownership, and then start to look for the problem that created their problem, the meta problem.

Where does that need to happen in your community? Where does that need to happen in your place of work? Where does that need to happen in your country? What are the problems that we all complain about but nobody's actually doing anything about it? Start small and find a small problem in your life, whether it's at home or in your place of work, and think, what's the problem that causes that problem? It could be communication, poor communication, it could be.

Productivity, it could be customer satisfaction, whatever it might be. Go to the problem and look at what's behind that problem. So my challenge for you this week is to get out there and find one tiny problem and identify the problem that creates the problem and how do we solve that?

Next big takeaway. If you're in a leadership role and you don't own your flaws and you aren't open to objective feedback, you're going to fall. And to be honest, those type of leaders, they simply don't last.

We all have flaws. I mean, I've got many, we got to own them. We got to put our hand up and go, you know what? Yeah, that's not a strength of mine. I need to work at that. If you try to be a picture perfect leader that never gets anything wrong, you're going to get caught out and you will struggle. Your team simply won't connect with you as deeply and authentically and they won't feel as though they can fail themselves. When you try to be perfect, it tells everyone else they also have to meet that standard. So I always think of perfectionists as people with no standards.

Why do I think perfectionists have no standards? Well, perfect is not achievable. Your version of perfect, I might say, yeah, that's pretty good. My version of, hey, that's perfect, you might go, teams, that's mediocre, it's not measurable. So why don't we aim for standard that we can all achieve? Maybe it's an excellent or fantastic or, you know, something that we can measure. As a leader, when you can measure them, then to me that's, you know, you're half the battle. Don't be a perfectionist. You're going to fall short and you're going to really set others up for failure. Now, before I share the last takeaway, I'm super excited. Next week is the High Performance Leadership Program here in Ototahi, Christchurch, New Zealand. We've got Ali Adams, CEO of Christchurch, nz. We've got the former head coach of the world champion All Blacks rugby team, Sir Steve Hanson, and our former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Sir John Key. It's going to be a ton of fun. We're sold out. We're super excited to see everyone. If you're coming along, I will see you then. If you're not coming along, I will be recording some of the interviews with those leaders and you will hear them right here on Lead on purpose. Please do me a favor. If you haven't done so, share this podcast with a friend. Somebody who needs it, somebody who values relationships, somebody who values leadership, somebody who values growth. Share it with them. One last takeaway from my previous episode with Michael Brandt. Put smiles on people's faces. That's the main point of everything. Isn't that the truth? Who are you putting a smile on their face? Who's that person? Today, I want you to think about the one person that you want to help smile and go after it. Get out there and help them find that joy. Look, until our next episode, I want to wish you nothing but the best and get out there and lead your life on purpose.

Sam.