In this conversational segment, the speakers explore the critical role of self‑awareness and full accountability for outcomes, especially for entrepreneurs and professionals who help others. Speaker A emphasizes that many helpers fail to own their results, echoing a program teaching that an entrepreneur must be entirely accountable for every outcome. Speaker B identifies a hidden trap: a blind‑spot masked by “nice little leaves” that conceals spikes of danger. This trap consists of two intertwined pitfalls—survival‑mode thinking and an overactive ego—that pull leaders into self‑defeating narratives, pressure, and a false sense of entitlement. The dialogue highlights how these mental patterns clutter judgment and can lead to harmful decisions if not recognized.
Chapters
But it's that self-awareness and the— I think what really shifted it for me the most, and I do see this in my world too, and I see it in other, you know, any of the helping professions, is how even those who are helping still don't take full accountability for their own outcomes. And I think when I learned that concept through this, you know, through this program, it's not unique to this program, but it was something that was really drilled into us is that Rick would say, an entrepreneur is a person who's entirely accountable for all of their outcomes. Then you're an entrepreneur, right? I mean, that's good, you should do that too, if you— right? But, but it's the accountability of outcomes.
I think there's a, there's a trap that is, that is in that, that the pitfall that is often in the entrepreneurial or leadership mindset is, is in the blind spot. It's in a spot you don't see it. It's got nice little leaves covering over top of it, and there's spikes in underneath, and you're gonna, you're gonna you're gonna get hurt. And, and that trap is two things. One is survival mode thinking. The ego is constantly tugging you back down saying, hey, man, that, that crazy stuff going on, you got to watch that stuff, right? Uh, they're trying to get your thing. Um, you're, you're better than that. You deserve better. And do you? Or like, are you being a bit pressured?
It's cluttering.
It's clearing through all that. It's clearing through that. The other thing is, is that if, if we're not careful what we believe our values are actually just beliefs. And, and there's a, there's a crazy trap that waters down what we fix a lot of the time at Wizard of Ads. And not because we're smarter than anyone else, but because we've come to recognize one thing. And that one thing is, is that beliefs are worthless. Beliefs as a whole interchangeable, right? When you think about justice and mercy, in justice, it really depends on which side of the table you're sitting on, right? And mercy is the same story. It just depends on which side of the table you're sitting on as to what you want, but they're both profoundly true statements. If I'm the accused murderer, I want mercy. And if I'm the victim's family, I want justice. But what happens when the victim's family murders the murderer? Now what? They want mercy, right? So completely okay and natural. This is the world we live in of duality.
