19. Leadership: Change Triggers

Hey, my friend. Welcome Back to episode 19, Leadership in a Nutshell, where we're cracking the code of the driven mind. I am your host, Kenny Chapman, and I'm super pumped to be with you here today where we're going to dive into a topic that is a challenge. We're going to dive into a topic that seems to elude us. We're going to dive into a topic that so many people don't want to talk about. And. And that is change triggers. When and why do people actually finally make a change? As leaders change is imminent. As leaders change is constant. As leaders change surprises us and challenges us at times and other times we create change intentionally. We create change for specific reasons. And let's be clear, you and I both know sometimes we create change and it was for no good reason whatsoever other than we're a driven minded individual and we haven't listened to enough Leadership in a Nutshell to really take control back cracking that code of the driven mind. So episode 19 today we're going to dive in and I want to just really take a look at change triggers. Think about your own life, my friend, as we spend a little bit of time together here. When is a time where there's been a boom, a trigger event, right? Something happens. What are some trigger events that we know about? Trigger events, Quarterlies for taxes. Trigger events. New Year's resolutions. Trigger events. Life situation, Emptied nesting, children leaving the home, new business lines, economies, presidential elections. There's all kinds of different things that are trigger events. And many of those are completely out of our control or very minimal control that we have. Trigger event, Largest gain in stock market history. Trigger event. Biggest single day loss in stock market history. Maybe you're investing, maybe you're not. Maybe you're day trading. Maybe you're investing in your simple IRA or 401k. Whatever it is, let's talk about trigger events that we can control. Different people change for different reasons, different time, different place. All of these different things that come to play. I want you to think about trigger events for you. First off, there is a situation. Write that down. What is the situation? And many times the situation can be status quo. As a leader, I'm hitting my budget. Or the situation may be that I'm not hitting my budget. The situation is that we've been growing 10% per year and that seems okay. The situation is that I can't seem to acquire and hire talented team members. The situation is that the economy changed and rolled back on us and we don't have the same opportunity that we used to have. Whatever the situation is, many times it can be status quo. At the time I'm recording this episode, we're long enough into this, quote, pandemic that things have changed and people better be getting used to it and you better be finding ways to win based on the new rules. The situation becomes status quo. Nobody wins in status quo. So first of all, we have this situation. Then there's this trigger event. Like, okay, now there's an event that triggers. That's what I was talking about early on. There's internal trigger events where I go, I've had it. When I was traveling with the great Les Brown, the speaker who's done more to change lives from the stage than just about anybody I know. I was blessed to be able to do 14 cities in several weeks. Within five months, I traveled with Les 14 cities. And what I got to see was people need internal change sometimes. An internal trigger event. Les Brown called in an I've had it moment. That's when you wake up one day and you go, I've had it. I've had it with the way my life is. I've had it with the way my relationship is. I've had it with the way that my weight is. I've had it with not having enough energy. I. I've had it with not smoking or not being able to breathe from smoking. You can tell I'm tapping some of my own emotional ties from the past. I remember when I was a smoker, getting to the top of the stairs and going, whoo, man, I'm winded now. And one day I woke up and said, I've had it. This is crazy. Why am I putting a cancer stick in my mouth on the daily when I can't breathe and I get to the top of the stairs, I've had it. We create those internally. So sometimes there's external triggers which happen. And that's what many of us have been dealt with in the year 2020, where all of a sudden the rules change. All of a sudden you can't go outside. All of a sudden you can't travel. You realize how bad I want to go out of the country now. Why? Because I'm a non conformist and I was told I can't. And so now all of a sudden, lovely Christy and I, I'm like, I got to get out of here. Why? Because I love to travel. And now I've been told I can't do something. I say that laughing because I just love human psychology. It's why we record this podcast together. Why I want to spend some time each and every week with you so we can peel back the onion, have a little laugh at each other, realize we're wired very similarly or you wouldn't be digesting this content together. And you go, there's internal trigger events, there's external trigger events. How do we handle those? Fourth thing, those are based on pain and pleasure. Tony Robbins talks about pain and pleasure. Two major motivators. Here's the reality. Do people do more to avoid pain in their lives or do they do more to gain pleasure in our lives? Mediocrity is destructive and we create mediocrity from pleasure. Your parents wanted your life to be better than yours, so they are better than theirs, right? So they coddled you. They might have made it a little easier on you. Some of you know I'm speaking to you as parents right now, right? You want your kids lives to be better than yours, so you're making life easy on them. You used to have to work three jobs and take a bus or ride the train to your crappy job that you hated when you were younger. So maybe you could buy the Sony Walkman that came out now. Take a part time job for a couple weeks and mom and dad will buy you a new iPhone, right? So we just take a step back and go, wait a minute, what are you talking about, Kenny? We're talking about change triggers. That's right. There are change triggers that create different things. Pain and pleasure create triggers for people to do things. I'm very blessed that I had a little bit challenged as a child, A little bit challenged from my father's choices in his life. A little bit challenged living in small town America, knowing that I had more, wanted more, had more desire, had more to offer the world than I was in my current situation. I, I'm so grateful for those opportunities. My mom and dad always have done the best they could throughout my dad's entire life, my mom's entire life, as she continues to learn and grow and become the person that she is today as she. Everybody's doing the best they can, but here's what I know. If you're trying to avoid pain in your life, then you're not embracing some growth opportunities. I'm not saying we go seek pain, but when it happens, it can be a trigger event. The same is true for your team members. The same is true for your vendor partners. The same is true for your strategic partner. Same is true for your finance situation. All of those different types of things. Next thing now, it's time for massive action, right? We've got the situation, we've got the trigger event. We look at, oh man. Is it painful or do I want pleasure from this? Now once I get some clarity, my friend, it's time for massive action. It's time for me to get in the game at a whole new level. It's time for me to say I'm going to play full out. I. I might go the wrong direction. I might be challenged a little bit. If you are running as fast as you can to the east, you are never going to see the sunset if you're in North America, right? So here's the reality. The fact of the matter is that we have the ability to do something every single day. And now we get frustrated by younger generation because they want an easier path. Because technology's created an easier path. We. Why wouldn't they want an easier path? Of course they want an easier path. Don't you? Wouldn't you? There's a little thing we call Maslow's hierarchy, right? Where Maslow talked about human needs. And once we have food and shelter, we don't desire the next thing until we have that. If I was born with an iPhone in my hand and got the opportunity to play some virtual reality games like exist today, I might not be in front of you today. Or guess what, I might be making money in the video game business because I was really good at Defender back in the day. I'll date myself. Anybody remember Defender had to put okay, I digress. Right? There's massive action that's necessary for you to get what you want in life. I'm fired up. I hope you're fired up. When we look at these different things, there are change triggers. Do you create them? Do you wait for them? Is your team wanting something from you? Sometimes we need to create a change trigger in order to embrace it. And what happens once we kind of go through this path? We recognize our situation, we take a look at the situation, we decide if are we going to create a trigger event or are we going to allow a trigger event to happen to us? Are we going to take this and move away from pain and move into pleasure? Are we going to take this and realize that discomfort is a call to action, to where now I can take massive action. I either want to go on this vacation so I'm going to save for it or I'm tired of being us and them and we are the people that don't have enough money to go on vacation. I'm going to create a trigger event from that and I'm going to seek something else. I'm going to learn more, I'm going to apply more, I'm going to do more, I'm going to be more. Ultimately, that means I might have more, I'll have more wisdom, I'll have more experience. I'll be able to create more value in the world. And perhaps the world will step up with its paycheck. And I'll be able to have the opportunity to go on the vacation. Is it based on pain? Is it based on pleasure? Many times it is your choice, my friend. Now we create a new reality. You guess what new reality? You circle back. Now you're in a situation. Now does your new reality become a status quo? The new reality. I remember when I used to dream of driving a new vehicle. I used to dream of having an air conditioning unit. Grew up in western Colorado where we had a lot of what we call evaporative coolers. And if you're not in the in the business, all you need to know is you do not want an evaporative cooler. I live in amazing Scottsdale, Arizona now. Super hot, super blessed to be here. But guess what? Need my air conditioner. I used to dream about having a home that was cool when it was hot outside. Now I have that. Guess what? Now it's status quo. I don't want to go without it. I drive luxury sports car. Guess what? I now status quo. I don't want to go without it. Does it mean I need it? Does it mean that it defines me? Of course not. It doesn't define me, but it's something that I desire in my life. Now it becomes the new status quo. Now what do I want next? It's not about chasing cars, not about chasing homes. It's about chasing fulfillment. It's about chasing your next level. It's about stepping into the greatness that you already possess. It's about saying yes to your true self. You know, the little gut down here, right inside the brain. On my leadership in a nutshell shirt as I'm pointing at myself. If you're listening to this, it's like, hey, wait a minute. You've got more in you. You've got a trigger right now. You know, your heart, your core, your, your wisdom, your spirit is speaking through you. Going, man, he just hit me a little bit. Maybe I do have more. Maybe I have. You know, I was meditating last week and I was praying last week. You're saying, and you're saying, you know, God told me this thing that like, man, maybe I should look at this thing. Maybe I should listen to yourself, listen to God. Listen to your inner self. Listen and then be ready to take the massive action, my friend. When we look at change triggers, you as a leader have a massive responsibility. You've got a responsibility yourself, first and foremost. Then you have a responsibility to your team for the people that follow you. One of the greatest things in leadership. How do you know if you're a leader or not? Do this. You turn around, look over your shoulder. Are people following you or not? People follow for different reasons. I said, are you a leader? I didn't say are you a good leader? We'll talk about that in an upcoming episode. Give us a like, give us a review. Stay in touch. Meet me on kennychatman.com group would love to stay in touch with you. Get in our community, get involved. I want to hear from you in between episodes. We appreciate you. Would love to have you give us the feedback of a review until we talk. Make it a better than fantastic week. Thanks for tuning in to leadership in a nutshell. See you soon.