This is a podcast episode titled "Episode 224 - The Red Shirt and Brown Pants: A Shop Owner’s Leadership Uniform" recorded in September 2025. The content features Rick White delivering a motivational and leadership-focused talk aimed at shop owners, using a metaphorical story about a pirate captain's red shirt and brown pants to illustrate the importance of bravery, stoicism, and confident leadership. Rick White discusses how leaders should manage their fears and doubts privately while projecting steadiness and vision to their teams. The episode also promotes related coaching and webinar resources for business owners.
Good morning. My name is Rick White from 180 Biz, and this is my Just one thing. We are a coaching and training company that helps shop owners who feel like they're leaving stuff on the table get it up into their bank accounts. So let's get started. This is let's go have fun. And then we're going to talk about uniforms. So where did this come from? It actually began with a story. And the story begins with a captain, a pirate ship captain who always asks for his red shirt before a battle.
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And his crew admires his bravery. And after a series of victories, a crewmate asks why he does it. And the captain revealed that if he was wounded with a red shirt, the blood won't show. And that way, there, the crew won't be afraid and will keep fighting. And this reveals the captain's cunning leadership. The crew is impressed. Then one day, the lookout spots dozens of enemy ships. The captain, no longer confident in the face of these impossible odds, shouts, bring me my brown pants. And the joke suggests that even the bravest leader has a moment of fear in a face of overwhelming odds. And basically, what he's saying is, I don't want to. I don't want my team to see me bleed, and I don't want my team to see me poop my pants. Right? Think about that for a second. I listened to that, actually. Yeah, I listened to it. I was actually on a podcast, and they had said this, and I thought, oh, my gosh, what an amazing story. So what is the story all about? Okay, the story is about bravery and stoicism, right? It's being able to step back and recognize that, you know something, we're gonna take some hits as an owner of the company. As a leader of the company, you're gonna take some hits. That's a given. The red shirt is so people don't see you bleeding.
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Then by wearing your red shirt and your brown pants, it means sometimes we get hurt, sometimes we're afraid. But as a leader, we've got to be calm. We got to be the duck above the water, not show people the duck below the water. So what I want you to step back and think about, right, is what is your role as a leader? It's not just to come in and make sure everybody's doing what they're doing. That's actually a manager's job. A leader's job is different. A leader's job is to say, guys, we got this. We're going here. We're going to make it happen. You know something? Yeah, we're going to get banged up a little. I'm wearing my red shirt. And then you know something, COVID 19 hits or something else hits. We got to put our brown pants on so that people don't see the reactions. Because our leaders, as leaders, we need to show up and demonstrate through our actions that it's going to be okay and that we want to give the team some stability and some confidence. The reality is they are going to borrow that stability and confidence from me, from you. So that when you react to a situation and you get upset and you blow up, that is not the sign of a great leader. You're not wearing your red shirt. And when you get scared about something and you start talking to your team about it, looking for reassurance, looking for their help, looking for these different things, then you're showing them the poop, right? You're showing them the poop in your pants. And that ain't working either. You've got to get your team so they believe in you and they know where you're going, and they believe in the mission and that you've got this right. People aren't going to follow an unconfident leader, right? If you lack confidence, they're not going to follow you. They're there for a paycheck. And guess what? As soon as they can find somebody else that they feel like is going to be a better leader and give them what you give them, they're gone. Does that make sense? So it's super, super important to think this through. You've got to show up at a different level as a leader. You've got to be able to realize what's going on, have a plan, and then exude confidence, not in the result, but in your ability to show up in the way you're going to show up. Changes everything. It makes it completely different when you do that. And that's what I want you to get today. So what is a leader's uniform? It's a red shirt and it's brown pants. Now, you know why? Because you want to be able to control the uncontrollable. You want to be able to have strength under pressure, and you want to be able to have a healthy perspective. Understand that stoicism, right? This peacefulness isn't ignoring reality. It's choosing how you respond to it. You either react or you respond, and sometimes we do both. Just don't react in front of your team, okay? That's what you got to do. So your team needs clarity, not your Doubts, not your fears. You got to have boundaries right now. Do you want to be transparent? Selectively, yes. You want to share information that empowers your team, not paralyzes it. Now, the reality is you got to process privately. That's what's going on. You need mentors, peers, spouse, coaches. Like, our coaching group's a great way to have that happen, because you can come in, talk to other leaders. We come to a plan together, and now you turn around to your team in a whole different space, and it's amazing. So every leader has their brown pants moment. This is the real lesson. But your people don't or shouldn't see it.
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Your leadership uniform has got to equal courage, steadiness, and vision, even when you're working through your own doubts and fears.
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So my challenge for you is to choose your uniform this week, okay? Understand that a duck. I love that. This, if you've ever seen it, right? You see a duck, they look like they're just like this on the water on the top, but underneath, their feet are going like the hammers of hell, man. They just keep going and going. So this is really, really important. I need you guys to wear your red shirt and your brown pants. And guess what? When I heard that, I thought, wow, that's amazing. And then I thought, oh, crap, how am I doing? Right? I'm recognizing for my team. I need to up my game a little bit because I'm pretty good with the brown pants, but not so much the red shirt. So this is a chance to step back and evaluate where you're at and how it's going.
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That's what it really is. So listen, couple of things. Shop owners roundtable, second Thursday every month, 7pm Eastern. Do you know somebody might need some help with their red shirt and their brown pants? Great place to have it happen absolutely free. It's awesome. Second thing is our Pocket Business genius webinar series. Get you in there, baby. It's awesome. It's like 49 bucks a month, and there's over 85 webinars in the library, and you get a live one every month. Everybody, I need you to wear your pants, right? So let's go. I want you to rock and roll. I want you to have fun this week. I want you to stay safe, and I want you to go make some money. Take care, everybody. I'll see you next week. Bye. Bye.
