How Your Past Is Running Your Leadership [The Leader’s Playlist]

Foreign. Hi, I'm Susan Drum and welcome to the special edition of the Enlightened Executive, a seven episode podcast series on the Leaders Playlist where we'll be discussing how to use the power of music and neuroscience to transform your leadership and your Life. Go to susandrumm.com to learn more about these concepts and the book. And I am so excited to have Todd Hartley with me who's the CEO of Wirebuzz, which helps leverage the power of online video to achieve a company's business goals. And he's also the rock star of remote selling, video marketing Sales optimization. He's one of Tony Robbins Business Mastery faculty speakers and delivers high octane keynotes all over the world. So excited you're here with me.

You know, it's so funny, I think back to the first time I met you and for the listeners you need to know. This first time I met Susan, I was one of like 15 or 20 rock star speakers and entrepreneurs and like New York Times bestsellers that all went to this private event in Cabo San Lucas right above the ocean. And there was Susan leading us through a workshop throughout a good portion of our day, just helping us discover where our leadership qualities are. So to be able to have this conversation with Susan after I saw her lead a total group of alpha males to discovering what improves them and just super excited about it. Look, I think there's something really interesting going on. Like your book is fascinating. I noticed that inside of my head, like your book mentions that I've got a song that's on repeat throughout the day and sometimes girl, that song isn't too pleasant. Why did you write your book?

Yes, I just saw the disparity of great leadership. You know, you think about who's the best boss that you've ever worked for and what may think about all the other people you've worked for, what make them not quite as good struggling. I bet you'd have tons of advice for them if you could have given next generation both become better leaders to be a better example as well as the current generation of leaders to understand what the blind spots are in their leadership and how the past is actually influencing how they're showing up as a leader in a way that they may not even realize.

So do you think that some of us leaders are like playing literally the wrong song over and over in our head when it comes to leadership? And if so, how?

Yes, it's, it's, it's like this background music. You know, you can't get that song out of your head sometimes You. You recognize and you just like, oh, there's that song again. And other times you don't even know that it's playing. But there is this background energy and vibration, which is what music is that's playing in the background. And that's what I've seen. Color leaders, perception of what's really going on in a situation. It's that underlying playlist. And when I talk about underlying playlist or music, I'm talking about these different sets of limiting beliefs that hold us back. So I'm not good enough. I'm. I'm treated unfairly. I'm an imposter. I'm trapped. All of those are coloring how we use music, the little use of music to switch. So I'm saying playlist, and I like to say this really hit it home. I'm using it figuratively and literally.

Now I'm a musical person. Like, I should be on Broadway and not on, like, Camelback Road in Scottsdale. Literally. I've got music all day long playing in repeat. Have you seen, like, multiple leaders experiencing similar problems like this with their internal playlists?

Yeah, I think, look, we tend to. When we talk about you playing music and use of playing music, we tend to play music that's matching our emotional state. And what I'm talking about is, let's get really clear what the old deep wounded pattern is that's running your leadership and how we shift it to a new pattern and using music to do that. So being much more intentional about the music you listen to and creating an actual playlist that mirrors the type of leader that you need to be or how you need to shift it. Now, what I've seen is there, and I outline this in the book, that there are nine most common old playlists playing leaders in the background. So these nine different sets of music, so to speak, or belief patterns are showing up. And these are the most common ones I've seen in all the time. I've been doing this for decades now.

You know, I've heard you over the years talk about superpowers and liabilities. Like, when it comes to someone's playlist. Can you talk a little bit about those two pieces and how they impact a leader from going from an average or maybe a leader that generates average results to exceptional.

Yes. Yeah. What happened to us in our childhood has us develop a survival technique or strategy. And of course, that becomes. The more we hone that, that becomes our superpower. But it comes at a cost. It comes at a liability that will put a ceiling on your leadership. Effectiveness. So we want to keep the best of your superpower, but also recognize where it's getting in your own way. And let me give you an example of this. There's a leader named Brandon who was a newly minted manager in his late 20s, early 30s, time frame. And he wanted to do it different. Right. He had experienced this bad leadership and said, I'm gonn gonna. I'm gonna inspire my team. I'm gonna give them lots of feedback because I didn't get that, and I'm gonna do it differently. And all good intentions and. But the reality was he gave them a lot of feedback, but it was mostly positive feedback, and he couldn't really give the team what they needed, which was looking at what the bigger picture is, because he wasn't really clear himself, and he didn't really have the hard conversation with his boss to get clarity on what that was. And so the reality, even though he had these good intentions, he was. The underlying playlist was, I'm not enough, because his whole focus was, I want people to like me. He wanted his team to like him. He wanted his boss to like him. And so the liabilities of that were he didn't have the tough conversations that he needed to have, the direct feedback that he needed to give, but he was a wonderful. His superpower was this connector and having people feel. Feel part of a team, all of those were great gifts. But his team struggled in their own performance. So he had the relational piece, but did he really. Because he couldn't really build the right trust when people think they're going to be promoted because they've only gotten good feedback when the reality is there were some things that would hold them back from being promoted, but he didn't deliver that message.

So he had this desire and willingness to build the team, but holding people accountable or inspiring them was missing inside of his internal playlist. Is that kind of how this works?

Yeah. What was missing is the fact that what's really driving that behavior. What's driving the behavior of him not giving the tough feedback? What's driving the behavior of him not having the tough conversation with his boss to get clear on. Is this even the right direction that we should be going on? What's driving that is that he wanted to ultimately have them like him and didn't want to push the envelope or risk the relationship by having some of these tougher conversations. So that's really what's driving you. Then, of course, it's not going to be successful.

Okay. Oh, my God. This is so common. You know, as a business leader, I see this in people all the time, and I even see shadows of it in me. What factors do you believe drive motivation for leaders to, like, rewrite, if you can, to rewrite that internal playlist?

Either they know I feel like I can't break through this. Like, why am I not. Why am I struggling? And I, in the book, I call it, they get a belly full. Like, they just. They're like, I. This. I can't seem to break through. And hopefully those are the leaders that say, yeah, but it's something with me, and I know I need to look further. Other leaders will blame the environment, blame the culture, blame their boss, blame external things. But ultimately, you only have control of yourself. So those that are willing to be like, and what ways am I contributing to this situation that that's usually the driver.

Yeah, okay. That's the beginning. Like, that's the beginning of the turnaround. And like, how about you? Like, do. Do even you have a playlist? And if so, how often do you listen and how often do you have to create a new playlist?

Yeah, I. I absolutely have a playlist. This all started from my own journey of where I was feeling like I was bumping my head up against the ceiling, and I couldn't break out of a certain emotional pattern based on external events that happened to me. And as much as I knew it wasn't good for me, I couldn't let go of the resentment that was building over what had happened. And I literally used music to be able to shift my emotional state and vibration to get into a better pattern. And so that playlist was called my empowerment playlist. And I had about 15 songs or so, and I had my anchor song. That was the song I could use anytime I felt myself going down that old neural pathway of frustration. I like, nope, I don't want to be that person again. I'm putting this. I'm putting this song on, and I'm shifting into it. It was Bruno Mars 24 Karat Magic, by the way.

Oh, yeah. I like that song.

Love that song.

So these are actually physical songs. Like, I actually have real music that's playing on auto repeat, annoyingly in my head. So you're actually using this as a metaphor. It's actual music that you can play to create a playlist that gets you into this peak state or this leadership state that's going to help get the best out of you. Am I understanding this correctly?

That is right.

That is awesome.

Yeah, it's. It's the way I Say, is the music is actually a brain hack because it's priming the neural landscape to be able to make change stick more. And it. It was the fastest way for you to shift state that I've seen. So. And there's lots of different ways to shift state. Right. I'm an actor, you know, in training, and. And so. But this. This is the one, you know, because you think about how powerful music is. You can remember from your high school experience, there was, like, this one song, like, so your thing that got you right. And so I think that that's the. That's what makes the difference in using it here.

Okay, may I be candid for a moment? I'm actually a little embarrassed to tell you this, but it's totally in alignment with what we're talking about today. Maybe two hours before, I felt like there wasn't enough momentum going on in each of the different projects that I was working on. So I changed my state and I played a song, and I played that song maybe seven times in a row as loud as I could. And in doing so, I hacked the story that was going on. And then shortly after, like, right after I finished the, you know, the seventh or eighth time, I got an email for a deal that closed. I got somebody else in the company that closed the deal bigger than mine. And then all of a sudden, I got a couple of emails from clients. I was like, damn, there's, like, good stuff happening right now. And all I did was really, as I was preparing for this was take your advice and create a new song in my playlist.

Yeah, you changed your energy, and with that, you're broadcasting a different signal, and what you broadcast out will get returned back to you. So you will see external circumstances shift, but first you got to shift inside.

Yeah, that's super cool. I actually thought, well, dude, you probably should have started off this way in the morning. You never get yourself into trouble like that, do you? Do you regularly add or update to your playlist? Is this, like, something you do often?

I do because, you know, the brain likes variety, and I think we get kind of sick of the same songs you need. That's why when you hear a new song and it's a new beat, I love this song. I want to hear it every time. And then it gets overplayed on the radio, like, oh, I'm so sick of that song. You need to kind of do the same thing with your playlist. And in the book, we also talk about ways to implement the playlist. Right. Strategies to use it both Use it when you're in a bad state and need to shift as well as how you use it to start your day and build the resilience of this particular neuropathway. But I want to be really clear that it's not just about. Not just about shifting state, but undercovering a deeper pattern. That is the background playlist that's coloring how you lead. So there's a surface level. Like, yeah, we can use music. We know this. We use music to pump us up to go work out. But it's. It is deep. It's also deeper looking at what is really going on underneath that's driving my behavior. Yeah.

Okay. Like, I've got to know you pretty well over the years. Could I, like, get a peek someday at your playlist? Do you share that?

Yes, I do. And. And all the leaders that I talk about in the book, we have all of their playlists for you. It's under susandrum.com playlists. You can go and see my empowerment playlist as well as the other leaders in the book.

And for people that want to get access and get their hands on this book, a physical book. Imagine that. I know the leaders playlist book.com the leaders playlist book.com is where they get going. Susan, thank you so much for sharing a few moments. I think this is transformational. I witnessed it today and I'm excited to see how it builds inside of me. So thank you for creating this groundbreaking book so us leaders can help heal ourselves, so we can serve more, guide more and do more.

Oh, thank you, Todd. You're amazing. I. More people need to follow you. Pay attention to this guy. He is so helpful. He is the master of video. How to use video to sell better. How to use video to help elevate your brand, who you are, how to connect with people. This is the guy you need to pay attention to. So I'm just. I'm just honored to have you on the.

I feel the same way. She's Susan Drum. For more information, the leaders playlist book.com thank you, Susan.

Thanks. Curious about the concepts we talked about in this episode? Go to the leaders playlist book.com to learn more and purchase the book. And stay tuned for the next episode of the Leaders Playlist.