Beyond Distinction: How Entrepreneurs Transcend Marketplace Turbulence with Scott McKain

0:01Light that spark fire nation, JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on fire, the only daily show interviewing the world's top entrepreneurs seven days a week. Today, we'll be breaking down beyond distinction, how entrepreneurs transcend marketplace turbulence. To drop these value bombs, I brought Scott McCain into EO Fire Studios. Scott is a business advisor helping leaders create distinction. The 2024-2025 Cavit Award recipient, which is professional speaking's highest honor, Scott has shared his insights in every state in 40 countries. And today, we'll talk about how it's no longer changed its turbulence, Fire Nation.

0:37We'll talk about an elevated type of entrepreneurial thinking. We'll also talk about how the human factor is the essential key to unlock entrepreneurial success. It's not AI. And oh, so much more. And the big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Scott and our sponsors. Want to learn how to get booked and paid to speak? Great news. I've arranged direct access to my good friend, and Grant Baldwin's proven speaking business system from the Speaker Lab. Go to eofire.com slash speaker to grab your spot for our live training on May 28th and learn how to get booked and paid to speak. Scott, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with.

1:23You know, John, I posted something about this recently. I have a problem with people that say, follow your passion. I think passion is critical for success, but I know people that are passionately inept. I mean, they have so much passion for something, but because they haven't put the work in, the discipline in, the reps in, the old Malcolm Gladwell thing about to 10 ,000 hours. I mean, it's not just passion. And I love the quote by Scott Galloway that says, most people that tell you to follow your passion made their millions in iron ore smelting. it's, it, it, passion is critical. I'm not saying that it's not, but I'm saying that those folks who say to only blindly follow your passion, don't realize that sometimes you can get into a business that you really aren't passionate about, but you develop passion for it, the more successful you become.

2:16Oh, we're totally aligned on this. Um, and I will say that I definitely have passion for what I do. And I think that's an important thing, but the reality is a lot of people that have passion for what they do and it's just passion, I actually, I call that a hobby. And I'm like, hey, that's good for you. It's a hobby, go off and do it because you have passion for it. But unless you're fulfilling the other side of the equation, which for me is what value are you providing to the world? What solution are you providing to a real problem? You need the two. You need to have the passion, but also you have to be solving real problems.

2:51Otherwise, success is going to be elusive for you. That's definitely what I found. interviewing now 4 ,581 entrepreneurs in 13 years. But listen, today's about beyond distinction. It's about how entrepreneurs transcend marketplace turbulence. And you believe, Scott, that in today's world, it's no longer change, it's turbulence. Tell us more. When we describe change, and especially the last time that we talked here, what, I didn't realize, 10 years ago. 10 years, buddy. Unbelievable. But when we were talking 10 years ago, change was, gosh, we hate going through this. You know, it's going to be painful to go from point A to point B.

3:28But where point B was going to be was a heck of a lot more predictable than what it is today. I think of it more like turbulence. It can come from anywhere. It can be unexpected. How many times have you been on a flight and the air is clear and all of a sudden you start hitting bumps that were unanticipated and the seatbelt sign goes on? We feel like we're that way all the time right now in business. I mean, look at what happened not long ago with the Chinese AI company that destroys a trillion dollars of market cap in the markets in one day. It's unbelievable. Fire Nation, this is the type of thing you need to be recognizing that is just the world that we live in.

4:02Have your finger on that pulse. Because, Scott, you believe that turbulence calls for an elevated type of entrepreneurial thinking. So tell us more about that. I think part of what's happened is the game has changed so much, right, John? I mean, the speed of disruption has changed. The direction has changed. The simultaneous nature of disruption has happened. You don't know where it's coming from. I mean, look at, you know, as a small entrepreneur, I look up to big companies and who would have thought that Apple would have been in the finance business with payments? Who would have thought that Netflix would be in the developing video games business?

4:36I mean, Amazon and the cloud storage. I mean, you never would have thought about these things. Exactly, which is the biggest part of their business that people don't realize, that the average person doesn't realize that's the bulk of Amazon's profits. So I think what entrepreneurs have to do, I used to say, side story, so I go to this year's National Speakers Association Convention. Now, when you and I talked 10 years ago, I was talking about a tragedy that happened in my life and how I had to rebuild my business as an entrepreneur, and the key was standing out. It was becoming distinctive. And so that's what I wrote about and what I have been talking about for the last 10 years.

5:11So I go to this year's convention and there were 30 speakers trying to tell you how to stand out. Wow. Standing out has become commoditized. Every entrepreneur wants to stand out. So if we're all trying to do that, then are we still caught in a commodity trap, just an advanced one? And so that's where the idea for Beyond Distinction came from. and it's transcending all of this turbulence that's in the marketplace. And I used to tell entrepreneurs that it was really critical for them to be clear. This is what we are and this is what we are not. Because one of the challenges I saw entrepreneurs constantly getting into was trying to be all things to all people, trying to do everything for, well, I can't lose a customer.

5:50I have to do this as well. Now what we have to have, I think, is visionary clarity. We have to have a vision that defines what we can become at our highest potential. not only what we are today and what we aren't today, but what we can become at our highest potential. We need what I call the strategic compass, which is a way to provide direction amid the turbulence. See, while we may have to adapt because of turbulence, our value should still be the North Star. So what are the values of our organization that we have as entrepreneurs that are not going to change no matter what the turbulence is that we encounter?

6:29You think that Gretzky had it easy. What do you mean by that? Yeah. I go to so many meetings and heck, I've told this story sometimes. It's the old quote, Wayne Gretzky, I don't skate to where the puck is. I skate to where the puck is going. And it's been a great analogy to look at the future. But you know what I realized was, they gave Gretzky a schedule of who he's going to be playing a year in advance. The size of the rink was the same every time he skated on the ice. They had officials on the ice to make sure that nobody broke the rules, right? I mean, we entrepreneurs should be thrilled to have those advantages.

7:06We don't know the size of the rink. We don't know who the competition's going to be next week. We don't have officials that are making sure that everybody plays with the same rules. We should have it as easy as Wayne Gretzky had it as entrepreneurs today. Fire Nation, so true. And that's why I brought Scott on because he's just giving us a dose of reality in this world that we're living in here today? Because it is a crazy world. And Scott, you believe that standing out is no longer enough. We need to move beyond distinction. I mean, we've talked a little bit about this already, but what exactly does that mean?

7:36Those two words, beyond distinction? It means that what we have to do is not only think about how do we stand out today, but how do we transcend the turbulence of tomorrow? It is having that clarity that's visionary that I talked about. Not only what we are now and being very clear about that, There's more demands on entrepreneurs than ever before. And like I said, we have to think about what we can be. We have to create what I call adaptive creativity. It means that we start as entrepreneurs understanding we are going to have to constantly innovate. Most innovation has been reactive among entrepreneurs rather than proactive.

8:13We have to think about how we have continuous rather than episodic innovation. How do we align with our vision rather than scatter what we do? How do we keep looking forward as opposed to just responding to what's happening in the marketplace? So notice those two are in order. We begin with that visionary clarity. And then once we have our vision of not only where we are now, but what we can be, now how do we incorporate creativity and innovation as a constant part of what we do rather than just something that we do to keep up with what the competition is doing or to react to a marketplace change?

8:50Man, powerful stuff, Fire Nation. If you think we're even close to done dropping value bombs, you've got another thing coming as soon as we get back from thanking our sponsors. There's a lot to consider when starting your own business and protecting your identity and privacy are top concerns. With Northwest Registered Agent, you get more privacy, more guidance, and more freedom to run your business from anywhere in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes. Northwest Registered Agent has been helping businesses launch and grow for nearly 30 years. If you want to build your business while keeping your personal information secure, Northwest is the partner you need.

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10:03Speaking from stage is one of the most impactful ways I found to share my message and grow my business. But if you've never done it before, it can seem intimidating. How do you get booked and paid to speak if you've never done it before? Great question. And to answer it, I've arranged direct access to my good friend, Grant Baldwin's proven speaking business system from the Speaker Lab. This is a live training where you'll learn the proven five-step process that led Grant to over 500 paid gigs, current paid speaking opportunities you can pursue right now, plus the number one marketing tool that's working for his students in 2025.

10:38The Speaker Lab is committed to helping 1 ,000 new speakers land paid gigs this year, and I'd love for you to be one of them. This live training is going down May 28th and there are limited spots available. So head over to eofire.com slash speaker to grab your spot on this live training where you can ask questions and get them answered. Plus learn how to get booked and paid to speak. That's eofire.com slash speaker. Scott, we're back and it's obvious that AI, artificial intelligence, it's changing everything. Not immediately, but over time. Do you believe the human factor is the essential key to unlock entrepreneurial success?

11:18If yes, tell us more. Absolutely, John. Yeah, I've heard you talk about it and it's so true. You nail it. It is the key. I mean, people, no matter what the new technology is going to be, and just like AI is new, heck, five, 10 years from now, there's going to be something else that comes along as well. We know there's going to be that kind of continuous technological innovation, but it's still the human touch. It's why the third of the cornerstones to this transcendence is the importance of how we tell stories. It's transformative communication. It's communication on a personal level. The business folks I've been talking to lately, John, it kind of scares me a little bit because they look at AI perhaps as kind of corporate monjaro.

12:03You know, it's going to let us lose a lot of weight. I think that visionary entrepreneurs are saying something different. We're going to use AI as a way to scale and to take care of repetitive tasks to give our people more time to get closer to our customers, to create more of the human connectivity rather than less. And the organizations that are visionary enough to do that will transcend this turbulence in the marketplace, you know, and will be the ones that succeed going forward. You believe in proactive customer experiences. Give us some examples about that. What does that mean? It means that we know our customers so well, we can think like them and anticipate their needs.

12:47A quick story for you. One of my clients has been Fairmont Hotels, and in particular, the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess in Scottsdale, Arizona. And so they were talking about how do they stand out? I mean, think of all the great resorts in the Scottsdale area. Why would you You pick one over the other. And the conversation many years ago was going on, and they're like, let's add marble to the lobby and more chandeliers. And we'll just wow our guests when they walk in. And I'm sitting there going, you know, those of us that travel a lot, we've seen a few chandeliers. We've seen some marble. And by the way, they've already walked in.

13:22Like you've kind of already won at that point. Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. And so then we pop the question, okay, so let's flip the script. Think about somebody that stayed at your property. What excites them about going home? And so they started making a list. Oh, I get a home-cooked meal. I get to sleep in my own bed. I get to see my family. And then somebody said, you know, my dog is so excited to see me. It makes me feel so great. So we kept talking about that. And now when you go check in at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, there are two beautiful golden retrievers. I love the goldens.

13:57They are very well trained. And they have a trainer with them who, by the way, just won the award as the number one hospitality employee in the state of Arizona. Think about all the folks working at hotels and resorts in Arizona. He won the award. And they read your body language, see if you're a dog person. If you are, while you're waiting to check in, these golden retrievers come up and they're wagging their tail. They're so excited to see you. And it changes the whole dynamic about how you feel about the hotel. But then being entrepreneurs, what do you do? So we created a coloring book that parents then can take home and show their kids.

14:33Here's the dogs I saw when I stayed at the hotel. Well, how do you monetize it? So now there are plus toys in the gift shop, the golden retrievers, that you can take home to your kids and tell them the story. But here's the unintended benefit. Now parents are asking their kids, where do you want to go on vacation this year? And believe it or not, some of the kids are saying, I want to go meet the dogs. kids and their memories are unbelievable. Yeah, exactly. And when is school out summer? When do people least want to go to Scottsdale, Arizona? The hotel now even has, you know, has experiences with the dogs, but they also have, they've built in a beach with a, you know, wave pool and all kinds of things geared around things that families can do over the summer and their occupancy rate in the summer.

15:21The toughest season that they would have has skyrocketed because what they did was Think more like the customer. Tell the story about the dogs and help their customers tell the story for them so they can become advocates in the marketplace for them. And now that Fairmont is the single most profitable in the entire chain. And that's what happens when you think about transcending your current situation, getting closer to your customers, thinking like them instead of you, and anticipating not just what would serve them great today, but what creates an experience that they'll be talking about in the future.

15:59You believe that the quote, what gets measured gets managed, is no longer relevant. You actually prefer what gets measured with insight and intention gets transformed. Expound upon this. I've heard other of your guests, John, as I listen, have had to discuss the difference between management and leadership. It's pretty significant. And it's part of that. What gets managed, what gets measured gets managed, but what gets managed isn't necessarily transcendent. It doesn't take you beyond distinction. It's what we have to do to think about how we are going to embrace the journey and define the future rather than merely just participating and reacting to it.

16:41And so bringing that human element into the data and the information is what's going to connect not only with your customers, but as entrepreneurs, we've got to be connecting with our teams. Well, the entrepreneurs I'm talking to, John, and you talk to more than I, but I bet we hear the same thing. And that is it's so hard to find good people. And once you find them, it's so hard to keep. Oh, yeah. And so thinking in this way, you know, how do we put all this together so that we have this vision of the future that we're clear about? We're willing to constantly innovate and adapt. We're telling our story and we're proactively thinking of how we serve our customers' needs.

17:23People get engaged by that. But the flip side of the coin, too, that entrepreneurs have to consider is it's not just thinking about what our external customers, the experiences that they're going to be looking forward to having. How do we do that for our internal customers? How do we make certain our team is excited about being here and looking forward? It was so funny. During the Super Bowl, I hated Kendrick Lamar's halftime show. And my stepson loved it, thought it was the best one he'd ever seen. I was like, have you seen Prince? You know, have you? How many of these have you seen? But I realized the world was not stopping to care about what I cared about.

18:02And I could either appreciate, it didn't mean I have to enjoy, you know, the music of Kendrick Lamar and forget Morgan Wallen. But what it does mean is I have to understand that there are people that have different tastes than I do. And it's not that they're wrong. It's just different tastes. And I think so many times as entrepreneurs, we go by that old saying, we're going to manage people the way we'd like to be managed. But the problem is, what if they don't want to be managed the way we were? When I was an 18-year-old walking the hallway where I worked after school, if the boss grunted at me in the hallway, my response was, geez, I'm still employed.

18:39But now if the boss grunts at you in the hallway, the generation of today went, oh, my gosh, they don't like me. What has happened here? And they want to be led and managed and directed in a different way than what people of a particularly older generation has desired. It doesn't mean that we're right and they're wrong. It doesn't mean that they're right and we're wrong. We just have to appreciate and embrace the differences and the uniqueness of what our customers both externally and internally are bringing to our organization. Scott, no shocker, you've dropped value bomb after value bomb today.

19:16So if you could, in just one sentence, maybe two, give us a sum up of the one takeaway you really want to make sure our listeners get from today's conversation, what would that be? My concern for entrepreneurs is that the future is going to belong not to those who just adapt and respond, or even those who stand out, but it's going to be those who move beyond distinction by thinking what is the best they can be for the future, not just for today. And how do we transcend the current marketplace so that we set the standard rather than merely responding to it? Scott, a Fire Nation is resonating with your content, which I'm sure they are.

19:55How can they connect with you? What's the next step to learn more from you? What is your call to action for Fire Nation today? John, they could just go to scottmccain.com and it's M-C-K-A-I-N, spelled a little bit differently. And we'll have some resources there for your listeners. One of the things we're going to do different with the new book on Beyond Distinction is we're giving it away. I'm recording right now. We're going to be giving away the audio version, the e-book version, because I just think I'm at a point in my career, I just think this is more important to get out than it is to sell.

20:28So we're going to provide this for free to anybody that wants it. And coming soon on scottmccain.com, there'll be the links and everything that your listeners need to access this information absolutely free. Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And you've been hanging out with SM and JLD today, so keep up the heat. And for links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com. Type Scott in the search bar. The show notes page will pop right up with, again, links to everything that we just talked about. Scott, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation.

21:00For that, we salute your brother and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thanks, John. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Scott for sponsoring today's episode and Fire Nation. What can 4 ,000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs teach you? How about how to achieve financial freedom and fulfillment? My first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, is a revolutionary 17-step roadmap that will lead you to the lifestyle you've been dreaming about. This book took me 10 years of accumulating the genius of the world's top entrepreneurs, and you can get it all in one place when you visit UncommonSuccessBook.com.

21:38I'll catch you there. We're on the flip side. Want to learn how to get booked and paid to speak? Great news. I've arranged direct access to my good friend, Graham Baldwin's proven speaking business system from the Speaker Lab. Go to eofire.com slash speaker to grab your spot for our live training on May 28th and learn how to get booked and paid to speak. Thank you.