MacGyver Doc: Leading in Chaos, Finding Purpose in Pressure with Dr. Josh McConkey

0:01John Lee Dumas:Boom, shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, brought to you by HighLevel, the all-in-one sales and marketing platform. Today we'll be breaking down MacGyver Doc, leading in chaos, finding purpose in pressure. And to drop these value bombs, I brought Dr. Josh McConkey into EO Fire Studios. Dr. Josh MacGyver Doc is a Pulitzer Prize nominee, Telly Award winner, combat veteran, and emergency physician. He's an award-winning author of Be the Weight Behind the Spear and The Heart of a Leader, Inspiring Resilient Leadership. And today we talk about leadership under fire, emergency medicine and decision making, building resilient teams, the weight behind the spear, teaching future leavers and oh so much more.

0:43John Lee Dumas:And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Dr. Josh and our sponsors. Fire Nation, if you have a high ticket offer and need more quality leads, Nexus Install is designed for you. We'll book you eight to 20 qualified calls each month than train you to run the system yourself. Email my team at john at eofire.com to learn more and see if Nexus is the right fit for you. If you are building a real business, you need real infrastructure. High Level gives you website hosting, funnels, email marketing, automation, calendar booking, payments, and course hosting all on one platform, plus award-winning 24-7 support.

1:18John Lee Dumas:Get a 30-day free trial and my full bonus stack that includes a 15-minute private call with me and much more at highlevelfire.com, highlevelfire.com. Dr. Josh, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. Well, hello out there, Fire Nation. I believe success has far less to do with talent than it does with service. I believe ambition is overrated and service is very much underrated. Most people chase titles, money, and recognition. The people that I see the most successful are the ones that chase responsibility. And if you become indispensable to your family, your team, and your organization, success has no choice but to find you.

2:08John Lee Dumas:We're talking about leading in chaos and finding purpose in pressure. And I want to start by talking about leadership under fire, Dr. Josh, because you led teams in combat zones where decisions had to be immediate. They had real world consequences. So what did those environments teach you about leadership under pressure? When you see that type of pressure, when you see those life and death situations, I see that in the emergency department as well. And what you realize, like in the business world, in the environment, you have time. And that ability to adapt and overcome, you know, you take that from some of the military training and some of the special operations background.

2:51But for your organization, don't micromanage. Because when you micromanage your people, you're not letting them make decisions, you're not letting them make some small mistakes. I mean, that's how people learn. And when the time comes, and you get those pressure situations, If you haven't given them those tools to be successful and you've been micromanaging them, they're not going to be able to perform under pressure.

3:14John Lee Dumas:So let's talk about emergency medicine and decision making within that. Because after over 20 years as an emergency physician, how has rapid decision making shaped the way that you actually approach leadership and performance? In the emergency department, it really is the ultimate pressure situation. So they are literally life and death decisions. And what you learn in business is that everyone wants an answer immediately and everyone's looking to you as the leader. Take a moment and step back. You have time. It might not be much time. You know, sometimes you're going to have more time than other situations, but there's always time.

3:55So sit back, have a nice checklist that you run through in your head, pull in the people that you trust in your organization. And with the best information that you have at the time, you're going to make that right decision for your organization. But there's always time. It just might not be much, but take that time.

4:12John Lee Dumas:Let's talk about building resilient teams. I think this is a critical component that a lot of people just don't understand how to even start. Because you teach leadership principles across industries. And what are those key ingredients of resilient, high-performing teams? I've done some amazing things in a very long career in medicine and education in the military. My favorite by far was the time that I met Coach K. So when I was a professor at Duke University, he came and gave a lecture to our residency program. And I thought he probably just owed someone a favor and this was going to be just a publicity stunt.

4:51But he literally sat down and he gave us a nearly two hour lecture on building teams and that resiliency. And he just had five really key steps. I used it in my own Assumption of Command speech when I took command at Andrews Air Force Base. And he talks first about ownership. So just taking ownership in your organization and in business right now, the Generation Z. If you don't get them involved and have ownership in your business or feel like they're a big part of that, they just walk quickly. So ownership is huge. The second part was talking about accountability. And it starts with the person at the top.

5:33So you have to hold people accountable. It starts with you as a leader. I know for me and my military organization as a commander had to make some difficult calls with some senior level lieutenant colonels that just weren't pulling their weight and they had to get let go. So that accountability, if you show people that it means a lot to you, they'll meet a lot to them. And then the third part was talking about standards, not rules. Nobody likes rules. Everyone wants to find a way around the rules. But for Coach K, that having the standards, it's an honor to be part of this team, to be part of that organization.

6:12And then the last two, really, when you talk about empowerment and not micromanaging. micromanaging. You know, for me as a leader as well, don't micromanage. And I know I talked a little bit about that earlier as well, but you have to take ownership and empower your people. So if you have to micromanage in your organization, then you haven't made a good decision as a leader. So you need to step back. You need to take more time to coach them up, to mentor them and find a way to empower them, or you either have to make a tough decision and find someone else. So those five things right there were just awesome.

6:48John Lee Dumas:That's so powerful. And, you know, being a massive college basketball fan, like I definitely love the source of that. But I will say like, looking back on my time as an officer in the U.S. Army, the officers that I respected the most by a long shot, not even a little bit, but by a lot were those that took accountability. That was so huge for me because here I was a second lieutenant, a first lieutenant, a captain. And listen, I was making mistakes. My platoon was making mistakes. And it was those leaders in my chain of command that said, you know what? That's on me because you definitely made a mistake, but I'm taking ownership of that.

7:24I'm taking accountability of that because maybe I didn't train you the right

7:27John Lee Dumas:way. Maybe I wasn't clear on my communications. And I was like, man, I respected the crap out of that. I mean, I was personally taking ownership for my personal mistakes, but the fact that they were putting it on them, I was like, I want to be that kind of leader. And then there's other officers, unfortunately, who are the flip side, who everything was like, nothing was their fault. Everything was the, whoever was below them in the chain of commands fault or above them in the chain of commands fault, there was zero accountability. And those were the individuals that I absolutely just respected the least.

8:00John Lee Dumas:So do you have an example, Dr. Josh, that you can give in that specific scenario of accountability where you really believe just shines in its importance? So for me in Iraq in 2007, we had some medics in some very remote locations. So Talil, Al-Qut, just not a lot of medical resources out there. And so I really expanded their scope of practice, the things that they could do. And literally about two weeks after I left theater, there was a a horrific accident on one of the routes, IED that went off, and the medevac helicopter gets called in. They couldn't get the individuals out of the vehicle. And at that point, you're worried about snipers and secondary IEDs and, you know, just, you know, things get crazy very quickly.

8:49And the medic made a decision to try to amputate a leg in combat, you know, operations with craziness going on everywhere and it didn't go well and it was a third country national that actually died so people that were investigating you know they want to they want to point fingers point a lot of blame everyone wants to throw that medic under the bus and they had the person that had kind of stood in for me when I left country had called me up and I his name was Joe and I said Joe listen this is on me 100 percent you know things are crazy you have them call me and everyone wanted to kind of pass that blame or sacrifice that medic?

9:29I was like, no, I trained him. I gave him the latitude to do that. It didn't do well. You know, things happen in combat. Sometimes it's just not ideal situation. So I own that. And, you know, everybody sees those leaders that wants to pass the blame and they don't take accountability for things. And everyone is someone else's fault. They're trying to climb that ladder. I can't stand those types of leaders. And so, yeah, I took ownership for that. And at the end of the day, nothing could have been done differently anyways. They had to get the individual out, you know, just live fire coming in and just crazy situations, wild stuff happens.

10:03But yeah, you got to take that ownership.

10:05John Lee Dumas:Wow. I mean, that's a story that brings chills literally. And, you know, that's just really kind of grind my gears as well. When there's just people that are, you know, maybe back in the U.S. or somewhere else that's, you know, not in the quote unquote line of live fire. And they're like making calls and making decisions and making judgments on somebody who's literally getting shot at, who's literally in the line of fire, who's literally probably, you know, inches away from death. And to me, it's just like, if that other individual that's making the judgments is not in that situation and has probably never been in an exact situation like that, like it just is really frustrating to see because man, when you have been in that situation, as I was, we did overlap in Iraq.

10:45John Lee Dumas:I was there in 2003 to 2004. I had a 13 month tour of duty then. Um, I mean, I could just never, ever like judge harshly people who are acting for, for what they believe is in the best interest in a situation, especially like that. At the time, you know, you don't have a lot of time. Exactly. It's crazy. So this person that wants to Monday morning quarterback, they're sitting at some nice air conditioned office, like in Tampa that sent com command. And it's, it's crazy. It's exactly what it is. It's a Monday morning quarterback. They're not getting charged, you know, a hundred miles an hour from 300 pound linemen, you know, as they're trying to scramble out of the pocket and make a pass.

11:23John Lee Dumas:No, it's Monday morning quarterback. They don't get it. It's sad. We're going to talk about the weight behind the spear, teaching future leaders and more when we get back from thanking our sponsors. Fire Nation, if you are building a real business, you need real infrastructure. That is why High Level is Entrepreneur on Fire's featured partner. High Level gives you a website builder and hosting, funnels and landing pages, email marketing, appointment scheduling, payment processing, course and membership hosting, and so much more. Everything you need to succeed all under one roof. No duct tape, no juggling five platforms, just one clean system for your business and their award-winning 24-7 support has your back when you need it most.

12:03John Lee Dumas:When you sign up at highlevelfire.com, you also get my exclusive bonus stack, a 30-day free trial, a private 15-minute call with me, JLD, access to my weekly live office hours, a digital copy of my book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, my 50 Days to Something Execution Roadmap, and more. Visit highlevelfire.com and start building your something today. Fire Nation, if you have a high ticket offer, but you are not getting enough quality sales calls on the calendar, Nexus Install is exactly what you need. This is a custom LinkedIn client acquisition system built to help you connect with the right prospects, start real conversations, and turn those conversations into booked calls, here is what makes it different.

12:46John Lee Dumas:We do not just hand you a bunch of theory and tell you, good luck. We build the system with you. Dial in your audience, sharpen the messaging, run the outreach, and aim to book you 8 to 20 qualified calls each month. Then, once the system is proven and installed, we train you on how to run it yourself so you are not dependent on another agency forever. If you have a strong offer, a clear result, and are ready for more quality conversations with real prospects, email my team at john at eofire.com and then we'll set up a call to see if Nexus Install is the right fit for you. Simple, focused, and built for predictable, long-term, quality lead flow.

13:26Dr.

13:26John Lee Dumas:Josh, we're back. And as I kind of teased before the break, I want to talk about being the weight behind the spear. I mean, your Pulitzer Prize-nominated book, it focuses on purpose-driven leadership. So what's the core message behind that title? So for me, it's been my personal leadership ethos, be the weight behind the spear. And when you talk about the tip of the spear, you know, the special operations, I was medical director for combat search and rescue, or you talk about the CEOs of some big high-level companies, that's the tip of the spear. What I learned is that every single person that gets to that level has a tremendous weight behind them.

14:03So whether it was teachers or coaches or some mentors throughout their career, that is what gives them the confidence and the skill to do what they do. That's being the weight behind the spear. And for any organization, that's always your best resource. It's your people. And for me, it's been very successful in the military and in business as well. And that's being the weight behind the spear.

14:28John Lee Dumas:Let's talk about teaching future leaders. I mean, as a former Duke University professor, I'm getting the Coach K connections here. What did mentoring future leaders teach you about accountability and growth? In the emergency department, Duke University, we have a lot of high acuity. There's always the crazy cases that would come from all around North Carolina and the region looking for a Duke miracle. And in those types of environments, that really is the ultimate accountability. Because in the emergency department, you have split second decisions. And when you make a mistake, people die. and that's something that's very hard to live with but when you have that ability to really compartmentalize and you make critical decisions with limited information sometimes no information you're making the decision at the time split second with the best information that you had at the time it's easy to monday morning quarterback that and someone always criticizes you later but you learn to compartmentalize it otherwise it eats you alive so i know the first time i ran a pediatric code and a young baby died this was a sid's death and i just went home and we did everything we could but you're thinking about it you're second guessing things i just had a monster headache i had to run about seven miles until i was going to throw up and just exhaust myself and then you just realize that if you can't find a way to compartmentalize when you make difficult decisions and realize that you did the best that you could at the time, you're not going to survive in whatever career field that you're in.

16:02So you have to find a way, you got to have your stress relievers and find a way to compartmentalize.

16:08John Lee Dumas:Let's talk about the MacGyver doc mindset, because you're known for adapting and executing in absolute chaos. So how can entrepreneurs become better problem solvers when everything just feels so uncertain, which to be honest, Let's just say we mostly live in a world of uncertainty. Absolutely. So that MacGyver doc mindset, just that ability to adapt. So some of the biggest mistake that leaders make when you have uncertainty is waiting for certainty. In emergency medicine, in combat operations, in crisis response, in business, I've just learned that perfect information never arrives. It's never perfect.

16:47So the leaders who succeed are the ones, not the ones with all the answers. It's the ones that can make good decisions with incomplete information and then adapt quickly as those conditions change. And, you know, clarity doesn't usually come before action. You know, clarity comes from action. And then you just reevaluate and be flexible. And that ability to adapt and overcome is just really, really important.

17:14John Lee Dumas:Let's close with one leadership principle that Fire Nation should adopt today if they want to lead with more courage, more clarity, more purpose. You know, when you talk about being the weight behind the spear, you know, we live in a culture that celebrates that person in front. You know, the CEO, the influencer, like the number one person on the team. But every successful person has had people behind them who taught, coached, and mentored. And that's what I really like to focus on. So if you want more courage, you know, stop asking, what if I fail? You know, if you're not pushing yourself towards failure at some point, then you have a lot left to give your organization and you can't be afraid to fail.

17:56If you want more clarity, focus less on yourself and more on serving your mission and your team. And if you want more purpose, invest that time in people because titles fade, money comes and goes, but the impact you have on another person's life can last for generations. And leadership isn't a position, it's a decision. So life's a team sport, be the weight behind the spear.

18:21John Lee Dumas:Dr. Josh, if Fire Nation wants to connect with you, wants to learn more about what you have going on, what should they do? What actions should they take? Where should they go to consume your content. You can go to weightbehindthespear.com, W-E-I-G-H-T, weightbehindthespear.com. On Instagram, it's Josh McConkie, M-D. I'm on LinkedIn as well. And on X, it's McConkie007. I'm a James Bond fan. Fire Nation, you're the average. Of the five people you spend the most time with, you've been hanging out with 007 and JLD today. So keep up that heat. And for links to literally everything we talked about, visit eofire.com.

19:01John Lee Dumas:Just type Josh in the search bar. The show notes page will pop right up. And Dr. Josh, thank you for sharing your truth, knowledge, and value with Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thank you. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Josh for sponsoring today's episode. And Fire Nation, are you an entrepreneur on fire who's looking to share your amazing message with the world? If yes, we are now accepting applications for EO Fire. So to learn more about becoming a guest, visit eofire.com slash guest, and I'll catch you there or on the flip side.

19:32John Lee Dumas:Fire Nation, if you have a high ticket offer and need more quality leads, Nexus Install is designed for you. We'll book you eight to 20 qualified calls each month, then train you to run the system yourself. Email my team at john at eofire.com to learn more and see if Nexus is the right fit for you. If you are building a real business, you need real infrastructure. High Level gives you website hosting, funnels, email marketing, automation, calendar booking, payments, and course hosting all on one platform, plus award-winning 24-7 support. Get a 30-day free trial and my full bonus stack that includes a 15-minute private call with me and much more at highlevelfire.com.

20:10John Lee Dumas:Highlevelfire.com.