The Secret Power of Kindness with Greg Atkinson

0:02Who's ready to rock today, Fire Nation? JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Success Story Podcast. Today, we'll be breaking down the secret power of kindness. To drop these value bombs, I am brought to Greg Atkinson and EO Fire Studios. Greg is an entrepreneur, bestselling author, speaker, leadership, and life coach, consultant, and member of the Forbes Coaching Council. His newest book is The Secret Power of Kindness. And today, Fire Nation will talk about letting go of being in complete control, staying calm under pressure, picking the battles worth fighting, truly connecting with people and so much more.

0:43And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Greg and our sponsors. The Hustle Daily Show, hosted by Juliet Bennett-Ryla, Rob Litters, Ben Berkeley, and Mark Dent, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. The Hustle Daily Show brings you a healthy dose of irreverent, offbeat, informative takes on business and tech news, like a recent episode on hackers versus casinos, where the hosts talk about MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment and the devastating potential of cyber attacks. Listen to The Hustle Daily wherever you get your podcasts.

1:16Ever thought about giving a TEDx talk? It's one of the most powerful ways to share your message with the world. And four-time TEDx speaker Taylor Conroy from Thought Leader can help you get there. Visit thought-leader.com slash fire to join Taylor's free trading, where he teaches you how to land a TEDx talk and spread your message to millions. Greg, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. Hey, what's up, Fire Nation? What I think that a lot of people disagree with, because I probably, like you, follow a lot of entrepreneurs and business accounts and millionaires, billionaires, There's people on Instagram and TikTok and all that.

2:02And what I believe is a little contrary to some that I see is that I believe we need proper rest. And I even have a whole chapter dedicated to that in my book on rest and sleep. And, you know, in our culture of hustle and grind, which I am all for, I also believe in work hard, play hard. and I take time to sleep and to rest and to vacation and take a day off and to try to remain healthy. I saw some other authors that I respect write about the same thing. Michael Hyatt and Adam Grant also talked about protecting our mental health and our physical health and getting proper sleep. And so I've seen some interviews with guys that sleep like two hours a night and cram in more hours a day, but I have found great success by protecting my health and taking time away.

2:58Greg, we are speaking the same language, brother. Sleep is one of my very high pillars that I will just not mess with. I'm in bed by 9.15 p.m. every night. My goal is to get eight to nine hours of sleep. My Oura Ring tells me what my sleep score is every single morning, and I'm always looking to improve that. So Fire Nation, if you're trying to burn the candle at both ends, believe me, it will catch up with you. We're looking to live a healthy, long, happy life and sleep is such a critical component of that. So I love where we started off and we're talking today about the secret power of kindness.

3:41And Greg, let's just be honest with Fire Nation today. So many entrepreneurs have this unquenchable desire to be in complete control. I've been there. I get it. How can we let go of this desire? Great question. I would first say it's not easy, but it is something that we can achieve and accomplish. It may be a process for some people. It's definitely easier said than done, but I have done a lot of work personally and also through therapy of giving up the illusion of control. I share a very personal story in my book about how I am often reminded that I am not in control. One is when I fly, when I sit down on the airplane and it's taking off down the runway, I am very aware that I'm not in control.

4:37I feel in control when I'm driving and when I'm the pilot, but when somebody else is flying the plane and I'm going down that runway, I realized I was never in control to begin with. And the same thing, if you've ever had a medical procedure, been put to sleep, gone under, had surgery, you're very aware that your life is in somebody's hands and you just have to trust their expertise and experience and professionalism. And so there are a lot of things, scenarios like that, that we can see in life to learn a proper perspective of releasing that control and just trusting the process, trusting friends and support system and family members.

5:25And so I'm really big into trying to give up control and it is a daily battle. It is not easy, but the reward is worth it. Fire Nation, it is the reward. It is worth it. And when you give up this unquenchable desire that you may have of being in complete control, man, you are freeing up so much in your life. And I want to move on because we have so much to talk about when it comes to the secret power of kindness, when it comes to just living a more fulfilled life as a human, not even just as an entrepreneur, but as a human. And one of those things I know a lot of humans struggle with is staying calm under pressure.

6:10And I can give you a direct scenario from my time as an officer in the U.S. Army. It was so easy for me to separate the great leaders from the poor ones because the great ones were calm under pressure. And the poor ones, they panicked. They freaked out. They couldn't handle pressure. So help us out here. How can we stay calm under pressure? There's a lot of things that would go into it. And I loved the experience and scenario that you shared from military service. And that is something that you see in the great leaders. They are composed. They are calm under pressure. In my book, I open up with the story of the difference between Coach Bobby Knight and Coach John Wooden.

6:55Obviously, John Wooden won more national championships than any other coach, but he was always calm under pressure. And that's a sign of a great leader and highly successful people can stay calm. I have had people come at me pretty hard, pretty harsh, pretty angry, and then I would respond in a kind way. And it took them by surprise. It defused the situation. It got us back to a place of being able to come to an agreement or compromise. As you know, there's a lot of books out there about emotional health. I read my first one 20 years ago in my 20s, and now there's all kinds of books on EQ and emotional intelligence and things that we can do to try to remain composed and respond in a kind manner.

7:51Because, you know, what I help people with is kindness and team culture. and when we remain composed and stay calm, we are often better able to be heard and understood and that's all we really want is to be heard and to be understood. But when we respond in a kind way, we gain a better audience, somebody that will listen to us because we diffuse the situation. Greg, I wanna talk about picking our battles because you believe that as entrepreneurs, we should only be picking the battles that are actually worth fighting. And I know that you think, as do I, that a lot of people, and especially entrepreneurs, pick a lot of battles that are just useless battles because it's just a waste of our time, our energy, our bandwidth.

8:39They're not worth fighting. So how can we unlock the wisdom to identify which battles are worth fighting? Great question. I did an interview with Forbes magazine years ago, and they asked me, question as a coach, and I talked about there being riches in the niches. Not everything out there is for every entrepreneur or every business owner, but when you find the combination of your gifting, your experience, your expertise, your background, and it meets a need, it solves a problem. I am working on a new business idea with a friend of mine, and we've had a couple key meetings. And what I love about this new business idea of a new company we're launching is it solves a problem, it meets a need, and it is a super niche.

9:31It is not for everybody in the world or even everybody in America, but for those that do this particular thing, they will absolutely love it. And so to realize that there are a lot of ways, as you know, to make money. There are so many opportunities out there now for business owners and people that are self-employed and people that have a wiring to start a business or run a business. And it's a great time right now to be in business, but not everything is for everyone. And so if you really do a self-inventory to figure out what you're best at, what you're good at, and then draw like a Venn diagram of how that meets a need, how it solves a problem.

10:18And if it is a niche that there's a certain group of people that will be raving fans and advocates and praise your company, then I say go for it. But don't try to juggle too much and don't go after everything. Fire Nation, when's the last time you've done a self-inventory? Think about it. It's a tough question, but it's a great one. And I find that the successful people are doing self inventories often. While the people who struggle, they actually struggle remembering the last time they've done a self inventory. So think about it. And we have so much to talk about when we get back from thinking our sponsors.

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14:02It's about truly connecting with other humans. It's a skill that unfortunately few people actually have, but would be one that's very worthy acquiring. So how do we acquire this skill of honestly, truly connecting with people? Yeah, so I, in my book, I have a chapter on empathy, and empathy very simply defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person. And when we are bosses and employers and have people that work for us, if we take the time to be curious, if we take the time to be compassionate, empathetic, and really encourage, one of the things that I try to do the most with my team members and the people that work for me is to encourage them.

14:55And I remember years ago hearing Jim Welts, the CEO of GE, being interviewed, and he said he spent one third of his time as the CEO of GE walking around the halls, walking through the cubicles and talking to his employees. And that made an impact on me to have such a massive business, massive company, but that a third of his time was spent interacting with employees. And when you are curious, when you are empathetic, when you are connected to others, as you know, they will run through a wall for you. They will bend over backwards for you, but they've got to feel appreciated and cared for. And it's just also part of my wiring of being genuine and authentic.

15:42I don't do it in a manipulative way. I don't do it to deceive anybody in any way. I just genuinely care for people and I want them to know they're appreciated. And I have found that the effect of that is work production goes up. It goes through the roof because people know you, you love them, you respect them and you care for them. Fire Nation, I love this thought process of going through your actual company, speaking to individuals that work for you, and having a real conversation, asking questions, connecting, letting them know that you really care. Not just surface level stuff, like really dig in, like really get in there and let them know that you care about them as somebody on your team, as a human, as just somebody that's living on this earth with you.

16:33I mean, that's a way that you're going to be able to truly connect with people when they know that you care. And you also believe that if we're able to unify our team, which is what you do when you're doing some of these things we're talking about, that we're able to go further and we're able to go further faster. So what steps do we need to take to accomplish this unification of our team, Greg? I think casting a vision for that, you know, when I coach leaders, and I've done this for years, I would give the example of being in a boat with four or five people. Four people are rowing in the same direction, and one is rowing the opposite direction.

17:18And as you can imagine, we're going to be slowed down, and we're going to drag the water and not make it as fast as the other boats that are in the water. But if we can get everybody pulling in the same direction, rowing in the same direction, we're all five aligned, focused and have the exact same goal. We're going to go further, faster and accomplish more and hopefully have a great opportunity to win the race. And so when I work with organizations, I talk about rowing in the same direction. Everybody's on the same page. Everybody knows their role. you know the term from good to great they know their seat on the bus they're they're on the right seat on the bus and we're we're in it together and unified and that is how I close my book that's the thing that I'll I build up to is imagine a world where everyone is kind to one another where we are unified and we seek to have a unified team what I loved about the Ritz Carlton And, you know, Hort Schultz, when he designed this company, this hotel and set the team culture, he said, we are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.

18:36And so when we are unified in the goal, in the vision, in the mission of here's how we are, we're going to treat one another with respect and kindness. And we're going to treat our customers with respect and kindness. Then the sky's the limit. Who knows how successful you can be, but it starts with unity. Fire Nation, just picture that visualization of your team and having somebody on that team in your rowboat paddling in the opposite direction. I mean, how frustrating would that be? And that could be happening. You're just not identifying it. I mean, this is where you're going to be able to go further, faster with the unification, getting everybody paddling in the right direction.

19:19So Greg, take a step back. share with Fire Nation the call to action that you have for us today. For those people that want to learn more about you, that want to consume more of your content. Yeah. So me, my name is Greg Atkinson. And all of the stuff I do, everything I'm a part of, and all my social channels, email, all my contact info, everything is at gregatkinson.com, just my name. And I like to work with organizations on team culture. creating kindness in the workplace. Kindness is my whole thing. It's my passion. And so I have been a part of some toxic cultures as an employee. And so now that I lead my own businesses, I am trying to create kindness in the workplace and to have a healthy culture.

20:08And then when I'm able to, and I get the privilege and opportunity to work with other companies to help them have a kind culture. And Fire Nation, that's what the theme of his book, The Secret Power of Kindness, is all about. Because you're the average Fire Nation of the five people you spend the most time with. So make them kind. And you've been hanging out with a couple of kind people, Greg and JLD today. So keep up the heat. And for links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com. Just type Greg in the search bar. The show notes page will pop up with links to his website, links to his book, everything.

20:44Greg, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Greg for sponsoring today's episode. And Fire Nation, successful entrepreneurs accomplish big goals. That is why I created the Freedom Journal to guide you in accomplishing your number one goal in 100 days, and we're talking step-by-step. visit thefreedomjournal.com, and I'll catch you there or on the flip side.

21:38Listen to The Hustle Daily wherever you get your podcasts. Ever thought about giving a TEDx talk? It's one of the most powerful ways to share your message with the world. And four-time TEDx speaker Taylor Conroy from Thought Leader can help you get there. Visit thought-leader.com slash fire to join Taylor's free training, where he teaches you how to land a TEDx talk and spread your message to millions.