1855 – A Unique Approach to Coaching and Consulting with Stan Gibson

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2:15With us right now, Stan Gibson. Stan, you're an inspirational speaker, author, and leadership consultant, and you are the founder and CEO of Stan Gibson Speaks. found on the web at StanGibsonspeaks.com. Stan, thank you so much for joining us. Josh, thank you. I can't wait. I'm excited. I watch all your videos and you're an inspiration yourself, my friend. So anyway, yeah, love it and ready to rock and roll. Well, kind of you to say, but Stan, you know, I can't help but notice that you've got a Believe poster behind you. Ted Lasso, one of the very, very few TV series that I rated a 10 out of 10.

2:53and that just there was so much that I saw in it that like it was just, you know, inspired me, you know, just so much about humanity, just such great storytelling in it. But I imagine there are some Ted Lasso isms that you incorporate into the work that you do. Do you mind if we could talk about the geek out on the show for just a minute? And then we'll get a little bit more tactical on what I couldn't think of anything I'd rather talk about. I just you know what? Yeah, I've got it up there. And my wife and I've been talking, you know, it's kind of getting dated. Do I take it down? Do I not take it down?

3:26And it's like, you know what? I just it's a big part of my practice. Positivity within leadership. It moves mountains, Josh. And so, no, let's talk about it. I'm game. Well, OK, so what is one or two things that we can learn? Maybe something that stands out in the series of like, remember when this happened or blah, blah, blah, blah, Without, spoiler alert, without being too spoilery, what are maybe some principles that we could learn from Ted Lasso himself or either otherwise something that happened in the show? Yeah, well, you know, Josh, we didn't script this. So this is really off the cuff here.

4:01But, you know, one of the things that I really love about that show is, you know, he treated everybody the same, but yet he treated them differently. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And, and so, you know, he just had this way of, and it's kind of a big part of my practice too, is I believe you need to know who you are and who you're not. And I think that when people start to get their own authenticity, they don't try to be somebody else. I mean, you look at him, I mean, it's, it's, I know it's a story written, you know, for, for, for TV, but when you look at a guy that comes into a leadership role of something, you know, a sport that he knows nothing about, and he didn't pretend.

4:37He didn't try to show up in the meeting and say, you know what, you know, I know everything there is to know about soccer. He came in and said, you know what, I know about people. Because when you know about people, it can be ubiquitous. You can take that and translate that into so many different industries and different situations. And we can't just be, you know, there are so many different types of leaders. And certain leadership roles, call for various types of leaders. But when you come into it from an authentic point of view, then you can start to be you. I mean, nobody's better at you than you.

5:12And so anyway, I work with a lot of leaders on just that authenticity. I work with teams on having that individual authenticity. And when you have individual authenticity, but you know everybody else in the room, then you can start to say, oh, you know what? Now I know how Josh is wired. I know how Stan is, you know, nothing's malicious. I know what he or she brings to the table is strong, not wrong. And so anyway, I think that that's one of the elements is just that authenticity that Ted Lasso has, that really is first and foremost. And I never thought about it till you just asked me, but I think that that is really one of the ways that I coach, I consult is not by trying to transform somebody into something they're not, but by trying to take what they are and then elevating it, moving it up, getting them to go beyond what they thought was possible with those strengths and gifts they have.

6:08Yeah. You know, you mentioned something there, and I'm curious about this. When we think about leaders, when is it appropriate and how is it appropriate as a leader to say, I don't know, you know, and then obviously follow it up. But, you know, because I think that there could be some among us who say, you could never say that in front of my people. They count on me to know all the answers. You want to talk about kind of the role of a leader and how much we need to know? Josh, you know, number one, I've been saying this because I've been on several podcasts, seems like recently, but I've been saying this.

6:45You know, IQ, we get to a certain level because we know our business. I mean, IQ is level setting. And when you throw artificial intelligence into it, life's an open book test. So if we don't know something, we can go find the answer. What isn't the open book test is EQ, emotional intelligence. And I think one of the strongest forms of emotional intelligence, Josh, is having the courage to say, I don't know. You know, a lot of corporate leaders that I work with, they can't go to the board because the board, if they show any kind of incompetence, then, you know, that's a mark against them. They can't go to their peers.

7:20They can't go to people. So they're bottled up in believing that they have to know and be all do all. And that's wrong, Josh. The more we are authentic and we say, you know what, I don't know this, but I guarantee you one thing. I have a staff that does. I have a team that does. Between us, here's what we're going to come back with and we'll have an answer. I will tell you, I was in the corporate world for 40 years. I was in, you know, I worked for Wells Fargo. I worked for Principal Financial Group. I ran the strategic aspects of these companies that are real estate globally. And I will tell you, real estate is not how I'm defined.

7:56I was never the smartest guy in the room, Josh. I just wasn't. And I'm not putting myself down. I typically had the gift of bringing the right people in the room. I had a team for 14 years that nobody left. I had a way of taking the brilliance of a lot of people in the room that they couldn't communicate it. I just have a way of communicating it to the C-suites and I would bring them with me and give them the credit. That to me is what authentic leadership is. And I'm not putting myself on a pedestal. I'm just saying that I came to an early realization that I didn't have to have all the answers, but I had to surround myself with people that did and give them the credit.

8:36And together, I guess, I think we were able to do some amazing things. Josh. Yeah. You shared something recently on your social, and it says, if you don't have imposter syndrome, you're not uncomfortable enough. That one's sticking with me here. Can you mind sharing just a little bit about that? Because I think, you know, there's, as leaders, there are going to be times when we're going to be pretty uncomfortable. And that's not necessarily a bad thing based on kind of, I think what you're implying here. No, I agree. You know, I, I have another saying too, that, uh, you know, growth lies in the land of uncertainty.

9:16And typically, you know, when we think we've got it all figured out, Josh is when we're probably further away from the truth. And so I really believe that, yes, I think, you know, I come across a lot of leaders, a lot of leaders that are pretty dynamic. And they say, well, I got this imposter syndrome and I, I'm just afraid people are going to find me out. And I'm like, hey, give yourself some grace, dude. This is okay. Again, when you think you got it figured out is when you're probably furthest away from the truth. So feel like, you know, with that imposter syndrome, you're still learning. You're still basically, you know, on a growth curve.

9:48And again, you know, that leadership, that will, that growth lies in the land of uncertainty. So embrace uncertainty. That is actually what causes us to grow. Yeah. Stan, who do you typically work with? Like, you know, is it leaders within certain size organizations or, you know, does it always have to be the CEO founder? I mean, who do you find yourself engaging with most? That's a great question. I work with teams and that team can be, you know, it can be a leader within companies, you know, 5 million and under in revenue. It can be 20 million and under. I'm actually working with a Fortune 250 next week, but it's a team within the Fortune 250.

10:26So, you know, I work with teams. I work with individuals and teams. And so whether I'm coaching or consulting, and there is a difference, the coaching basically is, you know, when I'm working with somebody, they have the answer. They just need someone to basically help pull it out. And again, when they come up with the answer, it typically sticks longer than me telling them what to do. But I also consult because I've got 40 years of experience as an entrepreneur, but also in the corporate world. And so I'm able to bring some things to the table. And I also do a lot of research on the neuroscience of how does the brain work?

10:55How does the body work? How do we sleep better? How do we eat better? How do we have nutrition? How do we have these routines? Because we're all burned out. So I come at my clients as a consultant in business, as a consultant on their health, and as a consultant in productivity. So consulting and coaching is typically what I do. But I can find that ideal client, whether it be a large corporation, but a team of folks that want to, you know, they want to come together. Maybe they're not hitting on all cylinders. Or I can find it in smaller companies. And I love working with smaller companies because typically, you know, they'll buy four to five to six hours of my time a month.

11:33And I'll coach them. I might even do joint coaching because there's always conflict. And bringing them together and I have a process that takes these people through. And all of a sudden they can start to have grace for one another instead of this malicious conflict. And so I love to coach individuals. I love to coach teams. I love to coach project managers to get more done more efficiently. So it's really a loose answer to a great question, but I can take teams and individuals and we can do some pretty exciting things, quite honestly, Josh. Yeah. Your website is StanGibsonSpeaks.com. So we also, well, let's talk about your speaking.

12:12What types of events do you speak at? because they're, again, you know, a lot of folks find this podcast either because they're researching you or they're researching your topic. And there's a lot of us that we need those, you know, when we, if we have an annual meeting coming up, you know, like we, we want to make sure that our, it's impactful for our troops. What does that speaking experience typically look like when you engage in an event? It can be a lot of things. And if you really want to, you know, if you go to standgibbsonspeaks.com, I do have on my website, I've got a five minute sizzle reel, we call it where, you know, you can kind of see me in action talking about people centric leadership.

12:49But I love I just, you know, speaker speak. That comment was made to me probably about six months ago. And it was like, yeah, speaker speak. That's right. That's what I'd love to do. I have a lot of passion on stage. And so, you know, whether it's an organization that brings me in, it's an industry event. Some of the most fun I've had is coming in and talking to corporate teams. It can be a team of five, it can be a team of 50, it can be a team of 100. But coming in and talking to corporate leaders and then spending the day with a lot of the leadership team individually, collectively, and just seeing what's on their mind, I just, that's the dopamine just coming out through my ears when that happens.

13:28So any type of event, and I realize that, you know, anymore, that can be virtual, and that can be IRL in real life. My wife and I didn't even know what that was until recently, but IRL. So it can be in real life. And I love to speak in person, but you know, we can do something just as easily. I'm working with a speaking to a team next week. And unfortunately, I have to start my, my speech at 430 in the morning to accommodate those in Asia. So anyway, I have to somehow figure out how to get my dopamine. Yeah, no kidding. You're waking up in the morning. And I don't know how much coffee one can consume between three and four, but yeah, we're going to find out it's Monday and Thursday, both.

14:09So yeah, it's twice in one week. Yeah. Stan, your website, Stan Gibson speaks.com. I think you've got some resources. Well, we talked about your sizzle reel, obviously, but, um, you know, for someone that's just interested in the topic of leadership, you know, what resources would you recommend for them? Um, you know, prior to maybe having a conversation with you? Well, I tell you what, if you want to, like I said, I do have a resource tab on there. If you want to listen to a podcast, it's funny. I have podcasts, whether they're business. I just, in fact, I just had somebody on LinkedIn last night.

14:42You know, they reached out to me and I don't know the person that well, but they gave me a Bible verse or something like that. And I said, well, it just so happens I've got a full podcast I did a year ago on my testimony. And it was with a podcaster from England. And so I sent it to him and within like six hours, he sent it back and he said, my gosh, I'm blown away. He said, I've sent this on to three more people. So if you go to my resources tab and you just want to pick out any, and I'm putting more and more on, but if you want to pick out any of those, I've also got a book called Living a Rich and Intentional Life.

15:12Never let a good pandemic go to waste. You know, when the pandemic came around, we all had a few extra hours on our hand. And so I use those hours wisely each week for a year to put all my thoughts on paper and into a book. So Living a Rich and Intentional Life, you can get it on Amazon. And it covers a lot. It covers a lot. But hopefully you'll find it of value. Yeah. Stan Gibson, it's been great having you again. Renowned speaker and, again, founder and CEO of Stan Gibson Speaks, your website, stangibsonspeaks.com. Stan, it's been great having you. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you, Josh.

15:49It's been a blast. I enjoy it. And again, if anybody wants to call, hey, I'm not a hard sales guy. I just love to meet people. And I connect dots and I connect people the same as you do. And that's the joy of life for me. Yeah. Awesome. Thank you, Stan. Thank you. Have a great day, everybody.

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