The Undeniable Leader with Rob Cressy

Inside Andy Frisella's Operator Standard: Why Greatness Is An Obligation

• Rob Cressy

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Andy Frisella's Operator Standard event made one thing clear: greatness is an obligation, not an option. The people who win in the AI era are the ones who hold a standard most people have never seen modeled.

In this episode of The Undeniable Leader, Rob Cressy recaps Andy Frisella's Operator Standard launch event in St. Louis and breaks down the intersection of AI and personal excellence. Rob walks through what it's like to be in a room of top 0.01% operators, why entrepreneurs shape culture faster than enterprise ever will, and how Andy's shift from anti-AI to building an AI-powered personal development app signals where the world is heading.

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What's good? It's Rob. If you vibe with this show and you're a high performer who has a standard of personal excellence, the biggest thing that you can do to help us out is to share this with a friend who needs to hear this. Whether you text them or you just share this on social media, that's how this show grows and it helps others at the same time. We really appreciate this. Enjoy the show. You have an obligation to be great. And those who are crazy enough to believe they can change the world do. And with AI right now, we have the greatest opportunity in the history of the world to make our dreams and goals come to life faster. And I am 15 out of 10 excited and inspired right now because I just got back from Andy Frisella's Operator Standard Launch Event in St. Louis, a three-hour experience that held the ultimate standard that is out there. And what I wanted to do was unpack the experience, share the nuggets and lessons learned from along the way, plus dive a little deeper into the intersection of AI plus personal excellence, because it is everything that I am rowing my boat towards and what I believe is the formula for how we can positively change the world forever. So here's the scoop. Andy Frasella has been the leader of the Arete Syndicate, an entrepreneurship program that I've been a part of and a founding member of for the last seven years. And probably about six months ago, he soft launched in beta a new program called the Operator Standard. This is something that is separate from Arte. And it is a combination of an AI-powered personal development app to help you easily set the standard for what winning is going to look like in your life and do so in a way where we can positively shape culture. Because one of the things that Andy always talks about, and I truly believe here, is that entrepreneurship entrepreneurs shape culture. It's not big business because think about the AI era right now. That, as I like to say, icebergs are slow moving to turn around, right? We hear so much about enterprise AI. Oh my God, AI is not working, or why is all of this taking so long, or I don't have enough time, or I'm overwhelmed. Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, boom, we can change things in an instant and make things happen. So I loved when I saw that Andy was getting into the world of AI because it's a very unique thing. Because several years ago, Andy was the most anti-AI person I've ever seen. But then he saw what was possible with AI, and as a leader, he said, you know what? If this is not going away, then I need to do my part to be a positive force for good and shape the culture because we can truly change the world. So I fly into St. Louis on Saturday. The event is later on that night. Uh, I had a few clients that were there. Uh, shout out to Tim, shout out to Connor, shout out to everybody in the Arte Syndicate that was there. Uh, just loved being around the best people in the world. And that's the beauty of being around groups like this. It is a one-of-one standard where everybody is dialed in. And what's unique about all of this is that uh it's a place where doing 75 hard and the live hard program is the norm, right? People working out before and after, training for things, doing hard things, and it is such a one of one in life, in a way that it's very easy um to lose sight of the fact that the people in this room are legitimately the top 0.01% in the entire world, because they are willing to do things that other people are not. And this is held at the factory in Chesterfield, Missouri, a place that I'd never been before. And there was an energy and a vibe to being there because um Andy Frasella is a one-of-one, the leader of first form, the leader of the RT syndicate. And when Andy does something, man, you can be guaranteed that it is going to be unbelievable. Look at what he's created with 75 hearts. So we get there, and the big message that Andy had was the obligation to be great, right? So for all of us here, especially in this AI era, greatness is not optional. This is something that is an obligation for us. And I want you to ask yourself well, who is this an obligation for in your life? For me, my grandfather, who is no longer here with us, for my dad, for my son, for my wife, for you, right? We need leaders of leaders to show others what is possible to inspire that next generation. And for me, when it comes to the AI era, and I've said this so many times, I don't have an AI background, I don't have a tech background, and I don't have an encoding background. But I used ChatGBT the first week it came out in December 2022, and within the first minute of using it, I felt like I used the internet for the first time. Immediately I saw the next decade of business, and I was all in. And since then, I've coached over 500 hours of one-on-one and group and workshop and keynotes for entrepreneurs, CEOs, executives, and their teams on integrating AI into their business for growth in a human-first perspective. And I truly feel an obligation and a responsibility to share the things that I know and that I'm learning, like I'm doing right now, because I truly believe that I and we can change the world. And certainly as it relates to AI, everybody started at zero. But I have seen every single excuse for why people do not do it. I'm overwhelmed, I don't know what I'm doing, I don't have enough time. And one of the things that really resonated and stood out from the operator standard event was when we look at success, this isn't about a lack of knowledge, right? You can just go into Claud or Chat GBT right now and get the answer to anything in one second. What this is actually about is our standards. What is your standard for personal excellence for how you do everything in your life? How you do one thing is how you do everything. So when I was in St. Louis and having these conversations, and naturally um with the operator standard having an element of AI to it, Andy built Arcane, his AI-powered personal excellence um system that you use there. Uh, one of the things that I was always doing is having conversations with others about AI to understand where they are and what I could do to pass along any knowledge that I have for them. Because for me, AI is just like a Tuesday in the day in the life of an entrepreneur. So when I look at like these big seismic things that have happened in business or in life in the last 10 years, uh, the first one is COVID, right? Uh terrible situation for the world. Except for me as an entrepreneur, I legitimately saw it just like being a Wednesday. Why? Because every single day as an entrepreneur is a series of I've never done this before. How am I gonna figure this out? Um, how can I do more with less? And newness and uncertainty and discomfort is what I've signed up for. So, yes, I was aware with COVID that a lot of things were changing, people are working from home, and I was like, this is just like every single day. And for me, this is a mindset, a lifestyle, and a way of being. It's why I would highly recommend um if you're vibing with this, go and listen to the podcast that I recorded a month or two ago called The Undeniable Way, right? There's a way that you can show up every single day that will help you create this standard of personal excellence for yourself. So the first thing was COVID. And then number two is AI. And one of the things that I share often is that while I understand all the reasons why people struggle or are challenged by AI, I actually don't relate to them because I never had any of those things myself. Because within using Chat GPT for the first minute, I was all in. I didn't say, oh my God, I don't know what to do, or wow, I've got so much on my plate, or where am I going to find the time? It was like I saw like Neo and the Matrix. He like pushes the button, he's like, Holy smokes, I can learn kung fu. And I was like, boom, let's go. Because not knowing how or what to do is the start line, not the roadblock. And it is one of the biggest things that you can take for creating a standard of personal excellence for yourself, and especially in the AI era. So, with this, I'm gonna share a few other things that I noticed right there. Uh, let's look at the people that were there, and there was an energy, there was an excitement, there was a pace and a standard of everyone. The conversation was elevated. There was no low-level BS conversations. It's like, tell me about your vision and what you've got going on. And it's like, well, I'm doing 75 hard for the fifth time. I'm building a business doing this, my team's doing this, I'm integrating AI into all of this. And it was inspiring to be around people like that. But then Andy Frisella himself as a leader. Um, one of the things that I love and I preach often, you cannot give to others that which you are not experiencing yourself. And the thing that makes Andy Frisella such a great leader is he has done the work, he's had the challenges, he's built the businesses, he has overcome so many things, and he has created the standard, but he lives it every single day. And one of the things that he talked about was how do you win the day? What does personal excellence look like? What does this standard of excellence look like? And it's actually very simple. You just win the day. And winning the day is what is my power list of five things? Cool, I'm going to do that. And then you stack ones over zeros. One, one, one, one, one. Cool. I won the day. Let's do it again tomorrow. So, because of this, you do not rest on your laurels. And for me, when I look at my entrepreneurial journey, 16 years ago, I was not this person. I had no self-awareness and I had no growth mindset. And I'm sitting there on day one of entrepreneurship, no revenue, no clients, no website. And I was like, holy smokes, Batman, I gotta figure this thing out. And with that, I slowly realized that there are two things no one can ever take from you: what you learn and your mindset. So I asked myself, well, how can I guarantee that my days are successful if I don't bring in revenue today, this week, this month as a brand new entrepreneur? And the answer for me was very simple, and it changed my life, and it can yours. Stack your personal growth and development first thing in the morning. Because my goal every single day is to make sure that I am better today than I was yesterday. And the way that you can do that is to work on yourself first, to learn, to read, to invest in your development, and then you rinse and repeat that thing for 16 years in a row. And it's why I always say uh I never set out to become a coach. That was never on my life resume. If anything, I've struggled with the identity of being a coach for the early majority of it because uh I did not see myself as it because I just lived like one naturally. Now I love the concept of being a coach because I love serving and helping other people. And part of this is because I live a lifestyle of personal excellence. So it's not hard for me to be a coach because all I have to do is reverse engineer everything that I did to get to this point in my life, which is filled with a lot of challenges, obstacles, adversity, things that worked, things that didn't work, knowing that we all start at zero on every single journey, AI included. So the next thing that I want to go back to is obligation. And one of my declarations, and I picked this one up from Ed Milette, is I am historic. Man, and Ed would say to his family, hey, the Mileets, we're creating history today, guys. And I always loved that, I was always inspired by that. Seeing every single day your ability to speak into existence, ab or cadaver. I create as I speak and self-create yourself as I am historic. Imagine what would change in your life if every single day you woke up and self-created yourself as someone who is creating history in an obligation to create history every single day. And one of the ways that really helps me do that is by modeling greatness. So it's no surprise that I love to learn from Andy Frisella and Ed Milette and Jesse Itzler and Dan Martell. Because find what the best in the world are doing, model what they are doing, and create that version and standard for yourself, right? And it's kind of a simple process, but it's why I do what I do in the world of AI there. And with this, greatness is not optional. And what I love about this, and what's very alive in me right now, is I'm a Chicago Bulls fan, and it's been a challenging decade for us, pretty much post Derrick Rose injury, and they got lucky and got the number four overall draft pick, and they get Caleb Wilson out of North Carolina, and this dude is an absolute superstar. And it what impressed me the most about him is the way that he speaks. And in his introductory press conference, he says he wants to be great, he wants a statue right next to Michael Jordan right there. And a lot of the commentary of Bulls fans is like, wow, can you imagine a 19-year-old speaking like this? And um, well, what else should he say? That I'm gonna be a mediocre NBA player versus I'm gonna be a great NBA player. But here's the thing very few people in life are willing to speak their greatness into existence and then back it up, and that's the opportunity that we all have right now. So now let's make this uh look at the AI side of things, right? Anything is possible, everything is possible and on the table right now. What AI can help us do is remove a lot of the excuses for why we think we can't do things and why we cannot be great. So when I'm sitting there at the Operator Standard event in St. Louis, and I'm sitting next to my friend Connor, and there's probably, I don't know, a thousand people in this room, and it is very inspirational. Uh, motivation is not a word we use for this group, right? Well, welcome to the standard of everything. Of course, everybody's motivated. This is inspiration, this is best in the world type stuff. And when I looked to that room, and Andy talked about AI on top of personal excellence, I saw that, and immediately I felt different because of the work that I've already put in with AI. I knew if I was on that stage, which I speak on stages all the time, I could change all thousand people in the room instantly with the perspectives and things that I've learned in the world of AI. And this gave me so much confidence and inspiration because what Andy was really doing was giving a call for leaders to step up and be the example of their obligation to be great, to hold that standard of personal excellence, to not hold your story in, but to do like I'm doing right now and to share that story with others. Because, and this is something that's been foundational for the last 16 years of my life. There's a 10 to 1 ratio of negative to positive messaging in the world, right? They're just open up the news or social media and it's just like fear, judgment, comparison, self-limiting belief, strange or danger, everything's bad. And it's like, oh my God, I'm just like immune to it. It hurts my soul to see that. It's why radiate positivity is one of my core values. And on the flip side, our ability as leaders who do things the right way, who put in the work every single day, who stack those ones over zeros, our ability to share that message and pass it along for others, the same way Andy Versella does for me, in the same way that I'm doing this right now for you. Man, that is such an opportunity that we all have right now. And when you then apply the lens of AI to everything, man, AI, it is just as simple for AI to write you an email as it is to build a rocket ship to the moon or change the world, right? So that's the perspective that I come at from this. And I truly believe and I know, and I say this with no hyperbole, and there's a big smile on my face right now, right now. I am and will continue to change the world on the highest level because I know that I've seen things and done things that few others have ever done or are willing to do. I've used AI for 1200 consecutive days, full time, all day, every day. And I don't give a crap about AI or technology or coding or any of that stuff. No, it is all around my goals and my dream and my vision and how I can make the world a better place, right? So I anchor back into my purpose to be a positive force for good that leads others to what's possible. And right now is the biggest and best opportunity in the history of the world to capitalize and take advantage of that. And this is about holding ourselves to a higher standard of excellence. And when I look at my AI journey and how this can help you, I just have a significantly higher standard for myself in the way that I use AI than everybody else does, right? So I've created a mindset, a lifestyle, and a way of being of where AI fits in. So it's ever present for me. So here's a very simple example. So about three weeks ago, I was on a prospecting call with a um very prominent company that deals with businesses of 50 million to a billion dollars right there. And on the call, and we were co-creating, they said, Rob, we might have one hour a week to use AI. What would you do? And my answer to them was spend that hour with me because I'll turn that one hour into a thousand hours. But just think about that itself. They have one hour a week to use AI versus where I'm sitting at right here, I have infinite hours for using AI because not only do I have clawed or clawed code up from let's call it nine to five every single day, but I'm also building a team of AI agents to build. And grow various elements of my business 24 hours a day. So the beautiful thing about the AI era is it can work while you're sleeping. So in the last month, I created a concept called the overnight shift. And here was the realization for me. It was 8 p.m. and I closed my laptop and the light bulb went off. And I was like, I'm about to go to sleep. And I know that Claude Code can work overnight. But right now, my Claude Code is not working overnight. I know it can do it. I'm best in the world at doing this. Huh. Maybe I should do something about this. And the light bulb clicked. It's like, hey Rob, before you go to bed or when you're done with work, go ahead and ask Claude Code, what can you do for me while I'm sleeping? Right. So now this is about the thinking side of AI. And it's why I'm always so optimistic for literally every single person in the world with AI, because I've got no background and experience in this, but so much of my success, and I would say like 99% of it is my approach, the way that I think about this, right? Because you're thinking we can become systems and systems scale. So I was like, all right, well, what kind of tasks can I do overnight using Claude code? So going back and forth with Claude, it's like, hey, we need to make sure that there's no human decision on, hey, we have to do this or that. There's a clear definition of done, and I'll go and create a menu of things that we can do, and we'll put it into a thing called the overnight queue. Because it's not realistic that every day at 8 p.m. you're just going to create the new idea. Let's have a menu of them ahead of time. That way, when it's time for you to close your computer, you just say, hey, Claude Code, let's run the overnight queue, pick something in there, boom, done. Right? And this perspective here of hey Rob, how do we use AI one hour a day? Versus Rob, what do we need to do? And who do I need to become for this to be running 24 hours a day for me in a way that is aligned to my goals, my dreams, and my vision in a human-first perspective. I'm not saying we're outsourcing everything to the robots. No. Instead, I'm saying let's point this to your goals and dreams and the positive impact you want to create in the world. And that is a version of the message of what Andy was sharing and inspiring everybody else for us because AI is just a multiplier that helps us deliver on whatever it is we want to point it to. So if you just pointed to emails, congratulations. You've just got some more emails done by AI. But I would significantly rather point that to the biggest things that you can do. It's why one of the things that I say all the time is one of the biggest skills you can learn in the AI era is thinking and dreaming big. Why? Because AI, if you pointed to something massive, it can help you support that. So when I sat in that room right there and I knew there is, it is very likely that there is maybe one, possibly two other people out of a thousand that were operating on my level with AI. Because I know one guy, uh, shout out to my friend uh Matt Schmidt, who I saw there. I know he's high level with AI. Andy Frasella is now at high level with AI, but other than that, boom, there's nobody else who's coming at the king at this level. And that's what I loved about this, is because when Andy had a call for greatness, for this standard of personal excellence with AI, I sat there and I was like, oh, baby, I'm best in the room here. And you can remember this conversation because in the next year, the next three years, five years, ten years, you are going to see some things for me with Andy Frisella, with some other people in the world that you're like, how in the world did Rob do that? Well, it actually goes back to three and a half years ago and actually goes back to seven years ago when I first got into that world, right? Stacking ones over zeros, win the day, creating a standard of personal excellence for yourself. So my encouragement for you would be think about your mindset, your lifestyle, and your way of being as it relates to your personal excellence in the way that you use AI. Right? They don't have to be mutually exclusive, they can all come together. What does that look like? And if you say, I don't know, great. That's now the starting point for you to explore this more. If you're somewhere in between this, there, you say, All right, what's the next level for me? And my encouragement for you, write this down, right? Because it's an AI principle. It's not written down, and I can't do something with it. But I also know this is true with goal setting and vision casting, right? If it just lives in your head, you're gonna forget it. But if you get it down on the paper, you can give it to me or you can give it to somebody else. Then you can do something with it. Then you can review it every single day. Right here on my desk is a letter I wrote to myself for 2026 that I'm supposed to read December 31st. And like, hey Rob, this is what your year was. Then the light bulb went off, and I was like, Well, Sedg is opening that letter at the end of the year. Why don't I just read it every single day, right? Your ability to vision cast this standard for yourself in all that you do. So my encouragement for you is to give yourself the gift of possibility in the AI era. What is truly possible for you if you went all in on yourself, your standard of personal excellence, and you saw this as an obligation to be great, not something that you do when you feel it, but something that is ever ever present. It is a state of being, it is who you are. We look up to these people in the world of sports all the time, but very rarely do we then look in the mirror for ourselves and say, hey, how can I live that for ourselves? Because there has never been a greater opportunity than right now. And I'm telling you, we can positively change the world because I see it every single day and I know you believe it too. So this is the inspiration that's coming out of me out of the operator standard event. Um, I will drop a link in the description or the comments of this episode here. If you're interested in learning more about the operator standard uh and what indie is building, man, it is going to be incredible there. And then I would love to hear from you. You can hit me up at Rob Cressy on Instagram or LinkedIn. What's alive in you when you hear AI times personal excellence? What's that mean to you? And what is your obligation for greatness? Man, I've just got so many examples in my head of people that I know that listen and watch this show right now. Shout out to my friend Dave Lang, who is on a journey to do, I believe it's seven marathons in seven continents or something coming up there. Man, I love seeing people do things that nobody else in the history of the world have done before. And I think about my friends right now who are doing 75 hard every single day, no matter what day that you're on. Man, I know that journey is so good. I think about my friends who are excited about AI right now. I think about my friends who are building companies and teams of people who are in the grind every single day. And it's both challenging and exciting, right? I'm here to be a champion for you on this journey, to be a positive force for good that leads you and others to what's possible. If this resonates with you, hit me up. I would love to have a conversation. Other than that, sending tons of love and good vibes your way. Here's having an amazing rest of the day.