Indigenous Partnerships, AI Data Centers, and Real Economic Impact, with Colin Doylend

What if the real key to growth, impact, and innovation isn’t what you know but who you connect and how you show up? 

In this powerful episode of Unapologetic Leadership, Cory Dunham sits down with Colin Doylend, a strategic growth leader working at the intersection of Indigenous partnerships, AI infrastructure, cleantech, and real-world economic development.

With over 25 years of experience bridging government, industry, and Indigenous communities, Colin reveals how true leadership isn’t about control. It’s about connection, clarity, and creating value that benefits everyone involved. From helping scale billion-dollar companies to developing AI data centers and sustainable housing solutions, his journey proves that meaningful impact comes from collaboration, not competition.

This episode dives into what it really takes to build trust across diverse stakeholders, navigate complex partnerships, and turn bold ideas into tangible outcomes that improve lives. Colin shares how persistence through rejection, clear communication, and being intentional about relationships can unlock opportunities most people never see.

But this conversation goes deeper than business. It explores legacy, presence, and the human side of leadership highlighting why connection is the most undervalued asset in today’s fast-moving, tech-driven world. From lessons in servant leadership to the importance of sharing knowledge and showing up fully, you’ll walk away with a new perspective on what it means to lead and create lasting impact.

About Colin Doylend

Colin Doylend is a Strategic Growth & Partnerships Leader with 20+ years of experience driving innovation across AI computing, cleantech, housing, and agtech. His background spans political leadership, Indigenous economic development, and scaling multimillion-dollar ventures. He has secured over $100M in government and private investment, led partnerships behind landmark infrastructure projects, and helped grow early-stage companies 3–5x. From building Canada’s first SCIF-rated AI data center in partnership with Indigenous communities to launching vertical farms producing over 500,000 pounds of strawberries annually, Colin specializes in connecting vision with execution.

His core expertise includes business development, strategic partnerships, government relations, fundraising, sustainable infrastructure, AI data centers, cleantech, agtech, Indigenous partnerships, and market expansion. He thrives at the intersection of technology, sustainability, and economic impact turning ideas into scalable, profitable ventures.

If you’re a leader, entrepreneur, or visionary ready to scale your impact, build meaningful partnerships, and lead with purpose in a rapidly evolving world, this episode will challenge how you think—and expand what you believe is possible.

Connect with Colin:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colindoylend/
Phone: 1-604-338-8543

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to Unapologetic Leadership. If you felt stressed, overwhelmed, wrestling with the imposter syndrome, wondering if you're just not good enough, then this podcast is for you. So here's your host, Corey Dunham.

SPEAKER_02 0:21

Welcome to another episode of Upologetic Leadership. I have an amazing guest, Colin Doyland, strategic growth and partnerships leader in AI, housing, clean tech, and ag tech, and delivering impact through innovation and collaboration. Welcome, Colin.

SPEAKER_03 0:42

Thanks, Corey. This is great to be here.

SPEAKER_02 0:44

Yes, yes. So tell us what you do and how you impact people. You have a very interesting background and the current services that you offer.

SPEAKER_03 0:52

Yeah. When things come across my desk, I always try to say yes. And that's led to some pretty interesting adventures. I have found the brilliance in what I do is just connecting people with others. And um, and through that I've been able to, you know, help not just the connection, but actually make sure the substance is there between the connection, not just the introduction, but you know, bringing it to the point where everyone gets really excited about who they're going to meet. And I've always taken that to the work I've done. And I've done that in working with politicians and running campaigns and connecting with people and successfully done that as the chief of staff administers and making connections with people in decision-making power to find them a resolution of solutions that make sense for them that are and then mutually beneficial. So done that as a, like I said, chief of staff, and then worked with a lot of indigenous communities throughout BC and the rest of Canada, and then got into the clean tech and prefab housing space with a really couple few companies that one of them was the fastest company to get a billion dollar valuation in just 27 months in Canada, and taking those lessons of growth and connection into everything else we do today, which is converting a Bitcoin mine to an AI data center and creating a sovereign AI deployment here in Canada, which is of course very topical these days, to working with seniors housing organizations and running a seniors housing facility and even into vertical farming these days for strawberries. So having a lot of fun doing doing different things and meeting the skills and abilities that I have to basically put a smile on people's faces. And if I'm really good at it, then the money comes too.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

Yeah, no, that's awesome. So I've got a couple questions. And one is about what is what does indigenous mean? And then the vertical strawberries.

SPEAKER_03 2:37

Yeah, yeah. So indigenous, of course, in the US context is Indian, so tribal nations. So we have Aboriginal or Indigenous communities here in in Canada as well, about 640 somewhat nations. Here in BC, there's about 203. And I used to be the assistant to the Minister for Indigenous Relations here in the province and created a lot of great relationships with communities and even worked for the formal national chief. Uh, and just love walking between all three worlds of working with First Nations communities and industry and government and putting about 200 and some odd deals together over the last 20 years. Um, from a wastewater facility to building hotels to the most energy efficient, building some of the most energy efficient housing ever funded here in Canada, where utility bills went from$300 a month to$13 a month, to you know, putting a large defense contractor on a First Nations community business park so they can do a deal for submarine logistics. And so it's just it's a mishmash of different deals just to provide benefits to communities and and um and people.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

That's awesome. And what do you find is one of the biggest impacts that you've seen over and how long have you been doing this again?

SPEAKER_03 3:46

Oh, it's in the last 25 years.

SPEAKER_02 3:48

Okay, yeah, so that's quite some time. So, what are some of the biggest impacts you've seen long term when you're connecting these communities, when you're empowering them, when you're saving resources and allowing for better lives for people? What is what are some things you've seen?

SPEAKER_03 4:05

I just see people realize their potential and really get excited for that. And then from there, once they've got that mindset of like, oh, I can do this and I can do this other thing. And if I just ask for this and I find the people that are willing to provide and connect, there's a lot of people that don't, but if I just spend the time to weed through that and find the people that understand and understand that value exchange, then when you come together and finally meet, the stuff you're able to do is pretty amazing. And it can be a it can be anything, any topic, whatever, but you just have to have the comfort and the confidence to be able to find them and work with them and do that mutual exchange of value.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

Yeah, no, I think that's great. Have you found it fairly easy of working through this and trying to communicate the value that you're offering and then others receiving it, or is it just uh just an ongoing process? There's always kind of a numbers thing in terms of just be persistent in doing what's right.

SPEAKER_03 5:01

Just keep doing it because you're gonna get a lot of no's, but you know, the yeses make everything so awesome when you get one. So even if it's a a 30 for one ratio or a hundred for one ratio, hopefully it's not. But you know, when you do get that one, just remember what that felt like um and move it forward and try to replicate that. And part of it is being way more clear with what you want, and people will qualify themselves in or out very quickly if you provide a little more certainty on exactly what you're looking for. And so not to be not to be coy, not coy, be very clear and present with people saying, hey, this is what I'm doing, this is my mission, this is what I want to do, not to be offish, but to say, hey, if you get it, you're gonna get it and you're gonna connect with me. If you don't get it, and I've been very clear with you, well, then I know that we'll talk at a later time.

SPEAKER_02 5:47

I like that. I like that. Yeah, I know that there's some people, and I used to be one of these people that it was very difficult to talk to people, very difficult to have either tough conversations or to really be persistent and something I truly believe in. I've had to learn some of those skill sets. Is this something that you've always been like this growing up, even as a young man, or you feel you've learned a lot of these things along the way in the different opportunities that you've been able to be a part of?

SPEAKER_03 6:16

Yeah, always learning and just forced in the situation to either do it or suffer, really at the end of the day. And when you didn't do it, things didn't work out. But when you did ask, even it got a little better. Um, and when you're clear with someone and what you're looking for, even if you don't know exactly what the answer is and you're not that eloquent about it, and you give the but at least you provide them more insights about where you're at, then they're people are naturally acclimated to find those connections for you too, even if they don't think of it consciously, they're subconsciously now going to be aware of it and they're gonna like, hey, I saw this and you said something like this. Does this connect? Does this make sense? And then if it does, it's amazing. So now they feel that they're that they've contributed to you and they're you've valued their effort, and so they have a lot more ownership in your success because they've contributed to it. So finding those connecting points is pretty key.

SPEAKER_02 7:09

Yeah, and I I think it's so important that as I talked to you earlier offline, just how I've typically been an introvert and very quiet, and once again had to learn a lot of these leadership and communication skills. But I love how you're talking about just being very aligned and clear on what you're saying. And even though sometimes we think we're, hey, I'm pretty clear on what I'm saying or what I'm thinking, that sometimes it's not in certain ways. So, like you said, as you practice and continue to do that and connect with people, you're gonna get better, you're gonna learn different nuances or what resonates with people and them understanding because communication isn't just a one-way, one-way situation there. So I think that's great.

SPEAKER_03 7:48

Yeah, I think your contacts and your knowledge and your insights are only valuable if you actually actively share them.

unknown 7:55

Right.

SPEAKER_03 7:56

Yeah, otherwise, if you just a lot of people that hold into hold hold everything close to their chef and their chest and don't share, then it has zero value, even to them, the zero value because they're probably not receiving all the other opportunities that they could if they shared. It's truly where the equation is like you know, one plus one equals ten rather than two, where you start sharing everything you know because the compounding effects.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

Yes, yes. And as you were saying earlier, just the full fact that you're you look at yourself as a connector. And that's one skill set I've tried to learn over the last decade plus of really connecting people. That may not be the solution for what they need, but really listening, really being focused and present. You mentioned that, but really listening to that and connecting people because that's awesome. When somebody knows you're a connector, you're a giver, you have an abundance mindset, and you're not just someone who takes. That's an also another way, an example, a leadership example to set for others. So yeah, I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03 9:00

I just like love the exciting adventure of like, what am I gonna learn from you today? How are we gonna connect? How are we gonna make things a little bit better? And and you just you have the privilege of talking to so many awesome people through your podcast. You're definitely connecting, and and I'm actually really excited having met you now, of the things we're gonna be able to connect with others. Like, I I I have a pretty good feeling that we're gonna keep chatting every once in a while. This is the start of many conversations to come, and then something amazing is gonna happen when we think of it today, or maybe a few months from now. And I send you an email at the you know, we hours tonight saying, Hey, Corey, I was thinking about this. You said you knew that guy or that that lady that was doing that. Like, um, I think they might really appreciate this, and that might be a launching pad for them. And that I just wish we did that more.

SPEAKER_02 9:42

Yeah, I agree, and especially since the culture over the last I have three young adult kids are 18, 21, and 23. They all still live at home, but they're all three in college. And yeah, it's pretty cool. And even just this, we try to create a culture over the last 20 years of always eating dinner together, and it was easier before they were in high school. But my wife just last week said, Hey, I want to put a time, we haven't been together for dinner, all five of us in the same room for a long time. It might be two, might be four. But last week she's like, I want to create a day, and we just decided Thursday that starting tomorrow, we're gonna start eating dinner together as best we can, and there'll be occasions where people can't meet up because of this or that or work, but just having that culture. But a part of this, what I was saying is just actually I forgot what I was saying, but a lot of it is really being intentional, is a part of it, and both your family side of things, knowing your values, your vision, your focus, and then also carrying that. I like to work with the leaders who want to have a whole presence in their lives and everything's integrated with what they're doing, so business side of things, but also to the personal side, because if things are going terribly at home, and you're paying the price for your business success, you're paying that price with things that are happening at home, that's not a good deal, or vice versa. So, so tell me about how have you kept the line? Because I know you have a family. How have you kept a line, maybe you know, with your business side of things and your family alignment in terms of your vision, your focus?

SPEAKER_03 11:17

Yeah, it's like you said, it's a very similar story. My boys are two boys, six and nine. They absolutely love soccer. My wife's been amazing with them. We homeschool them and she works on that every day. And it's a tough, it's a tough grind. It's an opt it's an optimal moment in the age they're at to be able to have those day-to-day connections. And for a lot of the part of it, I work at home too, but it's tough doing the balance and the management, and I've been terrible at that, and we've reaped the consequences of that as a family of trying to do that balance. And I'm learning every day how to do that better, and I have to do it better quicker because you don't it they're not this young forever, and right the consequences of not adapting quickly are are disastrous, and so I wish that's definitely something that's probably my greatest, weakest rate, weakness right now.

SPEAKER_02 12:08

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I know I was gonna say I kind of failed at that too, had many years, and I look back, it's like, oh my gosh, as I've talked to some people that have coached on relationships and every and also talked from the woman's standpoint of things and nursing and being a mom, being 24-7, where I was working eight hours a day, and I'm like, honey, you don't understand how stressed out I am from eight hours. And then when I get home and my wife needs a reprieve or some break from raising the kids. So I I totally understand that. And so like I've had to learn some of those things, and as long as you realize, as you said, it's an ongoing learning experience. There's no one size fits all. And as I had someone else say too, that a balance is difficult. So they learn from somebody else that uh balance balance is very difficult, but trying to harmonize or create things in harmony is the best you can. Because some days you're doing 80%, your spouse may be doing 20%, and then it might be vice versa, just depending on what's going on with energy levels, with the commitments for the day. But uh but going back to what you said earlier about being very intentional and present and focused. And it also takes me back to some of the offline conversations we had, just about some of the applications you're building and allowing people to have access to. Can you tell me more about those that allow for legacy and knowledge and data that's been there but is lost when people pass away?

SPEAKER_03 13:32

Yeah, that was it hit deep about five years ago where my wife had a father figure pass away, and I had a mentor of 20 years pass away very suddenly from a brain tumor. His partner didn't have access to his phone. And and so he was in a coma for a couple months, and she was trying to reach out to everyone. So while she's dealing with her own grief and process of losing her husband, she had to spend a lot of time and logistics trying to figure out who she needed to reach out to and notify. And so it took months for her to do that. And finally, I got a call, and I just thought he was busy because we usually have lunch about once a month or something like that, and just connect. And I just thought he was busy because he had just came back from a trip from China. And unfortunately, he had and fell into a brain tumor and into a coma. So she reached out to me. And then in the morning that afternoon, I got to see him in the hospice and write a letter to him, and and he passes away the a few days later. So I had the privilege of just saying my own goodbyes and ever grateful for for his partner to to allow me to even see him, just because you know it's a it's a very intimate process, and she's just grateful that she allowed that. And so then we were at his celebration of life, and I was just thinking his name was Dave, and his preference right when everyone gets up there and talks about how great you were, and everyone speaks, and it's that typical kind of celebration of life/slash funeral. Dave, I know Dave would have been he'd want to get up there and talk about how great everyone in the room was. And so that just left a lasting mark on me and impression. And same with my wife and her and the gentleman, his name was Harry, an amazing World War II veteran, who was just the exact type of person that she needed in her life at that time when she grew up, and she didn't get a chance to say goodbye because people made choices to say they didn't want to bother Janet about letting her know that Harry was in the hospital, and because they didn't have the knowledge or the instructions, and so that was that was very disappointing. And so we're like, how can we make it easier for people to connect with that person's loved ones that you're managing their affairs for? And then make it easier when knowing that your loved ones will be made aware, and whoever's managing your affairs will be as easy as possible to follow through on that because it's not a will, it's not a legal thing, it's just making the logistical connection and making it as easy as possible to um make that process as seamless when you're dealing with some pretty heavy stuff, you know. Um the relationship you had the person. So we created something called Grateful Estate, and it does two things. One is a managed contact list of all your loved ones. So you just load up all your loved ones, and whoever's a steward of your account or your administrator of your account during a health event or after you're passing, they can have access to your loved ones list and all the information that that's there. So their contact details and maybe some notes and some some instructions of like, hey, this person, I'd really want you to reach out to them so they can actually say, you know, goodbye if I'm not able to say be verbal or talk with anyone. Yeah, and so it just makes it really simple for people to make decisions on your behalf and not wonder and not guess. And then with that, uh with that clarity, and we offer that free for anyone. With that, we're like, wait, well, why you've got this list? And this speaks to the relate the experience I had with Dave's funeral, his celebration of life, was he'd rather get up and talk about how great everyone was. And like, yeah, what could we do to make that happen? So we've allowed the system to record video messages. So you can record video messages for everyone in your loved one's list. And so they can be shared after your passing, right at your funeral, or they can be shared at different milestones of your loved one's life. Um, you know, if they get married or if they have kids, your anniversary, different birthdays, whatever it might be. It could be whatever. It's just that you've recorded these messages that allow you to be there even when you're not, um, and support them and provide some things that maybe if you said them now, they'd probably hear different later. But you're able to know that you might have a second opportunity to share the knowledge and wisdom that you that you can after you've gone rather than today. Because right now my kids are nine and six, so when I say something, um it's gonna hit different than when they're 40 uh and later. Yeah, and so I just wish I had more videos of Dave as well. Uh, because the knowledge and wisdom that he imparted upon me was absolutely amazing. So I just was being selfish. I just wanted more from him. And so if he had Grateful Estate, that would have been wonderful. And I'm sure he would have loved to share some videos and messages that, and so let's bring that to the world. And so that's what we've done. So you can it allows you to really be focused and more present because where you're recording these, you're recording these messages for everyone on your loved ones list. Not only do you have to like figure out who am I going to put on this loved one's list, it allows you to really focus on, you know, I haven't talked to Sally or Johnny for for 20 years, but they're really got to be on this list. And it allows you to really think about I should really call them. And then allows you to be it them to be more top of mind, and so maybe you make more connections with them when you shouldn't have, because just like gets in the way of the day-to-day grind and everything else, like you're saying. And so that focuses on that. And then it's also really cool is that you have this little secret that you've shared, you recorded all these messages. And so you can I coined it, um, not ashamed of it because I've got all these messages. So if something happens, I can just I can go to my grave knowing that my kids, my wife, and everyone in my life have some really cool messages that I've left for them. And so part of it is that even I've recorded messages of my kids when they're out at soccer, and I I start with the message on my phone, and then I turn it to them playing soccer or doing something funny, yeah, and they don't know what I'm doing, but then I turn it back and saying, Hey, look what you just did. I'm you must be really proud of how hard you're working and everything else. And you just like these cool messages, and I save that. And so when they're 40, they get to see that we're thinking about them when they were six and nine, uh, or even younger. So it's just a different way of looking at legacy. We call it funeral 2.0. And I'm just excited if we can bring more of that to people because talk about legacy and connection and everything that you talk about on your on your podcast here. I think it should resonate really well.

SPEAKER_02 19:31

No, I think that's amazing. It kind of gave me chills down my spine just imagining someone, one of my loved ones, giving me a message after the fact and just speaking in the present tense. Yeah, and and you only see this kind of stuff. I've seen it on a couple of movies, like I'm thinking of the Avengers, when you get the video and it's like, okay, hey, listen, if I'm gone, or if you're reading looking at this, or in a double O James Bond movie, if you're looking at this, it means I'm gone now, but here's some instructions, or here's some imparted wisdom that I have, kind of thing. So I think that's amazing, and especially the intentionality of thinking of those people who you want to be on your list, because it really makes you think it's not just the five people I see all the time or every day, but there's other relationships that we do lose because of this social media many times, or just the busyness of life, and it you know, social media isn't keeping a lot of us social, it seems to be dividing us or separating us from those either intimate conversations or real and present conversations where we're intentional, it's just about speaking to each other. So, yeah, I love this concept.

SPEAKER_03 20:37

Yeah, yeah, it's it's been quite the journey building it, and because it took so long to build it, yeah, I was actually not present while building it when I'm dealing with my family. So the tension of opposites there was was incredible. So I gotta really make the value work here because to get to this point there was some sacrifice.

SPEAKER_02 20:56

Wow, wow, yeah, yeah, and I I appreciate you saying that because the way I look at that is there'll be seasons that we're all gonna be in that sometimes we just can't control every aspect of the time commitment, the money commitment, and the investments and things. So I I appreciate you saying that the whole idea is this working out because you've spent a lot of time, but also too being able to reflect on that and to say, okay, maybe how could I have done that differently? Yeah, you know, in a situation. And we don't always know those things, but yeah, I really appreciate that. Now, how do you oh go ahead?

SPEAKER_03 21:27

I was just gonna say the what was what's really come to light to me is you record these messages and it really distills you have to really think about what you want to say, uh, and it's not gonna be perfect, and you have to gulp that and get past that part. Like nothing's ever perfect, but everything on Instagram and social media looks perfect, and we're trying to create this original artwork, original, kind of like very rough sketch. And if you can get past that part, then you realize that yeah, everything is rough. So do you don't have to wait, you just Do. And by just doing it, it may not look pretty, you'll get better at doing it, but at least you've got something on rather than just having done nothing. And that fear of it not being perfect versus the result of not having any substance shared. I think is I find the latter worse, but the former is something most people can't get past.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:22

Even though, even though the latter fear is even a worse outcome. And that's what I'm trying to learn about it. It was like the human condition of like how do we how do we communicate this process so people when they learn about it, they love the idea of it, but will they actually do it? And so it's adherence to it that is really the disconnect that I'm just or I'm just trying to find that true connection of like how do we get people there.

SPEAKER_02 22:45

Yeah. No, I think that's great. Yeah, all you need have the solution for you. All you need is one instruction. Step one, do this unpolished. Step two, do it now when you're not ready.

SPEAKER_03 22:57

Yeah.

unknown 22:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:58

And if you have a problem with that, go back to step one, do it unpolished.

SPEAKER_03 23:01

What I'm really looking forward to is if you signed up with your family and we'll get you there. And then the beauty is that if you want to do it so they don't know you're doing it, you can. But if they if you want to let them know that they're doing it, you can send them video messages now saying, This is what I'm doing. I wanted to show you how I'm doing it, and I want you to do it too. Because I want you to understand the value of it. So hopefully it's that personal connection between people that they look up to, going, hey, I'm doing this. And so it takes away some of that fear and shows them that if I well they can do it, I can do it too, because they're actually asking me to it. So I have an obligation to even just to take a look at it and do a deep think about it too. And so the fact that you have a set of loved ones, say, you know, 20 to 100 loved ones on average, and you share that same like invite message to them as well. Um, and then and then they have 20 to 100 loved ones, and then they send your own invite personal invite message, then I'm just thinking like exponentially, very quickly, hopefully, more and more people have this legacy of connection.

SPEAKER_02 24:02

Yeah, no, I totally agree with that. I think it will be. And now that you're saying this too, then I think a lot of people will adopt this just because you see on Facebook, I'm not on Facebook a lot, but sometimes you see these different challenges, or hey, fast forward this and put in your answers here. And so many people do that because they find it interesting. And so I could see that that to share some empowering message or some insight that you have, or just tell somebody how much you love them. Because there's a lot of healthy touching that we don't do anymore, whether it's the hugging and a lot of face-to-face of just interacting, say, hey, I I really I really appreciate you as a friend, as my child, my spouse, whatever it may be. So I I really like this idea. So I'm I'm actually looking forward to uh jumping on board and trying it out. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:50

Can't wait to get your insights. Yeah, I I run a seniors housing facility right now, so it's 164 seniors that are low income and have experienced a lot of strife in their life to be in that position, and now they're here with us, and if they weren't here with us, they'd probably be on the street. And so what I get to see every day is pretty amazing of how the community uh of our seniors come together to support each other. Nice. And I I'm excited to be able to give them this service as well so they can have a little bit more to share with their loved ones because there's been a lot of issues in the past, and and I'm just it what when it really comes down to it, I see these seniors focus on supporting everyone else and making sure they're okay. And if they do that, then they feel better about even what's going on in their life because it what happens is their other fellow seniors also then end up showing up for them. And it becomes this wonderful connection where it's just supportive, the supportive community relationship. And if it happens in our little ecosystem uh at our seniors housing facility, I just imagine if we could expand that with just your set of loved ones and everyone else's set of loved ones, and then suddenly, you know, it's that six degrees of separation where you know, very quickly, uh but it was with just a hundred a hundred people on the system, you're connected to a hundred thousand loved ones.

SPEAKER_02 26:13

Holy cow!

SPEAKER_03 26:14

Yeah, is that's how the numbers work, right? So it's pretty amazing how you can connect to this world and it's it's uh you know infectious at the best connotation of the word.

SPEAKER_02 26:24

Yeah. And I like the fact that this technology is very purposeful in connecting human beings. Yeah, because as we were talking, it's just a lost art. And the culture we used to have 50 plus years ago, where communities or a village raise a kid, communities support each other, and nobody heard it in the community when everybody was around saying, Oh, we can all pitch in a little bit to help out while this person's or this family's have an issue. So now I I love the idea of that. How do you stay aligned with your values or vision when pressure is on?

SPEAKER_03 26:59

That's like uh like flying an airplane. You're always off course, but you're eventually at getting there. Yep. It's just how quickly you course correct and how far you go off, but eventually you'll get there. It's the working with a co-pilot, I think, that helps you stay aligned and making best use of your co-pilot because you're also taking care of all the passengers in the plane. You know, it could be as cheesy as possible, but I typically didn't use my co-co-pilot properly. So my partner, who's absolutely amazing, and I'm just learning how to be a best co-pilot to her and also use her advice and counsel because my ego got in the way quite a bit, or just of not being as worthy as I uh as I think I would expect me to be at this position in my life, and so as a result of that, I shied away from being truly present and showing up. So without getting into many details, that has been the largest failing I've ever had is not doing that. And I'm just thankful that she's still here.

SPEAKER_02 28:02

Yeah. Well, you sound it sound like you have a very similar story as mine, because I the same thing as I look back, I'm like, oh my gosh. And I've been married 26 years, and if you're married more than two years, there's gonna be some ups and downs and and working through things, communicating, loving, understanding, and hopefully our egos, like you said, don't get in the way of us messing up something that's good because I my wife has been awesome and actually has had made when I finally tapped into her resource and just said, Hey, I'm dealing with this, I'm trying to solve this issue, and just threw it out there to her, not looking for solutions, but she came up with some of the best ideas. I'm like, how did she do that? She's not even in business or doing this other stuff.

SPEAKER_03 28:40

But yeah, our Yeah, we both married up, right?

SPEAKER_02 28:43

Yes, yes, exactly. Exactly. No, I think that's just her whole idea of just the abundance, the blessings you have, the appreciation. I guess the word appreciation is the biggest one here of what you have, what you had, and then and doing the best you can to course correct, as you said, during aviation. And I love that for a couple reasons, but one of them is that I don't know if you knew I was a private pilot and I've had a like a private license, yeah, for like uh since 1991. So a good 35 years. So I love that analogy. We can talk aviation all day long, but it's so true. Airplanes don't just head in one direction and never course correct. There's thousands of course corrections based upon weather, based upon the pilot, based upon the weight of the airplane, all different types of things that you have to make. So I I love that analogy. So I appreciate that. And then how does your what role does your faith or inner conviction play in terms of if you're making tough decisions or when you felt unqualified?

SPEAKER_03 29:44

Yeah. It came down to you know, everyone's this is uh very much an indigenous point of view, um, but it's shared between every religion and and most most civilizations and communities. Is that everyone, everything is connected, everything is one at the end of the day. Between um no matter what religion or denomination you have, we're there for the community, and it's the strength of the community, and the strength of what you can provide the community, and also understand how you understand the community's needs and wants, so you can figure out how you best provide in that moment too. Yeah. And that desire, that obligation, that respect, I think is something I define as being spiritual, which is it's that belief in the fact that everyone else also has that true, innate belief in honor and respect for everything, everyone else, and the fact that um their own spirits, your individual spirits to live live their best opportunity while they're here. And so uh that's something my grandma always instilled upon me. And if you look at all the different types of religions, they all have those types of lessons, regardless of whatever content or context is wrapped around it. If you distill it, it's kind of goes down to that. Um and I so when I look at that, that's my obligation, and when I always come back to that, you usually get the right answers or the answers that work, right?

SPEAKER_01 31:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:09

I've been trying to figure out how I can always come back to that on a daily basis because talk about being distracted, you forget about that kind of idiom, and then to have that applied every day, and that's why I like grateful, is because if I'm doing that every day, then I'm innately kind of pulling that together every day. And so then that centers you into being in that space whenever you're attacking everything else that comes at you five minutes later, and so it's like doing meditation in the morning, it's just a different form of centering yourself and being able to do it. Like Dave, the mentor I passed who passed away. One of his first things he said ever said to me is that because I was doing this high paid high-paced work as a chief of staff to a minister here, and he's like, Colin, never drive to an important meeting, always take a cab. Because the last thing you need to be is pissed off at the world because of all the terrible drivers or what's going on and trying to find parking and rushing. No, just get in a cab, sit there, think about what you're doing, get in your headspace, walk out of the cab door, walk into the building's office, and then you're in the headspace that makes sense. So I never drive to an important meeting. And I haven't, sorry, I shouldn't say that. I should do that more often. I've been driving lately. I just remember that now. I was like, yeah, I should get in a cab when I have something. I have a really important meeting next Monday, and I think I'm gonna take a cab to get there.

SPEAKER_02 32:25

That's great. I think that's a great point of uh creating clarity with your environment. That's amazing. Yeah, that's an amazing tip.

SPEAKER_03 32:33

Yeah, yeah. The other one he shared with me is and is the when you meet someone new, so I just you know, meeting you, it takes you at least two weeks to really truly get to know that person. And that's not because you don't know the person, you don't want to talk, it's you haven't talked to the person enough. It's just the physiology in your body of having created new connections with someone else, so new brains, new synapses and different connections. It takes a week two weeks, two weeks physiologically for your brain to adapt to the new scenario of having met someone or being a new environment. So if you're uncomfortable with someone for two weeks, that's okay because that's your body catching up to the new experience and environment that you have. Now, I that was I don't know if that's true. I just when he told me that, I was like, okay, so if I'm uncomfortable, that's okay. I'll get comfortable later, is I think maybe was trying to get there. So I could forget about the feeling of being uncomfortable, knowing that that this too shall pass.

SPEAKER_02 33:29

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 33:30

And so that's just again another way of sharing another lesson that's maybe shared in so many other different ways in different religions as well.

SPEAKER_02 33:37

Yeah, no, I think that's great because uh naturally, as human beings, we want to we default to our habits, basically, and it's very difficult to change something on a long-term basis until it becomes a habit, and then it becomes natural, as you said, it feels comfortable. So I really appreciate that. But Colin, I want I want to thank you so much for just all the tips and techniques and mindsets that you've shared in this episode about so many different things. So thank you for being here today.

SPEAKER_03 34:08

It's been brilliant, and now I get to learn more about what gets you excited. So when I see things, be like, oh, Corey would like to see this. So I I get something else. We're like, I'm looking forward to seeing something and being able to share it with you.

SPEAKER_02 34:20

Awesome. Awesome. Yeah. Now tell us what's the best way to get in contact with you.

SPEAKER_03 34:26

Yeah, so my email is Colin at gratefulestate.com on LinkedIn, uh, basically forward slash Colin Doylan, or LinkedIn to forward slash IN, forward slash Colin Doylan. So C O L I N D O I L E N D. And uh pretty prolific on LinkedIn, and I think that's how we met. So let's keep it up. I love that network, and uh I look forward to many conversations with you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 34:48

Yes, likewise, likewise. So thank you for listening to this episode of Unapologetic Leadership, where connection with other people is extremely important and passing on knowledge and wisdom. Also remember that when you're connecting, it's so important to be present and in the moment so you can get the gift of receiving from that other person and developing a true connection and a great clear communication with them. Thank you again.

SPEAKER_03 35:20

You're welcome, Corey. You're amazing. Awesome.

SPEAKER_02 35:23

Thanks, Colin. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 35:28

So that's it for today's episode of Unapologetic Leadership. Head on over to wherever you listen to podcasts and subscribe to the show. One lucky listener every single week that posts a review on Apple Podcasts or iTunes will win a chance the grand prize drawing to win a twenty-five thousand dollar private VIP day with Corey Dunham herself. So head on over to Unapologetic Leadership Podcast dot com and pick up a free copy of Corey's gift and join us on the next episode.