Leaders Have a Personal Brand...You Should Too

In this episode, we explore why every leader has a personal brand — whether they’ve defined it or not. But this isn’t about marketing or social media. It’s about consistency, clarity, and trust.

Your team is always watching how you show up. Are you steady under pressure? Clear in your expectations? Aligned in your words and actions? The most effective leaders aren’t unpredictable — they’re intentional. When people know what to expect from you, they feel safer, more focused, and more confident in their work.

We unpack what it really means to cultivate a leadership “brand” rooted in values, behavior, and emotional consistency — and why predictability isn’t boring, it’s powerful. If you want to lead with greater influence and build deeper trust with your team, this episode will challenge you to think about how you show up every single day.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:26

All right, and welcome back to the Second Mile Leadership Podcast. We are your hosts, Jason and Isaiah. And today we are going to discuss, I think it's a it's a very important jumping off point for leaders. When we talk about leadership, when we coach it at Chick-fil-A, we tend to go in the order of learning how to lead yourself first. Once you know how to do that at a high level, you then should know how to lead others, and maybe that's one or two other people because you've learned how to do that through leading yourself. And then once you learn how to lead others, now once you've got that to a high level, it is now acceptable for you to expand that into building and leading teams, right? So you can see it escalating as we go. And then once you know how to do that at a high level, then it's can you lead an entire organization? And each one of those things have skills and characteristics that weave through all of them. And some require vastly different skills. Leading yourself is a different skill set than leading an entire organization. And you need to have a different level of knowledge and different things you're knowledgeable about. So when we whittle leadership down, if we start off with the first part of that, which is leading yourself, there's a lot of elements that go into leading yourself. And I think one of those elements is do you have a personal brand? And I don't mean a brand like your social media presence and all these things. And you know, there there is some crossover there too, don't get me wrong, but this is not a marketing conversation. This is a leadership conversation. And the question is, do you have a brand? Do you have something that you stand for? Do you have a reputation? Do you have a certain kind of a presence? Do you are are you consistent, congruent, predictable? Have you put any thought into what your brand is? Because the reality is having a personal brand is like is like a culture in a business. Every business has a culture. Whether you build the culture, whether you cultivate the culture, whether you are pouring into that culture is irrelevant. You're going to have a culture. You just happen to have a better one when you do pour into it and cultivate it. So either way, you're going to have one. And the same thing with a personal brand. There is a way that the world sees you. There's a way that the people you lead see you. And you decide if you want to cultivate a brand around things that are important to you, certain standards that matter to you, or are you just going to wing it and let everyone else make up their mind of what your brand is? So that's what the discussion is going to be about. And we're going to break that down at a pretty good level here. So Isaiah, when I bring up that topic and we talk about personal brand as it pertains to self-leadership, um, what goes to your head?

SPEAKER_02 2:56

Yeah, there's there's so much that goes into a brand. And and you mentioned it a second ago, but marketing is honestly part of it because it's it's it's on the micro scale. Like it's it's you marketing yourself. Um, but when you go for an interview or you're trying to get a different job or you try to start your own business, like your personal brand matters a ton. Like it it it can change the amount of um connections that you have, it can absolutely change the the quality of employees that you have, um, it can change literally everything. So when I think about a personal brand, my my mind first goes to every single human being's mind wants to seek out patterns. So, what I mean by that is we look for patterns in music, we look for patterns in like in our just our day-to-day life, whether that be how we interact with people, our routines, all that good stuff. But the human mind is is wired to seek patterns. And so when we think about that in the context of having your own personal brand, people are looking for consistency with you. They are looking for a pattern to identify you as.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

Is it bald, one eye, or old? Or is it all three.

SPEAKER_02 4:30

All three. Okay. That's my brain, huh? Yep. You're welcome, brother.

SPEAKER_00 4:34

I bring very little else to the table. Ah. Yeah. Awkward. Got real awkward, didn't it?

SPEAKER_02 4:43

Yeah. Um but people are going to look for you for that certain thing. So in the the Chick-fil-A's that Jason and I run, we like have specific detailed-oriented people that we are going to give those tasks to, and they're extremely diligent about that. They will knock them out, they'll do a great job of that. They'll um they'll put so much quality effort into it that it'll be 10x better than anything that I could ever produce. And then there are people that like are just going to get shit done no matter what. That is their brand. That is part of them. And then you are going to give whatever that difficult task is to them. And it it it matters personally, it matters professionally, it matters just like when you're walking down the street, your personal brand, people can tell by the clothes you wear, by your stature, by your physical appearance, all that, I mean, there there's so many things that that play a part into your own personal brand.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

Do you think I'm asking you two questions? Do you think because this is this is my belief, but do you believe that people already have a brand, whether they realize it or not, because they are viewed a certain way? And and do you think that these people at Chick-fil-A you speak of, do you think that they know that that's their brand and they lean into it? Or is this a default and they might be better suited figuring out what their their brand is in its totality instead of just maybe being a detail-oriented person or somebody who's a good communicator or whatever, maybe a one-off like that is?

SPEAKER_02 6:13

Yeah, I think sometimes that's a really good question. And I I hope that my answer gives you what you're looking for. I think sometimes we give a task, give a project to someone, they do nine out of ten things good on it. And we say, okay, well, the one out of ten thing, that is obviously not part of your brand. And it may just be that they didn't understand the assignment. It may be that they have not worked in that area in a while. Um, but I I think sometimes that personal brand we we unjustly judge. So I I don't know if the the people around you are always the best tell of who your brand is, but it over time I believe that the track record kind of proves what your brand actually is. So you're given 10 projects, okay. Well, if you suck on the timeline on every single one of them, then timeliness is not part of your brand. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_00 7:05

It does. And I think one way we can frame this for people listening who are trying to figure out what exactly we're talking about is think of a brand that a company has. What is Chick-fil-A's brand? Chick-fil-A is known for hospitality, it is known for being the world's most caring company, it is known for stewardship, it is known for speed of service, right? That is the brand. It's known for the inventor and and uh the best chicken sandwich. You know, I know that's a personal preference, but I'm saying for a long time, that's the brand. So what does that tell you when when when that is the brand of Chick-fil-A, you can expect, no matter when you go to Chick-fil-A, I don't care if it's 6 a.m., 12 noon, 8 o'clock at night, don't care what the day of the week it is, you're going to get those things because a brand is what you consistently do. A brand is is how you consistently show up. So as a person, what are you doing consistently every day? That is your brand. And when we don't spend time cultivating it or we don't spend time thinking about it, then your brand becomes just what you default to. And and if you want to be an effective leader, which is what we're all striving to be, then there's some consistencies that have to show up every day. Because when your team cannot count on you being consistent, when they don't know which person they're gonna get that day, they don't know what mood you're gonna be in, they don't know how you're gonna react to a situation, then or you know, when something goes wrong, that raises anxiety amongst the team because they don't know what to expect and count on. And Isaiah mentioned earlier about pattern recognition, right? There's this reticular activation that our brain has. That's like when, you know, you you're car shopping and you you're honed in on a certain car, and then that's you see that car on the road way more than you used to, because the brain is is is is tuned into that. Well, you know, the the human mind wants patterns. It is not only good at patterns, it wants patterns. So when you're a leader who can't give patterns, then it's very anxiety-inducing for your team. And it it is a very ineffective way to lead because now people are performing every day via fear. So that's why it's so important for us as leaders to build and cultivate what our brand's gonna be. And Isaiah mentioned, you know, well, if if this is somebody's brand and they get it right nine out of ten times, just because they failed that one time, but then I would say, but we can still build a brand off that because now it's what is your brand or what do you do consistently when you get it wrong? Are you somebody that blames? Are you somebody that takes ownership and responsibility? That becomes a part of your brand too. Or do you look out the window and cash blame on everybody else? So we have to spend time as a leader figuring out what we are, what we stand for, and what we want to do and be consistently. You know, is that you want to be a leader who is very big on standards, right? We have standards and we don't violate our standards because if we do, there's gonna be accountability. That can be part of your brand. Are you somebody who's cool, calm, and collected, right? You have high emotional intelligence. That can be part of your brand. Are you somebody who does take ownership? Are you somebody who does delegate well? Are you somebody who who seeks counsel when there's a tough decision to make? Are you somebody who who is leads with humility? And what I think the sweet spot of that is humble confidence, right? Figure out who you want to be as a leader and then go to work turning yourself into that thing. And once you do, it changes the way you interact, it changes the way you engage, it changes your level of confidence. And then what happens, you start carrying yourself different. And even the way you carry yourself or the presence you have becomes a part of your brand. So I think this is something we need to very consciously put thought into and start working towards again, not unlike we would a culture of a business. But what is the culture of your brand going to be? What is the consistency of you gonna be?

SPEAKER_02 10:40

Yeah, totally agree. I think one really, really, really good way to figure out what your brand is if you don't know already, is to ask the people that you are closest to to describe you in one word. So I did this probably three, four months ago, somewhere around there, right before we had our daughter. And um I asked some people close to me, and the word that I got twice was above anything. Yes. Was that retarded? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:09

Retarded, yeah. I remember that. Yeah. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 11:12

It was not stupid.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

It was accurate, but yeah. That is your brand. But go on.

SPEAKER_02 11:16

And that and that's my brand. That's that's where that point ends. Uh that that's it.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

Is that the end of the show now?

SPEAKER_02 11:23

That's the end of it.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 11:25

43. That's a good talk right there. We appreciate you. Sorry, what was the word you got? But the word that I got was efficient, which I'm like, I'm appreciative of. It's not a bad word to have by any means. But it's not what I want my number one descriptor to be. Like that that's a good thing. But if that's what people think of me as, that's like, man, I I feel like I'm missing the mark in in so many areas if that's what I'm being given. Aaron Powell, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

What do you what do you want it to be?

SPEAKER_02 11:51

I want it to be God fearing or purpose-driven. And then everything filtered out through there. Interesting. Yeah. But it it gave me a good sense of like, okay, I mean, I I was like, the way that we approached her birth was trying to do literally everything possible before she got here. So that once she's here, we have as much time to spend with her on the back end. I have as much time to get to work, Jordan has as much time to give to her work, all that good stuff. So we lived that season extremely efficiently so that we could set up for the future season coming. And so in the season, it makes sense that that was my descriptor. I don't want that to be the case long term for me, though. But it was, it was a it it was so it was it was a really, really cool, thoughtful question to give to people because I actually got really, really good responses. Um so highly encourage that for anyone that doesn't know currently.

SPEAKER_00 12:41

Yeah, it's a good jumping off point. I asked a year ago, and the number one word I got back, I was actually, I would have not I would have not thought this was the word I was gonna get back, not because I don't think I am this, and you'll see why I say that in a second, but it just wouldn't be the at that time with what we were trying to achieve, it's not the word that that maybe popped in my head, but I was very proud of it. And the word was safe, and that I'm a safe person to talk to, I'm a safe person to unload on. And and that I do try to make that part of my brand because I I try very hard not to be judgmental, right? I I've done stupid stuff in my life, I've made really bad mistakes, I've done dumb things, I've I've gotten it right, gotten it wrong, I've led with ego, I've done all the things you're not supposed to do. And then so I try to carry myself in a way where if if I can do it, then why is it worse if they do it, right? We tend to, that's that psychological phenomenon that we tend to judge people through or ourselves through our our character and others through their actions. Meaning, you know, it's the old adage, when someone you know cuts you off in traffic, they're an idiot. But when you do it, oh, you're just in a hurry. You give yourself a pass, but you criticize other people. And I try not to do that. I try to be somebody who who is safe. And the reason I want to be safe is because I think being a leader requires you to be a phenomenal decision maker. And it's really hard to be a great decision maker when you don't have good data, good information, and you're not gonna have that if you're not a safe person to talk to. People aren't gonna tell you what you need to hear. And and people tell me a lot of things, and I think it's because I I I try with every ounce of my soul to keep the private stuff private, and then um, you know, when and and not make not maybe not make people feel judged and and and feel bad about themselves when they do divulge things. Uh throw that person under the bus by dying them out or giving their name. So I I really appreciated that word. Um so I think that well well, and that's the the point of that story is that that there's a lot of power in finding those things out. Now, I will tell you when you when you go ask that question, it's gonna be very hard to get the negative part of your brand said to you. Um because I have plenty of those, I assure you, but you know, people aren't gonna be as willing to tell you those, so you have to either take that with a grain of salt and or keep pushing for the negative. But I think that's a great idea. I love it. Yeah, I think that's I love it. Um But I think it's a great way to start this journey is go find out what your brand is. You already have a brand, like we said earlier. You already have one. Now go find out what it is, how does that compare to what you want it to be, and then get to work building the brand the way you want it to be.

SPEAKER_02 15:12

Mm-hmm. Ben, I mean, I love that. I love that. When I like when I go through where I started like actually developing myself and getting into self-leadership and where I am today, um, the word efficient is like such progress from where I was. So like back in the day, um, if if I were to ask that question, it would not be efficient. It would be lazy as hell. I don't I don't know what what positive thing, honestly, someone could have said about me. Um so it it's it's a cool marker to also see where you're at. Um and I would I would encourage people to do that like spaced out as well. So it's not just a one-time thing, but space it out. Maybe every six months to a year is like a a good kind of cadence to to figure out where your followers and the people closest to you, what they really, really think about you.

SPEAKER_00 16:06

Yeah, and I think you have to buckle up sometimes. I th the reason a lot of people won't do this is because it's scary. If you're getting honest feedback, right, if you're just seeking the good stuff, then it's it it can be fun. It can be it can build your your your ego and your your confidence on some level. But uh but if you really are pushing for the negative too, it it's it's it's tough to hear sometimes. But that negative is just as valuable as the positive, in fact, more so. Um and you know, it really gives you the data you need to decide if the world is seeing you the way you want to be seen. And this is this comes down to the the the term self-awareness, which is thrown around a lot. But I don't know how you build self-awareness. I some of some of it is innate, but but most of us aren't as self-aware as we think we are. Uh I read a study somewhere, I think like 85% or or 90% of leaders or CEOs, I can't remember who the the group was, but they saw themselves as self-aware. But when they tested them, only 15% were self-aware. So it's actually pretty rare to be overly self-aware. So if you're not self-aware, how do you build that? And you build it through asking and then making people feel very safe, to be honest with you. And then when they tell you, oh, I think you're efficient, I think you're safe, I think you're smart, I think you're this, all these great things, love that. Thank you. Now, where am I not hitting the mark? Where am I not getting it right? And that's the scary part, and that's where you really have to give people a little bit of grace because very rarely are you gonna get an immediate response on that because people are gonna be caught off guard, they're gonna feel uncomfortable. But you have to give them time. So sometimes the way I've done it is say, look, I need the negative stuff too, and I will give you two or three days to think about it because I know it's hard to address this on the spot, but please bring it back to me so that I can, you know, learn from it or or have a better perspective of how I come off to people, how I lead. One of my favorite questions is what is it like to be led by me? The good and the bad, right? And then when they come back with the the negatives, you have to make them feel incredibly appreciated when they do that. So I try to go out of my way to say, thank you. I need this, I need you to tell me this. Is it, is there going to be a level of sting to it? Of course there is. But you know what? If I'm giving Isaiah feedback and I love Isaiah, then I'm willing to sting him a little bit in an effort to grow his self-awareness, and he should be the same for me. So that that means the deliverer of the feedback needs to feel that way. But you as the receiver have to appreciate it so much that that person walks away and says, Oh, he or she really does want this feedback. And the more you you make people feel that way, the more of it you're gonna get, positive and negative. And now you will have a mirror of exactly how people see you. And now you can take, like we said earlier, you can take this avatar of what you want to be seen as and what you want your brand to be compared to how you're already viewed and seen, and start developing yourself into the leader you want to be and up-leveling those areas that maybe are not as strong as they need to be. So this is a this is a an exercise that is incredibly important as you build your confidence and your presence and all the things we need to have as a leader.

SPEAKER_02 19:03

Yep. I love it. The uh when you were talking, my mind goes to a very simple phrase, but practice what you preach. If we are, if let's say at work, you're trying to build a culture of cleanness or whatever it is, and then you have a workouting at your house, you have work people over to your house, and your house is not clean, it's not put together, um, it's dirty, it's it's evident that things have not been organized or or cleaned in months. You just erased all of the all of that that that you had built up with your team. Because if you consistently preach cleanliness at the store, or you consistently preach, hey, uh caring and you don't care at home, or you in you you preach being engaged with your people and giving them 100%. And then when they come over to your house, you're just scrolling on your phone, you just erase all the credibility that you had and it destroys your brand. So when we talk about consistency, it has to be in every single aspect of your life. And it's like, hey, I preach fitness, and then if I don't go work out, like how am I supposed to give that to someone? Like, how am I supposed to pour into someone if it's something that I actually don't preach or sorry, I actually don't practice.

SPEAKER_00 20:18

Yeah. Uh and and you know, I a couple things with that. One is your brand is not what you wish it was. Your brand is what you show up as every day. So, you know, when when you say you want a culture of high standards, but you let the standards slip, your your brand is not high standards anymore. Your brand is somebody who lets standards slip, right? You're somebody who will tolerate lower standards. That is your brand.

SPEAKER_02 20:42

Then your brand is also someone that lies.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

Yeah, that's the truth. And talk about killing credibility. Um but but it does it. And but but here's the thing. With when you're when when the brand that you want to or or what or a better way to say this, what the personal brand you want to have, when it's absolutely congruent with what the world sees, I don't know if there's anything that builds confidence more than that. Now, Isaiah mentioned, you know, he preaches fitness if he doesn't do it. Well, I preached and taught fitness for 20 plus years, 25 years to be exact. And and as we say here today, I'm not in great shape right now. And it chips away at my confidence. If I'm being really honest with you, it bothers me. Um and and if I'm also being honest, it hasn't bothered me enough to fix it yet, but we're getting there. We're getting closer and closer. But but it bothers me. And it it hurts my confidence on some levels. And it and and be honest with you, it hurts my brand a little bit. And I'm aware of that. And and and so I think we all have areas where our brand is not congruent with what we believe and what we want it to be and how we want to be perceived. That that is my probably my biggest area where it's not congruent. And if you're listening to this, you got to decide what yours is, or if you have multiples, and then go to work up-leveling them and fixing them. So Isaiah wanted to do something, and I'm gonna put a little twist on it. So Isaiah said before he hit record that we're he's gonna tell me what he thinks my brand is, and I'm gonna tell him what I think his brand is, just to help highlight it for you guys listening. And I'm gonna put a small twist on it. So let's do it this way. Let's what if you tell me what you want your brand to be, and then I'll tell you where you're missing the mark. I like it. And and also where you're getting it right, not just where you're missing the mark. And then well, and then I'll do the same with you. This is fun. All right. It's gonna be scary. But it's good. So I'll go first. What do you want your brand to be? And I'll tell you where you're getting it right and where you can still grow.

SPEAKER_02 22:32

I would say purpose-driven and God fearing. Um I would say upholding standards. I would say giving a hundred percent of my effort in every single area that I can. That would those would kind of be my top three.

SPEAKER_00 22:48

Yeah, well, it's it's very interesting you say that because I think there's two of those where you're uh hitting it out of the park, one of those where it could improve. And I think there's one piece of your brand that you didn't mention that probably dominates all those that you didn't bring it up. So if I was gonna tell you what I think your number one brand is, is your calming presence. I think that is what people feel from you the most. I don't know if people listen to the podcast can feel that from him through the the microphone, but he is a very calming presence. I speak with a lot of inflection, I get very passionate, and Isaiah's the calming voice in the room. And it's hard to not be calmed when you're in a room with him, which I think is a is a beautiful gift in a lot of ways.

SPEAKER_02 23:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:27

I think that's your number one brand. Um or or maybe the way people see you the most, you do a very good job with that. I'd say that absolutely speaks a part of your brand. Um uh there was the standards one. What was the other one other than standards?

SPEAKER_02 23:41

Um purpose-driven.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

Yep. So I think you do a good job with that. I think standards is where you still have room to grow. I think you believe in standards. I think you have standards for yourself. I think with self-leadership, you're elite. I think you lead yourself about as well as anybody I've ever met. Um I I do think that organizationally, you believe in standards. I don't know if we're quite 100% there on making sure everyone around you lives up to the standard all the time. So I think that's where you have room to grow. Um, but you're infinitely better than you were when I met you two, well I didn't meet you two and a half years ago, but really started working with you two and a half years ago. So I think you're you're probably 90% of the way there with the brand you want. And uh, you know, don't don't miss that other piece that I added to it because I think that is that is a a gift, and I think that that people really appreciate that about you.

SPEAKER_02 24:31

Yeah, I appreciate it, brother. Thank you for for the feedback and all the kind words. Yeah. What do you think? We are legitimately doing this on the spot. So this is I think it's cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

Um what so when I say all that, tell me how what you think. How it feels.

SPEAKER_02 24:45

I totally agree. Like I don't I don't have any differences or or qualms with that. I think it's an it's an area of opportunity that I will continue to push in. Um it's something that like I I am passionate about. It's something that I want to be better at. And then I mean it's uh it's a blessing to hear the other things. It truly is, because that's uh it it means that I'm living the way that I want to, and that's that's so cool. Like I I asked my wife the other day, um, I was like, do you think that I would do like anything, like anything for you and Kinley? Do you think that I would put myself at a detriment sometimes for you guys? And she said yes. And I was like, wow. Like that that's that is like like at a detriment to a place where it would cause me long-term harm. And she said yes. And I'm like, wow, like that, that's that's where I want to be. So that that's thank you for for the kind words. I I greatly appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

No, absolutely. And and and you should be proud of that because you're 26 years old and you're you're uh, you know, in in my world, you're a baby still, and you're you just happen to figure this out quicker than most. All right, so my brain.

SPEAKER_02 25:51

I'm gonna ask you, yeah. What's yours, buddy?

SPEAKER_00 25:53

So I I really want to be seen as a leader. That means a lot to me, not just at work, but at home. Uh but like you've heard me say in the past, you know, Isaiah's heard me say it a hundred times, but on the podcast I've mentioned that I don't get to decide that. Other people do. So, you know, if I think about what personifies a leader, um, I I hope that I'm somebody who mostly manages my emotions well, who leads with love and care, who shows up every day to serve, who makes it more about others than myself. So I really want to be that guy who also, to use yours, because it means a lot to both of us, who also holds a very high standard and and you know believes that that everything up levels when standards are set high and people meet those standards. So I always talk about the balance of can you be somebody who loves and cares deeply and serves, but also will not let people slip on the standards. And I also I think another piece of my identity is is I love a communicator who carries himself with confidence, who will die on the hill of personal development, and modeling that for the people around me. Because I think that's where most of us are gonna make our hay in life is our ability to develop ourselves. So I think those things would encapsulate my brand. So it's communication, confidence, all the things that encapsulate encapsulate a leader, personal development, and making sure everyone around around me meets a high standard.

SPEAKER_02 27:20

I love that. I love that. I think you you touched on this briefly. I think one thing you're missing out, as as you point out, one thing that I missed. I think you have a ruthless pursuit of winning and excellence. Like a a ruthless pursuit. And it's like it it's it's cool to see because it's like that that's the kind of guy that you would want to go to war with. Um that's the kind of guy that that you would want to go to war for. Um I think that that's that's a beautiful aspect of you that you may not think about all the time, but you have it. And and my uh my age lingo, um, it would be the you have a dog inside of you. Um that's the best way I can phrase it.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

Well, I would tell you, it's a little bit maladaptive. And I think, yes, I think that is the undercurrent that drives everything I do. Is is I want I want to I want to be great, but I think that what I've really developed myself into is I want others to be great with me. I want to bring others with me on that path to greatness. I don't want to do it alone because that's no fun. Um that's the undercurrent, but I would tell you there's a bit of a maladaptive element to that in that I think it's to prove something to the world. Um, you know, I I haven't told the story in this podcast, but I have a father who you know in my life was a deadbeat in a lot of ways, and and I have very little respect for him. But I think there's one of those when when he and he never loved me or cared about me. Uh and I think when when that happens to you, and you know at a young age your dad doesn't give a crap about you, you get this chip on your shoulder that you want to prove to the world that you are worthy. So I think for a lot of times it was maladaptive, and maybe that's why it doesn't pop in my head, but at the same time, do I have a a ruthless drive for excellence? Yes, it drives every single thing that I want to be the best dad, the best husband, the you know, run the best businesses, I want to be the best at everything. Will I ever be? No. That's the this is not I am the best. I don't think I am, but I know I never will be. But am I pursuing that? Absolutely. And in some ways for good reasons, some ways a little bit maladaptive.

SPEAKER_02 29:13

Yeah. And I the the other part that I was gonna add is the the maladaptive piece, I think, bleeds into it can like the the ruthless drive for excellence can sometimes focus you into one area and then it it can leave some other areas behind. So it's not like always the most well balanced, and hey, I want to attack every single thing in my life. I don't want to let this slide or this slip or anything like that. Um I I am purely focused on this mission right now, and everything is for that, which sometimes is good, but I think sometimes it it can also let other areas get to where you don't want them to get to.

SPEAKER_00 29:53

You son of a bitch. How dare you? No, I'm just sorry. No, I'm just kidding. No, that's freaking dead on.

SPEAKER_02 29:59

We can fight over the phone if you want to.

SPEAKER_00 30:01

Dude, I just found out literally last night, I think, that you did jujitsu for years.

SPEAKER_01 30:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:08

I mean, not just known you this long and didn't know that.

SPEAKER_01 30:11

This would be fun. We can grab hole on the on the camera real quick. Yeah. I well I used to I used to do jujitsu too. I'm just a lot older.

SPEAKER_00 30:17

So uh no, that that is actually phenomenal analysis. I will I will say that actually I have uh I'm a little speechless because that's how accurate that was. That is that was amazingly accurate because I do. So at this phase of my life, when we talk about my fitness being out of balance, I'm so career focused. And and if I can go back in time a little bit, and maybe this is where you get this analysis, because again, it it's incredibly accurate, is there was a point in my life where I was so laser focused on being a father. And then and and I I put other things aside, not fully, but I I did not focus on those things as much to be a father and as good at it as I could be, and then it translated into fitness, and I became really into my fitness, and I used to have a very, very high level of fitness. And then it turned into business. And it was like once my kids were older, they were off doing their own thing, okay. Now I'm gonna attack, uh I have my own, you know, own my own business 25 years, and I and I put a lot of time into them, but I could have put more. But I I was the dad that broke away to go to the games, broke away to do this, and I did not uh attack business like I did being a father. And now I'm attacking business with everything I've got and what's but but while still maintaining the fatherhood and the husband piece, but what I'm not attacking is my health and fitness right now. So I think that's incredible analysis, and it's definitely an area that I've got to get better um and figure out a way to to multitask all these things at once. And um, yeah, that was well done.

SPEAKER_02 31:38

Appreciate it, brother. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 31:40

Yeah. Solid. So hopefully that this this conversation that that was a great exercise. That was Isaiah's idea, and I love it. Um hopefully it it illustrated what we're talking about when it means building a personal brand. And what what I would invite all of you to do is spend some time thinking about this. You know, one of the things that I try to teach the people that I coach is we need to have a lot of thinking time. Uh, we need a lot of time to to sit and stew on things. Because if we don't, life is so busy, we get lost in the hustle. And and when we have a thousand things going on in our head at one time, it's hard to get clarity around our thoughts. And that could be around anything, whether it's how we feel, what our personal brand should be, how well we're doing in life, what our goals are, what our dreams are, how far how far down the road are we, um, you know, what our relationships like. So I I highly encourage you to have plenty of thinking time in your life. And I promise you all the greats do this, but use a portion of that thinking time to figure out your personal brand. What do you want it to be? What do you want people to think about you? If you went through this exercise Isaiah and I just went through, what would you hope the other person said to you? That's what you want your personal brand to be, and then have the fortitude to go ask people, what do you see me as? How do you see me? What kind of leader am I? What's it like to be led by me or whatever you want your brand to be? And then take that feedback with a grain of salt and and be very appreciative of it. And then and it'll tell you where you're incongruent. And this is such important data to build towards having the personal brand that you want. And then one day what you'll do is you'll wake up and you'll carry yourself a certain way. You'll have a certain presence about you, you'll show up the same way every day, you'll be consistent. And this is consistent when things are good and things are bad. Because I find that people have very little issue being consistent when things are good. It's when things hit the fan that things go sideways for them, right? But how can you be consistent through both? How can you have that? I will tell you this about Isaiah, that call me presence. He has that no matter what's going on. It's freaking wild. It's like, you know, we can be in a mess. He still has that call me presence. You know, at Chick-fil-A, it gets super busy, and there'd be times where I can tell, like one thing about Isaiah that I don't even know if this is your personal brand or not, but but it it it very well could be is he will do anything for his teammates, right? He he will. He'll he'll, you know, he has done this in the recent past. He'll leave his house to go fill in at Chick-fil-A because we're shorthanded, he'll, you know, when he's not supposed to be there. But you know, if he's got a project to work on, he'll put the project down to go help them when things are busy. And he never complains, he's never rattled. And I'll come through some of those times and I'll just, hey, yeah, I'll grab him for a second. Hey, Isaiah, let me ask you a question. And he's always calm. He's always calm. It's pretty freaking amazing. I I I do not possess that ability, I don't think. But um I I think I'm calm of mind. I don't think I present calm all the time. But um, you know, but but I can't even know where I was going with that.

SPEAKER_02 34:24

But um I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00 34:27

What was my lead into that? I was going somewhere. It wasn't just uh uh empty compliment, I was going somewhere with that, but uh I was flowing and lost lost my place. But anyway, hopefully maybe I'll find it here as as well.

SPEAKER_02 34:37

You were talking about consistency a bit. But um one of the things and uh I I I wanted to get this out. Um but there is like we we've hammered on consistency, but there's a reason. So like you, and I know that this isn't crazy math, this is something that you could easily do in your head, and it it makes sense, but it's really, really good to hear and and think about is you have all the context for your own life. So in the hectic situation, in the mess, the when the house is on fire, all that good stuff, and when something crazy is going on, and you did not have the greatest first impression with someone. Um, you had 10 things on your mind, you're trying to get out the door, then the new hire comes in, and you just like hey, and then you you walked by, like you have all the context that you had the 10 things going on. They have none of that context. They just know that it was you walking out and you said hi and then left. They did not feel the care, they didn't feel the love. And if you did the math, so if if even if it was just a five-minute interaction, which is kind of long sometimes, that would be.00000136% of your entire life. So they have that microscopic view of all the context surrounding it, and you have the entire view of all the context. So that's why consistency matters so much because that point zero zero zero zero one three six percent is the amount of margin that you have to not be consistent. It is wild when you think about it through that lens.

SPEAKER_00 36:08

No, absolutely. And and I think you model that at a high level, and and and I think you are. I think that you know you are consistent. I think you have built a great brain for yourself at a young age, which is impressive because you know, people listening who don't know Isaiah, he's he's big, he's strong, he's fit, he's he's a great husband, great father, he's calm of mind, and you know, he he's learning really what it means to hold a standard. So he's gr he's grown tremendously in that, even though we're not fully there yet. He has grown tremendously. So he's learning that that last piece of it because Isaiah is someone who loves and cares for people. And a lot of times when that's what you lead with, love and care for people, what happens is you'll let standards slip because you think it's it's going to jeopardize that when you push back against them or hold them accountable. And there and what you learn in time is the exact opposite is true. That holds someone accountable is love and care because it helps grow them as well. So, you know, so what is your version of that? Whoever's listening to this podcast, what is your version of that? What again, I'm gonna ask this question one more time, and this is how we're gonna leave the podcast. The shit hits the fan. How do you want to show up? How do you want people to look at you and view you? If it's gonna hit the fan, and we hit pause on life, and we went to everyone, okay, that the you know what just hit the fan. How is Mike gonna show up now? What would you want them to say about you? And that is what you want your personal brain to be, and now it's your chance to go build it. And I promise you, it will make you a better leader, it'll make you more confident. Oddly enough, it brings more humility, it'll help you manage emotions better, it will check a lot of leadership boxes uh if you get this part right. So, that being said, Isaiah, anything else before we wrap up? Nope, that was very, very well worded. I appreciate it, and thank you uh uh for your candor today, seriously. That uh you snipe me good there, and I love it.

SPEAKER_02 37:46

Thank you for yours, brother.

SPEAKER_00 37:47

I appreciate it. No, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 37:48

It's always uh it's fun, dude. It's fun now. This is out there too, so people can hold me accountable to this in the world.

SPEAKER_00 37:54

Yeah. Yep, me me too, man. Um so uh thank you guys again for listening. I hope you take this seriously. I hope you go do the exercise we presented to you today and start building the personal brand that's going to in turn make you the leader you want to be. So we'll wrap up with that. And as always, uh, if you enjoy the show and you like the message we're putting out, please go give us a five star rating on Spotify, Apple, all the things. Uh, if you do not think we deserve a five star rating, please do not give us one. But we would love feedback on what we can do better. And uh that would be greatly appreciated. So with that, we'll wrap up and we'll see you guys next week.

SPEAKER_01 38:27

We'll let it.