How To Thrive Through All The Seasons of Business Utilizing Authenticity and Clarity, with Entrepreneur Scott Stirrett!

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1:22Available for a limited time in participating restaurants tax on included not valid for use within a combo or in combination with any other offer or discount. Hello everyone and welcome to another elite episode of the Get Authentic with Marcus show. I'm your host Marcus Ogden on today's episode we are joined by Mr Scott Stern and you know what let's bring them on down how you doing it Scott. I'm doing great thanks for having me up. No problem my friend Scott first question what does the word authentic slash authenticity mean to you.

2:29Authenticity means embracing your true self who you would be around your really good friend or your parents or your childhood neighbor and to me authenticity is so important because it's when we're at the most authentic that we can take the biggest risks and we can embrace the unknown out there in the world. You know ladies and gentlemen I really like what Scott said when we embrace our authentic self we can take the biggest risk when we embrace who we truly are we can step out the comfort zone we can go and create magic for ourselves and for the people we're serving and for the people that are in our lives because we are embracing who we truly are and not trying to suppress who we are we are stepping into who we are and that's where magic greatness and true prosperity

3:34comes from. Love that Scott. So first question Scott on top of that please tell us more about yourself and the backstory of who you are and please tell us what you're doing now currently today. I am the author of a book called The Uncertainty Advantage which is a guide for professionals on how to embrace all of the uncertainty that's out there in the world and I know I feel the uncertainty I know some of the others feel feel it as well and I wrote this book to help people in particular young people learn to see all of the opportunities in uncertainty and the book goes through six core pillars of advice on how you can learn to not fear uncertainty but actually take advantage of it in our current world. A little bit of context about me professionally is I graduated from Georgetown University and after attending Georgetown I went and worked at Goldman Sachs in New York City. I then equipped my job at Goldman Sachs to

4:38go found a national not-for-profit call adventure for Canada where we raised over $80 million to help over 10,000 people launch their careers across Canada. Interesting I love this so ladies and gentlemen what I hear Scott referring to is he talks about his journey of how he got to where he is as an author as an individual it helps others in their journey but what I really like what he said is he is the author of a book that helps you to embrace uncertainty helps you to embrace change or new horizons or new summits and not look at uncertainty as a disadvantage but look at it as an advantage. You know what Scott let's start there you talk about uncertainty and how it is something we should be looking at or can look at in a positive light and a positive perspective. Can you

5:38share with our global audience more on how they can look at uncertainty as a pro and not a con? The six core pillars of my book at the uncertainty advantage are first the importance of self-compassion that essentially if you talk to yourself in a more gentle way you're going to be more effective at bouncing back from setbacks and you're going to be more willing to take risks and ultimately take advantage of uncertainty. The second core pillar is the importance of adaptability that essentially if you set really rigid plans for yourself in a world of rapid change you're likely to get disappointed and waste a lot of time creating plans that end up going in the garbage so it's important to be iterative and to be adaptive in your planning. The third core principle of the uncertainty advantage is the importance of anti-projility. Anti-projility is ability to not just be resilient to tolerate setbacks and challenges but it's ability to emerge stronger from challenges and one of the ways that you

6:41can learn to be more anti-fragile is through building your risk taking muscles and thinking about every day every week what's one thing that you can do to push yourself out of your comfort zone and build your anti-projility muscles. The fourth core pillar of the uncertainty advantage is the importance of general skills. Essentially the ability to foster skills like communications or public speaking or teamwork because in an AI-driven world these skills are harder to automate and are going to let you better take advantage of all the uncertainty that's out there. And the fifth pillar of the uncertainty advantage is the importance of an entrepreneurial mindset because in a world that's really uncertain where things are moving really quickly it's more important than ever to be able to identify and act upon opportunities to create value for others. And the final sixth pillar of the uncertainty advantage is the importance of network building a building a network that is both wide and deep and thinking about ways that you can help other people because in a world defined by uncertainty it's those who have the most resilient the most

7:42helpful the most engaged networks that are best poised to respond to setbacks as well as to leverage all of the opportunities that are out there. Jason Jalman these pillars are absolutely vital in allowing yourself to embrace uncertainty and not get overwhelmed or get paralyzed or you would call that you know paralysis by analysis or look at things as a negative but how to look at things as a positive. And you know what Scott that's a great quote by Vincent Van Gogh. Okay, listen this if the voice is telling you you cannot paint by all means paint Vincent Van Gogh again if the voice is telling you you cannot paint by all means paint Vincent Van Gogh. I love that because what I believe this is the same and you talked about this earlier in the last segment

8:45mindset is everything if your mind or a voice are you here something saying don't do this don't do that you should be doing this and we're doing that because what I tell people is when you're feeling uncomfortable when things are getting a little bit difficult when you're not getting what you want at times that's when you're on the way that's when you're probably closest to achieve what you want and design for example right it's just interesting right. Oh Scott I just found out that we were short for it we were shortlisted for a job with a major client but we didn't give that job it's funny I'm actually leaving North Carolina today heading to Pittsburgh to speak for one of that company's offices right best nationwide and so I told the person that told me about not getting the job I know you know what I told her I said I want to thank you for letting me know

9:45when you found out and I'm heading to Pittsburgh tonight to speak for one of your offices and that would not have been possible without you and I told her without her and her counterpart me getting that job doesn't happen so my point is rice got our mindset has to be one that over here something self-doubt the whispers in the case may be we have to push those to the side and we got to keep going forward talk a little bit more Scott about how in your awesome book you talked to people about training their mind and their mindset to not let fear or doubt stop them if they feel they're in an uncomfortable uncertain situation one of the main pieces of advice I have on how to develop a better relationship with risk-taking is the

10:48importance of recognizing that very rarely are are lives defined by one big risk but rather our lives are often defined by 10,000 little risks and the more that you recognize that we have we make risks all the time that life is a serious of bets the more that you understand that the more that you're comfortable taking risks because you recognize that life is a serious of bets and sometimes those bets will work out and sometimes they won't and a second piece of advice that I talk about in the book that I think is really really critical is that there are risks in not taking risks in life that it was a huge risk to leave Goldman Sachs to go fan-metry for Canada but that created more opportunities for me than any other point in my life there's a big risk in publishing a book but I have loved doing it it's been one of the greatest learning experiences of my life as well and next time that you're thinking about a big risk or even a little risk think about and ask yourself this question what's the risk to me my family

11:53my career if I don't take this risk right now Scott I absolutely love that lays in gentleman if you don't get anything from this awesome interview please get this there is risk in not taking risk again there is risk in not taking risk Scott I feel exactly the same way one of my very good colleagues very good friends is a guy named Gus Farad he's a former NFL quarterback played for the Washington Redskins by a B. Dolphins Minnesota Vikings great guy great human being Gus is the one that got me to put my fear aside and he got me to take the risk of starting this podcast I had another podcast got that I had with a co-host and we parted ways because we couldn't see eye to

12:55eye and Gus told me set Marcus you're too talented you're too good to not keep going after this and trying this again you're just too talented you're a good interviewer you have great energy you're a great storyteller this fits you and of course I was frustrated I was uncertain and I told him no and on the fourth time that he asked me right Scott he had convinced me that it was a risk to not take the risk and I took the risk and started this podcast and here we are right Scott almost four years later in the top half percent most popular podcast worldwide and we are so grateful that people like you and others want to come on to our show to share their story to share their expertise to get them to help our global audience move forward in their life so this is what it's all about

13:58if you sit back in life and just do what's comfortable your life will never be as fulfilling as it truly can be so Scott here's my next question you talked about you know the fear of leaving Goldman Sachs and you did it and now here you are as a successful entrepreneur author you know philanthropist can you please talk to our global audience people are listening right now right Scott that are hearing this awesome episode and they're scared in their moment to leave a company or try something new or do a new venture or face uncertainty what would Scott tell them is what Scott leaned on when he faced his fear left Goldman Sachs and it was the best thing he ever did in his life when you're faced with a moment of intense uncertainty it's important to reflect on the fact that

15:05everything positive in your life in the world comes from moments of uncertainty and that if we don't take risks that if we just say static that if we just stay in our comfort zones we're never going to be able to achieve our full potential and Marcus my life purpose is to help others achieve their full potential I think it is one of the most important callings that we can have in the world and I think that there is so much untapped potential out there and one of the ways that you can help people you can help yourself achieve the full potential that's in you is through leaning in and embracing the uncertainty and being okay to take risks and to recognize that you're going to have failures but that's okay but that what's important is you made the risk you tried and you strived to achieve the best version of yourself football is finally back and prospectus

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17:09you know you have to take risk and it's okay you're not going to get everything you want for example right Scott I did not get the opportunity with a client that I have actually done work for doing more work for but I didn't get that particular opportunity and you know what that's okay because at the end of the day like I tell clients you're not going to get every job you're not going to get every opportunity but it doesn't mean that you're a failure right I always tell people the only way you fail in life is if you quit right that's it if you don't quit you're never a failure it's a learning experience and we talk all the time right Scott in time to have uncertainty and pressure and hardship and and difficult times our brain gets starts to it starts to kind of like you know compress because all the negativity all the doubt all the anxiety it's kind of

18:11shrinking our brain because we feel all the stress people like yourself right Scott who have learned how to thrive in these situations your brain is used to that pressure so your brain expands when things hit because you're used to it all this tell people when your brain is expanding innovation is happening new ideas new thought processes are occurring and that is what allows us to thrive through any storm so ladies and gentlemen I hope you got from that last segment you're going to have to take risk in life and you know what the risk you take you're going to have allow them where you don't hit but that's okay not hitting is fine not attempting or not trying Scott please tell us more about how you view failure how where did things go wrong how can I adjust how can I learn to

19:14maneuver and make things happen right Scott to get to the next level because I look at failure or not winning or not getting things that I think I'm hoping to get as an experience I can learn to grow and move forward in my journey how do you view failure and how would you help people that look at failures and negatives help give them some fresh perspective right Scott how to view it from your standpoint as you said it's important to recognize that failure is learning but it's also important to recognize that not all failures are necessarily created at equal that there are more intelligent failures and there's less intelligent failures and there's a great book by Amy Edmondson the Harvard Business School professor that is I believe called the right side of wrong failures are failures that don't wipe you out you lose all your money and you're completely destined to that's that's that's a bad failure you've had a failure like that oh yes oh yes I sure

20:20have I lost got I lost everything in my construction business because I got to school that I felt I couldn't learn I felt I couldn't grow and anytime Scott uncertainty hit instead of saying I don't know something let me venture into it let me ask for help let me get guidance I was like no uncertainty ah I don't want that no stay away from me and what happens right Scott I got so stuck in my negative ways that I created a toxic unhealthy culture in my business and in 2013 I went completely bankrupt and broke but it started because my ego I'm good failure because my ego was the one that cost it and it made me become a very horrible toxic individual so what you're saying I agree with sharing and the vulnerability in that story and that you've had a really remarkable

21:21life-marketing like to be an NFL go to personal bankruptcy now the a really successful speaker and podcast host is an example that our lives aren't linear that we can have big victories then we personal challenges and then we get bounce back and when you look at the most successful people in life they often have the ease not this constant linear increase in terms of what you're looking to to achieve and I think and for folks it when you're thinking about failure it's to recognize again that you know there are some failures that are better than others and some of the other things are when you can learn a lot from the experience and when it's it's potentially a loss of an avoidable failure where there are less intelligent failures is if you're making a really big mistake and you learn nothing from it or it was really easy to avoid like if you had just done a little bit of research you would have avoided the mistake all to say is I think it's really important for listeners

22:24to understand this is that sometimes there's a set of says that all failures good and I think failure is inevitable in life but it's important to try to seek out some kinds of failures that are more valuable and try to avoid some of the failures that might be really painful and have less learning involved because in life if you fail or come up short if you don't learn anything or don't take the lessons that you should have learned and apply them going out of yourself or you're too arrogant then those type of failures right they don't help to advance you the failure that I had or again the lesson learned that it taught me a lot about humility it taught me a lot about you know getting rid of your ego it taught me a lot it's kind of about how to actually view and treat people with with respect at every angle again how to view and treat people with respect at every angle

23:24so I had a very big learning lesson from my lesson learned losing my company so I agree with that again right Scott it's like if you if you have a failing or life life lesson learning moment right you need to pay attention to the signs and learn from them because if you don't learn from them then unfortunately you went through it for nothing so you know Scott I want to get back to your book you know what can people expect you talk about uncertainty the pillars I think that's fantastic but what is maybe like a mantra or something that the audience can expect to your awesome book because I'm a big believer when you can at least let people know right Scott about the takeaway and I think it makes more a lot more interested right Scott to actually dive in and go and purchase your awesome book totally some of the main benefits and takeaways of reading the uncertainty advantage are first

24:26the ability to thrive in an eight i driven world we're living in an era of so much rapid change and I think a lot of the times when people think about how to survive and thrive in an AI world to think about the technical AI skills but I actually think to what you talked to what are earlier markets learning to embrace uncertainty because what does AI create a huge amount of uncertainty out there in the world out there in the economy out there for a lot of jobs and the more that you learn to embrace uncertainty the more likely you are going to be more successful in your career in an AI driven world so that's one big takeaway benefit of reading the book the second really big takeaway is just the ability to take more risks in your life in your career and to build the kind of career that benefits you your family your community and to really be able to achieve your full potential in the book helps you learn how to take smarter risks and ultimately how to dive more

25:27into the unknown whether that's launching a business or starting a new job or moving to a new city and a third major takeaway that you get from reading the uncertainty advantage is the ability to build more of a network that helps you in your career but also in your like well-being we live in an increasingly anti-social century and I think a lot of what helps you thrive in an AI or a fragile and how do you do that it's through building really strong positive relationships with other people Harvard did this study that examined what is the number one correlation between different things and happiness and the number one thing is the quality of your interpersonal relationships and this might surprise people but one of the main takeaways that you'll get from reading that certainty advantage is advice on how you can learn to build a network that helps you in your career but that also makes you happier more well-rounded and ultimately more resilient to thrive in

26:34an uncertain world. Ladies and gentlemen this is exactly why we love having people like Scotts Stewart on our podcast again it's all about learning how to thrive in uncertainty it's all about learning how to thrive through storms it's all about learning how to thrive in difficult situations by leaning in and recognizing that you have the mindset the courage and the ability to really truly trust yourself when you bet on yourself that's when the magic truly happens and this is what's all about when it comes to helping people learn how to thrive and have what we call the uncertainty advantage. Scot great interview where can people connect with you where can people buy your book and how can our audience find out more about your brand in general.

27:36First and foremost I recommend listeners gsti2rs2t's.com slash quiz and I really recommend that you take a short quiz it takes two minutes and it will give you a score from zero to 48 in terms of what is your comfort level with uncertainty the first step in learning to develop a better relationship with uncertainty is learning to understand what's your current relationship with uncertainty to buy my book you can get it on amazon burns noble and various stores across north america and again the title of the book is called the uncertainty advantage. Love it ladies and gentlemen go and pick up the uncertainty advantage go to scott's website take his short quiz and connect with him learn how to take advantage of uncertainty and how to thrive in any type of difficult hard or arduous situation again the authentic tip of this great interview how to trust yourself

28:43and take advantage with uncertainty hits have the right mindset have the right frame of courage and really and truly bet on yourself anytime you bet on yourself you're always in position to whenever remember failure is never failure it's a learning lesson pay attention to the size and learn from your mistakes and keep moving forward the only way you fail in life is if you quit again my name is Marcus Ogden I am the host of the Get Authentic with Marcus show thanks for tuning in have a fantastic day you

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