Join host Steven Pesavento as he talks with Scott Miller about his journey from humble beginnings to becoming a CEO, the importance of having a North Star, and the power of consistency in achieving your goals. Discover how to define your own North Star, find happiness, and continue evolving in both your personal and professional life. Scott shares valuable insights from his book and personal experiences, reminding us that life is delicate, and adversity is an opportunity for growth. Tune in to gain a new perspective on life and business.
Key Takeaways
Resources Mentioned
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About our Guest:
Scott Miller is a highly accomplished executive with over three decades of experience in the beverage industry. He has held various leadership positions and has a passion for leadership development and organizational success. Scott is also the author of "The Summit Mindset," a book that offers valuable insights into achieving personal and professional goals.
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00;00;00;02 - 00;00;08;09
Steven Pesavento
Welcome to the Name Your Number show presented by the Investor Mindset. I'm Steven Pesce event and I'm excited to have in the studio today. Scott Miller How you doing today?
00;00;08;09 - 00;00;12;00
Scott Miller
Scott Been great. Steve how you doing? How's everything? So honored to be here with you.
00;00;12;04 - 00;00;28;24
Steven Pesavento
And I'm doing phenomenal. I just got back from a great trip to the Smoky Mountains and I couldn't think of a better thing to do. My first day back than diving into you because you just wrote a new book, The Summit Mindset. And as a guy who loves mindset and loves growth, I know we're going to have some really good things to talk about today.
00;00;29;06 - 00;00;33;23
Scott Miller
Absolutely. I look forward to talking about book business in life. So look forward to getting started.
00;00;34;10 - 00;00;51;24
Steven Pesavento
Yeah. So it's fascinating because you've had 30 years in the beverage industry. You've been you know, executive, you've grown businesses, you've done a lot of things. Kind of looking back, what was the first thing that you name that first target, the first thing that you're really going after in in that pursuit of kind of creating a better life?
00;00;52;08 - 00;01;10;08
Scott Miller
Now, a great question. I have to tell you, Steve, it actually goes back to my mid twenties, but I lost my dad early in life and on his deathbed he basically said, I'm sorry. And I said, What are you sorry for? He said, I should have tried harder. And it kind of steered right through me. I felt that was a real interest in my life.
00;01;10;08 - 00;01;30;26
Scott Miller
Like, okay, I'm going to make that weakness of yours, my strength. And we grow up very humble beginnings, you know, very poor. And I really just set out that said, I'm going to really go after everything I want my life and I'm going to create a vision. I'm going to do the reps every day and I really start to really go back and work whiteboard my life and decide how I want to be a CEO someday.
00;01;30;26 - 00;01;39;00
Scott Miller
I want to run a business. So that was my earliest really intersection of life. And I think we all have those intersections as what we do with them, right?
00;01;39;29 - 00;02;02;02
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, it really is. I, I find that it's in those moments of difficulty and challenge that some of our greatest wisdom comes up, right. It's it's in that moment that you hear this this, this message from your father and you realize, oh, well there there's another level to this game and I want to play it. Why CEO? Why did you want to run businesses?
00;02;02;18 - 00;02;28;10
Scott Miller
You know, I felt I always loved business. I loved you know, it felt like a competitive environment. It felt like something where you can see a lot of talent around and can see people. And you can also have this kind of progression on where you go and what you do. And it's really what I've always loved that it's been kind of in my soul, kind of that entrepreneurial spirit, and I was blessed to really start on the warehouse floor at Pepsi and saw a lot of great people in the Pepsi organization and had a vision for what I wanted to do.
00;02;28;10 - 00;02;44;02
Scott Miller
So I've always kind of had a learner's mindset, and I think today we all got to keep evolving, right, because we got to keep changing as the world changes. And I believe leaders are learners. So it's always been my passion. And I remember going through got a couple of employee reviews and bosses saying to me, What do I want to do?
00;02;44;02 - 00;03;02;26
Scott Miller
And I said, I want to be a CEO. And they said, There's only one of those jobs. So by continuing on that path, doing the reps every day and by the age of 42, I became a CEO. Now, I've been an operating CEO for about 20 years now, and I have to tell you, it's been an honor and it's been a real privilege to lead people and be part of a team and be a teammate with others.
00;03;04;07 - 00;03;20;03
Steven Pesavento
What do you think separates the people who are focused on growth, who are focused on on having that vision, on learning and putting that line in the sand versus those people who just never quite make it. What's different about those people?
00;03;20;24 - 00;03;38;21
Scott Miller
It's really interesting. I think that sometimes humans, we believe things should be a straight line and whether or not a straight line and we fall off, we just stop. And I think those folks that continue to go through things, anyone successful I've ever met has been through a great deal of adversity in life and it's ability to have a North Star.
00;03;39;03 - 00;03;59;21
Scott Miller
What are you in pursuit of? And then knowing it's not a straight line and continue to go after that? North Star When you get Snowdonia, I go up the backside and keep going and it it's the consistency that really is a separate I think that one word consistency over time is a true separator that really starts to close the gaps and everything you want to achieve in life.
00;04;00;23 - 00;04;10;02
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, because when you're not consistent, when you're not staying in the game, when you're not getting those reps. Now you're missing that opportunity to have that win, to create the momentum to keep going.
00;04;10;13 - 00;04;26;09
Scott Miller
Absolutely. And you know, you stop learning, you give up and you you don't put the ball back in play. And I believe that's what life is, right? Every day is not a great day. Things go wrong for all of us. Sometimes I'm angry at things, other days I stink at thing. But how do you put things back in play and continue after that?
00;04;26;09 - 00;04;35;15
Scott Miller
And Northstar, whenever you're in pursuit of in life, I think that's really the human experience. It's the greatest part of it that, you know, to be in pursuit keeps us all stimulated.
00;04;36;06 - 00;04;59;01
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, well, you, you've, you're clearly at a point where you've made it in many people's eyes. You've been a CEO, you've built companies, you're building new companies today when it comes to that life, when it comes to that pursuit of greatness, of of a great life, what do you really want from your life now? What what's the chapter that you're building towards, and why is that really important to you?
00;04;59;29 - 00;05;16;03
Scott Miller
I think it's it's an excellent question. I think what I want my life is what I've always really wanted to continue to evolve. Right. I think that it's not just business. It's who I am. As you know, I have four pillars in my life my faith, my family, others in business. And I want to continue involving all those things.
00;05;16;03 - 00;05;32;03
Scott Miller
And if you ask me what I want to be, I just want to be the best human I can be. And that doesn't mean perfect just means progress. So when I have those pillars, I toggle between them. Some of them are upside down or inside out, but I'm always making adjustments and continue to evolve and really have a learner's mindset.
00;05;32;12 - 00;05;54;21
Scott Miller
I think the last part here, Steve, is, look, we can learn from everybody. I'll learn from you today. We'll learn from our neighbors. There's always someone that knows something we don't know. And when we take that approach, that learns mindset, we do continue to look for improvement and start to really happen naturally. So to answer your question, I just want to continue on the journey and be the best I can be and some days are better than others.
00;05;55;12 - 00;06;06;03
Steven Pesavento
And how do you know that you that you're you're staying on that line towards that growth? Like, what's the what's the metric? How do you measure that when it comes to growth.
00;06;06;19 - 00;06;24;03
Scott Miller
Yeah. Again, I think that when you look at organizations and people, it's always an inside job. And I think what humans don't like to do is talk about what they stink at. We all like to talk about what we're good at and what we enjoy. We don't like to talk about. We stink at organizations, departments don't like to talk about what they stink at.
00;06;24;03 - 00;06;42;00
Scott Miller
They like talk about how they perform well. But I believe the inside our job is about always recalibrating. And when you know what your Northstar is and you understand where your pillars are, you basically kind of set the roadmap on where you want to run your car. And of course, when you go off course, as we all do, how you recalibrate, get back in line.
00;06;42;05 - 00;07;00;29
Scott Miller
In big business, I always say, let's review the tape. Let's talk about what we could do better. Is our supply chain broken? Is our finance team broken? Is our marketing team broken? And as a human, what can we do better? What are our pillars? What do we stand for? You know, I think a lot of times I hear folks say when I interview people probably like yourself through life.
00;07;01;14 - 00;07;15;25
Scott Miller
Hey, tell me a little bit about Steve and you'll say, well, you know, I'm a good guy. I'm hardworking, I'm a family guy. Well, we can close our eyes. We could all say that. But who actually is Steve and what does he stand for? And that's why when I run organizations, the first question is, do we have a North Star?
00;07;16;12 - 00;07;37;18
Scott Miller
What's our purpose? You know, what is the work we have to do and what do we stink at? So I think that's really what keeps you going and kind of keeps you recalibrating. And I think that's when we know that, again, it's not about perfection, it's just about making progress. Right. And recalibrating like watch a sporting event. How do you put the ball back and play?
00;07;37;21 - 00;07;46;13
Scott Miller
I think we need to do that organizationally. And I think as humans, we need to do that. And I think that's when organizations feel more fulfilled and so do individuals.
00;07;48;24 - 00;08;09;28
Steven Pesavento
When it comes to this book that you wrote, the summit mindset, well, you know, you've obviously had a lot of success. You're you're building a new company. We can talk about that as well. Why take the time to sit down and and write a book in today's day and age? There's so many books out there. There's so much information.
00;08;10;10 - 00;08;15;24
Steven Pesavento
What inspired you to sit down and take that wisdom and knowledge that you had and share with the world?
00;08;17;13 - 00;08;34;03
Scott Miller
Yeah, I think that I got to the point in my life, I'm 60 years old today, and every decade of my life I look back and reflect on I've had a great deal of personal adversity about business adversity, and I felt that I want to leave something for people to reflect on and think about. And that's really what the summit mindset is.
00;08;34;03 - 00;08;52;13
Scott Miller
It's a book that a CEO can read in the boardroom or an individual could read in an organization, or your mom could read it. There's something about it. We talk about adversity, we talk about others, we talk about a North Star, and we talk about, you know, what's happiness, right? So I think there's a lot to be said and it's really a prescriptive book.
00;08;52;13 - 00;09;11;09
Scott Miller
It's a it's really at the end of each chapter, hey, pause, reflect where are you in this chapter? Are you on this journey? So I believe the Southern Mindset is a hybrid book that can really help people's business and their personal life. I just felt in my life it was time to take those experiences, put them on paper.
00;09;11;18 - 00;09;31;13
Scott Miller
I felt it was worth saying and a big believer in people and I'm a big, big proponent of others and being a servant leader. So that's what really caused me to write the book. And I'm really proud of the work I did with James Seymour as a New York Times bestselling author, and we did it together. And it was a tough journey, was different, right?
00;09;31;13 - 00;09;34;29
Scott Miller
Never cut my teeth on something like that before, but I loved it. I loved it.
00;09;36;25 - 00;10;01;25
Steven Pesavento
I find that when you you go through a book and you're a reader and you're sitting down and you've got just an amazing, amazing set of exercises in front of you and you're asking those questions, there's so much that can be discovered, whether it's a book or it's coaching or it's a course. What would somebody take away by going through your book and going through and and, and discovering those things for themselves?
00;10;02;27 - 00;10;20;09
Scott Miller
Yeah, look, I think an organization can only do a few things really well. I think people can only do a few things really well. As we started this conversation. What are you individually in pursuit of? What is your North Star personally? What is an organization's North star? And I love to talk about this when it's overstated, but what's happiness to you?
00;10;20;09 - 00;10;34;20
Scott Miller
Right? People think happiness is a big house, a big car, a big, big title. But happiness to me is even having this conversation with you. Like what set your soul on fire? What gets you up in the morning? We talk about your love and my love of the beach, right? My love of the mountains. Your love of the mountains.
00;10;34;29 - 00;10;58;17
Scott Miller
So how do you define happiness? I think what happens is a lot of folks in life, whether the young in the middle of their life, yet towards the end of their life, they're kind of they've lost their mojo because they haven't really gone after what defines happiness for them. They have instead that expectation. So I think if you take anything away from the summit mindset, this is a you know, this is not a dress rehearsal, right?
00;10;58;17 - 00;11;16;21
Scott Miller
We got to do a really sets our soul on fire. What we love to do. And I think what happens to folks, we kind of conform to life and we kind of conform of where we are. And I just want to encourage people to have courage, right? Be bold, you know, do what you believe makes you happy and have courage.
00;11;16;29 - 00;11;27;26
Scott Miller
I think it's really important. I think we have to get outside of our comfort zone. And I think my victories in life have come through struggle in the winner's circle. The work's done. It's really that the climb?
00;11;29;01 - 00;11;49;03
Steven Pesavento
Yeah. I think there's nothing more powerful than discovering who you are, what you're the best at, what you're not good at, what life is really about. And for me, that journey, that path came after a lot of struggle, you know, a lot of hardship, a lot of difficult times. And I found myself, I got into this this mindset, this mentality of more.
00;11;49;18 - 00;12;06;16
Steven Pesavento
I kept growing the business. I kept needing to have more. There was never enough. I wasn't celebrating those victories. And then I you know, we all had the gift of COVID and some people didn't look at it like that. But I ended up selling my house. I went out to Hawaii and I was staying at this nine acre estate.
00;12;06;16 - 00;12;31;21
Steven Pesavento
It actually was the built by the Beach Boys beautiful home. And the owner of that building was a man who had retired. He was a home builder back in back in the east. And he saw that that drive, that never ending, never enough mentality. And he asked me a question. He asked me, what's your number at what point will it be enough?
00;12;32;04 - 00;12;58;20
Steven Pesavento
At what point will you say I've you've made it and you can enjoy the path and that really it it really stuck with me. It really made me sit down and think, well, what is enough? And so what I'm curious for you is what comes up when when I ask that question, what is your number, what point you've made it not even the number itself, unless you're comfortable sharing that target that you have.
00;12;58;20 - 00;13;02;23
Steven Pesavento
But what comes up when you think about that question?
00;13;03;22 - 00;13;25;03
Scott Miller
Well, I love the question. I'll share with you a little bit. This this summer I had a very tragic experience of adversity where I had someone who had been my driver for a long time that passed away while driving with me with a heart attack. And that moment as I sat on the curb and I thought about how is my life?
00;13;25;13 - 00;13;47;16
Scott Miller
You know, if I didn't make it today, how would I be? And I believe as I reflect on that, I'm at the point in my life where I've achieved enough. I know who I am as a human being. I know that what makes me happy and I'm really comfortable in my skin for all my imperfections and all my good qualities.
00;13;47;16 - 00;14;12;19
Scott Miller
So I think for me, I've always loved building companies, I love employing people, I love being a teammate, always wanted to build $1,000,000,000 business, and I'm on that path now as I'm building something new again. So for me, enough is about being in pursuit and that pursuit of being a good dad. And my kids are grown now, being a good husband, a good human, and continuing to build companies and to be in pursuit and have purpose.
00;14;13;01 - 00;14;30;08
Scott Miller
So as I reflected this summer on that terrible tragedy, I felt my what life is enough because it's purpose driven and I never want to stop being purpose driven. I want to be 90 be purpose driven. As long as I have my mind, I want to be purpose driven because only for me, that's that's what really sets my soul on fire.
00;14;30;17 - 00;14;49;17
Scott Miller
That's how I'm wired, right? So, yeah, that, that's the way I would answer that. And I think as you reflect on whatever versa you've been through, Stephen, in those times, what we learn and then we kind of like say, okay, how do we we set the path, you know, is something missing? How do we what's our enough, what's missing?
00;14;50;03 - 00;14;58;03
Scott Miller
And I've gotten to the point in my life where I'm doing the things I love and I don't find anything's missing, but I want to keep evolving.
00;14;59;12 - 00;15;22;14
Steven Pesavento
Yeah. Every time I get to that point where I feel like something's not right, I used to just push through. I used to just fight through it. And I've been learning to flow through it and start finding that path towards what's easy, not necessarily going away from the hard thing, but what's that easier path towards allowing and attracting those things in?
00;15;22;14 - 00;15;47;00
Steven Pesavento
Because one of the biggest challenges that I've faced was was a death similar to yours. My, my younger sister passed away in a car accident unexpectedly, and I had the gift of spending two weeks with her before her and but that whole time I was working, I was working on a summit. I had 800 people before COVID on a summit, and we were launching these things.
00;15;47;00 - 00;15;59;24
Steven Pesavento
And and I was excited about all those things. Then all of a sudden, in a moment, the thing that you never think happens to you, the thing you see on the news, it's right in front of you and all of a son. All those business things didn't matter.
00;16;00;09 - 00;16;00;18
Scott Miller
Right?
00;16;01;06 - 00;16;28;03
Steven Pesavento
And all of a sudden you realize that maybe this conversation we have is our last conversation, right? And we want to enjoy it. We want to connect that there's something more meaningful. And so for me, that's been been a really powerful realignment moment to be able to come back to that because everybody's dealing with something at some point and we don't have to rate how much worse it is or better it is than what we've experienced.
00;16;28;19 - 00;16;37;22
Steven Pesavento
But as long as we're going out there, we have a purpose. We're trying to make an impact, we're trying to create a great life, and we're enjoying the process along the way. I couldn't think of a better way to live.
00;16;38;04 - 00;16;57;21
Scott Miller
Yeah, I'm so sorry to hear about your sister, and I agree with you. I think that what I've learned through time is life is as delicate as a blink of an eye. And if we kind of in those moments are reflecting and learning and asking ourselves, who are we and what do we want to contribute and how do we want to live, that's the best way to live, right?
00;16;57;21 - 00;17;21;03
Scott Miller
And we learn that not through the, you know, 800 people on the summit from the businesses. We learn that in the valley, right. That that statement forged by fire. And, you know, you can't sleepwalk through those times. You have to be reflective through those times. So I think that's really important. And I think there's a lot of that in the summit mindset, the book, and like you said, we're all going through something.
00;17;21;05 - 00;17;37;14
Scott Miller
It's how we kind of evolve through it. And, you know, the last thing I'll say is it's part of living, right? And I think sometimes we forget that like we want the lottery. We want things to be perfect. Billions, not perfect, man. And, you know, it happens to all of us. So do you understand that? It's just evolving through it?
00;17;38;29 - 00;18;13;07
Steven Pesavento
It's it's actually I think the biggest challenge that we're facing as a society today is that a lot of people, they've been they've been trained and taught pleasure, immediate gratification. And we're going so we're doing everything we can to not experience pain. But sometimes that pain is exactly what we need to experience because that's where we really discover who we are and the greatness that's there and motivates us to go and do something bigger and better and greater in the world for other people, for ourselves, for our families.
00;18;13;18 - 00;18;19;14
Steven Pesavento
And so if anything, I think it's, you know, go towards it, right? Like, like lean into it.
00;18;20;08 - 00;18;40;06
Scott Miller
Yeah. You have to endure it. You have to learn through it. I haven't met anyone who is really interesting as a person who hasn't endured and leaned into that and been through that adversity. And look, you and I both in our life, Stephen, will go through more pain and will hopefully along that journey, understand how to lean into it more because we've been there before and we didn't sleepwalk through it.
00;18;40;06 - 00;18;57;01
Scott Miller
We were awake, we were learning and asking ourselves, Hey, is this how we want to live? Are we doing enough? And to me, you know, I will say that I think that we should all be stewards of giving back and serving people. And I don't mean that has to be grandiose. I mean, it's holding the door open, right?
00;18;57;01 - 00;19;14;01
Scott Miller
It's talking to your neighbor. It's the little things and it's the big things. And, you know, those things are fulfilling. And I think through adversity, you kind of you're always recalibrating because like yourself, I'm a hard charging guy and, you know, I like to work out. I like to run, I like to build businesses. But what's really important right?
00;19;14;08 - 00;19;31;14
Scott Miller
That's why the summit mindset was important to me. Writing that book was important. I wanted to put my thoughts out to paper. I want to talk about some adversity, and I wanted to talk about the human side of life. And I think that can be talked about in organizations to an extent as well. I think vulnerability as leaders can be a strength.
00;19;33;00 - 00;19;56;06
Steven Pesavento
Let's talk about the book. I want to do a little side quest here into the book and talk a little bit about one of the lessons or the stories. I'd love it if you would share with us kind of one of your favorite one of the most impactful lessons from that book so that the listeners and myself can kind of get an idea of of the way that you've put this together and walk away today with something that they can run with.
00;19;56;24 - 00;20;18;26
Scott Miller
Yeah, great. I think that, you know, as I've gone in and run organizations, I've run them in two ways, turning them around or setting them up for a sale process. And I'll talk about my most recent at Ascension, essentially a great brand filled with great people, premium water brand, alkaline water captain and founder of that brand started 22 years ago, and I went in as a CEO to help them set that business up for sale.
00;20;19;07 - 00;20;40;21
Scott Miller
When I went into that business filled with great people, I asked them who they were, what they were trying to achieve, and what I found was great people, but a very fragmented organization, siloed different departments, all doing separate things. And I talked about a North Star and I said, Let's do this together. Let's do it as a senior team.
00;20;40;21 - 00;21;02;21
Scott Miller
Let's have a town hall meeting, let's have all our employees talk about it. Let's vote on what our North Star is. And our North Star became to be the number one premium worker in North America. And we achieved the number two spot, SmartWater being the only water in front of us and sold it. Actually, the big business to Nestlé, the largest food and beverage company in the world.
00;21;03;06 - 00;21;20;12
Scott Miller
And, you know, when you're taken over by a big company like that and I stayed in integrated, they were filled with great people, too, and they had great resources. But this tiny but mighty essential team had a vision for what they wanted to be. And during the senior leadership meetings, we share our vision to be the number one premium water.
00;21;20;20 - 00;21;41;19
Scott Miller
We share our pillars being people first right during COVID at Essentia, during the lockdown, we gave $5,000 to each employee with children 16 years of younger to help them for home schooling, to get a computer, to get a desk for the house. People first became an action. We lived it and breathe it. So culture can't be a plaque on the wall.
00;21;41;19 - 00;21;56;05
Scott Miller
You have to live and breathe it and you have to have a North Star. When we woke up every day at a Century of Pursuit to be the number one premium water at the end of the week, we talked about how we were doing. It's kind of like in life. How's the weather while in an organization? What's your North Star?
00;21;56;16 - 00;22;23;03
Scott Miller
And once you do that, that becomes your weather bell Hey, to be the number one premium water and we galvanize as a team and what you saw is a finger pointing stopped how we problem solve together how is departments we we shared learnings we cross functionalized problem solving that's because we are all pursuit pursue the same goal. So to me that is one of my most recent experiences to see human beings come together under one cause.
00;22;24;14 - 00;22;47;20
Steven Pesavento
When when somebody goes through that process of discovering that focus point, I think there's nothing more powerful for an organization or a family or a group of people who are working closely together. What are questions that can be asked to help bring different viewpoints from that team so that everybody feels as if they're contributing towards creating that vision?
00;22;48;05 - 00;23;04;16
Scott Miller
A lot of that. I think that first of all, you have to look, let everybody know everyone's a valuable voice. Then nothing. You're going to be said, you're going to be penalized for it. And the organization has to believe that, right? Because if that's culture as a plaque on a wall they call B.S. on it. So I always like to talk about what do we stink at?
00;23;04;17 - 00;23;21;28
Scott Miller
Let's start there. What are we not good at? Like I talked earlier, I think you do that organizationally to do that individual. And now when we figure out what we stink at or what we suck at, how do we create consistency there? Do we have a supply chain problem? How do we get better at? Do we have a communication problem?
00;23;22;13 - 00;23;46;06
Scott Miller
Communication is typically the easiest thing, but it's the hardest thing, right? It's kind of like common sense. It's not all that common. How do we step up our cadence on communication when we can vulnerably talk about our weaknesses? We all know our strengths, we know we're good, and that's happening almost naturally. Our weaknesses, our struggle, their bone on bone, that's when you start to see the team say, Wow, okay, we're going to solve this.
00;23;46;06 - 00;24;02;26
Scott Miller
We're going to do it together. That's when they feel shared by and and I think that's really important. I love what we stink at. I think it's an inside out job for organizations. And quite frankly, I think it's an inside out for individuals. Right. Some days I'm great at things, Other days I still get things, but that just live it.
00;24;03;07 - 00;24;20;29
Scott Miller
And when you can be that vulnerable, people feel, hey, we're all human, let's row the boat together. Let's figure out what's not work and let's solve it. Now, when you do that, I always say it's never about one of us. It's about all of us. But you got to live it. You got to really believe it. And you got to let people give their opinions, right?
00;24;21;04 - 00;24;34;00
Scott Miller
You got to let them have that valuable voice. Look, we all spent a ton of time at work and that should be productive time. And I always say when you shut the lights off at the end of the week, you should feel you added value this week.
00;24;35;06 - 00;24;53;02
Steven Pesavento
What do you say to the people who they have a fear of sharing, that they have a fear of answering that question? Maybe it's an internal fear. Maybe it's something that they experience at some point in their life, but they have a block and they can't seem to wrap their head around saying that out loud and being honest with them.
00;24;53;10 - 00;25;00;18
Steven Pesavento
What would you say to help them work through that to to get to the point where where they can really know themselves and be able to share that with others?
00;25;01;19 - 00;25;18;12
Scott Miller
Great question. I think you first have to start with consistency. Find someone in your organization or colleague that you can talk one on one with. And then in a town hall meeting when there's a town hall, if you had this kind of communicative spirit in the organization, ask a question and get an answer. And I always say practice like you play.
00;25;18;12 - 00;25;44;05
Scott Miller
If you want to get better at something, make it a consistent habit. Right? Organizations have good habits, bad habits, sort of human being. So if you have that fear, do it really small one on one, then do a little bit of a larger group, but make it a consistent part of what you're doing on a regular basis. Because as you know, Stephen, through time and repetition, we all get more comfortable, the less repetition and the less consistency we're uncomfortable.
00;25;44;09 - 00;26;04;03
Scott Miller
So, you know, lean into the struggle a little bit. You know, grow when you're uncomfortable, start really small for a walk run. And I think when you take over an organization in the beginning in town halls, it's crickets, right? Who's the new guy? I don't really want to speak, but through time, when someone asks a tough question, they're not penalized and there's a back and forth also.
00;26;04;03 - 00;26;11;18
Scott Miller
Then you go from one participant to 5 to 50 participants. Now you start to see organizations say, Hey, I believe in this. It's real.
00;26;12;23 - 00;26;36;28
Steven Pesavento
That's the key, right? Is is that individual who is fearful of sharing that or the collective that's fearful of sharing that it's because there hasn't been an environment where that cultural belief was real. They share that fear, they share that feeling, they share that thing they weren't good at, and they got penalized for it. They got in trouble, they got whatever the consequences were.
00;26;37;06 - 00;27;07;29
Steven Pesavento
But once you can start creating that safety in a one on one connection in a group, connection is a full team. You start seeing a shift happening where people are willing to take risks, they're willing to speak up. And in a business environment that's critical, but it's just as critical in your own personal relationships. So that's what's so beautiful about learning these leadership skills that you're talking about, Scott, is that they apply not only in the world of entrepreneurship and running a business, but they apply in everyday life.
00;27;08;13 - 00;27;29;26
Scott Miller
Yeah, I fully agree with you, Steve, And that's why business to me is about individuals and organizations. And I think that everyday life teammates are important and working on these things and talking about them and figure out ways to become more consistent. That becomes your greatest asset, right? But people have to feel comfortable and they have to believe it's authentic.
00;27;30;12 - 00;27;32;11
Scott Miller
They have to feel the authenticity of it.
00;27;32;25 - 00;27;52;06
Steven Pesavento
Well, this has been this has been amazing, Scott. It's been great being able to dive into some of these things with you as we kind of get to the end of the show and we we begin to wrap up. I have one last question for you before I get there. Will you share with the audience how they can get in touch or kind of follow along or find their way towards buying the summit mindset?
00;27;52;22 - 00;28;12;03
Scott Miller
Yeah, there's some in mind so you can find out our Splash page, our website summit mindset, the book dot com. You can find us on the summit mindset Instagram as well. We're also available on Amazon. Our world books are sold, so I look forward to people picking it up, reading it and pausing a little bit. And as we talk today, looking at some of those intersections and doing some work.
00;28;12;28 - 00;28;37;09
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, I'm excited. I'm excited to dive in. I'm excited to hear some feedback from the listeners on all the great lessons they take away. Well, as we as we wrap up here, the question I have for you is, is around this idea of creating a great life, whether that's through building a business, whether that's through investing, this goes to those people who they're they're working in a job they don't love.
00;28;37;18 - 00;28;59;12
Steven Pesavento
They're making good money, but they're not really sure they want to find that path towards that next thing, that next chapter, that thing that they can be excited about, they can be motivated about. They can be clear on who they are and how they're going to show up. What advice do you have for those people who want and know that it's possible to create something better, but they haven't taken the action to get there yet?
00;29;00;17 - 00;29;16;11
Scott Miller
Yeah, it's an excellent question. I think the first thing individuals have to do is who are you? Who is Steven? Who is Scott? You know, what is your North Star? What do you want to be in pursuit of your life? And then you have to decide to take action against that and be consistent every day to do that work.
00;29;16;13 - 00;29;36;24
Scott Miller
I think that consistency is the magic bullet, right? And also define what your pillars are, what you're willing to do and what you're not willing to do. And then I encourage people, as I said earlier, to really have courage to be bold and to do the work every day, to dream away and make that vision a reality. Look, it's hard work.
00;29;36;24 - 00;29;57;25
Scott Miller
It's not easy, but if it was easy, everybody could do it. But here's the point, Steven. Everybody can do it. But first they have to decide what they're actually in pursuit of. And I think folks often don't know what they're in pursuit of. So a lot of what you're in pursuit of and then doing the consistent work, doing the reps every day and just staying on that focused vision.
00;29;57;25 - 00;29;58;29
Scott Miller
Right. It's not a straight line.
00;30;00;06 - 00;30;26;26
Steven Pesavento
Well, this has been super great. Scott Miller, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you To all the listeners who have continued to support the podcast and continue to listen, I want you guys to reflect on today's conversation. Ask yourself the question, what today did I hear that I can implement in my life today? And make a commitment and go forward and work towards creating a really beautiful life.
00;30;27;08 - 00;30;30;27
Steven Pesavento
Thanks so much and have a beautiful day there.
00;30;30;27 - 00;30;31;20
Scott Miller
It's been an honor.
00;30;35;11 - 00;30;35;25
Steven Pesavento
All right.