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Welcome to Unpacked Podcasts

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with your host leadership consultant

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, ron Harvey of Global Core Strategies

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and Consulting . Ron's delighted to

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have you join us as he unpacks and

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shares his leadership experience , designed

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to help you in your leadership

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journey . Ron believes that leadership

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is the fundamental driver towards making

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a difference . So now to find

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out more of what it means to unpack

0:25

leadership , here's your host , ron

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Harvey .

0:27

Good morning . I'm Ron Harvey . I'm

0:30

the vice president and the chief operating officer of Global

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Core Strategies and Consulting , and

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our firm is really built around helping organizations

0:36

create a winning culture through the lens of leadership

0:39

development . So we spend a lot of time just

0:41

helping leaders be better , where they become a good place

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to work and people are ready to go

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to work versus sitting in the parking lot wondering

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why are they going to this organization . So

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our goal is really to help us get better at taking care

0:51

of the people we're responsible for and responsible

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to . But every single week

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, I release a different podcast from leaders from

0:58

around the world that share their

1:00

introspective and their experiences and behind the

1:02

curtain , if you will about how they become so

1:04

successful , what are some of the challenges , and

1:07

we're super transparent on this podcast . So I

1:09

do unpack with Ron Harvey , with leaders that join

1:11

and come on that don't know what the questions

1:13

are . Quite honestly , neither do I . All

1:16

of our questions will come from the conversations

1:18

that we're having and we'll continue to build

1:20

upon that . So stay with us for the ride . We'll

1:22

be with you for about 20 minutes , so I'm super

1:24

excited to have Brian Kramer with us today

1:26

, who's joining us on the different time zone

1:28

, so I'm going to pause and welcome to

1:31

the show , brian . Glad to have you . Would

1:33

you please share with us who you are , what you do

1:35

, where you're located ? Anything honestly that

1:37

you want to share is unpacked , is real live

1:40

. So I'm going to hand it over to Brian

1:43

.

1:43

So cool , thank you , thank you . Thank you

1:45

so much . I love what you're doing in the world and

1:48

I'm honored to be on the show . My

1:50

name is Brian Kramer . Where am

1:52

I in the world ? I'm currently in Lisbon

1:54

, portugal , and I moved here

1:57

a little over three months ago from

1:59

California where I was born , raised

2:01

and built my career , my family

2:03

and my life . Other than taking

2:05

a short trip to Arizona

2:08

where I went to college , I came back and

2:10

continued forward there , saw

2:12

all kinds of changes in Silicon Valley , built

2:15

several businesses . My last one was an agency

2:18

marketing agency that we had for over 25

2:20

years . We worked with large enterprise

2:23

companies , eventually started small

2:26

, very small , like two people , and

2:28

then we're way up to 30

2:30

employees and $30

2:32

million business , working with Cisco and

2:34

Netflix and MasterCard and all kinds of really

2:36

cool things . I ended up becoming a keynote

2:39

speaker , writing two bestselling books . It

2:41

was really . I really love writing

2:43

. Like writing is just like one of my favorite

2:45

things in the world . So that's kind of where that

2:47

took me into eventually a TED

2:50

talk that created more speaking and

2:52

I started speaking 200 days a year , traveling

2:54

200 days a year to speak , and then I burned

2:56

out and we could talk about that if you like or not

2:58

, but I burned out and I ended up wanting to

3:01

shift and change who I was

3:03

, what I did and how I was showing

3:05

up in the world , especially for my family and

3:07

my belief system . So I had

3:09

to search for what that was . We ended

3:11

up exiting the agency and creating

3:14

a whole new paradigm shift for who

3:16

we wanted to become . For me , in short

3:18

story , was an executive coach

3:20

, and so I've taken everything

3:22

that I've learned , plus coach training

3:24

, plus a little bit of consulting

3:27

, and merged it into a unique place

3:29

to where I can help executives really

3:31

rise up , make more whether it's

3:34

more money or more time for

3:36

their family and not burn out . Really create

3:39

more for their life with less . So

3:42

that's who I am .

3:44

Thank you so much . Thank you so much for sharing

3:46

. I mean to leave California , go to Portugal

3:49

, really change your whole lifestyle

3:51

and culture and environment , you

3:53

know , which is huge for most people . I

3:55

want to dive into some of the stuff and unpack a little

3:57

bit of no . Thank you for the work that you're doing

3:59

. Thank you for your coaching . I'm a coach I

4:02

want to dive into for the leaders that are listening . I'm going to dive

4:04

into something you said that people COVID

4:06

showed us burn out . Leaders

4:09

tend to chase these things . A

4:11

word that comes to mind is I'm listening to you talk . How

4:14

do you chase your dreams , be

4:16

content without burning

4:18

out ?

4:19

Here's the thing when we're leaders

4:21

in these certain positions and

4:23

we're starting to really create both

4:26

a vision for what we feel like we need

4:28

in our lives in you know one

4:30

day I'm speaking out and perhaps

4:32

what we then need to do to get there

4:34

, the two are very often times

4:36

conflicting , and when you

4:38

look at both and you try to be all things

4:41

to all organizations or

4:43

all people , it's really quite impossible

4:45

to do , and so you really have to create

4:47

alignment . It's like if you take your finger

4:49

and you look and you put it right in front

4:51

of your face , maybe , like you

4:53

know , just a couple of inches out , and you look

4:56

at your finger and you just stare

4:58

at the finger , then all of a sudden everything

5:00

behind it becomes blurry . I'd

5:02

invite everybody to do that . Like , really

5:04

just take a look at your finger and see if you can

5:06

focus on just the finger , and now

5:09

just focus on the background , everything behind

5:11

the finger , and see if you can look

5:13

at the background , make it really clear

5:15

, and then make your finger really clear at the

5:17

same time . Impossible , can't

5:20

do it . You can't focus in both

5:22

places at both times . So you really have to

5:24

figure out and align in a way

5:26

, a strategy , a breakthrough that's

5:28

going to get you to where you want

5:30

to be from a big picture standpoint , but

5:33

not be attached to the outcome , not

5:35

be attached to the specifics of

5:37

it . You're going to be attached to the big dream

5:39

but not the specific , like the

5:42

house , the car , the

5:44

thing . That's the unattachment

5:46

. If we become attached to that , that leads

5:48

us to burnout Because if it doesn't

5:50

happen in a timeline where we think it needs

5:52

to , it's going to create more havoc

5:55

in our lives . So you really want to focus

5:57

on the dream , but not the

5:59

specifics within the dream and then

6:01

come back to the finger and

6:03

look at what's in front of you . To get there to

6:05

the dream , be unattached to the

6:08

details . Be attached to the thing that makes

6:10

you happy , doing what you do every day

6:12

. That's the generality , without

6:14

having like two hours to go through . You

6:16

know front to end how I would approach

6:18

it . But if you were to just you know even just

6:21

go through that exercise , it's going to help you out .

6:23

Yes , yes . So , brian , as I look through your thing

6:25

, say Zen master , so I understand why Zen master

6:28

I mean . So you just did like a two minute

6:30

masterclass on how not

6:32

to be attached to the outcome , focus

6:34

on the dream , and I think people struggle

6:37

with that initially because you kind of enjoy

6:39

the outcomes and sometimes those are motivational

6:42

factors and you lose sight of the

6:44

alignment of why do you really do what you do

6:46

? Is it really for the outcome ? So thank you for sharing

6:48

. How do you help someone detach

6:50

from the outcome If that's where we're at

6:52

and that's what you really want to do ? What's the short masterclass

6:55

in a couple minutes of ? How do you help leaders

6:58

Because you're measured by outcomes

7:00

? Your evaluation talks about outcomes . People

7:02

lose jobs and outcomes are not there . Football teams

7:04

don't make it to wherever and outcomes are all around

7:06

us . How do you help leaders when outcomes

7:08

are part of the expectation from

7:10

organizations and society ? How do you help

7:12

us get disconnected from that ?

7:14

Yeah , well , let's define outcome , and outcome

7:17

is often described as a goal

7:19

that gets completed , and

7:22

sometimes we mistake outcomes for

7:24

impact , and so an

7:26

outcome sometimes can be really

7:28

specific , and when we shoot too much

7:30

and we're too specific to the outcome

7:32

, then there's no wavering on

7:35

what that goal , how

7:37

we go about achieving it , and so

7:39

I prefer to focus on impact versus

7:41

outcome , because impact is an

7:43

emotion . Impact is how we

7:45

want to feel when the outcome

7:48

happens . So how do I

7:50

want to feel when I go to present

7:52

to this audience ? How do I want the audience

7:55

to feel ? What is the emotion

7:57

that I want them to have ? We have this array of emotions

8:00

, where we are human beings , that separates

8:02

us from everything else in this earth

8:04

by one thing , and that's emotion . So

8:07

if we can create an impact , meaning

8:09

an emotion , then the outcome

8:11

will be more likely to happen . But

8:14

if we go about it just creating

8:16

outcome for outcome sake , then

8:18

the idea of it happening is not very

8:20

high . So when we go to create

8:23

this podcast together , the emotion that

8:25

I hope for , that I desire the most

8:27

, is that we have right now

8:29

maybe humor and fun and

8:31

educational . Maybe that's the flavor

8:34

of the emotions that I'm going for

8:36

Now , in that , in being

8:39

those emotions , we're going to create

8:41

a more desirable outcome , and

8:43

so I prefer to focus on those

8:45

areas and I'll say this

8:47

where are your feet right now ?

8:50

Flat on the ground .

8:52

Yeah , so be there , be where

8:54

your feet are . Wherever your

8:56

feet are , be there and create

8:58

impact . If you're creating emotion

9:00

and being present , you will

9:02

arrive to your outcome every

9:05

single time .

9:06

Well , okay , so we have to unpack this because I say that

9:08

statement , I heard someone say it and I loved it , and

9:11

it get a total talk around it . He said

9:13

be where your feet are . Let's unpack

9:15

that for a second because I don't know if everybody's

9:17

going to get it . And it is actually fun because the

9:20

one thing I think we struggle with as

9:22

leaders is being present . So

9:24

can you share a little bit more fun info

9:26

, enjoyment and educational . How do you help

9:28

someone be where their feet are ? What are

9:30

some things we can actually put in place ?

9:32

So the only way to put that in place

9:35

is to , in my opinion , is

9:37

to create this sense of

9:39

knowing that when we future

9:41

trip or we past trip , we

9:44

are getting farther away from

9:46

our present being . I'll

9:48

say that again when we future trip

9:50

or we past trip , meaning we

9:53

look at the future and think , oh

9:55

, if I only do this , then I can have this , if

9:57

I do this , I can have this , if I create

9:59

this , I can do this , I

10:01

should do this if I'm going to want this

10:03

or want to create more . And

10:06

past tripping is I should have , I

10:08

could have . Why didn't I ? What

10:10

did I do wrong ? What could I've done better

10:12

? That's past tripping . So we

10:14

are really good at future tripping and

10:17

past tripping . When we take those

10:19

two things away , we have no problem

10:22

being present , being right

10:24

where our feet are . We have to spot

10:27

it in a moment and understand it , remind

10:29

ourselves that maybe our little saboteur

10:31

, or whatever that loudest voice is in

10:33

our head is saying you should have , you

10:35

could have , you might have , or future

10:38

tripping why aren't you doing enough ? You should

10:40

be doing more . When you take these

10:42

things away , you start to become more

10:44

present .

10:45

Wow , I don't think I've ever heard it that way . So

10:48

hopefully you coined that future tripping past trip

10:50

, because it's phenomenal , because we do

10:52

get caught up in that space on either end

10:54

of the spectrum versus really being in that space

10:56

of current where your feet are . You've

10:59

changed careers , you've moved and

11:01

leaders oftentimes get comfortable . How

11:03

do you help people not get

11:05

so comfortable or convenient that they don't

11:07

work as hard as they can as leaders ? Because sometimes

11:09

I Struggle at this place or I've had

11:11

people that struggle where they're too comfortable

11:14

, almost like they're not working or Going

11:17

in the direction like man , but I'm comfortable

11:19

. I don't want to deal with this . Change is what

11:21

I want to focus on . How do you help leaders not get

11:23

comfortable and not address change and embrace it ?

11:25

Well , sometimes , when we get comfortable , it's

11:28

actually a good thing . So I just want

11:30

to make sure that we're establishing that

11:32

there's a difference in being comfortable

11:34

or being lazy . Okay

11:37

, I believe in comfort . I think that

11:39

there's nothing wrong with it . I think if we arrive

11:41

to a place and everything's working , then

11:43

that's not a good time to break it and

11:45

just say let's , let's deviate . If

11:48

you're lazy , if you're not feeling

11:50

fulfilled , if you're not creating more

11:52

and you're feeling that empty space in

11:55

you that's not feeling like you want . You

11:57

need to do more and you should be , and

11:59

it's real then yeah , that is a

12:01

real challenge and we have to establish which

12:03

ones , which ? Yeah , so what do we

12:06

do ? We have to let go first . We don't

12:08

want to do more , we want to do less

12:10

, because we need to open up space so

12:12

that we can see what the answer is . And

12:14

the answer is not doing More . The answer

12:17

is actually settling in and allowing

12:19

it to just be . Just create

12:21

from wherever you're at and be with it

12:23

. And I know that sounds really challenging

12:26

, like how do you be ? Well , go back to what

12:28

we just talked about before . Don't future

12:30

trip , don't past trip . Look

12:32

at where you are and be there . Once

12:35

you're able to be there and be comfortable

12:37

with , I'm safe , I'm okay

12:39

. Nothing that I do now will

12:41

jeopardize my future or my past

12:43

, and everything is going to come to me when

12:46

the universe Says , hey , it's time

12:48

now . All of a sudden , we're open

12:50

to reception , we're open to new

12:52

things , we're open to things that we didn't

12:54

see before , and maybe we

12:56

even need somebody to actually

12:58

help us through that , somebody like yourself

13:01

or myself that can help you spot

13:03

the blind spots , that can help you see

13:05

what you're not seeing . And then , at that

13:07

point , combined of being open

13:10

, being receptive and seeing

13:12

the blind spots of what's possible , you

13:14

can now feel like everything

13:17

is possible , everything . It becomes not

13:20

a challenge but just a fun

13:22

way of being , so that we can take on more

13:24

of what we truly want to do .

13:26

Yes , phenomenal responses . I

13:29

pack a little bit . I mean , we're both coaches and leadership

13:31

space , love what we're doing and have changed a Lot of

13:33

things throughout our career . What is the

13:35

benefit ? I mean , I have a coach as well as well

13:37

as a coach . What's the benefit for

13:40

having someone in your corner as a coach and what's

13:42

the role of a coach ? Because I think that's a little

13:44

conflicting or confusing for people . You know the

13:46

first , the role of it and what's the benefit of it .

13:49

Yeah well , I tend to be more of a coach

13:51

Sultan rather than a purist of

13:53

a coach . But I'll help you . All will jump in

13:56

. I'll give you mine . I'd love to hear what yours is too . For

13:58

the purist coaches out there , it's

14:00

somebody who's walking alongside

14:02

you and helping to see the things that

14:05

perhaps you're not seeing . But it's not

14:07

you filling in the gaps . It's helping somebody

14:09

who who we believe , is already

14:11

creative , resourceful and whole and understands

14:14

what they need . They just need someone else to

14:16

help them pull that out of them and

14:18

see what's possible and that when we come

14:20

up with that ourselves , it becomes

14:23

more of an opportunity . If we help somebody

14:25

else , tell us what to do and

14:27

you'll see this in your own lives . You know

14:29

, as you're listening to this , nobody likes to be told what

14:31

to do and we don't embody it , we don't experience

14:33

it . We're immersive , experiential human beings

14:35

. We have to see it for ourselves in order to believe

14:38

it and take it on . Somebody can

14:40

help us who can really pull that out

14:42

and walk alongside us . It doesn't mean that

14:44

that person actually has done it before . That

14:46

person can just sit alongside and actually see

14:49

the opportunity within you and then help

14:51

you extract that as you go through

14:53

Whatever dialogue or coaching opportunity you do

14:55

as a coach , so tonight tend to blur the

14:57

lines . I tend to see both a coaching

14:59

opportunity but also a consulting opportunity

15:02

. They're where , you know , maybe there's things

15:04

that they haven't experienced before , where

15:06

they have not done , have an opportunity

15:08

within I don't know a suite

15:10

of everything like operations , sales

15:13

, creativity , accounting

15:15

, like all the fundamentals of business

15:17

, to where I have built all those systems , I've

15:19

built those companies , I've done all those things and

15:21

so I can extract and help

15:23

to put some of those things in place At

15:25

the same time , or at least point out where to go to

15:27

get them , and then coach along the

15:30

sides at the same time . So I see the duality

15:32

a lot more and what I do . And then

15:34

, finally , a mentor . A mentor

15:36

is somebody who's actually been to the mountaintop

15:39

, where do you want to go , and they're

15:41

throwing a rope down and pulling you up . So

15:43

that's a little bit different than a coach . That's somebody who's

15:45

like , maybe done what you're looking to achieve . They

15:48

have the impact , they created the impact and

15:50

now they want to throw the rope down to you and pull you

15:52

up towards when to go and where to

15:54

be in that impact .

15:56

Yes , yes , phenomenal response . You

15:58

know , thank you for sharing . And I'd say that

16:00

because , if you're listening , you want to figure out which one do

16:02

you need at what time in your career path , wherever

16:04

you are on this journey , and you'll find yourself needing

16:06

probably one of the three or all three different

16:09

people different times in your journey . So

16:11

, being clear about what you're walking into and

16:14

what you need so you can ask for it , you don't

16:16

get something that you don't desire at that time or that , oh

16:18

, you bring the wrong person onto your team For what you're not looking

16:20

for . And for me , brian , when I look at it

16:22

, I totally agree a hundred percent with you on the coaching

16:24

component of it is that person doesn't

16:26

have to walk in your shoes . That person is really in the passenger

16:29

side of the car . They're never really grabbing

16:31

the steering wheel of that vehicle . They'll have some

16:33

guard rails up so you can stay focused and get to where

16:35

you're trying to go to . But they're not the driver

16:37

. You're the driver and they want to help you get

16:40

to your destination by asking some

16:42

very you know fun , fact-finding questions

16:44

to help you uncover everything that may

16:46

already be in you . So I'm 100% on board with you and

16:48

how you approach it , and I do a lot of consulting

16:50

as well . So thank you for sharing that . One

16:52

of the things that I want to be able to dress that you shared in your

16:54

intro , it's how important

16:57

your family was as a leader

16:59

. You don't want to lean all the way into

17:01

the professional or all the way to the personal side

17:03

of . I don't like the word call balance . I like

17:05

the word call integrate , because it's never been balanced

17:07

for me , to be quite honest , it's never been 50 50 . The

17:10

scale never tipped in in favor all

17:12

the time . How do you help leaders make

17:14

sure that they respect the

17:16

boundaries with family and professional

17:18

and aspirations and goals ? How

17:20

do you do that effectively without getting burned

17:22

out or your family feeling like they're

17:24

not that important ?

17:26

Yeah , you know , I got hit hard over

17:28

this one . I remember when

17:31

I was sitting on the couch and I had my laptop

17:33

, you know , on my lap

17:36

and I was working away while the TV

17:38

was on and I looked over

17:40

and my son was sitting At the

17:42

coffee table right in front of me

17:44

watching TV and he had

17:46

a small Old laptop

17:49

of ours and he was sitting there in his diaper

17:51

, you know , typing

17:53

away and doing some game on it

17:55

and I thought to myself , oh my god , what

17:57

did I just do ? I'm like creating

18:00

little monsters of who . I am

18:02

sitting here on my laptop

18:04

on the couch , you know , at night , and this

18:06

is what we do and that's not what I wanted

18:08

to be when I grew up , so it's not

18:10

who my , my dad was or my parents

18:12

were and they were real family oriented

18:14

and I started that , you know really disappear

18:17

actually into Traveling

18:19

, like I mentioned , 200 days a year . And

18:21

it got to the point to where I really was unhealthy

18:24

. I blew up , physically

18:26

, blew up . I ate my way around the world

18:28

because the food was so good . I love

18:31

food , still do and then I ended up getting type

18:33

2 diabetes and it just really like

18:35

went into a whole tailspin

18:37

and then finally , I had had it . I found

18:39

my breakthrough moment , if

18:41

you will , and being overweight and alcohol

18:44

and all those things were the breakthrough

18:46

moment of this is enough . I'm

18:48

going to die . I will not meet my grandchildren

18:51

. I will not get to enjoy my

18:53

life if I continue down this path . While

18:55

on the outside , looking in , everyone thought

18:57

, wow , he's really living a great life

18:59

, he's running an agency , he's speaking all over

19:01

the world , he's writing bestselling books . That

19:04

is not the case . The life inside was just

19:06

tearing me up and I almost to the point to where

19:08

I wasn't suicidal . But I did

19:10

not want to live this life anymore

19:12

and I thought about how can I change

19:14

this ? At such an incredible level

19:16

that I needed to really change it . And that

19:18

was the moment that I realized like this

19:20

has to change . When I looked at my children

19:23

one day when I was home and saw them

19:25

, and they're like why weren't you again at our stuff

19:27

? And I'm like this has to change . And

19:29

I did . We exited the agency and

19:31

, you know , six months later we were out

19:33

. My wife and I owned the agency together Not we're

19:36

still together as a couple , but the work . And

19:38

then I took a year off . I lost 85

19:40

pounds , I lost diabetes . I picked my kids

19:42

up from school , dropped them off almost every

19:44

day . Anybody can change anything

19:47

in their life is figuring out what is the

19:49

breakthrough moment for you , what's the

19:51

not enough , what's the I've had enough , what's

19:54

that this has to change ? Or else

19:56

, if you can define what that is for

19:58

you and get some help or support to define

20:01

what that is for you , anything else

20:03

is possible and that really changes

20:05

our belief system . Once we change

20:07

our belief system , we can make it last

20:10

. It's now been almost seven

20:12

years that I've kept the weight off , that

20:14

I've not had diabetes , that I ended

20:16

up moving to Lisbon , portugal , and my kids are

20:18

now close to me and still at

20:21

a distance , but we're so close and we still

20:23

talk and we still have a family

20:25

, and so these are the things that are really important to

20:27

me , and that's because I made them part of

20:29

my belief system and I traded

20:31

in the things that weren't serving me for

20:33

the family life that I really wanted .

20:35

Thank you for your vulnerability and transparency

20:37

of sharing , because this unpackment around

20:39

Harvey has really led people behind the curtain , because

20:41

people do look at us and say , man , they're living the life

20:44

and externally it

20:46

may look that way . Internally

20:48

, you're trying to figure out . This is not working for

20:50

me and I think leaders you know , such

20:52

as yourself , that share that people

20:55

understand what to chase and what not to chase . They learn

20:57

from our lessons learned by us being open and transparent

21:00

about that . Congratulations

21:02

on so many years of really keeping the weight

21:04

off , you know , and to stay free of diabetes

21:07

, which you wanted a different life because you want to be

21:09

around your grandkids . I do a lot of business

21:11

development and people like you and I in

21:13

rooms together collaborating versus

21:15

competing . How do you help small businesses

21:17

or people feel like they always have to compete against a person

21:19

that may be doing exactly what they do and find

21:21

a way to collaborate ? I call it co-operation

21:24

. I cooperate , my competition . How

21:26

do you help organizations realize there's enough

21:28

for all of us ? How do you work with other people that are

21:31

doing what you're doing ?

21:31

So I don't see it as competition

21:34

at all . There's always a unique

21:36

. We each have our own unique , almost like

21:38

a fingerprint . You can see here up here

21:40

I've got a fingerprint . I think every

21:42

one of us has like a unique fingerprint

21:44

. You know , while I do know that if you look

21:47

at certain things in the world , there's competition

21:49

, like sports for instance , and

21:51

at the same time you can change

21:53

the behavior by understanding

21:55

that how we train together is

21:58

not going to change how we race

22:00

together , and so if we can train

22:03

together , we can make each other stronger when

22:05

we get into the race . Let's say , if we're

22:07

running , that's up to our own unique

22:09

skill or our fingerprint , to how we're

22:11

going to show up in the moment , but

22:14

nothing says that we can't train together

22:16

to make each other better runners or better

22:18

whatever . You know Arnold Schwarzenegger

22:20

initially the way that he ended up breaking

22:22

into the bodybuilding world

22:24

was to hire his direct competitor

22:27

to train him and get him

22:29

to do what . He ended up becoming the

22:31

seven or 10 most winning

22:33

10 championship in the world , and

22:35

his competitor , if you will , said

22:38

at first that he didn't want to train him , because

22:40

why would I train my competitor ? And

22:42

at the end of the day , they ended up learning so much

22:44

from each other and then building

22:46

a business and business empire together

22:48

that it ended up becoming the most mutually beneficial

22:51

relationship ever . And yet

22:53

still they showed up on stage and competed

22:55

against each other . And so you know

22:57

, when you think about that , it's how we train together , not

22:59

how we compete together .

23:01

Yes , I love it because people get

23:03

stuck in that space of not wanting

23:05

to work side by side with the person that can actually

23:07

make you better than you ever thought you

23:09

could be . You know , I look at the Olympics a lot of those

23:11

athletes actually train together and then they

23:13

go out and compete and it's a really good competition

23:15

and they're cheering for them to do well and the other person

23:18

cheering for them to do well , but you're making

23:20

each other faster , stronger , smarter

23:22

, more visibility , whatever the thing is

23:24

that you call winning . They'll help you win

23:26

, and so I love that idea . I'm not

23:28

unpacked for a second . I

23:30

want to do some rapid fire questions and I call them fun

23:32

fact finding questions about it , so people see us as human

23:35

beings . I'm going to do about three or four of them with

23:37

you If you get a chance to travel

23:39

. Would you prefer traveling

23:41

by boat or by

23:43

airplane ?

23:45

Oh wow . Well , if it's a cruise

23:47

ship , I would prefer the cruise

23:49

ship . Yes , but if it's for

23:51

getting from point A to point B

23:53

, you know , I don't mind taking

23:55

a ferry across the little

23:58

area . That to me is more fun than a

24:00

plane . But if I need to get to from

24:02

here to Croatia , I'm going to take a plane . Hands

24:04

down , yeah .

24:05

Yeah , awesome . Would you

24:07

rather be in the mountains or the beach ?

24:10

Oh , ocean . I've written both

24:12

my books next to the ocean and the water

24:14

is my zen place . That's why I moved

24:16

here , because it was near the water . You know , I lived in

24:18

California , I live here . I'm a water ocean

24:20

person . That said , I grew up camping

24:23

and I grew up in the forest and I believe

24:25

that that is another zen place

24:27

for me , and if I can't be near water , then

24:30

I will find that as an immediate second .

24:32

Yes , yes , horror movies or comedy

24:35

.

24:36

Comedy , straight up comedy . I've dabbled

24:38

in stand up and I think that comedy

24:40

is just a beautiful way of living

24:43

life , let alone , you know

24:45

, spending your time . I mean , I walk away

24:47

. You know , I'm pretty pretty good every time .

24:49

Yes , yes , comedy is good for the soul

24:52

. Yes , yes , so if

24:54

you afforded an opportunity to have all the

24:56

resources or financial resources that

24:58

you could be afforded , what would be an

25:00

organization that's super important to you that you would donate

25:02

to , and why ?

25:04

I would probably donate to the

25:06

Parkinson's Maybe the Michael J Fox

25:08

Parkinson's . They're doing some incredible things

25:11

. My dad has Parkinson's , and

25:13

I want nothing more than to help him and

25:15

others like him after seeing what

25:18

they go through and the quality

25:20

of life that they lose over time

25:22

. You don't die from Parkinson's , but you

25:24

lose your quality of life from

25:26

it to the point to where it's hard to maintain

25:29

a quality of life , and so

25:31

I believe that they're getting closer

25:33

every day , and with that kind of money and

25:35

resources , they might move

25:37

faster and get to where they need to be so that

25:39

they can have an even better quality of

25:41

life .

25:42

Yes , yes , I learned through Parkinson's from a brother

25:45

in love , my sister's husband , and watching

25:47

how it really changes the quality of life for people

25:49

. So , yes , thank you for sharing that . So

25:51

, as we begin to wrap up the session for everyone to listen

25:53

to , what are the key takeaways or

25:55

nuggets that you would love to leave people

25:57

with about what you share so far today

26:00

?

26:00

I'm going to say something a little bit out of what I

26:02

said so far and add on to it , which

26:05

is that right now , in the midst

26:07

of how the world is going

26:09

and where everything's at , and

26:11

we're a little bit nervous because AI is

26:13

coming on the scene what does that mean

26:15

for me and what do I have to do with my skill sets

26:18

and how do I stay relevant ? And all

26:20

of these different things is , if you take anything

26:22

away from today , I would say that take

26:24

this one thing away being human is

26:26

your competitive advantage right

26:29

now more than ever . The more that you

26:31

stand out as being more of a transparent

26:33

human , it's going to actually

26:35

show up , because everything is

26:37

so automated these days and

26:40

everything is really technology

26:42

driven , and so when you stand out with

26:44

things like a thank you card in the mail

26:46

or a personalized email

26:49

that obviously comes from a real human , the things

26:51

that we do within , organically ourselves

26:53

that shine through , those are the things

26:55

that are going to make a bigger difference in

26:57

the years to come .

26:59

Yes , yes , thank you for saying that too , brian , and

27:01

that's really where we came up with unpack . I said let's just

27:03

have a real conversation , without any question , free

27:06

set , and we just talk and become human . And

27:08

this whole podcast is about what you just said

27:10

. How do we just show up and let people see

27:12

us as human beings ? So if I'm

27:14

a leader , I'm in an organization , regardless where I'm in the country

27:16

. Technology allows us to connect with people like

27:19

you . What are the top three reasons why most

27:21

people call you ? What's happening in their lives ? It says

27:23

, hey , pick up the phone , reach out to Brian .

27:25

Thank you for asking . The biggest things for me

27:27

that I see is what's next

27:30

? What's next for me ? And

27:32

I don't know what that is , or I know what

27:34

it is , but I don't know how I'm going to get there . The

27:37

next one is I'm working hard

27:39

, I'm working too hard , or I'm working

27:41

so much and I'm not seeing quality

27:43

of life , or I'm not seeing how I can

27:45

get everything done and have a

27:47

quality of life . And so how do I

27:50

get both ? How do we do both ? What's that

27:52

formula for me ? And the

27:54

third thing is , intrinsically , how

27:56

do I create all the different systems

27:58

, structure and process that's needed around

28:01

me so that I can be less in

28:03

the trenches and more in the strategy

28:06

? And so that's

28:08

a huge one , because we all get mired

28:10

into the detail , we get mired into the everyday

28:13

and we don't know how to interact with

28:15

it and yet still stay 500

28:17

or 1000 feet up . So how do I stay

28:19

in tune with both ? Imbalance

28:21

or if in harmony ? If you will , I don't

28:23

balance as hard this is coming from a Libra

28:26

but you know how do we stay

28:28

in harmony between the

28:30

doing and the being , the strategy versus

28:32

doing . So those are the three areas

28:34

that I think I see the most .

28:36

Awesome , Awesome . I love the word harmony too , so

28:38

can you share with the audience that people are

28:40

watching and listening to us ? You know the best

28:43

way to reach you with the email upon a website

28:45

.

28:45

I try to make it easy . It's at Brian creamercom

28:48

. That's Brian with a Y , kramer

28:50

with a K . Ironically

28:52

, not too long ago I was

28:54

telling my dad he asked me something . I

28:57

was like , yeah , that's Brian with a Y , creamer with a K . He's

28:59

like I named you . I'm like , oh yeah , but

29:03

you name me with these , not Brian

29:05

with an I , and so I have to say that every time . So

29:07

anyway , brian with a Y , kramer , k Com

29:09

. And if you email me , it's Brian at

29:11

Brian Kramercom . I have a newsletter

29:14

on my website and I write

29:16

one letter . It's not really newsletter

29:18

, it's a letter that I write once every two

29:20

weeks to everyone on what's on my

29:22

mind and what can we do to make one

29:24

little shift in our life or in our leadership

29:26

. And if you hit reply

29:28

to that , I will reply back and , as I

29:30

believe in the human to human being , and

29:33

so that's something that I can promise and everything's

29:35

on there . If you want to start

29:37

a conversation , please go there as well , or

29:40

you can email me directly . Thank you .

29:42

Yes , you're welcome and I will tell you

29:44

H2H . You know , as I look at the bio and

29:47

human to human is which is we're

29:49

losing touch with sometimes because everything's so automated

29:51

, we're losing touch with each other . Here's what I've

29:53

heard people say is we're super connected

29:56

but very disconnected from

29:58

the human to human and because of technology was

30:00

super connected , I can reach across the ocean , but

30:03

I can't talk to the person sitting next to me on the airplane

30:05

.

30:06

Right , yeah , you're absolutely right

30:08

, I think in Faith Popcorn called this

30:10

in 1984 in her

30:12

book the Popcorn Report . One

30:14

of the chapters was called cocooning and

30:17

she predicted that we would all be cocooning

30:19

in 2010 and onward . And

30:21

we continue to cocoon more and a lot

30:24

of it is really around the trend of being

30:26

served and having things delivered to

30:28

us and not having to come out , not

30:30

having to go to the market , not having to go to the store

30:32

. We've got Amazon , we've got Instacart

30:35

, we've got things that can create

30:37

things for us , but now we're losing touch

30:39

with community and losing touch with that connection

30:41

, that deeper connection . So I'm speaking

30:43

at high level . I mean there's a lot of

30:46

a lot more that goes into that , but

30:48

just you know , for example , say so , yes

30:50

, I agree with you . Connection is everything .

30:52

Yeah , it's amazing to bring when I'm in conferences

30:55

, how many times when you take a break , the first

30:57

thing everybody pulls out is their cell phone , versus

30:59

us going to talk to each other . I'm like man

31:02

we come here to connect but then we work so hard to

31:04

connect outside of the room Soon as we get a break . I

31:06

love the conversation , so for

31:09

everyone that's listening and the work that

31:11

we talk about and the things that we do . You

31:13

know we'd love for you to reach out to Brian on myself and

31:15

the work that we do across the country . We love

31:17

it , we're passionate about it and we care about people . You

31:19

know you look at the work that he's doing is phenomenal work . The

31:22

best way to ever reach us . You know global strategies

31:24

. If you look us up , we're on the web , but also

31:26

you can reach me at our Harvey at

31:29

gcsconsulting . I'm happy

31:31

to respond . I'm just like Brian . I respond to

31:33

everything . Make sure that I stay in touch with people

31:35

. We would love an opportunity to see if

31:37

it's a great relationship . Partnerships matter

31:39

, relationships matter , but we love what we do

31:41

and that's important for so there's

31:43

anything we can do in your organization or your

31:45

company , or you need a speaker or you need a coach

31:47

or looking for a co-sultan , which is what

31:49

Brian does . Please feel free to reach

31:52

out to either one of us and share this

31:54

podcast with someone that you think can use it and

31:56

leverage it , and it'll be of use for them . So thank

31:58

you very much for joining us . We love the work

32:00

that we do and we want opportunity

32:03

to share with you later on .

32:05

Well , we hope you enjoy this edition

32:07

of Unpacked Podcast with

32:09

leadership consultant Ron Harvey

32:11

. Remember to join us every Monday

32:13

as Ron Unpacked's sound advice , providing

32:16

real answers for real leadership

32:18

challenges . Until next time , remember

32:21

to add value and make a difference

32:23

where you are or the people you

32:26

serve , because people always

32:28

matter .