IDL139 Season 3: Renegade Founder to Renegade Leader with Benj Miller
What is the most impactful change that you can make to your leadership style? Why should you invest in your inward expansion and outward interactions? What’s the power that you access by being committed to the present moment?
Welcome back! I’m interviewing Benj Miller, entrepreneur and founder of the System & Soul Framework and a fellow podcast host. He is also the author of a new book, Renegades, which will be our October book of the month! Benj has grown from a renegade business founder into a renegade leader, and today we speak about the challenges and lessons that came from his journey.
Meet Benj Miller
Authenticity, breaking the rules, and creating clarity are the core of Benj Miller’s life and work. He’s founded ten businesses in his eighteen years of entrepreneurial experience. He’s driven by the desire to help small businesses make the greatest possible impact on the communities they serve.
Benj now dedicates his time to helping other business owners catalyze growth through the System & Soul Framework and find game-changing breakthroughs in the process. As an advocate for all businesses running on System & Soul™, Benj also co-hosts the System & Soul podcast with Chris White and co-founded the S2 Sync app.
He lives in Atlanta, GA with his wife of twenty-four years and their four amazing kids.
Visit Benj’s website, listen to his podcast, and connect on LinkedIn.
IN THIS EPISODE WE DISCUSS:
Work on yourself and your identity - 07:43
What actually matters the most? - 11:00
Invest in your inward and outward worlds - 20:23
Live in the present moment - 28:20
Work on yourself and your identity
What is the most impactful thing for your leadership? It is to be, in Benj’s advice:
- Inwardly sound, and
- Others focused
“You’re going to have to do some internal work first and it starts with you [because you are] the leader, and so you go, so goes the organization. ”
If you are stuck within your insecurities and not being vulnerable or authentic, you cannot expect your employees to show up authentically and feel like they are being understood or heard by you.
The way that you are in your business is the way that you allow others to be. It will take a while, but the more that you work on yourself, the more that you attract other people that have done the work that you have just completed.
So, to be a successful business owner and a leader of people, you need to first sit with your own self.
“Every organizational issue is a reflection of the heart of the leader. ”
What actually matters the most?
Are you getting caught up in being busy with all of the things that don’t actually have your heart in them to avoid doing it?
That leads you to being much less effective, as well as avoiding doing the real work behind what it means to set the example of good leadership.
What actually matters? It comes back to what Benj mentions in the podcast; being inwardly sound with yourself and others focused, relating to the people around you, whether in your community and in your business.
“I realized that as much as I cared, I was actually lacking dignity for some of the people because I wasn’t giving them clarity … “This is why your job exists, and this is exactly what I need from you, this is how we’re going to measure it and we’re going to talk about it often”, that level of clarity just to let somebody know [that] they are winning. ”
Invest in your inward and outward worlds
How would you know if you are inwardly sound? Have you considered what it is like to be a person on the other side of you who has to interact with you?
To work on your inner world is an investment. It is something continuous that changes often because you need to keep showing up and learning about yourself as you grow and develop simultaneously. It’s never one-and-done, and that’s a good thing.
“I had thought I had done a lot of work up to that point … [Although] it’s never ending, it’s the game of life. Coming inwardly sound is not a destination, it is a journey and a pursuit. You have to be diligent on it. ”
However, the incredible thing about learning how to lead and care for yourself means that you can - hopefully - one day teach that behavior to other people as well.
The standard belief is that once you can lead yourself then you can lead others, but what if it’s more about teaching them how to do it alone?
“If I can lead myself well, then I can help other people lead themselves well.”
Teaching people how to lead themselves is one of the marks of a great leader that has succeeded. This is also what it means to be others-focused.
Live in the present moment
If you made a mistake, own it. If you messed up, step up to the plate if someone is brave enough to call you out on it.
The only way that you can move forward at the right pace with yourself and those around you is to be in the present moment and act accordingly.
When you as the leader are present within reality, everyone around you is relieved because they now know that you are aware, present, and accountable for your actions, and that you will be receptive to them and meet them where they are at.
“If we can say, “What is the reality right now?” Then we’re able to deal with reality. If we’re hiding that, then we can’t deal with it. ”
So be present within reality and the present moment so that you can move toward the real potentialities of the moment with intention.
Resources, books, and links mentioned in this episode:
BOOK | Benj Miller - Renegades: Break rules. Find Freedom. (A Book for Founders)
BOOK | Tim Spiker - The Only Leaders Worth* Following: Why Some Leaders Succeed, Others Fail, and How the Quality of Our Lives Hangs in the Balance
BOOK | Will Guidara - Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect
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About the Impact Driven Leader Podcast
The Impact Driven Leader Podcast, hosted by Tyler Dickerhoof, is for Xillennial leaders who have felt alone and ill-equipped to lead in today's world. Through inspiring interviews with authors from around the world, Tyler uncovers how unique leadership strengths can empower others to achieve so much more, with real impact.
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