Standing Out: A Podcast About Sales, Marketing and Leadership
Standing Out is a show created to help individuals and companies improve their sales & marketing outcomes, as well as their leadership development. Each episode we have an expert who has a unique perspective on sales, marketing and/or leadership providing insights from his or her experiences. And we throw in a few laughs from time to time. Be sure to hit Subscribe wherever you listen to our podcasts.
Standing Out: A Podcast About Sales, Marketing and Leadership
Leadership That Serves: The Art of Coaching with Dusty Holcomb
After 28 years in the corporate world, Dusty realized his personal mission statement—"to enable success in others"—could have far greater impact if he dedicated himself fully to coaching and mentoring other leaders. Drawing from principles of servant leadership instilled by his early mentors, he's built a practice that helps executives navigate the complexities of their roles without falling victim to the echo chamber that so often limits leadership effectiveness.
Ready to transform your leadership effectiveness? Connect with Dusty on LinkedIn or visit arcusgroup.com to subscribe to their newsletter and learn about upcoming masterclasses.
Thank you to our sponsor, Salesdash CRM – A CRM for Freight Logistics. Salesdash CRM is built for freight broker & agent sales teams. Manage your shipper prospecting and follow-ups. Organize your carriers and the lanes they run. Learn more at www.betaconsultinggroup.com/standing-out
Standing Out is a sales, marketing & leadership podcast powered by BETA Consulting Group, created to highlight best practices from industry leaders with incredible experience and insights! The goal is to entertain, educate & inspire individuals & companies to improve their sales, marketing & leadership development outcomes.
Hey everybody, welcome to Standing Out, so excited that you are with us today. I'm Trey Griggs, your host, founder and chief encouragement officer over here at Beta Consulting Group. Do me a favor after the show, check us out at betaconsultinggroupcom. See how we're helping companies with their marketing strategies, their sales strategies really about driving revenue. I love to work with especially startups and small companies. So again, check us out. Click on the little button right in the middle that says schedule a call with yours truly and tell us your story. We'd love to help you communicate yours in the marketplace. Also, before we get started today, I want to say a big thank you to our friends over at Wreaths Across America for letting us be a part of their Trucking Tuesday lineup. We're always so excited to get to speak to the trucking community out there through Wreaths Across America radio.
Speaker 1:If you're not connected with wreaths across America, what are you doing? Got to? Got to change the way you're showing up in life. Go check them out at wreaths across Americaorg. Every year second Saturday of December they have their annual event where they, where people, go and lay wreaths that they've made up in Maine on the tombstones of our veteran soldiers. They make over 4 million wreaths a year. You can be a part of this in many ways. One of those is through sponsoring a wreath. All you got to do is go to wreathsacrossamericaorg forward slash standing out and you can partner with us and you can sponsor a wreath. It's not too early I know it's March, but it's not too early to get involved for the event that's going to be coming here in just about nine months, again in December, at over 4,000 cemeteries across the country. It's amazing how many reefs are out there, how many people are out there, and it's just a great event. Remember the past, remember the sacrifice of our veterans and really teach the future generations about that sacrifice and what freedom really costs. So again, thank you so much to our friends over at reese across america. Get involved today.
Speaker 1:Finally, I want to say thank you to my good buddy, josh lyles, over at sales dash crm. If you are a freight broker and you're struggling with your sales process, or a crm that really fits your sales process, this is the only crm in the industry that is built by freight brokers for freight brokers in mind, so make sure you check them out at sales-crmcom or you can find out more on our website, betaconsultinggroupcom. Forward slash standing dash out. You can even request a demo right there. Either way, make sure you let them know. You heard about it right here on Standing Out.
Speaker 1:Josh is just a good dude. A lot of great customers over there. Now they're growing like crazy Good people over there. Josh is absolutely one of the best. All right, it is time to bring our guest on the show today. I've known this guy for about three years now and the way we met was pretty fortuitous and it's created a lifelong friendship and I get to just watch him grow and do some really cool stuff. In fact, he's got a new company and some new things that he's working on right now. So please give it up. The founder of Arcus Group, my good friend, dusty Holcomb yes, yes.
Speaker 2:Good to see you, man Red. Hot chili pepper yes, nice tunes. Good to see you, man Red.
Speaker 1:Hot Chili Peppers. We've got to wait for this to load. I know we should, we just need to let it. It's got a long intro, but it's really, really good it's one of the 90s songs. We're probably going to get busted for some copyright infringement, but it's just so good. It's so good, I think we just have to let it roll here.
Speaker 2:the peppers are okay with a little bit of uh, just a little patient, just a little bit.
Speaker 1:You know, we can always kind of let it go for a minute and we can bring it back when it picks up, like right now. Okay, all right, my friend, let's talk about you, let's talk about what's going on for people who don't know who the heck you are. My goodness, they need to know who you are. Give us a little intro into you and what you're up to these days cool, cool.
Speaker 2:Well, thanks so much for having me. Before we get into that, I just have to tell you, like Reads Across America, I got to do that with my son last Christmas and the Christmas before last, and it's such a powerful thing to go into a tombstone and say somebody's name out loud. That name may not have been said for decades or you know, nobody's heard that name, but it was standing there with my six-year-old saying this person served in the Second World War. And this is what they did, and we were looking up people because they had decorations and they had their military honors or one of their tombstones.
Speaker 2:So, I'm just like jazzed out of my mind that you're supporting that and it's jazzed out of my mind that you're supporting that, and it's like one of my favorites, so thank you for doing that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's really cool. I got to go with my good friend, dr Mark Manera, right here in St Louis last year and I didn't know this, but his grandpa recently passed away. He was a veteran and he was entombed down at Jefferson Barracks, which is here in St Louis, and I was able to look up where his grandpa's tomb is on the property and we got to go there and kind of surprised him a little bit with it and it was so cool to see him lay the wreath on his grandpa's tomb and say his name and it's just a really powerful day and it's just a reminder of the sacrifices that a lot of people made so that we can have the freedoms that we enjoy every day. And I mean what a great organization, what a great reminder and just really good people.
Speaker 1:I just love everybody over at Reads Across America. Their entire team Courtney does a phenomenal job their radio team just good people. So I'm glad that you got to do that. That's a cool event, and for your son too. Just to get to just one more little reminder of all that we have here in the United States, which is great. Okay, enough of that. Talk a little bit about yourself, my friend, and what you're up to.
Speaker 2:Well, it's always the least favorite thing that I do is talk about myself, but since you asked, I'll do it. So I started a leadership consulting organization. I spent 28 plus years in the corporate world and decided, after exiting as the CEO of an e-commerce logistics company, that I was going to do what I started to do three to five years ago, which is start my own firm, which is really all I want to do is help people. Like, my personal mission statement is to enable success in others, and the way I've been able to do that, for my entire professional career has been in the corporate world.
Speaker 2:Well, what I really want to do is help people, and I want to help people become better leaders. I had the just the incredible blessing to come under the wing of a retired Colonel is one of my first mentors, who introduced to me principles of servant leadership, the principles of serving others, and what an obligation, what a responsibility that is as a leader, and he was an incredible coach. He was an incredible mentor, and so, as I did this and I'm 25 plus now 28 years of doing it on the corporate side I decided you know what I'm going to actually do this because this is what I'm passionate about and started a company to do exactly that to help leaders, to help companies, to help teams become more effective.
Speaker 2:And I don't do anything without having some big audacious. Some would say dumb. I don't think it's dumb goal, which is I want to build the number one success platform for purpose-driven and value-centric leaders and over the next 10 years, I want to impact the lives of a million leaders. So that's kind of what I want to do, but ultimately it comes down to how do we make sure that people can?
Speaker 2:influence others more effectively through leadership, and, as John Maxwell is famous for saying, leadership is influence. Nothing more, nothing less, and so I just have the privilege and honor of helping other people be more effective. That's what I do, yeah.
Speaker 1:No, it's awesome. I love the fact that you've done this because when we met, I could tell from the first conversation that we had about three and a half years ago the type of leader that you are and how much servant leadership matters to you. And when you meet a good leader, it's like, yeah, you love the fact that they're in an organization and they're helping that organization, but there's a part of you that says, man, how many more people could benefit from this person if they had a company or did some other things? And it is that John Maxwell approach. You know who, you know. He used to be a pastor and he's like you know what, if I were a speaker and a you know coach, I can help more people and it was really cool to see him make that transition. And in many ways you're making a similar transition moving into leadership, coaching, into writing, speaking and some of the things that you're working on. I'm excited about that man. I'm excited to see the journey that you're on to do that.
Speaker 1:And it's interesting to hear you talk about the coaches that you had before, because I think that people only do this for one of two reasons Either they didn't have any coaching and they know the value of it and so they decided to fill that gap. Or they did have great coaching and that influenced what they did. I don't know if I've ever told you this or not before, but I had the privilege of playing high school and college basketball for two separate coaches. Each of them won over 900 games in their respective careers, and it doesn't say anything about me necessarily I just got to play for them but it says something about them and their leadership, their longevity, and that's the kind of leadership that I got to learn from.
Speaker 1:So I'm with you, man. I know the value of great coaching and what that can do for somebody, for their life, for their trajectory, and that's exciting. So talk a little bit about what that looks like for you. For the Arcus Group, which is your company, what are you doing specifically? What could an executive or a leader in a company or a company in general maybe that's looking to up their leadership game what can they expect from you? What kind of things are you doing?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So what we're principally doing today is CEO mentoring. So I work with CEOs and people who are in that seat and recognize what a lonely seat it can be and like there's all of these challenges, there's all of these gaps. I mean people sit there and think, hey, you're the CEO, you've got it all figured out. Well, there's a lot of things going on, imposter syndrome, you don't have someone you can talk to, et cetera. So I work with folks like that and basically I'm a mentor, I'm a guide. I don't have all the answers, but I can give them perspective or I can ask them questions and give them a bat phone, so to speak. Do executive coaching for key leaders and organizations. And then I work with leadership teams around vision and strategy planning. How do they connect the dots between where they are today and where they want to go, and then what do they need to do in order to make that happen? That's what we're doing today. And then myself and a couple of associates have joined the firm. We're working on some new offerings that we're going to have for that 10X level thinker the leader who is wanting to go way bigger than where they are, but they don't exactly know how to do it, and so we want to help guide them down that journey and that path with some masterminds and some other projects. But it's so funny the way you asked that question.
Speaker 2:I had the blessing of having incredible coaches, but I also had the honor and opportunity to spend a number of years in martial arts and you get coached by everybody. When you get on the dojo floor, out on the mat, it could be a white belt that you're going to get on the mat with. They were, you know, seventh degree black belt in another form, and you get your clock cleaned and your butt looked. But it was always about getting better. Like you left all rank aside, you stepped onto the dojo mat and you know folks I've worked with over the years gotten tired of me talking about the mat. But that's, that's what I believe leadership is. When you show up, you forget about rank, you get out there to do the thing and you try to learn, you try to get better and you need that perspective.
Speaker 2:And so I've had great coaches, I've had great senseis and great teachers, but you always got to be looking for it. It doesn't matter if they're a white belt or they're a black belt. You can learn from that other person. So I love that you said it that way. I'm reminded like just this past week I had a client call me at eight o'clock on a Monday morning, actually shot me a text and said hey, I've got something going down. Would you be able to talk in 10 minutes? And so, of course, yeah, you're one of my CEO mentoring clients, concierge man, we, I'm here for you when you need. And so we talked for 30 minutes. I wouldn't say that I gave him any earth shattering advice or told him things that were the grandest or smartest things have ever been created.
Speaker 2:What I did was I was able to hear what he was wrestling with, reframe it back to him with a little bit different perspective so he could see it from another angle later that day and said it changed my entire outlook on this opportunity from being a situation where you know I'm back on my heels, so now I can lean in and all I needed was a perception shift all I needed was that angle shift and it reminds me, like you are a basketball player, of a sports athlete.
Speaker 2:They just need somebody who says, hey, you're dropping back. You need to, you know, get forward onto the balls of your feet, or hey, you're dropping your shoulder.
Speaker 1:I was a baseball player.
Speaker 2:You're dropping your shoulder. You need to keep your shoulders up. Those little things make all the difference in the world. So, long way of saying that's what I do, I really connect dots and help leaders be more effective, make more effective decisions. That's ultimately what I try to do and what our team at Arcus does.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you had mentioned earlier that leadership is influence, and the thing that comes to mind for me is the phrase leadership is lonely, which you also mentioned as well. It is lonely not having somebody to talk to. If you're a CEO, or if you're a sales leader and things aren't going well, who do you talk to? Or when you're starting to experience doubt, or when you're in an area of uncertainty or you have to make a big decision, you're not quite sure, or maybe you're second guessing yourself on that decision, who do you talk to? You know, it's very difficult to have somebody who is not involved in the business but who can help you in the business, having that outside coach. I always go back to this crazy thing that Tom Brady did, which was he had a throwing coach which does he really need a throwing coach? But he wanted somebody to make sure he was throwing the ball correctly and he wasn't damaging his arm. He has a nutritionist. He could probably have done just fine on his own nutrition, but he had a nutritionist to make sure that he stayed on top of his nutrition and that, you know, he was really kind of responsive to that His body was.
Speaker 1:I just keep thinking about all these people who are successful. They have outside agencies, they have people who are on the outside, who are not in the same game as them, but maybe you've played in that game, who can help them out, and that perspective is so incredibly valuable, but yet it's let's be honest, it's probably not valued like it should be. I mean, I think, leadership development if you look back at companies in the 80s, where leadership development was really a big deal, and then that started to change in the 80s and 90s, when profits became the most important thing it's one of those things they decided to cut was leadership development and leadership training, and it's just so critical. So I just love the fact that you're doing it, man. It's just so wonderful.
Speaker 2:It's so powerful and the best athletes in the world have coaches, and I think of the game of business as a game right, and you're an athlete on that particular set of pavement or that particular floor.
Speaker 2:You've got to treat it like a game. You've got to get out, get after it, try to get 1% better every day. I mean, that's all Tom Brady was trying to do is get better every single time he played. And it's so funny we're talking about this. I just had a call earlier today with one of my clients and we were talking about the value of coaching and she said I can't believe.
Speaker 1:I talked to people who have never had a, an executive coach who've never had a mentoring relationship she goes.
Speaker 2:I don't know how they navigate the things that come up in life without having someone to call. And I said you can do it. You either need it formally or informally. You just need the word that you said, which is perspective. You must avoid the echo chamber. Yes, it's lonely, but there's nothing more dangerous than getting feedback from people who see the world the same way you do. And think about it the same way you do. You're just not going to be able to make those effective decisions or you're going to make decisions too quickly, without having the opportunity to step back and go.
Speaker 2:What am I?
Speaker 1:missing. What else should I be thinking about?
Speaker 2:And that's what a great coach says, you know whoever people are, they're going to help you find those types of answers.
Speaker 1:All right, cool. So let's talk about your offerings real quick. So I know you have a newsletter. Anybody can sign up for that just by going to ArcusGroupcom. Is that correct? That's correct? Yep, very good. And then you have a couple of other offerings that you're doing.
Speaker 2:You do, I think, individual coaching for CEOs and executives. We also do the group coaching for teams, and then we're working right now on launching our mastermind coaching, which will be 12-week cohorts and then some one-year initiatives as well for people who want to be part of a group like-minded 10X mindset folks. And actually at rksgroupcom you can sign up for the newsletter. We're getting ready to launch our first masterclass in just a few weeks and the first cohort for the Mastermind, the Vision to Victory Mastermind, will launch in May and we're just jazzed about that because it's going to be a very select group, very customized, very orchestrated to make sure we have the right people in the room, because one of the things I say all the time with anyone that I?
Speaker 2:work with. Any team I've ever worked with is iron sharpens iron. We got to show up and make each other better and I'm going to ask for and expect someone else to sharpen me and to tell me when I screw it up.
Speaker 2:And I have the privilege and honor of working with some amazing people at Arcus Group and there's nothing I like better than we had our weekly L10 call yesterday and I got to say, hey, you know that thing we did last week, it was really cool and it was awesome. Yeah, I forgot to push the record button, so we're going to need to do it again. We're always learning man, iron sharpens iron, so that's one of our principles. And the other principle is the sum is greater than the part, right? So when you get 12 great, incredible people in a room and you can create this pure effect, man, it's not 12 people.
Speaker 1:It suddenly becomes a ripple effect a 10X effect.
Speaker 2:So those are some of the things we're working on and putting into place right now.
Speaker 1:Very cool. Now you said iron sharpens iron, which is one of my favorite verses in the Bible Proverbs 27, 17. I love that, but also in terms of iron, I found out this fun fact about you and I don't know exactly what it means or if it's real but did you say that Iron man makes you dumb?
Speaker 2:Well, didn't? It was a very low bar. For me, it was a very low bar. Hey, I did it. I did a an iron man race, and you know. So I'm not smart. It's like be very clear, I'm definitely not smart.
Speaker 2:I had this, uh, I don't know what happened in this 10 years ago now and I signed up for a triathlon and so, like I did a sprint triathlons Well, that was fine. What's the hardest one I can do? So I decided I would sign up for an Ironman race. Well, that was fine. So I decided I would do another one. Then I decided to do another, and then I decided that I would do two three weeks apart.
Speaker 2:And that's where Ironman really makes you dumb is that you know I was like this is going to be great. I'll do this race, which turned out to be the hardest race in the Ironman circuit, and then I'm going to do another in three weeks later. And I remember being halfway through the bike on that second race going. I don't know that I can finish this. I'm gassed, I finished, but Ironman makes you dumb. It's a very low bar for me.
Speaker 1:So how many Ironmans have you completed so far? I?
Speaker 2:did five full Ironman races. My body has retired me. My brain hasn't retired. I still want to do more, but my knees won't take the running. So I keep threatening my wife that I'm going to do another one and just rock it because that would be fun, and she reminds me about that. I am, so we'll see. It's on my bucket list. I will say this I think I did the best cognitive work of my professional career when I was racing Ironman, because A I was physically challenged every day and there's nothing like forcing yourself out of the workplace at lunch to go swim for an hour, where you can't be distracted by a phone. You can't do it, you just have to think. So there's something there that I need to plug back into to find the solitude and the physical exertion, because I do think I did some really cool work.
Speaker 1:that, yeah, I can say this the best. The best sales of my career happened when I was in the best shape of my life, so I do think there is something uh to be said about that and could be a part of what you do it's not only executive coach maybe encouraging people to get that uh get into the gym or do some sort of physical activity as a part of getting that really good focus in business 100 could be good.
Speaker 1:I haven't done an Ironman. I've done two half marathons, which I know is kind of Lane. Anybody who's done an Iron man is like half marathon.
Speaker 2:That's terrible no, it's not terrible at all. You got out there like I, I loved it. Like my favorite part of racing wasn't the race, it was being at the finish line after the race cheering for the people who were coming in. Man, yeah, and I'm six foot four and you know linebacker size, like I wasn't going to win these things, I was out there testing my own self.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I love it man.
Speaker 1:There's something special about the finish line. I remember when I did I've done a lot of Tough Mudders as well and 15K Tough Mudders, so about nine miles not terrible, but you know 30 obstacles and there's like 85 year old women in there and you're like man. That is so awesome. I have no excuse today. I am not going to complain one time today. So I remember, I remember those, those moments that they're really, they're really special.
Speaker 2:That's for sure it's awesome, man, and you know 5, 5k. I'd rather run a half marathon than a 5k. So you know there's nothing to sneeze at uh about that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there were good times. Um, I I'm not. I'm not a runner either. I hate running, but the finish line was nice, that's for sure. Uh, that's always good. All right, listen, we got to pause for a minute, my friend, and have a little fun and play a game here. We always like to have a little good time, and today we're going to play a game called what movie? Emoji edition. Okay, now there's two ways to play this dusty. We can either compete against each other and see you know who can get the most, or we can do a team effort and see if we can get it as a team. What we're going to do is we're going to put emojis up on the screen. We've got to figure out what the movie is. I think competition sounds a little fun to me. What do you think?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I'm so torn here Like the business side of me says well, we should do this as a team. And the competitor in me says you're going down man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's do it wins. These are emojis. I don't know if you're good with emojis or not. I'm not great. Haven't seen these yet. Our producer puts these together. Here we go. Emoji edition number one Cast away.
Speaker 2:Let's go All right, 1-0.
Speaker 1:1-0. All right, here we go Usually not out to a lead like this. Let's see Ticket. Let's see Two old dudes. Is that a chocolate bar? Hmm, this is a tough one. It's a kid and an old man. Yeah, with a chocolate bar and a movie ticket.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's Willy Wonka and the.
Speaker 1:Chocolate Factory. Oh, there you go, charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Yeah, there you go, you get it, you get it. Nice, okay, very good, that's a tough one.
Speaker 2:It took me way too long.
Speaker 1:That was a tough one. I wasn't going to get that without you, Okay one more. All right, next one, next one Car time. Oh, another old person, and a young person again with a car and a clock.
Speaker 2:Oh gosh um the future. Uh, no, no, look at you look at you, god.
Speaker 1:Yes, back to the future. Okay, dusty, you're up to one. I gotta make a comeback here. Here we go, next one, next one, oh okay, all right, three to one. I lose. Let's see if I can make it respectable. Saturday Night Fever what is that? Dancing music, tango and a prize Silver Linings Playbook. That's not it, because there's dancing in there and they win a prize Dirty Dancing.
Speaker 2:Yes, there we go, all right.
Speaker 1:You just let me wrestle with it until I figure it out. All right, dust're the champ. Oh, we got another one. Oh wait, now I thought we had five. Well, we got another one. Oh okay, let's see. Um, men in black.
Speaker 2:No, yeah, good guess, lucky, we're tied at three. How many of these do we?
Speaker 1:have. We got another one. Here we go Space aliens Independence Day. Armageddon? No, it's called Rocket, aliens guns, rockets, star Wars no.
Speaker 2:This is a tough one, yeah, this is?
Speaker 1:This is making my brain. We've reached our limit here. Okay, we're not going to get it. What is it? Guardians of the Galaxy? No, wouldn't have gotten that one. Okay, I think we have more. Let's see. Maybe we have 10, maybe there's 10. So this is number 8. Is that right, or is this the final one?
Speaker 2:Oh, that's it.
Speaker 1:Alright, well, we tied 3-. That's it All right, well, we tied three to three. That's lame, okay, well we can do rock paper scissors. Would rock paper scissors work on a video call? Let's try it. Okay, here we go. We're going to hit three times and then shoot. So one, two, three shoot. All right, you ready, here we go. One, two, three shoot. Here we go. One, two, three shoot. One, two, three shoot.
Speaker 2:Okay, you were dressed at the top. One, two, three shoot there we go, you win All right.
Speaker 1:We're good with that. Oh my God.
Speaker 2:All right, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:That's wild. Okay, we shouldn't play that game again. That's pretty wild, okay. Last thing here, my friend. We always have like like to have a random question of the day. Now, listen, this could be a funny question, it could be a serious question, it could be a really good question, it could be a dud, I don't know, let's see. Here we go. Random question of the day is how long do you think you'd survive in a zombie apocalypse?
Speaker 2:hmm, I would give my odds as uh fairly strong.
Speaker 1:I would give my odds as a fairly strong. I'm an outdoorsman.
Speaker 2:I'm a I'm a big time outdoorsman.
Speaker 1:Have you thought about have you thought about what you would do? Do you have a plan?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have a framework. Like you know it's. It's pretty. I, because I was back in the day I loved the walking dead show. I remember thinking, okay that, because back in the day I loved the Walking Dead show. I remember thinking, okay, that guy was bad, he was dumb, here's what I would do. So, yeah, I think I'd be okay. I'm a survivalist. I love to. My favorite things in the world are to be in the middle of nowhere on the back of a horse. So I think I'd be okay. As long as I didn't get bitten, I'd be all right.
Speaker 1:You got a shot. You're such an executive coach. You use the word framework. I love it. I love it. It's so good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's the way I think man Mental maps and mental models and frameworks.
Speaker 1:All right, for those who have not watched you on other things, they might not understand that. This is not your normal background. You are currently in the woods, in the cabin, having a good time. What is it about getting away into the woods, getting into the cabin?
Speaker 2:that's just really helpful and really healthy for you uh well, in addition to the fresh air, it's the quiet, it's the the space of silence, right? So I, earlier today, I was just sitting out on the deck just listening to the birds, that can't hear anything but the creek, and I don't know, man, there's something spiritual, there's something ethereal, there's just something different. And then you know, this weekend, just going on a nice long hike where you don't see another person, and yeah, it's very, very spiritual.
Speaker 1:Do you eliminate electronics? Like, obviously I know you have your computer here, we're doing this show, but do you eliminate electronics for a certain amount of time while you're there, when you're outdoors, like, how do you eliminate the distractions? Because, man, it's just like if we don't unplug, it's like never ending.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a great question. I do so. I'll be very specific and like put the tools away and all the stuff and then once a quarter I try to do a digital fast. So I'll go and like do a spiritual retreat or do a digital fast work 48 or 72 hours, or I'm not using anything, which it's hard because I one of my, my digital, my note back. Uh, notepad is a remarkable and I won't even let myself use that. I'll have to use old-fashioned pen and paper. But yeah, I I find that if I don't disconnect that, the brain just doesn't work as well. So I forced myself to do it in every possible way. But it also it's the way we work today, so you can't get too far from it.
Speaker 1:It's hard because there's a part of you that feels like you're being so irresponsible by being disconnected, like our families and texting and just the thing communicating those kinds of things. But yet it's so distracting and I think sometimes we don't make the space to think. I know, for me, going on a walk, on a hike, for example um, I actually like having the apple watch with the gps, because if I have to make a phone call I can, but I also don't take my phone. I can just leave my phone here and it's okay, and just not having your phone and being out in nature and thinking. Some of the best ideas, some of the solutions that you're hoping for, come out of that and it's absolutely huge. So glad that you do that, man. That's awesome. I think that's something that more people, and especially more leaders, should do is unplug.
Speaker 2:Couldn't agree with you more. I think that intentional seeking of silence. In fact, I wrote an article on our blog not too long ago, a couple of weeks ago, on this very topic of leadership. Clarity comes from silence, and there's a great book and I've been long accused of. Every conversation comes with a book prescription and it does but lead yourself first which talks about the value of silence and of getting away, so you do have that time to think I gotta carry a field manual little notepad.
Speaker 2:When I go out on a hike or something, I'll leave my phone. Uh, similar to you, use my watch if I need it. Yeah, connection. But you just got to do it and it's hard like I struggle with it. I, candidly, I you know, I beat my own dog food and follow my own advice, and it's not always easy, but every day a little better yeah, there's a great verse too.
Speaker 1:So I'm 46, 10, you know. Be still and know that I'm god, like there's something about just stillness and about quiet. That's just good for the soul and, um, I'm glad that you're doing that. It's a reminder to me that I think I may. I told you before all I wanted to do today was go hike. I think I may have to go get that hike in and get away from all this technology just for a little bit and get a little sanity back, which would be good.
Speaker 2:You have to do it. On that note, one of the things that I used to buy into one of my frameworks or fallacies was if I couldn't go get the big hike in, I wouldn't do it at all. It came out of Ironman training. If I didn't get to run 10 miles, it didn't count those Ironman trainings, like I didn't. If I didn't go run 10 miles, it didn't count. Well, now I saw something a year or two ago. It's like you know, the now the minimum standard is. You know it could be a one mile hike. Or you know, hey, I'm going to work out every day and it can simply be 20 squats and 20 pushups, but that's the minimum standards. Having the excuse of not showing up, but you know.
Speaker 1:I only have nine minutes to go do it.
Speaker 2:It's okay, I can do that. So I embrace what you can do. Go for a hike, even if it's around the neighborhood. Who cares?
Speaker 1:It's so easy to be an all or nothing kind of thing and it doesn't need to be that way and I think too often we think or we put guilt or shame and nature and those types of things. So I think there's a lot to be said. Just do what you can with what you have and move forward. In that regard, dusty hey, listen man I'm so excited for what you're doing with the Arcus group. Thanks for coming to the show and sharing what you're up to. What's the easiest way for people to get connected with you?
Speaker 2:Easiest way to get connected is LinkedIn or go to the Arcus group and just subscribe to our newsletter Email. Every week we have a newsletter post going out. We're getting ready to launch our actual full-fledged monthly newsletter where we connect to other people. And then we're getting ready to launch our podcast, because I want to talk to other great leaders and learn. I'm selfish here. I just want to learn from some of the best in the world, and the best way to do that is have a conversation, so get connected and love to chat with folks. This is what I do for fun and for a living.
Speaker 1:Love it, man. Congratulations on everything and, again, thanks for coming by. We'll talk to you real soon. Talk to you soon, trey. Thank you so much Everybody. Make sure you come back every Tuesday for another episode of Standing Out with great guests like Dusty Hulk and make sure you follow him on LinkedIn. Go on LinkedIn, go to arkisgroupcom, sign up for his newsletter. A lot of great nuggets from him about leadership and about how you can grow as a person and again, I hope that this podcast episode inspired you to be greater, to be better. Before we get going here again, just want to say thank you to our friends over at sales-crm, to Josh Lyles for sponsoring the show. Check them out at sales-crmcom, let them know. You heard about it right here on Standing Out, and until next time, my friends.
