Flashback Episode: Building a Business Legacy | Scott Rusnak | Ep 212

Debra Chantry-Taylor  00:00

Welcome to the Better Business, better life podcast, throwback series. My name is Debra Chantry Taylor, and I'm the host of the podcast. I'm a certified EOS implementer, a family business advisor and a business owner myself and I developed this podcast to help bring you tips and tools to help you create a better business and create a better life. For the next five episodes, though, we're revisiting some of the most inspiring, thought provoking conversations from our archives. These episodes are packed with wisdom, practical advice and stories to help you create a business that delivers better results and a better life. So whether you're hearing them for the first time or enjoying a refresher, each one offers timeless insights to help you on your journey. Let's dive into this week's throwback episode. We're closing out the throwback series this week with episode 168 where Scott Rusnak returns to discuss building a business legacy. In this episode, Scott explores what it takes to create something meaningful that outlives you, leaving an impact for generations to come. It's a conversation filled with heart and purpose. Let's revisit this inspiring episode together.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  01:05

Welcome to another episode of Better Business, Better Life. I'm your host, Debra Chantry Taylor, and I'm passionate about helping entrepreneurs live their ideal lives by creating better businesses.

I'm a certified EOS implementer, an FBA accredited family business advisor and a business owner. Myself with several business interests, I work with established business owners and their leadership teams to help them live their ideal entrepreneurial life using EOS, The Entrepreneurial Operating System, my guests come onto the show to authentically share the highs and lows of creating a successful business, and how they've turned things around in their business using EOS tools and traction.

Scott Rusnak  01:51

But really within the book, I want people to take hold of the lessons that I had to go through and the things I've learned as a coach, so they can really become the architect of their life. And it's not just like building a building or building a life to say, I've done it within that. I want them to think about where they live, where they're working, where they're playing, what they're doing, and is what they're doing, really fulfilling their purpose. And to go to Simon Sinek terms, what is their why? Why are they doing it? And when people can get a hold of their where, what are they doing it? Why are they doing it? They seem to have this magic formula that will propel them to success. And I always say the universe conspires for those that compartmentalize those three things.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  02:50

Today's guest says in his reworked book, most everyone will be in the same place this time next year. Make sure it isn't you. He is a world class athlete competing at an international level as a cyclist. He's built and successfully exited several world class technology companies competing with the likes of Apple, and he's the author of the entrepreneurs for your guide. Today, he's going to share with us how you can design your life before someone else does, along with real life stories from his own journey and the many businesses he has worked with over the last 35 years. Please. Let me introduce Scott Rusnak, expert EOS implementer, high performance, leadership coach, and someone I'm very proud to call my friend and colleague. Welcome to the show Scott.

Scott Rusnak  03:29

Debra, it's always an honour to be on your show, and one of our core values at EOS is humbly confident. I just own a couple software companies, but I can't update my browser on my laptop, and we're worlds apart, and we made this happen. So I'm absolutely thrilled to be on your show. Thank you for inviting me.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  03:50

Absolute pleasure. I've been really looking forward to talking to you. This about the third podcast we've done, and every time, I walk away with huge chunks of information that is helpful for myself, and I know it's helpful for the for the listeners, too. So you sent me through your reworked book this morning, and I started reading it. And I was reading about the cyclist thing, which I don't know that I'd actually read properly before. So you started cycling and almost gave it up before you eventually became an international, world class cyclist. Is that right?

Scott Rusnak  04:19

I had an epiphany that was caused by a ego driven activity at a young age, I was racing my bicycle, to race my bicycle, and I want business owners who are listening or watching this podcast to think about it. Are you just in business, just to run your business? Are you shooting for the right finish line, the right race that you can win, and if you're not doing that, do you have a plan coach to help you get on your way? And my epiphany happened thinking that I had the ability to win the provincial cycling championships at a very young age, and I think it got fifth or sixth place in that race. Yes, and then the esteemed national team coach came and tapped me on the shoulder and asked me when I was going to just stop racing my bike, to race my bike and really put together a plan to win the races I was most suited for. First of all, I was honoured that he even knew my name, and I was even more honoured when he took me under his wing and said, Let's build you a plan to help you get everything you want.

And the crazy part Debra, is he allowed me to get there, never made the Olympics, didn't win any world championships, but what he taught me became almost the foundational elements of what you and I now teach within EOS. That really comes back more about that, yeah, that really comes back to the fact that if you don't have a plan that has got actionable elements within it, you're not going to get what you want. And within EOS, we call that the VTO, the vision traction organiser. And in cycling days, we used to call it the map, which coach does, lovingly called my accountability plan. So there's lots of tie ins to athletes and entrepreneurs.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  06:07

Fantastic. Okay, so you took on board that advice, and you did really well in the sort of cycling industry. But tell us a little bit about how did you get to be because you've had a couple of really successful businesses. You've exited them and now you've worked with, I mean, I'm guessing it must be, I don't know how many hundreds of businesses I'm guessing, is it?

Scott Rusnak  06:26

Yeah, I think so, thousands of entrepreneurs and hundreds of businesses, for sure.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  06:31

Yeah. So how did you get into that journey?

Scott Rusnak  06:34

Interesting thing, I was introduced to the tools within the EOS toolbox and the book traction. It helped me exit those businesses and going through that journey, our coach made it quite obvious to me that, Rusnak, you are a way better coach than you are an entrepreneurial leader, whether it was CEO, Chief Revenue Officer, whatever it was, it's like you're good at that, but you're much better at motivating and putting the structure in place to help those who surround yourself get what they want from their lives. And I was about 15 years ago when I made the pivot to becoming a coach, and it's been a wonderful, wonderful journey.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  07:15

Absolutely, and I know that you, I've been following you on sort of the social media Slack channel, and seeing some of the amazing things that you're doing with your businesses, which businesses, which is just great. So the title of your book, you know, The Entrepreneurs Feel Guide. It's like designing your life before somebody else does what is what is that all about? What do you mean by that?

Scott Rusnak  07:31

I almost wish I could change the title. And, you know, the book came out five or six years ago. Amazon won't let me. I don't want to get let go of those five star reviews, but really within the book, I want people to take hold of the lessons that I had to go through and the things I've learned as a coach, so that they can really become the architect of their life. And it's not just like building a building or building a life, to say I've done it within that. I want them to think about where they live, where they're working, where they're playing, what they're doing, and is what they're doing really fulfilling their purpose. And to go to Simon Sinek terms, what is their why? Why are they doing it? And when people can get a hold of their where, what are they doing it? Why are they doing it? They seem to have this magic formula that will propel them to success. And I always say the universe conspires for those that compartmentalise those three things.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  08:33

I have to say, I completely agree, and I think it's also really important, because, you know, businesses don't always grow on a beautiful, you know that that lovely S curve that they show as the hockey stick, they don't always grow like that. But if you're really clear about why you're doing it and who you're doing it for, and what you want out of it then, and where you're doing it, then you can always tie back into that, and it can help get you get through those tough times and make decisions to move forward towards that.

Scott Rusnak  08:57

I love the fact you said the word hockey stick. Everyone thinks they're gonna have this amazing growth. And I was a hockey player growing up in Canada, and the hockey stick can actually cause a lot of harm if you're always shooting for it. These are not my teeth, but we can spin that back to business. Do you need to be bloodied on the ice achieving what you want? That's the how mentality, if we think about who we can surround ourselves to help us grow and build that business. Obviously great. Got great employees and other people on your leadership team, but who's looking over your shoulder? And you know, Debra, shout out to you. You built an amazing practice as a coach in New Zealand. And who are those people that need that third party advice and they're out there, and when they can drop their ego and become humble and realise that the coach will help you get there, maybe they don't need to leave the blood on the ice. And I think you and I both learned those lessons the hard way.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  09:55

Absolutely, and I wouldn't, I would never change it. Certainly, some lessons to be learned that's been. Good, but I'd like to better share that hopefully stop people getting quite so bloodied on the way. There you go. So you work with what we would consider a lot of high performing teams. What do you think is the difference between a high performing team and an average team?

Scott Rusnak  10:16

Purpose driven teams that live and breathe with their core values in mind. And Patrick on his book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, he says, It's not technology, it's not finance, it's not strategy. That is the ultimate competitive advantage. It's teamwork. And teamwork is that ultimate competitive advantage because it's so hard to find, and once you have it, you never want to let go. So if you can find the greatest team out there, we could talk about the Kiwis, we could talk rugby, we could talk ice hockey, we could talk about any team. But if there's too many eyes and team, you're not going to get there. It's the we that will get us there. So quick shout out to mar residential and Mark roadie, a really great client of mine that five years ago, set this target, and this target was their core target they were really shooting for and they've been able to assemble this amazing team of young leaders and some that are close to my age. They've really been able to pull it off. So it's the teamwork part, Debra for me, that's 101, and really having a purpose.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  11:23

And I think some of the businesses that we actually start to work with may have been around for a long, long time. And sadly, the team that gets you to a certain size may not be the team that gets you to the next level up. And some sometimes you have to what that regularly. You have to review that and say, Where are we really headed, and what is the right structure for us to actually achieve that? And then, do we have the right people do that?

Scott Rusnak  11:43

I love it. Every one of the quarterly, every 90 days when I meet with my clients, I'm sure you do the same. We look at the accountability chart are, do we have the right structure for this business? Yes, we do. Are the right people in the right seats within that structure, and the way we figure out if they're the right people, we've got this amazing tool called the people analyser, and I'm sure anyone listening this podcast Debra will send them the free tools, or I will send them the tools. But if we can take that people analyser that Gino Wickman created in the book traction, and line up our core values and make sure people are plus across the board, and that they get their job, they want their job, and they have the capacity, they have the ability to check up from the neck up before they come in the session. Or as a leadership team, we get to evaluate one another. So are they the right people in the right seats, and did they fit that people analyser? Then the next tool is something we call the delegate and elevate checklist and call out to Dan Sullivan, that's where we really make sure someone's running within their own unique ability, doing what they love and what they're great at.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  12:51

And I think it's important, you know, the whole way that we use this accountability chart that people analyse delegate Elevate is about looking to the future as well. So it's not what is here, right here, right now, but for the next six to 12 months, what do we need to be? How? You know, how do we be structured to actually achieve that? So you're actually moving forward all the time, as opposed to standing still.

Scott Rusnak  13:10

I love you said that, and you'd mentioned the US Slack channel. We have this private Slack channel amongst the coaches, and I like to throw the odd thing in there, and I like to shake things up, because that's what I do as entrepreneurs. The trickiest part is you achieve something. Let's say you're at the end of the year. You achieved your one year goal. You ring the bell, type, bing, bing, bing. And if you don't have a team that you're aligned with that can help you set these bigger, long range core targets. It's a moment. It's a fleeting moment of satisfaction, and that disappears the next week the next year. Why am I doing this? So we go back to that core target and say, what's the infinite game that we can play to make sure that we're always getting what we want for our business and our lives? And it's a really good time, this time of year, because we're doing a lot of the annual planning sessions. We get to challenge those clients by saying, Are you getting what you want? Are really setting the right SMART goals for your business?

Debra Chantry-Taylor  14:10

It's an absolute joy when you see people really stretching and really achieving that. I've got a team over here. Shout out the attention seeker, who their tenure target is to have 6 billion followers, and they're a digital agency. And if you think about it, when I share that with people, they say, but there aren't 6 billion people in the world who have access to the internet. So yeah, but this is 10 years out. Who knows what's going to be happening in 10 years time, and because the and their core focus is to do cool shit, so they're kind of going, we're gonna have 6 billion followers, we go do cool shit, and all of the team are 100% behind that, and I've seen them in the last 12 months just grow exponentially, but with a laser sharp focus. So in the past, the visionary would be and Stan Lee, beautiful person, you know, but he's a true visionary who has got all these crazy ideas. And so he wanted to get there, but there wasn't that laser sharp focus. Now they've got that laser. Not focus. The team is behind him. They're holding each other accountable. And I tell you what, when you when you meet with them and you see that they've knocked those things out of the park, it's just a great feeling, isn't it?

Scott Rusnak  15:08

Well, I love the fact you said, cool shit. I've got some clients going, Hey, if we hit this, why don't we rent a private jet and fly to Tahoe and run our annual and then they say, Hey, Russ neck, you are coach. Have we hit this in three years? Do you want to do the cold plunge with us and jump in this? What is it? My plus two, three Celsius water. So what's that? In Fahrenheit, 38-40, I'll do it. So call out to one of my most recent team. We landed in Lake Tahoe at Lake Tahoe, had a great session, and I'm like, Hey, Russ Mac, it's time to jump in the water. It was just such an exhilarating moment with that team. No, they didn't have 6 billion followers. That sounds pretty cool, but they hit that three year picture, and then they reset again, and they've got an incredibly audacious goal for the next time, which I don't think is good for the podcast. We can talk about it offline, but it's pretty cool, what you're trying to do.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  16:05

Absolutely, yeah, and I saw the picture of you in the plane, so that really kind of made motivated. Inspired me as well. I want to push my teams to actually really have exciting annual planning sessions and have those kind of rewards for when you achieve. Because you know, it's all about celebrating the win, celebrating the successes and then using that to propel yourself forward, isn't it?

Scott Rusnak  16:25

Yeah, when I start with teams in the journey, I ask them to envision what success looks like in one and three years. And then I also say to them in this journey, would you rather be celebrating this achievement with an area with amazing vistas and opportunities to get off site and gel as a team. And I'm not calling out any discount hotels or any other kind of conference and meeting rooms, because I've done sessions in there. But when teams can really come together in an amazing location and do something uniquely different, like Mark Roadies team. We went ski doing in the mountains behind Durango, Colorado. The team was fired up. They thought it was amazing. We had some great conversations, and then we returned to the session room. The next day, we were on fire, and we really could push through any kind of issue or anything, because we were a team. We've done some really cool things together.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  17:23

As I'd say that it's very inspiring seeing that happening. And it's also certainly, for me, I love, I love seeing it with my teams as well. So I'm really interested. And I asked this question a lot, because some people think, well, you know, EOS and designing your life and putting in frameworks and routines and all this stuff, surely that's like, hugely restrictive and what will it do to our creativity, and how can we possibly have fun with that? What do you say? If somebody asks that?

Scott Rusnak  17:47

Say great, give any carpenter a toolbox, and you can build any building you want. So with UX EOS, we've got this amazing toolbox. And I say that's 20% of the equation. The other 80% in my mind, is an infinite game. If you've got 20 tools, hang on. Let's look at it this way. If you have six strings out on guitar, you have infinite possibilities for songs. So with those 20 tools within our toolbox, you've got infinite possibilities to run any kind of business you want. And, gosh, have helped people who launch missiles into the sky, deep sea, fishing, landscaping, architecture, dental companies, home builders, you name it. The tools can fit in any entrepreneurial situation.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  18:32

I love that analogy, partly because I am a musician. I love music, but it's absolutely right. You know, it really is. It's just the tools, it's the framework, it's the model. We don't go in there and tell them what to do. We don't go in and tell them how to run their business. We actually enable them to use those six strings, 20 tools to actually create a masterful piece of music. And that piece of music can be, it could be rock, it could be classical. It could be, you know, it's a really great analogy for business. Is that actually businesses come in many, many shapes and forms, but it's just about having the right tools to create that music.

Scott Rusnak  19:02

Oh, I ask if you're creating that music. Don't involve me as the lead singer, because I can't sing a note, but I can coach you.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  19:13

That's brilliant. Okay? And so I know that your book is not just about business, right? Because we're both passionate about creating a better business so you can actually have a better life. And I have to say that I've really embraced the whole EOS live thing this year. I've planned up my entire year. I've got four weeks planned over in Europe. I've got several long weekends. We've just booked out Easter holiday for about a week and a half. And I've worked out where I'm going to travel to, what I'm going to focus on, what keynotes I'm going to be doing, I'm making sure I've got lots of time around that so I'm not quite so stressed this year, because I think last year I perhaps tried to do a little bit too much and got very stressed out with it all. And I like to teach that to the clients that I work with too it's like, business should be I mean, I love business, so don't get me wrong. I could work 24/7, doing business. I'd be really, really happy. But that's not what life is all about. So I like to talk to about, how do you actually create the best business so that you can then have time to do the other things that you're really passionate about? So your book is also about that, right? It's about creating that not just the business but the life. You were. The one that taught me to get a great big wall calendar and book out my year and make sure that I'm doing that. I've been doing it now for three years, which has been awesome. One of the tips and tools for people that you talk about in the book to help them with that?

Scott Rusnak  20:27

Let's go back about 35 minutes earlier to when you and I checked in. Like, Scott, how are you doing? I'm like, well, it's annual planning season. There's a lot coming at it. There's a lot of sessions. But the thing that I know is that in three weeks, I'll be on a plane, I'll be going to Cambodia and Vietnam with my wonderful wife, riding our bikes, having a great time. So what I do is I start with that goal in mind. Every year, I plan out my 12 months by putting in vacations and time with people in my inner circle, and I map that out. I know what I'm doing on February the sixth. I know what I'm doing on April the 11th with family. June 14, with family, September, etc. So I start there with the most important people in my life, and then I start to put in client engagements and other things. But you've got to start with your family and those you love first.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  21:22

Yeah, I know that you've got this whole concept, and I can't what it's called, but it's that number. Is it the visit? Which number is it? What's it called? Yeah, where you go that you got your close people, then the not so close people in the much wider circle, what is the number? There's a name for that number, isn't there?

Scott Rusnak  21:35

You got me all you got me sweating here, Debra, I'm all excited about it. I went to a talk when I was in the UK about 15 years ago, and the talk was put on by an anthropologist. His name is Robin Dunbar, and Robin Dunbar came up, came up this number. It's now called Dunbar's number, and I'll try to do this quickly. He said, human beings have only a certain amount of incredible connections they can have in their life. And they came up with this number called 515, 150, we have about five to six amazing connections with people that might be your wife, your kids, your mom, your mentor. That's me. I've got five that know you better than you know yourself. They know your values. They can poke you in the nose. They can help you, and you can be vulnerable enough to take their advice and really love being with them. Then that next group is the folks you're going to talk to maybe every two or three weeks. You might go on vacations with them. You love to be with them. And then the same kind of folks, you could call it two in the morning, saying, I need some help. You love them. They love you.

Then the next group, and he says it's no bigger than 150 and he proved it by looking at medieval times and going into ancient times, saying, when groups got bigger than 150 you couldn't have those meaningful connections. There's an increase of crime and other terrible activities would happen in these communities. And he's proven it through science, and there's lots of different ways to look at it. And when I got really straight on Dunbar's number, I realised I've got five, I've got 18 in the next circle, and then I've got 38 and I begged the listeners to take a little bit of a piece of paper. And funny enough, I was looking at mine again today, thinking, are the right people in there? Do those people get me? Do they want to be with me? Do they have the capacity and do they understand my core values? So it's a really big tool in my life that I use, and it allows me to really spend time with the most important people.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  23:40

I love that you use the people analyser and the core values stuff to actually do that with your friends and family too. And it's really important, because I think I've learned this too, is that just because people are your family, it doesn't mean that they necessarily share the same core values. Have the same you know want to be spending time with them may not necessarily be the best use of your time in terms of they might be quite different to you, and you could actually be rubbed up the wrong way by them. So just because you have a blood relative, just because your friend has been your friend since you were back at, you know, primary school together, does not mean they're the people that necessarily are the people you want around you in today's world. So looking at that and kind of going, who are the people that are most important to me, and being really clear about that, it just helps life be easier and, I suppose, more enjoyable.

Scott Rusnak  24:23

Well, there might be some family listening to this podcast, and I think I've told some of them that, hey, look, I don't think we're aligned. I still love you. You're a great person, but I don't think it's gonna give either one of us a lot of joy for going on annual vacations together. I'll see you at the next wedding. I'll see you time to time. And I'm just not going to design my life around those people that don't get me and I don't get them. And it's not like I'm being selfish. I call it self care. We've got to take care of ourselves first.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  24:56

And of course, that applies exactly in business as well. Sometimes you. To, you know, let people go, or you need to, or people need to move on, and it's tough because you know that they're no longer the right person for the business, but you've known them for a long, long time, but you're what I think really struck a chord would be there is that actually both of you will be happier if you actually move on. Because, yeah, it's about, it's actually about creating, yeah, we always talk about creating the best life for everybody. And if you, if you're not, if you don't think they're the right person, chances are they're not feeling right either. So they're going to go and they're going to find somewhere else where they absolutely fit in the round peg, in the round hole, and they blossom in that particular role. So it's kinder to actually let them go and do that than it is to keep them.,

Scott Rusnak  25:37

Wow. Didn't the cure or someone write a song about that kind of kindness? It's important.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  25:44

Big fan of the cue, yeah, absolutely. Okay. So we've got the so for the business, we've got the EOS tools, the EOS framework, you know, the 20 tools in the toolkit, the VTO, the people analyser. In our personal life, it's about being really clear about who we want to spend time with and how we're going to do that, and actually planning that out. I know a lot of people listening. You know, all run mid-sized businesses, somewhere between 20 and to 300 staff, and they're saying, this is easy for you, Debra and Scott, because, you know, you're an individual consultant. You might have a few people helping you, but it's truly just you in the business. So you can plan that. You can take these weeks off, on holiday. I can't do that because I've got 200 staff I have to look after. Or what do you say to that?

Scott Rusnak  26:25

I’d say you're looking at it the wrong way, much like these glasses allow me to see you better, I need them to think about a different lens they're going to put in their mind. And the mindset that they've got to occupy has got to be a growth mindset going, who's going to take care of these things? And so many business owners and shout out to Dan Sullivan again, don't think about how you're going to do it. Think about who's going to help you get there. So we set up that delegate and elevate checklist. We set up the accountability chart. Let those people take care of it, and you've got to let go of the vine. And I tell all of my clients, they've got to take at least seven days at minimum every quarter and just walk away from the business. It might not be consecutive, but you got to step away and see what happens. Let your mind clear, because when you come back, you're going to be that much more fascinated. People are going to be revived, and you're going to see how great your staff is. And your business will probably go on the nice trajectory.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  27:24

It is true, isn't it, because sometimes, when you're so busy kind of being in the business, your lens can get, let's call it a bit blurry or a bit foggy, and so you're not seeing it as clearly. And then, of course, every little thing will then irritate you, annoy you, and you can find yourself being triggered by some of the most ridiculous things, but taking that time out, allowing, why we say the glass of water with the sand, allowing the sander cell at the bottom, allow that glasses to clear, will just give you a very, very different way of looking at things.

Scott Rusnak  27:51

Debra, I'm going to go to a skiing analogy. You're cross country skiing away. You're going so hard, you're breathing really hard, and you stop. You've been going so hard that your glasses are fogged, and you got to take them off. You got to take a break to realise where you are and what's going on. So so many business owners, they're just working so hard their glasses are fogged. They're going straight ahead, and they don't take it. Take time to look around and see what's really going on. So I beg of everyone to listen to this podcast. If you don't get anything out of it, take off your glasses, take a break, put a different lens on, and see where you're at, because you're going to get so much more clarity.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  28:29

Again. Great advice there was, I'm thinking about some I actually just took three weeks off to go to Bali myself, and I have to say, I took no screens with me. I did have a phone, but I didn't really check the phone too often. It was just so wonderful to be away from all of that and actually take some time out. And that's when it got me back into, okay, what does this unit look like? What is important for me? How do I actually plan that? It's really, really helpful, but it's difficult, because sometimes you feel like you're on that hamster wheel. So if you feel like you're stuck and you can't get off that hamster wheel, where do you start.

Scott Rusnak  29:02

Well, what I'd like to do, and the my book is not the recipe to have, you know, the perfect life. But if anyone would like a free copy of the book, just reach out to me on my website. I'm just going to send them the PDF. I've got tired of Amazon, and I don't want to get rich by selling a book for $19.99 I want to help people. So there's two places to start. I'd be thrilled to help them through the book. The second place I would say to start would be to start listening to your podcast. And Debra, I'm not just saying that because I'm a guest on your cast. There's some incredible material that you offer. You give it all the way you're one of my favourite people within the EOS community. So I'd say go to you first, and if they want a free book, I'd be thrilled to give it to them as well.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  29:51

That is absolutely wonderful. Okay, so with the URL for that book, can you just give that to me please?

Scott Rusnak  30:02

Gosh.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  29:59

Is that scottrusnak.com?

Scott Rusnak  30:01

Yeah, that's trying to think of the Amazon details. If they just go to my website and send something a contact form, I'll make sure that, even if they're in New Zealand, gosh, I love New Zealand, we'll make sure we get the book in their hands. If they send an email, I'll get them the PDF version.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  30:17

Perfect. Okay, cool. I always ask you to share three top tips, and you've already given us so much value. But I really want to kind of nail this down. Part of my reason for doing this podcast is just a share those stories and have people understand you know what's going on, but also, what can I do and take away with me so I can actually make a difference from now, what would be your three top tips or tools for people listening.

Scott Rusnak  30:42

I think the first is a mindset tip. And if they can look at life as an infinite game, and this game can be designed with their version of success in mind, they're going to be that much further ahead. It's not your teacher's version, your mother's version, your dog's version, it's your version. You gotta own it. The next one is maybe a little too so philosophical for some, but I learned this from a good friend and client. His name is Greg banner, and he said, Scott, you gotta mandate to influence as a coach, and I've got a mandate to influence as a leader.

So as a leader, you've got a mandate to influence doesn't mean you need to, sorry, Mr. Putin, you don't have to be a the type of autocratic leader that says, here's what we've got to do. You got to mandate to help people, to influence others around you. And then I think the last part is something that is near and dear to my soul, is use that people analyser on yourself. Check up from the neck up each and every morning. And our core values are quite simple. I won't list them all and bore everyone together, but are you humbly confident, are you doing what you say? Are you doing the right thing? And are you for me? Are you living with purpose? So really check up from the neck up every morning before you step out of bed. And I think if you do that and have a little bit of gratitude for where you've landed, it's going to be a heck of a lot better day.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  32:17

That's great. Okay, so the mindset, so make sure that you're looking at life as an infinite game, and it's your infinite your infinite game. Own it. You know, what do you want? Not does everybody else want? You have got that mandate to influence as a leader, use it to actually help your people and lead. And then use that people analyse it on yourself to check up from the neck up every morning, whilst I actually do a gratitude journal every morning. And I'm going to add that to my little list of things that I might do, as well as check in and make in and make sure I'm living the way that I want to be living. I love it. Scott pleasure, as always, I can't wait to see you in person soon, but in the meantime, thank you so much for taking the time. I know you're busy. I really, really appreciate it. I've given amazing trip in Vietnam and Cambodia, and I look forward to hearing all about it when we get back.

Scott Rusnak  33:02

Debra it's always an honour. And you are definitely one of my favourite coaches in this community. And if you're listening to this and you haven't spoken with Debra, I urge you to have a conversation with her.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  33:14

That is really very kind. I really appreciate that. Thank you.

Scott Rusnak  33:17

You're welcome.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  33:18

Thanks, Scott.