Mental Health and Entrepreneurship: Chris Steer’s Journey to Chief Energy Officer and Leadership Coach

Speaker 2

00:00

 Hey everyone. This is Jamie. I loved this episode and I know you will too. I chatted with Chris steer of steer, LLC, Chris, and I have known each other for a long time. We actually played lacrosse together at Johns Hopkins. Many years ago, I was on the team. He was a captain on the team, but he has an executive and Leadership coaching business. He's an attorney, he has grown so much, Through different types of adversity that he's been through personally and types of adversity that he's dealt with in his professional career, working with others adversity, meaning CEOs, Founders entrepreneurs, Business Leaders. And that's really his focus is helping those, those leaders be better, the best versions of themselves, possible, fantastic fascinating discussion. I really enjoyed it. He talks about how he brings science art and philosophy. So all three of those parts to the approach that he I guess employees or deploys when dealing with the his programs. And, so I mean, he's all about helping people, he's all about making you a better leader, making your business run in a better fashion. He's all about people and pouring into The people that really are the foundation of any organization. So they also work with nonprofits as well. And again, he's got a ton of entrepreneurial business leadership and law background and experience as well. So fantastic conversation, he drops a ton of knowledge. She's very vulnerable on this about. We talk about mental health, quite a bit, which is obviously a very serious topic. And I know a lot of leaders and entrepreneurs deal with mental health struggles and It's becoming more and more relevant issue. Unfortunately, in today's world. So we dive into that quite a bit. And so This truly was one of my favorite episodes. I know you're going to love it. Investors. Have you ever experienced challenging communication or the headache of tracking taxes and insurance meet by Phi a Loan Servicing Company founded by investors for investors with an expert team and best-in-class vendors by Phi will partner with you to service your loan from start to exit, visit by Phi, L s.com to see how you can get started today. That's bi fil s.com Mom.

Speaker 1

02:46

 Welcome to the form adversity to abundance podcast. Are you an entrepreneur or aspiring entrepreneur? Then this show is for you. Each week, we bring you in Paxil stories of real people who have overcome painful human adversity, to create a life of abundance. You are not alone in your struggle, join us and you will experience the power of true stories and Gain. Tactical Knowledge from Founders who have turned poverty into prosperity and weakness into wealth. This podcast will encourage you through your health relationship and financial challenges, so you can become the hero in your quest for freedom. Take ownership of the life, you are destined to live turn your adversity into abundance.

Speaker 2

03:38

 Welcome everybody, to another episode of the form adversity, to abundance podcast. I am your host Jamie Bateman. And I am thrilled today to have with us. Chris steer, the founder of steer, LLC Chris, how are you doing today? I am great. Jamie, it's good to do with you, my friend. Well, I appreciate that, and thanks for joining us. I know you have your busy guy, and so we do appreciate your time and for a little bit of context, Chris and I go back a long way, actually known as each other for many years, you know, we, I guess met in college back, right? At Johns Hopkins around the same lacrosse team and funny enough, I found a lacrosse ball in my son's room the other day that had Terry Reardon Brian Piccola and Dave Mar had signed this lacrosse ball. I am not sure how we still have that even funny. Jamie wastefully saw those guys by the way, at the G, really remember the smoker there were there. Yeah. First time I would gone and probably a decade or more and saw those guys. But anyway, that's it. So yeah, we can chat offline. Obviously, The Listener doesn't need to hear us reminisce. But, you know, yeah. But those were some good times. That was a fantastic lacrosse team. We were both a part of it. Think you're, you were a senior when I was a freshman. So we all looked up to you guys. And so, anyway, Chris, what do you do today? What's your business do? Give us some context? Why should we listen to you? Yeah, I am so grateful Jamie to be able to do. I am reminded of a Picasso quote, Picasso said, at least it's attributed to him. Said, the meaning of life is to find your purpose, right? Is to find your gift rather, and the purpose of life is to give it away. So the meaning of life to find your, to find your gift, the purpose of life, to give it away. And I feel like I am in that zone right now where I help. Leaders build better organizations. And these are typically small to Mid market for profit and nonprofit organizations that they partner with me to build better leaders, build better managers, build better strategies build better, approaches to optimizing their business. It's fantastic. So, and we will certainly later dive in a little bit more on your business. But what does kind of you already touched on it? But, what is your typical client? Look like, Like yeah, typical client is a usually founder lead. If it's a for-profit company, it's still probably founder lead with aura or a multi-generational family business. Jamie, so the typical size of a for-profit client is going to be, you know, quarter of a billion dollars or fewer. That will be the hide that usually the high-water, mark in terms of Revenue. But more importantly, it's Led by people who want to be better who want to ensure that they are not being wed to their existing paradigms or biases about how they lead and run their business. And in, not probably all we also work with nonprofits as well. And they are, they are of varying sizes and across a lot of different Industries got it. So it's not so much really about what the business does per se. It's more about it. Sounds to me like it's more about the humans, the people inside the business and the mindset of those leaders in those people, man. Well, said that's a fair. Definitely a fair characterization. Gotcha. So awesomely, like I said, we will dive into that more in a bit, but let us jump back to your backstory a little bit. I know you and I spoke briefly before we hit record about a couple of different types of adversity that you have been through and, you know, the podcast from adversity, to abundance. We're not here to You know, beat anybody up or tear anyone down the point is to lift each other up and through your story. Chris, we can encourage the listener out there and when they're going through a hard time or when they're going to be going through a hard time in the future. As far as relationship Financial, you know, business related, type, health-related struggles, and that type thing and obviously this ties into your, I think in your case, your business and your family life are all kind of interconnected. So, let us jump back. Where do you want to start? You know. It's I actually thought of one more instance Jamie which you and I share in common, I will start there but it's going to be a little bit about, you know, the emotional health and mental health. Some, some professional adversity to go along with some of those emotional mental, physical health pieces to so health and professional. But there's one More that I wanted to speak to which really you know, our origin story of our relationship on the on a Division One lacrosse team. It was the first substantive adversity that I had dealt with in my life. Other than the loss of a grandparent was coming into a, what I had perceived in my very narrow view of the world to be my number one goal in life, which was to play at Hopkins. A storied, a storied program and coming into that program, thinking that I would play right away and this was going to be great. Now would be a four-time All-American and this is going to be awesome and the incredible dichotomy of my expectation and what I dealt with for the first, you know, couple of years within that and I can relate and Jamie, you. And I like that is a, that is a very, very much a high level of emotional labor that I was not prepared for it. Did not have good coping strategies was, you know, it just it was a real shock and while it may seem to some listeners that's a very different kind of adversity. It's adversity, nonetheless from and a very in a very tough lesson for someone who had been building to this point their entire life. This is what I wanted to do. Yeah, I have talked to previously about when I got out of college after I had transferred from Hopkins but you know once we choked in the quarterfinals at Gettysburg my senior year and the point is season's over careers over graduate. Boom. My whole identity is kind of gone really you know, so I think a lot of people cannot relate to that because they don't understand what kind of what we put into that. To the sport and to just the amount of work and, you know, commitment we had. But yeah, absolutely my first couple of years at Hopkins, my year and a half that I was there did not go so well from a La Crosse standpoint. So that can be like you said, it's you have built everything up to that point. I mean, Hopkins is like you said, very storied. I mean, it's, it's, I mean, it's the best of the best as far as you know, the best. Yeah. So talk to us a little bit more about that. Like so, it sounds like and I obviously know. Little bit, but it sounds like you're your college career. Didn't at least start out the way you anticipated. Is that fair to say it is very fair to say? And while I am, as I reflect, I am proud of some of the resilience and the work ethic required to get my self in a better position, over my four year career there Jamie. If I had, if I had access to a podcast like this or a thing, / like you at that time, I would have been so much better sir. My, my mental and emotional health would have been a lot better. I wouldn't that would have been able to deal with the opportunity more than I did and so, you know it I had some intermittent playing time my first couple of years and that was a really hard hit to my ego. And that's when I first really learned about true disappointment, You know, a lot of people relate to these Olympic stories, these people who have trained their entire lives for one moment, and then they fall, or they get injured right? It's really no different from what you and I did in preparing to play at Hopkins, right? And so, that was a crushing blow that I didn't expect and those are the blows that land the heaviest. And so working through that was a very torturous time and in Retrospect you see the growth that comes from that. So, but let me tell you, brother like that was hard, not easy to see it at the time. So I mean, I like I said, you were there for the first year. I was at Hopkins and you were a very positive role model positive influence. So I am curious from, you know, from your freshman year to your senior year. Well, if you can remember call, how did your mindset change? How did you, how did your approach change? Yes, and gosh, if Just to think about how much, how much better I would have been to myself, then knowing what I know now. But at that time it was my only default. Operation or default mode Jamie was to outwork and use it as fuel. And, so I felt this slight from the coaching staff and I use that as fuel. So you know, outwork everybody and I think my Mantra became Jamie. Don't give the staff a choice. Hmm, don't give him a choice, right? Yeah. And so that's What I had to do, and what I, and I have been able to pass this along to my kids and people and young athletes that I have coached over the last 30 years. But it is, it is a heavy burden. To be thrust into a position where you're trying to live your life long, dream, and that dream is being controlled outside of your Realms or and, and it's not a fair game. And so, my standard had to be here and others had to be here. And so, that's a different kind of Labor, Beyond trying to outwork everybody and outperform, everybody. And so, having to do that, It was an incredible rigor that I was not planning on, to toughen, to steal my resolve and my mindset. So I think that's what essentially worked for me at that. Yeah. And for the listeners unfamiliar again, Hopkins and your senior year, I mean the team was number one in the country. This we're not talking about a joke of a, of a team here. This is one of the best teams its ever been assembled in. In division one and so, okay. So then obviously there's a lot more we could unpack, you know, with that. But how did you kind of after you? Graduated what occurred and, you know, from that point on? Yeah, so I think the Capstone to that part of the adversity was and this is things that we still, you know, ruminate on even to this day Jamie, you know we you know once you have committed so much time to be Athlete like that, that stays with you forever. But I ended up being as, you know, because we were teammates, I was a captain my senior year and that is not the design that I had. Like I wanted to be an All-American. The captaincy part was. Yeah, didn't think about that. Sure in retrospect. I am more proud of that because guess who voted for that you guys straight like that's my teammates, right? Yeah, so it that has been an Edible piece, and it's been a driver. And you and I both have taken our athletic experiences and, and, and pulled those through into our professional Realms. And that's, that's a really good point. I can relate to so much that you just said. But, yeah, looking back being a, I mean, being a captain is really more about leadership and serving and it's really less about you, right? And whereas being an All-American is awesome, but you know, Me that it's all about, it's all about the Accolade in the individual, so it's different. Yeah, I think I agree that the leadership role place has such a bigger Longer lasting impact. And yeah, I have taken so many lessons from team sports and applying that in leadership positions. And it's so much to that is, is so valuable in real life from team sports for sure. So no, I mean like I said, you were of great role model and very positive influence and clearly, you know, You must have worked pretty hard over those four years. I mean just to get where you did by your senior year so. So walk us through kind of after Hopkins, then sure. So I was my next step, in my professional career was in financial services which I was in for about a year or so some people will. Remember these terms that listen, I went and got my Series 7 63 and 65 which is just means, I am able to be a GE the stockbroker and to sell insurance Etc in a Baltimore firm called Legg. Mason worked for some banks for about there about a year or so Jamie. And then I moved to Northern Virginia to work on work, for an association on Capitol Hill, which was a great experience, which really drove my interest in, which was my undergraduate interest as well, which was going to law school, which I did graduate from University of Maryland, school of law through some great relationships through. Hopkins work for a firm with some Hopkins, graduates for about, you know, 8 to 10 years. And that was an amazing Learning Journey. And I think Jamie part of what, you know, what do I value so much? About the content that you're putting out, there is that So much of adversity is where the growth happens and where the learning happens and I just feel like if I look back on life, there's these different sections of learning, right? Sure the adversity and even when there were not the adversity wasn't present, it's just chunked up into learning. So, practice law. And then found myself advising businesses and then that appealed to me more being a part of the business aspect appealed to me more than the advisory aspect from a legal perspective, so I became I got involved in some entrepreneurial efforts and some organizations which was amazing. And, so I either started or partnered in several startup companies for several years and then it continued to do so. But then I turn my perspective and some of the things that I have accumulated as a lawyer and an entrepreneur and an operator into Consulting practices because I love to coach and help other leaders. And so that's sort of the that's that brings you to sort of Tudor bring the date. You know, I love that and it's I mean, it's again we could go down so many different rabbit holes and There's a lot there and it's a, you know, I love that you're you take essentially said that there're Seasons or, you know, seasons in life and whether it's from a personal or professional perspective, but just a period where you spent, eight or ten years at this Law, Firm learned a ton there, and then kind of transition more to the business side of things. So what did that? Okay, so and I know there's a ton you glossed right over but how did you really come to? That conclusion that it's that you love just helping the entrepreneur. Yeah, I think a came where I saw, the saw the freedom of the entrepreneur. Hmm. I believe me that we all know you and I know this full well Jamie that yes there's freedom and yes, there's all taunted me. There's a lot of other comes with it. Well that comes with stress and a lot of work. Sure, yeah. Now that's and that's, you know, we try to keep it real on this show. It's not all just, you know, I just started a business and then I sold it for 5 million dollars and I sit on the beat. Exactly. Yeah. So, and I went on, I will say, man, it's like I didn't want to be, you know, at that point I was, you know, the legal practice, legal profession is driven by the billable hour. And, so I just felt more of this symbiotic relationship with entrepreneurs. And so that's what I got pulled into but you know, that's not when the adversity stops right to the adversity. Adversity comes in a little bit of the micro version when you go through these professional transitions, sure, but they can also become more acute When you have challenging Partnerships and challenging times in your business, which caused this great deal of stress and anxiety. And I certainly, I certainly had those. And what in particular, when I had to leave a partnership abruptly because the dynamic was just not healthy. Yeah, yeah. And I am sure there's some you can't talk about or won't, you know, don't want to dive into their butt. How did you let us back up for a second? So how did you form that partnership? Because, you know what, it would speak to the person who's out there that may be looking for a partnership in business. Not a deal partner, but a, but an actual Business Partnership, right? How did you approach that partnership and what would you have done differently? You know, came back. That's a great question. So I just keep getting wiser with age but again, I am so much better. I think I am somewhat better. Pickings. Partners. But no I think at the end of the day I was at that earlier stage in my entrepreneurial career, I was probably overvaluing the expedience of the opportunity in front of me. Hmm versus valuing the relationship and how we would be able to serve one another And that became more acute as we added Partners. But, you know, I, it's you have got to be able to control have power over yourself, right? And, and I felt that there were moments where I was doing too much emotional labor and not controlling. You know what's the old quote, the most powerful man in the world is the man who has power over himself, and I was struggling with that. Given some of the Dynamics of the business and the personalities involved. So I think yeah, I came out of that and it was a very highly stressful time a lot of emotional labor and I didn't that took a toll personally and on your family or emotionally physically not healthy. And you know, you need to recover from that. Yeah, there's a, there's a recovery time. There's a, you need to be aware. And, and I think for all the entrepreneurs that are part of your listenership, it's really arming yourself with really good tools and strategies and, and wisdom to be able to lean on in those moments. And again, I think back to the two examples I have given so far. Jamie sure I was ill-equipped You know, to, to handle it better, right? Right. And it's, you know, it's really it's not fair in some sense to look back and you know with the tools you have now and judge your old self because you know we're right. Hopefully we are growing and learning as we progress through this thing called we call life, right? So what and just before we move on from that, what may be, what type of business or how long were you in that business? It wasn't just for it was a how can I describe it effectively? It was a contract negotiation platform. Okay. And it we pivoted the business over five years into Healthcare purchasing Consulting, okay? And that was the, that was the industry. So you had to know a lot about He had to know a lot about negotiation. You had to know a lot about health care. So it was hard to know, it's a lot to know, and I was there for about five years. Gotcha. Okay. Yeah. So and just was it clear pretty early on that this maybe wasn't the right move or was it more of a gradual thing that incremental? Yeah. Yeah got it and then so then you moved on and I know that I am sure that wasn't an easy. Nothing to do. But now separated from that partnership and moved on. And then, what did things look like for you after that? Yeah, I think part of what, one of the things that I would like to operate. And I like to consult, with all of my clients about operating from a position of strength, and when I left that up, when I left that partnership in my haste, to be out of the environment, I wasn't operating from a position of strength, mmm. In terms of giving myself bandwidth, and intentional discernment about what to do next. That's where that. I mean that's not something I advocate yeah, right. No, but sounds like in hindsight again we're picking you apart and it's easy you know. Yeah to play Monday Morning Quarterback here but sounds like getting into that partnership and getting out of it. Maybe you were impatient a little bit or I don't know rush things. And on some level and I know I have made a ton of mistakes in that regard as far as just getting impatient but so as far as exiting the partnership could you have done it more slowly or differently or how would you have done that? I definitely could have done it in a more. Thoughtful, way God, and for sure, and it would have reduced some of my anxiety. Some of the anxiety of my family. I am sure. As I, you know, you can shelter it. You can compartmentalize all you want but something seep through so-and-so you, I would have done that in a more thoughtful and less emotional way. Yeah, got it for sure. And that experience has served me extraordinarily well, you know, since then, but I do think it was a, you know, one thing that we need to talk about more and I know you do which I am grateful for is that you have really got to talk about the mental health of the entrepreneur after absolutely. No, I am glad. I am glad you said that. I know there's so much to unpack and just to be a little bit vulnerable here, we're personally going through Um, things at home with mental health, very, very close to home, which is so, I have been, I have been, this is top of mind for me. Yeah, and I recently was listened to a podcast about mental health and entrepreneurs, actually, and pretty fascinating that the I think it sounds like data wise. There's a much higher rate of mental health issues, among entrepreneurs as compared to kind of, you know, the average citizen if you will. And that's not to say there's not a Problem across the board, right? But generally speaking there's a lot of Mental Health Challenge within the Entrepreneur Space. So I know, you know, a ton about this and I, you know, just from you from your professional. Yeah, studies. And things like that. So yeah, speak to us about that. Yeah, it's it ends. Here's what's interesting. Men like 10 years ago, there's no way. I would be spending the amount of time that I go working with. CEOs of companies of all sizes, but especially the early stage in the small to Mid Market, entrepreneur owner, how much time we talked about this, right? Because the things, some of the things that drive entrepreneurs to be successful, are the same things that you have to be mindful of for your own mental health. Yeah, sure, this, this intrinsic motivation. This drive this, this ethic this, this, this cycling on certain things. Things this hyper focus at times. It all it has to be measured or else. We lose our power, right? We lose our discernment. We lose the power, the ability to choose our judgments of events, and maybe the willingness to take risks, or just kind of operate outside of the traditional, you know, 925 I had just very briefly. I had a, we had a guest, Justin Ross Lee show for, he talked about when he was working for the NHL. The guys, this is An entrepreneur related thing. But athletes in general, professional athletes, hockey players. I mean, they're willing to go out there and throw their bodies around. I mean, it takes all kinds of risk there and then the the they were prescribed all this medication so that you're setting them up for failure because they're already kind of predisposed genetically. I would say to ya, taking more of a risk than maybe the person who's not playing hockey, then you're giving them drugs. And so anyway, it just kind of I think the entrepreneur is, is maybe a loop even more vulnerable in some sense to no question just from a, from a biological physiological standpoint but also just the pressure that you're speaking about. And just because I have experienced that myself, as far as it's really hard to compartmentalize and just, you know, shut it off exactly here, especially if you're working from home. But so you have dealt with that, you know, not to get too. Too personal. But have you dealt with that personally or like? Oh yeah absolutely. Oh absolutely. And it is Part of what drives that is. I think a few things and of more recent vintage, there's been this has been exacerbated by the digital age, right by the overwhelm of information, by our capacity, to absorb it and entrepreneurs, we always want to. We are like, you see this? Like this is a registered trademark, that's permanent beta, right? We're always learning, never, Done. Always learning ever done. So when there's more information, guess what I want to do, Jamie consume it, consume it right? So, you know, and so do you. There's these, there's these, we have got to build some boundaries man, and I wasn't doing a great job that about, you know, a ten years ago. And it affected me man, it really did. And it allows me to be a better, a better consultant advisor. Coach. It just, it's so much better because I know, How that can manifest and it's not, it's not healthy, it's not healthy. Yeah, I was actually just mentioning to a friend last night that I have gotten into this mode, where even if I am working out, I am I have got a, I can't listen to music. I have got to listen to a podcast, you know, because I have got to learn, you know, it's like, right. Bill out, man. Thank you. What are you doing? Yeah, yeah. It's a good thing. So what have you, you know, maybe tactically speaking yet, if you put? In place to put boundaries on your own professional life so that you can maintain a more healthy and positive outlook on things, thank you for that question because I don't know if there's a more important question. If you're an entrepreneur, if you are an organizational leader, I don't know that. There's a better question than that Jamie to be answering authentically at this point in time, right? Like it's interesting, I have developed over time. This philosophy that there's really well rubric really which is there's really an art, a science and the philosophy to Leading, right? And you if you're not dealing with the philosophy and the science, I am worried about you, right? And so what do I mean by that? Well, you would reference this already my friend but when talking about the science part of this and I have been doing some research with some Johns Hopkins, you know, Psychiatry department on this which is mindset. Hmm. Right? And changing our neural Pathways choosing better habits, right. Our ability to actually choose our judgments of events that are happening to us, right? And there is, it's pretty exciting research and understanding because there is power in that there is control that we can exert over that are Answers, our judgments are up to us. The world doesn't care, right? The events are just going to keep coming. They're neither good nor bad. It's our judgments of those events. So, that's the science part, right? And then, then, the philosophy part though, man is permanent beta, which is I don't want to ever fall prey, like I did for most of my life until about, you know, six ten years ago of being so wed to a particular Paradigm or a way of thinking, right? I am so much better by testing my biases, by testing my thinking, and by making sure that I really monitor, the kind of positive relational energy that I am bringing to my organization, to my clients to my family, to my friendships. Like Jamie, we couldn't be talking about this 10 years ago. No one would want to carry Are about this right now. We don't want what's left and it's a certainly so 20 years ago but even 10, even sure. Yeah, I agree. Okay. So you know, That's that sounds good. And I 100% agree with you. But what does that look like for you personally on a day-to-day basis? How do you, how do you implement it that in your life? Yeah. See your you have done this once or twice having a. I am not letting you off the hook, you have done this once or twice, a couple things that I would bring to light, that I am so zealous about sharing with people. Number one, if I need to reset my central nervous system recalibrated I do box breathing. Nice, that's his this. This absolute breathing breath, work this year. So, I have got my little thing right here, I am using. But I mean, it's incredible. So, what is that for? The listener? Doesn't know what box breathing? Sure, sure. And I tell you what, it almost feels a little bit like magic. It's to me. It is the craziest thing that it resets my central nervous system so quickly box. Breathing is. It's, it's, it's take, it's taken from the idea of building the Box. So you inhale, slowly through your nose, filling your chest and diaphragm up, you know, whatever that count is. It feels comfortable for me, it's usually six to seven seconds of inhaling and then you hold for six to seven seconds. Then you exhale slowly for 6-7 seconds and then you hold again for 6-7 seconds, just describing it, your comes out. Well, it's funny because you're absolutely right. Right. Like if you and I had been talking about this at Hopkins, we would have been laughed off the team. I mean, this is ridiculous right? I mean, this is crazy, woowoo stuff I will be and again, I am not going to hijack the conversation but I had a little incident myself in late December where I kind of had a panic attack and haven't shared this on the podcast before. But yeah, super scary and one somebody who works with me, sent me All for breathing and I started learning more about this, and I am by far not an expert whatsoever but I thought this might be something. I might try a couple times and then not given any Credence i-i am I doing this every morning. It's a version of either box breathing or some other kind of breathwork mean this morning. I was outside on the deck doing my breath work and it's like, I just feel so much better after it. I mean, it's I don't understand that, man. Yeah, yeah, isn't it? Incredible? Jamie. It's incredible. It's awesome. And you need 5 or 10 minutes. I mean, you don't need a lot of exactly. It's so accessible, it's so accessible. The only other thing that I found for me that has even a small portion of that effect is journaling. So making sure that I am in touch with my subconscious by writing things down. Like I will with regularity you know ensure that I am writing things down. Which helps me. It's cathartic I suppose for me. Yeah. But the only other thing I wanted to say that I that's really accessible. Like, like the breathe, the breath work. Yeah. Am I have been doing a lot of reading on stoicism? Okay, yeah, I noticed that in your on your website as well. So talk. How does that work into your personal and professional life? It is. I have described it as an operating manual for the Later. Because even though these are, you know, ancient stoicism is it's not lowercase s its capital S, right? So it is, I was turned on to a wonderful medium for this philosophy by a gentleman, by the name of Ryan holiday. And yeah, part of my routine, which you asked about every morning. Every single morning, I read a passage from the daily stoic. And I listen to the Daily. Daily stoic podcast, they're very short, they're typically 10 minutes or less and it is incredibly accessible guidance on focusing on the essential, right? That's really good. That it, I mean, Jamie like it is I have shared this with other leaders and entrepreneurs and CEOs. They find a tremendous amount of value in it as a continuous sort of objective bystander that helps you focus on essential You let your response. You know, just really choose your judgments and opinions of things as opposed to being taken for a ride and being out of power. That's really good. Just yeah, being intentional about it. It's really good. Yeah. I have read a couple of (Ryan), Ryan holidays, books, and ego is the enemy. And the obstacle is the way I think are the two different. The 22 Awesome books. Yeah, for sure. So now I do have some rapid fire questions. We're To get to. But have we kind of touched on? Have we checked? I know there's other adversity, you have dealt with. But we have hit the main ones, right? Yeah. I think it's like this. It's like this expectation adversity. There's this health and wellness adversity. Yeah. And then there's this professional adversity in the gravity that comes with that as we have more responsibility and ownership but you know, yeah it's and the more we have wonderful. Forum to discuss this like this podcast but the better served we are as Leaders, I love it. So you mentioned before I get to my questions, here you mentioned you work with entrepreneurs CEOs leaders and often times on Mental Health, type issues, what other problems besides, you know, besides that are specific to their organization. But what other kind of themes or patterns, do you see arise among the entrepreneur that your Constantly addressing well? This will probably be affirming for many of your listeners, right? Here's how hear the things that I hear about the most that we discussed the most these days, right? Which is what is our priority? What is our, how do we can be better at relentlessly prioritizing number two. How can I retain my best people? Let us get might even be number one, right? Yeah. And then the third is this care Clarity connection? How can I in this age of distributed Workforce and hybrid, you know, how can I stay connected? How can I be as clear as I possibly can, in terms of our mission, in terms of our strategic priorities, in terms of off of rolls, right? And then how can I make sure that my team feels care for I love it. As there is a critical. This is really good. All right. So rapid-fire questions. You ready? Let us go, baby. Let us do this. What's one thing that people misunderstand about you, Chris? I think Dame, they may misunderstand some of my energy for that. There's a, there's an incredible depth to it, it comes from care, it doesn't come from, You know, a place of you know frivolity. Gotcha. Okay. No, that's good. That makes sense. What's one of your biggest failures? Regrets? You know just if you could go back and have a redo on something, what would that be? I think was one of my greatest regrets is not being more attuned, to my emotional. Quotient earlier in my life because it would have, I would have been better in certain relationships. Great answer. If you could have coffee with any historical figure, who would it be? Wow. Dude, that is such a good one. Holy cow. So I hear this will be an insight into my soul right now on my coffee table, I have got meditations by Marcus Aurelius Dao, de Jing bilap Zoo, And the Bible so nice. You know that would be an amazing. Yeah that's you have more than one question there. That'd be a yes fascinating conversation if you were given ten million dollars tomorrow just not for your business or any particular purpose. Just somebody write you a check. What would you do with it? So, one of the first things that I would do is I am the board chair for an organization called next. One up, which serves young men, ages 15 to 25 in Baltimore City and it is a group that I feel deeply and care for deeply. And these are my heroes. These young men that are in this, that are in this next one up program or my heroes. So I would use some of that money to ensure that we had a very, very long Runway to continue to make More impact in the city of Baltimore, awesome. Really. Cool back to the your profession, your industry. What's one challenge that you're facing in your own business right now scale? Say Standalone scale of me. Okay so you want to reproduce yourself or exactly it's a really good. I mean Jamie it's a really good entrepreneurial question which is it? We can't scale the founder. We have to scale the founders mentality. Yeah, so how do we do that? And, so I have got a good plan but it's just one of those things that you always think about, which is its high performer syndrome, we want to do it all. And that sir, not, that's not doable and it's not healthy. You have a business coach? Okay, I know. A couple, what's in your opinion, one, one of the most important personality traits that is required to be successful in your industry. Humility, humility. That's really good. Yep, it was AIT. Was a it was a leadership killer Don't let my wife listen to this one. All right. So Let us see if you could try one other. I know you have had a couple of different kind of career title parts to your path if you will or different career options, you have tried what if you kind of tried, something totally out of the blue or something. If you had to try a different occupation and completely different from what you're doing now, what would that be? You know, Jamie, it's probably, I am probably taking a little bit. I am probably cheating a little bit in this answer, but you will appreciate this more than anybody is. It's an adjacent opportunity. I would be a full time college coach. Mmm, I love it. Yeah, awesome. Yeah. Yeah, I did that. Did it for one year Goucher and unfortunately I had to pay the bills. So yeah, right now. How about financial abundance, specifically? I mean we have talked about a lot of the adversity that you have dealt with. Let us talk about kind of abundance that you have reached and you can kind of frame that in the financial Look, what does that look like? What is financial abundance? Look like in your life and what does that mean to you? Yeah a wise person told me 25 years ago to always have margin and your life right? And this is margin in time, margin and money margin in spirituality margin and relationship. And so, abundance, financially is margin and what I mean by that is that I am not, I am not cycling on it, I am not thinking about it. I have got margin right? I have got margin to experience. I have got margin that. I am not wondering if I can do that or not. Mmm, really good. Yeah, it's awesome. What is a? We have talked about a few books but what's another book that you could recommend to my listener out there? I would recommend. Let us see. Let me give you two because a lot of your listeners are likely entrepreneurs. Correct. Correct. So a great entrepreneurial book, a shoe dog. Filmed FM Light. Yeah. That's actually just finished and it's awesome. Not awesome. I am not. Might and my sister went to the University of Oregon, and she was on the first lacrosse team. They she was the Freshman Class went all the way through together. Oh, that's awesome. So yeah, there's though the organ connection there. Well, but yeah. Fantastic book. Awesome story. It's white. And then I would say, another great one is that I have wanted to give it that. I am trying to think of one, that's really, because I have like my over hero in my office. I have got like my greatest hits of all the books that I love the most, but that was a really good one for your audience. And then another one would be I would say I did like 0, to 1 by Peter. Teal, gotcha? 02 one's really interesting. Super, super interesting. And I do think it's interesting when you have people who have engaged with a ton of entrepreneurs, right? Like Peter teal has or like Marc Andreessen hazards. Like the, I am going to listen to those guys, because sure they have seen a lot that's true. What has worked. And what has not worked in terms of Entrepreneurial leadership, right? Or sure. Absolutely. As we wrap up here Chris. What's talk a little bit more about your business? What that looks like who you're trying to serve. You know, I know you touched on it earlier at the beginning but what's it looks like what's you know what are the next few years looking like for steer LLC. Thank you, buddy. I appreciate that. And I think that it is, it is, we are incredibly fortunate to be able to work with members of our tribe and that's who I feel a lot of your Sinners probably are too. Jamie. It's that these are leaders or owners entrepreneurs of organizations that are, that are trying to build better, right? And in order to do that, we have a game plan for modern leadership because modern leadership is very different from leadership was even 10 20 years ago. And so we'd like to really partner with leadership in terms of their the art which is really peopled process planning but also the science and the philosophy of what it means to have an optimized organization, but more importantly effective leadership. So we just want to, we want to create value brother, that's what we want to do. We want to create value and have a positive impact? Well you're definitely somebody, it's creating value so drill, down a little bit though before we head out. What does that look like in our you have executive and Leadership coaching you manager development programs Rising leader program, strategic planning? What's it? Look like if Comes to you and says, hey Chris. I want to do better as a leader here. Yeah, yeah, no great. Great question. It's so on the one end of the Continuum, you have got some of the executive and management development, we always work on a retainer basis. So we have a, which I always love to do as an operator and entrepreneur because I know that there's a value exchange. You have got to keep adding value and I will keep giving you consideration in terms of remuneration, that really works because it holds Us accountable. If we're six months into the relationship and the value is has been met, or it's not meeting expectation, that's really clean. So we operate in that way and then in more substantively organizational development work, I would call it. That's also retainer, but there's a very defined, there's always a defined objectives and timeline to execute against what the objective is. And so If in the instance of strategic planning while that may feel very project oriented at first, it's once the Strategic plan is built and constructed. Now we have to execute against it and measure it and learn. So what how do we want that engagement to go and how long do we think that should be? And so it's a very, it's a very simple retainer model and it's we have someone unbelievable. A portfolio of clients just so grateful. It's an iron sharpens iron situation much like this conversation today. I love it. So I know you're in the kind of outside of Baltimore area in Maryland. Do you serve clients across the country? Yes now typically the HQ of those organizations really tends to fall between New York and Richmond. Hmm but these are often organizations that are National in scope and scale. Fantastic. So Christie R, where can our listeners find you online? I will thank you, buddy. So, find us at www.stanford.edu si.com. Also, you can find my personal and my company page on LinkedIn is always a great place to go, upload some, some good content through that vehicle, as well. Yeah, you put out some good, good videos and different things I have seen. It's always a very positive, uplifting and informative. Content. So I definitely recommend the listener. Check that out. So awesome. Chris is there anything? We have not covered that. You'd like to know, man. I am just grateful for you. Jamie, I am so grateful that we're still connected after all these years and much like you did 25 plus years ago, still creating value for the world man. Thank you. Thank you, Chris. I appreciate that. Thanks for spending your time with us. You gotta and to The Listener out there. Thank you so much for spending your most valuable resource with us, which is your time. Thanks everyone. Take care.

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