[00:00:00] Kevin Stafford: Hello everyone. And welcome to another episode of the conversations with coaches podcast. I’m your host, Kevin. And I, once again, have the pleasure of chatting with Otis McGregor. If you are a regular listener of this podcast, you no doubt remember Otis from our last conversation. One of our favorites amongst many favorites.
I have so I have all of my children are my favorite, all of my podcast children are my favorites, so to speak, but Otis was truly a standout. And let me reintroduce you to him in case you need a little refresher. Otis’s passion. Simply lies in helping people succeed. He’s used this passion as fuel through years and army special search, special operations and coaching rugby, which we talked about last time a little bit, it now drives him to create better leaders.
And for one simple reason, he believes that better leaders create better organizations, better organizations, create better communities. And better communities will create a better world. I love that sentence. It really, it sums up your mission, your passion, your purpose, everything in between. It sums up a lot of why I love coaches so much and good coaches, good coaching so much.
It’s at the heart of everything we do. Otis. Thank you so much for, for shaving off a little bit of time here on, as we’re recording this, it’s Halloween. As you’re listening to this, it’s probably closer to Thanksgiving, but we’re in that time of year. So Otis, thank you for sharing some time with me today.
Hey, great to be here,
[00:01:15] Otis McGregor: Kevin. And thanks for you know, opening the door again. I appreciate that.
[00:01:19] Kevin Stafford: It’s, you know, you know, it’s, it’s easy to say, Oh, it’s my pleasure. It is my pleasure. I’ve actually been looking forward to this chat for, for a few days now as I was like prepping for, prepping for podcast recordings.
I’m like, oh, I get to chat with Otis again. I’m like, yes, this is going to make my week. It’s on a Tuesday too. It’s going to make my week. So, speaking of making your week or making my week. Talk to me about what’s maybe made your year. Like, like I said, we’re already most of the way done with 2023. It’s been another eventful one in a lot of different ways.
What has, in your, in your coaching practice, in your work, what has really jumped out at you as something that you’ve been very pleased with, proud of, passionate about, any, any developments or new stuff, old stuff, come again, whatever, whatever jumps out at you about the year that’s, that’s passed so far.
[00:02:03] Otis McGregor: Well, I’ll start off with first, the people I’ve been able to help have been amazing people. I’ve worked with clients are amazing. They’re the ones that do the hard work. I throw out ideas, I philosophize. Sometimes I, I, I, I may poke them a little bit. But in the end, they’re the ones who, who pick up the rucksack to use that old term, pick up the rucksack and move out.
They, they have to do the hard work and it’s an honor and privilege to work with such a great group of people over the year and years before that. And seeing them succeed at what they want to succeed at, that’s, that’s number one, number two. And in align with that, excuse me, in line with that is we launched our leadership program, our tribe and purpose leadership program which is, I mean, I’m a little biased.
Honestly, an awesome leadership program that will help you and your team, 10x your staff, 10x your leadership. And I’m super excited about that. We launched that. I’m still passionate about it because I just love the whole idea of that. We launched that back in April. So that’s, that’s still going. And then in September Camden, uh, my son, my youngest son, podcast, co host.
And one of my coaches launched his program, his coaching program called Next is Best, for college athletes when they graduate, so that they can learn to take that passion, their identity that’s been tied in sport their entire life. Yeah, and turn it into something good turn drive their purpose discover what their new adventure in life is going to be like and that you know, so i’ll add kind of like I talked about the leadership program.
Yeah, it’s great, but man proud papa here giving a shout out to that program next is best because think about the number of college athletes. These kids that get get, get scholarships, you know, they, they’ve played this sport their entire life. It’s all they know, right? That’s their identity. And they get a scholarship to a university and I don’t remember what the percentage is off the top of my head, but I’m sure it is a decimal point and a 0 percent of some kind that actually go on to play professionally beyond college.
So I’m, I’m not just talking about football. I’m talking about all sports, swimming, diving, gymnast. fencing, heck golf. Think about all these kids, and they all, there’s millions and millions of them that get scholarships, and that’s their identity, and they graduate, and it’s poof. You are no longer, you know, the basketball player, the baseball player that you’ve been for your entire life.
Now, you’re Joe in the, in the cogwheel of life. And what are you going to do to capture that spirit that you had as an athlete and use that to drive your life so that you can have success and not just go through the motions in life? I mean, that’s, that’s, that’s the fundamental drive that we have with Drive and Purpose.
Is we want people to live their life to their fullest. Now, you’ve heard me say this before, and as you know, it goes, it coincides with my purpose, but it’s live your life with intention in pursuit of your purpose to achieve your success. And there’s too many folks out there that aren’t doing that, that are just going through the motions in life.
Can’t wait till five o’clock. Can’t wait till Friday night. I mean, you know, I was writing something up the other day and I was like, You know what, if Saturday is the day that you, you, you, you, is your best day of the week every week because you’re not having to go to work, maybe you ought to recheck what you’re doing.
And, and, and by the way, I’m not saying quit your job. I’m not saying your job, the thing that puts money in your bank account needs to fulfill your purpose, but it needs to be tied to your purpose. When I was coaching rugby, the jobs that I had, the companies I worked for, I looked at those as a means to enable what I wanted to do.
And it’s a different way. It’s, it’s, it’s easy to say, right? You and I can talk about it. Here, here, let me throw this idea at you. But to apply it in your life takes work. It takes, it takes that attitude, adjustment, and that decision, because we all get to make a decision of how we show up, that decision of what it means to me.
Am I fortunate enough to have this job that puts money in my bank account so that I can have a house over my head, feed my family, and oh, by the way, maybe coach a sport, maybe give back to something, maybe Go camping, maybe spend time in the woods. It’s a whole different way of looking at things, ain’t it?
[00:07:14] Kevin Stafford: Yeah, and that’s alignment right there. It’s a word, a word like intention that gets tossed around a lot with not as much meaning, I think, for some people, although you and I, we know how important alignment is. And I really like that distinction you made, where it’s not It’s not necessary that your job be like exactly directly pointed at your passion, but you have to have some alignment.
There has to be a relationship to it. Cause yeah, if you’re just living for the weekend or living for the Friday night or living for the time, you’re not working. That’s all that time you’re spending at this thing is taking you away from your purpose, away from your passion. And that feeling will grind you down.
It’s, it’s so, it can be difficult once you find yourself in that rut. When you find yourself as that cog in the machine and you fit in and things are turning and so maybe you’re not thinking about how things could be better because they’re just kind of going on and on and on. A lot of great people get lost in that, in that sort of falling through the cracks process.
And I just, I really do love that focus on the collegiate athlete because, because that’s one of the most common places for people to get lost in their development. And like you said, they’ve Through that singular focus on a skill set for whatever sport it might happen to be, football, basketball, swimming, lacrosse, whatever it happens to be, there is so much good personal development that happens along that, along that road that just needs a little bit of help.
To kind of reapply those skills that you’ve already developed those lessons you’ve already learned and just apply them to something else in a way that’s going to, it’s going to, it’s going to make so much sense to you. Once you have someone kind of like maybe maybe help you point the way like a coach coming in to be like, you know, all those things you learned on the pitch on the field in the rink, whatever.
What if you think about it this way. And like, like you said, like you do, you just ask a little question, you apply a little bit of pressure, and then you watch these leaders blossom before your eyes. And obviously there’s a lot more work to it than that, but it really is, it’s, it’s beautiful. And so, yeah, I just wanted to also praise, praise your, praise your son for focusing his work in that area.
I feel like it’s, it’s really, it’s an under… It’s an underappreciated area for, for good coaching. Oh,
[00:09:22] Otis McGregor: yeah, it is. It is. And, and, you know, you touched on something I think is, is really important to understand is that, and it’s a bit of a philosophy of mine also, is if you can do it in one space of your life, you can do it in another area of your life, right?
So if I can, if I can be dedicated and focused and bust my butt and give it my all on a rugby pitch, Then why can’t I do that as an entrepreneur, as a, a, you know, beginning level coder in a business or, you know, you name the job, why can’t I, if I can do it here, it’s me, I’m still the same dude. I’m just turning over here and doing it.
And it also reminds me of this one of the philosophies I teach, I teach to veterans when they’re taking the uniform off is they have this, they have the skills, they have the understanding, they know how to solve problems, they know how to build a plan, they know how to build a team, they know how to drive and lead a team, they know how to manage crisis, they know how to do all these powerful things that every business seeks.
You know, and struggles to handle, but they don’t understand how to translate it to this new culture. That’s the same thing that next is best is doing is they’re doing just what you said. You have all this ability, all this focus. Look, look at how far you came. You wouldn’t have ever made it that far. I don’t care what the sport is, what level the college is that dude, somebody paid you to play that sport and you got an education while they’re a pain.
That’s pretty cool. That means you’re pretty darn good at something. Take those skills that are internal to you that you focused on a sport, put it on, put your military hat on, that you focused on serving your nation and apply it to this business. Apply it to this role that you have in this new culture and new identity that That is powerful.
It’s, it’s not throw it away. I always like to tell people that I, I made that mistake. It took me about two years to start to figure out something was wrong here. You know, when I retired from the army, I, I did that. Thank you very much. United States army. Boom. I’m out. And things just didn’t fit. And I was trying to relearn stuff and I’m reading all these books and taking classes.
And I was like, I just. That looks like something I used to do. Well, that looks like something I used to do. And it finally dawned on me, I said, Holy crap, I’ve known it all along. I’ve lived it all my life. All I have to do is take that skill, that knowledge, that information, and translate it into a different culture and language.
And that’s the same thing that Next is Best does for these athletes. They’ve been able to focus, man, how else would they have gotten there? I mean, I mean, I don’t, I don’t know about you, but I have yet to meet anybody who. played good enough at their sport, whatever that sport was to receive a scholarship who couldn’t take that skills that they were at the top of their, of their sport in their high school or whatever.
And they’re, and they’re even highly competitive still at the university level, taking that skill and applying it to something else in their life. Yeah, you can
[00:12:54] Kevin Stafford: do that. It’s Ken and, and it’s, it’s, it’s just, I feel like it’s, like I said, it’s, it’s definitely hard work, but it’s so much easier than I think a lot of people think it is.
They see that, they see that, that end of their athletic career, almost as a cliff, you know, the ones who can see it coming, we’ll see it like that. The ones who go over it, feel it, like, you know, the sinking in their stomach, like they’re going over a cliff. And there really is, it’s, it’s like, I can’t emphasize this enough, like it does not have to be that way.
It should not be that way. Do you have. So many of the things you already need to not just like survive this transition, but to thrive into your next role, whatever that happens to be. And then in thriving there, understand how to thrive in other places and how to help other people thrive. Because again, that’s one of the greatest aspects of this, of the coaching approach is that you, you’re contagious.
The leaders that you help to develop, the leaders that you spark also bring that fire to other people in their lives. They also do it, you know, with intention or just accidentally by their presence. They just, they have that fire in them that you help to spark and they’re just, they’re spreading the warmth.
They’re spreading the light. And man, I’m getting a little bit like worked up as I’m talking about it right now. I’m getting a little excited because I’m like, that’s the stuff. That’s the work. That’s the good work. And I just, yeah, I love it. And I just, I love anytime a coach finds a gap. That just needs a little more attention.
Cause that’s really what coaches are doing. They’re looking for gaps that need bridges, areas where people are slipping through the cracks, falling through, getting lost along the way, being like, you know what, I’m gonna have a map. I’m gonna bring some light. And then we’re going to talk.
[00:14:28] Otis McGregor: Oh, 100%. Yeah.
You’re, you’re talking my language again. We’re, we’re, we’re, we’re pulling out the map, getting my compass, orient my map. Got my, got my light and, and sorry, but I had to put a poncho over it because, you know, the bad guys would see the light. So we put a poncho over us so they couldn’t see the light, but then we put together that plan.
And put together the plan. We know where we are. This is another big piece. I think people have to understand is, is know who you are today. And you got to understand that you got to have that start to develop that skill set of mindfulness and self awareness to know who you are today in order to become the person you say you want to be.
Otherwise, it’s all talk. If you don’t know who you are today and put together the plan to get to become the person you want to be in the future. I mean, your, your, your phone, your phone ain’t going to work and ain’t going to tell you how to get to grandma’s house unless it knows where it’s at right now.
Right. I mean, that’s, it’s, it’s no different. If you don’t know where you’re at on the map, you can’t point to this is me. This is who I am today. And then this is who I want to be. Now I know what I need, what I need to do to get there. I know. I can see where I’m at. It’s no different than the GPS, the Google Maps, you name it, whatever app you use, it does the same thing.
So we’re doing, we’re talking about know who you are, learn who you are, develop that skill set of mindfulness. Be present in the moment. That goes back to what you were saying earlier about thinking about, I’m in this job and all I’m doing is waiting until five o’clock, so I’m never present in that moment.
What am I missing? What could you be missing in this job that you dread and hate? I mean, you might be missing, might be missing some opportunities, right? So it is, it is that sense. Know who you are today. Develop that skillset for mind, of mindfulness and self awareness. So that I can connect the dots, you can connect the dots to who you want to be in the future.
I
[00:16:37] Kevin Stafford: really, really love the map GPS analogy for this too, because, I mean, you think, think about like having, having a really nice map. It’s just, that’s, that’s, that’s great. It’s crucial to just about anything you’re doing, but like GPS, Google maps, whatever you use. I mean, it’s like, there’s not a day that passes that I don’t just like in the back of my head, sort of either unconsciously or sometimes constantly think this is miraculous.
Like, I’m, I have, I can, I can see like an accurate to scale picture of the world. You can have the best possible map in existence. If you don’t know where you are, you will not know how to get where you want to go. Period. That’s true if you have a little treasure map with like an X and a skull and crossbones from a pirate.
That’s true if you’ve got, you know, the, the most elite GPS accessible for, for, for the modern 2023 human being. If you don’t know where you are, if you don’t know who you are, you will never find your way. And that’s, I just, I can’t, I, that to me is, that’s a very powerful, it’s a very powerful analogy for me.
And it’s also a very powerful reminder. It’s just to just make sure you don’t lose that signal, so to speak. You know, you don’t lose your dot on the map because once you, if you lose that, you lose touch with that, you lose sight of that, you’re going to lose your way.
[00:17:44] Otis McGregor: Yeah. And I think part of that back to the being present is a key piece of that, because if I’m not present in this moment.
If I’m thinking about what I want to do, where I want to go, when I want to, you know, all that sort of stuff, or just as, just as dangerous, I’m, I’m frustrated and pissed off about the past. Both of those keep me from being present in the moment. So here’s a couple of nuggets. The past can be your schoolhouse or your prison.
Think of it that way. What have I learned up until this moment? The future is unknown and unpredictable. I can get lucky. You know, Ed McMahon can show up. Oh, is that Ed right there? Oh. Ed McMahon can show up at my door right now. I’ve never entered one of those things. But you never know. Okay. Do you want to go through life like that?
In that sort of sense? Sitting here worrying? Is that it? Is that it? No. You live in the present. Because what you do in the present moment, in this very moment, creates the future you want. But you have to be in this moment in order to create that future. If I’m dreaming about that future, I’m not taking action in the moment.
If I’m worried about what some dude said to me, Or not winning that contract or, or something I said, or, or didn’t, you know, a post didn’t go viral, whatever, right? All these things that have happened in the past, I can’t change the past. So if I sit there and fret about it, I’m wasting time and wasting energy, and I’m wasting my present moment in my present moment is the opportunity to create the future I want, and if I’m not doing that.
I’m just going through the motions, wasting my time, worried about things that people have done, that I’ve done, that I shouldn’t have done or should have done better or whatever. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Instead of learning from it, learning from it to fix it to where I can do it better so that I can create that future that I want.
But in order to have that future I want, I got to know what that is. I got to do that. I got to discover that. I got to create that. I got to have what right looks like for me. I identify what right looks like for me. What is success to Otis? And in this present moment, the actions I take are creating the future I want.
I can be intentional or reactionary. I can go through motions in life because guess what? Whether I’m present or not, things are happening in this moment that are creating your future. You can be in control, or you can just go along for the ride. I prefer to be in control.
[00:20:34] Kevin Stafford: I like, I like, I like a surfboard, you know?
I don’t, I don’t control the ocean, but I understand waves, I understand tides. And with the right tools, I can ride them.
[00:20:43] Otis McGregor: Here’s, here’s my analogy in that same sense. So I grew up I grew up canoeing, whitewater canoeing as a kid. As a boy scout and explorer scout, right? So I learned to read rivers. I learned to read the currents of the river and here’s what happens.
The river is going. The river is life. River is time. It’s going and you can just get in your boat and float downstream and deal with whatever is going to happen. Whether it’s that rock, that rapid, that sandbar, that bank, that tree, whatever, you just deal with it or you can put your paddle in the water and gave a good pull.
Give a good pull on it. And when you give a pull on it, I’m creating that resistance. I’m driving forward. Faster than the current. And when I’m going faster than the current, I’m driving forward. I’m putting things into action. I can steer my boat, but until I take action, I’m just floating downstream. I mean, there’s a lot of places on the Brazos river that we would get onto.
And that was literally all you had to do is you just, it was wide and flat and slow, and you just sat in your canoe and just kind of floated down the river. But there are some places that I’ve been on the Rio Grande that was like, brother, you better, you better dig that paddle in hard and you better pull and you better do it again and again and again.
So that you can start to drive where you want to go because life is going to take you whether you want it to or not. So that’s, that’s my analogy. I love your surfboard analogy. It’s very similar
[00:22:23] Kevin Stafford: sort of thing. It’s perfect. I love it. I love it. Oh man, I could, I could do this all day. I just, I look, I looked up at the zoom blog and I’m like.
It’s been five minutes. It’s been more like 25 minutes. So before I let you go and get on with your day first of all, thank you. I feel like you dropped like a half dozen, absolute, like gold platinum nuggets. And then like a few dozen other like little ones which again, why I was so excited to talk to you again, you truly do exemplify all of your values in a way that I find very accessible and just, it’s just always great to talk to you.
So before I let you go. Kind of a two parter. Is there anything that you, like, want to, like, throw out there that’s coming up towards the end of the year or in 2024 that you’ve got plans for that you’re ready to talk about? Or maybe you want to tease? And then, of course, the usual, like, if anybody ever wants to have a conversation like this with you, which if they’re listening to this, of course they do or if they want to work with you, or if they want to just find out what you’re up to, where can they go to do that?
Website, social media profile, etc. So anything that you’re, you want to throw out there and let people know about, and then where can people just find out for themselves more about you. So
[00:23:26] Otis McGregor: one of the things that I’m, I’m teasing out there, seeing, seeing what the interest is, is an off grid retreat. You see, I hunt every year and where I hunt.
Is off grid, whether you want it to be or not. You go there, you’re off grid. You don’t have a choice. Your phone just, it doesn’t even say SOS. It’s nothing. So I’ve been I’ve been asking some of my tribe what the interest is in that, and I’m gaining some interest. So keep an eye out for that. And I would say any.
Anybody that’s listening to the show that’s interested into it and into learning more about an off grid retreat, just a couple of days, you know, think, think like a Friday to Sunday sort of thing. You’ll get over it. It’s okay. And I promise if the world ends while we’re out there, we will know. That’s, that’s, that’s next year.
All right. The other thing is if you want to find me, get in touch with me, there’s several ways. So I’m, I’m present on LinkedIn, Otis McGregor, that’s easy. We’ve got a podcast, the Cam and Otis show. We have a YouTube channel called the Cam and Otis show, which is also where you can get the whiskey words.
So weekly, weekly whiskey words. You get some wisdom, some whiskey wisdom as some people like to call it, but I call it whiskey words. I like it. And, the other thing I would say is go to our website, tribe purpose. com and sign up for our Monday moments newsletter kicks off every Monday morning, bright and early it’s lessons, life lessons.
I learned this week to kick off your week so that you can have more success. So I love sharing that is one of my. My favorite things to do each and every week. I love sitting down just thinking about it. I’m smiling, sitting down and spending some time capturing what I’ve learned this week and sharing it with folks.
So and if you want to learn more about next is best or the Greenberry leadership program where you sign up for the Monday moments newsletter. That same place, you can book a time with me and that same place drive purpose. com.
[00:25:36] Kevin Stafford: Perfect. We’ll have, I’ll put up, put links to everything in the show notes.
Like usually, you know, all the usual podcast stuff. So man, Otis, thank you one more time. This has been, I feel like you really have made my day. Like, I know I’m not, I’m not just blowing smoke up your butt. Like I love talking to you the first time I’ve loved following you and like, you know, reading what you put out there, following you on LinkedIn, which has become my, somehow my go to social media platform.
I’m on LinkedIn more than I’m on anything else all put together now, which I’m perfectly fine with. Cause. You know, there’s good stuff happening there for the first time in a while. It’s, it’s a really nice place to, to build relationships and to meet people like you like this. So thank you for sharing some more time with me today.
And also, I mean, and this is kind of trite, but just thank you for doing what you do. I love the work that you do and the passion and the purpose you, you commit to people and developing leaders and building communities. It’s like, like I said, that one sentence. Better organizations leading to better communities leading to a better world.
I believe that down to my bones too. And I just, I just, it’s a perfect summation of the work that you’re doing and continue to do. And so I’m just, I’m glad you’re doing it. So thank you.
[00:26:34] Otis McGregor: And thank you for having me back, Kevin. I’m I’m always available for you, man. You just give me a shout and I’ll join you again.
[00:26:41] Kevin Stafford: Well, I will look forward to the next time we get to chat and to the audience. You’re probably already looking forward to it as well, but rather than wait for that at some point in the future, take action now. Connect with Otis on LinkedIn. It won’t hurt you. He’s not going to spam your feeds. It’s all good stuff.
Trust me. Go to the website, sign up for the news. It’s weekly. It’s not daily. It’s weekly. So it won’t clutter up your inbox and it’s worth the sub. So go ahead and do that. And here on the podcast, we will talk to you again very soon.