We're growing like crazy.

We're producing cashflow.

We're operating with a nice, healthy discipline where, I started to get a

little loose on, on some of my expenses.

Cause I'm like, Hey, we got cashflow.

know, all the stuff that had gotten me to the point where I, I had a seven

figure annual income, I had a 10 figure net worth that allowed me to step away

and pursue, pursue all, what I'm doing now, all those things that allowed me to

get there, I started to drift from why, because I was, was actually pursuing

what I thought was Christ like things.

And that, but it was really for the glory of Brian.

It was growth

Um, uh,

How can mastering relationships transform both your personal And

professional life today on seat.

Go create the leadership journey.

We're joined by Brian Slipka, founder of True North equity partners and

an advocate for servant leadership from starting at the ground level

to establishing a conglomerate of over 20 independent companies.

Brian's journey  epitomizes the ethos of building wealth

through diligent stewardship and ethical business practices.

As the author of Winsome, Five Proven Life Strategies to Win in Relationships,

Brian shares the art of forming genuine connections with others.

That foster success across all facets of life.

Brian, welcome to SeatGoCreate.

Hey, great to be here, Tim.

Yeah, I've just finished reading your book, so we're going to have a fun

conversation about that and being a business owner and all that you do.

we've just met, so this is not really pretending and

someone asks you what you do.

if someone asks you what you do, What's the answer you typically give?

It's a great question.

I'm a purpose driven business leader, right.

and that may sound like a bunch of fluff, as people get to know me and as I unpack

what that means, they start to see how real it is and how it's transcended my

career, my life, professionally and so, yeah, purpose driven business leader.

All right.

So purpose driven business leader.

There's four words there that I'm probably want to, I want to unpack

just a little bit purpose driven.

And I remember years ago when the book came out and different

things like that, that's a, I don't want to say it's a phrase that.

Maybe confusing to some people.

I mean, the words purpose and the word driven should be self explanatory, but

tell me a little bit more about what that means to you because it sort of has become

some code for a few different things.

So what does that mean to Brian?

Well, I mean, for me, it comes down to my faith, my strong faith in

Christ and the promises of Christ.

And, as a believer, that's critical, right?

But to specifically answer a question on purpose driven business leader, you

really got to go back to, and a lot of people have heard me tell this story, but

back to 2013, my dad was dying of cancer.

I had had a successful career up to that point, and, enterprise

technology, software sales, finance.

I was a business owner, business investor had a lot of different types

of, real estate, all that sort of thing, but I was traveling 200 days a

year and my dad was dying of cancer.

I went and visited him when he was in hospice.

His eyes were getting all jaundiced and get, you know, he was getting

ready to leave this world.

he was genuinely, eager to move on to the next stage of his eternal,

being the one thing he shared with me, and it was during a moment when

I was frustrated and venting to him.

Here he is in hospice.

I was venting to him about my, plight at work, and I was complaining

about something, And having to travel so much and all that stuff.

And he stopped me and just stared at me with these jaundiced eyes and he said,

Brian, what on earth are you chasing?

I mean, seriously, what on earth are you chasing?

I'm going to be leaving this world here soon.

I'm not going to be here anymore.

You know, you got, everything you've asked for and everything you've pursued,

but what on earth are you chasing?

And so when you ask the question and I answer purpose driven, you know, business

leader, that is what I'm chasing,

So what does that mean?

Well, purpose driven means.

To have impact and influence in the businesses.

I lead to have an effect that echoes, To have an effect that transcends Brian

Slipka as the individual, as the person.

so much about what I talk about around surrendering, selfish ambition,

all that stuff has to do with this purpose driven transcending self,

transcending your circumstances to leave an impact and influence on others.

So, one of the things that always fascinates me, Brian, is how men a

lot, seems like women maybe are a little bit more introspective this

way, but men typically need some kind of event, catalytic event or their

father to hit them in the head with a two by four, even though it's a phrase.

So tell me more about that because I really want to drive a little

bit deeper into what that meant.

What that means for the way you're functioning and operating now

Yeah, you're right.

And by the way, you're right.

I think with guys.

tend to, lightning bolts tend to resonate with them more

than a dimmer switch, right?

although I will tell you, or, more microwaves, women are crockpots, right?

So, there's all, again, more, more stories behind that too, but, but the,

Yeah, we want to impact that because there's more to that

from a physical standpoint,

Yes.

so, for me before, I grew up in a Christian, household.

My parents, very faithful Christians, love the Lord.

very Beaver Cleaver upbringing for those of you who used to watch,

Beaver Cleaver for me, it was reruns.

We had a very normal family upbringing, right?

then you start going to pursue the ways of the world, right?

I always was very ambitious and wanted to excel in everything I did.

and for the most part did professionally, I did things, crazy things.

I sold door to door, to pay my way through, you know,

college in the summertime.

I always took that next step of pursuing the next thing, Stretching myself.

I got very comfortable being uncomfortable.

I was, pursuing more, And that became, kind of almost like a

healthy drug, it's good on one hand, because you learn through adversity.

It was self imposed adversity, like it's self imposed challenges.

and that's how you learn and grow.

but you do also got to realize at some point in your life, to what

end and for what purpose, right?

So to answer your question, going through my twenties and

thirties, I had earthly successes.

You know, I got married, to my wife, Megan.

we've been married, 24 years almost.

we've, two great kids.

and so as I went through my professional career, I was having success.

I was doing well, making good money, hitting all my financial metrics and goals

that was setting forth for me, like X amount of when I'm 30 and X amount balance

sheet when I'm 35 and no debt when I'm 30 involved in all this stuff that was part

of my economic scorecard financially.

checking the boxes, great wife, great kids, dutiful responsibility

to taking my family to church every Sunday, all that sort of thing.

Where I'm going with this is there's a lot of listeners here that are

probably going through the same thing.

They're doing all the right things they want to be, and in many cases

they are living a godly life.

What I challenge everybody today, what really hit me through my dad's

conversation with me, but then it was also, it was a dimmer switch building,

but that lightning bolt of my dad's confrontation to me really put me on

the other side of the bell curve, right?

Of where I now realize now, how shall I live?

Chuck Colson's book, right?

Now, how shall I live?

And so that was really the event, but really what it created is this

intentionality around my daily pursuits, my thoughts, my actions.

And prior to that, about how I could advance in an earthly format.

And it was true.

It truly was selfish ambition.

I can rationalize all I want that it wasn't Tim, but, it was selfish ambition.

It might have been selfish things for my family or for my wife or for my extended

family or my friends or life experiences.

All good things for my church, for my ministry, the ministries

I supported or I was involved in.

but it was still selfish ambition.

And so this event really, the after is more that surrendering selfish

ambition and, being very watchful of my sin nature around selfish ambition

and really harnessing it into ambition.

which has a much greater multiple effect, um, and that will echo into eternity

and echo into generations beyond me.

Right.

So anyone probably that bumped into you had I had you and I

had this conversation pre 2013 I would have said, this is a joke.

I hope you get it looks good smells good successful Everything is in order.

This guy's got his act together, correct?

I mean, no one would go, Oh my gosh, he's one, one step from something, right?

You, you, you were successful, correct?

Yeah.

I mean, and I would even go so far as people would say, Oh, he's

a generous guy, loves the Lord.

you know, his actions do speak loudly.

I mean, I was doing a lot of the right things, But my heart, there,

there's still a portion of the God shaped hole in my heart, right?

I mean, like there's part of that I hadn't surrendered.

I hadn't surrendered the selfish ambition.

fact, there's still days where I'm not surrendering to selfish ambition.

Right.

I mean, let's be honest.

I mean, I don't want to have the listener think that I've arrived.

Right.

I haven't arrived.

there's still a sanctification process going on.

it's not all bed of roses.

every day I got to recommit every day.

There's a sanctification process and every day I do see.

Me advancing, right?

closer to, to, to, to the Lord, closer to, living a life, in full surrender.

but every day, I'm working on it too.

One thing, yeah, we all are.

I think people that have been listening in here for the last

three, four years, definitely would, Agree that this is a journey.

There's a reason we now have a subtitle, the leadership journey, not

the destination, not an event, not the seven easy steps to being the greatest

leader ever or anything like that.

No, it's the, the journey that we're all on.

You know, Brian, it's interesting when I, when I hear.

I kind of want to dig in a little bit more to that question your father

asked you of what are you chasing?

Because there's a theme that keeps coming up.

I think it was part of what i've been through.

It's part of what we've had so many people on the show That have said something

to the effect of They were addicted To more, or they were addicted to, not

drugs or any of that kind of stuff.

but you said your father asked you what you were chasing and all of

those things in the world system are typically rewarded pretty well.

I think the struggle that a lot of us go through is that how do we function

and do work within that world system?

But yet we're, you know, our passports got kingdom of God on it.

And, there's a strain there.

So, what was, when your dad said, what are you?

Chasing, give me a little bit of the thought process you went through.

Did you just wake up the next morning and change, or did you have to go through some

form of a, you mentioned sanctification.

let's be a little less, churchy.

Let's just say, what was the transition that you went through

to start that realization?

Cause I'm sure it wasn't as instantaneous, but it got your attention.

Yeah.

it was a two by four, but just like getting hit with a two by

four, you pick yourself back up finish your day and keep going.

Right.

in the wake of it, my dad asked me the question and I'm a cartoon bubble guy.

So my dad asked me that question, hits me like a two by four.

And what I'm envisioning is this guy, trying to run after

something like the dog track.

you're never going to catch it.

And what he was basically saying is you're chasing something

you're never going to find.

And he's basically telling me you're a good man.

You love the Lord.

pursue that, you know?

And, pursue something bigger than yourself and, just from an

earthly sense bigger than yourself.

Right.

And, in the wake of that conversation, he passes away, the whole funeral,

that week of the funeral and I give the eulogy along with the mayor of the town.

And that was a very cathartic process.

and it just, started building up inside me, this, pebble in my shoe, so to speak,

kept kind of coming back up and then went back to work and kept working hard.

Get promoted at work in the weeks and months and years after that.

but what also started happening simultaneously is this notion that my work

form of stored labor here on earth, and I want to deploy that stored labor to be

able to have that impact and influence.

So it's, it's the Shawshank Redemption movie moment, right?

It is Andy Dufresne talks to red in the, in the courtyard of the prison

saying, you know, red, it's at some point you have to ask yourself, it's time

to get busy living or get busy dying.

Now, in that movie, for those of you know, shawshank.

Andy didn't just break out that night.

Andy then began or continued a journey to eventually, lead to his breakout, right?

If you watch the movie, so I think for me, what really started in an earthly

sense was, I just started pursuing activities and objectives tactically.

So that I could leave the day job, just being blunt.

leave the day job and pursue what I felt God, was calling me to do, which

was being a business leader, business owner, and sticking my neck out there

to lead people, so that they can grow closer to him, I can be a cultural

witness to how I lead my companies.

and I can profess my faith in a private, being a private business

owner, without threats of, retaliation, or being told to do it a certain

way, all of those things I knew I was working towards, after that moment in

time, it was a process, not an event.

But it began the process and I was very intentional about the process

after that event of my dad passing.

So, that's really how it happened.

And it wasn't until 2000, really 18, 19, that I really the day job.

So that's how it was a five year journey for about four and a half year

journey of me getting ready to get busy living, as God has called me to do.

So that's.

I like the Shawshank.

I like the prison analogy there because when I was in corporate,

money's good, love the people.

I do think people are called to different things.

I want to say here, there are some people that they're supposed

to be in those mission fields.

There are people that, and they know it.

But I knew that I wasn't supposed to be there.

And so, all right.

and I was going to ask you how long that took before you got to a place where you

began that process, but I think I need to ask this question, Brian, because

there's probably people listening in that are probably like you, bringing

in a strong six figures, maybe more.

They're in a role that they believe they need to.

Get out of, but sometimes there's almost, I don't want to say financial handcuffs.

That sounds a little harsh, but there's these, there's these

burdens that are keeping them there.

And so I guess I'd like to ask you, do you have any other words of wisdom for

someone who might be battling with, maybe they've had that conversation

with their dad or they've been hit with a two by four and they know.

But maybe they're still in process.

They haven't gotten to your 2018 place where, you know, you're there.

They're still going through it and they might be struggling with it.

What can you tell them?

What can you encourage them?

Yeah, well, first off, they need to, have an honest assessment of self are

they pursuing an idealistic lifestyle, idealistic, sort of day in the life,

which frankly is selfish ambition, or are they pursuing the strengths of self?

And, basically the strengths that, spiritual gifts.

Right.

and I think there's a distinctive difference.

the word that comes to mind also is courage, like a courage quotient,

I'll give you an example of, some colleagues that have contemplated going

off and doing businesses on their own.

And when push came to shove, they couldn't forego.

That quarter of a million dollar income even though they have

plenty of money, they may have a 10 figure net worth, Or more.

But even just having the courage to surrender that guarantee

that safety net, that life raft, that is a financial element.

they just weren't able to cross that chasm, Others, it's

maybe a little bit different.

Maybe it's a little bit further down the courage quotient where they're willing to

surrender that, but they also don't want to go backwards with their net worth.

maybe a 10 figure net worth, and they have an opportunity to start their own

business and they're willing to give up their income and the corporate stuff,

but they are unwilling to go backwards.

Like, Oh, I can't go backwards.

Even if it means, you know, we, of course, being part of business

owner, you got to be willing to.

Not only not only surrender income, but actually go

backwards on your balance sheet.

I mean, that's a whole nother level.

And I think having an honest conversation with yourself on

where do you fit in that realm?

because God has equipped me with this.

it's not reckless, but it is an unconditional faith my mom and my dad

told me from an early age that like man You just have this unconditional

faith that like it's all gonna be good because you're willing to roll the

dice a lot brian I'm, like, yeah, I mean what's the worst that can happen?

Maybe I lose everything and I have to start all over.

I mean god's equipped me with you know The ability to do that so for me It was a lot

easier to surrender, you know, basically to have that leap of faith but You know,

I also gave up a seven figure income.

I mean, it was, and it had been year after year after year and it would

have continued for years to come.

I mean, it was not going to seize.

I mean, it was going to keep happening.

I gave it all up step away.

I, you know, to what God called me to do, and that's really to be this

business owner and to stand out, stand tall in my faith as a business

leader and as a business owner and be that cultural witness to, how to

lead companies, how to lead people.

And so to me, that's, I'm doing what God called me to do.

And by the way, it hasn't all been a bed of roses either.

It's been really challenging specifically like the last couple of years.

so this level of sanctification, you know, I know that's churchy,

but like, I'm just saying like this level of personal development, this

journey, as you talk about is ongoing.

but I know I'm doing what God's called me to do and that's

what's so neat about this.

Yeah, that's part of the refining process.

All right.

So I want to drill down on that.

You know, what God's telling you to do, because I, I think the challenge that

many have, Brian, is that they're either copying what someone else is doing.

And we know that that can be a recipe for challenges,

especially when things get tough.

As long as it's easy, it's fine.

or they're not, this is what I'm going to say, but I'm going to let you tell me

what your practice is to reaffirm this.

I do think that there's the faith practices of being around

a community, church family, having mentors, things like that.

But for me, the last 12 plus years.

My still and quiet time has become the most valuable.

And I even observe it in leaders that I work with the leaders

that have a healthy practice.

And it's different for everybody.

I'm not sitting here saying it's 15 minutes here and you got to

get up at 4am blah, blah, blah.

But what are some of the things that you do?

You, I was sort of joking about hustle culture there.

Sorry.

What do you do?

To make sure that what God is calling you to do is what God is calling Brian to do.

Not Tim, not, you know, Richard Branson or Elon Musk or someone else.

But how do you make sure It's what he's calling you to do.

such a great question.

Such a wise thing to be contemplating.

by the way, you're saying this because you've learned the hard way.

as I heard you asking the question I couldn't help but think about how

my short answer is I've learned by trying to be a false You know, I mean

chasing some it's back to the chasing.

What are you chasing?

Right?

and here's the thing.

chasing Right now I'm pursuing my relationship with Christ and when I do

that, it brings clarity to my earthly toil, my daily toil, like where do

I need to be spending time on the businesses as weird as it might sound.

you pursue Christ in your pursuit of Christ, you gain clarity on

what your temporal toil should be your temporal pursuits.

And so that's what's worked for me, And when I drift from that, I shouldn't be

surprised when I take a step back and be like, That was for the glory of Brian.

That wasn't for the glory of God.

and that's a pretty powerful thing to internalize.

people need to really think about that.

because that's where I stumble.

I pursued a business a few years ago, so I leave the day job, I'm growing,

I'm buying all these companies, acquiring all these companies.

We're growing like crazy.

We're producing cashflow.

We're operating with a nice, healthy discipline where, you

know, I started to get a little loose on, on some of my expenses.

Cause I'm like, Hey, we got cashflow.

know, all the stuff that had gotten me to the point where I, I had a seven figure

annual income, I had a 10 figure net worth that allowed me to step away and

pursue, pursue all, you know, what I'm doing now, all those things that allowed

me to get there, I started to drift from why, because I was, was actually pursuing

what I thought was Christ like things.

And that, but it was really for the glory of Brian.

It was growth.

It was, it was profitable growth.

It was.

The number of companies, it was the, you know, all these, all these metrics

that I started getting obsessed with, started getting obsessed with all for,

you know, the right pursuit instead of, and this, this actually speaks to what

you mentioned, my, my, you know, and this has been the sanctification thing in me.

I yearn for quiet time with the Lord.

I just thirst for it because.

I seek him and when I do that, then I'm like, Oh my goodness, Brian, like

the metrics don't care that it's the impact and influence I'm having at being

a witness to my love of you, Christ.

And so how could I let myself get that?

So even today, like it's the drift, you know, the book mission drift, right?

Great book.

But think about for every one of us, you know, every day there's mission drift.

C.

S.

Lewis, you hear it, you read about it in the screw tape letters, right?

there is a constant drift because there's constant pressure from the

opposing forces that are causing that mission drift every day.

So, and it's for seemingly good Christ like advancements and things.

And that's the deception.

having that quiet time brings clarity to what the truth is.

One of the things that I've observed is that the Lord gifted

me with a few superpowers.

Brian, I've noticed that my superpowers can easily become kryptonite.

And the reason I preface that question is I'm going to ask you, what are some of

the giftings you have that are superpowers And if you observe similar things that

I just brought up that we start leaning on those in a natural way, when I bring

that up, what comes to mind, just share whatever you want to related to that.

Well, what specifically comes to mind is last night I had an elder board meeting.

So I have an elder board.

These are, folks that are literally elders.

I mean, they're wise beyond their years.

and they're older, they're all older than me, but at different stages of life.

they've just become mentors to me and these elders I'll meet with, they

help hold me accountable to Christ like pursuits and they are all Christ

followers and they, really helped me stay close to what I call my plumb line

of living close to the Lord, to answer your question, your greatest, most

folks superpowers or greatest strengths are also your greatest weaknesses.

for me, yesterday, one of my elders reminded me, he's like, Brian, now

remember, you are a V12 engine, most of your employees are four cylinder or maybe

V6s, Every once in a while you may have a V8, you're a V12 and, that's how you

get into trouble, and that's also, going to get you out of trouble, so that's

very real to me when I look at all the areas I've stumbled, Tim, it's because

I've been, borderline reckless, I've been moving too fast, it has anointed me with,

I think some, superpowers where, you know, I don't need a lot of sleep, you know,

I mean, I'm needing more as I get older.

Right.

but, you know, I multitask, exceptionally well.

and that's how I can have 25 businesses.

Now they all are ran by operating leaders and stuff, but the fact

that I can manage it, is because of what God's given me as a superpower.

but it also is what's gotten me into extreme trouble at times too.

And that actually leads to another, contemplation.

I mean, talk about these superpowers, greatest strengths, greatest weaknesses

is, you know, the kind of fight or flight leader you are like life inventory, right?

when you're operating under peak conditions, do you behave?

Okay.

When, those peak conditions may vary from person to person for some, it might

be financial, safety, Others, it might be physical safety or condition or like

they're in good shape or, you know, or, or jobs security of some sort, right.

The peak conditions.

And then how do you operate when your back's up against the wall,

under really bad, conditions, do you is it a fight or flight?

what I've learned about myself is that I actually am more of a fight guy.

Like, I mean, I will stand up and I don't run away.

Like I'll just fight the fight.

and even if I lose, I'll fight because For me, it's probably a

little bit of human pride, right?

Which is a sin, nature element.

but I also think that God's equipped me with a gifting around fighting.

it's a little bit like, we talked about this last night with the elders too,

in world war two, Winston Churchill is known as one of the greatest leaders.

of our, you know, previous three, four generations, right?

Preceding him was Chamberlain as the prime minister of Britain.

And he was well thought of.

I mean, he was an incredible operator.

He was an incredible dutiful politician.

Everybody, I mean, he was really, he ran the country really well,

when push came to shove and his back was in a corner, it was a flight.

Man, he had a flight mentality.

He just didn't want to engage.

He wanted to appease appeasement.

He wanted to, cut deals.

All of a sudden he started like all the stuff that he was good at.

He felt wilted away.

like Winston Churchill, who was a swashbuckling, you know, kind of like,

really, that guy was the wartime leader that God called upon to lead Britain

and the allied forces to success.

And so I think about that analogy that all of us ought to be thinking of,

like, what is our characteristics rate?

And by the way, Chamberlain.

doesn't make Chamberlain bad and Churchill, like, great.

It's just knowing how God has gifted you and how God has made you.

And then again, now, how shall we live?

Yeah, and one big thing with that, I mean, I love the study of Churchill

and Chamberlain too, by the way.

I'm kind of a junkie for history, stuff like that.

You know, I believe that if Winston Churchill hadn't existed, the

world will look different today.

We'd be in a Different place.

But the thing that bothers me at times is kind of going back to, you know, I

asked you about superpowers and, you know, kryptonite is at times I do think we need

a Churchill and at times maybe we need a Chamberlain and, and I also believe that

the Lord equips, you and I with some of those skills and the thing that I need

wisdom for at times is when should I fight and when maybe should I back away?

I mean, have there ever been situations where you.

Took that fight and you said, you know what?

Maybe I didn't need to fight in that situation.

Maybe.

And if you're a fighter, you want to fight.

I remember meeting Evander Holyfield one time and I shook his hand.

He was about my height, a little shorter.

I mean, like, you know, six foot and the guy had cinder blocks for fists.

And I'm sitting here thinking, this guy looks like he could do other things.

No, he was built to fight because his fists were the size of cinder blocks.

So, ever been a time where you fought, where you went, you know what, maybe it

didn't, maybe it didn't require a fight.

Maybe I needed to be more like a Chamberlain during that situation.

yeah, for sure.

I mean, a couple of business examples.

I mean, one business example in particular, a few years ago, I bought

a company, seemed pretty low risk.

We raced through due diligence.

Cause again, I was pursuing this growth, this notion of growth.

we buy the company.

the lead, my operating leader at the time, I allowed him to, I consented to

a lot of the decisions he was making.

But there's a few really bad decisions that we made that, that

really, cause the company to get really, upside down on inventory.

we, we made a couple of bad, bad decisions on some supplier relationships and also

we found ourselves in our inventory management system and our customer system.

We bet on anyway, it was a calamity of errors.

Right.

And my, at the end of the day, I ended up losing about

a few million bucks out of it.

I mean, that's how bad, I mean, it was a big, it was a bad deal for me personally.

Right.

But what I learned through it was I, it was July 4th.

I was in my porch getting ready to celebrate the 4th of July with

a bunch of friends and family.

And I'm on this conference call with my chief operating officer.

and he basically told me, Brian, it ain't going to get better.

It's going to get a lot worse.

You know, it's probably good to hit the escape hatch and just cut your losses.

And I'm like, what, and he kept, and you know, he knows me well enough

to know, like, I know it's not what you want to do, but think about it.

And, it's, and it ultimately ended up being the analogy I use.

It's kind of like the two best days of owning a boat, the day you buy it and

the day you sell it, even though, you know, you use it a lot or not, right.

Um, and I, I think that business, the day we sold that business back to the, the,

the, the, the person we'd, we'd bought it from, I went back to that person said,

hat in hand, Hey, we've failed miserably.

Okay.

What I've paid you is yours.

What I owe you, you know, I'll, I'll, I'll make whole, right.

And I'll settle all the affairs, but will you take it back and be a steward of your

employees and a steward of everything else, and then we'll just be done.

And most business owners by when I've done that, but thanks to good guidance,

good people around me, that was a lesson I learned about, Oh my goodness.

Like, um, I surrender Lord.

I mean, it's, and, and, and again, that comes back to the earthly

pursuit, chasing financial success points on the board, all this stuff

that, you know, society is business.

They just tell you, you got to be pursuing some of your best wins

are your, are your, are your, are actually your greatest losses.

Think about that.

Like some of your best wins longterm.

your greatest losses short term?

and, um, and that was, that spoke to me.

And I continue to feel that with some other decisions since then that, that,

um, that remind me, um, even though I may be spiritually gifted in certain

ways, to lean on, lean on, lean on, lean on the Lord, pray for clarity

and clarity typically will emerge.

Generally, leaders need a healthy, strong ego.

Do things like you just bring up today Impact your ego some where you was ego

something that might have been pushing it forward more than it should have.

I guess this is probably me just asking what's your ego like, Brian?

Oh, I got, I definitely have one.

I mean, And, uh, I think, I think it, it, well, I know it's

changed a lot over the years.

Um, we have another business that's really soft right now.

And because of the aforementioned story, I just told about the business

where I took those losses and frankly was embarrassed and, and just,

just had to, know, turn the page.

Um, kind of empowered me to be more vulnerable, right.

You know, and, and, you know, there's, there's this, there's

this, uh, addictive leadership.

Um, um, it's called addictive leadership and basically it's, it's following a three

step process, you know, being vulnerable.

Surrendering the outcome, but then be willing to do the work.

Right.

And I've really embraced that to, to help, to help humble me.

You know, I mean, am I being vulnerable?

I mean, just asking myself in my heart of hearts, am I being vulnerable?

Lord, am I being humble to all, all those around me and vulnerable?

Um, and like, for example, we have another area, our business

that's really soft right now.

And, um, I've been just so extremely vulnerable with all of the stakeholders.

Because I just want them to know like, okay, here's, here's, here's

what, here's what's happened.

A lot of it's industry related, but a lot of it's, you know, we made

this decision, we made that decision.

And, and I, and I said, I'm going to stand behind my commitments.

Uh, even, even if, and I'm going to surrender the outcome.

If it means that it, it, it, it, it means that my wife and I are writing checks

to, to cure all of our commitments.

So be it.

Right?

But I'm going to surrender the outcome, but don't, but no, I'm not going

to go down without doing the work.

I'm going to do the work, right?

As God's called me to do.

He's given me the capacity to fight, but I'm also going to surrender the outcome.

If it doesn't work, I'm not going to, I'm going to hold my head high because

my, ultimately my, um, my, I'm answering to, to, to God and he knows that my heart

is following through on the commitments.

And yet also surrendering the earthly outcome.

And so it's a, it's a powerful, it's addictive leadership, you know, be

vulnerable, surrender the outcome be willing to do the hard work.

I mean, that that's been transcendent for me to help get to what you're

talking about, like where I'm truly am.

It's not, you know, it's, I'm getting rid of that ego.

And that word vulnerable is such a tough one.

Tough one.

I had a conversation with someone not too long ago on the podcast.

There are people that are using that term vulnerability, authenticity,

not as a core characteristic of who they are, but it's a tactic, you

know, they're, they're using it.

And so, and when I'm hearing you talking, I'm knowing that

it's a, it's a characteristic.

It's who you are.

There's another word that I've, I've seen in the research I did on you.

And the word is stewardship.

And what's interesting to me is that many people would think there's

quite a dichotomy between someone who has, I'll call it ownership, we'll

use the world, world system word, ownership of 20 to 25 companies.

But yet they talk about servant leadership and or the word stewardship quite a bit.

Those are two different things, but they're sort of related.

Um, talk a little bit about, I don't know, the difference, the relationship,

whatever, whatever you want to say about ownership, stewardship.

And if you want to throw servant leadership in the mix too, because I

know it's part of a good bit of what you talk about, talk about those.

And, uh, and I'm sure I've got some followup related to that.

So.

Well, I mean, this really speaks, this might be a little bit of a segue

unintentionally to the book I wrote.

Um, I mean, the, the, it really speaks to.

Man, uh, there's so much to talk about here.

Um, the, the brutal, the brutal reality is that stewardship.

As defined, like by the dictionary, more or less, I'm going to use my own words,

but, but it's, it's, it's stewarding

toward, towards something that, you know, isn't about, and the way I've

interpreted it, it's not about you.

It's about stewardship towards whatever you have.

So, you know, you've been entrusted something like your, your stewardship

around the resources of, uh, uh, you know, of, uh, of an, of an association you're

involved, you're involved in, right.

It's stewardship over.

You know, something your grandpa gave you, um, that you inherited, that you

want to keep in really good condition.

Right.

Um, I mean, just common elements, right?

So when I think of the word stewardship, we we're coming alongside a lot

of these business owners that are transitioning their life's work,

we're buying their business, right.

Or we're helping them with, with some of my businesses, my, my brokerage and.

Uh, investment bank, we're helping them sell their, their life's work.

Right.

Um, and that is such a profound responsibility.

So the word stewardship really centers around that.

Like we are trying to steward their, what they've worked their whole life to build.

And to transition to the next, to the next, uh, buyer or whomever.

Right.

And so we take a true North.

We take that super seriously because like, man, focused on them.

And so where the book even came about is people started asking me like, tell

me more about the stewardship tell me more about like, like what makes you

different with how you're able to do this.

I basically started explaining what became the five tool framework.

I'm like, well, you honestly, you just have to grab your bat.

I mean, it became the five tool framework that a baseball analogy, but basically

it means you got to get in the game.

You got to understand what, what you're, what, what they need of you.

Like, it's not about you, like, stop thinking about yourself.

Like, it's not about you.

Like, how can you help them?

And then when you, when you find out that information, you can assess the situation,

which in the, in the book is all about being on the on deck circle and then being

at bat, you can focus on driving in runs.

Like, and, and when you drive in runs, you're helping, you're, you're helping

that seller in this case, right?

Okay.

And then you're helping yourself cause you're the team's going to win.

Right.

And then you win and all that stuff.

So, so that even the businesses we acquire have to be a really good fit.

We're like, we we're coming alongside them.

It's not like us taking what they have.

Right.

I mean, so it's where it's like we're shoulder to shoulder instead

of, you know, them versus, you know, you know, us versus each other.

Right.

And, and then the fifth, the fifth tool, the five tool framework is like getting

back in the batting cage and reflecting.

So this notion of self reflection.

Being vulnerable, like, and really, really having the sober reflection of

self of, man, I am really bad at that.

Or I really screwed up in that moment.

Please forgive me, you know, and, and this notion of apologizing and

asking for not just the positive, but asking for forgiveness.

Um, and, and, and so when I look at being relational, being a

steward, it's all of those things.

It really is.

And, and that, that's my crazy definition.

some listeners may be like, well, Brian, that's, but that's a lot

of other things, maybe so, but like, when I think of stewardship,

it encompasses all that stuff.

And, and, um, and that leads to trust, speed of trust.

It leads to a lot of other elements.

And, and, uh, I'll be honest.

I mean, like our businesses could be making a lot more

money than we actually do.

Why?

Because we're stewards because we're Stuart, we're stewards of, of what we

commitments we've made in an earthly realm, but also commitments we've made

in an eternal realm to, to help come alongside people and grow in their faith.

And do all that sort of thing.

So, um, you know, so that, that's what stewardship means to me.

I wasn't going to ask this, but I'll, I'll drill down a little bit.

Is money a great measurement of how well something is doing?

I'll ask you this way.

Is it the best measurement?

Um, because you're obviously a money guy.

You're a financial guy.

You've got skills in that area, but yet you now talk about being

purpose driven and stewardship.

And I'm not saying that we ignore it, but what should we be measuring?

Now,

Yeah.

I mean, so like we, our, our businesses have been tested by, by this question

over the last couple of years.

Um, you know, we were coming off a really, really strong years in 2021 and 2022.

And then we started meeting some softness in our businesses in 23, and then

it's continued and persisted in 2024.

I think most small business owners would.

We probably, uh, agree with, with, with that.

I mean, it's been a lot harder the last couple of years than it was

in the wake of, and even during COVID, um, business is booming.

I mean, it was for a lot of reasons, right.

But, but, um, and S and so we were measuring success even, you know, even,

um, in the last four or five years off of like, what are, what, what, what,

what we're giving away philanthropically and, and from a ministry standpoint,

perspective, you know, endowing small, you know, small ministry pursuits.

Um, fully funding, you know, um, chaplaincies and, you know, doing all

these great, great, noble things, right?

And then here in the last couple of years, we've had to batten

down the hatches of our giving.

And, and, and, and so from a measurement standpoint, it's been a lot less,

profit's been a lot less, giving's been a lot less financially, right?

And yet, and yet, Tim, our impact and influence for a variety of reasons,

and I got all sorts of evidence around this, Has been far greater.

I mean, far greater.

And it's been less, so it's been less about the financial and it's been more

like, like we're, we're, we're changing folks's way of thinking about business.

We're, we're inspiring folks to get out of their comfort zone and have the

courage to maybe take the leap of faith for, for what they know God has gifted

them from a skill set and capacity standpoint, like we're empowering them.

We're activating, we're igniting.

which is part of what we want to be all about to have that impact and influence.

So it's crazy how, even though some of the financial elements have deteriorated.

The impact and influence has, has, has, has been exponential.

And, and to me, that's, that, that, that's, that's what

we're talking about here.

I mean, um, that's our measure of success.

And so we've had to reflect on that.

And we've also reflected from a wisdom's perspective of.

You know, building your storehouses for, for, for, for seasons.

And, and, um, that's another lesson.

Like there's going to be seasons where we see the fruit lot

more abundantly in front of us.

There's, there's seasons where we don't see any of it.

And the fruit can be defined as the impact of influence can

be defined as the financial.

I mean, there's a lot of different types of fruit.

And so, so how are we, um, how are we managing that appropriately?

To honor God and to be, be that steward again.

yeah, what's interesting is that in general, in our lifetimes, I'm 60, I'm,

I'm, I think the generation or so ahead of you, we've had, I don't want to

say it's been soft, we've had some ups and downs, but we have stuff going on.

And so a lot of our measurements are.

You know, bank accounts up and down and things like that.

I just think at times i'm a history guy.

I know it sounds like you do some study in history You know had we been first

of all, we wouldn't be having this conversation if we were in, you know

the 1600s or the 800s or even the the you know, the first century We'd be

having different conversations And I think what we're doing is we're trying

to have more eternal conversations with still all of this You Financial ROI here.

And so I love the term impact.

That's a, that's a powerful one.

I do want to get to, I just finished reading the book

Winsome and a great book here.

I've got my copy for those that might be watching on the video.

And I enjoyed it thoroughly.

I want to ask a few questions about it, but there's one more question.

I want to ask maybe kind of big picture because I love Brian talking to people.

I go into leader leadership teams of companies and I work on

organizational health, leadership development, things like that.

So I love asking people that get to see a lot of organizations like you do.

What are you seeing?

What are you seeing that's working really well?

What what excites you about leadership in general right now?

What concerns you?

Um, I also know you're pretty avid.

Uh, Like I once was i'm not as much anymore, you know current events what's

happening in the world I think you consume quite a bit But, um, what,

what, what can you say about what you're seeing with the 2025 companies,

you're obviously dealing with leaders and leadership teams in those.

Just give me some thoughts on, on all of that.

Well, so I'm going to give a plug from one of my, one of my

friends, um, David Horsager, he, he runs the Trust Edge Institute.

David's a great, great leader, world, you know, world renowned for

talking about the topic of trust.

And so what comes to mind immediately is he has these eight pillars, right?

And what's been on my heart.

And they're all C's.

It's, um, um, clarity, compassion, character, competency, commitment,

connection, contribution, consistency.

I think, I think I got those right.

But, but the, the two, the two that really are on my heart, um, well,

clarity to me is the most important.

It always has been right.

I mean, just clarity of purpose, no matter who you're dealing with, no matter

whether it be talking about your faith.

like there's not many people that in the business world that

don't know I'm a Christian.

In fact, I would say almost everybody does because I'm very clear in my faith.

But I don't, I also don't, um, I don't have thou shalt side there.

I mean, there's a lot of folks of other face in my businesses, right?

I mean, um, and they're very comfortable with that because they know my, they

know my, they know my character, right?

Which is one of the other attributes.

what's, and that's one of the two that are on my heart.

I mean, it's really compassion and character I think separates.

Separates, um, a lot of business leaders today.

And, you know, compassion is, is people, um, putting, people put faith

in those who care beyond themselves.

And I think, I think that's compassion and showing genuine concern for, for others.

I mean, that's what builds trust.

And then, and the character, because people notice, um, you know, those, you

know, those that are doing the right, um, instead of, you know, the popular or easy.

And, and, and I just.

To me, those are the two that stand out.

And those are the two that I lean into every day.

Like, how am I showing compassion and character in all that I do?

Even if I just am like, I don't want to do this.

And that's, you know, because I think that's where, where leadership

sustains itself and, um, and, uh, and, and shines brightest is when,

when, when you have those attributes,

So the neat thing about this, I see how a lot of things are tying together,

Brian, and I, I really enjoy it.

You, you, you know, you brought up at the beginning purpose driven and when we've.

Talked about stewardship and things like that.

There's something that you brought up earlier that that Struck in me and I

think it actually ties to your main character sam in the book here and

that is Many of us I will put myself in this category, especially in this

business world Leadership world that we play in It is very easy for us to begin

thinking that everything revolves around us or that we're really good or that

we're uh You Talented athlete, leader, whatever, Brian, and I've, I've guilty,

I'm calling myself guilty of this.

But to me that compassion, I'm going to go back to that.

It's reminding myself that the world doesn't revolve around me.

That I need to surrender.

And it seems as if that was, I actually read your book yesterday.

I mean, I read the whole thing yesterday, so I was able to read the whole thing.

I want to say too, I found myself tearing up a couple of

times, which kind of bothers me.

I'm not necessarily a real emotional person.

And so, and oddly enough, Being a leadership guy and all, I've

written more of a fable novel too.

It's odd that because probably you would have written like a leadership book, you

know, seven steps, you know, kind of like your buddy David that you just mentioned.

So, um, how did the book come about?

Why did you write it?

I mean, why did you write a fable?

Why didn't you just, you know, come up with the five, you know, the five

Techniques, you know the five strategies.

I mean, come on.

That's I mean, it's a really I thought it was a really good story, too

Well, I mean, I mean, uh, it's not gonna be that impressive of a response, but I

mean, honestly, I mean, the books that have resonated with me over the last 10

years, I read a lot of nonfiction stuff growing up in college in my twenties and.

in my, in my early thirties and then really the last 10, 15 years, I've,

um, just really gravitated towards Patrick Lencioni and John Gordon, and

I've got a chance to meet both of them.

I've really gotten to know John Gordon.

I consider him a friend now, a very dear friend.

Um, I think so, so frankly, just, I could, those are stories that

I, that I think, you Resonate, you know, I mean, it's usually a, you

know, they're a couple hour read.

you can knock through them pretty quick and there's usually simple,

but profound elements to all of them.

Right.

And I just liked that.

Right.

I mean, that's, that's how I, I'm a big picture guy.

That's so, so that's, that's why it was a fable.

Now, how it came to be was really, as I mentioned earlier, just as I was

buying these businesses and people were asking me, My response started

to be like, you just got to be winsome in what you're trying to achieve.

It's not about you.

It's about them.

And so you got to be winsome in what you're trying to achieve

so that you really are creating these win win environments.

And then that, that became like, Oh, I should write a book called winsome.

And then what would the fable look?

And then, and then it kind of just came to be right.

And, and, and guys, the, for all the listeners and you got to read the book,

you know, and when you do, you'll, I want you to all know, am a mild version.

Maybe my wife would say not so mild sometimes, but of the protagonist, Sam,

and I wrote the book, it ultimately became this cathartic sort of, um, process.

of realizing just how cringeworthy some of my antics have been over my life.

Right.

I mean, um, and maybe not as bad as Sam in the book, you know, um, or

embarrassing as Sam, but they, but, but, but nonetheless they existed.

And so for me, it was a very cathartic process of, of, um, being vulnerable.

Right.

I mean, I mean, And, and part of the sadness elements of the book, um, I

just had to, had to make it a little bit dramatic on, on what he was going

through, so that the reader would really understand, like, I mean, this is like,

how do you, how are you handling it?

And, and I think, I think everybody would agree when you read it, you, you kind

of start to self reflect on yourself.

And that's the, that's the point of the book, right?

Is you can't help, but reflect like, man, I'm, I'm like his son in this

situation, or I'm like, I'm like Sam.

Or I'm like, I'm like his dad, the grandpa, right?

That his dad, or I'm, or I'm actually like the clubby.

I'm the one that's coming along to stylize people right now.

Um, and so I think that's what makes the book so powerful.

Um, it's just the relatability to even if you aren't a baseball fan.

Um, but, but it was deeply personal.

It's a deeply personal exercise.

that I think really told a story and, and, and I think Sam's actually

got more of a story to tell.

I mean, that's part of it too.

If you read the book recently, uh, like you said yesterday, you probably

could, could tell a little bit that Sam's story may not be done.

Um, and, and that there's more to it.

And, and that's, that's part of the journey too, of sanctification.

Um, there's some elements of faith in it, but it was, it was about relationships.

And, and, and, and yet when, when those relations, when you figure out how

to, uh, You know, using the five tool framework, have deeper relationships.

It actually opens you up for a much deeper meaning sort of

conversation around eternity and around, know, very, a lot more.

And, and that's, that's where we're headed with Sam and his journey.

I kind of did I I finished it and I went huh?

I think there's more there You know But anyway, excellent excellent book we'll

we'll mention in just a little while where people can find it and things

like that, but There's there's one more.

I don't want to ask, you know, somebody who's got their hands in

so many business things well one One thing related to that, what'd

you think about the writing process?

Did you sit down and pick this out?

Did you have any help?

Did you do it on your own?

What was the writing process like for you?

No, I definitely had some, some help, but, but the, the process was again,

deeply personal where it's like, I was, I was having to reflect on

every, element of like the emotion.

And, and that's what probably.

the part for me that, um, uh, it was such a cool process.

It's just the emotional elements and really wanting to.

the plight of every person in it and, um, how they, how they fit.

And, um, was, it was, it was fun.

I mean, I enjoyed it.

It took me like two and a half years.

I mean, it took forever.

I mean, it was started up, pick it back up, you know, you know, kind of redline

it, you know, 10 times and parts of it, you know, some parts of the story.

I just completely got rid of.

But overall, I think it, you know, it hit the mark and the response has been great.

And, um, I'm really excited for, uh, Sam's journey because I think, I think

this is one of those things like John Gordon told me with, you know, when

he launched energy bus, um, his first few years, he didn't sell many copies.

And now it's like, It's a perpetual bestseller like plus years later.

And, think, I think, uh, there's a little bit of shelf life that, that

Winston's going to have too, because.

It's timeless truce on how to, on how to have interpersonal relationship, you know,

focus, you know, how you, how you handle it and how to build a framework around

your thoughts because it really is about thought control and being intentional.

And so, those are timeless, timeless elements, and, uh, I'm

excited to see where it goes.

Absolutely.

Real quick, I, I saw where you, one of your business interests

is, is a minor league team, the Canaries, Sioux Falls Canaries.

Just real quick on that.

And then we're going to wrap up here.

But tell me, some people say, Oh, that sounds cool.

Is it as cool as it sounds?

It's, it's been a journey.

I mean, we, we bought, we bought a situation where we had to kind of

turn around the culture uh, and, and add, just make a lot of investments

and, we're, we've, we're going to be entering our fifth season.

And we've turned the team around.

I mean, attendance is up interest fan engagements, up fan involvements up.

We've given a ton of money into the community, poured money

into the community, given back.

We've, we've, one, we've been, we've made the playoffs the last two years.

So it's been a, it's been a really incredible success story.

I think, you know, I was telling the president of the canaries that we,

that we brought in and like, we could write a white paper, uh, or case, at

least do it like a case study on, on how to change a culture and, and how to

have a, have a growth mindset because that's, that's what our team over there

now has the front office, everybody.

And so it's been, it's been fun.

This is actually my canaries sport coat that I, you know, this is the canaries

colors, and, uh, just really, really grateful for the opportunity and.

And, uh, bought that with a college friend of mine that we're again,

what are we chasing in life?

And we, we wanted to have a shared experience together and have a reason

to, find time to spend time together.

And so that was a winsome example of us thinking about each other and like, Hey,

how can we spend more time together?

Well, let's buy a baseball team, kind of a weird example, but, but,

but it was actually, that was the, that was the reason why we bought

a team is for the investment.

Wasn't for, you know, to make a lot of money or any of that stuff.

It was.

To have fun and have a shared experience together with, uh, with,

with my friend and who I care about.

And, and, and so I, so that's a great, another great example,

but it's been a lot of fun.

At least their colors aren't bright yellow, like that Savannah Bananas guy,

you'd have to be wearing that yellow.

Colors all the time, right?

Yeah.

You won't see me doing that, but, but, but this, this is pretty flashy for me.

So this is, uh, this is about as flash as I get.

Very nice.

Hey, brian tell tell everybody how they can connect with you and find the

book winsome again Here's a picture of it for those that might be watching

the video Tell them where they can find you and connect with you if they

want to get more info on you Yeah,

Yeah, well, you can go to the true north family dot com.

That's our, that's our corporate family website.

you can go to, um, win some fable.

com as well to order it, especially group orders.

Um, there's a lot of groups that are starting to order it now

because it is one of those books.

That's a great read to talk about as a small group or, or, uh, you

know, or even just a larger group.

Um, you know, we had a class, we had a class in college actually

use it as one of their course just from a relationship standpoint.

As it relates to business.

so, um, but yeah, you can, and of course Amazon and, and, and all the

different Barnes and Noble, all the, all those folks, uh, can, you can order

online and, uh, through them as well.

and I like I like the hardback.

I got a hardback copy of it I don't know if y'all sent it over or if

we bought it, whatever But anyway, I like a little hardback book.

It feels good in the hands.

I like that in reading hey brian, we are seek Go create those three words

you probably guess where some of those words come from And i'm gonna i'm gonna

allow you to pick one of those over the other two that means more than the other

two Currently don't overthink it but seek go or create and why last question.

Yeah.

I mean, uh, for me it would be go, uh, because, uh, you know, so much

of our, our world tells you to, to, to not, you know, or to pause

or, or to, to go the other way.

Um, and so just the, just the notion of going, you know, you

miss a hundred percent of shots.

You don't take, you got to go learn from your mistakes, have a bias for action.

Um, willing to fail all of those elements.

Um, that's how you learn and grow.

And, you know, and, and, uh, you know, yeah, you're going to realize,

you're going to realize and go through adversity, pain and toil, right.

By just going right.

But sometimes that's exactly what God wants you to do, you know?

And, and so just encourage everybody to go, you know, go.

Love it.

Thank you.

Brian author of winsome Five proven life strategies to win in relationships.

Go check it out, get the book, get copies.

like you need to get multiple copies from what Brian said.

And, uh, I appreciate this conversation.

I love conversations with people have gone through events where they've had to make

adjustments and transitions and changes.

That's one of the things we're doing here at Seek Go Create is we're redefining

what success looks like for people talking about that leadership journey.

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