Episode Transcript
Adam O'Leary (00:01.358)
If you're a business owner struggling and feeling stuck, burned out and overwhelmed by the demands of your business, then our guest, Kenneth Wich, is about to give you a simple win you can implement today. Kenneth is the author of the award-winning book, Get Your Mind Right, as well as an entrepreneur and thought leader. Through his background in psychology, business, in personal and professional development,
He brings a fresh perspective on mindset growth, organizational development, success and more. Kenneth, so excited to have you here.
Kenneth Wyche (00:32.27)
Hey, hi Adam, thanks for having me. For the record, before we get started, it's White, Kenneth White. No, but you're good, you're good. I get a lot of interpretations of my last name, so you're cool. It's more common, your pronunciation is more common than...
Adam O'Leary (00:38.572)
Waits do we go?
Adam O'Leary (00:47.534)
I love it.
Yeah, that's amazing. Well, Kenneth, awesome. I heard you discuss how aligning different mindsets and teams can drive greater success. Why is the alignment so critical for business owners and how does it directly impact their bottom line?
Kenneth Wyche (01:07.48)
Yeah, so in terms of the alignment, so even when you're dealing with your, so I think about it from a few different perspectives. I think about it from a leader to a subordinate perspective and then a subordinate from a leader perspective. So when you talk about that alignment, I think about how are these two pieces working together to achieve a certain goal.
From my experience being in corporate America and in that space, usually there is some type of goal or metric or achievement that wants to be accomplished or obviously we're looking to hit a quota, whatever that may look like. And there has to be alignment between the person setting the goal and the person that's being tasked to achieve the goal or whatever that type of.
may look like between something being accomplished. So the alignment for me and the importance of that alignment is really around how are we centering what our goals are. How are we coming together and choosing to agree on these are the things that we want to focus on and these are the things that we want to get done and achieve. And then strategizing.
for the purpose of achieving those goals. And that's where the alignment is critical, because if you're not on the same page when you're trying to effectuate something, that can certainly create roadblocks and difficulties from the perspective of just a lack of cohesion when trying to execute.
Adam O'Leary (02:50.478)
I love that. And so let's say if we're talking to whether it be a business partner or a teammate, let's actually focus more on the teammate, right? If we're looking to try to say, okay, here's the KPIs for this specific person. Here's the goals that we're setting out to achieve. What's a good way that we can kind of have that conversation to make sure that we know what this person's goals truly are.
Kenneth Wyche (02:57.837)
sure.
Kenneth Wyche (03:15.15)
So you're referring to the team member with the team members goals are? Right.
Adam O'Leary (03:19.084)
Yep. So let's say if I'm a business owner, right, and we're trying to achieve this big goal together, right? Everybody's working on the same page. Everybody's trying to get something. How do we make sure that each team members aligned properly?
Kenneth Wyche (03:30.7)
Yeah, and so that's a great question. think sometimes leaders can obviously, being in that role, you may put a lot of focus on how you conduct yourself in that space, but the team members, those individuals who are showing up, they have to make sure that they are putting forth what's required to be effective as well. So you have to have a little bit of buy-in from the team member.
As a leader, one of the effective things you can do is solicit buy-in and encourage and continue that process of encouraging the teammate to continue to push forward. And I think that that's critically important, especially if the teammate is having not necessarily the best week or they're having an amazing week, but how are you supporting them in those valley and those mountain top moments? That's where I think a leader is key because...
Sometimes what a team member needs is multifaceted and a leader can do a good job at identifying those multifacets and pulling the best out of a team member. And so again, I don't want to put all the pressure on the leader or the team member with respect to wanting to focus on drive and achieving that goal. When a team member specifically who
isn't necessarily always setting goals, comes into a program or a system where goals are set out for them. Their mission, which is kind of easy for them, is to identify buy-in, figure out how they can get involved in what's already taking place. And a good leader in that space and in that context is encouraging helping the team member identify and, excuse me, and facilitating the process for the team member to...
buy into the cause and feel like that they are making a difference in contributing to the overall goal of the organization. So yeah, that is a conversation that the leader and the team members should have to understand, okay, where are we? How can we make this the most effective? Is this the right fit? And how can we proceed with making sure that you're achieving?
Kenneth Wyche (05:45.974)
your goals and what you want for your life and that those goals, not that the team members goals are in alignment with the company or the organization, but the team member can see how they can get their goals achieved through achieving the goals of the organization.
Adam O'Leary (06:02.431)
Absolutely. No, I really liked that. And it just had me starting to think. So now that you're talking about goals, right? I think one thing that happens, especially for us business owners is that we sometimes feel like we hit like a plateau, right? We, we, we hit this kind of a base, I guess you could say, or this ceiling. And it's hard for us to kind of push ourselves through it. And I feel like a lot of the times this is, it's, it wears off when we start communicating to teammates, especially if we're in this plateau type of a space.
Kenneth Wyche (06:20.718)
Right.
Adam O'Leary (06:31.277)
where like the whole company will start to kind of hit that ceiling. How would you recommend somebody to be able to kind of push through that plateau that they may hit?
Kenneth Wyche (06:42.786)
That's interesting when you say it's possible where the entire company may resonate on that space, on that plane as well. Can you elaborate a little bit more?
Adam O'Leary (06:52.417)
Yeah, absolutely. especially if we're talking about a single founder type of a company, typically what I've seen is that people, it's almost like there's this mindset, right? Where it's like, okay, I want to get to my first million. I want to get to my first 10 million. And then once they hit that, there's this drive to want to hit more, but it's also at the same time, it's like they've hit that number. So what happens a lot of the time is,
Kenneth Wyche (07:04.567)
Sure.
Kenneth Wyche (07:12.323)
No, I'm not.
Kenneth Wyche (07:17.069)
Right.
Adam O'Leary (07:19.159)
they try to push or they try to do crazy type of stuff like trying totally different experiments and nothing seems to kind of push back and it starts to wear on the team a little bit. So hopefully that makes sense to you. So if I'm a business owner, let's say if I've hit that goal, that million dollar threshold, $5 million, $10 million, how are we gonna start pushing ourselves through?
Kenneth Wyche (07:39.97)
Right, no that's a great point. I think that some of that, the way you're describing that, and cause I've, it's very rare that I've approached that issue from that perspective of like, as an organization we're kind of like stuck here, and how do we push through that? And it's so interesting because sometimes that's like how you get to your next level, how you get to a new space and place in your organization.
I was talking about this in a different conversation that I was having with respect to having big enough goals and having big enough targets and things that you want to achieve. Sometimes the problem with not having a large enough goal, not to say that hitting a million, five million in revenue isn't like a good goal, but like sometimes you hit your goal and then yeah, you do find yourself in a comfort zone or you do find yourself in a place of
looking for desire, looking for a reason to push forward in a substantive way. And sometimes I can have negative downstream effects if you can't work through that. Some of that I think is simply from, and see now, I feel bad because what came to mind sounds really rough and I'm not trying to be hard on anybody, but it sounds like a lack of visionary leadership with respect to, can you see past?
where we are now. I understand you wanted to get here and congratulations, you are here. What are you maintaining? How are you maintaining? Are there any efficiencies? How can we do what we're doing better? Because sometimes the goal could be, I just wanna stay here, do what I'm doing, I just wanna get really good at doing what I'm doing. And so, all right, how can we look at ways to increase profitability, increase efficiency, and optimize some of the processes that are taking place?
Sometimes that's the conversation that needs to happen on that level. then sometimes it's, okay, yeah, I am stuck and I do want to excel, but I'm not necessarily seeing what a new realm of reality could look like beyond where I'm at now. And so, yeah, sometimes that just takes a little bit of wider leadership, a little bit of wider scope to see what can...
Kenneth Wyche (10:03.502)
be the next stage for the business? What can be the next place to go? It's very subjective for a business, because you never know. Depending what industry they're in and what their focuses are, they may have different ways in which they want to interact with their market or develop a new product or whatever that may look like. But that would be one of the conversations or something I would take into consideration if I'm dealing with someone like that who has plateaued in that way. OK, well, where do you want to go next?
Adam O'Leary (10:33.933)
So instead of looking at it as like financial types of goals, right? If somebody's hit this level of stagnation, instead of looking at it as financial goals, how would you work with a client and recommend or kind of give them that vision, that new vision that they need to be able to push past the next level?
Kenneth Wyche (10:37.902)
I
Kenneth Wyche (10:51.662)
That's a great question. I would want to start with why did they get into it in the first place? Our whys can be very abundant when we take some time to not only know what they are, but then be willing to go back to them and gain new insights from why we started and why we set it up doing what we were doing in the first place. So that's where I would start with that individual, like, why did you get into doing what you were doing in the first place? And then...
I guess what happened, like what was the synapse that caused you to take your foot off the gear? Like, okay, you reached your goal, you reached your target, but then what stopped you from making a new goal and making a new target or finding something next to go move on to? And I get that sense of relative, relativeness fatigue where you just get.
exhausted from trying to be relevant or exhausted from trying to gesticulate in a certain way. I can empathize with that. But also at the same time, okay, if you find yourself, I've done all that I wanna do and I just wanna do a better job at doing what I'm doing, okay, all right, great, we can figure that out. And then again, I feel like it's the same conversation. Regardless of what the end goal is, the conversation is similar.
because there's something that has to be stirred up in whoever is steering the ship. Where is the leader guiding? Where are they going? Where is the individual going? Where are these people going? Where do they want to go? And regardless of whether that's a financial goal, a personal goal, a professional goal, whatever that situation is, a lot of people, or when I speak to someone in this regard and getting past that plateau and moving higher,
It's really a question of, where do you want to go next? What do you want to do next?
Adam O'Leary (12:54.137)
Amazing. And what sort of results have you seen from your clients implementing the processes that you've worked with them on?
Kenneth Wyche (13:00.288)
Right. Well, I'm glad you brought up the gym analogy because that is a common issue in terms of the plateauing kind of perspective.
Kenneth Wyche (13:16.238)
The results that I see from my clients when I work with them and have people speak with me on some of the issues that we've discussed today, I do lot of interpersonal, so working with people in their personal lives as well as professional development, but these are individuals that are looking for growth and development, and the stuff that they often tell me when I get feedback from them is thank you for having...
certain resources that you have and showing me what resources can help me see my situation differently. was, as an example, I was so focused on this one aspect of my life. I wanted to achieve and really focus on this thing that I was letting other aspects of my life go for.
various people I speak to, whether that's, you know, I'm so focused on my work, but I feel like I'm consumed in that space, I'm looking for something else to do, or people I've spoken with, where it's like, I am having difficulties making healthy boundaries in my personal life, and that is affecting me just in how I can interact and exist in the world. But because I'm dealing with that struggle,
One, thank you for pointing that out to me and helping me work through, put words to what that struggle is and some of the techniques that I've learned from you, Kenneth, or from life with Ken include ways to compartmentalize better, include ways to put up healthy boundaries and communicate more effectively and to really step away from certain environments when I need to step away and then lean into other situations when that's required. when I speak to people and some of the results that I...
hear from what I do with individuals. It's really about thank you for, yes, helping me get past that plateau. Thank you for helping me see that maybe I've been stuck or stagnant in some way. And because of your information, because of speaking with you, now I realize, now I realize I have the revelation, the entrance of new knowledge to let me know that there is a new opportunity or there's something else that I can do. And so I get a lot of feedback and
Kenneth Wyche (15:32.094)
rapport for just helping people think differently and then because I help them think differently and give them different tools then they apply those tools whether it's mindset whether it's different types of habits to put in place to practice and then or to develop different things in their life and build up endurance over time they find that valuable from my offering what I have to offer because of a certain level of structure that they may not have had in certain areas of their life
that is yielding results that they want to see. And they're building that themselves so it's real hands on too, so they feel connected to the results that they are getting.
Adam O'Leary (16:10.868)
Amazing. Well, where can people go to learn more about you?
Kenneth Wyche (16:14.156)
Yeah, so you can visit me, well, visit my website, LifeWithKen.com, and that's where all of my resources are, my book, articles, newsletter, and some courses that I offer as well.
Adam O'Leary (16:27.646)
Amazing. Well, thank you so much, Ken. So great to have you on.
Kenneth Wyche (16:31.192)
Thanks Adam, you've been great.
Adam O'Leary (16:32.755)
Awesome, thank you everyone for joining and I will see you on the next episode.
