IAM1834 – Coach Helps Individuals from Alienation to Profound Self-Actualization

Transcription:

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Scott Mason Teaser 00:00

They need and can benefit from the same sort of tool to connect them to what we mentioned earlier, that core to find the right place for them. We all only get to live this particular life once. If there's a chance for people to move from alienation into profound self-actualization, I want to share it with them.

I want them to live professionally free.

Intro 00:22

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of.

This is the I AM CEO podcast.

Gresham Harkless 00:51

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I appreciate you listening to this episode. If you've been listening this year, you know that we've hit 1600 episodes at the beginning of this year. We're doing something a little bit different where we're repurposing our favorite episodes around certain categories, topics, or as I like to call them, business pillars that we think are going to be extremely impactful for CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business owners, just like you, what I like to call the CB nation architects who are looking to level up their organizations.

This month, we are focusing on CEO Hacks and CEO Nuggets. This is by far one of my favorite questions I asked on the show. In other words, I asked, what are the apps, books, and habits that make you more effective and efficient. Those were the CEO hacks. Then I asked for a word of wisdom or a piece of advice or something that you might tell your younger business self, if you were to hop into a time machine and those were the CEO nuggets. That's what we'll focus on this month and some of the top ones that can instantly impact your business.

I love all the questions, but with every episode, I felt I would walk away with something I could look at and implement right there to save the precious resources, time and money. Or I would also learn about the advice, tips and tidbits or tools of the trade on how to level up our organization. So you'll hear some of these this month. So sit back and enjoy this special episode of the I AM CEO podcast.

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Scott Mason, the Myth Slayer. Scott, super excited to have you on the show.

Scott Mason 02:26

Hey, I'm thrilled to be here.

Gresham Harkless 02:28

Yes. Excited to have you on and talk about all the awesome things that you're doing. Of course, before we do that, I want to read a little bit more about Scott. So you'd hear about some of those awesome things.

Scott is the Myth Slayer, a speaker, author, podcaster, and coach who works with executives and successful entrepreneurs feeling stuck or stagnant in their career or business and are ready for change. After graduating from Columbia Law School, Scott worked for over 20 years as an Attorney and Senior Executive with a variety of organizations in the government and the nonprofit sectors before growing and scaling a manufacturing company.

His insights on leadership and transformation have appeared in both book compilations and online magazines. He's hosted three podcasts, including one for Toastmasters International's Greater New York District and another for Scott Mason's Purposeful Highway, which was in the top 5% globally.

Scott, super excited again to have you on the show my friend. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Scott Mason 03:21

I am excited to do so.

Gresham Harkless 03:24

Awesome. Let's get it started then. So to kick everything off. I wanted to rewind the clock, hear a little bit more on how you got started with all the awesome things, what I call your CEO story.

Scott Mason 03:31

Thank you. So as you indicated in your bio, this is actually my fourth career. After I co-owned that manufacturing company, my business partner and I had different visions about where it should go in the future.

I viewed this as my sort of 4th go around as an opportunity to really found and create a company that played to my strengths. That also could bring some visionary dialogue discussion and some new ways about thinking about being a leader or CEO into that space. And hence the current iteration of my professional life was born.

Gresham Harkless 04:08

Nice. I absolutely love that. The more you learn, the more you experience life, the more you start to see different problems and tackle different ways to reinvent yourself. I think that in much the same way, it sounds like you've had the career going along with it.

Scott Mason 04:19

It is absolutely the best. One of the things I like about doing that is that each iteration you move closer and closer to your core. If you do it, you move not only closer to your core, but you're able to more and more deeply connect your inner purpose, your values and the non-negotiables in your life.

Once you have all of that tied together, you can find true professional freedom. That's a position I want anyone and everyone possible to be in particularly if you're leading any sort of organization.

Gresham Harkless 04:54

Yeah, that's so huge. I love that it drew parallels to what you said, where through the process of life, you start to get closer to your core, your essence of who you are, and those values and all those things that are right in alignment with the essence of who you are.

Scott Mason 05:08

Absolutely. It's interesting. My firm belief is that each of us was brought into the world and then through our life experiences develop into a unique combination of native skills and talents, but then also experiences as well as values. Now, no one's life is identical, nor are any of our genetics identical. So with that comes a high degree of individuation within every single person. The beauty of that is that allows a high degree of individuation as to what we can bring out into the world as leaders, both personally and B2B the organizations that we work with.

Once we connect with that, If we're able to get right into that core and nail it, and then externalize it in a way that's charismatic and magnetizes people, then we have that opportunity to fully actualize what we have been given all of these things for. Which is to shift the world in our own ways, maybe big, it may be small, but a shift is a shift. Ripple effects can end up being gigantic.

Gresham Harkless 06:19

Yeah, absolutely. So I wanted to drill down a little bit more, hear a little bit more about your podcast, and all the awesome things you're doing. So could you take us through the different and multiple ways that you serve and work with the clients you have?

Scott Mason 06:29

Absolutely. So as you indicated in bio, I'm a speaker as well as a coach, as well as an author. And all of the work that I do centers on the theme of magnetizing and monetizing professional freedom. Now that may be by up-leveling your leadership so that you find exactly what we spoke about a few minutes ago, that core of yours that allows you to electrify the world as a leader or it may simply be working with people, particularly in large organizational contexts that feel disconnected from their purpose or alienated from their work.

Sometimes it may mean that they need to shift career paths. Sometimes it may mean that they need to move into entrepreneurialism, whatever. At the end of the day, I want them to find professional freedom. I do that through a signature program that teaches them how to dislodge the toxic myths that they might be telling themselves that hold them back as well as igniting the charisma within.

The limbs through which I view that and the journey through which I take them is all rooted in Greek mythology, which, as we know, is timeless universal, and examined carefully in a leadership context can take people in some amazing, unprecedented directions.

Gresham Harkless 07:45

Yeah, I absolutely love that. I think when you start to get closer to your core, as we've been talking about, and you really can understand that whether you're a leader at a high-level organization or you're a customer or client number 555 or whatever organization, you have that purpose.

If you can tap into that and get rid of the stuff that can hold you back from that, then you really can do some remarkable things.

Scott Mason 08:09

Absolutely. One of the challenges that folks have sometimes is recognizing what that stuff is, let alone developing a framework within which they can conceptualize how these things are playing out in their lives. That in particular is where I feel that Greek mythology is a useful tool. Studying Greek mythology across the board. But in Greek mythology, in particular, I've been able to identify 5 toxic myth types. They are represented in the myths themselves, but also representative of stories that people tell themselves.

In addition, there are 5 toxic roles within myths that even if you are living out a myth or telling yourself a story, this neutral can turn your journey into one that is negative. So one of the very first things that we do is look at the narratives people are telling themselves. What mythological framework is it stick fitting into and that is it toxic? What roles are you playing? Are those toxic. There are three positive roles that we can move people into.

Once they're into those three positive roles, they can find the power within to rewrite a whole new book of mythology or their future with that book. The new leg of their journey can begin.

Gresham Harkless 09:25

Yeah, absolutely. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. This could be for yourself or the organization, or a combination of both. But I almost feel like the ability to be able to take that Greek history, the narratives and that information, be able to translate that so people can create that impact and change, do you feel like that's part of your secret sauce?

Scott Mason 09:46

I would say that is the secret sauce. It's changed my life and I'm determined to bring the positive impact that has had on my life out into the world, because there are a lot of folks out there that are feeling alienated that are feeling disconnected. That's a situation as the world accelerates from a business perspective more and more quickly into more and more complexity as well as deeper and deeper levels of specialization and impersonalization, particularly as automation continues to emerge who and what we are work can be something that folks feel utterly severed from.

They need and can benefit from the same sort of tool to connect them to what we mentioned earlier, that core to find the right place for them. We all only get to live this particular life once. If there's a chance for people to move from alienation into profound self-actualization, I want to share it with them. I want them to live professionally free.

Gresham Harkless 10:48

Absolutely. I love that. So, Scott, I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So you might have already touched on this, but this could be like an app, a book or a habit that you have. But what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Scott Mason 11:02

I believe in making sure that whenever I communicate, particularly if I am in a public space, in a leadership space that I am doing one thing in particular, making sure that I am consciously connecting the message in my brain to the purpose-driven space in my heart, when those things connect, a power valve opens and charisma bursts out. Charisma is ultimately what brings people behind our message. Charisma is the greatest secret that a leader has or might not have that no one talks about.

Building that charisma and being conscious of what it takes to push it out is my answer to your question. We each have charisma within us, you'll hear people every now and then say, oh, I'm not very tall. I have a very small physical presence and my voice is soft. So, actually the Greek myths have a lot to say about that in particular. The one lesson that one can take away from those myths without me going through the whole thing is that it is within every single one of us and it may manifest differently, but that power is the ultimate, in my opinion, secret leadership hack.

Gresham Harkless 12:25

That's absolutely huge. So what would you consider to be what I like to call a CEO nugget? This is a little bit more word of wisdom or a piece of advice. I usually say it might be something you would tell your favorite client, or if you hopped into a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

Scott Mason 12:39

Who and what you are at any given moment is subject to change. A lot of times, going back to Greek mythology as a metaphor, you'll hear people talk about being on a hero's journey and the journey that all of us are on, if we are navigating it, ideally can feel and even be heroic, but let's never forget the status of a hero is always transitional.

A hero is on a journey from place A to place B. They're not just on the heroic journey forever. Now, in Greek mythology, once a hero takes the actions that transform them from an Ordinary being into a hero, then they have an experience called apotheosis. In other words, they become a god, understand that we all are in transition, like I said earlier, who and what we are today isn't necessarily forever. The goal that I recommend my clients aspire to is not being just a hero, but being an Olympian.

Gresham Harkless 13:50

Absolutely. So I want to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different quote and quote CEOs on this show.

So Scott, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Scott Mason 14:02

Being a CEO is magnetizing individuals and systems around you so that you can bring the change to society to a larger sphere that you are seeking to make either through the product that you sell or the service that your organization provides.

Now, I don't necessarily believe that maximizing profit is necessarily a part of that formula because there are CEOs that are of nonprofits. So all that goes as to the importance of making some difference in the world that would not be there where the product or service that you're providing is ultimately not in existence.

Being a CEO is, as I mentioned earlier, the ability to galvanize people behind whatever that change is.

Gresham Harkless 14:58

Absolutely. Scott, truly appreciate that definition. Of course I appreciate your time even more. So what I wanted to do now is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know, and of course, how best people can get a hold of you, find out about your podcast, all the awesome things that you're working on my friend.

Scott Mason 15:17

Thank you. If you have found anything that I've said today meaningful to you, I ask that you follow me on LinkedIn or Instagram. On LinkedIn, I'm S.Scott Mason. There are a zillion other Scott Masons, but I'm the only S.Scott Mason. Then follow me on Instagram at s.scott_mason.

One of the things that people are finding very compelling that I do is break down a series of myths week by week with a business lesson attached to them every day. If you want to talk further about how to magnetize or monetize professional freedom, you should feel free to reach out to me at Scott@myfreedomrocks.com.

Gresham Harkless 16:00

Awesome. And of course, to make it even easier, just so there's no confusion with any other Scott Masons we're going to have the links and information in the show notes too, so that everybody can follow up with you and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Scott Mason 16:11

Thank you.

Outro 16:12

Thank you for listening to the I I AM CEO podcast, powered by CB Nation in Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community.

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Subscribe and leave us a five-star rating. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.

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