IAM1515 – Internationally Recognized Thought Leader, Venture Capitalist and Author Passionate About Building Sustainable Cities
Special Throwback Episode Podcast Interview with Scott Amyx
Mr. Scott Amyx is an internationally recognized thought leader, venture capitalist, speaker, and author on smart cities, exponential technologies, and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He has appeared or spoken on TV, New York Times, TIME, Forbes, TechCrunch, TEDx, CIO, Washington Post, WIRED, Forrester, G20, European Commission, United Nations, ITU, Pew Research Center, Environmental Defense Fund, and other major media and events.
Mr. Amyx was voted the Most Influential Leader in Smart Cities and awarded the 50 Most Impactful Smart Cities Leaders by Inc. Magazine, Internet of Things Institute, HP Enterprise, World CSR Congress, and numerous institutions. He received the Cloud & DevOps World Award for Most Innovative. He is an IBM IoT Futurist, Tribeca Disruptor Foundation Fellow, Singularity University/ Smart City Accelerator Mentor, and National Sloan Fellow/ Woodrow Wilson Fellow. In addition, Mr. Amyx has been nominated to the World Economic Forum as a committee member for the Future of the Internet.
- CEO Story: Grew up in South Korea during the 1970s. Due to a lack of choice and opportunities, Scott has to migrate to the United States. His mission is to travel and help people around the world how they can create economic engines to support themselves and be resilient so that they can withstand the impact of climate change.
- Business Service: Every city has a relative comparative advantage. Help cities understand what it is doing better relative to anyone else.
- Secret Sauce: Demand-driven supply network focusing on the buy side first.
- CEO Hack: My book, Strive
- CEO Nugget: Set your goals and plan to execute. S.T.R.I.V.E
- CEO Defined: Letting the personal ego aside, being disciplined in terms of culture and action.
Website: http://scottamyx.com/
Books: https://scottamyx.com/books/
Newsroom: https://scottamyx.com/newsroom/
Business website: http://amyxventures.com/
Personal website: https://scottamyx.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottamyx/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AmyxIoT
Videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNnVp5hGUCRoY-XpPDoGPMA/videos?disable_polymer=1
Detailed Bio: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DDGRaKPRTIbh05xJf0xAd9xBPkTndFsfjF_SQG1v31g/edit?usp=sharing
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Transcription
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00:14 – Intro
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 Harkness 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.
00:39 – Gresham Harkless
Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Scott Amex of Amex Ventures. Scott, it's awesome to have you on the show. Mr. Scott Amex is an internationally recognized thought leader, venture capitalist, speaker, and author on Smart Cities, Exponential Technologies, and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He has appeared or spoken on TV, New York Times, Time, Forbes, TechCrunch, TEDx, CIO, Washington Post, Wired, Forrester, G20, European Commission, United Nations, ITU, Pew Research Center, Environmental Defense Funds, and other major media events.
Mr. Amex was voted the most influential leader in smart cities and awarded the 50 most impactful smart cities leader by Inc. Magazine, Internet of Things Institute, HP Enterprise, World CSR Congress, and numerous institutions. He received the Cloud and Dev Ops World Award for most innovative. He is an IBM IOT Futuristic Tribeca Disruptor Foundation Fellow, Singularity University slash Smart City Accelerator Mentor, and National Sloan fellow, Woodrow Wilson fellow. In addition, Mr. Amix has been nominated to the World Economic Forum as a committee member for the future of the Internet. Scott, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?
[restrict paid=”true”]
01:59 – Scott Amyx
Absolutely, I think you just basically wrapped up the podcast. So thanks for having me and I'll talk to you later.
02:05 – Gresham Harkless
There you go. It was hard for me to say all that. So I can't imagine how hard it is for you to be putting in all the hours and the work to be able to accomplish all that. So I wanted to kick everything off just to hear a little bit more about your CEO story and how you were able to accomplish all these things and get to where you are now.
02:19 – Scott Amyx
Thank you so much for the introduction. As I actually mentioned some of this in my TEDx talk, I grew up in South Korea during the 1970s a volatile time of its young democracy. We were actually one of the poorest countries in the entire world, believe it or not. And our GDP was lower per capita than most of the sub-Saharan African countries. So the question is, how did half of a peninsula, half of a country with absolutely nothing in the next 30, 40 years become a G20 OECD nation?
That has been a question and a personal goal that I have actually personally undertaken. Our focus at Amicentra is about smart, sustainable cities, particularly addressing the essential sustainable economic development and the sustainable development goals as defined by the United Nations. Part of the reason I had to leave South Korea and come to the US is because it was a lack of choice and lack of opportunities.
So coming back to the question around my CEO story the way I see my personal mission for the rest of my life is to travel and to help people around the world in a particular city focus on how they can create economic engines to support themselves and to be resilient so that we can actually withstand the impact of the climate change.
03:32 – Gresham Harkless
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. And so I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper in here exactly like how are the ways that you are, you know, helping these countries in these places be able to be sustainable.
03:42 – Scott Amyx
Every region and again, I'll take a city-focused perspective that every city has a relative comparative advantage. In other words, just because every country is focusing on AI, blockchain, robotics, and so forth, doesn't mean that you can't also focus on it. But if you understand from your local region what you do best relative to another region in different parts of the world, as long as there is a difference, that's sufficient for comparative advantage. And that's the fundamental of global trade. So let me give you an example. The Czech Republic and I spent several weeks there, cumulatively, there is a region in the northern part of the Czech Republic above Prague and below Dresden, Germany. And it's called the Usti region.
This is a remnant of the first industrial revolution, where you have significant heavy pollution from coal and chemicals that polluted the water and the air. And what you have is a legacy of brownfields, and abandoned buildings since the first industrial revolution. And that is an area that even their own people completely eschew. Now, when we looked at that region and said, okay, how do we actually revive this region and this city? We looked at what is that region doing better relative to anyone else in that sphere of the world.
Well, one of the things that's very strategic for that region is their proximity to Germany, and particularly the auto ecosystem. So already they export some one million Skoda. Skoda is a car brand that's been acquired by Volkswagen. That was originally from the Czech Republic. So they're very much integrated into the auto ecosystem. And more so there is a mountainous region that just barely borders the Germany line called Sinovac that is sitting on one of the largest mountains of lithium and tin mineral deposits.
And lithium is one of the core ingredients that's needed for electric vehicle batteries. So what I'm proposing to the ministers of environment, ministers of trade and education, and the prime minister is that we can actually develop that area to become an electric vehicle battery storage and a hydrogen fuel cell industrial corridor. Now, why is that important? Right now the German auto ecosystem relies on Japanese, China, and Korea manufacturers for electric vehicle batteries. But as the electric EV batteries grow to some greater than 600%, they want to be able to in-source, be able to control it, and not have the economic rent leave that region. So here's an opportunity where we can basically ensure that the Czech Republic, for the next foreseeable several decades, will have a strong economic engine by focusing on EV batteries and storage, and then the next generation, which is the hydrogen fuel cell.
So that's an example. So what we focus on from a fund is looking at the technologies that support smart sustainable cities and more importantly from our comparative advantage that we think we do all better than anyone else is that we take a demand-driven focus, which means that startups fail not because they have bad technologies or bad team composition, but they fail because they can't cross the chasm. They can't get enough pilots. They can't get enough cash flow to generate and scale it
. So we start with the city side first and we have access to hundreds of cities and the kinds of projects and what they're needing in terms of technologies and then we bring the best startups to them. Only when the cities and the industry say yes, we want to procure pilots, only then we invest in those startups. So what you have is a portfolio of winners that's going to drive significant returns for LPs and investors, but also the growth sustainability, and resiliency that these cities will need.
07:15 – Gresham Harkless
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Yeah, I love that kind of, I don't know if I want to call it high-level kind of perspective, but just being able to kind of see, as you mentioned, the startup ventures and the ventures that you all are invested in, but also be able to see the strengths of the countries or cities or locations and being able to kind of bring those 2 together so that you can create solutions. I think that's pretty awesome. And I wanted to ask you for a secret sauce and they might have already touched on that. Is that what you feel kind of is your secret sauce or differentiator?
07:40 – Scott Amyx
It is. I think one of our core secret sauce has to do with the fact that we take a very much demand-driven supply network, which means that we actually start with the buy side. And we think that it's not always best to create or support technologies that are solutions to non-problems. But rather, if you really spend the time on the buy side, then it becomes very clear in terms of what they actually need and what they're actually willing to procure and spend money on. Let me give you a quick example from a metaphor.
When you look at GE, GE is going through a lot of issues as an organization and they lost significant market cap, Compare them to Xerox. GE focused on mergers acquisitions and divestitures for the last several decades. Xerox on the other hand, where most of us know them as a printing company, spent the last several decades really hunkering down and talking to their clients or customers about what they need for their business.
And then developing new products and services based on the specific feedback and insights that their customers are telling them and letting that drive their organization's organic growth and product development management. So as a result, Xerox is much more robust, much more resilient, much more forward and strategic because they focus on the buy side first.
08:56 – Gresham Harkless
And now I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. This might be an app, a book a resource, or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient as a business owner.
09:07 – Scott Amyx
Well, part of my life experience that I was alluding to in your first question resulted in one of my first mainstream books called Strive. It's about how doing the things most uncomfortable leads to success. And it's been endorsed by Tony Robbins, Forbes, Singularity University, Tribeca Film Festival, and many global influencers. And it's regardless of who or where you are and what you do or you've done for a living, how young or old we are, that the secret to outstanding achievement and success is not just simply talent, but doing the things uncomfortable that I call stride.
See, what really drives success is not just simply intellect or opportunities or even networking. Because in my book, I talk about all different examples of people who have those, but yet then have sustainable success. But it's about pursuing the personal change that's most uncomfortable for you at that given moment. So that's my CEO hack.
10:01 – Gresham Harkless
I love that. And it's a great reminder because sometimes like you're the most talented quote-unquote, or you work the hardest, but if it's not directed towards those things that sometimes are uncomfortable, but actually move the needle, it's a great reminder. I know through your TEDx talk, you also spoke a lot about that as well too. And now I wanted to ask you for what I call your CEO nugget and this might be a word of wisdom or piece of advice Or if you can hop into a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?
10:23 – Scott Amyx
Well, I thought that what this audience would really derive value from is not just a single sentence nugget But a brief summary of my strive methodology. And it's really the formula by which you can activate and strive for yourself in your life. So number 1 is to set a goal. One of the worst things you can do is just simply just plow ahead, not knowing exactly where you're going. But in Good to Great, Jim Collins talks about level 5 leaders and it's about leaders who have a greater purpose than themselves when you set a goal that is looking at the big picture then all of a sudden you have a guiding north star for the rest of your life and it's not just simply about money fame or glory.
Number 2 in strive which is T stands for think about how to get there and plan for success. One of the most important things to executing your dreams is about making sure you have step by step plan to execute. And it literally comes down to being able to go from lifetime, decade, annual, monthly to daily. And everything you do, you have to know where you're going. Number 3 is R in STRI, which stands for risk. Embrace it. This is probably the hardest for most of us because it's the things that we have to do, but it scares us. Maybe we have to speak in front of a stage or maybe you have to take our savings and then invest that into a new business or change your career or go back to school or marry or maybe use a certain relationship.
So whatever that hard thing is, The key is you have to take the first step. And it's only when you stretch yourself that you begin to make huge gains. Number 4 in strive is an eye for insights. What did you learn from your uncomfortable change? One of the biggest dangers of being a CEO or boss of your own business is the fact that we lose touch with our sense of awareness or feedback.
So the only way you can ensure that you're progressing in the right direction is to intentionally self-examine every iteration. Meaning, it's okay if you fail, to take a particular step, But what did you learn from that? And how do you use that insight to better yourself and increase your likely chance of success in the next round? And to continue to tweak and to iterate. And lastly is V in STRI, which stands for verifying progress. You have to be able to quantify your success and make sure that you're going in the right direction. Just like we check Waze or GPS when we're driving, you have to verify your direction.
And I'm sorry, and the last one is 6 is E in Strive, which is to enhance yourself mentally and physically. You know, Over the years, I've been such a workaholic that I've at some point neglected my body. I have a herniated disc and all sorts of physical issues. But I realized that if you really want to succeed and go back to setting that goal, you have to focus on your holistic needs, physical, emotional, spiritual, and relational. So I start my day by reading the Bible, exercising, and meditating.
And in my mid-40s, I'm actually going back to take on that work on my secondary black belt. So it's when you are mentally, physically, spiritually, and relationally at your optimum, that's when you become most productive. So those represent the stride methodology and I hope that that is a CEO nugget for everyone listening today.
13:28 – Gresham Harkless
Yeah, definitely. Well, I appreciate you sharing that. It's kind of like a mountain more than where the nuggets are. There's so much value in there, but I love the idea that it's an acronym. You can break down and it's so holistically driven where, you know, start out from, you know, like you mentioned, you know, checking the GPS to make sure that you're taking care of yourself, doing all those aspects in order to be successful. So I think, you know, any entrepreneur or business owner can definitely benefit from that. Now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of being a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on this show. So I wanted to ask you, Scott, what does being a CEO mean to you?
13:57 – Scott Amyx
Well, I'm actually gonna be not original. I'm gonna actually refer to Good to Great by Jim Collins again in terms of level 5. And level 5 leaders, if you really look at them, they tend to be very humble, modest, and willful in the sense of intentionality. And they focus on a larger goal. And one of the things that they're very mindful of is they let their personal ego aside, meaning they set it aside. They don't carry them with them. And they're very disciplined in terms of their ambition. They're very disciplined in terms of their will. They're very disciplined in terms of the way they make decisions.
14:30 – Scott Amyx
But yet they're humble and they're able to channel their personal ego to something greater than themselves. The 3 things that a CEO, regardless of your organization's size, needs to focus on are discipline culture, discipline thought, and discipline action. And when we surround ourselves with the right people in the right position that are also level 5 leaders, what you have is an organization that becomes incredibly powerful because you don't have individuals that are doing things for selfish reasons but you have a cohesive collaborative that is working to push the mission statement and the goals of that organization to serve the people and the customers that they want to affect. And that to me is what makes a great CEO.
15:14 – Gresham Harkless
Awesome, awesome. Yeah, I love that, again, holistic perspective and keeping in mind all the different aspects of what it takes to kind of like run a business or be a CEO, so to speak. And I truly appreciate you for sharing that definition. And Scott, what I want to do is pass you the mic, so to speak. I want to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know how they can get a copy of your book or get in touch with you and then how best people can get a hold of you.
15:35 – Scott Amyx
get a hold of you. Well, I want to make sure that this particular podcast is useful and practical. And the way I can do that is let me ask a quick question to all of you that's listening. Regardless of how you choose to define success, Most of you that's listening today want more success out of life, right? I want to challenge you to do the things that are most uncomfortable for you. You have the opportunity to realize great success and to help you get started on your journey, I want to give you my Strive VIP sneak preview of the book with chapters 1 and 2. All you have to do is simply email press p-r-e-s-s at scotamics.com and we'll make sure to get you a free copy and get you started on striving for success.
16:14 – Gresham Harkless
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Scott. I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.
16:18 – Scott Amyx
Thank you very much. I appreciate.
16:20 – Outro
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by 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. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.
00:14 - Intro
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 Harkness 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.
00:39 - Gresham Harkless
Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Scott Amex of Amex Ventures. Scott, it's awesome to have you on the show. Mr. Scott Amex is an internationally recognized thought leader, venture capitalist, speaker, and author on Smart Cities, Exponential Technologies, and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He has appeared or spoken on TV, New York Times, Time, Forbes, TechCrunch, TEDx, CIO, Washington Post, Wired, Forrester, G20, European Commission, United Nations, ITU, Pew Research Center, Environmental Defense Funds, and other major media events.
Mr. Amex was voted the most influential leader in smart cities and awarded the 50 most impactful smart cities leader by Inc. Magazine, Internet of Things Institute, HP Enterprise, World CSR Congress, and numerous institutions. He received the Cloud and Dev Ops World Award for most innovative. He is an IBM IOT Futuristic Tribeca Disruptor Foundation Fellow, Singularity University slash Smart City Accelerator Mentor, and National Sloan fellow, Woodrow Wilson fellow. In addition, Mr. Amix has been nominated to the World Economic Forum as a committee member for the future of the Internet. Scott, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?
01:59 - Scott Amyx
Absolutely, I think you just basically wrapped up the podcast. So thanks for having me and I'll talk to you later.
02:05 - Gresham Harkless
There you go. It was hard for me to say all that. So I can't imagine how hard it is for you to be putting in all the hours and the work to be able to accomplish all that. So I wanted to kick everything off just to hear a little bit more about your CEO story and how you were able to accomplish all these things and get to where you are now.
02:19 - Scott Amyx
Thank you so much for the introduction. As I actually mentioned some of this in my TEDx talk, I grew up in South Korea during the 1970s a volatile time of its young democracy. We were actually one of the poorest countries in the entire world, believe it or not. And our GDP was lower per capita than most of the sub-Saharan African countries. So the question is, how did half of a peninsula, half of a country with absolutely nothing in the next 30, 40 years become a G20 OECD nation?
That has been a question and a personal goal that I have actually personally undertaken. Our focus at Amicentra is about smart, sustainable cities, particularly addressing the essential sustainable economic development and the sustainable development goals as defined by the United Nations. Part of the reason I had to leave South Korea and come to the US is because it was a lack of choice and lack of opportunities.
So coming back to the question around my CEO story the way I see my personal mission for the rest of my life is to travel and to help people around the world in a particular city focus on how they can create economic engines to support themselves and to be resilient so that we can actually withstand the impact of the climate change.
03:32 - Gresham Harkless
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. And so I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper in here exactly like how are the ways that you are, you know, helping these countries in these places be able to be sustainable.
03:42 - Scott Amyx
Every region and again, I'll take a city-focused perspective that every city has a relative comparative advantage. In other words, just because every country is focusing on AI, blockchain, robotics, and so forth, doesn't mean that you can't also focus on it. But if you understand from your local region what you do best relative to another region in different parts of the world, as long as there is a difference, that's sufficient for comparative advantage. And that's the fundamental of global trade. So let me give you an example. The Czech Republic and I spent several weeks there, cumulatively, there is a region in the northern part of the Czech Republic above Prague and below Dresden, Germany. And it's called the Usti region.
This is a remnant of the first industrial revolution, where you have significant heavy pollution from coal and chemicals that polluted the water and the air. And what you have is a legacy of brownfields, and abandoned buildings since the first industrial revolution. And that is an area that even their own people completely eschew. Now, when we looked at that region and said, okay, how do we actually revive this region and this city? We looked at what is that region doing better relative to anyone else in that sphere of the world.
Well, one of the things that's very strategic for that region is their proximity to Germany, and particularly the auto ecosystem. So already they export some one million Skoda. Skoda is a car brand that's been acquired by Volkswagen. That was originally from the Czech Republic. So they're very much integrated into the auto ecosystem. And more so there is a mountainous region that just barely borders the Germany line called Sinovac that is sitting on one of the largest mountains of lithium and tin mineral deposits.
And lithium is one of the core ingredients that's needed for electric vehicle batteries. So what I'm proposing to the ministers of environment, ministers of trade and education, and the prime minister is that we can actually develop that area to become an electric vehicle battery storage and a hydrogen fuel cell industrial corridor. Now, why is that important? Right now the German auto ecosystem relies on Japanese, China, and Korea manufacturers for electric vehicle batteries. But as the electric EV batteries grow to some greater than 600%, they want to be able to in-source, be able to control it, and not have the economic rent leave that region. So here's an opportunity where we can basically ensure that the Czech Republic, for the next foreseeable several decades, will have a strong economic engine by focusing on EV batteries and storage, and then the next generation, which is the hydrogen fuel cell.
So that's an example. So what we focus on from a fund is looking at the technologies that support smart sustainable cities and more importantly from our comparative advantage that we think we do all better than anyone else is that we take a demand-driven focus, which means that startups fail not because they have bad technologies or bad team composition, but they fail because they can't cross the chasm. They can't get enough pilots. They can't get enough cash flow to generate and scale it
. So we start with the city side first and we have access to hundreds of cities and the kinds of projects and what they're needing in terms of technologies and then we bring the best startups to them. Only when the cities and the industry say yes, we want to procure pilots, only then we invest in those startups. So what you have is a portfolio of winners that's going to drive significant returns for LPs and investors, but also the growth sustainability, and resiliency that these cities will need.
07:15 - Gresham Harkless
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Yeah, I love that kind of, I don't know if I want to call it high-level kind of perspective, but just being able to kind of see, as you mentioned, the startup ventures and the ventures that you all are invested in, but also be able to see the strengths of the countries or cities or locations and being able to kind of bring those 2 together so that you can create solutions. I think that's pretty awesome. And I wanted to ask you for a secret sauce and they might have already touched on that. Is that what you feel kind of is your secret sauce or differentiator?
07:40 - Scott Amyx
It is. I think one of our core secret sauce has to do with the fact that we take a very much demand-driven supply network, which means that we actually start with the buy side. And we think that it's not always best to create or support technologies that are solutions to non-problems. But rather, if you really spend the time on the buy side, then it becomes very clear in terms of what they actually need and what they're actually willing to procure and spend money on. Let me give you a quick example from a metaphor.
When you look at GE, GE is going through a lot of issues as an organization and they lost significant market cap, Compare them to Xerox. GE focused on mergers acquisitions and divestitures for the last several decades. Xerox on the other hand, where most of us know them as a printing company, spent the last several decades really hunkering down and talking to their clients or customers about what they need for their business.
And then developing new products and services based on the specific feedback and insights that their customers are telling them and letting that drive their organization's organic growth and product development management. So as a result, Xerox is much more robust, much more resilient, much more forward and strategic because they focus on the buy side first.
08:56 - Gresham Harkless
And now I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. This might be an app, a book a resource, or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient as a business owner.
09:07 - Scott Amyx
Well, part of my life experience that I was alluding to in your first question resulted in one of my first mainstream books called Strive. It's about how doing the things most uncomfortable leads to success. And it's been endorsed by Tony Robbins, Forbes, Singularity University, Tribeca Film Festival, and many global influencers. And it's regardless of who or where you are and what you do or you've done for a living, how young or old we are, that the secret to outstanding achievement and success is not just simply talent, but doing the things uncomfortable that I call stride.
See, what really drives success is not just simply intellect or opportunities or even networking. Because in my book, I talk about all different examples of people who have those, but yet then have sustainable success. But it's about pursuing the personal change that's most uncomfortable for you at that given moment. So that's my CEO hack.
10:01 - Gresham Harkless
I love that. And it's a great reminder because sometimes like you're the most talented quote-unquote, or you work the hardest, but if it's not directed towards those things that sometimes are uncomfortable, but actually move the needle, it's a great reminder. I know through your TEDx talk, you also spoke a lot about that as well too. And now I wanted to ask you for what I call your CEO nugget and this might be a word of wisdom or piece of advice Or if you can hop into a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?
10:23 - Scott Amyx
Well, I thought that what this audience would really derive value from is not just a single sentence nugget But a brief summary of my strive methodology. And it's really the formula by which you can activate and strive for yourself in your life. So number 1 is to set a goal. One of the worst things you can do is just simply just plow ahead, not knowing exactly where you're going. But in Good to Great, Jim Collins talks about level 5 leaders and it's about leaders who have a greater purpose than themselves when you set a goal that is looking at the big picture then all of a sudden you have a guiding north star for the rest of your life and it's not just simply about money fame or glory.
Number 2 in strive which is T stands for think about how to get there and plan for success. One of the most important things to executing your dreams is about making sure you have step by step plan to execute. And it literally comes down to being able to go from lifetime, decade, annual, monthly to daily. And everything you do, you have to know where you're going. Number 3 is R in STRI, which stands for risk. Embrace it. This is probably the hardest for most of us because it's the things that we have to do, but it scares us. Maybe we have to speak in front of a stage or maybe you have to take our savings and then invest that into a new business or change your career or go back to school or marry or maybe use a certain relationship.
So whatever that hard thing is, The key is you have to take the first step. And it's only when you stretch yourself that you begin to make huge gains. Number 4 in strive is an eye for insights. What did you learn from your uncomfortable change? One of the biggest dangers of being a CEO or boss of your own business is the fact that we lose touch with our sense of awareness or feedback.
So the only way you can ensure that you're progressing in the right direction is to intentionally self-examine every iteration. Meaning, it's okay if you fail, to take a particular step, But what did you learn from that? And how do you use that insight to better yourself and increase your likely chance of success in the next round? And to continue to tweak and to iterate. And lastly is V in STRI, which stands for verifying progress. You have to be able to quantify your success and make sure that you're going in the right direction. Just like we check Waze or GPS when we're driving, you have to verify your direction.
And I'm sorry, and the last one is 6 is E in Strive, which is to enhance yourself mentally and physically. You know, Over the years, I've been such a workaholic that I've at some point neglected my body. I have a herniated disc and all sorts of physical issues. But I realized that if you really want to succeed and go back to setting that goal, you have to focus on your holistic needs, physical, emotional, spiritual, and relational. So I start my day by reading the Bible, exercising, and meditating.
And in my mid-40s, I'm actually going back to take on that work on my secondary black belt. So it's when you are mentally, physically, spiritually, and relationally at your optimum, that's when you become most productive. So those represent the stride methodology and I hope that that is a CEO nugget for everyone listening today.
13:28 - Gresham Harkless
Yeah, definitely. Well, I appreciate you sharing that. It's kind of like a mountain more than where the nuggets are. There's so much value in there, but I love the idea that it's an acronym. You can break down and it's so holistically driven where, you know, start out from, you know, like you mentioned, you know, checking the GPS to make sure that you're taking care of yourself, doing all those aspects in order to be successful. So I think, you know, any entrepreneur or business owner can definitely benefit from that. Now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of being a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on this show. So I wanted to ask you, Scott, what does being a CEO mean to you?
13:57 - Scott Amyx
Well, I'm actually gonna be not original. I'm gonna actually refer to Good to Great by Jim Collins again in terms of level 5. And level 5 leaders, if you really look at them, they tend to be very humble, modest, and willful in the sense of intentionality. And they focus on a larger goal. And one of the things that they're very mindful of is they let their personal ego aside, meaning they set it aside. They don't carry them with them. And they're very disciplined in terms of their ambition. They're very disciplined in terms of their will. They're very disciplined in terms of the way they make decisions.
14:30 - Scott Amyx
But yet they're humble and they're able to channel their personal ego to something greater than themselves. The 3 things that a CEO, regardless of your organization's size, needs to focus on are discipline culture, discipline thought, and discipline action. And when we surround ourselves with the right people in the right position that are also level 5 leaders, what you have is an organization that becomes incredibly powerful because you don't have individuals that are doing things for selfish reasons but you have a cohesive collaborative that is working to push the mission statement and the goals of that organization to serve the people and the customers that they want to affect. And that to me is what makes a great CEO.
15:14 - Gresham Harkless
Awesome, awesome. Yeah, I love that, again, holistic perspective and keeping in mind all the different aspects of what it takes to kind of like run a business or be a CEO, so to speak. And I truly appreciate you for sharing that definition. And Scott, what I want to do is pass you the mic, so to speak. I want to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know how they can get a copy of your book or get in touch with you and then how best people can get a hold of you.
15:35 - Scott Amyx
get a hold of you. Well, I want to make sure that this particular podcast is useful and practical. And the way I can do that is let me ask a quick question to all of you that's listening. Regardless of how you choose to define success, Most of you that's listening today want more success out of life, right? I want to challenge you to do the things that are most uncomfortable for you. You have the opportunity to realize great success and to help you get started on your journey, I want to give you my Strive VIP sneak preview of the book with chapters 1 and 2. All you have to do is simply email press p-r-e-s-s at scotamics.com and we'll make sure to get you a free copy and get you started on striving for success.
16:14 - Gresham Harkless
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Scott. I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.
16:18 - Scott Amyx
Thank you very much. I appreciate.
16:20 - Outro
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by 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. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.
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