Ben and Syya tackle what happens when passion alone can't carry you across the finish line. Ben opens up about getting weirdly invested in the World Cup and realizing that all that energy didn't actually move anything forward, which leads into a bigger conversation about turning passion into disciplined, strategic action.

Syya breaks down the "why" behind motivation, how to dig past the surface reason for doing something until you hit what actually drives you, and why companies need to keep reminding people of that why.

The conversation lands on acknowledgment, the small stuff that keeps people motivated, plus a legendary story about a CEO, a grocery store receipt, and a can of Diet Dr. Pepper that Syya will never forget.

Takeaways:

• The unpredictable nature of people profoundly impacts both business and personal endeavors, serving as the X factor.
• In instances where mere passion fails to produce results, a disciplined approach becomes imperative for effecting meaningful change.
• The significance of understanding individual motivations is paramount for fostering a collaborative and productive work environment.
• Leaders must adeptly harness the diverse passions of their team members to drive collective success and innovation.

Links referenced in this episode:

• benbaker.com
• brilliantbeammedia.com

Learn more about Ben Baker at IamBenBaker.com | Chat it up with Syya and the team at BrilliantBeamMedia.com | 📺 Produced by BBM

If there's one thing we've learned about business and life is that people are the X factor.

They constantly surprise us.

Both in amazing ways and not so much.

We're Ben and Sia, and welcome to the Gnaw this Business Bites podcast.

This show is all about real life, things we all deal with every day, how they relate to business, and how to make some sense out of our daily chaos.

Welcome to the show.

Foreign.

Welcome back to another episode of Non this Business Bites.

I'm Ben and this is.

See you.

Now this week, I want to talk about when passion isn't enough, the rule of discipline.

You know, we all are passionate.

Some of us are passionate about certain things, some passionate about another.

I found myself surprisingly passionate about the World Cup.

Didn't think it was going to happen.

Surprised even myself sitting there yelling at referees, yelling at, you know, different.

Different things that happened during the tournament, getting up in arms and all that.

But the question is, what did it do for me?

It raised my blood pressure.

You know, it.

It made me all excitable.

It gave me something to talk about with people, but it didn't change anything.

And I think that we need to look, when passion isn't enough now, we need to sit there and say, okay, what can we now do to affect change in a discipline concerted way that's actually going to move the needle.

Because if we sit there and just spout off everything and go straight from the heart, and only from the heart, you know, people, some people will embrace it.

Most people shrug their shoulders and some people will ignore it.

And the vast majority of the people out there are going to either shrug their shoulders or ignore it.

But if we have the discipline to sit there and say, okay, I'm passionate about this, this is why.

And this is why you should be passionate about this, too.

And let me make this the thing relevant to you in your life and, and show you in ways that.

That resonate with you.

How by you joining me on this, on this quest, your life is going to be better.

We're going to align ourselves with far more people.

So it's creating that discipline to be able to sit there and say, okay, how can we strategically get other people who may not otherwise align with us and help us achieve our goals?

So, Sia, let's nod this as a.

Person that's been known to be passionate about things.

No, this hits a little home.

So here's the thing about getting other people on board to be as passionate as you and, or when your flames run out, how to rekindle that thing.

And I had like 14 different scenarios go.

I don't know.

Like, if anyone wants to rewind and see my facial expressions, you probably see me doing sequential, like.

Yeah, so.

So here's the thing for.

At least for people like me who are excitable ADHD is that if it's something that interests us, it's a locked and loaded.

Don't need to convince us.

We get it perfect, ride that wave.

But on the flip side, we might be easily convinced to be passionate, but over time, if we're not having, quote, fun still, as in, it's not feeding our dopamine, serotonin rushes, right?

You've got other individuals who are like, you know, this is the bar and this is their excitement level.

And they're just gonna stay like that, right?

There's no.

No pike, no spike.

Yeah.

Those types of individuals are the ones that I think are, like, really sustainable.

Once you convince them to get on board and they see the vision, they see the value for them, they're gonna be workhorses all the way through, right?

And there are people who are like absolute naysayers that are like.

And at that point, it's like, yeah, it's like gravity on, like, you know, I don't know what planet has a lot.

The sun.

There we go.

Squashed like a bug.

So here's where I think, at least from my perspective, is for those that are super passionate, and then the embers go out.

You have to stop, slow down, and remember why you're doing something.

And this is where I talk about pod fade and podcasting with a lot of my clients in general is what's your fire in the belly?

And, you know, people like, like, used to, like, laugh at me when I would say this.

I go, but what's your why?

Why are you doing anything?

And what I suggest is you answer it and keep saying why like a five year old, right?

But eventually, why you.

It makes you dig deeper, dig deeper, dig deeper until you start an emotion.

And I say your why is when you start crying, right?

Because you dug so deep that it's not the activity of, like, I'm thirsty, I'm drinking water.

No, that's.

That's the immediate cause.

Well, why, why, why, why?

Right?

And, you know, that's when the.

The situation of, like, not drinking water is like, maybe deep down inside, it's like I have a fear of abandonment.

Right?

Like, you know, whatever.

Right?

Whatever.

Whatever it might be.

So I think that why is something that companies always have to keep reassuring and reminding Everyone, there is a reason why we're doing what we're doing.

Now, granted, everyone's individual purpose and role might be slightly different, but the motivation for you to do that role might be different things.

It could be.

I like to do math all day long.

But hey, hey, listen, give.

Go be an actuary.

You'll.

You'll love it.

Exactly.

So anyway, so it's a convoluted answer.

I'm trying to say, though, is you really have to know why you're doing something for yourself.

And then as a company, you really have to make sure you're articulating the why for the company.

So people at least know, even vaguely know, that there is a marching order of we're going to go up that hill, right?

So everyone's got to know we're doing that hill.

So there might be people who, like, you know, if you're cranking up a wheel, you know, and a, you know, buggy, and there's no horse, there's going to be a group of people, they're gonna be pulling that thing, right?

There might be people pushing that thing.

There might be people with an oil can just going squeak, squeak, squeak at the thing.

So just know your role on it and everyone's okay.

And also know that if you're the oil can person that you like the squeak, squeak, squeak, and you're okay with it.

So that's what I think can keep people passionate and alive and.

And maybe a reminder of you can do.

Have fun while you're doing it.

You can get some satisfaction is maybe the word I'm looking for.

And that was really a long winded way of what I was trying to get to.

No, but I look at you and me because you.

You are, of the two of us, you are the more passionate of the two people.

And you know what I look at it as?

I'm the person that sits there and says, okay, here's the goal.

Here's what we're trying to achieve.

This is what we're trying to do.

I need to go find people that are absolutely passionate and people that are excited and people could be champions for this cause.

Great.

What did I do?

You and I found each other.

And we found this.

We found this podcast and we had had this idea, and you know what?

What were we going to do?

We were going to do 10 episodes.

Well, here we are.

Guess what, everybody?

We're just about to come up on four years of product.

You know, that's over 200 episod.

And that wouldn't happen if it didn't take into consideration the two different skills that CNI have.

I'm one of these people that sits there and looks at this thing and says, okay, how do we sustain this thing and be able to build out a cadre of communication standards that are going to do it?

And you're the creative one.

You're the creative one that actually makes it happen.

Which is the really cool thing, is that you use your creativity and you get excited about it and you create the shorts and you create the videos and you create, you know, the.

The podcast and everything that goes along with it.

But we couldn't have done this podcast without both of us.

True that.

Because we have different skill sets, we have different reasons for doing this.

We have different, you know, different ideas of the way it goes, but it works.

And I think that businesses need to do this, especially when you're talking with leaders in the organization, to sit there and say, okay, passion is good, but it's harnessed passion.

How.

How do you take these passionate people and don't turn them into disengaged autonatoms?

Because you.

You say, no, you can't do this, and no, you can't do this, and no, you can't do this, and no, we don't do this and no, we don't do this, and no, there isn't budget for this, and no, there isn't to sit there and say, okay, how do we make this work?

How do.

How do we take this?

And we may not get the grandiose, you know, supernova idea that you've originally come up with, but maybe what we can do is we can do a test.

Let's try a test.

Let's, let's.

Let's do those original 10 episodes that you and I always go back and talk about and sit there, go, did that work?

And can we build more champions and more passionate people at different levels that all of a sudden the CFO gets on board with this?

The CFO sees, hey, wait a second here.

There's ROI in doing this because it's going to allow us to do this, this and this.

And those are the things that I've had problems with.

I'm going to get passionate about it because it helps me solve my problems, and I'm going to champion this out to the CEO and get.

And get the funding to get this, this project done.

And I think that we need to be able to harness different people's passions in different ways, but it requires somebody who's strategic enough to understand that different people look at different problems in different ways and focus on it differently and are motivated differently and be able to empower those people to do great things.

And I think that's where.

That's where the real skill set of a great leader is.

A great leader sits there and says, how do I get the best out of my people?

How do I enable this situation to go?

How do I innovate from the solution backwards and get people excited about the things that they're excited about and show them that by being excited about that, it's going to help motivate this.

Move this project forward.

Ah, man.

So, you know, I think it's so critical for acknowledgement, right?

It's so critical.

Even if it's just a short.

Dude, you rocked it today.

Just ahead.

Yeah.

You know, a little Atta boy.

Goes a long way to keep the fires burning.

I know we talk about this a lot, but it's just like relationships.

Just because you get married doesn't mean up.

I'm done courting deuces, you know, go get me a sandwich.

Right?

Like, you know, Whereas, you know, there might have been sandwich making because it was.

I want to feed you.

I want, you know, I care about you and you're hungry and you haven't eaten all day.

I want to feed you as opposed to.

You know what I mean?

And I think there's a same.

Same concept in business, right?

It's just like, dude, you rocked that project today.

You rocked that meeting today, dude.

It.

It could even be something, Ben, I swear to God, it's so rudimentary.

It could be.

Who made the last batch of coffee?

That's the recipe, you guys.

That's what we need to go with.

Right?

Like, that was amazing.

You know what I mean?

Something super uber basic, like, oh, my gosh.

Or whoever discovered the new creamer.

Thank you.

Like, it's just, I don't know, just little bits of something to keep people interested and motivated.

And also, I think, acknowledgement that, hey, did you know, because of your, you know, oil can squeak a squeaka.

He actually moved up five feet today.

I. I think that's the other thing, too.

Yeah.

It's great to get the atta boys, but I think it'd be really good at times for, I think, leadership to.

To communicate back, to be like, hey, we had a really tough Q3, you guys.

Here's why.

A lot of tough.

A lot of tough situations, but let me share some wins that we had.

Absolutely.

And.

Right.

That's huge.

I think that's way huge.

I think that's look, there's no secret, like a lot of industries are getting clobbered right now.

And I think the constant doom and gloom or the, oh, we got to get more productivity out of you.

It's like, ain't gonna make me excited for you to hit your bottom line, for you to get your golden parachute while I'm working 80 hours a week.

Yeah.

Not happening.

Right?

So, yeah, I, I think there's, yeah, there's something to be said about that as well.

To keep the fires going is to, you know, I, I told this story before and I'll tell it again.

Man had a, had a rough company meeting and the CEO had the audacity to basically tell us that we're gonna all have to, you know, I guess I don't want to go too much because it'll identify, but CEO had the audacity to be like, we all got to tighten up our belts around here and blah, blah, blah.

He pulls out a freaking groc receipt and says, I bought Diet Dr. Pepper on sale.

That's how dedicated I am to ensuring that we're fiscally sound for the company.

And you should have seen all of us.

We're like, what the frack of frack.

Did we just get told in a company meeting and it was recorded for the global team to see as well.

Yeah.

Who have no idea what the hell a Dr. Pepper is, but whatevs.

And I just, I just remember that to this day of like, that is probably the worst thing you could do to keep the fires going and the effort going.

You know, and I, and I, I, I will always remember that from here on out.

Like, yeah, yeah.

And we all need to understand, you know, we all need to understand what motivates other people.

We all need to understand not what motivates us.

You know, I need a new $150,000 brand new Lamborghini.

90 Of the people, 98 of the people within your organization.

It's outside of their bailiwick.

It's not even outside of their, their realm of consciousness.

I just want four wheels that roll.

I just want a car that's going to get me from A to B without breaking down on the highway somewhere.

Without a sticky oil can.

I'm kidding, sorry.

Whatever it is.

But I think that what we need to do is we need to look and say, okay, when we're, when we're, when we're creating this, when we're creating, you know, we need to create passionate people, but we need to be disciplined about it.

We need to sit there and say what.

What motivates different people?

What's relevant to people?

What.

What.

How can we put this in their language?

How can we use analogies that make sense to them and enables them to understand what the.

What the win means to them, why they're working so hard because they, as you said, they could care less.

Working hard because the CEO gets his $20 million bonus.

They want to know what's in it for me.

And I think that as a good leader, harnesses the passions of people by giving them.

By being disciplined enough to understand how do we motivate people in an effective way?

So we should land this plane.

Because, I mean, we could.

We could talk about this for the next hour or two, but I think that unless you got anything to let add.

I think.

I think we really need to land this plane.

Yeah, no, I'm still in flashback.

I'm not.

I'm not kidding.

I think I'm in flashback still.

Yeah, Keep going.

Yeah, we're out.

Deuces.

All right.

I'm Ben.

I'm.

See ya.

And we'll see you soon.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Thanks for listening to another episode of not on this Business Bites.

If you liked what you heard, we most humbly ask that you like share and hit that subscribe button.

If you want to communicate more effectively within your organization, contact Ben ambenbaker.com or [email protected] we can help you build your community, brand awareness and personality through digital content and podcasting.

We cannot wait to hear from you.

See you next week for another episode of Naomis Business Bites.