Like sports teams, creating a championship culture in business fosters superfans, with NFL Coach Chris Carlisle.

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Chris Carlisle is a motivational speaker, bestselling author football

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and strength coach for 35 years.

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He has a BS in secondary education.

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A master's degree in history.

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University of Arkansas.

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Chris is the only coach ever to

have won championships at every

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level of competitive football.

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High school.

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Junior college, major college

university of Tennessee, USC two

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times, and the NFL Seattle Seahawks.

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Chris works with corporate executives,

athletes, teams, small businesses,

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and highly motivated individuals,

helping them set up a championship

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culture and they move or die mindset.

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Hello, Chris, welcome to the

business superfan podcast show.

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Chis Carlisle: Thank you, Freddy.

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Thank you for having me.

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I look forward to have an

opportunity to talk with your

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group and and learn a lot from you.

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I always, every time

we talk, I learn a lot.

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And so this is exciting.

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Freddy D: Yeah.

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Excited to have you on the show.

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So tell us, how did you get started that

led you to get into professional football?

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Chis Carlisle: I was always

involved with football.

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When I was a kid, it was watching

football, it was collecting

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football cards, it was playing

football through sports.

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And I remember a time when I was 10 years

old and I was playing football with a

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buddy, Nate Lau, and we're in his backyard

playing and it was like a Tuesday because

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Monday Night Football, at that time,

Howard Cosell would go over the halftime

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and he'd go over each of the games because

we only got three channels at that time.

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Yeah, I remember those days, NBC and

then PBS, of course, but you only

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were able to watch a couple games

and then the Monday night game and at

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halftime on Monday night, Howard Cosell

would go through all the highlights

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of all the games that went on.

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So me and they allow it go in his backyard

and play slow motion football where we

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would go ahead and reenact those plays.

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And I remember telling Nate when

I was about 10 years old, it was

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about fifth grade, and I said, Nate,

one day I'm going to win the Super

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Bowl and that was 10 years old.

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And so I started this climb, this

desire to go ahead and move through.

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And I thought at that time I

might play in the Super Bowl.

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All right.

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And then after high school and

college, It came realistic to me that

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I wasn't able to play at that level.

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So I got into coaching and coaching

always been something I'd love to do.

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I was actually coaching

baseball teams when I was in my

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teens little league baseball.

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So coaching has always

been part of my life.

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And so I lived in this idea of coaching.

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And then I went through the

high school and then junior

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college and then in the NFL.

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So that was the path I took through

playing through to college, graduating,

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becoming a high school coach, then

getting into junior college coaching,

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and then had the opportunity to

be in the NFL for nine years.

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Freddy D: That's amazing.

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That's a great story.

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What led you to write

your book, Move or Die?

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Chis Carlisle: Move or Die.

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I've been writing a book for 25 years.

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It's been a process with

me that I've been writing.

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I'm, I love to write.

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It's a way that I clear my head

of things that get in there.

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And when you speak it, when you

think it, it goes through very few

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filters, but when you go to write

it, then it goes through your mind.

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You've got to write each

letter of each word.

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And if you have that BS indicator in your

head, that you know when you're telling

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yourself the truth or not, you when

you're writing it, you really feel it.

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And so I was able to go ahead and get into

a situation where I kept writing writing.

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So after I finished my coaching career,

I had a lot of time because to write

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a book, and this was handwritten,

typed, there was no AI at that time.

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It was not something that I put

in and a computer spit it out.

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And it was a process I went through.

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Here are the problems that I went

through in my life that took me

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from a high school football coach.

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To A NFL Super Bowl champion

and all these problems I had.

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As I went out speaking, I

found people more and more

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people had these same problems.

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So I thought, let me go ahead and write

this down so people that haven't heard

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me speak can go ahead and say, okay, at

this part of his life, when he is just

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starting, here's the problems he had.

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Chapter eight is called Leave your mark

about what you do after you retire, and

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just sit back and wait until you die,

or do you move on from that profession

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into another step in your career?

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And that's where I was.

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I went into another step of my career.

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I had already had it planned out.

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And to leave your mark means,

how can you move forward?

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Everything farther ahead and all your

information you've gathered in your life.

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How can you hand that out to other people

to help them move along their path?

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Freddy D: It's the same thing when

I wrote my book I didn't use any

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AI tools or any of that stuff.

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I actually did it during the pandemic

and I created the first version and

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I passed it around to get feedback

before I went too deep into it.

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And the feedback was, eh.

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It was lukewarm, wasn't nothing exciting.

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So I basically scrapped

it and started all over.

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And that's when I got the idea

of, a sports team has got, super

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fans that got their faces painted.

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They're wearing the jerseys,

they got the banners.

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They're cheering.

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They got the bumper stickers.

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They're promoting that team.

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And the idea was, how can

businesses create that same fandom?

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As a sports team, and that's when

I started throwing this ideas of

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creating business superfans, and

they're basically brand advocates,

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but I call them superfans, they're

out there promoting the thing.

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I didn't do it exactly like you, but what

I did is I started writing some stuff down

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and then my fiance, I'll go back to her

and says, Hey, I threw, 600 words today.

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Oh, I had 1200 words and so she was

my cheerleader to say, okay, how

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many words did you throw down today?

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And so now it became a contest of how many

words I could do and it was bit by bit.

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And I, eventually put it

together to where I have the

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book creating business superfans.

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So you did it over a course of a lifetime.

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I did it over a course of a year.

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So different approaches.

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Chis Carlisle: But I think

they both work for us.

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Freddy D: Yes,

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Chis Carlisle: I think that's what when

we start doing writing a book you don't

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have to follow one methodology It's how

best does it fit your style of writing?

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Is it right a little bit every day or

is it take the compilation of all the

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writing you've done or all the Thing

you've done through your life and make

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it into a book and I think too many

people get caught up on I can't do that.

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If I can do it, anybody can do it.

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Freddy D: Sure.

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Chis Carlisle: I was

not great grammatically.

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That's why I did hire an editor.

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I did the same thing.

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I did the same thing because if not, it

was too much how I spoke and sometimes

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that is not relatable as you read.

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And so she was able to put

her magic into that book.

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Yeah.

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I enjoy reading it after because

I gave her 600 pages of material

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eight by eight by 11 pages and it

turned into a 186 page book and she

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said, all this information is great.

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But just this much fits into

what we're talking about.

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And that's a great thing is really give

them more than you're going to need.

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So they can go ahead and take that

outsider, that third person look in

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and say, okay, if I'm reading this

book, this is how I'm looking at it.

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And so that, that helped me, that really,

made it, A quick read, an easy read,

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easy to understand, easy to follow.

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Freddy D: Sure.

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Okay.

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So let's go back to sports here.

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And how important is a team's

culture to win that Super Bowl?

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Chis Carlisle: If teams don't

win, it's because of culture.

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Everybody has the same opportunity

to pick the same athletes.

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It's not like college, it's, it

was when you're able to recruit

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and everything, if you have better

facilities, if you have a winning team,

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you could recruit a little better.

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Today, if you have enough bankroll,

you can go ahead and buy athletes.

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That's what they're more worried about.

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But in the professional level, you get the

same number of picks as everybody else.

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You have the same choice.

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as everybody else.

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And so when you're picking

the same type of athletes,

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then you turn to your culture.

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Culture starts on top.

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All right.

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Yeah, the person on top has

to have a great foundation.

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Because if you don't have a great

foundation, you can't build a structure.

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That's simple architecture.

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Same thing in sports.

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Same thing in business.

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If you don't have a firm foundation, if

you don't understand why you're there,

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what you're going to do and how you're

going to do it, it's not going to work.

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And so as a leader, that structure

goes all the way down from the top to

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the bottom and in order to get people

to buy in, they have to trust you.

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Trust comes out of consistency.

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If you're consistent in the way that

you show how to work and the way

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that you speak and the way that you

react to other people, then you can

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get people to buy in to your culture.

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If you're all over the place, if you

have no idea where you're going the next

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day, making stuff up as you go, then

the people who are working under you,

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Don't understand where you're going.

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Freddy D: Yeah, we had talked before.

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So about that, the ladder and, of

when you guys were, this team got

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knocked off, that team got knocked off.

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Share that story with us because

that made a huge difference.

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Chis Carlisle: When I was at the

University of Tennessee in: 1998

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able to win the national championship

and at that time on the wall outside

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the locker room there was a ladder and

Every Monday after a win we would all

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gather up the whole team and they would

put the team's name that we just won And

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then the team that we were playing the

next week And it was, don't look ahead.

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We don't know what's on the

farther up in the ladder.

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We're just focused on this one

rung today and when they put the

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score up of the game from the

previous week, everybody's cheering.

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They put him up.

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Oh, you're going to get it.

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So we go to work and we

have that great focus.

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Everybody can go ahead and message

that throughout the facility.

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It's the next step one step at a time.

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Don't get ahead of yourself.

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Don't get caught up in all of this stuff

because we have that many rungs to go.

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Just focus on the next one.

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And it worked.

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It worked great.

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Phillip former had it tuned in.

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All right.

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And we won the national championship.

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And this was the year after

Peyton Manning had left.

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So this wasn't Peyton

Manning's senior year.

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This was the year after he left when T.

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Martin was a quarterback.

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And so still had a bunch

of great players there.

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The next year and we had same roster

coming back, but we're really good.

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An coach former comes out of and he's

walking with a w his car beautifully

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ornam now east Tennessee, you'r

smoking mountains and the there.

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So again, and so hand this stick,

and it called it the synergy stick,

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and everybody's trying to wrap

their mind around the word synergy.

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All right, and he tried to explain it

and it seemed like he didn't have the

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whole grasp of what he was talking about.

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And so we went back into the weight

room and went into it was hard to

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go ahead and message his message.

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And so people took it in different

directions, and it was never

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centered that, synergy is about

working together and bringing

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everybody in, into a commonality.

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And that was not really understood, and

it was hard to teach to all the players,

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and so there was a kind of a dysfunction

that the culture of the team had changed.

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Now, I jump ahead to USC.

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Seattle under Pete Carroll same culture

same belief It didn't matter if you

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came in year one or year nine at USC

or year one or year nine at in Seattle

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It was the same belief system the

same Always compete was a philosophy.

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We had the three rules always

protect the team, be early, no

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bitching, no whining, complaining.

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That's a wooden thing.

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John Wooden, that he got that from,

but those were his three ideas.

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Then he had the style.

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What was the style of the organization?

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And he always told the story.

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Every year, it didn't matter where we were

at in this, on this, told the same story.

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that if my best friend came to

practice, never seen his practice

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before, this is what I'd like him

to say to me when he came after.

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They have great effort.

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They have great enthusiasm.

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They play smart and they're so tough.

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Great effort, great enthusiasm,

play smart, great toughness.

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This is what, and so when he

told us to the team, Hey, this

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is what I, this is our style.

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This is who we want to be.

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We want to have great effort.

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And so the players go,

okay, I can check, check.

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I can do that and so when they weren't

doing that, hey, that wasn't great

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effort and that's part of our style.

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Oh, okay.

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Boom, click into it.

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And so for 18 years, I worked with Pete

Carroll at USC and Seattle, same stories.

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If you look at my notebooks and I

took copious notes, every meeting,

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If you start at the beginning of the

season each year for 18 years, it

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was the same meeting, the same issue.

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And you're going to go, wow,

people get bored with that.

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No, because every year the roster would

change new coaches, different players.

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And he had to make sure he reminded the

old players and taught the new players.

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This is how we do things that way.

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Everybody's on the same point in the

culture and everybody can message the same

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way he didn't like we did in Tennessee.

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He didn't change.

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the message.

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He kept the same message

all the way through.

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So there was a consistency of thought.

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So we could have trust

all the way through.

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So everybody throughout the facility

could speak the same language.

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That's why we were successful at USC.

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That's why we're successful in

Seattle, was because we had the

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same culture all the way through.

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Freddy D: Yeah.

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And that's some that

transcends into business.

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Same aspect is in the business.

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It's gotta be from the top down, that,

the management empowers the employees.

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I really don't even care for the name

employees are really teammates and

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getting that culture in a company

transcends into when they're talking

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to prospective customers, the tonality

that's going on there, the energy comes

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across and becomes more attractive

and so with everybody on the same

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mission, understanding what the goals

are and not changing them all the time.

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Like you said, this is the same thing.

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Repeat, and you got new players,

you make some adjustments.

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That's in turn, you start creating

superfans of the team members.

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And that transcends into

customers becoming superfans.

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I would think a team creating superfans

because of their performance, the

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things that they're doing, they're

recognizing their fans, they're

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waving, they're doing things like that.

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So that in turn is attracting,

more superfans, wow, so and so

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just acknowledged me, and made eye

contact with me, those are huge.

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So yeah, it's very important.

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The culture is paramount for

a company as it is in sports.

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Chis Carlisle: I just spoke with two

small businesses and I'm working with

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a lot of small businesses right now

because they're starting to understand,

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companies like Amazon and Google,

they've always brought in speakers.

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They've always brought in people to go

ahead and re message their message so

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that the employees all get this BNN data.

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We did it with Seattle.

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We'd have Bill Russell come in, or Steve

Kerr come in, or Clint Bruce come in,

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and Clint Bruce, if you're not familiar

with the name, tremendous speaker

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was a Navy SEAL, played in the NFL,

played college football, and he had a

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great message about not being average,

because average has no secrets, is

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his point in being, is that you can be

elite, Or you can be poor, but don't be

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average because average has no secrets.

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But these businesses I spoke to and they,

and we were talking about, I said, now

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when I come in, what are we working on?

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What, who, what is your

target for me to be there?

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I'm just not going to walk into a

business and put my philosophy out there.

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What I want to do is message

what the leader of the office

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is wanting to get done.

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So they were talking about this person

and that person and this person and

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that person and all this problem.

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And I said, okay, what's your vision?

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What's your mission statement?

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What's your philosophy?

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No, I don't know.

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What is it?

311

: 00:15:38

You need to know so they know,

because if you have problems

312

: 00:15:42

with them, it may be not be them.

313

: 00:15:45

It's you.

314

: 00:15:47

That you're not the one

who's setting the tone.

315

: 00:15:49

You're not setting the

message, giving the foundation.

316

: 00:15:52

Now you may know where you're going, but

if they don't know where you're going,

317

: 00:15:56

then they can't get there with you.

318

: 00:15:58

So they're going to go ahead and take

it upon themselves to do what they think

319

: 00:16:01

they need to do to get their job done.

320

: 00:16:04

Now, it may not be the way

it may not be your style.

321

: 00:16:06

They may dress differently

than you want them.

322

: 00:16:08

They may talk on the phone to

potential clients differently

323

: 00:16:12

than you want them to speak.

324

: 00:16:14

Don't get mad at them if

you haven't taught them.

325

: 00:16:17

What I've seen is that sometimes these

small business owners who've been in

326

: 00:16:20

it five to 10 years and starting to

expand their business and bringing

327

: 00:16:25

people in, they forget to teach that

next level of people, their style,

328

: 00:16:30

their vision, their statement and

so they rely on their employees.

329

: 00:16:34

Other teammates to go

ahead and pass it on.

330

: 00:16:37

Nobody knows it like the

person who planted the seed.

331

: 00:16:39

When we're talking about like wineries,

nobody knows the vineyard, like the

332

: 00:16:43

vine master, you tell people, and some

people know what the red grapes are

333

: 00:16:47

on the white grapes are, but only the

person who is over control of everything

334

: 00:16:51

understands their age, their maturity,

and what kind of fruit they turn out.

335

: 00:16:55

Freddy D: Yeah.

336

: 00:16:55

Chis Carlisle: You're not there

to touch everybody, who knows

337

: 00:16:58

what kind of wine you're making.

338

: 00:17:00

Freddy D: And the other thing that

you bring up is it's important

339

: 00:17:02

to have that documented, SOP,

standard operating procedure

340

: 00:17:06

because word of mouth gets diluted.

341

: 00:17:09

We only remember 20 percent

of what we're told at best.

342

: 00:17:13

So if you're got, as you just

described, new, somebody new comes

343

: 00:17:16

into the company and they're doing it.

344

: 00:17:19

What they think is the best way because

they don't know any better or they

345

: 00:17:23

got verbally trained And so they don't

remember exactly because there's no

346

: 00:17:28

handbook or procedure guide of this

is what you do I'm sure in football

347

: 00:17:32

you the plays are written out, you can

go back and what was that maneuver?

348

: 00:17:36

What's that thing?

349

: 00:17:37

It's not verbally taught.

350

: 00:17:39

It's diagramed, and this is, this

is the count and all that stuff.

351

: 00:17:43

I played a little sports in my time.

352

: 00:17:46

So the same thing with

business is they need to have

353

: 00:17:50

a playbook to run the company.

354

: 00:17:52

Chis Carlisle: I'm

gonna put this on there.

355

: 00:17:53

If you just hand a new employee a, a book

with your standard operating procedures

356

: 00:17:58

in there, how many are gonna actually

take it home and take time to read it?

357

: 00:18:03

Freddy D: Very little.

358

: 00:18:04

Chis Carlisle: Here's what I did

when I'm coaching and I bring a new

359

: 00:18:06

coach onto my staff there with me.

360

: 00:18:08

They're going to stand next to me.

361

: 00:18:10

They're going to listen to me.

362

: 00:18:11

They're going to watch me because

this is the way I want it done.

363

: 00:18:15

Now my second in command my, my

right hand guy, then I would,

364

: 00:18:19

after a couple of weeks, I'd

pass the new person off to them.

365

: 00:18:22

So they could hear it in a different way

because, you don't want to message the

366

: 00:18:27

same message As the top guy because if

you keep telling the same story All the

367

: 00:18:33

way down the line it becomes static then,

right and I always use this example.

368

: 00:18:37

So if the leader of the company uses

the karate kid with the Mr Miyagi

369

: 00:18:43

with the wax on wax off with and

the whole point of that is you've

370

: 00:18:47

got to do the little things, right?

371

: 00:18:49

The big things will all come about.

372

: 00:18:51

So take your time, do little things right.

373

: 00:18:53

Now, if I message the same karate kid,

and so does the receiver coach, and the

374

: 00:18:58

running back coach, and the linebacker,

and the defensive coordinator, then all

375

: 00:19:01

of a sudden it becomes static the next

time the head coach stands up there.

376

: 00:19:04

And it's ah, we've heard this all before.

377

: 00:19:06

But if I come in and I say,

okay, I've got a story for you.

378

: 00:19:10

There's two bulls standing on a hill.

379

: 00:19:12

An old bull and a young bull.

380

: 00:19:13

And the young bull comes up to the old

bull and says, Hey, let's run down to

381

: 00:19:17

that herd of cows and get ourselves a cow.

382

: 00:19:20

And the old bull nods and goes,

How about if we just walk down

383

: 00:19:24

the hill and we get them all?

384

: 00:19:26

Okay same function now.

385

: 00:19:27

We're talking about, We're

going to take our time.

386

: 00:19:30

We're going to go ahead and do this right.

387

: 00:19:32

And in the end, we get everything.

388

: 00:19:34

Okay,

389

: 00:19:34

Freddy D: I

390

: 00:19:35

Chis Carlisle: don't have

to tell the Miyagi story.

391

: 00:19:36

I can tell my bowl story and the

linebacker coach will tell his

392

: 00:19:39

story, the wide receiver coach.

393

: 00:19:41

And so now they've

heard different stories.

394

: 00:19:43

But they all go to the same meaning,

the same message that we're messaging

395

: 00:19:49

from the head guy all the way down,

because we understand what his

396

: 00:19:52

message is, that we're going to go

ahead and do the little things right.

397

: 00:19:56

And the big things will come out of that.

398

: 00:19:58

And so too many people want to

just go ahead and be parrots.

399

: 00:20:01

Don't be parrots.

400

: 00:20:03

Help your teammates your next in

line, come up with their own stories.

401

: 00:20:08

And that's where you can sit around

after work and you can talk about your

402

: 00:20:11

philosophy to everybody and then have

them give you feedback about, what

403

: 00:20:15

do you think about when I say this?

404

: 00:20:17

And then you help them

develop their stories.

405

: 00:20:20

Yeah, it takes a little bit, but

if your company is really important

406

: 00:20:24

to you, then it takes a time.

407

: 00:20:26

Freddy D: Right.

408

: 00:20:27

Chis Carlisle: This is your future.

409

: 00:20:27

This is your vision, your passion,

everything you want in life.

410

: 00:20:30

That's why you started that business.

411

: 00:20:32

So take the time.

412

: 00:20:33

Absolutely correct.

413

: 00:20:33

Absolutely correct.

414

: 00:20:34

And help grow it from the inside.

415

: 00:20:36

Freddy D: Yeah, it's absolutely correct.

416

: 00:20:37

Because now you got everybody

rowing in the same direction.

417

: 00:20:41

You can't be rowing a boat.

418

: 00:20:42

with multiple people, with individual

oars, and not everybody's in sync, because

419

: 00:20:48

the boat's not going to go anyplace, or

if anything, it's going to go in a circle.

420

: 00:20:51

Exactly.

421

: 00:20:52

So it's paramount that everybody's,

going in the same direction with the same

422

: 00:20:56

message, and I agree, different versions

of the same message is important, but

423

: 00:21:01

the message has got to be consistent.

424

: 00:21:03

Chis Carlisle: Yes.

425

: 00:21:04

Freddy D: And so that's important.

426

: 00:21:05

So that brings me up to, I think

we talked earlier about it one of

427

: 00:21:08

Phil Jackson great basketball coach

talks about the strength of the team

428

: 00:21:13

and each is each individual member.

429

: 00:21:17

And the strength of each

individual member is the team.

430

: 00:21:20

Talk, share a story how that applies

in your professional football career.

431

: 00:21:24

Chis Carlisle: Well, Phil Jackson

actually stole that from Rudyard Kipling.

432

: 00:21:28

When Rudyard Kipling said, the

strength of the wolf is the pack and

433

: 00:21:31

the strength of the pack is the wolf.

434

: 00:21:32

And so I'm going to go ahead

and give Kipling his background.

435

: 00:21:36

I didn't know that.

436

: 00:21:36

So great.

437

: 00:21:38

Freddy D: It's all good, man.

438

: 00:21:39

Chis Carlisle: Hey, I was always said

I was the greatest thief of coaches.

439

: 00:21:42

I didn't have many original ideas of

how to do lifts or how to do technique,

440

: 00:21:47

but when I put it together, that's

where I was unique in what I did.

441

: 00:21:49

So I was a little bit

different in that way.

442

: 00:21:51

And it did pay off.

443

: 00:21:53

When we look at a sport

and you can imagine.

444

: 00:21:57

If you know the game of American

football, if the offensive line does

445

: 00:22:02

not sacrifice for the quarterback, then

the quarterback will get hit every time.

446

: 00:22:08

Okay.

447

: 00:22:08

But the quarterback will also

sacrifice for the offensive line.

448

: 00:22:12

He'll get them out of bad place.

449

: 00:22:14

It's called an audible.

450

: 00:22:15

He'll get up.

451

: 00:22:16

He'll call them out of bad place that

we're going to go ahead and get blown up.

452

: 00:22:19

And so he'll put them in the best

situation with the best blocking scheme.

453

: 00:22:23

And that's where the individual.

454

: 00:22:24

helps the pack and then the pack

helps the individual and we go

455

: 00:22:29

back to Pete Carroll's rules and

Pete Carroll had three rules.

456

: 00:22:32

Rule number one is always protect

the team and always protect the

457

: 00:22:35

team was what we're talking about

with a pack and the individual.

458

: 00:22:40

Protecting the team meant don't

take a cheap shot in practice

459

: 00:22:43

at one of your teammates.

460

: 00:22:44

Wide receiver gets up in the air and

a defensive back and cut him in half.

461

: 00:22:48

You don't have to do that.

462

: 00:22:50

Just show that you're there.

463

: 00:22:52

All right, without the game.

464

: 00:22:54

Okay, that's the whole thing.

465

: 00:22:55

Get your body right.

466

: 00:22:56

Run through the, run past the

person and we all know you got it.

467

: 00:22:59

You didn't have to do it.

468

: 00:23:00

Also protect the team means when

you get in front of the media.

469

: 00:23:04

Make sure you're going ahead

and protecting the team there.

470

: 00:23:07

You don't need to grind your

knife against another player by

471

: 00:23:12

bagging him against the media.

472

: 00:23:15

Don't talk down about the team.

473

: 00:23:17

Always put out the positive message.

474

: 00:23:19

If you have a problem,

then let's go sort it out.

475

: 00:23:21

You can either go to the individual,

or go to the head coach, or your

476

: 00:23:24

position coach, and you can sit

down, let's go ahead and find out if

477

: 00:23:27

there's something here we can solve.

478

: 00:23:29

Freddy D: Yeah,

479

: 00:23:29

Chis Carlisle: Because it's

about protecting the team.

480

: 00:23:32

The team is always first, and so the

individual sacrifice a lot to protect

481

: 00:23:36

that team, but at the same time, that

team is supporting and giving everything

482

: 00:23:41

that you need as the individual.

483

: 00:23:44

And so that goes back to the symmetry

of a team and an individual of a

484

: 00:23:49

employee of a business that if you're

not taking care of your teammates, your

485

: 00:23:53

employees, Then don't expect them to

step up when it comes to doing extra

486

: 00:23:57

work for the team, for the company.

487

: 00:24:00

Freddy D: Absolutely correct.

488

: 00:24:00

And you hit a really strong point

there that I want to reiterate is,

489

: 00:24:04

when that player was on camera and,

really focusing on, talking positive

490

: 00:24:10

about the team, because the worst thing

that they can do is chastise a fellow

491

: 00:24:15

player publicly in front of everybody.

492

: 00:24:19

It's the same thing when a business

owner instead of pulling an employee

493

: 00:24:22

individually and having a conversation

with them, calls them out in front

494

: 00:24:27

of all the other employees, now

that creates a double whammy because

495

: 00:24:32

number one, that person is embarrassed

and they feel awkward because

496

: 00:24:37

they've got chastised publicly.

497

: 00:24:39

Second of all the rest of

the teammates are going, wow.

498

: 00:24:42

That could happen to me.

499

: 00:24:43

So now all of a sudden you've got an

apprehensive culture that you've just

500

: 00:24:46

converted from an energized culture

to an apprehensive culture, and

501

: 00:24:50

I'm not going to do anything extra.

502

: 00:24:51

I'm not going to go beyond because,

heck, I could get myself chewed out in

503

: 00:24:56

front of everybody and I don't want that.

504

: 00:24:57

Chis Carlisle: 100%.

505

: 00:24:58

100%.

506

: 00:25:00

We always talked about if

you make an error, if you

507

: 00:25:02

make a mistake, make it 100%.

508

: 00:25:05

Don't just halfway, try to hold

somebody may, go ahead and if

509

: 00:25:09

you're protecting the quarterback,

then tear, pull the defender down.

510

: 00:25:12

If you're getting beat on a pass,

pull the wide receiver down.

511

: 00:25:15

We'd rather take a 15 yard penalty or

a ball spot penalty than the touchdown.

512

: 00:25:19

And so when you go ahead and give

your team the ability to make

513

: 00:25:25

mistakes, then they're going to

go ahead and try harder for you.

514

: 00:25:29

And they're going to play closer to

the edge, which you've got to be on the

515

: 00:25:32

edge when you're playing or when you're

working to get away from being average.

516

: 00:25:36

Go back to Clint Bruce,

because average has no secrets.

517

: 00:25:39

And so the great ones, if you look at

the top corporations, the, the Amazons

518

: 00:25:44

and the Microsofts and all of those, all

those people took risks and sometimes

519

: 00:25:51

they blew up and they went, okay.

520

: 00:25:52

We know that's not the

way we're going to go.

521

: 00:25:54

Some of them paid off in bundles

of money and so if you want your

522

: 00:25:59

employees to always be working the

edge, give them a little bit, and

523

: 00:26:03

within the framework, of course.

524

: 00:26:05

We're not doing stuff on your own within

the framework of the organization because

525

: 00:26:09

we message the right thing, this is our

style within that message, then we know

526

: 00:26:14

that the employee that the team or team

member can go ahead and be their best.

527

: 00:26:18

Freddy D: So let's jump

back Chris, to the book.

528

: 00:26:21

What's the book about?

529

: 00:26:22

Chis Carlisle: The book is a step

through life of here's the mistakes

530

: 00:26:25

that you can make, and here's why

we can, or how we can go ahead and

531

: 00:26:29

solve those before we make them.

532

: 00:26:31

It's simply just stories from

my career from my life, from

533

: 00:26:36

being born with handicaps.

534

: 00:26:37

I was born with two handicapped feet.

535

: 00:26:40

The doctors told my parents, your

son will never run like the other

536

: 00:26:43

children and my mom said four words

to him, and I can repeat them.

537

: 00:26:47

She said.

538

: 00:26:47

"We'll see about that."

539

: 00:26:49

That's how much we

didn't worry about that.

540

: 00:26:52

Why I was growing up, because I

didn't walk well, I fell down quite a

541

: 00:26:55

bit, knocked my two front teeth out.

542

: 00:26:57

Just, I was starting to learn how to

speak, I developed a speech impediment.

543

: 00:27:01

Remember in fifth grade, we're

sitting outside the parent teacher's

544

: 00:27:04

conference, my mom's in this

room with the speech therapist.

545

: 00:27:07

And she says, he's never

going to be a public speaker.

546

: 00:27:11

My mom said four words.

547

: 00:27:12

We'll see about that.

548

: 00:27:14

All right.

549

: 00:27:14

In 2000, I was diagnosed with cancer, and

everybody goes, oh, how did you take that?

550

: 00:27:18

I had four words, because they gave

me a 40 percent chance to survive.

551

: 00:27:22

We'll see about that.

552

: 00:27:23

Because I looked at Ted Williams

with the Boston Red Sox hit 4 0 6.

553

: 00:27:27

That's hitting the ball

40 percent of the time.

554

: 00:27:29

And he's known as the

greatest hitter in baseball.

555

: 00:27:32

4 0 6.

556

: 00:27:34

And I had a 40 percent chance in baseball.

557

: 00:27:36

That's hitting the ball

40 percent of the time.

558

: 00:27:38

I had a great chance.

559

: 00:27:40

And you're not going to tell me

because other people with the same

560

: 00:27:43

situation I had didn't make it.

561

: 00:27:46

That's okay.

562

: 00:27:46

That was them.

563

: 00:27:47

I knew who I was.

564

: 00:27:49

Freddy D: Right.

565

: 00:27:50

Chis Carlisle: So when they stuck

the needle in my arm and started

566

: 00:27:53

pumping me with the first dose

of chemo, the nurse said, this is

567

: 00:27:55

some bad, and I'll clean it up.

568

: 00:27:57

This is some bad stuff.

569

: 00:27:59

You're not going to be able

to work through this because

570

: 00:28:01

you're that far down the road.

571

: 00:28:03

We've really got to be

aggressive with this.

572

: 00:28:05

All right.

573

: 00:28:05

Two weeks after I started my chemo,

I get a call middle of the night.

574

: 00:28:09

It was Friday 2 AM.

575

: 00:28:11

So it was really Saturday

morning and I pick it up.

576

: 00:28:14

And this guy is just all hyped

up and, Hey, how you doing?

577

: 00:28:18

And I just had chemo

on that Friday morning.

578

: 00:28:21

And so I was going through that

process of, the metallic taste

579

: 00:28:24

in my mouth and being fatigued.

580

: 00:28:26

And he goes, this is Pete Carroll.

581

: 00:28:27

I've never met him before.

582

: 00:28:29

I just got the head job with

University of Southern California.

583

: 00:28:32

And I want you to be

my head strength coach.

584

: 00:28:34

And I said coach, I need to

tell you, be transparent.

585

: 00:28:37

I was this guy.

586

: 00:28:38

I was been diagnosed with cancer.

587

: 00:28:39

There was a two second break.

588

: 00:28:41

And he goes, is that going

to change you as a coach?

589

: 00:28:43

I said, no, sir.

590

: 00:28:44

He said, can you be here on Monday?

591

: 00:28:45

So remember now this was Saturday at

2am, and so got up the next morning I

592

: 00:28:51

didn't sleep much of course packed the

bags got on the plane on Sunday on Monday

593

: 00:28:55

I was standing on the floor at 5 a.

594

: 00:28:57

m.

595

: 00:28:58

Getting ready for my 6 a.

596

: 00:28:59

m.

597

: 00:28:59

Group.

598

: 00:28:59

Now.

599

: 00:29:00

I had a choice in that

situation, we all have choices.

600

: 00:29:03

We can go ahead and say, Oh, coach,

I'm going to try to battle this,

601

: 00:29:08

and I don't know if I can, I'm going

to see how this all turns out, or I

602

: 00:29:12

can say, no, we'll see about that and

hop on the plane and go out there.

603

: 00:29:15

Now, I never missed a day of work.

604

: 00:29:17

I didn't feel good.

605

: 00:29:19

I was sick.

606

: 00:29:19

I was nauseous, but I never stopped

working, and here's another thing.

607

: 00:29:24

There are only two people in

the building that knew I had

608

: 00:29:26

cancer myself and the head coach.

609

: 00:29:28

Cause I said, I don't want

anybody to know about it.

610

: 00:29:30

I don't want anybody to treat me

differently and feel sorry for me.

611

: 00:29:34

I want them to come at me and so I can

go to work now because of this, because

612

: 00:29:38

I pushed through, I didn't think about

it for one minute during the day.

613

: 00:29:42

Now, of course it was nauseous.

614

: 00:29:44

I didn't feel good, but that's

okay because we all have choices.

615

: 00:29:49

Can you do it or not?

616

: 00:29:50

And that's one of the stories

from the book in that, I talk

617

: 00:29:52

about perseverance and resilience.

618

: 00:29:55

I could have taken the doctor's words.

619

: 00:29:57

My parents could have

said, okay, he can't run.

620

: 00:29:59

So we'll just, put them in a

chair and hopefully develops.

621

: 00:30:02

Or I had speech impediment.

622

: 00:30:04

My parents didn't sit there with

flashcards with words and make sure I

623

: 00:30:08

went through the words and pronounced

the words properly and learned how to

624

: 00:30:12

speak and I wouldn't have taken the job

as a tour guide at a historical park

625

: 00:30:16

in western Nebraska, Fort Robinson.

626

: 00:30:19

So I spoke to hundreds of people

a day, forcing myself to learn

627

: 00:30:23

how to breathe properly and speak.

628

: 00:30:25

Those were all choices I make

and everybody that's listening to

629

: 00:30:28

this has that same opportunity.

630

: 00:30:30

You have that choice either to accept

what you're doing and live somebody

631

: 00:30:33

else's dream and work for their dream

or live for your dreams and work towards

632

: 00:30:39

what you want in life because you

get one chance at this and everybody

633

: 00:30:44

goes, Oh, when you're diagnosed with

cancer, what went through your mind?

634

: 00:30:46

You're going to die.

635

: 00:30:47

We're all, I'm sorry, but

everybody's going to die.

636

: 00:30:50

We're all going to die.

637

: 00:30:51

So if I'm going to die, I'm going

to die coaching my butt off.

638

: 00:30:54

All right, because that's

where my passion was.

639

: 00:30:57

That's where I needed to be.

640

: 00:30:58

It was my own mental health

that I was taking care of there.

641

: 00:31:01

Not sitting in bed, not

having people worry about me.

642

: 00:31:05

Worst thing could happen.

643

: 00:31:06

You fall into that soft spot

that, oh, woe is me because

644

: 00:31:10

everybody else is worried about me.

645

: 00:31:11

There must be something wrong.

646

: 00:31:12

No, you got cancer.

647

: 00:31:14

You're going to do one of the things.

648

: 00:31:15

You're either going to beat

it or you're going to die.

649

: 00:31:17

Or you're going to get in a car accident.

650

: 00:31:18

Or you're just going

to not wake up one day.

651

: 00:31:20

Hey, when I go out.

652

: 00:31:23

I'm gonna go out in flames.

653

: 00:31:25

They're gonna say, man,

that guy lived everything.

654

: 00:31:28

There was a book, John Kennedy an unlived

life, and I thought, I don't want that

655

: 00:31:31

he had a lot of things he wanted to do.

656

: 00:31:33

Freddy D: Sure.

657

: 00:31:34

I want to slide, I want

to slide into that box.

658

: 00:31:36

Chis Carlisle: I'm going to go

in when I get there to the pearly

659

: 00:31:38

gates, if I get that far, all right,

and they're going to look at me

660

: 00:31:42

and go, man, you used it all up.

661

: 00:31:44

Didn't you?

662

: 00:31:44

Cause I got scars.

663

: 00:31:45

I got to the titanium.

664

: 00:31:47

That story is in the book.

665

: 00:31:48

I've got, all my issues and

scars and internal scars, all

666

: 00:31:52

the dragons that I fight every

day but I fight them with voices.

667

: 00:31:57

Because I'm a big voices

and choices belief.

668

: 00:31:59

The choices you make come from

the voices that are in your head.

669

: 00:32:03

If they're all negative, you're

going to have negative choices.

670

: 00:32:06

You're going to make bad decisions.

671

: 00:32:08

If all everything's been telling

you, you're terrible, you're not

672

: 00:32:10

good enough, then you're going

to believe them all of a sudden.

673

: 00:32:14

We'll see about that.

674

: 00:32:15

It was like, okay, nothing can stop me.

675

: 00:32:16

Freddy D: You get what you're focused on.

676

: 00:32:18

So you focus on negativity.

677

: 00:32:20

You're going to get negativity.

678

: 00:32:22

You focus on positive stuff.

679

: 00:32:24

You're going to attract

more positive stuff.

680

: 00:32:26

It's weird, but it works.

681

: 00:32:27

Chis Carlisle: Yep.

682

: 00:32:28

It really does.

683

: 00:32:29

It does.

684

: 00:32:30

Freddy D: I remember used to go to

a Mercedes dealership and I would go

685

: 00:32:34

sit in a 500 SL cause I wanted one.

686

: 00:32:36

I didn't have the means to getting

one, I was manifesting it and I'd

687

: 00:32:40

go in there and, it was my car and

I got to know the whole car all the

688

: 00:32:45

insides, how it worked, everything else.

689

: 00:32:47

And one day situation came up and

I ended up getting a used one.

690

: 00:32:50

And the guy goes, you want

me to go through the cars?

691

: 00:32:53

No, this is my car.

692

: 00:32:54

I know this baby already.

693

: 00:32:56

It was just like dumbfoundus, he didn't

understand what I had mentally prepared

694

: 00:33:01

myself . So I totally get what you're

saying because you attract the right type

695

: 00:33:07

of energy, and you look at people that

are, that feel victimized, that, it's,

696

: 00:33:13

look at all this is happening to me.

697

: 00:33:15

This isn't fair.

698

: 00:33:16

And this is that and blah, blah, blah.

699

: 00:33:18

But the reality is you're

attracting that stuff.

700

: 00:33:21

Chis Carlisle: You have a choice.

701

: 00:33:22

You have a choice right there.

702

: 00:33:24

When all this bad thing

are happening to you.

703

: 00:33:26

Okay.

704

: 00:33:27

I got cancer.

705

: 00:33:28

Oh, that's a bad thing.

706

: 00:33:30

Or is this a challenge to me being better?

707

: 00:33:34

I didn't get that job.

708

: 00:33:35

That's okay, because it was a challenge.

709

: 00:33:37

Okay so I'm trying to learn my lesson

here, because that's what life is.

710

: 00:33:41

There's a bunch of lessons

that we get to learn.

711

: 00:33:43

So everything that doesn't work out right,

is a lesson that you can learn next time.

712

: 00:33:48

I know I need to be better prepared.

713

: 00:33:50

I'm going to use example with you and I.

714

: 00:33:52

So the first time you and I talked,

my speaker, my microphone didn't work.

715

: 00:33:57

My lighting was terrible.

716

: 00:33:59

Everything was wrong.

717

: 00:34:00

So what'd I do this time?

718

: 00:34:01

I came on 15 minutes or 10 minutes early.

719

: 00:34:03

to make sure I checked the lights and

check my volume, checked everything.

720

: 00:34:07

So when we came on this time, I

knew everything was going to be

721

: 00:34:10

right because I did not want to

mess up our opportunity, the time

722

: 00:34:13

that we were going to be together.

723

: 00:34:14

Cause I, I wasted 15 minutes of

our time last time and 15 minutes.

724

: 00:34:19

I can do so much with 15 minutes

and it tore me up that I wasted

725

: 00:34:23

your time with my foolishness

that I didn't get things right.

726

: 00:34:26

So this time I came in ready to go.

727

: 00:34:29

When I was 10, I was

going to win a Super Bowl.

728

: 00:34:31

Now it took me 40 years to do that.

729

: 00:34:33

Freddy D: All right.

730

: 00:34:34

Chis Carlisle: How long will you,

when I'm talking to your fan base, how

731

: 00:34:38

long will you hold onto your passion?

732

: 00:34:40

If it doesn't happen this

week, do you go there you go.

733

: 00:34:42

If it doesn't happen that opportunity,

do you just throw up your hands?

734

: 00:34:45

Would you go on to your next opportunity?

735

: 00:34:47

I learned Nelson Mandela

said, I never lose.

736

: 00:34:51

I either win or I learn.

737

: 00:34:53

I never lose.

738

: 00:34:54

I either win or I learn.

739

: 00:34:56

And that's how I've adapted.

740

: 00:34:57

That's one of the voices in my head that

if things don't turn out, that's okay.

741

: 00:35:00

What did I learn out of this?

742

: 00:35:02

Freddy D: Exactly.

743

: 00:35:02

Chis Carlisle: Get better at doing.

744

: 00:35:04

So the next opportunity comes.

745

: 00:35:06

I'm ready to go.

746

: 00:35:08

And we have that choice.

747

: 00:35:09

But too many people, and you hit it

right on the head, Freddie, when you

748

: 00:35:12

talked about the negativity that people

bring upon themselves, that they didn't

749

: 00:35:16

get it because somebody else's problem.

750

: 00:35:19

No, I take total responsibility

for everything I do.

751

: 00:35:23

If I fail, it's my fault.

752

: 00:35:24

If I'm successful, I give all the

credit to somebody else because they

753

: 00:35:28

helped me get to where, because I

took the time to go ask the questions.

754

: 00:35:32

Freddy D: Yeah, it's it brings

back to my computer days I was

755

: 00:35:36

teaching at a a college, a local

college, and they had bought the

756

: 00:35:40

computer system from our company.

757

: 00:35:41

It was computer aided engineering.

758

: 00:35:44

And I was teaching the class, and one

of the things that I had an epiphany

759

: 00:35:48

was, instead of them coming and

asking me the questions, first off,

760

: 00:35:53

I told them, look it up in the manual

to take a look and figure it out.

761

: 00:35:56

So they became self-sufficient.

762

: 00:35:59

And if not, ask a colleague because

then both of you are helping one

763

: 00:36:03

another because a colleague's gotta

take a look at it, 'cause he wants

764

: 00:36:06

to try get the right information.

765

: 00:36:08

I created a team in environment, in a

classroom where people were helping one

766

: 00:36:13

another to learn the material and I ended

up having the highest, success rate and

767

: 00:36:20

people signing up for the advanced class

because they learned, the information

768

: 00:36:26

that they needed to learn to be able to do

computer aided design work on a computer.

769

: 00:36:31

Chis Carlisle: And that's just

part of the process right there.

770

: 00:36:33

And it came as an epiphany in that it was

different than the way you thought before.

771

: 00:36:38

Freddy D: Yes.

772

: 00:36:38

Chis Carlisle: And so again I talk

about in my book, the first chapter, the

773

: 00:36:42

three deadly bullets I carried with me.

774

: 00:36:44

Okay.

775

: 00:36:44

Arrogance, ignorance, and inflexibility.

776

: 00:36:46

I was so arrogant when I

graduated from college.

777

: 00:36:51

I didn't even apply

for an assistant's job.

778

: 00:36:54

Why would I want to sit behind

somebody I knew more than?

779

: 00:36:58

That's how arrogant I was when

I came out in the profession.

780

: 00:37:01

Now, I had my epiphany when

I was driving that school bus

781

: 00:37:05

home and we were one and three.

782

: 00:37:06

All right.

783

: 00:37:07

I didn't know a thing about football.

784

: 00:37:10

I didn't.

785

: 00:37:11

I knew how to play.

786

: 00:37:12

I knew plays.

787

: 00:37:13

I didn't understand how to coach.

788

: 00:37:14

So I went back to work.

789

: 00:37:16

I actually told them after that first

year, I'm the wrong guy for this position.

790

: 00:37:20

I'm not going to help

this school be better.

791

: 00:37:24

So I went off, became an assistant.

792

: 00:37:26

I still carried the ignorance

with me because I still thought

793

: 00:37:29

I knew everything, and I also

carried with me the inflexibility.

794

: 00:37:34

The inflexibility came from,

I grew up with three mentors

795

: 00:37:38

and coaching that I've watched.

796

: 00:37:40

Bobby Knight from Indiana, the

basketball coach who throws

797

: 00:37:43

chairs across the gym floor.

798

: 00:37:45

Bo Schembechler from

Michigan and Woody Hayes.

799

: 00:37:48

Okay, and Vince Lombardi, of course.

800

: 00:37:50

So those four guys were the guys, and

here's two things they had in common.

801

: 00:37:54

They won championships, and they yelled.

802

: 00:37:56

So I took the yelling from them

that if they yelled, and if I yelled

803

: 00:38:00

more, and louder, and longer, I'm

going to win more championships.

804

: 00:38:04

After 11 years, this

is how well it worked.

805

: 00:38:07

I had 33 wins, 77 losses, and one tie.

806

: 00:38:12

So if you hired me, you got

three wins every year because

807

: 00:38:16

I was following that pattern.

808

: 00:38:17

I got into that box, Freddie,

where I thought, It's not me.

809

: 00:38:21

It's not me.

810

: 00:38:22

I don't want to get on a pulpit too much.

811

: 00:38:24

I believe that God goes ahead and nudges

you into your lane that you need to be

812

: 00:38:30

and then you'll nudge and nudge and nudge.

813

: 00:38:32

Okay.

814

: 00:38:33

Eventually he'll roll up a newspaper

and hit you across the nose.

815

: 00:38:36

Okay, that you know now you got to get

over and he'll try to change your life.

816

: 00:38:40

I was so stubborn he had to take a

chicken house fan which and that was

817

: 00:38:45

a chicken house fan in the weight

room of the my most recent head

818

: 00:38:49

coaching job at Subieco Academy.

819

: 00:38:52

So I plugged it in when I walked

into the weight room and sparks came

820

: 00:38:56

out and the cord was all frayed.

821

: 00:38:58

Mama Carla did not raise an idiot.

822

: 00:39:00

I'm not going to touch that cord again.

823

: 00:39:03

I'll switch it off at the motor.

824

: 00:39:05

And so when we were going outside, I

looked at the motor, I looked over the

825

: 00:39:08

top and there was no switch on this

side, so it must be on the other side.

826

: 00:39:12

I leaned in and the fans, which are this

big, by this and turning it thousands

827

: 00:39:17

of rotations a minute, crushed my skull.

828

: 00:39:20

So the scar I have that

runs down here All right.

829

: 00:39:22

This is all titanium.

830

: 00:39:24

Okay, this whole part of my face is all

titanium Crush my skull tore the brain

831

: 00:39:28

sac shards of skull are put into my brain.

832

: 00:39:31

So I just got this happened in June,

first practice happens in August.

833

: 00:39:36

I'm getting ready for practice and

the neurosurgeon's going through,

834

: 00:39:40

okay you can't strain because if

you strain, it causes intercranial

835

: 00:39:45

pressure, it'll kill you.

836

: 00:39:47

You can't hold a sneeze in

intercranial pressure, kill you.

837

: 00:39:50

Check.

838

: 00:39:51

All right.

839

: 00:39:51

Can't lift weights because this check.

840

: 00:39:54

All right and you can't yell.

841

: 00:39:57

I checked my coaching toolbox

and he took my sledgehammer away.

842

: 00:40:03

How was I going to coach?

843

: 00:40:04

How was I going to coach

without my biggest tool?

844

: 00:40:08

So that first practice I went to

with my brand new team, I couldn't

845

: 00:40:12

speak any louder than this.

846

: 00:40:14

You know what happened, Freddy?

847

: 00:40:15

For the first time in my career,

in 11 years of coaching, the

848

: 00:40:18

players wanted to listen to me.

849

: 00:40:20

They wanted to be coached.

850

: 00:40:23

They wanted to hear what I had to say.

851

: 00:40:26

The dynamics changed.

852

: 00:40:27

I didn't want to intimidate them.

853

: 00:40:28

All right.

854

: 00:40:28

The dynamics changed.

855

: 00:40:29

There you go.

856

: 00:40:30

And the epiphany came.

857

: 00:40:32

Now, from that point of having 33 wins

in 11 seasons, I ended my career with

858

: 00:40:36

over 285 wins and championships at the

high school level, the college level,

859

: 00:40:40

the junior college level, and in the

NFL, because I changed the way I did it.

860

: 00:40:46

Now don't wait for a chicken house

fan to hit you in the head to change

861

: 00:40:50

the way you go about your operation.

862

: 00:40:52

All right.

863

: 00:40:52

That's a long story for

the moral right there.

864

: 00:40:55

And that's also is, and that's

what the book is, these stories

865

: 00:40:59

of this is how I did things wrong.

866

: 00:41:01

This is what happened to me, but

here's how you can save yourself

867

: 00:41:03

from the chicken house fan, right?

868

: 00:41:05

Be open to new ideas and be willing

to say, I might be the problem.

869

: 00:41:09

Let me go talk and ask people.

870

: 00:41:11

So I've become the king

of stupid questions.

871

: 00:41:14

I will go out and ask anybody.

872

: 00:41:17

If I don't know, I will ask the

people, Hey, what about this?

873

: 00:41:21

How does this, how did this work?

874

: 00:41:23

So my degree is in history.

875

: 00:41:25

I have a master's degree in history.

876

: 00:41:26

My undergrad is in social science.

877

: 00:41:28

I became a strength conditioning coach.

878

: 00:41:30

Never took a physiology class at

kinesiology college, a movement class,

879

: 00:41:33

but I went to the best people in the

world and sat down with them and with

880

: 00:41:38

a pen and took the time and grind it

out and learn, and became the student

881

: 00:41:42

again so that I could learn everything.

882

: 00:41:45

Then I took what I got from there

and I brought it to somebody else and

883

: 00:41:48

they helped to line it out, and then

somebody else, and they narrowed it

884

: 00:41:50

down and all of a sudden I had a great

package that I could take to a team.

885

: 00:41:55

That could help them to become what

they wanted to be and help those

886

: 00:41:59

athletes become who they wanted to be.

887

: 00:42:02

And so that's, that was my path.

888

: 00:42:04

And that's what the book is about.

889

: 00:42:05

It's hard to say in a sentence,

the stories in there are applicable

890

: 00:42:09

to, here's what happened in my

life, but you can do it better.

891

: 00:42:12

Freddy D: Very cool.

892

: 00:42:13

Yeah, that brings me, reminds me

of when I first became a sales in a

893

: 00:42:17

computer industry, I went to a company

and all I had to do was get them to

894

: 00:42:24

renew the monthly subscription of

the software that they were using.

895

: 00:42:27

That was it, nothing more, and

so they started asking me, about

896

: 00:42:31

this competitor that they're

looking at and everything else.

897

: 00:42:34

So what did I do?

898

: 00:42:35

Start talking about

all the negative stuff.

899

: 00:42:36

Needless to say, they called me up one

day and says we're no longer using your

900

: 00:42:41

stuff, so you need to come pick it up.

901

: 00:42:43

My district manager just blew up and rode

me up and down, verbally, and made me go

902

: 00:42:51

pick up the equipment, which back then was

a tech support guy that would handle that.

903

: 00:42:55

I had to go pick it up, and I at

least had the wherewithal to ask

904

: 00:42:59

the guy, why did you not renew with

us and went with somebody else?

905

: 00:43:02

He goes all you did was talk all the

negative stuff about the, the competitor

906

: 00:43:08

that we bought and what they did was they

talked about all the great things that

907

: 00:43:12

you do, but here's why they're better.

908

: 00:43:15

It was you know, two by four

right across the forehead

909

: 00:43:19

Chis Carlisle: Or a chicken house faint

910

: 00:43:20

Freddy D: Yeah, because it was like, I

never looked at it that way, I was, they

911

: 00:43:25

can't do this, they can't do this, but I

never really edified our product and how

912

: 00:43:29

it could help them with their business.

913

: 00:43:32

That was a monster teaching moment.

914

: 00:43:35

Because from then on, I, won numerous

sales awards because I changed my

915

: 00:43:40

approach completely to talking about

where the business wanted to grow,

916

: 00:43:46

and my tool was just a vehicle.

917

: 00:43:49

That would help them to get there.

918

: 00:43:51

So I started creating superfans

from customers because they

919

: 00:43:56

were achieving their growth.

920

: 00:43:57

They were going from a 40 man tool

and die shop to 120 man tool and

921

: 00:44:02

die shop, because I was helping

the owner achieve their vision.

922

: 00:44:07

There's times where, they would

say, hey, can your software do this?

923

: 00:44:10

I say, no, go and buy this package

because it's, what they specialize

924

: 00:44:15

in and we don't specialize in that.

925

: 00:44:17

That gave me the credibility, and in turn,

they were my superfan to where I could

926

: 00:44:23

turn around and says, Hey, Chris, call Bob

at this company up in Rockford, Illinois.

927

: 00:44:28

They'll tell you about the how our,

technology has helped grow their business.

928

: 00:44:33

Same approach as what you're talking

about is, those epiphany moments, if

929

: 00:44:39

you realize them and capitalize them,

can change the trajectory of everything.

930

: 00:44:45

Chis Carlisle: Without a doubt.

931

: 00:44:45

Yeah, I've had I think three or four in my

life that have changed the way I go about.

932

: 00:44:50

We talked about, I went from winning

the Super Bowl as a player and I didn't

933

: 00:44:53

work out and then as a football coach

and I don't think I had all the tools.

934

: 00:44:58

It was a great dream of mine to be a

football coach and win a Super Bowl.

935

: 00:45:02

But I didn't have the mental capacity

as far as like an offensive coordinator.

936

: 00:45:07

They need to think three or four plays

ahead and they need to understand

937

: 00:45:11

they're juggling a lot of balls,

formations, personnel, all this stuff.

938

: 00:45:15

All right.

939

: 00:45:16

I didn't have that ability.

940

: 00:45:17

I'm a fixer.

941

: 00:45:19

I can see something wrong and fix it.

942

: 00:45:22

I found my niche.

943

: 00:45:24

In that I still was following my dream

of winning the Super Bowl, but it came

944

: 00:45:29

in the vehicle of being a strength

coach, which was perfect for me.

945

: 00:45:34

It's where I'm at my best

because like I said, I can fix.

946

: 00:45:38

I can see things that are wrong

and I can give the right cues

947

: 00:45:43

because I'm a communicator.

948

: 00:45:44

So I don't tell, I teach, and I think when

we talk about being the best at what you

949

: 00:45:52

do, we need to become great communicators.

950

: 00:45:55

Freddy D: You got to pull people up.

951

: 00:45:58

That's really the bottom line,

is our job is to pull people up.

952

: 00:46:01

Chis Carlisle: So the communication

goes through three phases.

953

: 00:46:04

There's the problem, now

where does the problem go?

954

: 00:46:06

Does it become, constant nagging,

or do we sit down and say, okay.

955

: 00:46:11

What are ideas that we can go

ahead and change that problem,

956

: 00:46:15

and it's just not you sitting out.

957

: 00:46:17

It's everybody who touches the product

that is part of this process, and

958

: 00:46:22

even some people from the outside.

959

: 00:46:23

They may have again, like my

editor had that third person view

960

: 00:46:27

that they can look in and go.

961

: 00:46:28

That's simple.

962

: 00:46:29

Take this out,

963

: 00:46:31

Freddy D: Right

964

: 00:46:32

Chis Carlisle: Then the

third phase is problem solve.

965

: 00:46:34

So you have a problem,

you have a bunch of ideas.

966

: 00:46:37

Now, what problem is most

efficient in a way that we can

967

: 00:46:39

do this so that it can stick.

968

: 00:46:41

It's not just a Band Aid.

969

: 00:46:43

that it actually fixes the problem, but

you've got to have that open communication

970

: 00:46:48

within your organization that you

don't think that you're invaluable.

971

: 00:46:52

That that I don't know everything.

972

: 00:46:55

When I was coaching, I hired a

young lady named Tatyana Ubikova.

973

: 00:46:59

Tatyana was from the Ukraine, was a triple

jumper, went through the Soviet system

974

: 00:47:04

and in training, because at that time

the Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union.

975

: 00:47:07

They teach and coach at

a whole different level.

976

: 00:47:10

They teach you and they want to

break down, they'll take 10, 000

977

: 00:47:13

and they'll break down 9, 999 to

get one, that one super athlete.

978

: 00:47:18

So she comes through the system.

979

: 00:47:20

Now she has a degree in business,

but I hired her as a strength coach

980

: 00:47:23

because her coaching fundamentals,

her understanding and the way that

981

: 00:47:28

she motivated people was amazing.

982

: 00:47:32

I brought a guy named Char Gahagan

and Char was a national powerlifting

983

: 00:47:35

champion, because he understood

how to get people stronger.

984

: 00:47:39

I didn't have that.

985

: 00:47:40

I didn't have this., I was a speed guy.

986

: 00:47:42

I stole all my ideas from a

guy named Vince Anderson, who

987

: 00:47:45

trained Olympic champions.

988

: 00:47:47

So I got all my information from him.

989

: 00:47:49

I was a speed guy.

990

: 00:47:50

Then I got a guy that was a

plyometric guy, a jumping guy.

991

: 00:47:53

So I brought all these people

in because I knew my strength,

992

: 00:47:56

and I knew my weaknesses.

993

: 00:47:57

When we sat down to organize a program,

it was all about taking their input, their

994

: 00:48:02

communication on how to do this best.

995

: 00:48:05

Then I took what I do best is

that I took all that and made it

996

: 00:48:08

into a cohesive program that we're

able to get all that stuff done.

997

: 00:48:12

So as a leader, as the top of the pyramid

of the culture, you've got to be able to

998

: 00:48:18

be humble enough to say, I don't know.

999

: 00:48:21

Freddy D: That's very important.

: 1000

00:48:22,182 --> 00:48:23,392

That's a huge statement.

: 1001

00:48:24,027 --> 00:48:25,237

Chis Carlisle: There is the micro

manager and the micro leader..

: 1002

00:48:25,847 --> 00:48:29,807

The micromanager has his hands and

everything and thinks he knows it all.

: 1003

00:48:30,307 --> 00:48:36,787

The micro leader knows what's going

on, but allows you to do what you

: 1004

00:48:36,787 --> 00:48:40,867

do best because you understand

what it is that you're doing.

: 1005

00:48:41,027 --> 00:48:44,787

Through the culture of the organization,

because of messaging, because of we have

: 1006

00:48:44,787 --> 00:48:48,867

our style set, we have the foundation

there, so the structure is strong.

: 1007

00:48:49,267 --> 00:48:54,057

He allows you, or she allows you,

to go ahead and be the best person

: 1008

00:48:54,057 --> 00:48:57,367

at your job, and you don't have

to worry about them nitpicking.

: 1009

00:48:57,747 --> 00:49:00,727

They may sit down with you and go

ahead and explain, I saw you doing

: 1010

00:49:00,727 --> 00:49:03,737

this, and Pete would call me in and

go, hey, I saw the guys doing this.

: 1011

00:49:03,787 --> 00:49:04,787

Why are you doing that?

: 1012

00:49:04,787 --> 00:49:08,577

I explain how that turns on

the VMO, the vastus medialis

: 1013

00:49:08,667 --> 00:49:10,087

obliquus, turns on the glutes.

: 1014

00:49:10,227 --> 00:49:14,807

It helps with knee support, helps with

hip ability, and it turns the glute on

: 1015

00:49:14,807 --> 00:49:17,387

so that we have our hamstrings safe.

: 1016

00:49:17,887 --> 00:49:19,167

Oh, I didn't know that.

: 1017

00:49:19,347 --> 00:49:22,457

Okay, you wouldn't, but that's

why I'm here, and then he would

: 1018

00:49:22,507 --> 00:49:24,117

go have fun with that, all right.

: 1019

00:49:24,257 --> 00:49:27,307

And we'd go do that, but I

understood why we were doing it.

: 1020

00:49:27,357 --> 00:49:29,347

Freddy D: So I'm going to wrap up here.

: 1021

00:49:29,457 --> 00:49:32,717

One of the things I want to reiterate

is the fact that when you brought

: 1022

00:49:32,717 --> 00:49:36,837

in those subcoaches that specialize

in different things you in turn

: 1023

00:49:36,847 --> 00:49:42,837

really created superfans from them

as well as the team that you were

: 1024

00:49:43,077 --> 00:49:47,347

working with because you were making

them better and perform better.

: 1025

00:49:47,887 --> 00:49:52,307

So it was always about them being able

to perform at the level that they

: 1026

00:49:52,307 --> 00:49:54,207

needed to perform to win the games.

: 1027

00:49:54,687 --> 00:49:58,477

That all tied together in a

collaborative team effort.

: 1028

00:49:58,957 --> 00:49:59,897

Chis Carlisle: Here's a byproduct of that.

: 1029

00:49:59,947 --> 00:50:02,597

Every one of those coaches that

I brought in went on to win

: 1030

00:50:02,607 --> 00:50:04,527

championships with their teams also.

: 1031

00:50:04,527 --> 00:50:07,707

Because of the work we all did, they

took it out and they said, okay.

: 1032

00:50:07,877 --> 00:50:11,137

They applied their own magic in it and

they will be able to be successful.

: 1033

00:50:11,497 --> 00:50:16,017

So it's, when you're a manager who's

lifting people up and wanting them to go

: 1034

00:50:16,017 --> 00:50:19,077

ahead and grow within your organization,

and when they're ready to open their

: 1035

00:50:19,077 --> 00:50:21,037

own shop, then you're all for it.

: 1036

00:50:21,047 --> 00:50:24,237

I'm going to give everything I have to

you so you can go ahead and do it because

: 1037

00:50:24,247 --> 00:50:29,137

I believe I can still do it better than

everybody, but you go do your stuff.

: 1038

00:50:29,687 --> 00:50:29,887

Freddy D: Yeah.

: 1039

00:50:30,047 --> 00:50:31,017

Chis Carlisle: Take all our information.

: 1040

00:50:31,117 --> 00:50:31,337

Freddy D: Yeah.

: 1041

00:50:31,757 --> 00:50:32,017

Great.

: 1042

00:50:32,307 --> 00:50:33,907

So how can people find you, Chris?

: 1043

00:50:33,907 --> 00:50:33,962

Chis Carlisle: Thanks so much.

: 1044

00:50:34,372 --> 00:50:37,252

I'm on Facebook, I'm on Instagram.

: 1045

00:50:37,502 --> 00:50:42,872

My website will have all this and Freddy

will have the QR code when we finish this.

: 1046

00:50:43,062 --> 00:50:50,992

But it's info@thecoachcarlisle.com or on,

on my website is theCoachCarlisle.com.

: 1047

00:50:51,117 --> 00:50:53,167

If you pull that up, my website's there.

: 1048

00:50:53,307 --> 00:50:55,507

You can order my book from

there and I will sign it.

: 1049

00:50:55,737 --> 00:50:57,737

I will personalize it to you.

: 1050

00:50:58,067 --> 00:51:01,737

And then you can find my blogs

and I just finished my 100th blog.

: 1051

00:51:02,077 --> 00:51:04,027

And so it's just articles that I've had.

: 1052

00:51:04,067 --> 00:51:05,157

It's again, stories.

: 1053

00:51:05,157 --> 00:51:07,992

I'm actually going to take those

100 and make another book out of it.

: 1054

00:51:08,412 --> 00:51:08,912

Freddy D: Oh, cool.

: 1055

00:51:08,912 --> 00:51:09,022

Great.

: 1056

00:51:09,072 --> 00:51:12,402

Chis Carlisle: It's just step by

step, and it goes from the five

: 1057

00:51:12,412 --> 00:51:17,772

P's passion, preparation, practice,

performance, and perseverance.

: 1058

00:51:17,942 --> 00:51:21,312

Those five things I've found

make up the championship mindset.

: 1059

00:51:21,312 --> 00:51:21,712

Freddy D: Excellent.

: 1060

00:51:22,092 --> 00:51:25,202

Chris, it's been a pleasure having you

on the Business Superfan Podcast show.

: 1061

00:51:25,892 --> 00:51:29,342

It's been a great conversation

and we'll have you back on again

: 1062

00:51:29,342 --> 00:51:31,522

because we've got more to talk about.

: 1063

00:51:31,607 --> 00:51:33,607

Chis Carlisle: I got four more stories.

: 1064

00:51:33,607 --> 00:51:35,697

Freddy D: Okay, we'll get

into those, we'll do it.

: 1065

00:51:35,707 --> 00:51:39,377

We'll get you on another show and continue

to continue the conversation, buddy.

: 1066

00:51:39,687 --> 00:51:40,907

Chis Carlisle: Thank

you for the opportunity.

: 1067

00:51:40,907 --> 00:51:44,297

It's been great talking to your

group and good luck everybody and

: 1068

00:51:44,297 --> 00:51:47,037

go ahead and live your optimal life.

: 1069

00:51:47,547 --> 00:51:47,907

Freddy D: All right, man.

: 1070

00:51:48,037 --> 00:51:48,447

Thank you.