 I'm Rusty Komori, and this is Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii. I was the head coach of the Punahou Boys varsity tennis team for 22 years, and we were fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championships. This show is based on my books Beyond the Lines and Beyond the Game, and it's about leadership, character, and creating a superior culture of excellence. My special guest today is an author. He's a keynote speaker and managing partner of the extremely successful IA business advisors. He is Brian Smith, and today we are going beyond your influence. Hey, Brian. Welcome to Beyond the Lines. Hey, Rusty. Thanks for having me. Brian, I enjoy our conversations together, and we get really deep when you and I talk. I want to first start off if you can share a bit about your background. Sure. I live where I was born. I'm actually in Elgin right now. I had an opportunity to move to Southern California, and it was a huge change for me to go from rural Illinois to the cities of Southern California. So much, in fact, as we've talked about, I got into some pretty crazy things, ended up getting busted for drugs, ended up with a choice, and at the end of high school, right at graduation, go to jail because I was 18 or go in the military, and it was a defining moment for me. I went in the military, took advantage of all that the military offered me, not just the structure and the character building and the discipline and everything that went with it, but the education and the way to look forward. So I used the military to get educated and started my first company almost right after I got out. That company has turned into what is today, IA Business Advisors, and it also led to me meeting my wife, Renee, who you've been able to meet also. We've been together 32 years, 30 years in marriage, and our company will be 27 years old next month. Well, Brian, you're right. Renee has such an amazing personality, and you guys make such a great team together. What do you admire most about Renee? Yeah, it is her human spirit. People oftentimes meet her and think that she is not genuine, that it's some kind of air she's putting on or she somehow can't maintain that level of positivity and that level of energy, but she is probably the most positive and spirited human that I've been around. Honestly, she's my polar opposite, which makes us an amazing team together. She brings balance to us and to our family and to everything that we do. Well, I totally agree with you there, Brian. She is absolutely so positive, but so genuine and so caring. Brian, I want to ask you about IA Business Advisors. You guys have had and helped clients on all seven continents, including Antarctica. How did that Antarctica client come about? Yeah, back in the late 90s, we had an opportunity to work with NOAA, which is the National Oceanographic American Association. It's a government organization, and I probably just butchered their name, but NOAA is really one of the organizations that manages our presence as a government on Antarctica. We had an opportunity to help them with some technology problems, keeping the people and the teams that they had in Antarctica connected to us here in North America. Our company helped to design and then maintain that system so that people could stay connected. Wow, I think that's amazing, Brian. For me, when I'm doing business trainings for executives or for companies, a lot of it I find is how can we help them build better relationships with their coworkers or their clients, or how can we help them communicate better? Do you find that that's one of the main things that you help people with as well? Yeah, it's the foundation of success, really, as an individual and also as a team, is our ability to communicate effectively. To do that with all of the different nuances and variances that we have as humans in a commingled human environment, dealing with the challenges that we do as individuals and groups. It is probably the number one challenge we have, and also the thing that we get approached for, even if they don't know that's why they're asking us for help, what we're approached for the most. Brian, I want to ask you about this. When we help companies that might have dysfunction going on with their team members, I think that sometimes it might be maybe the leadership or the managers not being aware enough or not being able to connect with some of their employees to maybe prevent or avoid some of those situations from happening where they end up feeling a certain way. The other part might be it might not deal with anything at work. It might be them having stress at home. What do you see? Yeah, you know, as humans we're influenced in so many different ways, and we don't know at any given moment what may have influenced a human we're dealing with to behave in a certain way. So understanding or having empathy towards humans and what influences us is probably one of the best foundational things we can have as leaders. And being able to slow down and get out of a comfortable focus that we're in that basically puts blinders on us and keeps us from having that empathy or that understanding and keeps us from slowing down and hearing what those people that look to us for leadership are trying to say or get us to get in concert with. Brian, I want to ask you about your first book, Individual Influence. I absolutely love it and I was so honored to have met you in Hawaii fairly recently and you gave me your book and it's so great. And I want to ask you what compelled you to write the book? Yeah, I think, you know, our belief has been for a very long time that the individual is more than just myself or I, and that it is I in a singular sense, but when I'm with another person or another many persons that we are ourselves individual. And when we come together with a common focus, we have a team, we are a team, and our influence is compounded and it has power. I have influenced myself and when we do it together, we have broader or bigger opportunities for influence. My drive to writing individual influence was helping people understand that they matter and that they matter singularly and that they matter in everything they do. So the influence they have is their biggest responsibility. And our hope is that when they read our book that they understand themselves a little bit better what influence them and how they in turn can be a more positive influence. Whatever that means in their world, a more positive influence in their area of influence. Now, Brian, in your book, you also talk about self-awareness and the importance of it. Can you tell me more about that? Yeah, you know, knowing where we come from, knowing what influences us, knowing what triggers us, you know, Rusty, some of the things you talk about in your books are character and control and understanding the choices we make and being responsible and having accountability for our actions. And self-awareness means knowing what triggers us, knowing what challenges us, knowing what makes us feel good and bad and being able to be aware of how we listen and how we react in any given moment, so that we can have that positive influence and be responsible for our influence in any given moment. And Brian, in your book, you also talk about the importance of character and empathy and can you tell me more about that? Yeah, well, talking to you about character is like, well, I don't know. I mean, your books so much focus on character and have proven itself over and over and over again. But character and empathy go one in the same. It's hard to have good character if you don't have empathy for your fellow humans. It's hard to maintain character if you don't have empathy for what other people are going through. It doesn't mean that you can't hold them accountable or you can't challenge them. But it takes us to a higher level of leadership and a higher level of human influence that I think is best served when we pay attention to it. And we never forget those two words as part of who we are as humans. Now, Brian, you will be releasing your second book, Positive Influence. And I'm super excited to read that. Now, what do you focus on in that book? Well, that takes us from understanding ourself and being more self-aware and how to apply that self-awareness so that we can have better personal influence to how do we build teams? How do we build influence singularly and multiply? And how do we project that outward and have a more positive influence within the bigger groups that we have? And we touch on some pretty strong issues, DEI, burning bridges, dealing with some of the most difficult behavior issues that we can face as humans. We're going to challenge people to look at in Positive Influence. Well, Brian, I feel really honored that you asked me to write the forward for your third book and that it's part of your trilogy of the Ion Team series. And can you tell me more about why you have the trilogy coming out? Yeah, so our feeling is fine to build your influence. So finding it, being it and then building it are the three aspects of understanding influence and to get to the build phase, you have to be and to get to the B phase, you have to find. And, you know, Rusty, after reading your books and just spending actually a very short amount of time with you, one thing I learned that has really settled in, well, as Renee says, my soul is that you and I are fairly synergistic in the way that we think humans should approach leadership and how humans should approach each other and how humans should be responsible for our actions. And as you know, I got back home after our trip and shortly after, asked you to write the forward to that book because I think that your message and our message can be compounded and become more powerful if we do it together. I completely agree with you one million percent, Brian. I mean, it's so funny how you bring up the word synergistic because that's exactly how you and I felt together when we first met each other and we could talk for hours and hours. And, Brian, you have both of my books and what did you think of it? Well, as I've shared, the first thing I like about your books is the way you break down the eight parts of leadership and what those eight parts are and how creating leadership and how to achieve it can be done in a very structured way. And my favorite part, as I've shared with you, are the stories at the end of the chapters that bring into context each one of those steps that you go through and, well, you know, they hammer home the eight aspects in your book. So what I really like is how it bundles all up into your word is leadership and excellence. Sorry, but you're going to have to do the words you use. And I told you I have struggles with this, but excellence and leadership, extreme excellence. And you actually gave a path to that that is succinct and easy to follow, easy to read, and easy to implement all at the same time. Well, Brian, you and I both know how complicated and complex leadership can be. So for me, my goal was to really try to work on simplicity and clarity in the books. And I feel so honored that you like it. And Brian, you know me, I like to talk about the importance of little things and that little victories matter and little victories lead to big victories. What are your thoughts about how companies and people individuals should be focusing on the little things? Yeah, you know, we use a term in our management methodology that is common term, it's called milestones. But we believe in also another term that people might be familiar with, baby steps. And your approach towards winning and getting to winning is the baby step or the milestone approach. And you set very clear objectives, one foot at a time or one motion at a time or one practice at a time. And you tackle all the aspects of what is needed to achieve extreme success. But you do it in a way that lead people there. And as you've done with your tennis teams, you took them there year after year after year, despite the changes in the players, despite the changes in the competitors, despite the changes in the environment, you still consistently led them there. And it shows that those milestones or baby steps, that preparation and that consistency works every time. Yeah, you're right, Brian. And you talk, like I said earlier about self-awareness, and I do too, and the importance of choices, because you have to be aware about what you're doing, what situation you're in. And then the important word of discipline comes in, and how self-discipline leads to habits, which lead to success. What are your thoughts? Yeah, if you don't have self-discipline, you can't create habits. And even with discipline, you can create bad habits. But understanding the positive aspects of what your goals are, understanding the path, and holding yourself accountable to each step of the way creates those habits creates that repetition. And, you know, being accountable for your bad choices and looking in the mirror and being honest with yourself will steer you away from bad habit development, will steer you away from making the same mistake twice or three times or four. But it requires being honest with yourself. And that's the whole self-awareness part, looking in the mirror. Yeah, Brian. And you know how I talk about what the four situations that cause the most problems in all of our lives, I refer to it as the four misses, miscommunication, misunderstanding, misperceptions, and misinformation, and how you're trying to do this too. And I'm trying to help companies and teams avoid the four misses because if you don't, you'll go off on these tangents and some of these relationships with your coworkers or clients might become damaged and might not ever be fully repaired. And all the while, you're wasting time taking time away from you achieving the goals that you want or your team achieving the goals. What are your thoughts about trying to avoid the four misses? Yeah, you know, Russ, you're so right about that. And it's a lesson I wish I would have learned much earlier. I think I've shared with you there. I've had those four misses and I can look back on my life and see those where I missed those things and where I made those mistakes. And while it pivoted my life and my life still ended up good, I still missed out on opportunities and missed out on relationships because I didn't have that knowledge. So again, back to how you are able to outline that and give people a way of understanding and applying these concepts and these practices is what I think really makes your work so powerful and so impactful and so successful. Now, Brian, you and I were also with David C. Williams fairly recently in Hawaii together. And the three of us are authors with Made for Success Publishing, Brian Heathman's fabulous publishing company that we can rave on about Brian Heathman. But I want to ask you, when you met David C. Williams, what impressed you the most about him? I think it's his energy. You know, you walk in the room and he had this aura about him. It wasn't quite as big as Renee's, but I'm a little partial. But he still has this big personality, amazingly still direct, communicates clearly, has a purpose, but also has the same human aspect that you and I share. He believes in people. He believes in the best influence we can have and he believes in being responsible for and projecting the most positive influence he can. And you can feel that in a very short amount of time when you meet him. Yeah, and you know, you've seen how I had David on my TV show recently as well. And I was, I did all of that that you just said about him. And we were also impressed with his style. I mean, he is like the best dresser, right? Yeah, I think he has, I don't know, hundreds of pairs of tennis shoes and he's got wooden bow ties. And look, it's what makes us unique. And what makes us memorable, pass the things that we might talk about or pass the teachings we might have or the leadership we might have. You know, it's what defines us. There's each of us has a way of defining ourselves. And I think it's amazing that he's so comfortable to be able to wear colorful shoes and colorful bow ties, and mix those in with very serious issues and very serious and needed concepts and lead effectively all at the same time. Brian, you do a lot of keynote speaking and a ton of leadership training. And I really love your smart training, SM, ART. Can you tell me about your smart training? Yeah, our smart management program is based on what many people learn in school called SMART goals. And SMART goals are goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. However, we feel that SMART goals are, well, they're a place that are, you know, down there. They're in a day, they're in a week, they're in a month, they're in a year. And to achieve SMART goals, you have to have SMART tactics. And that includes SMART actions, SMART communication, SMART listening, you know, SMART milestones, everything's smart. So we teach that you challenge yourself when you take action that you're doing it in a SMART way, that you can measure it, that you can attain it, that it's realistic, and it's timely, and that it keeps you pointed in the right direction. Brian, when you do your keynote speaking, what do you focus on that makes you such an effective keynote speaker? Well, what is the organization I'm speaking to? Why am I there? How do you apply SMART in their world? And, you know, oftentimes, when we as speakers or leadership, people go into an environment, we can get lost in our own concepts, and we can talk over the context that's needed. And one of the things I try to do is prepare to speak to those people. So that involves listening to them and learning from them so that how they apply SMART management, how they apply SMART tactics, how they apply SMART goals is for them and for their organization and for them individually and for their industry. Brian, you and I love helping people in teams, average teams that we can make good or good teams that we can make great or great teams that we can make extraordinary. And you know that I always say that there's a tremendous difference between a culture of excellence and a superior culture of excellence. And there's a gigantic difference between attention to details and superior discipline details. What are your thoughts? Oh, those are the words that I was eluding to earlier. Your way to take things to next level, to challenge us as humans to skill ourselves up to a level higher than what we've already achieved. And I think that's one of the biggest takeaways and things that I really love about your work is that you take somebody to a point and then you say to them, let's go a little higher. And you take them to a point and then you say to them, let's go a little higher. And you're able to put it in a way that people can get into. They can get their teeth into it. They can get their hands around it. They can believe in it. And as you know, if you can make a human believe, then they'll get there. And that's really what it takes is getting them to believe in themselves and getting them to believe in where they want to be and then showing them how to do that. And they can do it. And Brian, I find that the greatest sports teams and the most successful businesses, they all have an identity, whether it's one thing, whether it's five things that they might be known for. And I love trying to help teams build their identity. And once they have an identity, keep that identity, but try to add on to that. What are your thoughts? Oh, yeah. You don't know who you are. It's hard to be who you are. And so helping people understand their identity or some of the big words now are personas or some of these words that are out there. But really, that foundational word is identity. Who are you? What are you about? What is it that you want to influence? And when they understand that, the world and the path for them becomes so much clearer. And Brian, I know that people want to play a role. They want to contribute. They want to be on a team to help the team achieve their goals. And everyone has to play a key role. But sometimes a pat on the back goes a whole long way, right? So yes, not all humans need that pat on the back. But all humans enjoy that pat on the back and all humans benefit from that pat on the back. So regardless of if you think they need it or don't, give it to them anyhow because they will take that extra step or two or give that extra smile or give a pat to somebody else in replication and help spread that positive influence. Because at the end of the day, that's what that pat is, is positive influence. Brian, I want to ask you one more thing before we wrap up today. What's a valuable lesson you learned in life so far? Yeah, well, the most valuable lesson for me is to slow down and just appreciate where I'm at in every single moment. Because where I'm at is a culmination of all of the influence of my life in this moment. And at this moment is the best time. If I'm in the present, it is the best time for me to make the best decision every time. So slowing down and being in the moment, that is the biggest lesson I've learned. Okay, Brian, we're going to slow down. I'm going to listen to you. And I want you to know that, wow, I mean, I am impressed with the impact that you have had over 30 plus years, not just in the United States, but around the world. And I really want to thank you for taking time to join me on the show today. Well, thank you, Rusty, for having me. It's been just great to join you. Thanks, Brian. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. For more information, please visit RustyKamori.com. And my books are available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble and Brian's books too. And I hope that Brian and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha.