As The Leader Grows with Ken Joslin

Rebecca Maciera-Kaufman | Charting a Course to Success as a Corporate Trailblazer

• Ken Joslin

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Rebecca Maciera Kaufman, a distinguished leader with an impressive track record at Citigroup and Wells Fargo, shares her incredible journey from childhood entrepreneur to financial sector powerhouse. Discover how Rebecca's early love for business, starting with "Rebecca's Little Shop," evolved into a remarkable career, leading her to become the president of Citibank California and a driving force in a Citigroup subsidiary. Her story is a testament to the power of entrepreneurial spirit within the corporate world, as she now dedicates her expertise to guiding startup and Fortune 50 CEOs through her consulting firm.

Rebecca's journey is not just about achieving titles; it's about mastering the art of intrapreneurship. By taking on entrepreneurial roles within big corporations like Wells Fargo Insurance Services, she cultivated a proactive approach that led her to leadership excellence. Rebecca's unique strategies—like personally engaging with team members and setting ambitious goals—highlight how transformative corporate experiences can be when approached with passion and purpose. Her insights on aligning people with roles that fit their strengths echo Jim Collins' philosophy, ensuring that everyone is in the right seat on the bus to success.

In an inspiring discussion on personal well-being and leadership resilience, Rebecca unveils the concept of being a "Fit CEO." Her forthcoming book, "Fit CEO: Be the Leader of Your Life," promises to guide readers in balancing physical, mental, energetic, and spiritual fitness. Rebecca shares practical routines that foster not just career success but also personal health and fulfillment. Her philosophy emphasizes the importance of seizing each day with presence and energy, offering invaluable lessons for anyone aspiring to lead with authenticity and vitality.

Welcome to the ATLG podcast I am your host Ken Joslin, former pastor turned coach & host of CREATE, the #1 Faith-based Entrepreneur conference in America. My mission is to help faith-based entrepreneurs become the best version of themselves by growing in our Core 5: Faith, Health, Relationships, Business & Finances. You can get more information as well as join our FREE Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/676347099851525

Speaker 1:

Hey guys, welcome to another episode of as the Leader Grows. I am your host, Ken Jocelyn. I've got an unbelievable guest. We've been off air talking about restaurants in San Francisco. Her name is Rebecca Maciera Kaufman. She's a seasoned CEO with companies like Citigroup, Wells Fargo and just a ton of financial experience. Super excited to have her on our show today. She talks about building teams. Now she's a consultant. She works with a lot of CEOs, a lot of Fortune 50 CEOs as well. Rebecca, thank you, Welcome to as a Leader Grows, my friend.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, ken, it's fantastic to be here.

Speaker 1:

Hey, talk to our audience a little bit. I got the background off air, but tell our audience a little bit about you and what drives you. And you're obviously located in San Francisco, a city that I love a ton, except when you go to the Giants games and it gets cold outside, because that's like it'd be unbearable.

Speaker 2:

Right Gosh. A little bit about me. Well, I'm born and raised local San Franciscan. Love my city, love, love my city, and I have had the honor of a 30 plus year career in financial services and before that in strategy consulting um. I've lived and worked in five countries and in the financial services arena at wells and at city. I had fantastic roles. At wells, I ran small business. At city, I was president of cityiti Bank, california, and got to be CEO of a subsidiary of Citi Group called Banamex USA and then got to lead the International Personal Bank and so really just a fantastic career. And then, five years ago, launched my own business, a consulting firm, as you mentioned, and I advise startup CEOs and some very large company CEOs, wrote my book Fit CEO with my co-author, lillian, and I also sit on a number and serve on a number of boards.

Speaker 1:

And I see you have been named by the San Francisco Business Times as one of the most influential women in business in San Francisco, which is a huge honor. Walk me, let's go back to almost the genesis of your career. Why finances? And what was your passion and dream when you were young and how did you get into doing what you're doing?

Speaker 2:

Sure. So my passion, my dream, when I was young I mean literally in my bedroom when I was really young I had Rebecca's Little Shop. So, for whatever reason, I have always been into business. I used to make jewelry. I started a jewelry company. I made, when I was really young, potholders. I made everything. I used to sell everything and over the years I even paid my way through college with my jewelry business. And over the years I even paid my way through college with my jewelry business and then, just when I loved, I had this idea of making things better. I guess you know, selling people, being with people, all of that I love. I used to have to take the bus to Santa Rosa to see my grandparents, or get to take the bus to see my grandparents.

Speaker 2:

And on the bus I would sell people things, jewelry pot you named it things.

Speaker 2:

I I love that I've always been commercial and then in the, I guess, more serious part of my career, when I after I went to undergrad and I went to business school and got trained, um, I went into management consulting and got to see the inside of a lot of industries. If you you had asked me before that, I would have thought I would have gone into maybe real estate or even like multi, like what we would now call a social club. Those all interested me, like how you could learn language and have a dining area and have a club and have it all hotel all in one. I was super interested in that. But when I was consulting I got to see the inside of financial institutions and it was very complex and very interesting and I didn't know about it and so that's how I learned about financial services. They were actually my clients and then, when I lived in London at the time, then I moved back to San Francisco and looked at both tech and financial services and ended up starting my career in a company called First Deposit.

Speaker 1:

So walk me through the journey. I mean, you started in financial services after grad school and rose to be the president of Citigroup in Atlanta. Citibank, obviously, in Atlanta.

Speaker 2:

Citibank in California Not.

Speaker 1:

Atlanta that's where I'm at You're in California and then a CEO level for a subsidiary of Citigroup. Walk me through that journey. What's some of the things that you learned? Because really, when you start talking about selling jewelry on the bus to go see your grandparents in Santa Rosa, a city that I'm very familiar with when you're on the bus I mean you have an entrepreneurial spirit. You're on the bus, I mean you have an entrepreneurial spirit, so there is an entrepreneur in there. Walk me through that process early for you, just really cutting your teeth and moving your way up the ranks with an entrepreneurial spirit in corporate America can be a little difficult.

Speaker 2:

Sure, well, a couple of things. I think I love to win, so I'm super competitive with myself, yeah, and so I love helping teams win and I think that's really fun. And so then I break that down. What does it take to win? Well, in the people business, so let's say, you know, like president of Citibank California had about 5,000 team members. So in a people business, winning is about having your people win. And I love people and I love helping people succeed and win, and so I literally have a career path that combines my passion for numbers. I love numbers and I love people and I'm really lucky because that comes together in banking, especially retail banking, that comes together really well. So people, people development, building high-performing teams, but winning growing a business and to do that you have to get under the hood and understand all the numbers. So those are the kinds of things I'd say. The CEO role was a lot more governance, a lot more legal, a lot of different skills, but the starting off like that I wasn't really.

Speaker 1:

Let me ask you a question, because in corporate America I guess the stigma is it's dog eat dog world and it's like Norm on Cheers he used to say it's dog eat dog world. I'm wearing milk bone underwear. It can be very tough, but when I hear your heart, you really do have the heart of an entrepreneur. And I don't know if you're familiar with Zig Ziglar, but one of my favorite Zig Ziglar quotes is if you help enough people get what they want, eventually you'll get what you want. And so you had a passion to help people win and help teams win. Where did that come from and how did you learn that at such an early age?

Speaker 2:

You know, I don't know that, I know the answer of where it comes from. I just know I've always been this way. So maybe it's all kinds of team efforts. I mean, like I said, I'm very competitive with myself, so I drive a very high bar and I think it attracts people who also want to win. So then I attract people, would call me up saying I want to be on your team.

Speaker 2:

I didn't have to do a lot of recruiting. I literally people say when you have an opening, I want to be on your team. And I'd say why? They say because you always win and you develop your people. So I think it's also a virtuous cycle that then I'd get really good people who wanted to be on this kind of a team. And I would tell people who interviewed that not everyone would love working for me because I'm super intense and very high bar, meaning I have high expectations and I am counting on you to deliver. So for some people that is a lot of pressure and they will not thrive. And for other people, they love that. They love the high expectation and high bar and ability to deliver against that and that I'm going to let them do that. So I think it's Go ahead.

Speaker 1:

Finish your thought.

Speaker 2:

So I would think is that it's a style that also attracts people. And then you end up getting a lot of high performers. Because of the way I manage and I always took feedback, I'd say I made it safe to give me feedback. So then I would listen to what my team said and they would say, maybe you. They would say things to me like maybe you should walk around the floor more because you're intimidating people with your intensity. I'm like, okay, so I'd walk around, but I always would listen you know, but you were.

Speaker 1:

You were teachable. You had a teachable heart and teachable spirit because you cared for your people. Tell me, share a story with our audience, about someone that was on your team and maybe some ways you helped them navigate, become a better leader and then the ultimate fulfillment that comes to you from being that type of a leader.

Speaker 2:

Oh, so many stories. I mean, I'm going to tell you one where I hired someone and they didn't work out and what happened, because I think failure almost is better as a story, and I can tell you all the successes, which there are many, but I'd say I hired someone who was almost too intense for my intensity and so the combination was like they were too perfectionistic too, intense too, and so I.

Speaker 2:

There was just a lot of challenge in working with them and so I gave feedback coach, gave feedback coach and I eventually coached the person out in a way that left them with their own self love and self-respect. I didn't crater their own self-worth. You know you can give feedback. That is, you're not making it. You're not making it. You're not making it, which is tough, which I was saying, but saying in the context of this is what you do really well, but this is not what I need in this role.

Speaker 2:

And a few years later and I did let the person go a few years later the person called me up and said can we have lunch? And I said yes, and he said you're the best manager I've ever had, I'm in the best job I ever had, and you identified where the kind of skills that I had that would succeed. And he's now had that role Like wow, it was a really hard person for me to let go, but got him into the. He got him into the right thing. I didn't, I just gave him some of the feedback that enabled it. And I think the thing I see that people don't spend enough time on giving feedback that really is helpful to the person to choose the place that they will be great, cause we're all great.

Speaker 2:

It's just not everyone's going to be great in banking, or great with numbers or great in the role they're in, but they're great at something else.

Speaker 1:

One of the things that we, when people say Ken, what is, what is GrowStack Drive? The way I always respond to that is we're a purpose engine, like we help people understand what their purpose is, which really is what you're gifted at, because you could see inside of that employee and go, you're not a fit here. But I do see this in you and you had the. I mean you had the guts and the leadership capacity to be able to make a call. That was difficult and then here they are following back up with you going. Thank you for doing that. You're the best. You're the best leader I've ever worked for. Talk about like where did the genesis of you really having a desire for other people was never really about you. My biggest keynote I give around the country is great leaders want something for people, not from people, and it really when I hear you talk, that's what I hear you say.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's possible. It's Jewish leadership, I don't know. I mean you're making me reflect on it. I mean Maimonides always says that you want to teach people how to fish, don't hand them fish. So I think there's a lot of my potentially spiritual upbringing that's about teaching, but I don't know that I've explored it as much as you're asking me. But I think that may be a part of like. Where I look, where I spend my volunteer time, it's often in doing mock interviews and helping people get jobs, because I think that getting jobs is probably one of the greatest ways to not only contribute to society but to have self-worth. So I really love work.

Speaker 1:

That's good.

Speaker 2:

Because work is self-worth.

Speaker 1:

Walk me through the journey of just being in financial services and then really ascending to the role of president. How difficult was that for you and what were some of the things that you learned along that path?

Speaker 2:

Oh gosh, so many many things. I think, well, I grew up, if you will, in a company where we always said run it like you own it. This is Wells at the time Run it like you own it and know your numbers, and I think those were part of the culture I spent a lot of. I spent 13 years there, and so know your numbers is great advice. Think those were part of the culture I spent a lot of. I spent the 13 years there, and so know your numbers is great advice in business, like you have to know your numbers, you have to know what's going on at a detailed level and then run it like you own it. So if you're going to make an investment, would you spend your own money on that? Um, so I learned a lot through the places I work, through the people I work with. I learned probably more from my employees, but I also learned a ton from my managers and bosses and role models. And then I have, like you said, this entrepreneurial style. So I think finding places where I could thrive as an intrapreneur is what we would call it, and so I ended up joining startups. So I joined a or like small part.

Speaker 2:

So when I joined Wells Fargo. I joined a really small division called Wells Fargo Insurance Services. It was a little company inside a company, and so I joined there as head of marketing and then I ended up becoming the head of Wells Fargo Insurance Services and then I ended up becoming the head of Wells Fargo Insurance Services. But from that they asked me if I would go over and join a startup group called Business Direct and we were doing pre-internet lending to small businesses in all 50 states, so telephone, mail like, not face-to-face.

Speaker 2:

So it was very different at the time and I'm showing my age and we grew from I mean, we, I can't even there's no, let's just call infinite growth, right. We started at zero, so any growth, right. So I think I found ways inside of banking to be very entrepreneurial and I started off in most of my career 12 out of 13 years was in small business at Wells and I loved helping small businesses because they're also entrepreneurs and helping them. They're what? 50% of the employment in the United States, they're half the GDP. I mean just very, very inspirational to get out of bed every morning.

Speaker 1:

It's very inspirational to get out of bed every morning. Yeah, so talk to me through that ascension from working for them to becoming the president of the organization. Was that an aspiration you had, or was it just something that kind of came as you did what you did? Oh gosh, I'm very intentional.

Speaker 2:

I always had the aspiration to be the head of a business. So, yes, very aspirational. So I would spend my time volunteering to take on more responsibility. I used to call my boss up and say what else? What else can I do? And he would say you exhaust me.

Speaker 1:

You said no, I make you look really good is what I do.

Speaker 2:

I did so. I was always volunteering, saying, hey, I want to learn more, what else can I do? So you know, I would do a great job at what I was responsible for and make sure that the thing I had to deliver I delivered. And then I would say, hey, is there something else I can learn or help out with? And so I volunteered for task forces and cross-functional work and then at my annual reviews I'd always say I'd always have a request.

Speaker 2:

So, like one year, I said I want to learn more about operations. How can I do that? Because I had product, product development, marketing and I wanted to learn the backside. And so they gave me phone centers which had hundreds and hundreds of people. So the interesting thing is they gave me what they considered a very operational job which I excelled at because it happened to be tons of people. So we had 24, seven phone centers and I'd go at midnight with my kids, We'd bake cookies and visit them. They're like no senior executive has ever met us at midnight. You know like who wants to be answering the phone at midnight? But there are people there answering the phone at midnight, so I wanted to see them. So we showed up in our pajamas, Just did fun. I love having fun. I do a lot of side-by-sides. I love people, so I would listen, side-by-side and coach individuals. I'm very I think you have to show the way to success, versus tell. So I spend a lot of time trying to show how to win and trying it myself.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love that. Just emulate me. I mean, just do what I do and I was going to say this. The question I was going to ask really what you just said your statement leads right into that question is how much of your journey of what else can I do? How can I help? I want to learn this area.

Speaker 2:

I want to learn this area. I want to learn this area. How much of that experience and your own drive do you use in teaching and leading other people that you managed to help them also become better leaders? Well, I think I do a lot of training and asking questions and I sign up for trainings. I just got a new certification a couple of weeks ago, so I'm always trying to learn so I can then apply it and help more. So I definitely think I I rate I guess I put together really high stretch goals and then say how can we get to that place that no one ever thinks we can go? So I set a really exciting and probably for some people, scary vision about where we need to go and then, um, spend time as we'll, brainstorming how to get there and then figuring out what's in the way and helping remove those barriers and then, sitting side by side, spending the time with people to get it done.

Speaker 1:

To help them. Can you share a couple wins, team wins, like when you did that, when you really like what's one goal that you set, that even on the inside, because we're visionaries and entrepreneurs, we don't have a problem setting goals. But sometimes you'll set a goal and you'll be like God I don't know if we can get that, I don't know if we can make it. What's a goal you said you weren't sure if you were going to accomplish and your team really rallied around and grew and you did accomplish that goal.

Speaker 2:

Well, I took over a business that was called a widow maker business and it had like 11 managers and nine years. So it just was not succeeding. And when they asked me but company, if I would take it over, I said sure, but I want to keep my other business. So instead of just taking that job, I had two jobs inside the company and two full-time jobs. And I said also I need you guys to leave me alone for three years. So I'm inside a major corporation asking to be left alone for three years to fix something.

Speaker 2:

I said well, take me three years to fix it. And then I said I, I I think a lot of people won't stay when I define where we're going to go. So I prepared the HR team to say you know, people may not buy into where I want to take it. Um, so let's say it was at three and we grew it to 30. And I didn't think everyone would sign up for a 10 X growth. I thought it was completely feasible, but I needed a clear path to fix things that were, you know, over a hundred years old. I mean, these companies have been around a long time. So I had to fix systems that were over you know a 100 years of layers of building it on it. And so I found, I guess one of my team members said Rebecca, you've hired plumbers.

Speaker 2:

I mean it's a funny name, but we went in and fixed the plumbing of the business right To then do that 10x growth. So I think I'm answering your question.

Speaker 1:

So how did I?

Speaker 2:

inspire. So I hired the right people because they did all the work. So I hired the right people because they did all the work, but like understanding that this was something that had been layered upon, layered upon, layered of people trying to fix it for nine months at a time and no one ever really having the runway to fix it. So we did fix it. We got 10x growth.

Speaker 1:

You said just a minute ago. You said I hired the right people. You know, if there's one thing I hear entrepreneurs. I work with hundreds and thousands of faith-based entrepreneurs around the country and the one thing I hear, what's the thing you need to move the most, the needle you need to move the most in your business? It's always people, it's always teams. So how did you hire the right people?

Speaker 2:

Well, I don't, I can't remember. I think it was a COO of the company at the time, but I always have hired for attitude and aptitude. And I think I'm stealing his phrase. Um, attitude is everything if you have aptitude. So attitude are you? Are you positive? Are you optimistic? Do you have high energy? Are you willing to roll up your sleeves and get it done? Are you gonna show up and be there? And then aptitude you have the smarts to do it if you don't have attitude, I don't want you on my.

Speaker 2:

If you don't have positive attitude or the right attitude, I don't want you on the team. And if you don't have the right aptitude, I don't want you on the team because you can't learn. So you have to really get those two things. I hired less for experience, but you didn't have to have done it before.

Speaker 1:

I love that, I love that. And then in the hiring process because again it's all about teams, I mean, you're only as good as the people that you surround yourself with. What are what are you shared that? What are some of the? What are some stories from you where you've hired somebody and you quickly found out, oh, this person isn't a fit for my team.

Speaker 2:

I've had that happen. Yeah, I hired someone once a wonderful man, um but within like three months, he was losing his hair, like I, I knew something, like I knew something like he was so stressed out and it was definitely a wrong match and I felt terrible because it just was not the right fit.

Speaker 2:

Like the, our pace was too intense, our, our bar was too high. Super smart guy, super smart and um. So I just sat with him. I said you know, your this know this role is not right at this time. Why don't we move you into an individual contributor role? I want to keep you on the team as like let's call it a scientist type data versus the manager of all the scientists and data. They're data scientists.

Speaker 2:

So I think that's an example of great aptitude, great attitude, but didn't have yet the breadth for the stress level of the role, and so you can't always know if there'll be a fit right. But it wasn't a wrong hire in a different role. It's really about moving someone to where they can succeed. And, you know, got his hair back and he was happy, but it was, you know, reading like he had physical signs. But I've had people that people have different tells of when it's not working for them and you gotta be healthy and thrive at work. You can't be at work stressed out all the time.

Speaker 1:

No, it affects everything and the team. Um. I love Jim Collins when he talks about good to great, where he talks about getting people with the right people on the bus and then getting them in the right seats. That specific conversation. Take me back as best you can. What did that conversation look like with him when you knew he wasn't a fit for where he was?

Speaker 2:

It really starts with questions like how are you doing, what are you liking in the role, what's working and listening? And usually they start telling you well, it's not really working or I'm not really liking it. You start to hear them, in their own words, say to you it isn't a fit. I don't have to tell them.

Speaker 1:

I love that so president and then had an opportunity to be CEO. Walk me through that journey of becoming CEO and really hitting like, wow, I did it.

Speaker 2:

Oh gosh, I had no idea what I was getting into. It was one of my dreams to become CEO, and you know ignorance is bliss. I had no idea like the level of stress, probably the most stressful job I've ever had in my life Three years I was CEO of that bank, probably the most rewarding of my life. Also because we had some pretty big, hairy, audacious goals. That's a Jim Collins quote there and Jim was my professor at Stanford Business.

Speaker 1:

School, was he really? Yeah, he's great.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, he's great and I even did independent study with him. So, yeah, great, and we did. I wrote a business case with him. So, fantastic, like what was so great about that role is that we had a mission. We knew exactly what had to be done. There was no question about what had to be done, but, boy, it was going to be hard to do it. And again, getting the right team and getting them in the right seats on that bus, as you said. And then we, we had about a thousand things we had to do and every 10, I had a party and we went through like a thousand remediation projects basically to fix this bank, and at 100, we had a huge party and by a thousand we'd had 10 huge parties and 100 little ones. And what I mean by every 10, we would have like bagels and cream cheese in the kitchen or, you know, hot chocolate or something, just to celebrate the win. And these milestones and achievement and milestones and achievement and a ton of transparent communication.

Speaker 2:

I had no idea how much time I'd spend in board meetings or with regulators and lawyers. I learned a lot Tough job.

Speaker 1:

I love that you taught your team to celebrate wins. I created a planner about four years ago and so I've got a morning routine, an evening routine and a planner I created and my morning routine is goals, gratitude affirmations, top three for the day and then the second half of the day. The first thing is wins. Every coaching call I do on Zoom, we have dozens of faith-based entrepreneurs around the country that get on every Monday morning, every Wednesday night, the very first thing we do is always share wins Like where are you winning?

Speaker 2:

On.

Speaker 1:

Monday morning I'll take wins from family or relationship wins. Our core five is faith, health, relationships, business and finances. So I'll take a faith, health relationship win on Monday morning. Wednesday night, I want a business. So how are you moving the needle in your business and your finances Like I want to know that, and when you train people to. Because what happens is if you're looking for and you're celebrating wins, subconsciously it causes your team to look for what Wins. It causes them to look for what's going right and what's not going wrong, because we both know if you've got negative Nancy on the team, it is no good for anybody.

Speaker 2:

Exactly.

Speaker 1:

What was your most fulfilling part about being the CEO for three years and maybe, what's maybe one or two of the biggest things that you learned about you in that process?

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh, I learned I could. I commuted every week for that job for three years and, in addition to commuting to another city, I traveled to Mexico and New York all the time to report to the city board and to see, oh my gosh customers. I learned that I could, that I had huge resiliency and energy, even beyond what I thought possible, and that I could have a really good partnership with regulators. I learned a lot and just what like. I had board. I had a board of directors. I had the city board of directors. I had my own board of directors. I had partners everywhere. I learned everyone was my boss and everyone wanted to be involved in just like how to manage the flow and pace of communications to satisfy everyone. That needed a piece of understanding.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, what part of the journey for you. Did you go? I'm going to write a book called Fit CEO.

Speaker 2:

You know, I had always wanted to write a book since even Wells about leadership and I had thought I would call it. It's a mental thing and I have all the chapters for that. But when I was in the CEO role I realized I need to write about, like, how do I manage the stress of, you know, four or five hour board meetings, long regulator reviews, travel, constant problems that have to be solved? And so that's why I came up with Fit CEO and that if you stay physically fit and mentally fit and energetically fit and spiritually fit, then you can really withstand immense stress yeah which the CEO world is yeah and stay resilient and have fun.

Speaker 2:

But boy, I mean I, because I lived in a hotel a lot I would learn to like use the hotel gym or swim in the hotel pool or just like no matter what, spend 20 minutes doing something, walking, walking at lunchtime, just getting outdoors, like constantly touching something that had awe or nature. Otherwise you're just in an office working all the time.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love that. You don't. You've never seen this. You see my TV behind me. That's my before I can. Yeah, wow, yeah, that's a. That's about about 100 pounds of body fat in almost five years that I've dropped. So it's funny.

Speaker 1:

You say fit CEO, a good friend of mine, anthony Trucks. He lives in Walnut Creek, right there. Yeah, there's your book right there. We'll put a link in the description for people to be able to get a copy of that. My good friend, anthony Trucks, lives in Walnut Creek, right there in the Bay Area over on the Oakland side, and we were talking one time on this health journey, probably about a year and a half, two years ago. I was already down about 70, 75 pounds and he said Ken, he goes. I bet if you watched your journey, your health journey, and how your health journey improved, and you mapped that up with the growth of your business, we did over. We did seven figures 1.18 million in revenue, my third year in business doing this, he goes. I guarantee you, if you match, if you put those on a graph together, they're, they're probably, will mirror each other Probably, and they do. So. Your book fit CEO, tell me, is it just for CEOs, entrepreneurs in general. Tell me who that book is for.

Speaker 2:

The title of the book is Fit CEO Be the Leader of your Life. So it is for everyone, because we are each the CEO of our own life. It's a tiny book it will take two hours to read and every chapter so there's 30 chapters, but but every chapter ends with so each chapter is about three pages and then ends with immediate and imperfect action, bullet points. What can you do right away, today and do, and then get into your body or pen to paper? So there's like immediate, imperfect action. What can you do right away? Get into your body, how can you move? And then maybe pen to paper, reflect, but you can do the book as a chapter. Your body how can you move?

Speaker 2:

And then maybe pen to paper reflect, but you can do the book as a chapter a day over 30 days. You could read it in two hours or it's a reference book and you can say I want to. I just opened it up, chapter 11, managing crises. Don't let them manage you. And you can just use it when you have something going on.

Speaker 1:

Do you have that on Audible? Is it on Audible by any chance?

Speaker 2:

It's on Audible. It's on.

Speaker 1:

Kindle. It's in every format. We're going to order. I don't think I've ever ordered a book while I was interviewing somebody, but we're going to order this book right now on Audible. Fit CEO Bam.

Speaker 2:

Great. Thank you, you're welcome.

Speaker 1:

I'm super excited. I love the Great Thank you. They're in Napa now, but he's from the Bay Area. I didn't know if you knew Brendan or not. Brendan, yeah, super good friend. He speaks at some of my events. Brendan Burchard, b-u-r-c-h-a-r-d. He's phenomenal. Him and I both are a lot on morning routine and daily routine and really calendaring and squeezing the most potential that you can out of every day.

Speaker 2:

Oh, you'll love the book.

Speaker 1:

It's all about. If you have a calendar, it's not going to happen. I tell them all the time. If you go to bed at nighttime and you don't, if you wake up in the morning when your alarm clock goes off and you're wondering what you're supposed to do that day, you've already missed out. So before I go to bed every day, on my day timer side, my day timer's filled out for the next day, I know exactly where every minute of my day is going. The next day, before I ever go to bed, I know what time I'm going to. Now, because we've got two weeks before my big conference, my brain just starts going about 3.30 or 4 am and I can't get back to sleep because that's usually five is what time I try to sleep till now.

Speaker 1:

But before you go to bed every night, you need to know what your day looks like. If you wake up in the morning and your alarm clock number one, if you need the alarm clock to get out of bed, your goals aren't big enough. But if you wait for that alarm clock to wake you up and go, okay, what are we going to do? Unless it's a Saturday or a Sunday and you don't have any responsibilities or you're going to church or synagogue at nine or 11, whatever that looks like. That's different. But Monday through Friday you need to know what you're doing. Final thoughts, Rebecca, for our audience.

Speaker 2:

Final thoughts. You know, I think life like take it by the horns and bring your best self every day, because that creates more positive energy in the world. So that's how I try to wake up every morning. And you're right, I don't need an alarm clock. And you're right, I don't need an alarm clock.

Speaker 1:

I don't either. I do not, which unfortunately sometimes now, at 56 years old, I'm literally like Jesus. Please don't let it be 1.30. I woke up last week. I went to bed. It's funny, I live in Alpharetta.

Speaker 1:

If you're familiar with Atlanta at all, I live in Alpharetta, which is like my favorite spot in Atlanta. It's just, it's fantastic. And I live about a mile and a half from Avalon, which is an unbelievable five-star hotel, outdoor mall, all the high-end stores, restaurants are fantastic. And I'm like last weekend, Friday night and Saturday, I was in the bed by 8.30 both nights and I'm like what? 56-year-old single guy's in the bed on Friday and Saturday nights in Alpharetta? I live a mile and a half from downtown Alpharetta on a Friday and Saturday night. Because I went to bed Saturday, Sunday night, Sunday I woke up and I'm like, please, let it be at least three or four so I can go ahead and get up. It was 1257. It wasn't even 1 am yet, so I had to force myself to go back to sleep. But, Rebecca, thank you so much. Guys, grab her book. Fit CEO. We'll drop the link in the show notes today. Rebecca, thank you for your time and super excited to connect and be able to meet you.

Speaker 2:

Wonderful to connect with you and just say be more of you. It's great.

Speaker 1:

I love that the world needs you to be authentic. I love there's a John Eldredge quote that I love. It came out of Wild at Heart. Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, because what the world needs is more men and women who have come alive.

Speaker 2:

Agreed Fantastic, thank you.

Speaker 1:

You're more than welcome, guys. Thank you for joining us on another episode of as the Leader Grows Again. Go check out my friend Rebecca Kaufman's book Fit CEO. We'll drop a link in the show notes. Love you guys. See you, rebecca. Thank you.