The 1% Journey: Empowered Leadership Through Unwavering Resilience | Scott McCarthy | Episode 337

Scott McCarthy [00:00:01]:
We’ve accomplished an amazing feat here at the podcast, and I don’t know if you realize it or not, but you are listening to a podcast that is in the top 1% of all podcasts going. That’s right. Peak Performance Leadership Podcast, thanks to you, has hit the top 1%, but it hasn’t always been easy, let me tell you. And today, we’re going to take my lessons of podcasting. We’re gonna overlay it with resilience and how my experience as a military officer has tied into all of that. So we’re talking about resilience today with the framework of how I’ve used that to achieve the top 1% with your help. Alright. Are you ready for this? Alright.

Scott McCarthy [00:00:53]:
Let’s do it.

Scott McCarthy [00:01:04]:
Welcome one. Welcome all to the Peak Performance Leadership Podcast, a weekly podcast series dedicated to helping you hit peak performance across the three domains of leadership. Those being leading yourself, leading your team, and leading your organization. This podcast couples my twenty years of military experience as a senior Canadian army officer with world class guests bringing you the most complete podcast of leadership going. And for more, feel free to check out our website at movingforwardleadership.com. And with that, let’s get to the show.

Scott McCarthy [00:02:00]:
Yes. Welcome one. Welcome all. It is your chief leadership officer, Scott McCarthy, and thanks for tuning into the podcast that is now part of the top 1%. And, yes, I know. Just I guess what I’m trying to say right now is I’m just excited. Like, honestly, when I hit record on episode one, and please, for the love of God, do not go back and hit play on said episode. It is not worth it.

Scott McCarthy [00:02:30]:
But when I did hit record on that episode, never ever in my wildest dreams did I ever think it would hit the top 1%. Just wasn’t part of my dreams. In fact, it wasn’t really like a goal of mine or anything. And the reality is this, I had no plan. I had no goal. All I had was a microphone, a thought, and a passion for leadership and wanting to help others out there. And that’s all this podcast has ever been about, just helping others be the best leaders that they can be, that they’ve been meant to be so that they’d one, they don’t feel so lonely. Two, their teams are feeling like they’re led, and they are confident and can achieve whatever it is they want to achieve.

Scott McCarthy [00:03:30]:
And finally, organizations are thriving. And it took about a hundred or so episodes for me even to think about this whole, you know, three domains ideology. And, wow, we’ve really developed this further and deeper into the point where it’s like, you know, this is how we lead is by thinking across those three domains. Now let me tell you, it’s never been easy, though, and it takes a lot of resilience. And resilience, you know, it’s it’s the ability to get back up when you’re knocked down. It’s the ability to keep grinding even though you’re not a % sure that you’re going to make it, but you’re going to go after anyway because you believe in the desired end state that you have. In this episode, I’m gonna be going into how I was resilient to keep hitting that record button for 300 or actually going on 500 episodes now total. Number, quite a large number aren’t actually even numbered.

Scott McCarthy [00:04:43]:
So this is episode 337, but, you know, there’s about a hundred episodes that aren’t even numbered yet. So my moral of the story is this is that, you know, it takes a lot, and it takes being resilient. And I’m gonna go into now how I’ve been resilient through the past, god, eight years of hitting record so that we can achieve this milestone, and we’ve achieved it together thanks to you. And the first thing is when you when you find yourself and you you you’re you’re feeling like you need resilience and you’re having a difficult time, the first thing is to ensure mission clarity. And I’m taking all these lessons that I’ve thought through my military experience and applying it to the podcast for your benefit today. And And the first one, as I said, is mission clarity, and you heard me talk about that mission already for the Peak Performance Leadership podcast. It was to just help people lead better. That’s it.

Scott McCarthy [00:05:56]:
Never been about making money. It’s never been about sponsorships. You’ve never heard an ad on this podcast. It’s never been about anything other than helping others lead better. That’s it. It’s been about you from day one, and I’ve always kept that in mind. And it’s helped me because it’s kept me focused on the things I should be doing and not focusing on things I shouldn’t be doing, like going after sponsorship deals. Like, I’m sure you don’t want to hear ads about some program or or product.

Scott McCarthy [00:06:34]:
God, we get enough of those as it is. So it’s always been about keeping mission clarity. The next thing on being resilient is, like, you have to understand you can’t do everything alone, and you need to empower teams. And, yes, there are people in the background here at moving forward leadership that help me regularly. There’s someone right now helping to update our website. There’s some people helping me with the show notes, and podcast production. Be why? Because I can’t do it all myself. It is an insanely busy job, doing a podcast while also serving in the military.

Scott McCarthy [00:07:20]:
Many of you may not realize, but for quite a number of years while I was on the podcast, I’ve been since I’ve been doing this podcast, I should say, I was actually at what we refer to as higher readiness. It means that I could get a phone call anytime and deploy anywhere in the world for unknown amount of time, and that is it. So I had to trust others with the show and helping me because when those times appeared, they took up the slack that I had to give up for, you know, whatever that has popped up. Okay? So keep that in mind when you’re when you’re needing your resiliency that it’s not just from you, but it’s from others. The other key thing being resilient that I’ve learned through my military experience is being adaptable and flexible. You have to build adapt to the situation that’s in front of you, but as well, you have to be flexible to go with those changes. So, you know, if you go through the podcast in the background, you will see there’s been times when I’ve had to, you know, take a break, you know, especially when my second son Benjamin was born. I took a break for, like, three months because I had to adapt to the change in my life.

Scott McCarthy [00:08:46]:
I had to be flexible with what was going on. So I’ve changed recording and publishing days from time to time. I’ve changed how I conduct all the business, the the the process in the background of the show that you don’t really see, but it helps me be resilient in the end. Okay? Adaptable and flexible through the end. The next thing is I’ve always and in military, this is such a huge thing. It’s all about continuous learning and development. I’m always listening, trying to figure out better ways to serve you as a your podcast host, as your chief leadership officer. Right? I’m always trying to learn more about how to best, you know, develop the show and learn and and grow with it.

Scott McCarthy [00:09:42]:
So, you know, it it it turned into basically learning how this mic setup all all works, how audio editing works. These publishing tools. Now AI and the AI tools, I’ve been learning and developing as the show has grown. Again, it’s all with the goal of bringing you a show. And that helps me be resilient because it enables it’s helping me get more effective and more efficient with producing the the episodes. My recording time has dropped. My editing time has dropped. My postproduction time all dropped, which is giving me more time to do other things, which doesn’t make it so daunting, and that’s through continuous learning and development.

Scott McCarthy [00:10:37]:
So keep that in mind. If you’re not learning and growing, then we’re dying, and that’s not being resilient whatsoever. The next thing in being resilient is the utilization of after action reviews. ARs as we call them in military. Remember what’s gone right? What happened? What’s gone right? What’s gone wrong, and how do we mitigate it? Those three simple questions can help you achieve great things, and I’ve done that so many times. I’ve seen when suddenly there’s been a drop in listenership. Okay. I go through it.

Scott McCarthy [00:11:19]:
I AR, and I figure out, mhmm, is it something I’ve done? Maybe it’s poor content. Maybe it’s due to a change in my circumstance. Anyway, I use the a process to go back and review so that I can learn and adapt and be flexible. It’s all tying together. Alright? So think about that. Remember, ARS. What happened? What went right? Because you wanna know that so that you can double down on it. And then what went wrong and how do I mitigate it? Three simple questions, which can help you for a very long time.

Scott McCarthy [00:12:02]:
The next thing is maintaining a positive mindset. And this one, I will fully admit, has not been the easiest, but to be resilient, you have to go ahead and maintain it. Sometimes you just need, you know, you’re you’re gonna feel down, and it’s okay. But if you have, you know, in the end, you go back to thinking about what that mission is and what it’s about and why you’re doing it. And Simon Sinek says, you know, start with why. Maintain that positive mindset. Positive mindset is a resilient mindset. So always look for the good in the situation.

Scott McCarthy [00:12:43]:
Challenges always provide opportunities. We just have to look for them. And, yes, it’s difficult, but you can do it as a leader. You can do it. And then finally, communication. Communication is so important for transparency, and and you need to be consistent. And this helps you being resilient because you’re not going to get questioned. You’re not going to get you know, have rumors going around.

Scott McCarthy [00:13:21]:
These things happen to your resiliency, your ability to be resilient. So communicating with your team, communicating, in this case, with you, the audience, like, hey. I’m taking a break. I’ve just had a new sun born. I need to take some time and, you know, see what life is like now as a family of four, for example. Communicate, communicate, communicate with others. And then what that’s going to do is enable potentially for people to help you. Struggling here with this aspect.

Scott McCarthy [00:13:53]:
Oh, really? I can take that off your plate. I can do that. Wow. Okay. This helps me. And that’s what I’ve done in the podcast. I’ve communicate with you, communicate with those who are close to me in the back end here, working, helping me out. People have taken things off my plate, helped me out.

Scott McCarthy [00:14:12]:
It’s been amazing. Just fantastic to have members of the team. So those are just some of the key points in how I’ve used my military experience to build resiliency into this podcast and keep the podcast going to achieve that milestone of top 1%. And, again, you know, I was excited at the beginning of the show. I’m still excited now about it, like, because I never thought we would make that level, to be honest. But it doesn’t matter in the end of the day because the show is here for you. And you’re not my top 1%. You’re my top percent.

Scott McCarthy [00:14:53]:
You’re my number one priority, Providing you with value and excellence and content that helps you and resources that can help you further. If you’re looking for those, you can just check us out at leaddon’tboss.com. We’re here for you. I have on my calendar my schedule sorry. On my website is a calendar, which is linked to my schedule, which you can go ahead and grab anytime. You can go ahead and grab anytime a thirty minute call with me to go over whatever challenges in front of you. And I’m telling you, come and take advantage of it because I’m here for you. And that’s a lot all that matters.

Scott McCarthy [00:15:34]:
So in the end, you know, keep these points in mind. Alright? Again, that’s mission clarity, empowering your team, being adaptable and flexible, continuous learning and development, utilize those ARs, keep maintaining a positive mindset, and finally communicate, communicate, communicate. And you too will hit that top 1% of whatever it is you’re going after because you’re going to be a resilient leader who gets it done. With that, ladies and gentlemen, that is the episode for today. Thank you again. As always, remember, lead, don’t boss. Take care now.

Scott McCarthy [00:16:25]:
And that’s a wrap for this episode, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for listening. Thank you for supporting the peak performance leadership podcast. But you know what you could do to truly support the podcast and know that’s not leaving a rating and review. It’s simply helping a friend, and that is helping a friend by sharing this episode with them. If you think this would resonate with them and help them elevate their performance level, whether that’s within themselves, their teams, or their organization. So do that. Help me help a friend win win all around, and hey, you look like a great friend at the same time.

Scott McCarthy [00:17:03]:
So just hit that little share button on your app, and then feel free to fire this episode to anyone that you feel would benefit from it. Finally, there’s always more. There’s always more lessons around being the highest performing leader that you can possibly be, whether that’s for yourself, your team, or your organization. So why don’t you subscribe? Subscribe to the show via movingforwardleadership.com forward /subscribe. And until next time, we eat. Don’t boss. And thanks for coming out. Take care now.