David Horsager: Welcome to the trusted leader show it’s David Horsager I’ve got a special guest today he had his brother built the company to 20 million in revenue in their 20s he’s been named as.

David Horsager: 40 under 40 and he’s almost turning 40 coming up here in just a few days now, but he has written four amazing books he’s got five kiddos and an amazing wife, he really thinks about whole leadership which I love.

David Horsager: As far as leading this family well faith friends and his business and even certainly an advisor and leader to others, welcome to the show Ty Bennett.

Ty Bennett: hey so good to be here with us that’s a fan, and this is fun.

Ty Bennett: thanks for having me.

David Horsager: yeah and grateful for you to you know, we have some pretty neat people and show, but to call your friend, and so this is this is going to be a specially front so tell us something else who don’t know about you what’s what’s.

David Horsager: what’s known as.

Ty Bennett: Well, five kids keeps you busy I mean you know what it’s like to we run after kids so i’ve got kids 15 down to one right now.

Ty Bennett: very active involved in soccer ninja warrior different things that we’re doing so.

Ty Bennett: Lots going on there, and you know, in the business space it’s kind of an interesting world you and I both are living in, while we’re all living in right.

Ty Bennett: Lots of live events virtual events hybrid events and just getting back with people has been amazing and something I missed for sure and.

Ty Bennett: But I think there’s never been a bigger need for inspiration and for people to understand.

Ty Bennett: How to move forward and and the importance of leadership and some of the things that we’ll talk about today i’m sure I just feel like there’s this huge desire and need for that with what our world is facing so i’m excited to be out there, sharing that message.

David Horsager: Well, I am so proud of how you lead yourself, and you know we see each other, a couple times a year at some things we were a part of together and certainly cross paths i’m going to jump into personal in a little bit, but i’m going to start macro I want to talk about two of your books.

David Horsager: Just to jump right in.

David Horsager: And then we’ll we’ll come back to some things that I think at the end they’ll be even more inspirational and powerful and get back to even that first company you built, but if we look at this.

David Horsager: i’m so interested in partnership is the new leadership, you know everything we talked about is trust everything we think about here is trust every you know.

David Horsager: Everything we believe you know kind of centers around trust, but there’s nothing like the word partnership to align with trust, give us a quick overview and I want to get into a couple ideas under that work.

Ty Bennett: yeah I think that it definitely aligns with your message i’m a huge fan of of all of your work and the idea, the trust is that currency that drives.

Ty Bennett: Relationships leadership business growth influence so I did a survey of 5000 leaders over a couple of years, asking them specifically one question.

Ty Bennett: And that was what do you want from your people right from a leadership perspective, what do you want.

Ty Bennett: And 76% of people came back and said that what they what they want is commitment.

Ty Bennett: which makes sense right the people work for me the people I work with I want commitment but then I took a step back and said Okay, then what drives commitment.

Ty Bennett: Because it’s not people aren’t committed to jobs, I mean statistically, you will hold over 30 jobs in your lifetime, if you graduate from college, this year, which is crazy when you think.

David Horsager: about all.

Ty Bennett: Of what drives commitment, more than anything else is people are committed to people, and so I truly believe that leadership.

Ty Bennett: it’s not about title it’s not about position it’s not about authority, I believe that the way you show up for your people impacts, the way they show up for you.

Ty Bennett: And this idea of partnership, being the new leadership it’s it’s the approach of the most relevant leaders in today’s world it’s what.

Ty Bennett: The kind of leadership that gets the most out of your people it’s the great differentiator within organizations right because.

Ty Bennett: All of us need our people to show up at a higher level to compete and to be competitive in our space, and so I think that it’s a mindset I think it’s an approach but there’s some practical application as i’ve studied it out in terms of how these leaders lead effectively.

David Horsager: What do they do, because you can think about this well can say we’re partners, but you own the company, you can say we’re partners, but this you can say we’re putting you know So how do we.

David Horsager: How do we kind of enlist that encourage that create that what are some things we can do.

Ty Bennett: Absolutely i’ll give you just a couple of ideas, I mean one I think they’re very good partner leaders are very good at building genuine relationships with their people I think they know them I think they.

Ty Bennett: care about them, I think they invest in them, I think those relationships are solid and because of that their people will show up and invest in them right though reciprocate that.

Ty Bennett: I think that when you leave from a partnership perspective everyone on your team has a voice i’m a big believer that people support what they helped create.

Ty Bennett: And that doesn’t mean that within an organization structurally every person is involved in every decision because that’s not feasible.

Ty Bennett: But what I often ask leaders is do your people feel heard.

Ty Bennett: Because if we believe that commitment happens at the point of implementation we missed the boat right commitment happens at the point of creation when your people feel like.

Ty Bennett: Their voice matters that they’re an actual partner that people listen that people care that people take their their ideas and do something with it then you’re getting more out of them because they understand that they’re that they’re being heard and that that’s important.

David Horsager: So I want, I want to jump into that one little bit you might have some other ideas but.

David Horsager: That let’s get even granular, how do you listen to, how do you actually do that, like Okay, how do they feel hurt like is that um.

David Horsager: What what does a meeting look like what does a day look like what is the leader, do they walk in and they you know interrupt them, I mean some things can be like what is something good they could do to you know enlist this commitment and show it.

Ty Bennett: To them for sure i’ll give you an example on that the reality is the higher you go and leadership, the harder this becomes, the more strategic you need to be in doing it.

Ty Bennett: One of my clients is USA down in San Antonio and their mortgage company was run just up until recently by a gentleman named Winston everybody just referred to as Winston I don’t even know his last name.

Ty Bennett: But one of the things he did is every once a week he did what was called a lunch with Winston.

Ty Bennett: where he invited five people on his team five different leaders, these are like supervisor level leaders.

Ty Bennett: And at lunch she didn’t eat they did, and he just sat down, he said, and he had a pen and a paper and he said, give me your thoughts what needs to change what what are your ideas, if you.

Ty Bennett: What are your struggles, what are the roadblocks if you were in my shoes, what do I need to be thinking about and he would take notes, I listened to him report two different times when I spoke for them once he said.

Ty Bennett: at those lunch with winston’s we we have identified 120 tangible ideas and we have corrected or fixed or move forward with 105 of those the restaurant process.

Ty Bennett: The next time the number was even greater but I sat there and watched 400 leaders look at the, the President of their associate or their organization.

Ty Bennett: And i’m sitting there going if you sat down with your President, and you gave him an idea, and then you see it being implemented and all of those ideas are.

Ty Bennett: Do they feel engaged absolutely right so that’s just a simple example of how a leader at a very high level is doing that it has to be on purpose, it has to be strategic.

Ty Bennett: Now i’ve seen it in other ways i’ve seen companies.

Ty Bennett: A Credit Union here in utah that I was working with they are moving office buildings and they set up basically like a trade show for all their people to come through and vote on.

Ty Bennett: office furniture and look and feel of the new office just that kind of involvement, you have some kind of, say, and.

Ty Bennett: Then, when you show up and the walls are blue and that’s what you want us you feel like it empowered a little bit right, I mean those are simple things, but the mentality, I think, then, plays out in every meeting.

Ty Bennett: right if you’re the kind of LEADER that wants people’s feedback you’re not just talking at people you’re talking with people.

Ty Bennett: And so, when you start to understand that, from a principal standpoint, it plays out every in every interaction, you probably have.

David Horsager: and love it anything else you any one last tip under partnership as the new.

Ty Bennett: Is the new leadership, you know one thing that I think I teach around this idea that seems to be kind of an Aha moment is.

Ty Bennett: I think that partner leaders know that motivation is important but it’s overrated and what I mean by that is.

Ty Bennett: I mean it’s easy to think about leadership is motivation right you’re you cheer people on you, Tom good job you you encourage them and that’s important.

Ty Bennett: But on the other side, the more important piece is that our job as leaders is to get in the trenches and remove obstacles and inhibitors.

Ty Bennett: And when we do that, first, then that motivation becomes much more effective right, because if somebody is just running into the wall cheering them on doesn’t help them in any way up.

Ty Bennett: And so really understanding the role of a leader is to clear the runway is to open up the opportunity for them to run forward and to be successful, what they do I think partner leaders do that extremely well.

David Horsager: I love it, you know you made me think of you know, I remember caribou coffee is one of the big.

David Horsager: In fact, in the 2000s of move to number two to starbucks at a great run there’s several things that happened there, but one of the things.

David Horsager: The CIO when I talked to him at that time, so they did is they listened well to that frontline barista so that’s why.

David Horsager: you’ll see napkins that say you know thanks a latte or these different statements and a lot of those came from those.

David Horsager: front line, a lot of the ideas that happened at least in a period of time came from frontline brewer he says that they were they had a feedback way to getting it to corporate and listening and implementing and I think you know.

David Horsager: that’s a that’s something we could all learn from because a lot of times the feet on the ground in the front, they know the best that’s why.

David Horsager: I was just noticing what we’re working with a global pharmaceutical and we.

David Horsager: You know use this enterprise trust index to survey people, and I can think in many organizations, people are over surveyed.

David Horsager: But when you give people a space to give feedback up many times that survey will give an idea that is gold that they changed that one little thing and it starts to change everything so.

David Horsager: Thinking of these ways um you know I think it’s really interesting you know actually before I moved from this, I want to ask just a macro question on this, are there any things you’re seeing.

David Horsager: For this partnership that a business owner should think about as far as structurally whether that’s you know.

David Horsager: You know how the companies, we want to be corpse now we want to have employee owned, we want to Are there things that are you know, there are challenges with each of those from both.

Ty Bennett: For sure.

David Horsager: Government tax issues and everything else.

David Horsager: But i’ve even thought of could we go employee owned you know, so what what is that does that really work or are there, better ways to deal with it, what do you think.

Ty Bennett: You know i’ve seen it at the positive and negatives, I think of all of those and I think there’s an argument to be made in each of those I have a good friend to.

Ty Bennett: Transition his company to a B corp and watch watch that process and it’s not without challenge right there’s there’s definite benefit to it.

Ty Bennett: I don’t know that I have a set you know, this is the way every company should be, because I think every company is going to be a little bit different.

Ty Bennett: I believe that the mentality is is the biggest piece now whether you give actual ownership to every person as a physical.

Ty Bennett: partner who has you know skin in the game, or we just help them mentally understand that.

Ty Bennett: We want them to take ownership and we want them to feel like they have full involvement and full engagement and that they’re.

Ty Bennett: they’re valued, you know I know I don’t know that there’s a set answer for that one, at least from my opinion because I could give you examples of pros and cons of probably both right and I.

Ty Bennett: had to.

Ty Bennett: And so you know I think if depending on you know your company or any other company if they feel like that’s the best way to go and they’re in a position to do it, I think that’s an awesome thing.

Ty Bennett: Because ownership it’s hard to just instill if you can actually put it in place, then you know you’ve got something there.

David Horsager: You got successful early on, I mean in your 20s you and your brother, creating this Christmas $20 million annual revenue company, what was the biggest learning.

David Horsager: meet a lot of people that have success early i’ve seen you still flourish a lot of people it’s not the best thing for him.

Ty Bennett: Well, so it’s interesting and I think there’s several lessons that I learned and I i’ve thought about I mean obviously there’s lessons along the way.

Ty Bennett: But I think, starting at such a young age, there were certain things that were obvious to me.

Ty Bennett: For example, one that I was just young enough and just dumb enough I realized, I have a lot to learn, and I will constantly have a lot to learn.

Ty Bennett: And so understanding that that mentality always needed to be there to be hungry to be constantly in the growth process, otherwise you’re you’re dying right yeah.

Ty Bennett: I I recognize the businesses about relationships and the importance of that.

Ty Bennett: And that businesses long term I didn’t want to make short sighted decisions, because the reality is i’m i’m young, I want to be in business for the next 50 plus years and have people.

Ty Bennett: see me as somebody they want to do business with as somebody has a good reputation I didn’t want to hurt that, and so I didn’t want to make any short sighted decisions that way, and so there, there are lots of things that way, but I feel like.

Ty Bennett: The mentality, you know coming into at a young age, actually served me well, because I could recognize certain areas that I didn’t have it figured out and and I still don’t I still you know and learning along the way, and you know we’ve had some good success, but I think that.

Ty Bennett: recognizing that it’s a constant process, I mean think about how much our world has changed in the last 18 months right, I mean and it’s and principles haven’t changed right, I wrote this book partnership is the new leadership before code.

Ty Bennett: But there’s different application now and even probably more need for certain principles now than there were and so understanding, some of those things and and what people are really dealing with and.

Ty Bennett: learning how to have those conversations, where you start to understand the needs fears and victories of people and and where you can serve and where you can add value, I think.

Ty Bennett: For me that’s that’s a constant process I don’t I don’t feel like it’s anything i’ve figured out and have achieved because, once you do, then you know you you’re behind already south or.

Ty Bennett: dying yeah.

David Horsager: let’s talk about another one of your books, because we believe in it, so much the power of storytelling we.

David Horsager: You know, in our it’s one of the key ways we talked about building the connection pillar of trust it’s it’s something actually when people get certified as certified partners are coaches are facilitators and trust that we have a whole process on mining stories.

David Horsager: that are relevant not being the hero of your own story, and also of of using stories because stories make it sticky yes, we still like data, yes, we want to back things by research but stories have been used for you know centuries.

David Horsager: millennia, to simplify the complex to connect with people to to to engage people to move them forward and actually to build trust, but tell us a glimpse of the power of storytelling in your perspective.

Ty Bennett: So just one thought that came to mind when you said that.

Ty Bennett: i’ve used this quote, and this is a really a weird morbid quote but it’s going to stick with you so Joseph Stalin, the dictator yep yep he said something that is really disgusting but also very true, he said, the death of one man is a tragedy, the death of a million is a statistic.

Ty Bennett: hmm think about that for a minute.

Ty Bennett: So I just think about the work that you do, because I share this idea with so many people who share statistics you have incredible data.

Ty Bennett: But emotionally we don’t connect with data, the same way as we do a story, and so, if we can take data and then synthesize it with.

Ty Bennett: One application story that becomes very real and it becomes emotionally tangible right, something that we can act on something we connect with and so.

Ty Bennett: You know I I wrote the book, the power of storytelling because, for me, as we were building our sales organization, I found that stories were an incredible way to connect this was just a personal Aha.

Ty Bennett: Literally as I listened I recorded every presentation, I gave all the sales presentations I tried to eliminate and all these filler words, as I did that.

Ty Bennett: But I started asking the question what caused people to engage and inevitably it was when I was telling stories they laughed more they asked more questions they engaged.

Ty Bennett: And so I went that’s crucial I got it I need to get better at that, and so I started practicing it and getting better at it.

Ty Bennett: And then I started teaching our internal sales team, some of these ideas and techniques and then, as I started speaking.

Ty Bennett: My bent is as a storyteller right I tell a lot of stories and people would ask me how to coach me on presentation skills or storytelling, and so I flushed it out to the power of storytelling.

Ty Bennett: to teach it as a skill, I mean there’s so many ways we could go with the but i’ll just give you one simple idea.

Ty Bennett: I think every influential story follows a simple pattern, and that has struggled to solution.

Ty Bennett: So the idea is that you hope people with the struggle you help them with the solution right there’s something in our bodies in our DNA that we respond to struggle, the conflict of challenge.

Ty Bennett: It naturally engages us and the problem is often in business, we tell solution to solution stories.

Ty Bennett: And we think about a business story, most of them sound the same we say you know what we’re great and we’ve always been great and will always be great, and if you work with us that’d be great right, I mean and what’s engaging about that.

Ty Bennett: And so being real and vulnerable and hitting on that struggle that you solve right, I mean David you solve huge struggles for people and showing them.

Ty Bennett: I know what you’re dealing with and here’s a path forward that’s the kind of story that serves people and really becomes something that’s effective it requires a level of vulnerability, it requires a level of.

Ty Bennett: You know intro introspection to understand some of those things, but I love that you teach you know your facilitators how to mine those stories because I get that question all the time I.

Ty Bennett: find these stories well how do you come up with them and.

Ty Bennett: And to me they’re everywhere, I mean just all the time you’re seeing stories pop up all over the place, and so part of its just being aware and recognizing that you know you need some of those but.

Ty Bennett: yeah I think stories service so well, I believe that storytelling is the most underrated skill in business.

David Horsager: Absolutely, I think it just like Buffett said something like the number one skill is is basically being able to communicate or speak actually to speak right so.

David Horsager: That that has something to do that two things came to mind one is in our business, I can remember this, you know when I started my trust work.

David Horsager: i’m passionate about this as i’m seeing this like you know here’s the research trust affects the bottom line it’s all these things until I took and you hear me today i’ll give a touch of the research, like in an hour keynote you know, two minutes.

David Horsager: But i’ll just simply give three quick analogies like well if you don’t think it’s kind of like they became many stories actually this one used to be a big story about a lock and all sudden it just became.

David Horsager: Think of a lock it’s a representation of lack of trust, think about what the cost is I gotta buy the lock and i’ve got to.

David Horsager: But the bigger cost is now going to open it every time I go through the gate and that’s a cost of time, and I can say, all the other cross, but all sudden in a simple visual almost a story that one’s a mini mini story.

David Horsager: an analogy, but that came from a big long story, but if three of those little stories like.

David Horsager: hey ready to text to someone you trust now ready to Texas, and when you don’t trust How long does that take I mean Oh, I get it, you know it’s like.

David Horsager: That little cost, and then we have to have some some longer stickier ones, but I just saw the critical this of simplifying the complex story I think Lou.

David Horsager: gerstner at IBM, he said, you go to these earnings calls with IBM like you can’t tell everything you can’t say everything so here’s why we do so well, I can tell us good story.

David Horsager: So.

Ty Bennett: yeah I think I think great communicators like you said, make complex ideas very simple stories and metaphors are probably two of your best you know tools to be able to do that and.

Ty Bennett: You know i’ve heard you speak you do that incredibly well and to take that amount of data and research and make it tangible make it something that I can grab on to and use stories are one of the best ways, you can do that.

David Horsager: makes it relevant to use your.

David Horsager: yeah your town.

David Horsager: 111 quote that came to mind, just as you were talking also and partly with the was it stolen stolen.

David Horsager: We don’t use quote Stalin and interesting.

David Horsager: So i’m back when I was really learning to speak in one thing we’re we’re similar I think in like this get better be find coaches find mentors whether it’s for from was for me for research, for marriage for health.

David Horsager: or for speaking and you and i’ve had a lot of coaches and a lot of mentors in that, but I remember.

David Horsager: Over 20 years ago now, the he was the head of imagineering at Disney said, David.

David Horsager: You kind of took me under his wing a little bit about about speaking and training and and what we’re doing, he said and.

David Horsager: As you know, you know i’ve taken I never want to be a stand up comic i’ve taken stand up comedy i’ve taken improv i’ve taken all these things, just to be able to.

David Horsager: transfer, an idea that i’m passionate about better right and but one of the things he had me do is he said, David you’ve got to go.

David Horsager: To the national storytelling festival in jonesboro Tennessee and watch and watch these storytellers and.

David Horsager: It was unbelievable and you know in this tiny little town in Tennessee thousands and thousands of people show up for this little time that you can’t.

David Horsager: Because they don’t have the infrastructure for IT you got to stay 100 miles away just to go in each day practically but one quote that came to mind and i’ll never forget it.

David Horsager: Going there’s a little storytelling museum and the town is known for storage is just a quaint beautiful little place and it the quote was something if I can get it almost exact was perhaps if we knew everyone stories, there would be no more war.

David Horsager: And I think it ties back a little bit to what you said you what you’re you’re stalling quote not gonna let that go.

David Horsager: You know if we know everybody’s individual stories it’s not a statistic, you know you know this statistic all these people are dying all this has happened, if I know that one that matters right.

David Horsager: As speakers, we could start to make make fun of the starfish story here but but there’s truth to it right so.

Ty Bennett: it’s why it’s stood the test of time like we’re all sick of it, and you know we think because it’s it’s not unique it’s not our own which just brings up a an interesting thought around storytelling, and that is that the more personal story is the more powerful it becomes because I can’t.

Ty Bennett: When you start to share a story and I go i’ve heard this one like it, I automatically check out.

Ty Bennett: But if you’re sharing your own experience, like that’s uniquely yours, no one else can share that nobody else has nobody shares it with the same passion, I believe that you don’t retell a story you relive a story.

Ty Bennett: And when you relive a story if it’s yours you relive you bring emotion back into it and you share it with that unique passion, because you that’s something that impacted your life and therefore you create a better experience for the user who’s listening as well, a little bit.

David Horsager: let’s get personal for a little bit you know I found at least in all my interviews and just watching and walking by leaders that I do like and trust that do really believe in.

David Horsager: As you know, there are people that look a certain way to onstage in a certain way off stage i’m talking about ones that.

David Horsager: are different than that they seem to lead themselves well and, though in perfectly each of us, they do some maybe they have routines or habits that help them lead themselves well, what do you, what do you do to lead yourself well, so you can influence so many others.

Ty Bennett: So yeah I mean I I am somebody who.

Ty Bennett: I don’t I don’t tend to ever really run out of energy and so i’m i’m going most of the time right like I I just will keep moving forward.

Ty Bennett: So you know if you look at this morning, you know we’re doing this it’s eight in the morning, my time when we started.

Ty Bennett: I got up at six I went and ran with my boys got in a workout with them, then had some time that I did some personal reading.

Ty Bennett: As a family, we, as the kids were getting going we do some scripture study and some things as a family every morning before everybody gets off, and you know say prayers together and get all the kids going and move that forward.

Ty Bennett: that’s a pretty normal routine like those things happen for me I time for personal development, find time for family development.

Ty Bennett: The physical piece, you know I mean you and i’ve talked about that I was actually impacted quite a bit by you.

Ty Bennett: We have lunch, maybe a year or two ago, you were in salt lake and you would just lost some weight like it was evident to me.

Ty Bennett: When we got together and you just made the point that one of your jobs, specifically was staying healthy right and being in shape and being fit.

Ty Bennett: which you know, and what we do with the amount of travel with the amount of stage time and that kind of thing that becomes an important piece, and looking at it as a job, like which I look at.

Ty Bennett: Like my own personal development reading is part of my job because i’m looked at as a thought leader, how can I have that be part of my job right.

David Horsager: We talked about this yesterday as a team, we heard a new team Member and we said.

David Horsager: One of the things, and there are many things with our work, not just David speaking and training, all that than writing books and whatever it’s also the.

David Horsager: Enterprise trust index it’s also the consulting and coaching certification work but, for me, we talked about how david’s five jobs.

David Horsager: If five key jobs these you know and and one of them like you said it, you know, one of them is.

David Horsager: On content it’s it’s that study piece I you and I both i’m going to just share two of them, because they’re so relevant to what you said, one of them is that that content piece you and i’ve seen people that.

David Horsager: are saying the same thing they were 25 years ago.

David Horsager: yeah and you and i’ve also seen people that have finished well or are finishing well that people are staying fresh and relevant that the Ken blanchard of the world, but the people that are there they’re not.

David Horsager: They make believe the old principles still, of course, but they’re saying and a relevant right.

David Horsager: Now so.

David Horsager: I feel like that’s a big deal, I can tell, I can’t even tell when i’m super fresh or not right by I got too busy there, I was, whatever the other thing is yes, the number, the fifth.

David Horsager: Truth for me as well well the the team comes into offices and the team’s kind of our schedule is pretty much eight to five ish you know.

David Horsager: Because i’m flying late or getting up early or doing this or that or whatever it is, I can come in late and have worked out, and that is part of my job.

David Horsager: Because the fifth piece, for me, is healthy heart and home.

David Horsager: And that’s every that’s my part of my job description to keep a healthy heart and home because if you’re flying to Dubai and speaking of this event, and I was telling us to you know one time I.

David Horsager: got in the Nairobi at midnight spoke every day for a week and flew out, I mean you, you know or train or worked with government officials or whatever you have I learned in a doctor, you know motivated me to.

David Horsager: If you want to be doing this you’ve got to stay super healthy and, by the way, it’s a little easier for you under 40 I would say so.

Ty Bennett: hey yeah here we.

David Horsager: Give me those habits.

David Horsager: keep those habits.

Ty Bennett: yeah.

David Horsager: I love it so um any yeah I love the routine that’s a great simple routine I think some people have such complex ones it’s like hey I get up I go work out.

David Horsager: I have this personal input time and then I have this family and faith time and I think that’s a that’s a that’d be a good start for a lot of people.

Ty Bennett: yeah yeah and you know I mean some days are different than others right i’m on the road different but prioritizing those things.

Ty Bennett: I can’t tell you how many times I have been standing in the middle of the airport.

Ty Bennett: Listening to or reading scriptures or saying prayers with my family because that’s a priority in our family right, I mean i’m going to do their own things, but in the morning at night that’s something that we do.

Ty Bennett: You know my wife and I have our own things that we do to talk and connect and and you know grow together.

Ty Bennett: On a daily basis and and the reality is when we get off on those things right when those things aren’t consistent.

Ty Bennett: It throws everything off right and so there’s some some of those things that we’ve committed to be consistent, on personally as a couple as a family and those things are prioritized.

Ty Bennett: above everything else in the fact that we make sure they happen right they might happen in a weird way.

Ty Bennett: Sometimes literally like my wife is reading something to me that we’re supposed to be reading and i’m like sitting on an airplane not supposed to be on my felt like it, but we’re going to make it happen we’re going to figure out how to do it.

David Horsager: So let’s talk about home leadership, and especially of your kids this has been a fun journey to watch you’ve got some amazing ninja warriors.

David Horsager: You know and you’ve created you’ve taken your whole home and outside and everything and create this space, I think others even now come and go to your.

David Horsager: Your what ninja gym.

Ty Bennett: yeah yeah it’s kind of crazy what and.

David Horsager: Now you’re even speaking about this.

David Horsager: Right you’re one of your I saw one of your newer talks that you’re talking about is the ninja mindset.

Ty Bennett: So.

David Horsager: But let’s talk about this journey with your kids because I think it’s a it’s a fun one.

Ty Bennett: Give us a 10 minute spirit so.

Ty Bennett: My so my oldest daughter she plays soccer in great and there’s awesome lessons there and then my next three kids specifically my two boys that are now 12 and 11.

Ty Bennett: They found the show American ninja warrior they became obsessed and started getting into it started training taking classes competing became very, very good.

Ty Bennett: The long story short of that is they’re both you know top five nationally ranked ninjas.

Ty Bennett: One of my son’s true is just been on the show American ninja warrior junior which comes out on peacock starting next week.

Ty Bennett: And so, his you’ll see him on that if you watch that show coming up and.

Ty Bennett: So yeah we’ve built all sorts obstacles in our backyard, we took the basketball court which was my passion and that went out the window because that’s what happens when you have kids it becomes their passion right.

Ty Bennett: And we built this big ninja gym and you know, in the back and and my kids are little entrepreneurs, because they don’t know how else to think and.

Ty Bennett: So they teach classes and you know can kind of support their habit this way because we literally travel all over the country you know for ninja competitions and things like that, and so.

Ty Bennett: they’re paying for all this because they teach classes every week and have you know 50 kids that show up, and you know pay 10 bucks an hour to come and be in their classes and learn from them, and you know it’s pretty cool to watch.

Ty Bennett: But the reason i’ve started speaking on is because I i’ve jumped in and coaching them, and there are so many incredible lessons in the sport, I mean.

Ty Bennett: You are dealing with fear constantly you are dealing with constant failure, I mean you think about like they see a new obstacle, and they will fail it.

Ty Bennett: For hours and hours and hours to finally figure this thing out to crack the code on it right and so understanding that failure is not.

Ty Bennett: The stopping point it’s a stepping stone like I mean just it’s about growth it’s locking progress every single time I mean it’s literally last night I was given a speech, and we were talking about.

Ty Bennett: Just training partners part of why I think my boys have become so good, is because it they trained together and then our next door neighbor who’s.

Ty Bennett: It was also a nationally ranked ninja the three of them trained together and they push each other, and you know.

Ty Bennett: You get better when you’re around high performers you it is stretches you and and one of them unlocks a skill and all sudden everybody else has to do it, too, and so I just think there’s some awesome lessons, you know.

David Horsager: i’ve got one for you, I think everybody’s dealt with this they’ve got somebody it could be their kid it could be their employee, it could be somebody else that’s afraid of something.

Ty Bennett: know for sure.

David Horsager: So how do you it’s one thing to tell there’s a lot of books written on how do I overcome fear i’ve got you know some some people know about my drowning accident and stuck underwater for whatever, even though I was life garden, and whatever and.

David Horsager: And it’s made me claustrophobic to some degree, for the last 20 years but how do you coach someone else to overcome fear, because I don’t.

David Horsager: need to say okay just do it Come on, you know there’s there’s a mindset of well if you just face your fears when I have seen that backfire big time tell what do you, what do you.

David Horsager: How do you coach someone.

David Horsager: On in the midst of fear.

Ty Bennett: yeah, so I think there’s a couple of things, but I also think its individual right I think about my boys and I coach both of them differently.

Ty Bennett: Because they’re very different personalities, one of them, I can get in his face and he responds to the other one that he crumbles like that’s not effective there right.

Ty Bennett: But I think there’s a couple things I mean giving voice to your fear saying it out loud writing it down like understanding what it is.

Ty Bennett: It there’s something cathartic about that just to simply go Okay, I am afraid i’m afraid of this.

Ty Bennett: Then approaching it with curiosity asking some of those questions right it’s not as effective for me to say you don’t need to be afraid of that.

Ty Bennett: But asking the question of Okay, what are you truly afraid of right here, what are the consequences of this what, what do you where do you feel that in your body, what does that feel like.

Ty Bennett: What how’s that manifesting just some of those types of things, I do think there are times that you do just have to kind of jump into it.

Ty Bennett: But it’s not every time right, I mean the way that we process fear we kind of have to figure out what makes sense and how we manage through that.

Ty Bennett: But fears real you know, last week I was speaking for the Florida realtors association.

Ty Bennett: And these are all you know realtors that are entrepreneurs and we’re having this conversation and I bring up these ideas we talked about fear failure and focus and when I talked about fear.

Ty Bennett: And started asking him questions about it, what holds them back and what they’re afraid of, I mean these people are in tears sharing.

Ty Bennett: what’s stopping them in their careers, right now, one lady shared you know what it’s about it’s embarrassment.

Ty Bennett: I cannot even fathom being embarrassed I don’t want to put myself out there, because I don’t want to look stupid like we all have certain fears that are are stopping us in different ways, and so.

Ty Bennett: Understanding those gives us a leg up right, I mean, instead of just kind of going Okay, we typically just kind of walk away from it and don’t explore it and I think fear is something to be explored.

David Horsager: I just a couple more questions I know we got to land the plane here there’s so much fun and so much we could talk about but.

David Horsager: i’m interested in something these days, a lot, and that is curious questions you know what i’ve noticed, you said something about you had to ask the questions.

David Horsager: And let’s even jump off a fear, but take leadership which you’re an expert in as a whole i’ve noticed in the Boards that I sit on.

David Horsager: In the leadership teams that I work with really many of the best at least strategic thinkers are just brilliant at asking great questions, what are a couple of your favorite questions or even one if you have one maybe it’s for for something specific maybe it’s just as a leader.

Ty Bennett: I agree, I think I think asking questions is a skill set I think it’s something that can and needs to be developed, I think that.

Ty Bennett: For me, I I observed and continue to observe great leaders, where I go like that’s who’s leading this conversation it’s not the person talking it’s person asking the right questions.

Ty Bennett: undeniable love one one question that I always come back to is the question after the question I think we asked great questions, sometimes when we hear what we want to hear, and then we just jump on it.

Ty Bennett: But just a little bit deeper like that’s interesting tell me more about that unpack that just a little bit more just that that second, maybe even third chance.

Ty Bennett: To flush it out before just being responsive before running with an idea, I think that, often, when we will do that we get the deeper meaning behind something, and not just the the cliche idea that we were looking for.

David Horsager: Is the big problem with that, and that is, it takes patience.

Ty Bennett: Which is yours often don’t have right actually i’m i’m.

David Horsager: A recovering impatient, I mean that’s that’s a big.

David Horsager: Big challenges.

David Horsager: Do that every day in myself.

David Horsager: You know your driver there’s a God given gift and moving things forward in the midst of immense challenge, but that has to be balanced with patients and pause and curiosity and i’m enjoying and not always enjoying learning a lot about back still today so.

Ty Bennett: At the process.

David Horsager: hey what’s left for type better you got a whole lot of life left what’s one thing you’re hoping for down the road still.

Ty Bennett: You know I I love.

Ty Bennett: So writing is such a good process for me, but I love speaking like truly love speaking being in front of an audience there’s nothing better than that in the entire world, to me, and so.

Ty Bennett: that’s something I plan on doing hopefully forever, you know and and want to continue to connect with audiences and make an impact and.

Ty Bennett: I truly love that there’s other things that i’m going to do in terms of investments and other things like that and.

Ty Bennett: You know we’ll see for my kids I mean literally my boys and I think they’re on track, you know, want to.

Ty Bennett: be part of this American enjoy our junior show and then be some of those early teens that get on the adult show and have a chance to win a million bucks we’ll see what that ever turns into.

Ty Bennett: But the thing that I love about all of this is the LIFE lessons that is teaching is they’re starting to understand how to drive themselves they’re starting to understand these principles behind it and.

Ty Bennett: More than anything, what I love, about the fact that i’m taking those principles and making it into a speech and content is that they’re.

Ty Bennett: Seeing that and understanding that content so it’s not just they’re living it, but they can step out of it and go oh that’s true we are learning about growth and how to push through and.

Ty Bennett: You know, and I actually have my boys, as part of you know, some of those keynotes and and so that piece of it, involving my family as they get older, you know your kids are a little older than mine and.

Ty Bennett: These stages, where they can be part of some of those things that’s the coolest thing in the world to me.

David Horsager: it’s really great I think I mentor of mine said, you know give your kids experiences not stuff.

David Horsager: yeah I was thinking in some of our work in in East Africa they’ve been I think most of them to the Indian Ocean more than the Pacific Atlantic.

David Horsager: Well, and I just think if you can I mean we all have different things we can give our kids but in our space, how do we do anything with and, as you know it with both of us flying out quite a bit, how do we bring them in on this and.

David Horsager: It is interesting as they grow up how that can change so that’s awesome I got one last question for you, before I do it hey where can everybody find the most about you, if they’re interested in the books, the speaking, or just connecting.

Ty Bennett: yeah ty Bennett calm just my name, and you can find me on any social media, by the same name so pretty easy to find I think we’re not a lot of other type benefits out there, trying to do what i’m doing so yeah i’d love to connect with anybody.

David Horsager: that’s awesome day for Horsager, David Horsager also has that that that that benefit of not many out there.

David Horsager: That name, the problem with that name is.

David Horsager: Be people being able to spell it right, so all right type any.com all of this will be in the show notes and more so check out the show notes last question ty it’s the trusted leader show who’s the Leader you trust and why.

Ty Bennett: So the person who came to mind, for me, is not somebody that most people would know mentor mind name Ulysses Suarez he’s Brazilian is a spiritual leader, for me, and the reason I trust him is why i’ve known him for 21 years now.

Ty Bennett: He has invested in me in unique and personal ways his time his understanding he’s mentored.

Ty Bennett: But i’ve also never, never seen him not live his values i’ve never seen him.

Ty Bennett: be hypocritical or contradict you know what he professes to be he’s live that.

Ty Bennett: and continues to live that and i’ve seen him give more of himself to other people than most people would even say you should.

Ty Bennett: And because of that he’s loved and admired and revered for that so yeah I trust him with my life, you know if he called me.

Ty Bennett: And I talked to leaders about this idea of investing in people and and what that means I mean if he called me today and said ty I need you to sell your House and you know come help me with that, like.

Ty Bennett: There would be no hesitation in some of those things right, because some people we just hold in that regard and and I think that those are the things that we need to be doing as leaders, you know for other people.

Ty Bennett: love it.

David Horsager: check out the show notes check out Ty Bennett, Ty this has been a privilege thanks for being on sharing your wisdom thanks for being my friend thanks for the great work you’re doing around the world and that’s been the trusted leader show until next time stay trusted.