You Are Not Them - Sid Mohasseb
You Are Not Them
Sid Mohasseb
Join Pastor Bob Thibodeau as he engages in a thought-provoking conversation with Sid Mohasib, known as the "entrepreneur philosopher." Sid shares his insights on the importance of trust, flexibility, agility, and authenticity as cornerstones for success in entrepreneurship. He emphasizes that true entrepreneurship goes beyond mere profit, highlighting the need for individuals to recognize their unique value and the power of change in their personal and professional lives. The discussion touches on Sid's journey from immigrating to the United States at 16 without family support to becoming a successful entrepreneur and thought leader. Tune in to explore how embracing uncertainty and valuing the process of growth can lead to meaningful achievements in business and life.
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Transcript
Welcome to the Faith Based Business Podcast with your host, Pastor Bob Thibodeau.
Speaker A:On this podcast, we interview fellow entrepreneurs who are willing to share their stories, their trials, and their triumphs in business, all in an effort to help you avoid the same obstacles and to achieve success faster.
Speaker A:But at all times, continue to rely on our faith to see us through to victory.
Speaker A:Now with today's guest, here is your host, Pastor Bob Thibodeau.
Speaker B:Hello, everyone everywhere.
Speaker B:Pastor Robert Thibodeau here.
Speaker B:Welcome to the Faith Based Business podcast.
Speaker B:We are so blessed that you are joining us today.
Speaker B:Sid Mahasab is known as the entrepreneur philosopher.
Speaker B:He's a serial entrepreneur, investor, venture capitalist, business thought leader.
Speaker B:He's formerly the head of strategic innovation for KPMG strategic practice, where he consults with Fortune 500 clients worldwide.
Speaker B:Amen.
Speaker B:He's also an adjunct professor at the Marshall Business School, the University of Southern California, where he teaches strategy and data analytics.
Speaker B:Now, Sid has founded and led several early stage and hyper growth companies from inception to acquisition.
Speaker B:He's also led company turnarounds from near bankruptcy to profitability.
Speaker B:His expertise is in connecting theory to reality and helping people see the bend in the road ahead.
Speaker B:He's authored several books with the latest being you are Not Them and also the Caterpillar's Edge.
Speaker B:Help me.
Speaker B:Welcome to the program, Sid Mohasib.
Speaker B:Sid, I do appreciate you taking time out of your schedule to join us today.
Speaker C:It is an absolute pleasure.
Speaker C:When you were telling what I have done, I felt kind of old.
Speaker C:You know, it's been, it's been a long growth.
Speaker C:It's a pleasure to be here with you.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker B:Now, you immigrated when I was doing some research.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:You immigrated to America from Iran at the age of 16, is that right?
Speaker C:That is correct, yeah.
Speaker B:And you came here without your family.
Speaker B:How did that work out?
Speaker B:I mean, how, how did you manage once you arrived here?
Speaker B:Were there relatives or someone that you had to stay with or.
Speaker C:No.
Speaker C:I went to a boarding school for about a year and then I went to college.
Speaker C:I went to usc.
Speaker C:So I was basically on my own.
Speaker C:I didn't have any family.
Speaker C:Came, came to school essentially and it was, it was an interesting experience.
Speaker C:A lot of, you know, now being older, you start being scared about your kids.
Speaker C:You know, what the hell, you know, they're in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker C:But I think it was one of the most impactful experiences for me.
Speaker C:And you, you, you really, you really see how you've, how you've learned or how you've, how you've, your, your foundation is solid or not solid.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Quickly you find your friends, you find your enemies, you find your, you know, and it gives you a sense of independence and accomplishment.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:You know, I remember, I remember I wrote a check for 43 cents.
Speaker C:That, that, that was bounced back.
Speaker C:So, you know, you learn a lot.
Speaker C:You learn a lot.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker B:I know, you know, I left home at the age of 18 when I joined the army, you know, but, you know, that's when, you know, back then you were expected to do stuff like that.
Speaker B:And I could, I could not imagine being 16.
Speaker B:Did you have a driver's license at the time?
Speaker C:No.
Speaker B:Oh, okay.
Speaker B:And now this is back before the, the revolution that I ran back.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah, this is the, I'm gonna age myself.
Speaker C: This is: Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:All right, man.
Speaker C:So I've been, I've been in the states for 48 years now.
Speaker B:Praise God.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker B:Now you also started your first business while you were attending college.
Speaker B:What kind of business did you start and how'd that turn out?
Speaker C:I'm going to use it, I'm going to use a word some of your audience may not even heard of.
Speaker C:It's a facsimile business.
Speaker B:Ah.
Speaker C:Facsimile is what later on was shortened to facts.
Speaker C:The fax machines where there were no emails and, you know, the best way of getting things was maybe at that time, I think even FedEx was like three days or four days or something like that.
Speaker C:And fax machines were just out using the phone lines.
Speaker C:So a friend of mine and I, we were working for Flying Tigers, which is again, a name that no longer exists.
Speaker C:They, they were a competitor of FedEx and they were doing a study and we were just management interns essentially, and we were putting all this business plans and stuff together and then they went broke.
Speaker C:And it needed $200 million to start this business.
Speaker C:So we borrowed $2,500 and added another $2,500 and started it like, I think 10,000 at the end.
Speaker C:That was a facsimile service.
Speaker C:So we'll go to places, we feed the machine the documents to, you know, to, to the machines.
Speaker C:And we had agents on the other end who would receive it and really deliver it.
Speaker C:So as opposed to a three, four day delivery, it was four hour delivery, which was phenomenal at that time.
Speaker B:Unheard of.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker B:Amen.
Speaker B: with a fax machine was about: Speaker B:How do you do that?
Speaker B:You put it in.
Speaker C:It just.
Speaker B:It took like five minutes for it to feed through because it.
Speaker B:Feed a little bit at a time and.
Speaker C:Yeah, that's it.
Speaker C:That's it.
Speaker C:That's it.
Speaker C:And you know, the thing that we did at those.
Speaker C:At those days, the fax machines are $5,000 each.
Speaker D:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:So you had to have two in order to get save, you know, to, to receive, to send and receive on both ends.
Speaker C:And most people, A, didn't know what.
Speaker C:What, what they were, and B, didn't have the money to buy it.
Speaker C:So we were leasing this stuff.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Now, if you look at it now, it seems like a stupid thing because the prices just came down.
Speaker C:Everybody could afford it, like a hundred bucks after a while.
Speaker C:But, you know, for the time, it was an okay idea.
Speaker C:Now, I'll tell you something interesting.
Speaker C:One of the first educational, if you would, experiences in business that I had.
Speaker C:We had the.
Speaker C:I think it was the president of nec, which made these fax machines, and we were releasing these wax machines.
Speaker C:We were putting them in.
Speaker C:In.
Speaker C:In messenger services.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:We were putting one in New York in a messenger service, and we said, hey, whenever this document comes out, just pick it up and deliver it.
Speaker C:Like a regular messenger service.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:So we had a bunch of this stuff.
Speaker C:And at those days, nobody was buying, you know, fax machines.
Speaker C:So this guy came to us.
Speaker C:I don't know what you were doing.
Speaker C:You could.
Speaker C:You do.
Speaker C:You guys are just amazing.
Speaker C:And we like to give you the distributorship for NEC machines in North America.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker C:And we said, no, really?
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker C:We said, that's not our business model.
Speaker B:That's true.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:That, that story.
Speaker C:Stick with me.
Speaker C:All this stuff, business model is, you know, it's just like, you know, it's good to plan, but the plan is not important.
Speaker C:The process of planning is important.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker C:The fact that you have a plan is good, but plans are made to be evolved, to be changed, to be, you know, and, and that was a tremendous opportunity I think we left on the table just naive.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Amen.
Speaker B:You know, back my military days, I was a commissioned cavalry officer, and one of my heroes was General George Patton.
Speaker B:And he had a saying, a good plan implemented now is better than a perfect plan that you try later.
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker C:You may never get.
Speaker C:Ever since you may never get a chance to even implement a perfect plan.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:You may never get a chance because you've lost along the way.
Speaker D:Yep.
Speaker B:Amen.
Speaker B:Well, Maybe tomorrow it'll work out.
Speaker B:Tomorrow never gets here.
Speaker C:Tomorrow never gets here.
Speaker B:When did you first get the notoriety as being the entrepreneur philosopher?
Speaker C:So, so I got to go back quite a while.
Speaker C:I, in the 80s, I was, I was a much younger man.
Speaker C:I, I started being very fascinated by philosophies, so I started reading all different religions and then I went to different poets and different philosophers from, you know, from Plato all the way down to, you name it.
Speaker C:And that I think has had a tremendous amount of impact on, on who I am.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:And if you read my work, if you read the things that, that I write or I, you know, or observe how I've lived my life or what I do, you could always see this thread of hey, there's big, there's something bigger than us at making profit.
Speaker C:There's something bigger than us than just, you know, shallow relationships that we try to, you know, compose and say, this is a businessman, this is an entrepreneur, this is whatever.
Speaker C:And, and I, and I see a connectivity between who we are and what we do or we should make that connectivity.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker C:And over time people say, well, you're not talking about business, this is philosophy.
Speaker C:So yeah, slowly, are you an entrepreneur or are you a philosopher?
Speaker C:And you know, I saw this thing, people that I was doing talks or whatever and you know, people started saying, and here comes the entrepreneur philosopher.
Speaker C:Okay, Amen.
Speaker C:It is what I am.
Speaker C:That's true.
Speaker B:Yeah, Amen.
Speaker C:Sometimes people say I philosophize too much and sometimes they say I'm too much of an entrepreneur.
Speaker C:I'm not sure what I am.
Speaker B:Well, you realize early on that, that see if I get this right, trust, flexibility, agility and authenticity need to be the cornerstones of progress.
Speaker B:Can you explain how that works for let's say a startup company?
Speaker C:Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker C:So people ask me what are the things that, that, that has helped me success?
Speaker C:I think number one is trust.
Speaker C:Number one is trust.
Speaker C:And, and, and, and it's not a two way trust.
Speaker C:This is a three way trust.
Speaker C:First I have to trust myself.
Speaker C:And if I have to trust myself, I have to not let me use it very generic.
Speaker C:I, I shouldn't bamboozle myself.
Speaker C:I shouldn't be illusioned with, with what I'm, I'm five foot three.
Speaker C:I can't be LeBron James.
Speaker C:I'm just not.
Speaker C:You know, if we meet with, said this, this motivational thing, you can accomplish any.
Speaker C:No, there are certain things I cannot accomplish and that's perfectly okay.
Speaker C:Yeah, I can accomplish infinite number of things.
Speaker C:You know, there's so the fact, the first is appreciating the reality of life.
Speaker C:Appreciating.
Speaker C:What is this is not lack of, you know, lack.
Speaker C:Not having a goal.
Speaker C:It's not lack of motivation.
Speaker C:It's not lack of ability to achieve things.
Speaker C:It's just, you got to know the road.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker C:And trust yourself.
Speaker C:So that's, that's the first level of trust.
Speaker C:Then you have to trust others.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:You know, a lot of people say, I've been, you know, I've been had.
Speaker C:I've been, that's okay.
Speaker C:It's okay.
Speaker C:You don't have to do things because others are not necessarily doing their thing.
Speaker C:We do things because it's the right thing to do.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker C:And that comes from believing in people.
Speaker C:I believe.
Speaker C:And people, people are inherently good.
Speaker C:People are inherently capable.
Speaker C:They're creative.
Speaker C:They're, they're, you know, people say, oh, you have to empower your organization.
Speaker C:Nonsense.
Speaker C:People have the power.
Speaker C:People can create.
Speaker C:It is, the power is theirs.
Speaker C:I just gotta get out of the way.
Speaker C:Let me get out of the way.
Speaker C:Let them create.
Speaker C:Let them.
Speaker C:Who am I to give them power?
Speaker C:So this empowering business is kind of nonsense, in my opinion.
Speaker C:Some may argue with me, and I know they do.
Speaker B:Just something you mentioned there, and I've been, I've used this saying for, I guess, 40 years, I guess, you know, I tell people, do what's right because it's right and then do it right, you know, and, and everything will work out the way it's supposed to, you know.
Speaker C:So I, I, I've had a saying now you're, you're taking me.
Speaker C:They see you're you, you, you, you, you.
Speaker C:You're sucking the entr, you know, the philosopher out of me.
Speaker C:So I've been saying for, for a long time that the main thing is to keep the main thing.
Speaker C:The main thing.
Speaker D:The main thing.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker C:Right now here's, here's some, some, something that may be hard, but I want you to think about it for a minute.
Speaker C:If you look at, you know, you have this thing about the end justifying the mean.
Speaker C:You know, some people do things that are a little crooked along the way and say, oh, I'm helping the st students.
Speaker C:I'm, I'm building a school.
Speaker C:I'm helping the hungry.
Speaker C:I'm doing a mission.
Speaker C:I'm doing some.
Speaker C:Something along the way that, just that they say, oh, I help people, therefore it's okay for me to allow, oh, this is how the game is played.
Speaker C:I have to do these things in order to get there.
Speaker C:I think if you look at every, every mean as an end to itself, that means every action, if it's self contained, does it, does it justify itself?
Speaker C:Is it a good thing to do at every action that you do?
Speaker C:If it's a good thing to do, then it's the right thing to do.
Speaker C:You may make a mistake, which is okay, we're human beings at the ed.
Speaker C:We're not, you know, all encompassing knowledge.
Speaker C:We don't know.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:If your intent is right and if your action is right and if you, if you decide that this is the right thing to do with all your big.
Speaker C:Then it's okay.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker B:I know that you were one of the first ones that identified the dot com bubble as being ready to pop.
Speaker B:And how did you recognize that?
Speaker B:And then what'd you do to help protect your investors and your clients?
Speaker C:I don't know.
Speaker C:Where did you hear this story?
Speaker C:Somewhere.
Speaker C:This is good.
Speaker C:You've done your research this past.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C: Yes, in the, in the: Speaker C:We were aggregating data.
Speaker C:There was no cloud, so we were creating our own cloud.
Speaker C:And we had companies like the Ann Taylor and Eddie Bowers and, and Guests and some of those guys and Gap and those guys as our client and, and we were aggregating these datas and creating benchmarks and stuff.
Speaker C:It was a little bit ahead of its time in terms of ability to do this.
Speaker C:The time technology wasn't quite there yet.
Speaker C:Now it's, you know, with all these clouds and stuff.
Speaker C: Computer and the early: Speaker C:It was, this was a venture, venture backed company.
Speaker C:That means, you know, we're getting money from venture capitalists and so forth.
Speaker C:And in those days it was crazy.
Speaker C:There was, you know, valuations were just over the moon and everybody wanted to do this.
Speaker C: s, early: Speaker C:It's just, you know, people's mindset is different.
Speaker C:This is this.
Speaker C:There's too many variables, too many things doesn't fit together.
Speaker C:And, and I came to, I was the main investor and the chairman of the board.
Speaker C:I went to my board which included some VCs and I said, guys, I don't think this is going to work.
Speaker C:And I said, are you crazy?
Speaker C:I said, no, here's why, you know, I I talked to the investor community, I talk to the customer community.
Speaker C:There is a sense that I, I sense that there is a misconnect, there is a disconnect, There is a.
Speaker C:And this is not going to work.
Speaker C:And what we do is not mission critical.
Speaker C:We're one of the first things they're going to cut.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:So I suggest we back up.
Speaker C:I suggest we have a few million dollars in the bank.
Speaker C:I'm the main investor, and I think we should write a check back to investors.
Speaker C:They first said, this is, this is crazy.
Speaker C:This is, you know, you're, you're giving up.
Speaker C:You're throwing the towel.
Speaker C:No, I'm not throwing the towel.
Speaker C:And this is where, where I'm talking about being real, being realistic, being, you know, and this is important.
Speaker C:We'll talk about this.
Speaker C:But, so anyways, I said, nope, I'm giving, I'm making a call.
Speaker C:This is what it is.
Speaker C:And I wrote them a check back.
Speaker C:And about a month and a half later, the market completely crashed.
Speaker C:So I looked like, whoa, how did you know this?
Speaker C:I could have gone the other way.
Speaker C:But.
Speaker C:But here's the thing.
Speaker C:If you.
Speaker C:So you asked.
Speaker C:You started by asking me about the trust and agility and stuff.
Speaker C:And I said, trust is important.
Speaker C:The second thing that's important is listening.
Speaker C:And I, I was, I was on a call yesterday with the CEO of a company, and we're talking.
Speaker C:They said, what, what would you.
Speaker C:If you wanted to give an advice to somebody, to your son that you know, to your daughter about leadership, what would it be?
Speaker C:I'd say the first advice is to listen.
Speaker C:What kind of leadership is it?
Speaker C:If you listen, your judgment is better, you have more, you have fresh intelligence.
Speaker C:If you don't listen, you're operating based on limited knowledge of the past.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker C:You listen to the market, you listen to people, you listen to situations.
Speaker C:You're aware.
Speaker C:That just makes you a better decision maker.
Speaker C:That makes you a better leader.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker D:Yeah, that's good.
Speaker B:That's good.
Speaker C:So it.
Speaker C:I think it was part because I was listening.
Speaker C:Now, am I always right in listening?
Speaker C:No.
Speaker C:Sometimes I make a mistake.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker C:But that time, I think I.
Speaker C:I don't know if I was a genius or, or just lucky.
Speaker B:Well, in your book, you're not them the Authentic Entrepreneur's Way.
Speaker B:In your book, you have a section that discusses why the traditional model of entrepreneurship so often fails.
Speaker B:Can you explain that for us?
Speaker C:Of course.
Speaker C:So if you ask most people, what's an entrepreneur, who's an entrepreneur?
Speaker C:They immediately go, somebody who Has a business, somebody who's, you know, they go to an Elon Musk model or.
Speaker C:Or the like.
Speaker C:Some people believe that or think that an entrepreneur is somebody who's a fast talker, you know, BSR of some sort.
Speaker C:It's none of those.
Speaker C:If you go back in time, the definition of an entrepreneur is someone who has something.
Speaker C:This is this.
Speaker C: eur was introduced was in the: Speaker C:By this French guy who says an entrepreneur is someone who has something who wants to exchange it with something of higher value, someone who has something who wants to exchange it with something of higher value.
Speaker C:About 50 years later, an Irishman added the element of risk here.
Speaker C:This is someone who has something who wants to exchange it with something of higher value.
Speaker C:Knowing that there is risk, it doesn't define what it is that you have.
Speaker C:You can have an idea.
Speaker C:Maybe it's your time, maybe it's a product.
Speaker C:You have something and you're willing to exchange it or want to exchange it with something of higher value.
Speaker C:And it doesn't define what higher value is.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker C:Knowing that there is risk that it may not happen.
Speaker C:So now let's think about this with that definition, Isn't every student an entrepreneur?
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker C:They make an investment.
Speaker C:Their time, their money, their parents money.
Speaker C:They take a loan, the sleepless nights, doing all this stuff.
Speaker C:You know, what they have is all that.
Speaker C:And they want to exchange that with a degree, hoping that it's of higher value and it gives them a better life.
Speaker C:But there is risk.
Speaker C:It doesn't.
Speaker C:It doesn't mean that you got that degree.
Speaker C:Then you're right.
Speaker C:You know, you may not get it.
Speaker C:You may.
Speaker C:There's a thousand things that could happen now with that definition.
Speaker C:Isn't Mother Teresa an entrepreneur?
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:Except what she had was different and what she decided to exchange it with was different.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:How she defined higher value was different.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker C:So is entrepreneurship about profit and money?
Speaker C:No.
Speaker C:Entrepreneurship is about your ability.
Speaker C:You, you, Pastor Sid, you, Joe, you, Jack, you, Jill, you, whoever you are.
Speaker C:To.
Speaker C:So To.
Speaker C:To realize that you have something.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker C:And you can inherently within your genes.
Speaker C:And this is proven.
Speaker C:You know, there's studies done that 500, 000 years ago.
Speaker C:There's a gene in.
Speaker C:In all of us that's been built which is designed to exchange what we have to thrive.
Speaker C:It's not to survive.
Speaker C:It's not the animalistic survival thing.
Speaker C:It's to thrive, to do better, to have something better.
Speaker C:We inherently have the ability to exchange what we have with something Better.
Speaker C:So by definition, we're all entrepreneurs.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:But the question is, do we realize that we have something, and do we realize that we can exchange it for something better?
Speaker C:And are we willing to navigate the risk to get there?
Speaker C:Are we willing to be better?
Speaker C:Are we willing to evolve?
Speaker C:Are we willing to be something better?
Speaker C:And that's a mindset.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker B:And that also includes, as you say, like traditional workers, you know, the factory worker, the office worker, they're all exchanging, you know, their time, hoping that they get pay raises and.
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Pension and all that.
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker C:Here's the thing.
Speaker C:Let me give you a few examples.
Speaker C:You have a single mother who goes and works 10, 12, 14 hours a day, exchanging her time, her efforts so that she can get a few bucks so she can take her son or daughter to Disneyland.
Speaker C:This is what she is doing to put food on the table.
Speaker C:You have somebody else that's working as, as you said, a factory worker, it goes out and he wants to exchange his time and his intelligence and his effort to be moved up to.
Speaker C:To be.
Speaker C:To be promoted, to take that managerial job.
Speaker C:And that's why.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:And he is exchanging that time.
Speaker C:He's got.
Speaker C:It's figured out what he has and what he can exchange it with, and he makes a series of decisions.
Speaker C:Should I go to my son's baseball game today or should I spend a little more time there?
Speaker C:We are in control.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker C:We are in control of making a series of decisions of what we exchange for what.
Speaker C:And that defines who we are, and that defines our leadership, and that defines our success, and that defines our path.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker B:That's good.
Speaker B:How can we, as you share in your book, you are not them.
Speaker B:How can we leverage basically the wisdom of great leaders and break into uncharted territory without.
Speaker B:Without giving up our individuality in the process?
Speaker C:So, first of all, there's an illusion I, I have, you know, as you can, as you can tell, probably I'm old and opinionated.
Speaker C:You know, we have a society that they've trained us to operate based on how to.
Speaker C:We.
Speaker C:We look for.
Speaker C:Everything we want to do is.
Speaker C:Is.
Speaker C:Let's get a how to book.
Speaker C:You know, everything we want to do, we go to YouTube to do this.
Speaker C:What is everybody is the how to.
Speaker C:We think that life is like Ikea, that, you know, you go and buy a piece and then it comes in with instructions.
Speaker C:You know, get.
Speaker C:Get panel number A and screw number B and connect to panel number C.
Speaker C:Life is not like buying a bookcase from ikea.
Speaker C:There is no Instructions.
Speaker C:Now, there are some fundamental things that are good, but we're all different.
Speaker C:We're not.
Speaker C:I'm not Elon Musk.
Speaker C:I'm not Jeff Bezos.
Speaker C:And I'm not Mother Teresa.
Speaker C:I'm none of them.
Speaker C:I'm me.
Speaker C:Why?
Speaker C:Because I came from a different place.
Speaker C:I had different experiences.
Speaker C:My friends were different.
Speaker C:I had.
Speaker C:I.
Speaker C:I was black, blue, yellow, tall, short, whatever.
Speaker C:Whoever I was, I was richer.
Speaker C:I was poor.
Speaker C:I am very different than you.
Speaker C:My wife is different.
Speaker C:My kids are different.
Speaker C:My colleagues at work are different.
Speaker C:Everything about me is completely different than you.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker C:Everything is different.
Speaker C:So why do we think that some.
Speaker C:Some.
Speaker C:Some how to guide is going to get us from here to there?
Speaker C:Now, the.
Speaker C:The point I'm trying to make is we have to be authentic in who we are.
Speaker C:And if we find who we are and look at ourselves as both the art and, And.
Speaker C:And the artist.
Speaker C:We.
Speaker C:We.
Speaker C:We are.
Speaker C:We are the art.
Speaker C:We are the creation.
Speaker C:That's phenomenal.
Speaker C:We.
Speaker B:We're.
Speaker C:I mean this is.
Speaker C:This thing is.
Speaker C:Is amazing.
Speaker C:Can you imagine how many pieces of information and how many things are con.
Speaker C:Constantly continually happening in our body and interaction with the world?
Speaker C:And this is.
Speaker C:Just forget about the trees and the animals and the skies and forget about all of that.
Speaker C:Just look at yourself.
Speaker C:Look in the mirror.
Speaker C:See, look at everything that's happening within.
Speaker C:This is a phenomenal masterpiece.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker C:And guess what?
Speaker C:You are within you.
Speaker C:The art and the artist.
Speaker C:You can make life better.
Speaker C:You can make situations better.
Speaker C:You could.
Speaker C:You could.
Speaker C:You can.
Speaker C:You could.
Speaker C:This is the masterpiece that's in your control.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker C:You've been trusted with a masterpiece.
Speaker C:Now, the key is if you look at yourself as the art and the artist.
Speaker C:It's an evolutionary thing.
Speaker C:Sometimes things don't go right.
Speaker C:Sometimes things go right.
Speaker C:Sometimes, you know, we paint something and it just doesn't look good.
Speaker C:So we take a little bit of thing.
Speaker C:And sometimes it's like a sculptor, we make it and it's a little bit crooked on the other side.
Speaker C:And that's okay.
Speaker C:And that's okay.
Speaker C:That.
Speaker C:That's.
Speaker C:That's us that shows up.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker C:And it's okay.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker B:Now, before we get ready to close, I also want to take a minute or two to talk about your book, the Caterpillar's Edge.
Speaker B:Because this book made the top.
Speaker B:The Amazon's top list of 100 best business and strategy books.
Speaker B:And congratulations on that.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker B:In this book, you discuss the secret code to growing a successful business can you share that with us?
Speaker C:Sure.
Speaker C:So, you know, my books generally have a theme to it, if that makes sense.
Speaker C:So that you are not.
Speaker C:That you mentioned has this idea about entrepreneurship, this exchange and the fact that you're not them.
Speaker C:And how is it that you have to work on your mindset to, to accomplish things, to evolve.
Speaker C:The Caterpillar's Edge uses the analogy of a caterpillar at its core and every aspect of it in terms of, in terms of a process of growth, a process of.
Speaker C:And it starts with this assumption that, you know, a caterpillar doesn't turn into a butterfly overnight, right?
Speaker C:It's got multiple stages.
Speaker C:There are some caterpillars in, in Africa and the Amazon that have four.
Speaker C:They take 14 years to turn into a butterfly.
Speaker D:Oh, wow.
Speaker C:There's three, four, five stages of these things that happens into.
Speaker C:There's over seven, six or 7,000, if I recall correctly.
Speaker C:Pieces of things that happen together for a caterpillar to turn into a butterfly, it's.
Speaker C:It's an amazing process.
Speaker C:So the idea is A, it's not a switch that you turn on.
Speaker C:It's a process.
Speaker C:B, it begins with realization that, that.
Speaker C:That you're.
Speaker C:We.
Speaker C:We all are addicted to sameness.
Speaker C:We are addicted to this comfort, this thing that.
Speaker C:This cocoon that we've built around ourselves.
Speaker C:And we feel that change is the enemy.
Speaker C:But hey, I propose that change is the best friends that we have.
Speaker C:If there was no change, assume there was no change.
Speaker C:It was 72 degrees all the time.
Speaker C:You had a five year old.
Speaker C:This five year old will never grow, never get married.
Speaker C:You're having McDonald's.
Speaker C:You're gonna have McDonald's every day, whatever you're doing.
Speaker C:I don't care if you're the best singer or the best scientist, but if you have one song, that's your song forever.
Speaker C:There's no change.
Speaker C:There is zero change.
Speaker C:If you don't have change, you have no options.
Speaker C:You have no path in front of you.
Speaker C:There's nowhere to go.
Speaker C:And that's a horrible, horrible scenario.
Speaker C:So yeah, change is the only friend that you have that provides you with options all the time.
Speaker C:That provides you with options all the time.
Speaker C:But a lot of us want to manage it.
Speaker C:Oh, change management.
Speaker C:And you look at the organizations, look at how we treat it.
Speaker C:Oh, it's.
Speaker C:It's like.
Speaker C:It's a horrible, It's a disease.
Speaker C:But without this change, we wouldn't have any options in, in life.
Speaker C:You, we would be stuck wherever we are either.
Speaker C:I don't care how much Money you have.
Speaker C:I don't care what you do, I don't care if you're happy.
Speaker C:Imagine you have the best family.
Speaker C:But if that family never grows, never changes, that's a horrible thing to happen.
Speaker C:That.
Speaker C:Yeah, your kids have to grow, they have to make mistakes, they have to go to college, they have to be married.
Speaker C:They have to.
Speaker C:That is part of the evolution.
Speaker C:It may be that you have the perfect family, but if you box them into a room and they never change, it would be horrible.
Speaker C:But we, but we push.
Speaker C:So the first thing about it is to realize that, that we're stuck in this, we're addicted to this sameness.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:In order for us to evolve, first we have to value change.
Speaker C:Then we have to do something else.
Speaker C:Which is, which is align ourselves with unpredictability.
Speaker C:Uncertainty.
Speaker C:There's this assumption that a lot of people look for certainty, they do it in business and oh, oh, we're going to do this.
Speaker C:And this is, that's not true.
Speaker C:Everything is probabilistic.
Speaker C:Everything.
Speaker C:Why?
Speaker C:Because we're not the only decision maker in the world.
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker C:That's why it's probabilistic.
Speaker C:It's, it's because we don't have all the information.
Speaker C:Because we're not alone.
Speaker C:Because now if we were all realizing that it's good for all of us, then it would be a hundred percent.
Speaker C:But unfortunately people are too individually individualistic, too, too much of an individual, too much of, you know, self centered to realize that hey, this is good for all of us.
Speaker C:So let's do it.
Speaker C:So what happens is there's, there's this lack of uncertainty and, but you know, lack of certainty, which means the world is uncertain.
Speaker C:So the first thing is we have to appreciate uncertainty.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker C:We have to align with uncertainty.
Speaker C:The second is, as we started, is appreciating reality.
Speaker C:And that for us to go from where we are to become a butterfly, it's not boom.
Speaker C:It's not because we want to, it's not because it's a stage, it's a process.
Speaker C:We have to go through the process.
Speaker C:Now if we're agile, if we're capable, if we listen, if we pay attention, if we do harder work, we may be able to expedite this.
Speaker C:But we can't jump evolutions, we can't jump stages.
Speaker C:We can't be, you know, I can't be because I'm a five year old and my dad wants me to go to Harvard and I'm not intelligently capable of doing it.
Speaker C:Put Me in the Harvard.
Speaker C:It just doesn't make any sense.
Speaker C:Can I get there?
Speaker C:Of course.
Speaker C:But I have to pay the dues.
Speaker C:I have to, I have to go through the process of.
Speaker D:Yeah, Amen.
Speaker C:Yeah, right.
Speaker C:So that's good.
Speaker C:This appreciating reality is very different than some folks have.
Speaker C:They have this vision board.
Speaker C:I don't know if you've familiar with it or, or you, or you subscribe to it.
Speaker D:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:Now would you trust the 20 year old or the 24 year old of you making decisions for you today, Pastor?
Speaker B:Oh, no, not at all.
Speaker C:Why would you, why would you believe in the vision that that kid has, has created?
Speaker D:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Because it's going to change.
Speaker C:That's it.
Speaker C:You know, people put, have, have some ideas about, you know, life and, and prosperity or, or greatness or happiness is on a white home, it's on a Ferrari or a Honda that they put the stuff on their vision boards and, and that becomes what they drive towards.
Speaker C:I, I think that's nonsense.
Speaker C:You know, you, you embrace what comes.
Speaker C:You create as you go.
Speaker C:You see new things evolving.
Speaker C:It's not this fixation again, this is one of those how to things that you put something and says, okay, let's drive for, be goal oriented, save your money to buy a home, it's okay.
Speaker C:But that's not the only thing in life.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker B:I know you also have another section in your book Pushing through all the Big Data and I know a lot of businesses today focus on data and stats and things like that.
Speaker B:Are you saying we should not put that much emphasis on the data and stats?
Speaker C:No, as, as you mentioned in the, in the initial intro, I, I do teach at usc, University of Southern California.
Speaker C:I teach both in Marshall Business School.
Speaker C:I teach a course called Dynamic Strategy which is a combination of data analytics and corporate strategy.
Speaker C:And you know, and dynamic means it's not a one time.
Speaker C:It's very different than what we are experienced.
Speaker C:And, and actually I also teach in Viterbi Engineering School and I teach data analytics consulting.
Speaker C:So I am a firm believer of data.
Speaker C:Fair, fair believer.
Speaker C:But here's the thing.
Speaker C:When we say, hey, this guy made a decision based on experience.
Speaker C:What is experience?
Speaker C:Experience, it's a collection of data that you've accumulated over the years.
Speaker C:You've processed it through your own mind.
Speaker C:You want to make a decision.
Speaker C:Boom, boom.
Speaker C:You go to your head and you, your brain connects these pieces of data together and says oh, this plus this divided by this is this.
Speaker C:Therefore this is a better decision.
Speaker C:All you're doing is you're processing a bunch of data, right?
Speaker C:So experiences data, the data that we can add by analyzing, the bigger, the, the more deeper, the more dimensionality it gives us what I call a way of change our frame of reference, a way to see more.
Speaker C:So the objective is to, to be able to look at data from different perspectives, because as you do, you learn more.
Speaker C:I, I use an analogy.
Speaker C:This is not a Starbucks cup, but I use it as just a prop.
Speaker C:Assume that the, the logo of Starbucks is here.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker C:If I turn this cup, you won't see the logo, but you would see my name.
Speaker C:Because when, when you buy it, you know they put your name and then they put what's in it.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:If I don't turn this, I wouldn't know what's in it, but if I do, I know this is from Starbucks.
Speaker C:I know it turned it.
Speaker C:I may even see the location of the store.
Speaker C:I may see what was in it.
Speaker C:Exactly.
Speaker C:I know my name.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:By turning things around, by changing our frame of reference, we learn more.
Speaker C:As we learn more, our decisions are improved.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker C:As we learn more, our decisions are improved.
Speaker C:So I am a believer in data, but the fact that you have a modeler that creates a model and says, oh, here's what it is that I'm not in.
Speaker C:Believe it.
Speaker C:It is.
Speaker C:It's a combination of things.
Speaker C:It's, it's both the qualitative sense of what we bring to the table, our ability to change the frame of reference, and we have this amazing, amazing addition of experience at our fingertips, which is the data and the analytics that allows us to extract this thing.
Speaker C:Again, the fact that we have data doesn't mean that we have intelligence and insight.
Speaker C:It just means that we have data, that ability to come to comprehension, because it is really comprehension of data that was important 40, 50, 100 years ago, and it is important now.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker B:That's good, Sid.
Speaker B:This is all so interesting.
Speaker B:If someone wanted to get in touch with you to ask a question, maybe do an interview like this, how can they do that?
Speaker B:How can someone get in touch with you?
Speaker C:Well, I'm actually pretty easy to get a hold of because my email is my first name atmylastname.com.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker C:And, and you can find my work, I mean, videos and, and books and articles and all that by just typing my name.
Speaker C:It's, you know, and mohasov.com is my, my main site that they could actually get to know some of my work a little better.
Speaker C:And I would love to hear from people.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker B:I'll put links all that in the show notes below.
Speaker D:Amen folks.
Speaker B:Sid has proven over and over and over again that success as an entrepreneur requires being adaptive and innovative.
Speaker B:As you heard, his books help to explain these processes to us in layman's terms and these should be a must read for every entrepreneur and CEO out there listening to us right now.
Speaker B:I want to encourage you drop down the show notes, click the links right there.
Speaker B:Reach out to Sid, book him to come speak at a conference or something like that.
Speaker B:Be sure to click the links though and order his books as well.
Speaker B:These books could be the very answer you've been looking for to take care of take your business to the next level.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker B:Just drop down the show notes, all the information, all the links are right there.
Speaker B:Sid, I do appreciate your time coming on the program and joining us today.
Speaker B:I know you're busy and I just appreciate you taking the time out to join with us today.
Speaker C:The pleasure is all mine folks.
Speaker B:That's all the time we have for today for Sid Mahasab and myself is passed about reminding you to be blessed in all that you do.
Speaker A:You have been listening to the Faith Based Business Podcast with Pastor Bob Thibodeau.
Speaker A:We appreciate you as a listener and fellow believer and want to encourage you in your entrepreneurial efforts.
Speaker A:These programs are designed to provide you with information that you can use in your business to achieve success faster and avoid the obstacles that try to impede your success.
Speaker A:All information on this podcast is for entertainment and information use only.
Speaker A:Some of the products and services listed in the links may contain affiliate links and Pastor Bob will earn a small commission when you click those links at no additional cost to you.
Speaker A:Be sure to subscribe to our podcast so you'll be notified when our next episode is published.
Speaker A:Until next time, be blessed in all veterans do.
