Uh, not going to, so that's it.
All right.
So Marcus Aurelius, who else do you recommend to, uh, to learn from on the,
all right, let's just drive right into it.
The books you mentioned had a book there about the daily stoic.
I think it was called, um, well, that's, this is one of my, my daily reads,
daily stoic by Ryan holiday, but really summarizes, you know, all the famous.
The stoic personnel back in the day and you know, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus,
uh, Plato's they're all geniuses before their time.
And man, that the, the truth and the wisdom that they carry is, it's profound
today when you look at it and you realize they learned how to simplify life.
Down to, you know, individual increments.
And if you get those increments, right.
Suddenly you get away, get away from all the complexity that we've added to life
nowadays.
Yeah.
I'm going to be working on a channeling my, my inner stoic nature while we talk to,
um, it'll be awesome.
Um, all right.
So, uh, two other books, what are they, what are the books you recommend right now?
Uh, two other books, seven habits by Stephen Covey.
That's a, that's an OG book that you just can't get away from.
It's, it really teaches you how to communicate, how to connect, how to
collaborate and how to thrive in life.
And it's principles for anything that's whether it's business, marriage, you
know, athleticism, whatever it is, if you can apply those principles, it's just,
it's worth more than a college degree.
Well said.
And the last one is.
And the third and the third book.
Well, this is, you're gonna, this is my, this is the book I just published
unstoppable mindset, which is just published November, right?
That's right.
So, uh, it's from being stuck to dominating in life in the boardroom.
So what I really did is took psychological principles, took biblical principles,
took business principles, and then really culminated into, and really there's a
lot of snowy system in there as well, but it's really culminating those into.
A guide for success for male leaders.
And it's also a powerful tool to help men become the fathers, the husbands, the
leaders that they're called to be.
But it's also a great powerful tool for wives to better understand their husbands
and for their male counterparts and their male teams to help both sides
understand men better and for men to understand themselves better and help
themselves achieve the goals and the success that they have and also get
life right along the way.
Look at that book everybody.
That is awesome.
The unstoppable mindset by Pete van der Veen.
And, uh, yeah, we're going to, we're going to look at that a little bit further
too, as we, as we chat, that's awesome.
Oh, Mike, I can't wait to see how you pulled those principles together as well.
Overlapping, overlapping new knowledge with what's, what's happened over time.
Um, you know, it's just tremendous power and, and, uh, I find tremendous
power in my own certainty of like, okay, bam, run, hit it because now I know.
Um, like this is, this has worked for a very long time and I can blaze through
this and not, not be scared.
Um, you know, I can, I'm not just not scared to be confident, brave move.
Um, so appreciate that a lot.
We're going to cut to a little bit of a break.
We'll be right back.
Everybody who's listening in a mission-based turnaround expert, um, that
phrase, maybe write it down to internalize it while we're on the break.
And that is not a typo.
Pete is not a leader of a fortune 500 company.
We're talking about a fortune five company.
Um, he has, he has worked with some very, very elite businesses and he's
working with some elite ones now we will be right back.
All right.
Welcome in to vision pros live with Jackson Calame.
I'm your show host.
We'll be doing interviews for visionary entrepreneurs and guest leaders who are
building fantastic visions out there.
What's up everybody.
And welcome into another episode of vision pros live.
I'm your show host, Jackson Calame, founder and CEO of first-class business.
I'm excited to have Pete van der Veen join me today.
We're going to be talking about his, his job as a mission-based turnaround
expert to help companies absolutely crush their goals.
Um, and I have, I met, I met Pete through Sean Barnes, another
tremendous leader to look up.
Um, he's got a podcast called the way of the Wolf and these two guys, like it was
so easy to just feel the power of their kindred spirit when you just first meet
them, but we had some really deep level conversations about business and growth.
Um, we were able to hit it hard.
Um, it's kind of like when you go to the, go to the gym.
Um, and you know, I used to play a lot of sports and there's somebody there who
kind of wants to play horse or something, but then you go to the gym and another
time and somebody is like getting after it, hitting it, crushing it, and you're
just able to jump in, get after it, crush it with them.
And it's like, yeah, like we speak the same lingo.
Um, we go after life the same way.
And I, I just can't speak highly enough of what I've seen so far of Pete and, uh,
and Sean, and I'm glad to have both in my life.
So we're going to go, we're gonna bring him back on stage in just a minute, but
I also want to reveal some other great relationships that if you have not heard
of them could be life-changing for you.
One of them is Sean Lechuga of the wellness shop, three, six, five.
Um, these are the sponsors, of course, on our, our page.
Now these, these sponsorships guys, these are not people who pay for these spots.
These are people who I just love and I love what they're up to.
And I know that the visionaries I'm talking to, the ones that are
catching listening, like it's not a bad idea to pay attention to the people
rising up, um, you know, as, as Pete said a little bit ago, the, the David
birth Goliath stories, um, there are a number of David's out there who, if you,
if you get in sooner than later, you might be able to benefit in tremendous ways.
This three, six, five harmony of life will assessment.
This is what really caught my attention about Sean and Julianne is they're
looking at life and holistic health from the position of, okay, let's, let's look
at what our joy, our spirituality, our creativity looks like our relationships,
our social life, um, our home environment, our career education.
Um, in addition to that, of course they look at the traditional aspects of, um,
you know, how are you, how are you doing with your workouts?
How are you doing with your nutrition?
How are you doing with your supplements?
Um, but what they're, what they're working on to build with that is something
that I don't know if they'll pull it off in 20 years, I don't know if they'll
pull it off in 20 days, um, but as they worked diligently to fulfill on this,
um, it's going to be amazing to see how this continues to take shape.
And, uh, anyway, if you're, if you're interested in finding out more about what
they're doing and, and how that might, how my, how that might be related to you
as a naturopath or a doctor even might be good to reach out.
Then there's Melissa Gray with the law spot and, uh, Melissa, when she came on
the show, I was, I was nervous.
It was like, I don't know if I want to host an attorney on my show.
Um, you know, most attorneys aren't, uh, they just don't have the type of
visions I can really relate to.
Um, but her nurture and nature, in addition to her ability to kick a, as
a, as an attorney and help entrepreneurs understand that law doesn't have to be
complicated, um, I was, I was like hooked, hook, line and sinker.
I was like, man, this lady is amazing.
I can't wait to see her build and fulfill this vision where, you know,
legal zoom's great and Crocodoc and those programs where I got most of my free
templates initially for, for my business when I started.
And then I started to run into different aspects of business that happened to you.
And I remembered some of the experiences I had other startups where we had cease
and desist and demand letters and some, you know, people tried to trademark
our brands, et cetera, and we spent some serious cash on retainers because we
did not, we did not do our due diligence on protecting ourselves from a legal
standpoint and why well, as a startup, you know, when you're calling legal
people and you're kind of, you're young, you're figuring life out too.
Um, or you haven't talked to a lot of attorneys, it can be an intimidating
process and you sometimes just go with what feels best or what review looks good.
I hope that, uh, this inspires you to take a little bit more proactive stance
as a wise steward of your venture and say, you know, maybe I can interview
Melissa, maybe I can interview the guys over at legal shield, um, or elsewhere
and see what are my options.
So that way you're not, you're not put in a position where you have to
hire somebody fast and, uh, you may end up getting raked over the coals and
your vision may shift gears far more than you want to.
If that's the case, prepare ourselves.
It's what it's all about.
Then there's the water project and, um, I keep the water project near and
dear to my heart on purpose primarily because I don't ever have to worry about
where I'm going to get water.
More importantly, I don't have to worry about where my kids are going to get
water, um, yet millions of people in this world do.
And so I feel an obligation, responsibility, duty, and an
opportunity to give back to this cause, um, and also help other people be
aware that not only does the water project show you where your money goes
with this, but you get to see and learn like how they go about building these
systems.
Um, and it's kind of cool to be able to see the actions.
It's kind of cool for me.
It's like amazing to be able to see the results of what I've contributed to.
Um, and even if you're not in a position to contribute financially, you
could share this message and maybe you're connected to the one person I'm
not that's going to, uh, donate a hundred thousand dollars to this.
You just never know what will happen.
So you could share this.
We would appreciate it.
And if your, if your heart and mind is on a cause, something that's happened
in the world right now, maybe it's even just a family that has a crowd funding
need, uh, don't hesitate to drop that in the comments.
We will take a look and see how we can help out.
There's 8 billion people in this world that we, that we can help.
And, uh, when we come together to do that, it's amazing what can be done.
Um, as we work together on the costs.
So without further ado, Pete van der Veen, welcome to vision pros live, man.
Thanks brother.
Thanks for having me.
Absolutely.
Diving right in.
Um, man, what's your vision for those that you serve?
Uh, the vision that I carry with me daily is I really want to help and empower
others really so that they can step into their God given purpose and passion.
I love it.
That's real simple, real sweet.
Step in to their God given passion.
What, what would that, what, what form does that take for people?
What does that look like?
It takes a lot of different shapes.
Um, I've obviously I do it on a corporate level, but even inside the corporation,
I come at it from a human level because.
At the core of my per my purpose and passion is really to be there for that
person just because I remember those times that I would wish I'd wish that
someone was there for me.
And I think that that really drives me in life that when I see a person in need,
I remember those times where I was in need and it was radio silence.
So for me, when I step into a corporation, whether I see, you know,
I risk teen, whether I see a family in need, I just feel like this calling on
my heart by God, where it's like, I know if I have the tools, if I have the
resources, if I have the know-how, then I want to be that person that stops long
enough to pay attention to that person.
Because like I said, I was there when I was growing up and you know, you're
crying out for someone to come and be that person for you.
Now it's my turn to give it back.
Absolutely.
So one thing, one thing I'd like to stop and ask, there's a, there's a, what's
it called?
I guess a symptom disease diagnosis called a heroes complex, you know, or a
theory or term.
I don't care what we call it.
We call it a banana if we want to, but there's this heroes complex aspect.
And then there's like the opposite of that, which would be like a
complete disdain and disregard for humanity.
You know, there's polarizing effects, but one of the things I noticed about
your page and we'll probably pull this up in a minute as well, is that there's
a ton of what I'm going to say is well-placed hyperbole and your message.
I don't like hyperbole 99% of the time.
It's not something I'm a big fan of, but as I was reading your story, getting to
know you, I was like, man, like this dude's got conviction.
Right.
Not arrogance.
I see a huge conviction.
What, what do you think of the term heroes complex, saviors complex, and how
do you come in so boldly to help people with these turnarounds?
Where is the line on taking over somebody's mission and getting in their
face and being a jerk about it or whatever.
And, and being a bold fireman, you know, going in, doing the rescue, take that
where you want, I don't even know how to pinpoint this, but I think it's
an objective that I think is so important for entrepreneurs and visionaries to
debate because that's often the role we're serving in.
Well, that's a great question, Jackson.
And I think, I think I can really speak to that because when I see a person, I
don't see, certainly you see what they're, you see what they're, you know, their
attitude, their charisma, their body language, you can see that, but you can
also realize that what you're seeing is just the tip of the iceberg.
So you start to realize that there's a lot more beneath the surface, right?
We don't know the battle they're facing.
We don't know the journey that they've been on, but what I found most of
the time is when you help someone and you can help them get through their journey,
through their struggles, through their adversity, then you start to see the
real person.
And I think a lot of times in a corporate world, I've seen people be
dismissed left, right and center, but it was like, they didn't know what they
were doing, but it was like, they didn't have the desire to do whatever it was
they were asked to do.
They had an inability, inability based on a lack of knowledge, a lack of
understanding, lack of clarity, whatever it was.
And so for me, what I realized is if I can nine out of 10 people, if I can
help that person, give them the tools, I can empower them.
I always speak on, on behalf of empowering human capital, but if I can
help that person, give them the tools, tell them, I believe in them and give
them the road to success and then champion that success.
Most people will reach levels that they never thought possible.
And typically in an organization, when people, when companies are struggling,
it's usually the common denominators of people are struggling.
So if you can help the people become unstuck and help them start to know
more, learn more, communicate more, collaborate more, thrive more.
Now, when those people come together, it's like a company's unstoppable.
I love that.
We're going to keep it right where that's at.
If anybody wants to join the debate on heroes complex, savior's complex, how to
help, should we help, et cetera, of course, feel free to dive into the
comments and let us know what your thoughts and opinions are on that.
What's your vision for you, Pete?
What do you see for yourself on the horizon?
Uh, honestly, my vision is just to continue to create kingdom impact.
I, like, I want to, I run a lot of companies, but at the end of the day, I
just want to be that person that someone could be like, Hey, you really helped me.
And I think for me, if I can continue to help people, I can help people become
empowered, then I can help that husband, that wife, I can help that child.
I can help that corporation.
But to me, it all boils down to like, you know, we're here to serve the least of
these, and if we could help people realize like they're, they're loved,
they're cared for, they're valuable.
Then I know they're going to go off and they're going to do something great.
And that's not to me.
That's not, I don't even see that as a hero complex.
I just know that when someone finally believed in me, it made a difference for me.
And then, but I also know that as long as the world told me I was a piece of shit,
I was going nowhere.
And if anything, I was going to prove them right. Because I grew up as the boy
named Sue, I grew up fighting and, and being angry and being, being tough.
So I just realized when you can, when you can champion someone else's success, not
for your own benefit benefit, but for their benefit, you both win because you
feel accomplished and they start to believe in themselves and they start to
see what's possible.
So for me, it's my, my vision for the next year, for the next, the remainder of
my life is I just want to certainly make a big difference, corporately make a big
difference, community, and then just make it be a positive light in a world that's
focused on always pursuing darkness and trying to find the worst in everything.
Yeah, well said.
Um, and yeah, that is the difference.
Again, those listening in, um, intentional with our word choices, um, you know,
there's being a hero and there's having the heroes complex, um, right.
There are two different realities that exist on that.
And, uh, there are oftentimes, uh, in life where we have the opportunity to be the
hero, um, versus I think I would define the complex side as somebody who's kind
of addicted to that, um, and, and maybe it does it for the sake of being recognized.
Um, as such, um, it's about them, not necessarily about the
person that they're helping.
Um, talking about, let's talk into a dark subject.
Um, what's your worst leadership experience ever?
This can be one that you've been through and witnessed.
Um, what can be one of your own?
The real, the real idea here is those who are listening in, what are they, which
one, which story are they going to benefit the most from?
Yeah, I think, I think, I think just like anyone else, like I've had to learn
how to become a leader, but obviously through making my own mistakes, I've
made my own mistakes.
There's been times where I ran fortune five companies or ran big parts of
fortune five companies and I wasn't doing a good job of leading my family.
I was leaving my wife in the dust.
Wasn't being the father I should be because I was over consumed in my work.
So I would say that that was a time and a place where I was off focus, right?
I wasn't holistically grounded.
I wasn't, you know, I didn't have my priorities in the right spot because
I was pursuing worldly success.
I think to me, leadership ultimately should be that I'm here to empower others
as a leader.
If I run a large corporation, everyone's success is my success.
And this isn't most leaders today, whether it's politics or corporate,
they're not leaders.
They're appointed people of, of egotism and of power.
So they, they operate out of fear and it's kind of the character of the stick.
They'll either manipulate you or they'll fear monger you into doing and executing
a task for me as a leader, I want to lead from the back.
I want to be the rising tide in the Harbor and I want to help other people get to be
successful.
And then I know communally I thrive because I helped everyone else thrive.
Absolutely.
I got to ask, um, how did you, how did you go about overcoming yourself in that regard?
How'd you go about shifting changing?
Well, I think the biggest eye opener for me was just realizing that I was, I went
from, I went through a dark journey in my life where I was, I went through growing
up, I went through abuse, I went through neglect, I went through abandonment and
it turned me into, and it turns anyone into a selfish person because now you
become all focused on yourself, your needs, your protection, your survival.
Exactly.
So survival is a necessity inside fight or flight mechanism, except when you
don't control it, it becomes, it converts into narcissism and now survival has
become you, you needed to survive because you were the victim, but now you become
the perpetrator because you only care about you.
And when you're in that state, you become a dangerous person.
And for me, when I started to realize that I was now doing the very thing
that I had been wounded by growing up.
When I started to realize that I was abandoning the very woman that had
committed to me and I had, and I was neglecting my kids who were the only
thing that really mattered to me.
When I, when I took some of the most important things in my life and I put
them aside because I was trying to pursue someone else's approval and a corporation's
approval, it was kind of an eyeopener for me that if I continue this trajectory,
this isn't going to end well.
And I'm going to make, I'm going to regret it heavily one day.
And one day I'm going to be like all the other executives that are divorced and
single and 65 years old and sedating their negative negativity and depression.
So for me, it was an eyeopener, but, and it was kind of, to me, it was, I
knew what I wanted to do.
I just had to have a reset to get my, get my vision back.
And to realign my life and then to get back focused on what mattered, which,
which was being a father, a husband, and then a servant leader.
So I appreciate you diving deep into the vulnerabilities.
You know, I want to actually want to dive the opposite side though,
like the light switch turned on.
Right.
You realize that, okay, I can, I can be there.
Did you take massive leaps and like just scale to the top of perfect
fatherhood and perfect husbandry?
Right away, or were there little subtle things that you started to do that,
you know, people can pick up on and say, okay, maybe I can do those types
of things too, in my life.
I think I, I intended to make small subtle changes.
Like I had to try to reorient myself due to circumstances with the economy
and corporate politics.
I ended up having a hard time getting back to normal.
I ended up having a hard choice made for me where I had to exit the fortune five.
And so that was a, it was a day of reckoning for me where the very thing
that I had used to kind of be the idol in my life was gone.
And then I had to get real serious real quick with where my priorities were.
So I feel like I didn't have a choice at that time.
I had to really dig deep and go deep and heal and restore who I was and then come
back and do it all over again, but do it the right way this time.
And so it was, I didn't choose that route, but it got given to me.
And then I had to go manage it and it was very difficult.
It was very dark at times.
Well, thank you.
Again, I'm sure there's others.
I know I can relate to this in a lot of ways myself.
So I've been there, done that on, on a lot of that, but I want to
steal your thunder.
People can hear that in other shows.
So what's your, what's your best leadership experience look like?
And I got a, I got a lot of them, but I think I'd say the common story is
right now I'm working with a company out of Houston and, and when, when a
company is stuck, when people are stuck, it's typically resentments, frustration,
negativity, toxicity.
And then when that continues to exist, it becomes a tit for tat.
It becomes very anti collaborative environment, but I I'm always excited
when I can come in there and I can help them start to see each other as humans.
I guess they can start to see each other as friends again, and they can
start to see each other as, Oh, they didn't really mean it that way, but I
interpreted it the wrong way for all this time.
And I made a mountain out of a molehill.
But suddenly when you can bring everyone back to the table and suddenly.
Positivity shows up again and collaboration shows up and we get a multiplier effect.
And now we start to see exponential growth and suddenly when people are going
from begrudgingly going to work to now they're coming into work and they're
just jacked up and they're just happy and they're excited.
And then you just watch this company just take off and you just see people thrive.
But now you also watch people go home and they're happier.
They're going to their families.
With with a pep on their step and you got husbands and wives and, and
single people and kids all going home again to their environment that they
come in and the ring and positivity.
So now you start to see this ripple in the water effect where what we do in one
environment just transcends everything.
Right.
So I get those experiences a lot because that's what I love to do.
But when you watch it every time you it's like you sit back and you just like,
dang, this is fun.
Yes.
I love that, man.
It's like that person who comes into the dance party, you know, another
one's dancing and going to the next thing, you know, everybody starts
diving in and dancing and it takes that, that one catalyst, but then you can
like stop and look, you're like, man, look what I just did.
You know, look what just happened.
Look at the energy and, and you know, again, it's not necessarily the
focus on, on you, but you also can embrace and be grateful for the fact
that that's the byproduct of.
Of showing up with great energy.
Um, so I thought that's a really, really good example.
I appreciate it.
You dive into the depths of what's there because I mean, that's, that's
journaling and meditation, you know, and it's, it's, you know, that's
like the core virtue and value of it is you can dive that deep into your
journal and appreciate your own experiences for the depth of what
they could be doing.
It makes it that much easier to stick to, um, and I think that's the
second, um, changes in course changes in leadership style that may be
foreign to you right now.
Maybe that's not how your office environment is, right?
The first time you're coming in and maybe it's a little bit awkward and
people are surprised that you said good morning.
Maybe people are surprised that you asked them how their day was, their
weekend was, and you took five minutes to take interest in them.
That it might take some time to make some shifts, or you might just
need to bring Pete in, um, you know, or, or find an alternative if, if, uh,
you know, Pete's busy with other companies and say, okay, I got to find
somebody with this type of energy.
So if this was the last opportunity you had to share a powerful lesson that
other visionaries can learn from regarding your experience, what would
the powerful lesson be?
Dang.
That's a good one.
Yeah.
I feel free to take your time on this one.
I've always surprised when people rush in, I'm like, Oh, it's like,
slow down, you know, like,
yeah, yeah.
Right.
It's loaded.
Wow.
I think that we live in a society where people get the equation backwards.
People are looking for success and they're hoping that the success
radiates and then it helps them.
Feel more valuable and more validated and more successful as a human.
And I'm a firm believer that that's, that's the opposite.
What you have to do is you have to obviously heal from your trauma.
You have to become someone that learns to love yourself, not because of what
you do, but because of who you are.
And you need to realize like God created you for a purpose, not just
to take up space and use the resources.
But when you start to realize like where your value comes from, who you are,
why you're valuable, and you start to build off that, you start to realize
like your value is in what you, the person you are in the, in the value
you bring, not what you accomplish.
And then you step into a boardroom, then you step into the arena, then
you step onto the ball court.
Then you realize you're not, you're not desperate for success, but you're
coming in as an empowered individual that now you're bringing value everywhere
you go and then your success is amplified everywhere you go.
But what most people are doing is they're coming in with this empty bill
of goods, and then they hope that this arena will give me the fulfillment I
need to take back home and feel like I'm a successful person.
But that's a recipe for disaster because when you're bankrupt and you're
desperate, nothing will satisfy that.
And whether you see that in the world of alcoholics or drug users or, and even
finances and personal, you know, accumulation of wealth and successes,
you become desperate for the next hit because it's never enough to satiate
the emptiness, but if you can become a person that realizes the value you have.
So first and foremost, being the best parent you can be, because your kids are
your legacy and then, you know, investing into your relationships, cause those are
key, those are the people that need the best of you.
And then when you take that energy and you correlate that to your work, to
your professional arena, now you start to, you accumulate energy and you
accumulate a horsepower, so to speak.
And then when you come to work, you brought, you've charged up and now you
can have, let's give all this value to give to the, to the, you know, to the
marketplace, but when you go to the marketplace, hoping that's going to
fulfill you, you're going to, you're going to be sorely missing.
That's, that's profound.
Um, it's worth, worth meditating.
You actually got me meditating already.
Um, and on a, on a concept I haven't thought of before, so I got to give you,
um, pay credit where it's due, um, as, as I share this inspiration yourself.
Um, it's fun.
It's that's the beauty of guys of, of listening on these types of vision
experiences and, and doing so authentically is then you end up filling your own soul.
Um, you know, and, and finding ways to reinforce your infrastructure.
So as you talked about this idea of, of, um, healing traumas, learning to love
yourself because of who you are, um, not what you do and, and then God creating
us for purpose, um, you know, I'm sitting there meditating on it and thinking,
okay, um, where has this manifested in my life?
What stages?
Right.
And I'm like, okay, I've been so blessed to one, I know what survival instincts are.
And I know what it's like to grow up with a need for strong survival instincts.
Um, and to have to control everything around me have to write my quote unquote.
And then realizing letting go, um, you know, realizing that you're in God's hands,
no matter what, you know, there's this progressions of that.
So I was thinking, man, I was, I was so blessed to have that young, but one of
the cool things about, about Christianity is that we know about the refiner's fire.
Um, and so sometimes we fill the vessel, you know, sometimes we have those
opportunities in life, but it's going to a church or treat, you know, we go and I,
ah, maybe in my soapbox, I hate how often coaches and leaders manipulate
an audience and it's saying, you know, you, you know, you've been to that
conference where you wrote all those notes and you went home, what happened?
What happened?
You know, you failed to do anything.
Um, you don't put it, actually like, dude, chill.
Like that's, that's one, it's not a reality.
Um, you know, you can't help, but we retain some of the virtues, um, and
an environment that you pick them up in.
Um, it's just very manipulative and I don't like it.
Um, so to go back towards that reality though, so yeah, when you get full, um,
there's been many times in my life where I was absolutely full with who I was.
And then I allowed ego pride to kick in and God found a way to break my vessel
so that I feel almost like nothing again.
Um, you know, and somehow we can blame life.
We can say this isn't fair.
Like, man, I screwed up.
Um, at the end of the day, he knows how to use the refiner's fire
and not destroy the gold.
Um, you know, as he's burnt purging away the, the negativities that exist,
there's, it's, there's a cyclical process, um, that can happen over and over.
Joe being to me, the best example of that, um, you know, the, the perfect man,
as they say that then had another opportunity to, to, to, to, to, to
find external emptiness, but in his case, never abandoned, you know, the,
the internal reality that God give us and God take us away.
And I will, I will stay faithful to this, this idea, this way of being.
What are your thoughts on that?
Well, I think the hardest thing we can do is surrender control.
Cause I think if you're a wounded individual, if you went through tough
childhood, if you went through abuse and trauma and neglect and abandonment,
your, your necessity for control is to never get hurt again.
And therefore you, you will, you will rig and you will, you will strive and you
will obsess about controlling the environment, but ultimately you become
a control freak because your desperation has driven you to become someone that
wants went from no control to now you strive for absolute control, but we
all want finances.
We want comfort.
We want recognition.
We want accomplishments.
We want all these things, but inside that we are obsessing for control.
And I think Western culture is built on a need for control, but ultimately at
the end of the day, we can't control anything, but our own opinion, our own
actions, our own thoughts, our own, our own charisma, all I can control is me.
And that's when you look at the stoics, they remind you that nothing matters
except for you and it's not what you go through.
It's how you go through it.
It's how you show up that matters.
So I think all of this always boils down to, are you willing to play with an open
hand and then deal with what you're given, or are you always trying to control the
situation and you only want, you know, you only want everything to work out.
Cause if you can, cause for me, there's been plenty of times things failed
miserably.
I've lost millions in investment.
I've had companies go bankrupt.
COVID wiped out one of my companies.
Like you cannot live and die by your success.
You have to play with an open hand and just trust that God has a plan and
refiners fire.
The flip side to it is that that shit burns, like it will burn you.
It will take skin off your hide.
It will, it will hurt.
But at the end of the day, you realize you're going to come out better, stronger,
and you're going to become closer to the man or woman that God wants you to be.
Because you started to realize like you had to let go of those impurities.
And if you can play with an open hand and just like whatever, whatever it's
meant to be, we'll stay and I'm going to thrive and I'm going to give my best.
I'm going to give my all to this situation.
And if it's not what I want it to be, guess what?
It's time for me to learn.
It's time for me to grow.
And what else can I, what do I have to give in this situation?
Cause we always want more.
And then we're like, well, then life will get great.
But it's like, what if, what if you just use the flower, the little bit of flower
that's left in your jar and then just play that hand and just double down?
Yeah.
Dude, you, okay.
Refiners fire.
That shit burns.
You said it right.
And I'm thinking, I'm always looking for the parallel on the other side though.
Cause on the flip side, you know what else sucks and you know what
else hurts just as bad being that.
Lump of dirt before being in the refiner's fire, being that lump of
dirt on that obscure mountain that nobody cares about that people walk all
over that suffers through all the elements to you, you drown in the rain.
Um, you know, you, you get hot in the sun, uh, you're, you know, you're kind of,
but once you're refined, right, once you become that refined piece of artwork too,
you're often cherished and protected in ways that you can't be when you just exist.
So both hurt.
They both, both existence hurt.
It's a matter of, of, uh, you know, are we purposely dedicating ourselves
towards something amazing or not?
It's 400 pounds is not any more fun, you know, and, and, uh, worth living
than being in shape and having a six pack.
Um, you know, both have their different burns and challenges to them.
So you're not going to escape the hard nature of life.
Um, you know, no matter which, which direction you choose to go, you talked
about feeling sedated, being sedated.
And, and, uh, yes, I've, I've been very fortunate to one of those stay at home
dad since they wanted my daughter's birth, uh, my first daughter, I've got four kids.
Um, and you mentioned this control aspect as well.
Um, that was, man, I was a horrible leader.
Um, you know, I had a really hard time understanding how to lead.
One of the best lessons I've received was my, uh, my church leader, my stick
president, St.
Jackson, I want you to write this down.
It was a very desperate part of my life where everything's falling apart.
And he said, I cannot, or no, I do not control the world.
And I'm, I'm, I'm a studious guy.
I really have to, I stopped riding midway through and I was like, Ah, I
think this is how I survived in life.
I was like, this is, you know, like, are you sure?
You know, I'm like, we go back and forth for a little bit.
I'm like, okay.
He said, now stick that in your pocket and carry it with you everywhere you go.
I carried that thing for years.
Um, you know, I've still got it somewhere, but I finally was like, okay, I can,
I can let this go.
Um, I, I get the concept.
I see it.
I feel it.
I appreciate this so much.
Um, life has been.
Just exponentially, I can't even express how much happier I am at
peace.
I am with life ever since learning that, you know, it's so cool.
I don't control.
Thank God, literally that I don't control everything else.
I can, I can just make sure that I'm working on me and he knows that I'm, I'm
going to be imperfect at it and he's okay with that too.
It's like, Oh, that's a relief.
So, all right.
Mission based on the world.
All right, mission based turnaround expert.
Um, you dove into, these are the principles.
I imagine you're discussing with people, um, you know, on a, on a daily basis
and there's other things that you're up to.
Do you want to, you want to dive into that further and what you do for companies
or do you want to keep this?
Okay.
Yeah, go ahead.
Yeah.
Um, I think at the end of the day that what, what I've dealt with is I've worked
with a lot of venture capital groups, private equity groups, and they have one
goal and that's a return on investment.
And even large corporations, whether you're fortune 500 or fortune five, all
they really care about is healthy financials, quarterly reports, and all
too often they have a short-term outlook on what success looks like.
They're just looking to do whatever it takes.
But I find actually, if you look at the statistics, they say 70% of corporations
today lack leadership and they admittedly say that they don't have leaders in their
company.
That's a scary statistic, but at the end of the day, what I try to help companies
realize is there's a, there's a, there's a happy medium between just hack and slash
and cut your way to the top.
And what you really have to do is when you help invest into people and when you
help make people more successful.
So if you have an, a company of 10 people or a hundred people or a thousand
people, when you can help those thousand people become 10%, 20% more enriched,
more empowered, more successful.
That becomes a massive driver for success.
But a lot of companies, they don't think that way.
They just say, we need more sales, drive harder, get a bigger whip.
They just, all they do is it push the accelerator harder.
Whereas when you can come at things from a mission focus, which is I'm here to
endeavor on empowering people.
So these people become more successful because if I help someone, if I take a
mom or dad and I can help them live life better, come to work, more energized, be
more productive at work, go back, live a happier life, that company will benefit
from her positive mental health and her positive emotional health.
And so to me, the mission focus is always, I'm not looking at dollars and cents.
I'm going to give you the dollars and cents return on investment, but I'm
going to look at the person, I'm going to find the people and the strategies and
the techniques to help these people become more empowered, more productive.
Whereas corporate America is always focused on just do whatever it takes to
drive more money and they never think of the investment side of the equation.
So it's the equivalent to having, you know, a big block Chevy and all they're
doing is just trying to put more, they're just trying to put a, put a bigger
blower, a bigger supercharger on the engine or put a bigger exhaust on it.
And they don't ever think of like, how do we put better fuel into the Corvette?
How do we make this thing healthier so that it can produce more?
All they want to do is just put something on, put some lipstick on this thing and
make this thing, you know, return tomorrow morning.
Absolutely.
So how do you, how do you go about, what seems, what seems hard to me is getting
such a big organization that's, you know, one time Tracy Childs at wishlist member
was talking to me about growth and shifting and, and we're, you know, he had
110,000 customers on his, on his membership platform and he was explaining
to me, Jackson, I'm a marathon runner, not a sprinter.
I can tell you great, great sprinter.
First time I'd heard the analogy of my co-appreciate that, that he said, we're
an aircraft carrier, man, like we can't spend things on a dime, you know?
And I, you know, I'm like, well, that there's a lot of truth to that.
And how can we optimize that spinning?
You know, so that happens faster and that's kind of what you seem to do, so to speak.
So when you're facing, you know, the obvious weight of, of, you know, a tight
Titanic, what do you do?
How do you, how do you start?
How do you, when, when they're resistant, how do you help them understand that
you're not here to destroy what they're up to and inspire them to make changes?
I think it comes back, it comes back down to just the same tools that I used to be
a better father, same tools.
I used to be a better husband or the same tools I can use to take a fortunate
five company and, and change the trajectory.
And it comes down to investing into spending time with people, listening
to them, hearing their concerns, hearing their fears.
And then you start to understand that it's not what's coming out of their
mouth, that's actually the truth.
It's what you can hear in the tone of their voice.
So you can see what led them to that point and you can start to realize,
okay, this guy is a control freak, but really what's happened is he's scared
for his family because he's scared of losing his job and he's scared of losing
his job and therefore he's a paranoid freak at work.
Right.
So now it's like, you help that person start to understand that, like, I
understand your battle, I understand what you're facing and let me help you.
Achieve success was doing a different way, but really it's helping walking
with these people and helping them see it through a different lens, helping
see that we can still get there, but we're going to do it in a different way.
But the beauty with mission focused turnarounds or mission focused scaling
is I don't want to just hack and slash and just have instant success.
What I want to do is have longevity because if we turn this thing around,
the collateral damage is going to be extensive if we do it the wrong way.
Like it's notorious of private equity and venture capital by a company,
increase the revenue and then sell it.
Well, by the time they turn around to sell it, there's fires everywhere.
Dumpsters are on fire.
People are bleeding.
Like they've just brought destruction because they came in and they just showed
up with a big knife and they just, they basically trimmed all the trees violently
and aggressively, and it was like that didn't benefit anyone long-term.
So mission focus is really focusing on if I can invest just like an athlete,
if I can invest in that athlete, look at someone like Dion Sanders, he's
taking a college team, right?
He's taking the buffs who were at two, two wins in like 10 years.
And he believed in those boys.
These boys aren't like a listeners.
These are boys whose dads are in prison.
These are boys whose dads are incarcerated and these kids have gone through hell and
back, but he, what he does, he believed in them.
He loved them.
He took care of them.
And suddenly he starts to bring out the best in them.
And then next thing you know, we've got a championship potential team from
people that everyone else discarded.
Cause they weren't the shiny, they weren't the shiny sharpest object in the toolbox.
Right?
These were the kids that were rough around the edges.
And I think in a corporate environment, when you help understand that most
people, the communication is not there.
The collaboration is not there.
There's silo culture.
So there's all these things that are apprehending people's success that
when you remove those and you start to help people like, listen, work together,
communicate, help people understand better and help the executives understand
better and help the executives do a better job of relaying what's in their mind.
Cause a lot of executives have this authoritarian approach where there's
like, well, they should just know better, do it or else.
Well, it's like stop for a moment and realize how did you, did you want that
approach when you were growing up, when you were elevating through the, through
your career, did you want someone to be like figure out or else, or would you
have liked someone to stop, take a moment, take a knee and say, listen, how can I
help you, because that's how you make people successful and that's how you fix
companies and that's how everyone wins.
And you get back to the Stephen Covey.
We, most corporations, it's a win loss relationship.
Executives win, everyone else loses.
Shareholders win, everyone else loses.
But there's a win win in every company, but you have to be willing to spend the
extra effort and realize working on the emotional intelligence, not the, you
know, the intellectual intelligence, but working on the EQ side of the equation
drives incredible success.
And then you just watch this thing take off.
You know, I'm going to use the quote, the grass, you know, isn't greener on
the other side to call the rest of us out.
Um, what, the way that you described and, you know, rightfully called out the,
the villainization of, of the worst side of venture capitalism that exists, you
know, Hey, let's do this fast.
Let's make this happen.
Like you said, then everything's on fire.
Um, I was like, Oh, you're talking about copywriters.
Oh, you're talking about coaches.
Oh, you're talking about digital marketers.
Um, Oh, you're talking about human beings.
Um, you know, we, we all tend to find ourselves at sometimes, um, you know,
exercising again, control dominance tactics.
Um, we want to prove our results.
We want to get the result as fast as we can.
And, and we're not often looking at the byproduct of, well, what happens?
What happens when we run full speed towards a cliff edge?
Um, you know, like what, what could happen in that scenario?
So, so pipe dream pros, you know, the non-vision pros out there, like settle
down, um, you know, maybe, maybe consider how does this apply and to the vision
pros out there, what I wasn't able to do in the show is unpack the secret cure.
Um, you know, the, the, the, to be like Pete, um, you know, and to have the
exact results of Pete drives, what we were able to expose and see is just like
listening to an interview of the, of, of LeBron James, you know, trying to say
how he got to where he's at, the amount of study, the amount of diligence, some
of it coming from, you know, your background, Pete of control and probably
obsessiveness over like being the best that you could, who knows for what reason,
but some of those virtues you've maintained, um, and you've, you've, you
get a little communication, you know, just ask questions.
Well, you know how to ask the right questions at the right time with the
right tone and the right cadence, et cetera.
And that takes a incredibly sincere amount of diligence and practice to be
able to do that effectively and, and help people to our maximum potential.
So we've got to, we've got to metaphorically get in the weight room as
visionaries, the weight room of leadership, the weight room of Stoics
and the weight room of personal development, et cetera.
We've got to be diligent and consistent in that if we want to drive the types of
results where we can effectively change, change our lives for the better, change
those around us for the better, not necessarily us changing them, but again,
inspiring that path forward.
Um, there's a lot of work that has to be put in any final thoughts you'd like to
add before we wrap up, Pete.
No, I think, I think you hit it on the head.
I think we, there's no such thing as instant success, right?
Refiner's fire is a slow gradual process of God refining you.
And it's coming to the realization that we don't control the variables.
All we can do is, is adapt and overcome and, and try to do the best we can.
And I think when each of us can learn to see the humanity in others,
that's what empathy is.
So if I can see the humanity in others and I can see where the disconnect is
and I can see what that person needs to get to the next level, that makes me
unstoppable because I start to realize I can help anyone achieve success.
And if I help everyone achieve success, I don't have to try to do anything anymore.
I did what I had to do, but my success is part of that success.
So I think all the visionaries, it's easy for us to focus on what, what do
I need and how do I achieve it?
But if you start to realize like your success is the success of others.
And if you empower others, even if you got a small team, if you focus
primarily on empowering your team and making your team holistically thrive,
your company will be successful no matter what you do.
And even in the times where business isn't as successful as you want it to be,
still come back to the drawing board and focus on people, empower people,
thriving your relationships, thriving your family, thriving your kids,
thriving your health, and then come to work fully optimized.
Love it. I really appreciate you honoring us with extra time.
If you have to run, I get it.
If you have time to catch up afterwards and feel free to stick around either way,
I'll find you no matter what Pete, um, with the rest of you, Vision Pros on the
landing page, you'll be able to find the links to be able to three, three
opportunities here that I see super clearly.
One, you have all the links you need to follow Pete Vanderveen and learn more
about his path and how he's gone about doing what he's doing so that you can
learn to emulate what, what he's up to as well on how he's going to do it.
As well on how he's driving success to we'll have his book on there,
the unstoppable mindset, um, as well.
So you can check that out, learn more about how to become unstoppable and have
an unstoppable mind for your own success.
And three, if you have a vision to share it,
there's also a button on there that says, be our guest.
We'd love to get your vision out there and, uh,
and bless other people with you. If you got comments, questions,
don't hesitate to drop those as well on the social media platform of your choice.
Of course, we'll take a look at that and Vision Pros have an excellent,
excellent rest of your day. Take care, everybody.
Thank you for being here today.
I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live.
I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to
move forward. This is going to get more and more fun.
We'll have more and more engagement as well.
We'll invite people to participate in the show and thank you for giving us your
time and attention. Have an excellent time building out your vision.