Good afternoon, everyone. This is Kumar with agile Meridian. Happy New Year. And quite fittingly, our first episode of the New Year is about change and adaptability. And we think it's, it's 1 thing that doesn't change from year to year is that we have to adapt to change. And so we thought this would be a great episode to start the year off with. So maybe we'll start with with Chris. How would you define adaptability, Chris? I would define adaptability as being able to, as things occur, being able to deal with them as they occur take advantage of those opportunities, right, when they pop up, if an opportunity pops up, we want to take advantage of if something bad starts to happen, right, something adverse, we wanna react to it. We don't wanna just continue down the same path that that we're going down. And those that can adapt and those that can change are the ones that are gonna end up being successful. Right? The ones that can kind of change quickly. You know, adaptability, and, especially as important today because technologies change so fast. Right? Things are evolving so quickly. And the world moves so quickly. It seems like. Absolutely. Mike, how about how about you? I think Chris did it really well. You know, that the ability learning to learning to accept change as a constant. You know, learning to actually be okay with that and to be able to work within it, helps you to turn that into an advantage situation like Chris was talking about instead of looking at it and going, oh man, I gotta deal with this again. I got this mindset thing really, really plays hard into it. Your athletes talk about it. I was just on tonight. I couldn't miss a shot. They could just see everything happening in their head and it just went that way. But they were, but but you know, you look at these things and say, hey, if I can if I can look at this as a positive, if I can take this in and actually make this something that I'm comfortable with. And then I can be that I can be comfortable with moving forward. It turns into this thing where you're looking now for opportunities instead of looking for problems that may be coming down the road at you. Yeah. That's a really, a good way to look at it. There's actually a lot of studies been done, over the past few years about adaptability as a capability, as a human capability, as being 1 of the most important predictors of, personal and professional success the ability for an individual and a team for that matter to adapt, to change with the times, if you will, to to, you know, adapt to whatever the situation requires them to, and still deliver something of value. Right? So that's been shown in numerous studies that the people and the teams that are more adaptable are more successful, which, you know, it's not does does it make sense, right? Especially in this teenage? Absolutely. I'm I have a 15 year old son and, the kids in his his school right now and in high school, 50 percent of them will be in jobs in the next 10 years that don't even really that they don't even know about yet. So they can't even be training or preparing for them. Right? So it's this this world that we're moving into, you know, more than ever this this capability is becoming the capability, for for future success. Yeah. Absolutely. There's a, an assessment that we we are partner with, AQI. So adaptability quotient And it's, sort of the platform that uses AI to help individuals as they go through the assessment assess their adaptability quotient and, it it's a really powerful tool, and it it talks a lot about this concept of the the elements that make up adaptive and how you can improve on them. In this in this, live segment, we're gonna talk about 2 of them. Now there's 8 listed in the show notes, but we're gonna focus on 2. 1 is the growth, a growth mindset, and then the other is building your level of resiliency, how resilient 1 person is to be able to adapt to these changes. And so we'll start with, a growth mindset. What is What is a growth mindset to you, Chris? It's where it's where your mind is You have the mindset, I should say. Learning, right, of growing, not just I don't wanna stay in my little bubble but I wanna learn and I'm going to do I'm gonna be a continuous learner. Is another way you could think of it. Right? I'm gonna be continuously learning. And how would you contrast that, Mike? Yeah. Opposite. With the opposite. Well, you know, you think of some of the things that are that are becoming a little more I would say at risk of maybe offending a few people a little more antiquated, in terms of like achieving the ultimate success or achieving the top level of something. You think of PhDs and you think of certain things like that, they're very valuable, but they're valuable for a certain set of time. Half life of of knowledge is shortening. So that idea that I've achieved the pinnacle of something really is starting to actually become antiquated itself. And that idea, it doesn't serve you well moving forward because there will be a common time where that knowledge just doesn't carry the value that it used to and it won't help you with the new challenges that are coming your way. Yeah. Carol Duck wrote a book, called mindset. And and she talks about these 2 mindsets, the growth mindset the, that which is the mindset to learn and grow and, and, never rests on your laurels and your achievements, your your education, whatever it might be. And then the fixed mindset where you might think that you have the fixed capacity and, you know, maybe you might think, oh, well, I can't learn how to play the guitar or the piano. I don't have any musical attitude. And that that's an example of someone with a fixed mindset that may think that they don't have the what it takes to excel at something, where someone with a growth mindset is always striving, always trying to learn, even though they may not have a great aptitude for music, they still try. They stridently try to learn And and other ways this shows up and manifests, you know, the fixed mindset is where you might feel threatened by some new change And so, someone with a fixed mindset might stick with the old ways of doing things because that's not that's how they that's how they know how to do it. And it may not serve them all. They had success in the past doing it. So they go back to where they had success. Right? Yeah. So, What what are some tactics do you think you think, guys that can help someone identify, you know, their mindset or, you know, overcome this? Well, 1 is that, you know, you should reflect on where you're at. Right? Look inside yourself and be introspective. And think about what are the opportunities that I've missed. And what do I wanna do to grow? You know, and the other thing I would just say is that that ties along with that is once you reflect on that, don't let it be, don't get I'm looking struggling for the right word here, but don't don't get threatened by the fact that you have a long way to go. Think about small, you know, It's a it's a journey. It's not just an event. We're gonna go through and you've gotta learn a lot. You know, as you go forward, you're gonna learn a lot of little things that are gonna add up to something big. Yeah. Absolutely. Anything to add to that, Mike? Yeah. I'll give it there's a second tactic. And and there and there's more tactics we're just mentioning a few of them here. You're actually gonna be some in the show notes, like, I believe. Right? Right? Yep. So, 1 of the other things and this is actually 1 that that I add to learn how to do because I love consistency, predictability, and simplicity. Right? Those are my nirvana's. And that is not the world we live in at all. So this idea about reframing your thinking, right? In thinking of us. This is another tactic out of several that you can use. Reframing your thinking, to actually be able to think about something in terms. Chris mentioned it a little bit. So did you Kumar around the idea of Hey, maybe you don't think about how far I have to go. Think about what what what made what am I gonna do? I have the opportunity to go out and learn how to be better at something to make it shorter. Or to to to break it down or thinking about it in a very positive mindset. There again, a lot of studies that show that that mind set goes a long way towards being able to help you overcome what you perceive as your own barriers and it which become manifested manifest himself in reality. When you think that way versus breaking, giving, removing those barriers and allowing you to think forward in a war Okay. It's a big thing. It's a big change. How am I gonna go about this? And I I there are things that I can do to help myself. What are those things? And then that's that curiosity or that learning mindset that we can think about, going out and finding out what those things are. Yeah. So I I like that to reframe your thinking for me, it would, you know, I I will admit that, you know, earlier in my life, I probably had a fixed mindset about certain things, and I have learned over the years that, to shift to a more, more growth oriented mindset I I don't I don't know if I've I've I've tried this tactic specifically, like reframing your thinking with. That may be something certainly something I I would wanna experiment with. Right? So when I think of something that I feel I don't have the expertise in rather than saying, I can't do this or, you know, I I don't have the experience doing this. I might try to say something like, well, I don't know how to do it yet, but I'm gonna learn. Yeah. And just that little shift in the words that you the the self talk, the things that you say to yourself, can can help you shift your mindset. And I would say people that deal with anxiety really struggle with this a lot because they tend to create those barriers, their anxiety tends to create those barriers for them. Right? Knowing that if you have anxiety, if you if you suffer or have any types of levels of anxiety that you recognize and basically accept, this is actually a good way to help you kind of combat that, right, to to make that happen. Now it takes it's like it's like anything else. You got practice it, right? You gotta you gotta consistently practice it. It doesn't come easy. Just like learning anything else that's that's that's a useful skill. Is the same way. To have it, it can really happen. It can really help you a lot. You know, prior to the show, we were talking offline and we were talking about New Year's resolutions and losing weight. Right? And I I'm reminded of, you know, what you said Kumar about the fact that it's almost a a day to day thing. Right? You gotta get started and you gotta go. You you focus on today and then you focus on tomorrow, you know, and you take it 1 day at a time as opposed to looking at this big barrier of, you know, I've gotta lose 30 pounds. Right? Well, 30 pounds like, how am I gonna do that? Well, you start by leaving, you know, a quarter of a pound a day. Right? I mean Yeah. It's like iterative mindset. Right? Yeah. Continually breaking the big thing down into smaller stuff can really, really help you with this. But if that's the way the consistency comes in. Right? You need to have that consistent tool at your at your disposal and be using it on a regular basis, that ability to actually go back and reflect. Which goes which goes back to what Kumar said in his quote about, I can learn and improve. Right? You know, it's the same kind of mantra as I I, you know, yeah, I can't do this yet, but I can take a few I can take a number of small steps and learn how to do that. Once you get 1 going, once you've done that once for yourself, it's so much easier after you've had the first ever. This reminds me of the, Toyota improvement Kata. Where you you set a goal, you know, something that you wanna achieve. You you define what your current challenges you know, where you are today. And then you you don't try to reach the goal immediately because that might be insurmountable. It might not be achievable right in a short period of time. What you do though is, say, or to yourself or define for yourself what your next experiment is gonna be. What are you gonna do to get you closer to that goal. And that seems like very much what you're, both of you are saying, and seems to be very aligned to a growth mindset. Yeah. Yeah. So, and I think that we wanna talk a little bit about resiliency before we before we make this a long. Yep. So Kumar, you know, you were talking about resiliency earlier when you think about that. What how do you describe that? And and what would you think is is 1 of the tactics you could take? To to kinda help with with building that resiliency factor. Yeah. Well, maybe it's first, what what is resiliency? And for me, it's just you know, the ability to bounce back, you know, in the AQI survey thing, I think they call it, relearning or something like that, relearning ability. So the ability to If if you fail at something to be able to bounce back quickly, learn from what you failed, what, from your mistake, or whatever, and then apply it to the the new situation. So resilience is that ability to bounce back from adversity or difficult situations, learn from it, and then apply it. And, I don't know, what what do you think of that definition, you guys? Just make sense. And 1 of the tactics go ahead. Snow's spot on. And then 1 of the tactics would be, to build a support system, and, friends, family, activities. It's not just about the people you see, but it's also the things you do, right, that that's part of the support system, at least from from my experience What do you what do you guys think, Chris? The the 3 of us talk to our clients a lot about environment. Right? Yeah. This is an environment thing for yourself. Surround yourself, build an environment that's supportive of this, right, that that that you're you're you're letting folks know, what you're trying to do, but you're also you're also building a network or building a a group of people that understand this that they get this and will help you along with that, especially because you're gonna have stumbles. You're gonna have points in time where maybe that anxiety does creep up a little bit. Kinda knocked you down or maybe maybe you had a really tuby tried 6 times in a row and didn't get it. Right? This little achievement out of the big thing that looks insurmountable as it is. I can't even get the little 1 done. So how do you support group in that environment is huge towards continuous improvement in getting the value out of it. And getting you started, really, because then after a while, when you become really good at this, you become a support person in someone else's environment in someone else's network. That's that's a very good point. Yeah. It's it's sort of it's a self fulfilling thing. Right? If you you rely on people, they tend to rely on you. Yeah. It's also, I think, important to get rid of that that Mike mentioned it earlier, that inner dialogue that we all have in our head. Right? And that you can't do that most of us can't do that by ourselves. We need somebody that can come along and say, hey, you know, you're good at this. Keep going. Right? Or Wow. That's too bad. You need to that's bad luck. Right? You need to keep moving. And, you know, me personally, I can't, you know, when I was challenged, couple years ago. Right? Mike was 1 of those people that was in my ear going, hey, you gotta get back to it. Hey, gotta get back to it. Hey, you can do this. Right? And it and it's important that you have those people around you that are gonna be your cheerleader when you're not. Because if you If you don't have those folks, you're gonna be stuck. And, you know, it's hard to get out of that group. It's hard to get out of that rut by yourself. And Chris, you taught me that because you were doing that for me in 2010 down in Florida. So when we were working together, so it was That's that's where I actually picked that up, that that whole approach. So, it does it does really happen. We have real life experiences with that personally, not just professionally. Yeah. Yeah. And later on tonight, in our leadership accelerator, we're gonna be covering the third law of, John Maxwell's 15 laws of invaluable growth called the law of the mirror. And this is all about that. You know, building a support system, resiliency. It's it's really kinda looking looking inward. Right? And, building that building that internal muscle to be able to bounce back from adversity and things like that. So if you're not shameless plug, if you're not registered yet, you should. And then I think the last tactic that we wanna cover in this show is, again, towards building self care or sorry, resiliency is practicing self care. I'll just go on the record and say I'm awful at this. I really suck at this. I second that. But we're here. We're gonna support you on that. Yeah. And and my my goal for this year is to, is to practice self care. So that's and and what does that mean, really? I I don't I think for everyone it means something different. I think it does. Yeah. For me, it's it's really taking the time to do the things that I've let go by the wayside that I enjoy doing, you know, photography and biking and sleeping and reading books and stuff like that. Staying healthy. Yeah. I think it's very individual. But it's definitely a source of of energy and and momentum, right, to to continue to do these other things we just talked about. You gotta have the energy to do it. You gotta have the drive to do it. How do you where do you find that? Right? I mean, these are the things that you're doing all this stuff for what? So that you can have this have these that you could you can be self conscious and have that self care. Right? The recharge about it too. Right? I mean Yeah. It's a recharge. You think that it it, you know, in the good old days when we used to mandate people would work 12 hour days to get a release out Right? We were getting 12 hours worth of work. We were only getting maybe 6 and, you know, just having somebody step away If you step away and take care of yourself and take care of the things that you have to, when you come back, you're a lot more productive. Right? You're a lot you're able to do a lot more. Yeah. I've noticed that on a on a long bike ride, things will come to me without without, you know, I don't have to search for answers that I've been have been decked sign me for for forever, you know, at work. They'll just come to me. That's because I'm not thinking about it. I have a CEO that I'm working with right now. She runs every single day. She and she gets so much of her inspiration. I'll get a text or an email. Hey, I won't believe what I thought of or what I was doing. Right? Just that ability to step away and to do something. There's there's a there's a physical mental connection there too -- Yes. -- doing like with running and everything else, but It's huge. I mean, a lot of her inspirations, some of her ideas, her ability to step back and think about a situation. And these critical stuff, you know, because you're the CEO of a company. You're you're you've got a lot of responsibility. So, it it's good for everyone. It's good for anyone at any level. So we are, again, creeping into long territory. So we're gonna, unless there's anything else you wanna add, gentlemen, No. Look up the rest of these items. You know, there's there's a lot here. We barely covered the surface of this. Yeah. And this so definitely take some time and research it. Yeah. Take the show notes. Yep. Just grab a couple of them and try them for try to do everything all of it. This is a lot there. Frank, you will also write a blog article that encapsulates all all of the different things that you can try. But the the ones we picked, we think are have the most impact, mindset, you know, shift your mindset set, and, resilience, build your, in inner resilience. Right? Those 2 things alone can really make you more adaptable to change and be able to deal with the changes that are to come because they're coming, whether you want to or not. And so I I think those are 2 things that you can start with. Excellent. Alright. Thanks, everyone. Thanks for watching. And, do leave us any comments. And look for that blog article. It'll be out soon. Thank you. Have a new year. Happy new year.
