The Skill That Predicts Success More Than IQ (Nobody Teaches This) | Rich Bracken

Rich Bracken Episode Transcript

Introduction & What Is Emotional Intelligence? [0:00]

Rich Bracken: [00:00:00] You can know your information backwards and forwards, but if you’re not able to communicate, if you’re not able to manage your emotions, you’re leaving a lot of performance, revenue, connection, and opportunity on the table. 

Charles Eide: Coming up this week on Cleared for Takeoff, I have Rich Bracken. He’s an international speaker who talks about emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and how you can use those tools to make your life better both at home and at work.

Rich Bracken: What is emotional intelligence? So many people call it a soft skill, and it’s truly a critical skill for leaders, for people, for performers. Anybody in any role needs emotional intelligence to be higher because it has 58% to do with our performance. 

Charles Eide: Do you think that the pursuit of perfection hurts the ability to have emotional intelligence?

Rich Bracken: The response to things that are not perfect that make you either a high EQ or a low EQ individual. 

Charles Eide: Your ability to respond to it. 

Rich Bracken: Correct, ’cause that is the self-management piece. Anybody who says, “That’s just the way I am,” has a low self-management. Bridges get slowly burned and the doors get shut because they’re not ackn- [00:01:00] acknowledging the damage that they’re causing.

Anybody can raise their emotional intelligence at any given time. You’re in control of that dynamic. In a matter of seconds, you can say, “You know what? I’m not gonna be mad about that.” But at the end of the day, the thing that bad leaders should be more terrified of are the que-

Charles Eide: Rich Bracken, welcome to Cleared for Takeoff. 

Rich Bracken: Thank you so much, Charles. Pleasure to be here. Pleasure to talk with you. Looking forward to this conversation. It’s 

Charles Eide: great to meet you in person finally. 

Rich Bracken: I know. I, I have been literally trying to fashion my style, my presence, and everything off of you and your online presence.

I feel like it’s, like a fanboy episode for me. I don’t know why I’m, I’m being the one interviewed. 

Charles Eide: Oh my gosh, dude, you’re too kind. I’m a huge fan of you. I think the stuff that you do is pretty incredible, and I can’t wait to get into it, which I’d like to. Sure. Uh, I wanna ask you, what is emotional intelligence?

We hear that thrown around a lot, but what is it? 

Rich Bracken: [00:02:00] Yeah. First, I, I, I talk about this all the time. It’s one of my favorite topics to talk about. Emotional intelligence, what it boils down to is the understanding of our emotions, identifying them in real time, and then what we do with them, and that’s the s- the personal acumen side of s- of emotional intelligence.

But then we also have to talk with people. So we’ve got the social side, which is social awareness and relationship management. Am I listening and paying attention? Am I a good, active listener? Am I asking better questions? That’s that social aware- social awareness piece. And then how are we interacting together?

So it’s understanding it and identifying my emotions, but then also interacting with yours and trying to get to the best place for both of us in that relationship connection, whether it’s colleagues, bosses and, and employees, or just relationships personally. But what I will say is that so many people, and you talk about it be- being tossed around, so many people call it a soft skill, and it’s truly a critical skill for leaders, for people, for performers.

Anybody in any role and anybody, frankly, needs emotional intelligence to be higher because it has 58% to do with our performance. So no matter what [00:03:00] you know and no matter what you do, you can be very smart, very tactically savvy, you can know your information backwards and forwards, but if you’re not able to communicate, if you’re not able to manage your emotions, you’re leaving a lot of performance, revenue, connection, and opportunity on the table.

Social Awareness & Networking [3:14]

Charles Eide: You know what keeps coming to my mind when you’re talking about this is when you go to a, like an event or a networking thing and you meet some random person and they’re like, “Oh, you should meet Bill,” or whatever, and you start talking with them. Sometimes, number one, I forget their name- Mm-hmm … which is terrible.

But then second of all, I’m, I’m like so conscious of, like, do I sound like an absolute moron right now? Am I talking about the… Am I talking too much? 

Rich Bracken: Mm-hmm. 

Charles Eide: Am I talking too little? 

Rich Bracken: Mm-hmm. 

Charles Eide: When you think about that as a, as a hard skill- 

Rich Bracken: Mm-hmm … 

Charles Eide: how does that, how is it something we can improve on? How can I get better at being more, you, you said social awareness.

Mm-hmm. What the heck does that even mean? 

Rich Bracken: You know, when I coach executives, uh, on, [00:04:00] on this topic, and you brought it up, the idea that maybe I’m nervous to go in and talk with people. In networking event, not many people like networking events. It’s, it’s a necessary evil in a lot of industries. That’s probably 

Charles Eide: why there’s a lot of alcohol.

Rich Bracken: Oh, it’s… Like, it makes it easier. It’s almost like a, an absolute requirement for people to get past these nerves. Yeah. But the best thing you can do is go in prepared with questions. Because if you’re asking questions instead of thinking that you have to talk about yourself or share your story or do all the talking, ask questions, and have a b- couple of backup follow-up questions.

Because if I were to engage you at a, a networking event and say, “Charles, tell me what you do,” and you go on and you say that, well, you know, “Do you have an ideal client that you like to work with?” And I’m asking you the questions, it actually gives me that breathing space to bring my stress down. Hmm. And I’m putting a little bit more of the pressure on you to do more of the talking, kind of like you’re doing with me.

But it’s a situation where we c- we take that control back in those scenarios. Because again, most people don’t like small talk, they don’t wanna do it. They’re like, “What do you do? Where are you from?” “So how’s the weather up there in Minnesota?” Yeah. How 

Charles Eide: are the… Like, yeah, exactly. Like, “Does it get cold 

Rich Bracken: [00:05:00] there?”

You know, of course it gets cold here. You know, it’s the small talk that we want to avoid in those situations, but when we ask questions, it actually makes people feel better about us. And we’re asking more thoughtful questions, and secondary and follow-up questions. People feel seen and heard more. So you’re actually developing not only a reduction in your own stress, but you’re actually making them have more of an affinity connection with you because you’re showing more interest in what they’re saying.

Charles Eide: Yeah, I heard one time, I, I, I mean, I, I don’t know if this is even true, but the more you l- you get someone, the more someone else talks, the more they like you. Mm-hmm. I don’t know if that’s actually true or not. Maybe you could speak to that, but… 

Rich Bracken: Well, it’s, it’s serving people up a little bit more of the celebrity status in the conversation.

So if, you know, you, we can all think about those conversations where somebody just dominated the conversation. They did all the talking. They weren’t really being asked questions, they 

Charles Eide: just talked. Oh my gosh, that happened to me just recently. 

Rich Bracken: Isn’t it the worst? 

Charles Eide: I was introduced to this gal. I, somebody was like, “Oh, you should meet so-and-so.”

And I mean, it was like a, a seven-minute commercial. Mm-hmm. She didn’t stop. 

Rich Bracken: Oh, yeah. I [00:06:00] had a, I had a networking call the other day, the same thing. This guy, we, we were gonna get on the line and talk. We had met at this event. We were gonna follow up and have a great conversation. I’m not kidding, out of a 30-minute call, I kind of clocked it because I got to a point I’m like, “This is absurd.

I’m gonna have a little fun with it.” And I just kinda glanced over at my clock like Still going. 27 minutes of the 30 that we were on the call, he talked. 

Charles Eide: It 

Rich Bracken: just- He did, just nonstop. 

Charles Eide: And he probably loved you at the end. 

Rich Bracken: Oh, yeah. He was like, “Great call.” See, he actually sent a follow-up message like, “Great call.

Had a great time connecting with you.” I’m like, “I’m so glad you had a great time.” That’s fantastic. I hope that you enjoy the memory of our conversation because I have a different take on it. 

Charles Eide: Yeah. Yeah, it’s tough because I, it’s habits we’ve formed over- Oh … sometimes decades. 

Rich Bracken: Yeah. 

Charles Eide: Okay, so you’ve got this thing about emotional intelligence and being more socially aware, being in tune with conversation.

Mm-hmm. 

Rich’s Background & Origin Story [6:53]

Charles Eide: Where did you start? Like, how did you get this way? Like, how were you… Like, what, do you have siblings? Were you [00:07:00] raised… What was your upbringing like? 

Rich Bracken: Shocking, I, I’m an only child, and I’m, I’m very empathetic and aware of other people. Hmm. So I’m, I kind of break the mold with that. 

Charles Eide: So that’s not normal for only children.

Rich Bracken: Uh, no. I mean, if you think about it, it’s kind of like saying all Minnesotans just love being cold. That’s not the truth. All only children are not spoiled and not selfish. Hmm. You know, did I go through my phase? Of course I did. But at the same time, I have always been somebody who is very empathetic. A g- there’s a term called highly sensitive people, where you can feel people’s energy and their aura, and you kind of pick up on what’s going on from a sensory standpoint.

Uh, so I had that. I didn’t know it was a thing until I was an adult, but I always had that along the way in my childhood, in my teen years, and even into college. And so I’ve always had this awareness of other people. 

Charles Eide: Yeah. 

Rich Bracken: Now, where emotional intelligence came in, I was working at a law firm as a business development manager and killing it professionally, doing a great job, working super hard, but I was literally eroding myself emotionally on the inside.

Energy-wise, I wasn’t sleeping. I wasn’t taking care of myself, and I got all the [00:08:00] symptoms of a heart attack one day in my office. And so I got up, left, went to the ER, got hooked up to an EKG machine, which I don’t recommend. 

Charles Eide: And you’re a fit dude. Like… 

Rich Bracken: I appreciate that. On the outside, I, I l- I look like a, an image of health, and on the inside, I was completely falling apart.

Charles Eide: Hmm. 

Rich Bracken: And so going to the ER, and the doc came in and said, you know, “Good news, bad news. Good news, you’re not having a heart attack. Bad news, you’re having a massive panic attack.” And so we sat and talked about my lifestyle, what was going on, what I was going through, and he actually, instead of recommending medicine, he recommended the book Emotional Intelligence 2.0, which is everywhere.

So 

Charles Eide: good. 

Rich Bracken: Such a great book, and it’s everywhere now. The doctor? The ER doctor? The ER doc, because he was reading this book, and ER docs obviously have a stressful job. And so he was reading this book trying to reduce his stress and take better control of his life, and he was saying, “Look, it’s applicable.

It’s relevant. It’s an easy read. There’s all kinds of stuff you can do there. You can actually test your emotional intelligence,” which is great. Props 

Charles Eide: to the doctor. 

Rich Bracken: Right. It was the first time I’ve ever been to a doctor and not been pr- written a prescription. It 

Charles Eide: was- He prescribed you a book … a book. 

Rich Bracken: Yeah, I’m like, [00:09:00] I, I will go to Barnes & Noble without my insurance all day long.

Charles Eide: Yeah. 

Rich Bracken: And so read the book, fell in love with the concepts, and so combining this, this empathetic servant mentality personality that I’ve always had, I now have this information that I wanna share because it’s worked for me, and it’s done dramatic things, and through my research, ’cause I’m a data nerd too, I found that the legal profession was the second lowest emotional intelligence profession in the country.

Ironically, healthcare is number one So the d– the fact that this doctor recommended emotional intelligence to me, and healthcare has the worst emotional intelligence, was the most serendipitous thing that’s happened in my story. 

Charles Eide: It does, almost doesn’t even make sense. 

Rich Bracken: It doesn’t. 

Charles Eide: Because you’d think in law they have to listen to their customers and read the situation.

Mm-hmm. And same with doctors. Like, so lawyers and doctors have the lowest EQ. 

Rich Bracken: Yes. And because, if you think about it, they’re also both trained in a schooling where you have to be perfect. You have to not make mistakes. Resilience is at, at a low in those industries [00:10:00] because they’re not used to making mistakes.

They’re not trained to make mistakes. Not that anybody’s trained to make mistakes, but a lot of, you know, if you’re in marketing, like I got my degrees in marketing, we’re used to making mistakes. We’re used to trying and failing. But that’s not written in what they’re supposed to do. So they are naturally not resilient because of the things they go through in law school and medical school.

Low EQ in Law & Medicine [10:17]

Charles Eide: So you’re saying the training made them less emotionally intelligent? 

Rich Bracken: I think it’s a combination. It could be a combination. 

Charles Eide: Because I would say- Or do you think people who have low EQs are naturally attracted to those types of roles? 

Rich Bracken: I don’t think it’s necessarily that they have low EQ so therefore they go to those roles.

I think there are personality traits about them. Maybe you’re, they’re more linear in thinking. Maybe they’re a little bit more analytical, or maybe it’s something that they, maybe their family was in law or in medicine, and so that was just a natural path. But I think the conditioning that they go through in those schools makes them less emotionally intelligent because they’re moving towards this idea of perfection.

Mm. Um, which, you know, in the legal profession alone, there’s a, a rampant problem with substance abuse and depression and suicide [00:11:00] because of that stress, because it’s a, it’s a nonstop stress industry. Now, have I worked with high EQ attorneys? Absolutely, and there’s a difference both from a personal standpoint, but also a success standpoint.

And when I coach executives in any industry, same thing. Like, there’s high EQ performers and there’s low EQ performers, and so those that have a low EQ are leaving a ton of opportunity on the table. The ones that are high EQ, ’cause 90% of top performers have a high EQ, that is where the success really resonates.

Um, and so back to the, to the ER story, this combination of servant mentality, this information that I now have in an industry that needs it desperately, combined with, and I’m just gonna throw this out there, that I’ve always wanted to host The Price Is Right. That is my dream job. Has been since I was five.

Charles Eide: Good old Bob Barker. 

Rich Bracken: Bob Barker was… And he was the… I literally was that kid that faked sick so I could stay home and watch The Price Is 

Charles Eide: Right. I was, I was literally gonna say that. Oh, yeah. I was like, “I want to… I could use some Price Is Right today, Mom.” Oh. “I got a [00:12:00] sore throat.” 

Rich Bracken: Absolutely. And even, even when he announced his retirement, I actually sought out the production company to ask them for an audition.

That’s how serious I am about it, still to this day. Even, spoiler alert, they’re… The guy that’s now the, “Come on down,” guy, George Gray, I was on a TV show with him previously. So technically, as we sit here recording today, I am one degree of separation from my dream job. So Drew, I’m 

Charles Eide: coming 

Rich Bracken: for you. 

Charles Eide: So you, so you want…

You’ve always wanted to be the host of The Price Is Right. Always. 

Rich Bracken: Why? I, I, I think it combines those different personality traits. I have never, and I had did an interview on this one time, they said, “Was it because you, you know, you want to be on the show to, to be a participant, or have you ever wanted…”

I’ve never wanted to be a contestant on the show. I love the idea that his job is to get up every single day and literally play games with people, that that is a core memory for them. The people in the audience, if you ever just watch the audience, are freaking out every episode. Freaking out individually, freaking out collectively in groups, and even if they don’t make it on the show or on the [00:13:00] stage, they’re freaking out.

Like, the energy- ‘Cause they’re in this audience. Right, exactly. Yeah. And so why wouldn’t you want that to be your job every day, to go out to a core memory example for all of these people, play games with these individuals- Yeah … change their lives. But also it’s just, it’s a fun scenario where you get to make, you know, you get to participate in this opportunity that they’re having the times of their lives.

That just sounds like a dream job. 

Charles Eide: Yeah. It’s, uh, it kind of brings me back to… ‘Cause that’s, like, the opposite of perfection. Mm. And you were talking about law school and medical school- Mm-hmm … and these things that are, are all about perfection. Mm-hmm. Right? 

Rich Bracken: Right. 

Self-Management & Controlling Your Reactions [13:43]

Charles Eide: Do you think the, the pursuit of perfection- Hurts the ability to have emotional intelligence?

Rich Bracken: I don’t think the pursuit of it. Yeah, I think it’s the response to things that are not perfect that make you either a high EQ or a low EQ individual. 

Charles Eide: Your ability to respond to it. 

Rich Bracken: Correct. Correct. ‘Cause that is the self-management piece. So if you… ‘Cause, I mean, we’ve all tried and failed at things, and I have had instances where [00:14:00] something didn’t work out and it ruined my day or ruined my week.

I wouldn’t let it go. It just sat on me, it weighed on me too heavily. That was my low self-management self. That was not my best self in action. So those leaders that something goes wrong and they just completely go in the tank, or they lash out, or they erupt. I’ve, I’ve worked with people in offices where they’ve just literally flown off the handle because something went south on them.

That is low self-management. So understanding that that is in your control, your reaction to that is in control. So instead of saying, “I’m just gonna rain hell on everybody because something went wrong in my world,” as opposed to, “Let me take a step back and see what went wrong. What would I have done differently?

What could have been done better?” 

Charles Eide: But a lot of those responses are kind of visceral. They just happen, right? Like, that’s decades and decades of responding to problems this particular way, right? We kind of have our habits. So how… First of all, how do I become more aware [00:15:00] when I… like, of that issue if I have it- Sure

right, if I fly off the… Like, some people, they’re like, “Well, I, you know, I just have a temper, okay? That’s just the way it is.” Mm-hmm. So that would be a person that’s aware, but there’s a lot of people that aren’t aware of it. 

Rich Bracken: Mm-hmm. 

Charles Eide: So number one, how do I become aware if that’s me? 

Rich Bracken: Sure. 

Charles Eide: And then is it something I can actively fix and practice?

Rich Bracken: Mm-hmm. ‘

Charles Eide: Cause I think some people would say it’s not. 

Rich Bracken: So great, both great questions, so let’s, let’s dive into both of them, and I will also say that anybody who says, “That’s just the way I am,” has a low self-management, and they’re not very self-aware. So you can be understanding of your c- of your, your typical reactions or your typical mood or your typical visceral reaction to something.

Just because you’re aware of it doesn’t mean that you have strong awareness. So if you say, “Okay, I, I fly off the handle when this happens,” you’re aware of the emotion, but you’re not managing it appropriately. And I always tell people, like, take six to eight seconds when something happens. Do not [00:16:00] respond right away.

Take six to eight seconds. If you know something triggers you, if you know something upsets you, or something happens that goes in a negative fashion, take six to eight seconds, take a big deep breath, do not say anything, do not react. I don’t care if you’re in a room with the person that it’s happening with, take that six to eight seconds.

Because then you bring your nervous system back into check. You don’t, you’re not staying in the fight or flight response, and that is a better scenario for you to make not only a more improved leadership decision, but also it is, it is better for your relationships and your connections. Because I will say of the people that I’ve worked with that have that visceral reaction that say, “This is just who I am, just deal with it,” those bridges get slowly burned, and the doors get shut behind closed doors because they’re not ign- acknowledging the damage that they’re causing.

And if they’re not willing enough to say, “Hey, that was my bad. I shouldn’t have reacted that way. I feel bad for it,” because we’re all gonna have those moments where we lose control. I have the same ones, too, but I’m the quickest person to come back and say, “I didn’t handle that right. [00:17:00] I could’ve done something completely different and better, and I need to show up better, so I promise this is what’s gonna happen, and the next time something happens, this is the reaction I’m going to have, and it’s going to be better for everyone.”

Building Awareness & Personal Board of Directors [17:09]

Charles Eide: So all of this makes total logical sense, but usually those situations are not- Mm-hmm … logical. 

Rich Bracken: Correct. 

Charles Eide: And you’re saying you gotta take a beat. Mm-hmm. Take, take seven seconds or whatever. But if I’m really mad about something I, I’m just playing devil’s advocate. Sure. Do I need to hire somebody to be like, “Hey, take a pause now”?

Because I, I mean, think about it. Mm-hmm. Like, this all makes total logical sense. 

Rich Bracken: Right. 

Charles Eide: But how do you actually have behavioral change? I mean, for the record, I don’t really fly off the handle much. I love taking a pause. Mm-hmm. But I know plenty of people- Oh, yeah … we all know who they are- 

Rich Bracken: Oh, yeah … 

Charles Eide: that just cannot.

Rich Bracken: They cannot. 

Charles Eide: Yeah, so is there a, is there a trick that these people, you know, can use if they’ve got something that’s really gonna light them up to make them wait [00:18:00] seven seconds? 

Rich Bracken: Well, let, let’s go back to the other question that you asked, like, how do I recognize this? How do I understand if this is how I’m acting?

So number one, if there’s some way to ask… I have, like, a personal board of directors. I have trusted advisors that I can go to with any question whatsoever, and I know they’re gonna give me honest feedback. Mm. Also, if you have… If you work at a company, if you’re a leader in a company, you can ask the right people in your organization.

Now, are some people gonna be terrified to give the CEO honest feedback? Of course they are. That’s just gonna be the way it is. They’re afraid if, uh, if I say what I truly feel, especially if it’s not ideal, I may- They’re on the 

Charles Eide: chopping block. 

Rich Bracken: Right, exactly. Like I’m… You’re telling me that I’ve got to go tell someone with a hot temper that they have a hot temper?

I don’t think so. But it is actually, from a, from a leadership standpoint, that humility in that to say, “I want your honest feedback,” and the only thing you as the leader are allowed to say when that feedback comes is, “Thank you.” You can’t, you can’t justify it. You can’t back it up. You can’t excuse it for d- absolute no reason can you excuse it.

Mm. But at [00:19:00] the same time, the psychological safety that you created in that instance goes through the roof from a leadership standpoint, from a, from a, uh, from a connection standpoint with your organization, because you’re saying, “I value your opinion. I value trust between the two of us.” Because just as much as you’re trusting them to give you an honest response, they’re putting a lot of trust in you to be able to give that.

Now, at the same time, those individuals or, uh, those leaders need to understand, too, that they have to have a best version of themselves. So if you were to say, just for example, not saying that you are, but let’s just for devil’s advocate purposes- Hey, I can 

Charles Eide: be a guinea pig. 

Rich Bracken: Yeah, absolutely. Let’s say this.

Let’s say that your organization as a whole thinks that you are very hot-tempered and hard to talk with. Let’s just say that’s the case. Is that the best version of you? Do you think that that is the version of you that you want to lead the company into the future? 

Charles Eide: I mean, of course not. 

Rich Bracken: Right. 

Charles Eide: Right. Now I- Yeah

and I think none of us want to be- known as that [00:20:00] person. 

Rich Bracken: Correct. Correct. So it’s that understanding and that self-awareness to say, “Oh, maybe I do ne- need to make some changes.” Because those that will say, “Well, this, I’ve been successful to this point. Why should I change?” Okay. Well, how many people have left your organization?

And of those people that have left your organization, do you think they’re out talking to other people that may wanna come work for your company and say, “Oh, yeah, that guy that cursed me out because I made a small mistake on a, on a RFP, yeah, he, you should go work for him. He’s great.” 

Charles Eide: D- and now with Glassdoor where people can go and give their feedback- Mm-hmm

on the leadership or CEO, like that’s really, that, that really makes stuff real. 

Rich Bracken: Mm-hmm. Oh, absolutely. 

Charles Eide: And you can’t have that stuff removed. 

Rich Bracken: But what, that, yes to that, but also the thing that, that bad leaders should be more terrified of are the quiet conversations that are going on in their industry circles, in their community circles, because I know people that have run organizations or that have been strong leaders in organizations, I shouldn’t say strong leaders ’cause they’re not very good leaders, but they’re [00:21:00] high up in their organization, and those individuals are treating their employees horribly.

They are not leading with effectiveness. They fly off the handle at small mistakes. They’re creating a culture of fear, and, and you need to do your best because if you don’t, this is what’s gonna happen, and you’re, you should be terrified of that. Yeah. Those are the individuals that are being talked about in circles, and their company is being talked about in circles, too.

Also, from a client standpoint, do you think for one second that anybody is going to refer a client to somebody who runs an organization who is absolutely a toxic dumpster fire? No way. 

Charles Eide: Yeah. 

Rich Bracken: So you may not see the immediate impact of your behavior, but the slow bleed of business, the slow movement of people out of your organization that are not saying good things about your company as a whole, or you’re probably having talent not show up in your, in, in your application process- Yeah

because they’ve heard about how you lead. 

Charles Eide: Yeah. 

Rich Bracken: Is that, are you willing to risk that to say, “Well, this is just the way I [00:22:00] am”? Okay, great. Then I hope you have a backup plan for your company in the long term because you’re either gonna have low-quality talent, you’re gonna lose business because people are not gonna refer to you, or there’s just gonna be a toxic cloud hanging over you that is just gonna be part of your brand.

And then to your point, I don’t think anybody wants to go out into a marketplace or any s- any place in society with that brand of, “Oh, people are terrified of me, and that’s a good thing.” 

Charles Eide: Well, the, it’s so interesting. The workplace is so different from the, the way people respond to that today. Like, my dad and my grandfather’s generation was that kinda tough it up- Mm-hmm

you know, shut up and do your work, you know, stop complaining or I’ll fire you and replace you. That mentality today is not a thing that works, but what’s funny is when, especially younger, when I was younger- Mm-hmm … when I was first getting started- It was so hard because I would wrestle with this like, well, maybe I just need to be more of a, a tough cookie- Mm-hmm

like, [00:23:00] like grandpa, you know? Right. But then y- like I never got anywhere with that. Mm-hmm. The only time I would get people to hire us or work with us is if I was just really nice to people. Mm-hmm. And I think that’s why second generation, third generation business owners, they struggle because they never had to get their butt kicked- 

Rich Bracken: Right

Charles Eide: for being a jerk. 

Rich Bracken: Right. 

Charles Eide: You know? Right. First generation business owners, they’re forged in like putting up- Oh. You know what I mean? 

Rich Bracken: Oh, they’re, they’re like, they are callus upon callus. 

Charles Eide: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and, and you can get jaded with that. Mm-hmm. That’s hard. 

Rich Bracken: It is. I 

Charles Eide: mean, the amount of times I’ve been told no or I’m stupid or, uh, you know, but then you go, “Well, geez, maybe, maybe they’re right.

Maybe I need to work on these things.” 

Rich Bracken: Mm-hmm. 

Charles Eide: So is there something I can do to become more aware of what people perceive me as? 

Rich Bracken: Mm-hmm. 

Charles Eide: How do I do that? 

Rich Bracken: So again, find those people that you can trust in, whether they are colleagues within your company, where there are… maybe it’s some sort of a psychologically safe space to give that feedback.[00:24:00] 

I always defer to the personal board of directors, and I think this is something that every business person should have. People in general should have it as well. 

Charles Eide: Is this like a, like a handful of people? 

Rich Bracken: Yep. It’s a handful of people that you trust. So I think about mine. I have a variety of people that I trust implicitly, that I know that I can go to with any idea, any feedback, any struggle, any advice, anything that I need to go do or talk about or get feedback on.

I know that I can go to these people. And it’s almost a, you know… I’m, I’m a dad and, and both of my boys went through their Paw Patrol phase. Uh, but you know, Paw Patrol had different characters that had different talents. My personal board of directors all has a, a variety of talents. I’ve got a very successful CEO.

I’ve got a very successful marketer. I’ve got a bunch of different people that have different skills that can give me different perspectives on things. Now, from a personality standpoint, they all have similar personalities. They’re empathetic, they’re honest, they’re fun, but they always have my best interest at heart, and we reciprocate that.

Charles Eide: Mm. 

Rich Bracken: And so in those relationships, I know that if I say, you know, [00:25:00] “I’m struggling with this.” I had a, a bit of a rut about a, a month and a half ago, and I went to one of my personal board of director people, and I didn’t go in asking for the advice. I was like, “Oh, you know, this is going wrong and this,” and then she goes, “Okay, so what’s the plan to get out of it?”

Instead of just letting me just completely dump and be just this poor Eeyore character, she’s like, “All right, great. I hate that for you. What are you gonna do about it?” So it wasn’t necessarily I don’t care. It’s that I care, but I also know that you have the capability of pulling yourself up and getting out of whatever situation or whatever funk you’re in.

So let’s get to that point. Give me the space to be upset and, uh, and mad about things, but then say, “Okay, great. Did you get that out of your system? Okay, great. Now what?” 

Charles Eide: Yeah. 

Rich Bracken: Let’s put some action behind these things. 

Charles Eide: Yeah. I’m such a fan of having mentors and people who can give you honest feedback. Mm-hmm.

It’s so helpful when you’re facing a challenge. I mean, you know, our business, we face challenges every single day. 

Rich Bracken: Mm-hmm. 

Charles Eide: And I am always [00:26:00] reaching out to those people, being like, “Hey, what do you think of this?” 

Rich Bracken: Right. 

Charles Eide: And it makes a huge difference. But I will say the ones that I like and appreciate the most are the ones that are like, “Hey, you need to change the way you think about that- Mm-hmm

because that, that ain’t right.” 

Rich Bracken: Right. 

Charles Eide: You know? 

Rich Bracken: Right. 

Charles Eide: Like, if you surround yourself with yes-men, like, then, then you don’t actually ever learn anything. That 

Rich Bracken: is the most destructive circle that you can put around. 

Charles Eide: I’m like, “Give me the pain.” 

Rich Bracken: Exactly. Yeah. Give me, give me the uncomfortable honesty here. I want…

And, and again, like, I, I will say, too, a couple of the projects I’ve been working on lately, I’ve taken to a couple of the people that are in my, my inner circle, and they’ll say, “This is great, but I don’t think it matches up to the quality of your brand. I feel like this is rushed to market. So let’s take a step back, let’s dive into this a little bit deeper, and let’s find the emotional core that is you, so that when it does hit the market, people are like, ‘Oh, that’s authentically him.'”

As opposed to, “This feels rushed,” or, “This feels a little bit I’m trying to keep up with everybody else or do something similar to somebody else. This is not the authentic version of you.” That is… [00:27:00] I’ll, I’ll take that all day long versus a, “Oh, it looks great. You should rush that out to market.” And then they’re like, “Sorry it didn’t work out.

I should’ve said something, but sorry it didn’t work out. You know, best of luck to you in the future.” I want those people that are gonna say, “You can do better.” And I think those are the right leaders to have in an organization, too. I’m not gonna criticize you and make you afraid of me, but what can you do to get yourself better?

How could you do this better the next time? What do you need from me to do that? Those are the leaders… ‘Cause I think, too, going back to what we just said earlier, I think those that… ‘Cause I guarantee you somebody’s listening to this thinking, “Well, if I go, if I don’t wanna lead out of fear, I’m not gonna go out of softness because people will walk all over me.”

Yeah, you’re right. You don’t need to swing all the way to the other side of the spectrum on this. But what you can say is, “Great. Maybe that wasn’t your best performance. Maybe there is something better you can do. Let’s talk about what that is. And is there something that I can do to get you to that point, ’cause I wanna see you succeed?”

We all wanna hear that, ’cause failing sucks. We don’t want to fail, and we don’t wanna sit in that, and we definitely don’t need somebody [00:28:00] piling on top of us when we do. Have somebody to say, “Pick yourself up. Let’s figure it out. What can you do to be better next time? What is the best version of you in this next scenario?”

Those are the leaders that are gonna get the best out of their people. 

Charles Eide: So the person you are today, traveling all over the world- Mm-hmm … and teaching this, you’ve obviously had to hone your skill over many, many years. 

Rich Bracken: Mm-hmm. 

Charles Eide: And you and I have a common background, not together, but on a similar path. 

Rich Bracken: Mm-hmm.

DJing, Music & The Soundtrack for Success Keynote [28:31]

Charles Eide: You were a DJ. 

Rich Bracken: Yes. 

Charles Eide: And you used that skill- 

Rich Bracken: Mm-hmm 

Charles Eide: I don’t use mine anymore. Yeah. But I will say that skill you still implement to help connect with people in an audience. 

Rich Bracken: Mm-hmm. 

Charles Eide: Help me understand how, how does being a DJ lead to being a speaker all over the world and using music to, to teach people? 

Rich Bracken: Yeah.

What I will say is this: I think, and you can, you can [00:29:00] assimilate with this. While you may not be actively DJing, what are the things that we learn as DJs that make good DJs great? Reading a room, being self, being self-aware in, in what you’re doing and being, and being really emotionally intelligent in the moment to understand that it’s not about you, it’s about the audience, uh, and moving a crowd in the right way.

So you have to be connected to that. So there is a relationship dynamic between you and the crowd that has to exist. ‘Cause we’ve seen it, and I, I’ve had moments too where I’ve cleared a dance floor. I’ve had a terrible set, and it… Because I was too in my mind and too in my head about, “How is this looking for me?”

And I for- I quit thinking about the audience. 

Charles Eide: Yeah. 

Rich Bracken: That, that’s a leadership lesson in and of itself. So actually, there may be something fun where we could do, like a, a DJ leadership course together or something. I think that would be hilarious and, and- Yeah … impactful. And those are the things that really translate into what we do as leaders, and that’s what translates into what I’m doing as a speaker now, and as a coach as well.

But from a, from a strategical sta- uh, tactical standpoint, the music has become transformative for my [00:30:00] business. Because number one, I think so many people connect with the idea of the emotion in music, and we’ve saw that as DJs, and we see that as people. You play the right song or the wrong song, in a matter of seconds, somebody’s dynamic changes quickly.

It either brings an emotion, brings a memory, brings some sort of a motivation or a lack thereof. But what I figured out, because when I started speaking, you know, after this ER visit and started diving into emotional intelligence and wanting to spread the news and spread the message about it and help people out, I became one of many emotional intelligence speakers, one of many leadership speakers, one of many sales speakers.

And then I had a conversation, again, with personal board of directors and said, “How do I, how do I move out of this space? I feel like I’m in the middle of the noise right now. How do I go to this next level? I wanna be a category of one.” And one of them said, “Hey, you talk about music in your presentations, right?”

And I said, “Well, yeah. You know, it’s, it’s a fun thing to bring up, and it breaks the crowd up. It, you know, a little bit of an icebreaker engaging moment.” And they said, “Well, didn’t you used to DJ too?” And I went, “Yeah, yeah.” So they said, “Can you do something with that and put that in your keynotes?” So [00:31:00] I sat on it.

You know, great piece of advice, and I’m an idea person, and I started kind of fumbling around the idea and like, “Okay, where, where can I weave music into these presentations?” And so after about a two-month test and experiment and kind of try to figure it out, I got to a point where I was like, “Okay, this should work.

I’m gonna give it a sh- I’m gonna give it a go.” So what better place to launch it than at an event planner meeting? So I’m like, if I’m gonna get honest feedback about the, about the viability of this opportunity, it’s gonna be in a room of people that would be actually hiring me to do so. And I got such amazing feedback from them.

They’re like, “Nobody’s doing this. This is completely different. It creates a different experience. It is so much fun.” And it’s not just the DJ element, because the DJ element is– The music element is a complement to the actual foundational education of emotional intelligence. Hmm. So I’m empowering the audience, I’m educating them in real time, I’m giving them things that they can go do from a tactical standpoint right then and there that day, ’cause there’s nothing worse than that speaker that gets up there and gives you a, a 60-minute rah-rah, and then the next day you’re like, “I don’t [00:32:00] know what they talked about.

I don’t remember any of this stuff.” And So I give them those tactical things to go do, but at the same time they’re having a blast in the process. And so- So 

Charles Eide: what does that look like? Are you- Oh, 

Rich Bracken: it’s- 

Charles Eide: So do you, do you play music for the audience? 

Rich Bracken: I play music for them. One of my favorite things that I do to, to break the event wide open, so I, I talk about my DJ background, talk about how emotional intelligence and music play together, and I say, “We’re gonna do an experiment.”

And so I put a QR code up on the screen. Everybody scans the QR code. They go on their phone. There’s one question. Anonymous answers, so you can put whatever answer you want. What is a song that makes you instantly happy? And if you watch the crowd while they’re doing this, you see them change. The expression changes on their face.

You see them mouthing the lyrics. You see them kinda shaking their shoulders. Physically and psychologically, I have them in the palm of my hands at that point. And so then we show the, all the songs up on the screen and, and I promise you, there are some comedic freak flag moments in that too- … because it’s anonymous.

So people were, are [00:33:00] putting their authentic selves up on that screen knowing that they’re safe to express themselves. But in that moment they’ve become psychologically happier. And again, going back to what the affinity connection looks like, they now attest that psychological improvement and happiness to me.

So they trust me. They buy into what’s going on. They understand that I can shift their m- emotion within a matter of seconds. 

Charles Eide: So do you ever go over and just start playing some of those songs? At, at times 

Rich Bracken: I do. 

Charles Eide: You set up, if I’ve heard this right, turntables. 

Rich Bracken: Yes. So I have turntables on stage, and I play music th- throughout the presentation, and so what I will do is I will- Do 

Charles Eide: you go from, like, professional Rich Bracken to, like, DJ, put a backwards hat and a T-shirt and you switch between?

I, 

Rich Bracken: I don’t go that far. Now, I have worn a disco ball jacket before. That’s the extent that 

Charles Eide: I’ve gone. You gotta switch jackets- Oh, yeah … you know, between the cool DJ and, like, the serious speaker, you know? 

Rich Bracken: I went full Mariah Carey in a presentation one time where I came out in a disco ball jacket, changed jackets behind, like, the backdrop of the stage, and came back out in, in my business attire.

And so, [00:34:00] oh, yeah. I mean, it’s, I mean, I, dude, I am, I am a performer and an entertainer at heart. Sure. Have been that way since I was a kid. You don’t wanna be a host of The Price Is Right if you’re not an entertainer. And so the idea that I am there to serve the audience, you know, and even as a former event planner, I understand the dynamic that goes into all these events.

I am just one piece of the whole equation. I- it’s not my show. But if I can go up there and entertain them and get them thinking and moving in a different way and get them talking about the experience afterwards, that’s everything. 

Charles Eide: So you get them excited. You get the music. You make them happy. They’re thinking about their favorite song.

You’re playing music. What’s the message you’re leaving them with? What are they walking away with? Other than, “Wow, Rich Bracken’s a cool dude.” 

Rich Bracken: Well, that is, that is first and foremost. That’s a given. That is my main goal. That is my main goal. That is the, that, that’s, like, the low table stakes. I want them thinking that I’m a cool guy.

But really what I want them to understand is that no longer are you go- allowed to say, “I’m just that way,” [00:35:00] or, “This is out of my control.” In a matter of seconds, I change their perspective on things. So when they say, “Well, this is frustrating to me,” or, “I’m mad,” you know, s- “This person makes me so mad.” No, they don’t No, they don’t.

They did something that you chose to be mad about. You’re in control of that dynamic. In a matter of seconds, you can say, “You know what? I’m not gonna be mad about that.” You have that decision. It’s up to you. Now, get r- the scenario’s gonna dictate- 

Charles Eide: Now, a lot of us would say, “No, what they did pissed me off.”

Rich Bracken: Right. Right. But that being pissed off is your reaction. ‘Cause I’ve had people, we’ve all had people do things to us, like, I mean, there’s, there’s been days maybe you’re in a great mood and somebody cuts you off in traffic, you’re like, “Eh, not gonna let that bother me.” That 

Charles Eide: happened to me. I was in Boston yesterday, and we were driving along and so- I was merging, and some guy got…

I don’t, he didn’t let… I didn’t know the roads, so I- Mm-hmm … I pulled over into the, what I thought was, like, the, the diamond lane, ’cause we had people. 

Rich Bracken: Right. 

Charles Eide: Turns out that diamond lane was [00:36:00] soon to be finished, merging back in, so I tried to merge back in, made this guy really mad. He was, he was honking at me and giving me the bird, and, and, you know, and I had my team in the car.

Right. And I’m like, “Well,” I was like, “Well, he’s just having a rough day. I’ll just pray for him.” I’m just trying to be all positive, but deep down- Right … I’m like, you know, things I wanted to say. But I was, I was positive. I was like, “No, no, no, he’s having a worse day than us guys.” 

Rich Bracken: Right, 

Charles Eide: right, right. You know?

And like, but deep down I was like, “Screw you.” He’s, he’s 

Rich Bracken: angry. Wow. That’s really hard for him. 

Charles Eide: Yeah. 

Rich Bracken: But so think about 

Charles Eide: that- But I did have a more… I was, I felt more calm when I was saying those things. 

Rich Bracken: Oh, absolutely. 

Charles Eide: I didn’t get as ticked off at him. 

Rich Bracken: Right, and so for those people that would typically fly off the handle at something like that, you actually just did exactly what I teach people to do.

E- emulate the reaction that you wanna have. Hmm. So if you are somebody who typically- So fake it. K- kind of. Fake it till you make it. But it’s, you’re training yourself. It’s like a physical training. Hmm. Like, if you go work out, you’re training your body to do different things. If [00:37:00] you don’t react to things like that, or you take a, that seven-second pause and say, “How do I wanna show up right now?”

You’re actually doing a personal training exercise in that. You’re telling yourself, “You know what? No longer is it okay for me to just freak out about stuff. No longer is it okay for me to react and mirror the a- the negative behavior that’s going on.” Because at the end of the day, and I ask people this all the time, if, if that person who flipped you off and, and got upset about that, if you let that anger you the rest of the day, what good does it do you?

And how does that impact your relationship with that person? You’ll never see that person again most likely. Yeah. So you’re literally letting that person live in your mind rent-free for the rest of the day. If you tell any high performer or even a mid performer, “Look, you are literally giving up your productivity f- and your effectiveness for the day because that dude in traffic got upset with you for 20 seconds.

Is that worth it?” 

Charles Eide: So it’s not cheesy for me to say those things. It’s, it’s more reprogramming my mind even though it [00:38:00] feels weird. 

Rich Bracken: I mean, let’s be honest, the, the tonality and the words you choose, like, “Gee golly, guys-” “… he’s really upset.” Gosh 

Charles Eide: darn 

Rich Bracken: it. Did you, did you see that? That was awkward. Wow. Like, hey, you know, and, and I’ve, I’ve had scenarios too where I’ll be with my kids somewhere and it- we’ll see something happen.

I’m like, “That wasn’t the best, the best reaction, was it?” And so it’s me actually not reacting to what’s going on. I’m not getting involved. I’m distancing myself. Yeah. And I’m acting in the best way possible. Do I on the, uh, on the inside, am I, am I hearing, like, Break Stuff by Limp Bizkit? 100%. But if I’m saying, “Probably not the best choice there, was it?

Oh, wow, that… 

Charles Eide: I really…” To your point, 

Rich Bracken: I- This corporate thing sure does have Dad calm, gee golly. Right. 

Charles Eide: Yeah, like, 

Rich Bracken: wow, Dad’s just a new kind of guy with his- His public 

Charles Eide: image seems to be working. 

Rich Bracken: But at the same time, let me also share this tidbit. I’ve had moments with my kids where I have not shown up as my best self, and because they are…

they did not fall far from the tree, I’ve had both of my kids at g- any given point [00:39:00] turn to me and say, “Oh, nice, Mr. Emotional Intelligence.” 

Charles Eide: They got your number. 

Rich Bracken: I, I mean, the, the… It, it… I, I do. I turn into Fred Durst real quick. 

Charles Eide: Yeah. 

Rich Bracken: Um, but again, it’s, it’s a matter of saying, “How do I wanna show up?” 

Charles Eide: Yeah. 

Rich Bracken: How do I wanna…

And to your point, like, if you emulate the behavior, if you show that behavior, if you fake it till you make it in cert- in certain instances, you’re training your mind to respond in a different way. 

Charles Eide: Yeah, and that takes a lot of effort 

Rich Bracken: It does, but so does- Does it get easier? It does. It’s like anything else.

If you hadn’t worked out for 10 years, and you walked into a gym right now and, and did 30 minutes of lifting, it’s gonna hurt tomorrow, and it’s probably gonna be really difficult to do when you’re in the moment. Now, if you did that consistently for the next 10 years and worked out every single day and added a little bit more and changed things up a little bit, you’re gonna build that strength.

So it’s psychologically and emotionally, you could do the same thing, and that’s the nice thing about emotional intelligence, too, because your IQ peaks [00:40:00] and sticks at a certain point. You can’t do anything about it. But your EQ, no matter where it’s at on the spectrum, you could be, on a scale from 1 to 100, you could be a 10.

You can get yourself to an 80 over time. If you’re a 50, you can get yourself to a 90 if you want to. But it’s a matter of investing in the time and the effort into the emotional and, and psychological effort and training to get to that point. But anybody can raise their emotional intelligence at any given time.

Charles Eide: Sometimes it feels like woo-woo. 

Rich Bracken: Mm-hmm. 

Charles Eide: You know, where it’s like, “Oh, sure, if you just act more positive, you’ll be more positive,” but it’s true. Sure. Like, it actually works. 

Rich Bracken: It, it is, but at the same time, there is, not to play both sides of the coin here, but there is po- positive or toxic positivity. 

Charles Eide: Hmm. 

Rich Bracken: So if you’re overly positive and don’t act like anything is wrong, then that’s just as damaging because you’re turning a blind eye to the things that are problematic that need to be discussed.

So it’s okay to say, “You know what? I can remain positive even though things suck right now, or things are really difficult. I can still remain [00:41:00] positive but still acknowledge that they’re difficult or that they’re hard.” I had a CEO that I ch- I coached and actually spoke at his event one time, that he admitted to me in the process, “Look, we’re going through a really challenging time, and we have a lot of things, and I’m gonna get up and give a present- or give a speech before you go on, that I’m gonna be talking about the new direction of our company, which is completely different than what we have done to this point.”

And he was nervous about it. And I, so I coached him through. I was, I was there to kind of help him hone the message and work on the tonality and everything else. But at the end of the day, I could… I told him, I was like, “You can be positive and also admit that things are tough. That’s okay.” That actually shows vulnerability without being overly positive or overly fearful.

You’re showing a strong middle ground. You’re showing balance. And what do companies need to see, especially in tough times? They need to see that somebody is a strong, confident, balanced leader. They’re not terrified, and they’re not instilling fear either. 

Leadership Vulnerability & Psychological Safety [41:59]

Charles Eide: So the idea of vulnerability is so current right now.

Mm-hmm. Everyone’s talking [00:42:00] about it. I, I interviewed Pat Lencioni, and he was talking about being authentic and vulnerable- Mm-hmm … the best leaders. W- where, where… How do you balance being too vulnerable, where people feel like- You know, maybe you’re, you’re scared and don’t know what to do. Mm-hmm. Versus being vulnerable enough to show that you, uh, you know, you had said on here, you know, the human side of leadership.

Mm-hmm. Showing you are a human with feelings and emotions without coming off as you’re in over your skis- Sure … and maybe this isn’t a s- a, a safe environment to work in ’cause this guy’s scared to death of what’s going on. Mm-hmm. He’s just not saying it. 

Rich Bracken: Right. Right. So I think the one thing that any leader should ask themselves is, “Am I in the position where I feel like I have to have all the answers?”

And if you are, you’re not being vulnerable ’cause nobody knows everything. And also, that actually gets the best out of your organization for you to say, “You know what? I don’t really understand this,” or, “I’m not quite sure. I would love your feedback on this.” [00:43:00] So if you’re engaging someone that’s a director or a manager in your company and saying, as the CEO or the founder or a C-suite executive saying like, “You know what?

I would actually love your opinion. I’m not 100% sure on this. I would love some feedback. Let’s get together and think this through together,” that is so vulnerable, and it’s, it redefines vulnerable because again, I think some people think if I’m vulnerable that I’m just letting all my dirty laundry out and- Like you’re weak.

Yeah, exactly. I’m weak, I’m too vulnerable, I’m sharing too much and oversharing, which is truly being overly vulnerable. But if you’re in that position where you say, “You know what? I don’t know all the answers. I don’t know, I don’t know what the future holds at certain times, but I know the confident direction we’re going.

But I also understand that I’m not gonna be able to do this by myself.” If I can lean on people in my organization, if I can solicit information or solicit feedback or brainstorm with some people that are in different positions within the organization, I can actually show up as a better leader because I am being vulnerable.

So it, it’s redefining the whole woo-woo thing, like I’m being overly emotional, I’m being too transparent, I’m showing [00:44:00] too much, I’m, I, I feel more naked as a leader than I’ve ever been. That is not the mindset you need to have. You being vulnerable is simply saying, “I’d love your help. I’d love your thoughts.

I’d love your feedback.” That is a show of vulnerability that actually has more of a positive impact on your company than most things ever will. 

Charles Eide: Do you think leaders who are not sharing the, the vulnerable points that they could. 

Rich Bracken: Mm-hmm. 

Charles Eide: Right? In, in an appropriate way. Do you think in, in holding that back and not doing that can cause burnout for you?

Rich Bracken: For the, for the 

Charles Eide: leader? For the leader. 

Rich Bracken: Oh, yeah. 

Charles Eide: Like, if you’re not, if you’re not… If you al- everything’s perfect all the time- Mm-hmm … do you think that can lead to a leader feeling burnt out? 

Rich Bracken: Oh, of course, because if you think about it, you’re, you’re holding an emotional weight that nobody else knows about, and especially the, the, the, the responsibility that leaders feel because you’re responsible for multiple people or hundreds of people or thousands of people, depending on the size of your organization.

And if you’re just holding it in, saying, “Nope, everything’s fine,” it’s like the [00:45:00] dog in hell, you know, with the cup of coffee or whatever it is. They’re like, “No, this is, this is fine. Everything’s fine.” That actually will lead to higher levels of burnout. Combining that with the idea that as executive leaders, as you move up in companies or as you take on more responsibility, your emotional intelligence naturally drops because of these fears, because of this need for vulnerability, and because of the additional stress.

So you’re compounding a problem by not talking about it. 

Charles Eide: You think that’s why the stereotype of, like, the C-suite is, like, dry and boring and disconnected? 

Rich Bracken: Analytical, numbers-driven, very, you know, callous and protected at times because they feel like they have to be. Absolutely. But if you, if, if, if any of the listeners stop and think who is the most engaging individual they’ve ever had a conversation with What did that conversation look and feel like?

What kind of dynamic and conversation happened? Were there questions back and forth? But at the end of the day, the sentiment that you get from someone when you have a really dynamic conversation is that they’re vulnerable enough to open up and let you in as much as they’re inquisitive [00:46:00] about you. So vulnerability is actually a dynamic way of opening up lines of communication, opening up lines of trust.

But if you’re taking on all that pressure and you’re not admitting it, and you’re literally driving home in your car, like crying to Sade because you’re just freaking out and just melting apart, which I love Sade, so I don’t want to put a negative connotation on that. But understanding that you’re just trying to keep it together for everybody else, that’s not a show of strength.

As much as some people want to say it is, it’s okay to say, “Hey, look, the next couple months are gonna be a little bit rough with our projections. Let’s talk about what we can control.” 

Charles Eide: Yeah. 

Rich Bracken: That’s a great way to be vulnerable and, and honest as a leader. 

Charles Eide: It makes me think about one of the greatest CEOs I, I’ve…

I- is a friend of mine. He was co-CEO of Chipotle. Mm. Monty Moran. Mm-hmm. Incredible, incredible man, and he would take the time when he became a part of Chipotle, he took the time to go out to as many of the restaurants as he could- Mm-hmm … and sit down with [00:47:00] every single person that worked there, whether it was for five minutes or an hour, and he would get to know them and their story, and he would share stuff about himself.

Mm-hmm. And he’s like, “You wouldn’t believe the feedback and the ideas that came from the line cook from the Chipotle in Cincinnati, or the ideas I got.” And it’s so interesting ’cause he, he talked about how had he not been a human and been vulnerable to those people who are like, “Oh my gosh, the CEO of this monster company is sitting in front of me sharing chips and guac- 

Rich Bracken: Mm-hmm

Charles Eide: and is listening to me, but is also sharing his story.” Mm-hmm. Like, the… I mean, those were, like, the g- if… in my opinion, that was, like, the golden age of Chipotle. Mm-hmm. And y- it was like, I don’t know if you remember, but when Chipotle was, like, really hip and everyone liked it and the culture was really famous and people really wanted to work there, that was because of, of his initiative to go and be, uh, a real human being [00:48:00] with the people even on the lowest, most entry level of the company.

Rich Bracken: Oh, absolutely. Yeah, and too, I think for any l- for any leader or anybody who leads teams, think about this: individuals are more willing to work harder, trust deeper, and be more supportive if they feel that they are being respected, seen, and heard. So this line cook, I guarantee you that one conversation changed their opinion, their thoughts about the company, and everything else that moved forward was because they were a fan of the organization because they felt seen and heard and respected.

And so when you have that amount of trust, when you sit down with people and have conversations and be, to your point, human, and not the title, not the, you know, not the fear-striking mongrel that’s, that comes down and if they walk in the door, people are terrified. If, if you walked into your office or you walked into a team meeting that is not your team meeting, what would people think and how would they [00:49:00] react?

If they understood that you’re there because you care about them and you wanna hear their opinions and you wanna sit and have conversations. I’ve had leaders do that at companies that I’ve worked at before. It is transformative, and it’s just a matter of, “Hey, I’m just… You guys, I wanna just hear what’s going on.

I, I’m, I care about what you guys are working on. I care about what you think and feel. I’d love to hear what’s going on.” That’s so easy to do, and kind of back to the point of listening more than you talk, it’s a great opportunity for them just to open up and share. But you have to do it consistently, because that first time people are gonna be like 

Charles Eide: Are we, are we good?

Are we being- Is this a campaign? Right. Are we 

Rich Bracken: being punked? You set up a campaign- Am I being punked right now? Like, am I being set up for failure? But if you do it consistently, people are gonna know that you care. Yeah. That you care about their success, and that does everything for your leadership dynamic.

Charles Eide: Well, and that’s so outside the box for most of us, right? Mm-hmm. We think about that. Now, you said it’s, it’s an easy thing to do. I hear that and I’m like, “Oh my gosh, that sounds really hard to do.” Mm-hmm. You know, sit down with every individual that I [00:50:00] can at no matter what the level is. Mm-hmm. And that brings me to a point around kind of reinventing yourself and your style.

Mm-hmm. Right? 

Reinventing Your Leadership Brand [50:09]

Charles Eide: This is something you talk about and teach on. Mm-hmm. But how do you begin to go down the path of reinventing how you are perceived inside your organization and at large? 

Rich Bracken: Yeah. One of my favorite exercises to do when I coach executives especially is we establish… ‘Cause I always, I’m like, “Where are we starting from and where do we wanna get to?”

So typ- typically people will come to me saying, “I wanna have more impact. I wanna have, you know, better connection with my employees.” I mean, who doesn’t? Right, exactly. But at the same time, that’s also not an assumed thing because a lot of organizations, a lot of leaders are just moving along ’cause, like, the numbers are good.

You know, the market’s growing. They’re acquiring companies. I- if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. So they don’t think anything is wrong, and usually what happens is it’s not until something goes wrong that they realize something is wrong. So if they are coming to [00:51:00] me saying, “Hey, look, I’d like to have more impact.

I don’t feel like I’m connecting with my, my executive team as well as I would like to,” we start with, “Okay, what is the best version of yourself? Let’s list those out.” And it’s a transparent conversation that I have with them, like, “Throw it all on the table. Are you engaging? Do you ask questions? Do you show up?

Are you hidden behind your door? Are you unattainable? What, what is, what is your favorite version of yourself, but also does that match with who you are now?” And let’s look at the side-by-side list. So if you want to be approachable, but you’re not currently, or that you f- maybe feel like that’s an opportunity to get better, great.

How do we fix that? And the only way that you change your perception internally, the only way you can change the brand that you have is through consistent behavior. ‘Cause if you come out and say, “You know what, everybody?” If you got up and get, got in front of your company and said, “You know, historically, I know most of you think that I’m very unattainable and I’m, I’m a little bit hot-tempered.

I promise you that’s gonna change,” everyone in that audience is gonna go, “We’ll wait and see.” 

Charles Eide: If you don’t believe me, [00:52:00] you’re fired. 

Rich Bracken: Yeah, exactly. You either sign this contract that says that you believe me or you’re gone. Like- … you have to show consistent behavior. You have to show on a day-to-day basis. And to your point of what you said a minute ago, it’s not that you have to spend a ton of time with each individual in the organization, but if you pop into a team meeting and just, “Hey, I wanna hear what’s going on.

I’m just curious. I wanna know more about you guys and what you’re working on on a daily-” I feel 

Charles Eide: like if I did that, it’d freak people out. 

Rich Bracken: The first time it will. 

Charles Eide: Where they’re like, “Whoa, what’s going on? Is everything okay?” Right. The 

Rich Bracken: first time they will feel they have to sit up all a little bit straighter.

They have to be, “Well, Charles, I, I didn’t have a report prepared ’cause I didn’t know that you were coming.” And so it, it’s gonna feel a little bit stuffy and, and, and a little bit, a, a little bit controlled and a little bit fearful ’cause they’re not quite sure ’cause it’s a new behavior. And actually, we may have to, I may have to hold you accountable on this.

I wanna see you do this. I wanna see you just pop in consistently every now and then on different team meetings and just say, “Hey, I just wanna hear what’s going on. I’m not here to, to do anything but listen, period. That’s all I wanna do. [00:53:00] And I’m not judging. I’m not here to critique. There are no cameras.

There-” So I 

Charles Eide: gotta keep my mouth shut during the meeting My team’s laughing 

Rich Bracken: Did we just witness self-awareness in action? I think we did, ladies. I just broke through on a podcast. 

Charles Eide: Hey, now hold on. We’re doing this all wrong, okay? 

Rich Bracken: We have to make sure that this day is in. 

Charles Eide: What have you guys been doing since I haven’t been in these meetings?

No, I’m kidding. Yeah, that’s interesting. Self-awareness to be able to, to just go in and listen. Yep. That would be really ch- I, uh, honestly, it would be really hard for me to sit and just listen in a meeting. 

Rich Bracken: Now, if you’re- 

Charles Eide: I think it might freak people out … 

Rich Bracken: to, to make, to make it easier for you and for them, let’s say that you’re not just in there to listen, but you’re ask- you’re asking questions.

Can you walk me through that experience? Tell me how you guys came to that solution. I would love to hear more about some ideas here. So you can ask questions, but you can’t interject. Hmm. Because the minute you interject, you’re, you’re controlling the meeting. People are gonna immediately drop off and, and go passive on you.

But if you say, “Can you tell me more about that?” Or, “I, oh my gosh, that [00:54:00] sounds like a great idea. Can we dive a little bit deeper on that?” That’s a– You’re in- you’re interjecting with questions, and that actually gives the team more psychological safety to feel that they can speak up at the right times. But if you go in there and say, “Oh, well, I…

Why are we doing that? Uh, uh, I think we should do this instead,” you’ve now lost all ability to do it ever again because people are gonna feel like, “Oh, next time Charles comes in, he’s gonna start telling us what we should do instead of asking questions like he said he was gonna do.” Go in and ask questions.

Yeah, I think it may be a little bit awkward if you just say, “I’m just in here to listen, and I’m not gonna say a word,” especially if that’s your brand to be- They’d be like, “What are you-” … to be a talker. People would be like, “This is a trick, and I feel like we’re walking into a trap.” But if you go in and say, “I may have a quest- a couple questions, but I’m really here to absorb.

I wanna learn, I wanna hear, but I, and I may have questions, but it’s just because I’m more curious.” 

Charles Eide: Hmm. 

Rich Bracken: Who wouldn’t wanna hear that, especially from their CEO? Like, that is so powerful, and that gets people to say, “Oh, well, the idea is…” ‘Cause a lot of these pe- you know, I’m not saying your employees specifically, but I’ve worked with organizations when I coach the [00:55:00] executives, I also coach some of their teams.

And I’ll get that feedback and say, “Do you think that you h- you can speak up?” “Oh, God no.” Why not? Well, they don’t like, they don’t like other people’s ideas. They don’t wanna, they don’t wanna hear things. They don’t wanna hear any kind of feedback or criticism, or they don’t wanna hear that something’s broken because th- you know, we’re terrified to share that with them.

Okay, well then I’ll take that feedback back to the executive and say, “You need to ask more questions. You’re really suffering from a brand perspective because people don’t trust you to speak up.” That’s a problem, because if your team is sitting on that leak in the dam, they’re just like, “You tell him.”

Like, “No, I’m not telling him, you tell him,” that dam’s gonna break at some point, and then everybody’s gonna be looking at each other soaking wet going, “What the hell happened?” So you have to be able to build that psychological safety and that trust that people can speak up and they feel comfortable doing it.

Charles Eide: So all these, the, the, especially this particular tactic, I’m wondering, this is a lot of energy and effort- Mm-hmm … and head space. Mm-hmm. What are the, what are the positive outcomes that [00:56:00] can happen if I do that stuff? 

Rich Bracken: So number one, your teams are gonna be more connected with you. They’re gonna trust you deeper, they’re gonna feel more open, and they’re gonna work harder for you and the company itself.

Because when I have worked for organizations where I knew the leader had our best interest at heart, we were all willing to pitch in and do more. We were all willing to pitch in and on, on new ideas. We were all willing to go the extra mile. I’ve also, on the other side of the spectrum, worked for leaders that I knew didn’t care one bit about our opinions, our thoughts, our beliefs.

Do you think we shared any good ideas with them? Absolutely not. We could, we were s- I, there were, there was one organization where I shared a money-making idea. I thought it through for two months, knew that it was locked tight, it was gonna work 100%, and when I went in to present it, and I did, she said within 10 seconds, she goes, “Absolutely not.

We don’t, we’re, we’re not doing anything new.” 

Charles Eide: So you couldn’t even get the idea on the table. 

Rich Bracken: Oh, I got the idea on the table. She goes, “No, we’re not doing that.” And from that point forward, [00:57:00] I, I will say, to go on record, I did it anyway, and it worked, and we made money. So I was right. Yes, I was a little bit, you know- 

Charles Eide: You went rogue on ‘

Rich Bracken: em.

I, I went rogue. I’m not much of a rogue person, but I went rogue, and it worked because I believed that much in it, and I knew it was going to work. And did I get in trouble for it? Of course I did, but we made a ton of money on the back end of it, so that’s okay. Um, but I never went to her with an idea again.

Never, not even once. I d- I, I have ideas all the time, and I was like, “There’s no way I’m taking that to her. I’m not going through that again.” I’m 

Charles Eide: not sharing the good stuff with 

Rich Bracken: you. No, I’m not going through all that work to come up with, come up with a presentation and an idea and think it through and do all this stuff only for you to take 30 seconds and say, “No.”

Are you kidding me? No way. So are those people living in your organization? Are they terrified of speaking up or sharing ideas? They could, to your point of the, the Chipotle story, that line cook could have seen something that would have made it incredibly more efficient to operate an, a, a store or have a better client experience.

Oh, and 

Charles Eide: they did. Yeah. I mean, some of the, uh, the things he implemented came right [00:58:00] from those meetings. Right. And it made a company-changing, uh, result- Mm-hmm … because of it. 

Rich Bracken: Right. Exactly, and so those ideas are living all throughout your organization. You just gotta go find them. But again, to the benefits of it, it actually reduces your stress because when we are in a more trusting environment and a stronger culture, and I think the d- the data’s around 76% that your employees’ view of the company comes off the emotional intelligence of the leader to a 76% level.

So if you’re not exhibiting emotional intelligence and you’re not showing trust and you’re not showing vulnerability, then your organization’s not gonna see you as a strong leader, period. I don’t care what you think of yourself. They don’t think that. And what worse way to lead than to keep walking and the rest of your organization’s like, “Eh, I don’t think so.”

AI, Human Connection & Productivity [58:47]

Charles Eide: Well, especially right now with all of this stuff around AI and these changes and the ideas. We have one guy on our team who is a, an AI genius. Mm-hmm. [00:59:00] And some of the most valuable things we’ve implemented came from his great ideas. Mm-hmm. You know? And anytime I got a question about this, I go right to him.

Right. You know? And he’s got two people between us, maybe three. 

Rich Bracken: Mm-hmm. 

Charles Eide: But at the end of the day, he’s got so much value to bring on this, and yeah, I, I, I totally get it. I love the conversations in the hallway with him. 

Rich Bracken: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, and AI, especially now, the, the best part about it, as much as AI is, is great and efficient and problematic at times, from a leadership standpoint and from a company standpoint- AI has provided the biggest opportunity for human connection in the history of business, I think.

Charles Eide: Okay, what do you mean? 

Rich Bracken: So if you think about the, the things that we should be using AI for, a lot of times it’s the tactical remedial things. That’s what really started the whole thing. So I can try, I can train AI to do certain things that I don’t wanna do. The 

Charles Eide: tedious 

Rich Bracken: stuff. The tedious stuff. Yeah. The, the, the repetitive stuff.

I can have an AI agent do all of [01:00:00] these things. Okay, so that time that you used to do those remedial tactical things, what are you doing with that time now? It’s easy to say, “Well, there’s more stuff to go do,” or you can say, “Okay, this AI agent has saved me 30 minutes a day.” Could you take that 30 minutes and send out a couple of emails to people just saying, “Hey, I just appreciate the work that you do.

I really understand the value that you bring to our organization. I just want you to know that I appreciate it.” Or stop by their office, or pick up the phone, or Zoom them and say the same thing. Just say, “Hey, just two minutes. I just want you to know that I appreciate you.” 

Charles Eide: Yeah. 

Rich Bracken: Do you realize that how much that does for your organization?

And most times people don’t even think about it. They’re like, “Oh, AI this, and AI that, and AI’s taking jobs, and AI’s doing these things.” AI has opened up the door for human connection, and that’s with business, events, everything. Everything comes back to the opportunity that you create within the space that AI has provided for you.

Charles Eide: That’s an interesting take on it, ’cause I think the whole workforce is like, “Oh my gosh, AI’s gonna kill jobs.” But [01:01:00] Yeah, you’re right. It could get rid of the tedious stuff to work more on human connection stuff, ’cause it’s never gonna replace that. 

Rich Bracken: No. It’s n- uh, AI will never be able to have a great handshake.

A- 

Charles Eide: Do you use AI? 

Rich Bracken: I use AI, but I- What do you 

Charles Eide: do with it? 

Rich Bracken: So I, as a solopreneur, I use AI for the things that I don’t have time to do. I use it for different elements. I’ve started using it now for some creation of… just to get some ideas down the road. 

Charles Eide: Yeah. 

Rich Bracken: Um, but really what has, what it has done for me is taken a lot of the remedial things.

So calendar organization, file organization. I, I became a Claude addict when I- 

Charles Eide: Are you into Claude too? I’m, I’m 

Rich Bracken: in Claude. 

Charles Eide: I, I was on GPT forever. 

Rich Bracken: I was. 

Charles Eide: Forever meaning the, like, the last 15 minutes it’s been around. 

Rich Bracken: Right, exactly. 

Charles Eide: But yeah, Claude is my favorite now. 

Rich Bracken: So when I found out, ’cause I am, I am what I would profess to be a digital hoarder, so I have a, I have a v- like a version control problem.

I have a delete problem, and so when I found out that Claude could go in and actually organize my desktop, organize my downloads folder, restructure my folders to make sure that everything was organized, [01:02:00] oh yeah, hot tip. What? Oh, absolutely. 

Charles Eide: Hang on. W- whoa, whoa, whoa. What, what are you saying? You’re saying Claude will organize your, your files?

Rich Bracken: Yes. So I had- What the 

Charles Eide: heck? 

Rich Bracken: So here, here’s the- 

Charles Eide: Let’s do a Claude masterclass. What? 

Rich Bracken: Right here is, here was my use case zero right here, was that somebody told me, “You can use it, try it out for file organization. If you don’t wanna use it for, like, the typical ChatGPT stuff, go use it for file organization.”

I was like, “What are you talking about?” They said, “Oh yeah, Claude can actually look at your desktop, look at your downloads folder, move things around,” like literally physically move the files into different folders. 

Charles Eide: Like it’ll move them? 

Rich Bracken: It’ll organize it. If you go in and say, “Claude, I want you to look at my downloads folder and I want you to organize it by file type,” or, “I want you to put it in different categories to help me understand how I can better, like, put it into my hard drive”- That’s like 

Charles Eide: the most annoying part about having a computer is all the stupid files 

Rich Bracken: You’re welcome.

You just got a whole bunch of time and organization back. 

Charles Eide: Jeez. 

Rich Bracken: Value drop right there. 

Charles Eide: Wow. Yeah. Okay. Well thank, thank, thank you 

Rich Bracken: for the Claude tip. You’re, you’re welcome. And, and now that you have [01:03:00] time back because you’re, because you’re more organized, you can actually send out notes of appreciation.

Charles Eide: Yeah. 

Rich Bracken: There you 

Charles Eide: go. The reason I’m not organized is ’cause I do zero organizing. 

Rich Bracken: Mm. 

Charles Eide: So I’m not gonna earn any time back- I’m, I’m terrible at it … ’cause I don’t do it anyways. No. 

Rich Bracken: I am te- I am terrible about it. That’s why I started doing it, and that’s why it’s been a, an absolute game changer for me. Wait. 

Charles Eide: Now that we’ve cracked your head open on AI tips- Mm-hmm

do you have any other good ones? I love asking this stuff. 

Rich Bracken: I don’t… You know, honestly, I’m, uh, kind of on the spot. I, I think the one thing that I have used it for the most, ’cause I travel so much with my keynoting, is that I love local places. Hmm. Like, I, I don’t wanna go… No offense to Chipotle, I love Chipotle, but when I travel I wanna go to a local restaurant.

I wanna go to a local sightseeing thing. I don’t wanna do the typical touristy stuff. So I’ve actually used Claude for trip planning. Oh, yeah. So I’ll say, “Claude, I’m arriving in Dallas, Texas on this date at this time. These are the appointments that I have on the, you know, the different days and times.

Can you build me… And this is where I’m staying hotel-wise.” Like an [01:04:00] agenda? Yeah. “Can you build me an agenda so that I can enjoy not just local eateries, but things that are local points of interest that are not touristy?” And it’ll build out an agenda for me, so I can actually maximize the time instead of sitting in my room going, “I wish there was something to do,” and to go on and trust Google and everything else.

Like- 

Charles Eide: I know, but sometimes when you’re on a business trip, sitting in your room is pretty glorious. 

Rich Bracken: Oh, trust me. 

Charles Eide: I- I get done with, like, a meeting and I go back to my room, and I just lay on the bed like a complete waste of life for at least an hour. 

Rich Bracken: And that is a perfect example of self-care. That is honestly…

Like, and that’s the thing that most executives will tell me. Like, I’ll say, “Self-care is a great way to, uh, increase your emotional intelligence,” keep bringing it back to that. Self-care is, is critical to avoid burnout. Self, self-care is critical to optimal performance. They’re like, “Well, yeah, I would love to go to the spa, but I’ve got things to do.”

Charles Eide: Yeah. Like, 

Rich Bracken: okay, five minutes in your hotel room between meetings or going from, from sessions to dinner, go to your room and stare at the freaking wall- Yeah … for five minutes. Go- 

Charles Eide: Or like 50 minutes. Or 

Rich Bracken: 50 is fine. Whatever you need. We start with five because most people [01:05:00] will say that, “I don’t have enough time for that.”

Charles Eide: Yeah. “

Rich Bracken: Okay, give me five minutes.” Fine. 

Charles Eide: Have you tried NSDR? I haven’t. Non-sleep deep rest. 

Rich Bracken: No. 

Charles Eide: My friend Dr. Paul Nystrom, who was just on the podcast, talks about it. You just lay. Like, you’re awake, but your eyes are shut, and you just lay. Like, don’t fall asleep, and you just rest, and it works like taking a nap.

Can we- It’ll blow your mind. Can 

Rich Bracken: we, can I do that now on 

Charles Eide: the, like- NSDR, yeah … That sounds fa- That sounds relaxing. Back in the 

Rich Bracken: green room. Just flat out on the table here. That sounds amazing. 

Charles Eide: Okay, I have a couple questions for you- Yeah … before we wrap up. Yeah. 

Rapid Fire: Keynotes, Authors & Book Preview [1:05:34]

Charles Eide: What’s your favorite keynote to deliver? 

Rich Bracken: Right now it’s Soundtrack for Success.

That is the one where I blend emotional intelligence and DJing. I, I mean, I’ve got a, an event coming up in Australia that I’m doing it for 8,200 people in Australia at a global conference. I can’t tell you how excited I am for that. It 

Charles Eide: is- 8,200? 

Rich Bracken: 8,200. It is going to be a concert. I had a, I had a pre-production meeting, and you’ll appreciate this.

I sat down with the production team, lighting, AV, marketing. We put everything together. It is [01:06:00] going to be a concert. It is going to be an experience that they have never seen before. And I told them, I said, “I feel bad for whoever follows me,” ’cause there’s no way, there’s no way that this is gonna be topped.

Um, but you know, honestly, if- You gonna 

Charles Eide: wear the disco ball jacket? 

Rich Bracken: I don’t. I actually… I, I’m not gonna wear that. Or a giant 

Charles Eide: marshmallow on your head? 

Rich Bracken: I, I actually, I… That would mess my hair up too much. I can’t do that. That’s off- Don’t wanna 

Charles Eide: do 

Rich Bracken: that … that’s so off-brand. Don’t mess 

Charles Eide: up 

Rich Bracken: the hair. I can’t do that.

Um, so outfit TBD. But, you know, whether it’s… I, I’ve done it for groups of 25, I’ve done it, you know, I’ll do it for this group of 8,200 and in between. And it’s just- 

Charles Eide: 25 to 8,200, no 

Rich Bracken: problem. Yeah, exactly. I did it for a group of tw- like 30… W- what was it? In Hays, Kansas, I did it for a, a group of 30 agricultural and construction salespeople, which looked nothing like me, by the way.

So when I walked in the room I’m like, “I am gonna die.” And it was my first standing ovation. Dang. Because I used music to combine it with their personal- 

Charles Eide: What, what songs do you play? Like, oh, God. Like, what are your go-to tracks? 

Rich Bracken: In that presentation? 

Charles Eide: [01:07:00] Yeah, in the presentation. 

Rich Bracken: Oh, every th- I… So in the, in the first section I use Celebration, I use Jump Around.

Mm-hmm. I use, um, Arms of an Angel by Sarah McLachlan. There’s a joke there. Um, but I use these different songs. Um, I will say my fav- You play 

Charles Eide: Shots by Lil Jon? 

Rich Bracken: I should. 

Charles Eide: No, I’m kidding. 

Rich Bracken: I’m kidding. I should. That would actually be really good, ’cause sometimes when we don’t have cell- Depends on your 

Charles Eide: audience.

Rich Bracken: Yeah, 100%. Yeah, I played, um, Marvin Gaye one time and got Four, I had 1,500 people in the room. It was a women’s leadership executive, uh, meeting, and had 1,500 people in the room, 1,499 people thought it was funny the way I did it ’cause I played just the first three notes as far as self-awareness. There was one woman that just bombed on me, which I’ll take that.

Like law of averages, I’ll take that. Um, but I play Celebration, uh, everything from like House of Pain to, um- 

Charles Eide: So you’re going old school. You’re like ’80s, ’90s kid. 

Rich Bracken: I’m an ’80s, ’90s kid all day long, ’70s even as well. Um, I’ve got some newer stuff. My new favorite thing that I do though, and shout out to the [01:08:00] Backstreet Boys for having a moment right now with their Vegas Sphere residency, but I have started doing this s- this social awareness piece where I talk about the idea of being more in tune with what…

Oh, sorry, relationship management, where I talk about being more in tune with what’s going on and tying people together and bringing people together. And I say, “There’s a s- there are several songs that you can play that within the first three notes, you know you’re gonna sing, and you know everybody else in the room knows the words, and so we’re gonna do this together.”

And so I play I Want It That Way by the Backstreet Boys. Oh, yeah. And those first three… You heard, you just heard it, see? Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Emotional intelligence and music- Brings me 

Charles Eide: right back. 

Rich Bracken: Exactly. Within two, three seconds, your demeanor changed. You heard the guitar strings in your head because you know exactly in that first intro, yeah.

Yeah, like that. You know that. 

Charles Eide: Yeah. 

Rich Bracken: And so when that happens and everybody goes, “You are,” like the entire room- 

Charles Eide: Just goes … 

Rich Bracken: starts singing it. And so I did it, the last time I did it was in Los Angeles for about 3,000 people. It was deafening when it comes to the, “Tell me why.” Like everybody was [01:09:00] screaming it.

And it just creates a moment, but it brought that room together. You saw people singing to each other. They d- they didn’t know each other walking into that room. 

Charles Eide: Yeah. 

Rich Bracken: So it bonds people in that moment. So that is my favorite one right now. However, I just launched my new keynote, uh, The Momentum Effect, which is about change management and sustainment.

So I’m really, really excited about that one. Um, I’ve got another one come, called Become Unstoppable, Become Unstoppable, which is the story of how I accidentally ran the New York City Marathon, and it ties into sales and leadership. So there’s some fun lessons from the training of the New York City Marathon, but it’s, it’s, it’s a really fun presentation.

Charles Eide: I don’t know how you could accidentally run a marathon- Um- … but that’s a different podcast. 

Rich Bracken: Spoiler alert, it, it involved wine, Netflix, and Twitter 

Charles Eide: Wow 

Rich Bracken: Yeah. So- That, that’s cool … east- I’m gonna drop that teaser for the next episode. 

Charles Eide: Got me on my edge of my seat. Okay, who’s your favorite author or speaker? 

Rich Bracken: Oh, wow.

Charles Eide: Like, of the greats or even current day. 

Rich Bracken: You know- Or both … there, there are so many that I really respect. You know, a [01:10:00] lot of my friends, obviously in the circles that I run in, are, are great keynote speakers. I would say right now, um, one of my favorite people in the world is Shola Richards. Shola 

Charles Eide: Richards.

Shola 

Rich Bracken: Richards, yep. 

Charles Eide: How do you spell Shola? 

Rich Bracken: S-H-O-L-A. 

Charles Eide: Yeah. 

Rich Bracken: Um, speaks on kindness and connection, came from the u- UCLA healthcare world. One of the nicest people I’ve ever met in my entire life. Wow. Just phenomenal. Um, I… There’s a, there is a list of people, and I, I, we would have another podcast episode on my favorite- Yeah

keynote speakers. What 

Charles Eide: about the legends? Like, who did you listen to? 

Rich Bracken: You know, honestly, I was, I was a big Simon Sinek fan. Still am- Oh, yeah … a Simon fan. Um, I really like… And it’s weird because he’s more deadpan and dry than I am- Yeah … by f- by far, but I really enjoy his perspective on things. Um, you know, I, I grew up, like Tony Robbins was, was an impact for me.

Oh, I mean, who doesn’t love- Right, exactly … you know, Tony? Um, and you know, even, even had a dip in conversation with the Dave Ramsey crew- Oh, yeah … where I was gonna p- p- possibly join them at one point. You know, I think a lot of the, what they say has h- had a [01:11:00] strong impact as well, but, you know, Shola to me is one of the top people right now, that if you’re not booking him, you need to.

Charles Eide: Okay. 

Rich Bracken: Phenomenal. 

Charles Eide: Um- Shola Richards. Shola 

Rich Bracken: Richards, 

Charles Eide: yep. All right. Yeah. Shout out Shola Richards. 

Rich Bracken: Sho- and then one of my favorites too, that you would not think is a keynote speaker, speaking of ’80s and ’90s music, Speech Thomas of Arrested Development. Tennessee, Mr. Wendell, good friend of mine. 

Charles Eide: Speech Thomas?

Rich Bracken: Speech Thomas, yep. 

Charles Eide: Speech Thomas. 

Rich Bracken: Um, he is a good friend of mine and is, is killing it as a keynote speaker where he’s also bringing his music. He’s… It’s nice ’cause when he plays music in his keynote, it’s actually his music. Mm-hmm. So it’s, he gets people involved, but he speaks on leadership as well. He’s a, he’s a phenomenal person, great speaker, great, just a great heart.

Charles Eide: Oh, that’s cool. Yeah. It’s good to hear. Uh, I’m definitely gonna check those, those two out. Mm-hmm. Uh, you have a book coming out. I do. And it’s coming out this July. This 

Rich Bracken: July, yep. 

Charles Eide: Okay. Uh, tell us about it. 

Rich Bracken: So it is… So The Momentum Effect is the keynote. We’re still working out what the title is gonna be for the book, but it is based in the [01:12:00] idea of change management and sustainment, uh, where companies are really struggling.

Companies and people struggle with change, and not only implementing change and adapting to change, but then how do you make it stick? And the fun part about it is that, and yet another teaser for another episode, is that it’s based in my story of losing 100 pounds and keeping it off for 26 years, which landed me in Men’s Health magazine.

So Men’s Health did a feature article on me. We talked about how I kept off the weight for so long. 

Charles Eide: You said you lost 100? 

Rich Bracken: 100 pounds. 

Charles Eide: 100 pounds. 

Rich Bracken: Yep. 

Charles Eide: Goodness. 

Rich Bracken: Yeah. So- 

Charles Eide: How’d you do it? 

Rich Bracken: Uh, time. Time and effort and patience. And 

Charles Eide: so- You don’t look like a guy that had 100 extra pounds on him. 

Rich Bracken: I, I will float you a picture.

Um, viewer discretion advised. It’ll… You can’t unsee it when you see it. I’ll send the before and after picture because I want people to have something that they can, like, not unsee that actually isn’t terrifying. 

Charles Eide: Yeah. 

Rich Bracken: Um, but yeah, I was, I was a big college football player, was… Got up to 260 when I got- What?

Oh, yeah. I was an offensive lineman, believe it or not. That 

Charles Eide: does not make sense to me. At 

Rich Bracken: all. At all. Wow. And I don’t know what you can do with, like, [01:13:00] video editing, but if you wanna make my face swell at this point and make it look like- … what, this is what he looked like at 260. Um, but once I got done with football, I, I kept the eating habits, and so I had all these things that I went through to lose the weight, which took about a year and a half, but I wanted to build a lifestyle around the change.

I didn’t wanna just drink a shake or take a pill or do something that was gonna be a quick fix. I wanted to instill the, the lessons of it and be able to sustain it for the long term. Because if this… If I lost weight because of a shake, and the shake company went out of business, then what? So I learned those lessons.

You gotta 

Charles Eide: learn how to make your own shake. 

Rich Bracken: Right, but if they have that special chemical in it that helps you lose weight, I don’t know that I can come up with that. But I learned how to do it, and so the article talked about the different ways that I kept it off, especially with travel and what I do as a business person.

These are the things that I really… that made me understand how I could keep it off. And so when the article came out, it’s on Men’s Health website, and it was in the magazine this past fall, it’s… it looked like the chapters of a book. And so I thought to myself, “Okay, can I do something with this?” ‘Cause I’ve always wanted to write a book, but I just never knew what on, and I…

it just came clear as day. [01:14:00] If you ever had those things where you just look at something and go, “Aha, there it is,” that was the frame, framework of my book. So I’ve worked on it, and it’s coming out in July, but it’s gonna be talking about how companies can adapt to change a b- in a more impactful way, but how they make that change sustain so they have better revenue growth, better profitability, better culture.

Mm-hmm. Um, but then also it’s got some personal lessons, too, so for individuals that struggle with it, because we all know the statistics around New Year’s resolutions and how those fail. But when we talk about personal change, how do we wanna change? How we wanna change our emotional intelligence? All the things that we need to do to sustain over time, those lessons are in there as well.

Charles Eide: What’s the book called? 

Rich Bracken: So TBD on the, on the, on the title. So The Keynote is The Momentum Effect. That was gonna be the original topic or the title of the book. Um, I’m actually talking with my team this week. We’re still seeking- So 

Charles Eide: it’s a secret. 

Rich Bracken: It’s, it’s- You, you have to c- you have to come keep in touch with me to keep in, keep tabs on what’s happening.

Charles Eide: We’ll look you up by your name, then. 

Rich Bracken: Yes. 

Charles Eide: Yes. 

Rich Bracken: Yes. 

Charles Eide: Okay. That’s cool. Yeah. And la- before we go- Yeah … I always like to ask, 

Legacy & Closing Thoughts [1:15:00]

Charles Eide: what do you wanna be remembered for? [01:15:00] 

Rich Bracken: I, I love that question, and I always think I have an answer ready for it, and the one that always comes to mind is that I want people to feel cared about when they…

I want people to feel like I left them better than I found them. Uh, that was something that my grandfather instilled in me. I, I live and breathe by that, so whether it’s a one-on-one conversation, if it’s a, a group coaching, if it’s a, it’s a individual coaching, or if it’s just being out in public or giving a keynote, I want people to be better after they’ve come in contact with me.

So whether they feel cared about, whether they feel heard, whether they feel more em- empowered to be a better version of themselves, I just… E- even if they just laughed for 30 minutes or 10 minutes, whatever that interaction was, I want people to be better. So for the listeners out there, if after this episode you feel better, then then you’ve helped me live my legacy out.

Charles Eide: Yeah. Well, you’re already doing that. I appreciate that. That’s really cool. You’re gonna be remembered for probably that and much more. Being a dad, that’s a 

Rich Bracken: big one. Being a dad, yeah. My, my legacy with my kids. I’m excited to take my son to Australia so he can actually see this whole 8200 [01:16:00] thing you’ve, you know, come un- come un- unglued in the middle of the auditorium.

So yeah, and I want them to understand, too, that they can literally do whatever they, they set their minds to. I didn’t think for one minute that I would be doing what I’m doing now. I didn’t think that was even in the cards, and so I just stayed true to myself, believed in what I could do, and I want them to do 

Charles Eide: the same thing.

Mm. What a beautiful message. Thank you. Rich Bracken, thanks for coming and hanging out with me, man. I appreciate it, Charles. It’s been really great. 

Rich Bracken: Yeah. Loved it. I appreciate the opportunity, man. 

Charles Eide: Thanks for watching this episode. I hope you loved it. If you did, make sure you subscribe, turn your notifications on, and share it with somebody.

If you wanna learn more about me or my company, EideCom, I set out years and years ago to start a production company that did things differently. And today, 23 years later, we produce corporate events that are really impactful for our clients all over the country, and you can find out more at EideCom.com.