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LEADERSHIP: The 5 Elements Of Mental Toughness with Matt Phillips
What if mental toughness was the key to unlocking your leadership potential? Join us as we chat with Matt Phillips, International Leadership Coach and host of the Matt Phillips Podcast, who takes us on his extraordinary journey from a Division I college baseball player and professional athlete overseas to a multifaceted corporate professional. Matt's pivotal moment in a leadership class ignited his passion for coaching leaders and developing mental toughness, particularly for sales leaders. He shares actionable insights from his framework, shedding light on how to build resilience and drive in the volatile world of sales.
In this episode, we unpack the essential elements of a strong mindset: confidence, focus, emotional control, energy, and consistent action. Matt's anecdotes, reminiscent of coaching in sports, underscore the importance of these traits for both professional success and personal growth. Transitioning top sales performers into leadership roles is another key topic of our discussion, where Matt emphasizes the shift from being a salesperson to a sales coach. We also delve into the role of business owners in supporting these transitions, fostering growth, and maintaining the original passion behind their entrepreneurial ventures. This conversation is a goldmine of wisdom for anyone aiming to elevate their leadership capabilities and mental toughness.
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Business Owners Radio is a podcast that brings you insights, inspiration, and actionable advice from successful entrepreneurs and business experts. Hosted by Shye Gilad and Craig Moen, our show aims to help you grow your business and achieve your goals. Join us every week for new episodes packed with valuable tips and resources.
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And now Taking Care of Business, your hosts Craig Moen and Sha Gilad.
Craig Moen:Welcome to Business Owners Radio, Episode 242. Our guest today is Matt Phillips, International Leadership Coach and host of the Matt Phillips Podcast. Matt helps sales leaders achieve pro-level performance by developing and harnessing their mental toughness.
Shye Gilad:Good morning Matt. Welcome to Business Owners Radio.
Matt Phillips:Gentlemen, it's such a pleasure to be here and to be able to spend this time with you, so thank you for having me.
Shye Gilad:Absolutely. We've been looking forward to the conversation and I have to tell you, matt, I know that you know you're a leadership and mental toughness coach, which I love that frame your leadership and mental toughness coach, which I love that frame and you also have been a wonderful podcast host, really focusing on the area of sales and sales and leadership development. What got you started in this field? Tell us about your journey, I'll go through this as quick as I can.
Matt Phillips:I always start off with my athletic background and when people hear leadership coach, when they hear mental toughness coach, it lends itself to like oh, I get that question of did you play sports? And I was very fortunate to have an opportunity to play division one college baseball here in the U? S and then play professionally overseas for a little bit. And for those wondering, I was a third baseman in college, I was a shortstop overseas and athletics played a huge part in my life. Right, I think when you go through athletics you learn to be part of a team, you learn to optimize performance, you learn to communicate with your team and your superiors which are coaches in that case, trying to work together to win the championship or the league or whatever you're trying to do, and so that's something I've always been very, very passionate about. And then I went into the corporate world after I hung up the cleats for quite a while and had roles from audit and accounting to business development and operations at Fortune 500 companies here in the United States and over in Europe as well.
Matt Phillips:And, long story short, I had those aspirations of growing in my career, climbing the ladder, doing all those sorts of things. And I had one of those questions pop up in my head, which? One of those really deep questions right, it wasn't even a midlife crisis thing, it was just that deep question of you know, is this really what I'm meant to do with my life? And I was just wrestling with that, right, and I found myself always looking for that next opportunity, that next job, just trying to grab onto something for what was next.
Matt Phillips:And, lo and behold, I was taking a leadership class at a company I was working with here in Colorado, where I currently reside, and I remember looking up in the middle of the class and watching the instructor Her name is Naomi and I was watching her and this next question popped in my head of why can't I do that? Why can't I get up in front of it and do workshops and talk leadership and talk all these sorts of things? And that was the catalyst for me discovering this next stage. And now, over 11 and a half years later, I get to wake up every day doing what I absolutely love to do and come alongside leaders and build the mindset, the mental toughness and kind of bringing in that athletic side to how we coach and develop people to grow great businesses and just be great human beings.
Shye Gilad:It's such a great story and I love that you also had an international component to your experience and also, really, that you had that kind of a moment.
Shye Gilad:You know where somebody inspired you and you were asking this bigger question, like we all do is you know I'm doing this in service of what right? And so many times, you know, business owners start with really good intentions, especially those that show up as sort of an accidental entrepreneur, where they were good at something, an opportunity came, they went for it, had the courage to try it out, and you know, now they're running a business, they're trying to figure out how to do that and boy, that can be really, really challenging. And so, you know, I find this thing about developing mental toughness really compelling, and especially in this area of sales, Matt, because I think for some people, sales is more intuitive than others. You know we often talk about selling ourselves, but there's limitations to how far you can take that, and I know that you've kind of developed five ways of thinking about mental toughness and I wonder if you could just give us a basic overview of how you think about that framework and how it relates.
Matt Phillips:Absolutely, and first of all, for all the business owners out there who've taken that leap and taken that risk and we're doing it every single day, right, I mean I applaud you because it takes a special kind of courage and guts to do that, and for me, should I just real quick. I think I constantly think about the bigger purpose and remember back of why I wanted to do this in the first place, and I think sometimes we forget at least I do that when I'm having a tough day or a tough moment, or the sale maybe didn't go the way I wanted to or the product isn't as seamless as I thought it was going to be, that I've got to constantly go back and remember like, but this is why I got into it, right, and for me it's about the impact and the freedoms that I want to create and all these sorts of things, right, and it's such a key component to everything that we're doing. On the mental toughness side. It's really interesting because I always joke with people in speeches and on podcasts, things like that of around there's words that we use or phrases that we use that a lot of times people think they understand, but they really don't when we're talking to someone about doing something and they're nodding their heads like yep, got it, got it, got it. And at the end of the day they don't know what we really mean.
Matt Phillips:And I always like it if I were to walk into both your offices or for your listeners today too. Right, if I'm going to walk in your office and I say to you, be a great leader today, and then I turn around and walk out, I'm sure you guys are like what, what do you mean? You kind of know what I mean, but not really. What does Matt specifically mean? Show up earlier, stay later, walk faster in the office to appear busier. We have to provide context around it. And I found the same thing when we get into a sales right, be a great salesperson. What does that mean?
Matt Phillips:Well, one of the components that I believe that great salespeople and great entrepreneurs, great business owners and leaders have to have is the strong mindset. Call it mental toughness, call it mental strength, call it resiliency. And whenever I thought the salespeople, especially Cheyenne Craig I talked about the mental toughness side they're like oh my gosh, my people need that. And then I ask him but what does that mean? When you hear those words, what does it mean, and it's a little squishy, right, it's tough to wrap your hands around. It's not a spreadsheet, it's not a number, it's not a piece of data, and so that's where these five elements come in, that we help different sales leaders and business leaders develop, and so I'll go through them. Different sales leaders and business leaders develop, and so I'll go through them.
Matt Phillips:But the first element that we are developing around this mindset piece is confidence, and I believe this is foundational to everything. Do we have the confidence to ask for the business? Do we have the confidence in ourselves to go and put ourselves in front of a group or a person to even start the conversation right? Do we have the confidence, as a sales leader, to hold our team accountable to the things that they're doing? And so that is a massive piece from a sales perspective and just I'd say this as a business owner too. From a business owner perspective, it's huge. So that's the first element. The second element we're trying to drive is focus. So what are we focused on? Why are we focused on it? What value is that activity or that priority going to drive for us, and how do we avoid the shiny objects syndrome? I suffer from that. I don't know if you both do as well, but the brand new idea pops up and I'm like ooh let's go there.
Shye Gilad:I mean, I think as a learner, you're always trying to see what's out there, so yeah, it can be easy to get distracted.
Matt Phillips:Totally. And so how do we maintain the focus amidst all these amazing things that we could look at, but how do we assess them the right way? So that's that second element of focus. The third element we always talk about is control, and I don't mean type A personality control, the environment. What I mean is the emotional control. So how do we not go too high, not go too low and channel our emotions, the right way to push forward from a sales perspective or keep moving that product forward and keep making the calls? Whatever we're trying to do is such a key piece, again at work and at home.
Matt Phillips:The fourth element we always talk about is energy. So how do I wake up as a leader with a tremendous amount of energy and keep it at a high level throughout the day? So we take a pretty holistic approach at Matt Phillips coaching, meaning every concept that we talk about is there to drive sales, to drive you to be a better leader, a better business owner. Also, it's to drive you to be, just again, a great human right Good at work and at home. So that's really that kind of fourth element of energy.
Matt Phillips:And then the fifth element that we always talk about is consistent action. So a lot of times and I fall victim to this sometimes but I know what to do, I know what the right next step is, but sometimes I struggle with actually keeping consistent with it. So it's training ourselves to have that intentionality and consistency in what we're doing. So, from a, again, sales owner perspective, business owner perspective, I always tell people my job is to come alongside leaders and make them unbelievably confident, focused, emotionally, in control, have the energy they need to perform at a high level and stay committed to that intentional, consistent action, cause that's going to get you where you want to go.
Shye Gilad:I have to mention something really struck me when you said that I had a wonderful opportunity to speak with a former coach of the Chicago Cubs a few years back. We were talking about coaching in general and a lot of different topics, and I asked him where the focus was of their work when new players come onto the team and he said that so much of it is just really getting them ready for game day. And I don't know if this resonates with you, but like it's such a long season, so they need to show up in a consistent way again and again and again. And I have to say, like just hearing you describe this framework, it just reminds me of that right, like thinking about what's necessary so that you show up mentally tough, emotionally in control, managing your energy, so that you can take consistent action on game day. Right, and when you're selling, every day is game day.
Matt Phillips:Yes it's so true, and I've been very fortunate. I have an athlete side of my business, so about 90% of my business is working with different size corporations and sales teams and different leaders within organizations, and I have about 10% of my business which is in the athlete space, just because I love it so much, and so I've been fortunate to work with some players from the Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves and some other teams as well, and one of the things that I work on with those clients, and with my corporate clients as well, is that exact concept of how do we show up the right way. So, like, routines play a massive piece. You know, when I walk into a stadium and I'm a major league pitcher, for example, right, the way I show up, and when I walk in the clubhouse, what I do, how I do it, who I'm interacting with, what music I'm listening to, am I meditating? You know, everything involved in that process is to prepare you for the moment, right, which might be pitching and starting a game. It might be a reliever, you might be a hitter, right, you might be going up to the plate, and so those routines are critical, like all throughout.
Matt Phillips:And the same thing is true in sales right. How do we prepare ourselves for the day and for the moment of what we're trying to achieve? And you know there's a system that you can put in place, that you can play with and have that. You know flexibility and creativity within. But it's a game changer when you start understanding and looking at, like, what do major leaguers do and the NFL athletes and all these you know great, even business leaders? How do we replicate that and make it our own to?
Craig Moen:again to your point, to prepare mentally for the ask or the prospecting or whatever you need to do in that moment. It's amazing the crossover between professions of having this basis of who they are, what they can do and what they aspire to, and I think a lot of the pieces and parts that you're talking about really have this consistency across all professions within the business environment. Jumping back a little bit, I had to come back to something that's so classic and as a business owner would be hiring on that first sales rep, add another one, add another one, new territories and so forth. At some point someone's got to take over and lead, assuming there was some leadership in the sales cycle. So I caught this in some of your writings regarding navigating that transition from being the top sales rock star, which is always the one we pick for the leader. Right, it's natural they should be leading the group. We want more of them like that. Tell me more about your experiences on what you're seeing within sales and business owners regarding this leadership and that transition that takes place.
Matt Phillips:Such a great question and such an important topic because you're right, every organization, even that I work with today, whenever there's the opening, they always want to go to the top earner and it's not that he or she gets that role, but that's just natural, right, because, like, oh my gosh, if they can teach everyone else to do what they do right, to show up their way and just replicate what they're doing every day activity-wise, this whole team is going to blow up. We're going to be successful. And one thing, that kind of struggle that I see is in a lot of cases not all cases, but what makes you a successful salesperson does not necessarily translate to a successful leader of people. And when making that transition, I think the first step is we have to acknowledge that. Right, that you know what got you here won't necessarily get you there. Right, there are elements of that you can leverage to make you successful, but no different than when you use a baseball analogy.
Matt Phillips:Right, when I first get drafted and I'm in, you know, single A ball. Right For those who are not familiar with baseball, it goes single A, then double A, triple A, and then you're in the major leagues. Right, as you progress up the ranks. Well, what you do at a single A level when you're just entering the league versus what you do at the major league level. You have to show up differently, leveraging what you do, but you have to learn the game. You have to learn the way to interact with these major league players.
Matt Phillips:And so it's just understanding that of having that openness to what adjustments do I need to make as a salesperson to slot into the sales leader role? What do I leverage and what do I shift? And so one of the areas I always talk about is when you are ready to make that transition. Hopefully you do this well before, but you have to shift from salesperson to sales coach, and I always tell people you're not a manager, you're not a sales leader.
Matt Phillips:Whatever title you have, I want you to scratch it out and put sales coach. You are there to coach people, to ask the right questions, to position them, to train them, to optimize their performance. That's your entire goal. And sure you may be there helping close a deal, helping open a door for someone, absolutely. But the longer term vision has to be developing, helping your people master their entire sales process and pitch and everything involved. So that's the biggest thing that openness, craig, to shifting to that coach and understanding that the sales aren't the most important thing anymore. Your people are and the optimization of what they do is the most important thing anymore. Your people are and the optimization of what they do is the most important thing, and if you do that, the sales come.
Craig Moen:Well, it would follow on then that the business owner has to have a certain level of skill set or find and bring in experts to be able to grow that sales manager. What advice would you give to business owners in relationship to their sales manager?
Matt Phillips:Great question. The first is as the business owner. I think it's hard to let go in a lot of cases and first of all acknowledge that that's okay. I think this is part of the growth process and part of that expansion and we have to be willing as business owners to challenge what we believe to be true, right. A lot of business owners I work with, and just salespeople, they'll say my way is a great way, my way is the right way, and it's that acknowledgement of your way is great and it's wonderful. And do you have the openness as a business owner to allow someone else's creativity and process to come in place and to augment, to help optimize what you might be doing? And I think if we can challenge some of those beliefs that we have, that's when the creativity opens up, that's when we're able to delegate and truly trust.
Matt Phillips:I remember, after I was done playing overseas, when I started my first career, I was with Ernst Young I guess now EY we do the rebrand but I had an opportunity to move with the firm to Zurich, switzerland, for three years and it was a tremendous opportunity.
Matt Phillips:I mean working with people all over the world. And when I got back I had someone asked me what's the biggest thing you learned from living overseas, and one of the things, amongst many, that I learned was that my way isn't necessarily the only way. It's a way and I think it's a really good way, but it's not the only way, and I had to learn over those three years to just embrace the different way that people think, the different way that they operate, still maintaining the standard and the expectation but I had to learn that myself, craig and Shai of just being open as a leader, to those sorts of things. And it's the same thing that I face today as a business owner, where I have to be open to the ideas that my team has. Again, my way might be a great way, but my job is to establish the standard and to hold people to that standard and trust them to do what I hired them to do.
Craig Moen:At the end of the day, and for some of us, business owners, allowing that freedom to do what they do best, to be able to perform based on their priors and their capabilities, and leave them alone once in a while but yet get involved once in a while that's that magic walk between those to give them the freedom to be who they are. And along those lines, I know that one of the topics I looked at in your dossier is this element of superpower and leadership superpower. Can you spend a moment talking a little more about that?
Matt Phillips:Yes, it's down this line, craig and Shia, of know thyself. And do we as leaders understand our strengths, our weaknesses? Do we understand areas for opportunity? Not necessarily a SWOT analysis, but just do we as leaders understand our strengths, our weaknesses? Do we understand areas for opportunity? Not necessarily a SWOT analysis, but just do we know how we show up to others?
Matt Phillips:And if you go to mattphillipscoachingcom slash quiz, you can take this superpower quiz and I'm sure a lot of you out there have taken a DISC profile or Emergenetics or Insights some of those profiles and they're super fun. I think they're really interesting. I've taken a ton of them and they're always spot on of who I am and how I show up. But it's this transition, just like with this quiz that we have, of you must understand how you're coming across to people.
Matt Phillips:And if we're going to be most effective and build that trust and let go a little bit we have to first of all know ourselves. We have to study ourselves and study our people so that we know how to approach them, the right way to allow them that freedom. So this quiz that we have, knowing your superpower I won't go through all of them, but it's understanding your behaviors, your actions, your personality, how you speak, how you interact and how people interpret that for them. It's just one of those key components that I think. We have all this data in front of us. It's just are we choosing to utilize it and to optimize our performance? That's the really biggest thing with this quiz that we have and all these great personality profiles that are out there.
Craig Moen:Well, Matt, thank you so much for joining us today. This has been extremely insightful and your background and your experiences and we really need leaders like you coming out to the corporations and the businesses and the leaders out there to get new insight and a new perspective to themselves and where they're going in their organizations. Thank you so much for joining us.
Matt Phillips:Such a pleasure. I've enjoyed the conversation and can't wait to further our relationship after this as well. So thank you.
Craig Moen:It's been a fantastic time and just wondered is there anything else you'd like to leave with our listeners today?
Matt Phillips:Yes, I'm all about connection and relationship, so please head over to mattphillipscoachingcom and connect with us there. There's a variety of different ways. Variety of different ways. I am a podcaster as well, and so you can head over and search for the Matt Phillips podcast and the different interviews that we do, and I have some solo episodes as well, all around leadership and sales leadership and just showing up our best selves.
Matt Phillips:And, last but not least, I'm very fortunate to, like you said, craig, to work with great companies in a variety of different industries, and we do everything from one-on-one coaching workshops, either live or virtual, and we have two online programs. One is called the Sales Manager Leadership Program, which is again targeted at new and existing sales leaders. We have another one called the High Performance Leadership Program, which is really targeted at mid-level managers in different companies. You know outside of sales, but if we can help you in any way to help you and your team show up their best selves, what they're about, we're absolutely here for you and you can find out information on our website or, frankly, just reach out to us at the team at mattphillipscoachingcom. And last but not least, craig, you mentioned the quiz, so head over to mattphillipscoachingcom slash quiz, take a look, have some fun with it, know thyself. And again, craig and Shai, just thank you so much for having me today.
Craig Moen:Joining Shai and I in the studio today has been Matt Phillips, leadership coach and host of the Matt Phillips Podcast. You can learn more about Matt, as well as find links to his free offer and content all on our website at businessownersradiocom.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us on Business Owners Radio. We hope you enjoyed today's show. As always, you can read more about each episode, along with links and offers, in the show notes on our website, businessownersradiocom. We want to hear your feedback. Please leave comments on this show or suggestions for upcoming episodes. Tell your fellow business owners about the show and, of course, you would love the stars and comments on iTunes. Till next time, keep taking care of business.
