Ep #149: Using Master Mentors to Transform Your Career with Scott J. Miller
Every single successful person has someone who inspired them to get to where they are today.
And being the absolute corporate badass that you are, I know you’ve had quite a few inspiring people in your life too.
Maybe you were inspired by a leader at your organization.
Or maybe it was a friend or family member.
Or, as Scott J. Miller shares on this episode of Maximize Your Career with Stacy Mayer:
“Most of my mentors are people that don’t even know I exist.”
Scott is an expert on all things mentor.
He’s also a highly sought after speaker, author, and podcast host; the Senior Advisor on Thought Leadership at Franklin Covey; AND he’s just released volume two in his Master Mentors book series.
In this episode, we dive into the mentors and brilliant thought leaders you need to learn from.
And we also share tips and strategies for having powerful mentor-mentee relationships within your organization and beyond.
So if you love to learn from the best, if you love to be exposed to new ideas on how to live a life and build a career you love, you need to tune into this episode.
Let’s get started.
Want to receive the recognition you deserve, step into a higher leadership position, get paid for your ideas instead of the hours you put in at work, and enjoy more time, freedom, energy, and joy? Then you need to get your hands on a copy of Promotions Made Easy. Get your copy here.
What You'll Learn:
- The best advice Scott has ever received from a mentor
- How to courageously solicit feedback from a mentor
- The difference between a mentor and a champion
- Why you need a buffet of mentors – not just one
- What executive leaders are looking for in their mentees
Listen to the Full Episode:
Featured on the Show:
- Ep #12: From Management Mess to Leadership Success with Scott Miller
- Ep #80: Owning Your Mess with Scott J. Miller
- Get a copy of Scott’s books, Master Mentors Volume 1 and Volume 2, Management Mess to Leadership Success, and Marketing Mess to Brand Success
- Other books mentioned:
- Emmanuel Acho’s Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man
- Erica Dhawan’s Digital Body Language: How to Build Trust and Connection, No Matter the Distance
- James Clear’s Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
- Marie Forleo’s Everything Is Figureoutable
- Patrick Bet-David’s Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy
- Robin Sharma’s The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Spiritual Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams & Reaching Your Destiny and The Everyday Hero Manifesto: Activate Your Positivity, Maximize Your Productivity, Serve The World
- Sally Helgesen’s How Women Rise
- Tasha Eurich’s Insight: Why We're Not as Self-Aware as We Think, and How Seeing Ourselves Clearly Helps Us Succeed at Work and in Life
- Connect with Scott on LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook
- Listen to Scott’s podcast On Leadership with Scott Miller
- ScottJeffreyMiller.com
- Follow me on Instagram
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Join my group coaching intensive, Executive Ahead of Time
- Get your copy of my book, Promotions Made Easy: A Step-by-Step Guide to the Executive Suite
- Go to StacyMayer.com/Strategies to join my email list and receive my email series, Seven Promotion Strategies that Your Boss Won’t Tell You
Full Transcript
Stacy Mayer: Welcome to another episode of Maximize Your Career. I'm your host, Stacy Mayer, and super excited to be here with a very special repeat guest on my podcast. And I am so excited to have Scott Miller back on my podcast just to celebrate the launching of his latest book. And we're going to hear all about that today and really what Scott has been up to.
And I'm also really excited to have him back because I get a lot of feedback from you how much you really enjoy our conversation. So after this episode, if you aren't one of those people who've already listened to the previous episodes with Scott on them, please go back. We'll link to it in the show notes. But he is just such a phenomenal thought leader and has such incredible insight into the world of executive leadership and we always get so much out of our conversations. Thank you, Scott. Thank you so much.
Scott J. Miller: Well, thank you for the spotlight and take a pause on my book. Congrats on the release of your book. I love watching you on all the social platforms, the people coming out of the woodwork. I have the book. It's up on my nightstand as well, so congrats on your own success as a successfully published author. I take great delight in watching what was a phenomenal launch for your book. Congratulations to you.
Stacy Mayer: Oh, my gosh. You know, Scott is actually on the back of my book with his quote as well.
Scott J. Miller: I honor you. My honor. My honor.
Stacy Mayer: You get to observe a lot of, you know, pats on the back here in the.
Scott J. Miller: Support of others, especially when their work is as practical and actually timely as yours. Right. Because, you know, our career growth, our career trajectory is difficult now kind of pandemic with a hybrid world. And how do you politick and connect and such, so great contribution.
Stacy Mayer: You have to set me up perfectly because I was thinking about with your book Master Mentors, which we're going to get into that today, how do we network? How do we connect? And this has been such a focus of my career journey in the work that I'm teaching women. And just like, absolutely perfect.
Scott J. Miller: I should be interviewing you on that topic.
Stacy Mayer: Yes, you should. Scott is also the host of On Leadership, one of the best podcasts, and I am so going to be on this podcast. I'm very excited. Yes, you should.
Scott J. Miller: Yeah, we had a great week. We interviewed this week, we interviewed Patrick Lincoln, Jay Shetty and Marcus Buckingham. They happen to all be men. But it was a powerful week this week and what a great ending to my week to culminate it with being a guest on your podcast. So thank you again for the platform today.
Stacy Mayer: Wow. Wow, That's great. Wow. Yeah. The only thing I miss is back when Scott used to go into the studio and I would interview him, he would have all of his books of his authors directly behind him.
Scott J. Miller: I was there 20 minutes ago and I just came home from my townhome in Salt Lake, because the boys, I have three sons, as you know, with my wife Stephanie, and they're going to bound through that door in about 40 minutes, so let's get some good conversation going.
Stacy Mayer: Alright. Let's get on it.
Scott J. Miller: And they all have my energy, to my wife's horror. so it isn't like they can slink in. It's three Scott Miller's plus one.
Stacy Mayer: So I'll let me more formally introduce you so that everybody knows who you are, not just me.
Scott Jeffrey Miller is a highly sought after speaker, author and podcast host. He is a Wall Street Journal bestselling author and currently serves as Franklin Covey, senior Advisor on Thought Leadership. Prior to his advisory role, Scott was a 25 year Franklin Covey associate serving as the chief marketing officer and executive vice president. He hosts On Leadership with Scott Miller, the world's largest weekly leadership podcast. Scott is a partner in Grey Miller, a speaking literary and talent agency. Thank you, Scott. A round of applause.
Scott J. Miller: Let's get to the good stuff. Thank you again.
Stacy Mayer: So this week we're talking about your latest book, but really, the conversation never veers too far from everything that you do, right? You incorporate your books. All of your books are together into one as well as your leadership. Every stories in your journey, you're such a transparent, thoughtful leader and sharing your stories. But let's first talk about Master Mentors Volume 2. This is volume two, the second of this series that is going on for ten. Oh, you have both of them right in front of you. That's perfect screenshot. Excellent. Yeah. So that just came out. It's now available as people are listening to this, tell us what it is.
Scott J. Miller: So, Stacey, like you, I'm privileged to host a podcast, and every week I'm privileged to interview some of the biggest, brightest minds in the world, people from like Arianna Huffington and Matthew McConaughey and Deepak Chopra and Liz Wiseman and Susan Cain. And some of them are best selling authors. Some of them are business titans, some of them are celebrities, some of them are researchers, some of them are people that survive traumatic experiences like Elizabeth Smart or Zafar Mehsud, who was one of only two survivors of a Pakistani commercial airline crash.
And so after about two years, what I realized, probably like you, is some of the good stuff usually happens when we're off air. Darn it. In the first three or 4 minutes or the last 5 minutes when we've cut the podcast and we're talking. And what I realized is I had a bit of a responsibility, with their permission, to share these nuggets that were coming both on and off the air.
So HarperCollins believed in me, and I am writing this ten volume series called Master Mentors: 30 Transformative Insights from Our Greatest Minds, where I just in a very simple fashion, kind of like chicken soup for the leadership soul, I write 30 chapters fast, easy, breezy. I highlight one transformational insight from 30 guests that I picked with their permission to appear. And then I also put the QR code of the episode in, and I and I share some my own stories or stories from others that either support their insight or even push on it in terms of being struggling with it.
So Master Mentors Volume one had 30 guests, Master Volume two has 30 new guests, and I'm on my way to ten books in the series. And it is what it is. It's not good to great. It's not built to last. It's not multipliers, it's not research-based. It is just thoughtful conversations that hit different people differently in their lives, whether they're suffering a tragedy or they've been promoted or they've been fired or they've lost a loved one or they've been bankrupt or they've just celebrated a big success. The stories are very episodic, covering a broad group of people, and I mean it to be a spotlight on the authors. I don't mean it to be a CliffsNotes. I want you to learn more about them, buy their books. Schedule them as a keynote. Not say: Oh yeah, I read their book as I read Master Mentor's. Hardly. It's not a cliffsnotes of their genius at all.
Stacy Mayer: Yeah. You know, one of the things that really stood out to me is, in in the sense of of ease of reading with a compilation type book, you can pick it up, you can go to any chapter, you can get like, oh, some insight from this chapter. But I immediately noticed that this particular book is beyond compilation, meaning that it actually is, it reads like you. I mean, it's you. It is Scott Miller. And I know that you're trying really hard to showcase other people, and I commend you for that. And you are showcasing other people, but I so appreciate that it has one voice, essentially, that goes through all of these stories. And that voice is it always comes back to, to your point of view, how these leaders have inspired you. What touched you in those interviews. And then, of course, sharing their words and the stories that they shared and give credit. But as a reader, I think it's so important that that throughline is there and it makes it, you know, this piece of literature in addition to these sort of disparate stories that kind of come at you.
Scott J. Miller: Well, that was beautifully said. I had you on mute because we have a new puppy and he his only thing he does is sleep, eat some other things and bark. And so. Wilson, please be quiet. Welcome to life post-pandemic. Right. There's the rules are different now.
I appreciate that I Stacy you know I think it's fair to say that I spent the first half of my life and career very much having the spotlight shined on me. And I had some great success because people believed in me and they mentored me and they nurtured me and they gave me high courage feedback and occasionally promoted me and sometimes demoted me. And now I hope to spend the next half of my life or half of my career turning that spotlight metaphorically and literally around and highlighting people that I have found have been beneficial to me.
We don't get anywhere in life without mentors and coaches and guides, and I've been the recipient of the genius of these people. And I in some ways have a responsibility to help to aggregate and pollinate and with credit, distribute their genius. I'm sitting in a very privileged chair. So are you interviewing guests of stature higher than me? Most episodes, but thanks for letting me slip in. And so I see this as a bit of an honor or responsibility to say: Hey, here's what Marie Folio said. Here's what Seth Godin said. Here's what Susan Kane said. Here's what Dan Pink said. Here's what Liz Wiseman said. And some of the authors are Franklin Covey thought leaders, some of them are not. It's a very abundant book, I hope. Like you said, the most common comment I get, whether it's a compliment or a criticism, is Scott, it's clearly you. You clearly wrote these books. I can feel your voice in it. And I'm delighted to hear that because I've got this personality. And like I said, I think I found my voice. You shine the spotlight on others.
Stacy Mayer: This is I mean, how many books have you written? Is this what number is this? Just a lot.
Scott J. Miller: A lot. I now see the dog walking across my sofa back here. So wish us luck in the Miller house. This is, I think, number six. I have three books coming out in the next year. Master Mentors Volume 3, a book called The Ultimate Guide to Great Mentoring, which is a mentoring book. I've identified 15 roles that mentors play, and I have a book called Ignite Your Career Genius around 11 successful strategies that I have for building your Career. Six or seven.
You're doing something right. Amazing. But, you know, I think that it is really important just for me as the reader. That's what I appreciated about a compilation book, to hear a universal voice throughout and to hear your perspective. So speaking of that perspective, I would love to start with some advice that perhaps you've received from your favorite mentor. It can be a mentor from the book. It can be your actual mentors in your life and your career. Would you be open to sharing any of those stories?
Scott J. Miller: Oh my gosh, I'd be honored. Maybe your listeners know that whenever I give keynotes I have a card deck, so every book that I write, I create a card deck. It's a physical card deck that I hand out for those who are watching on video. And in this particular book, I share all of the photographs of all the mentors to the same with Master Mentors Volume one The decks match the color and have all of the people on them. You know, I think a great piece of advice came from a mentor in Volume two, Marie Forleo. She wrote a book called Everything Is Figureoutable. Great title, great book. New York Times best seller. You've got it up there.
Marie appeared in the podcast and and we spoke on stage at one of the Rachel Hollis Rise business events, and it really reminded me of some advice that Dr. Covey, the founder of Franklin Covey, of course, the author of the book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, taught me and others back when he was leading the company. He's passed about a decade now. And Dr. Covey used to have an idea that he called your R and your I, your resourcefulness and your initiative. Scott use your R and your I. Figure it out. And it very much relates to what Marie teaches around Everything Is Figureoutable.
Scott J. Miller: Now listen if you've got stage four cancer and the doctors all say, hey, you've got six weeks, you know, that's not figureoutable. What is figureoutableout is: what's your final legacy going to be? How are you going to repair broken relationships? Can you do anything else to make sure you bring joy to those who brought joy to you? But barring a fatal diagnosis, most things in life are figureoutable. If you use your R and your I, your resourcefulness and your initiative. I tell my boys all the time, use your R and your I. Figure it out. They're eight, ten and 12.
And they're like: Yea Dad, I know. My resourcefulness and my initiative. And someday they're going to thank me for that. Because using your creativity, your network, your humility, your trial and error, don't be so embarrassed when you don't know something. Raise your hand. Ask the question in class, everybody's thinking the same thing and they're jealous. You have the courage sons to do so. And so I love this idea about Marie Forleo, Everything Is Figureoutable. If you can combine and marshal humility and confidence and your network and check your ego. It's a concept that's actually served me very well in my career.
Stacy Mayer: Yeah. And, you know, as a reader of the book, I get very excited seeing people that I'm familiar with and who I've actually met in my life. And Marie Forleo was one of my earliest teachers as well. And and then you were holding up the cards and Erica Dhawan popped up and I was like: Yeah!
Scott J. Miller: Erica Dhawan wrote a book called Digital Body Language. She's one of the most in-demand keynote speakers in the world around how you show up now on Zoom or teams is your handshake, right? You have a digital handshake and that's your brand in terms of your lighting and your camera and your energy and know when to play big and when to play small. Can I share one more mentor?
Stacy Mayer: Yeah.
Scott J. Miller: So another one that I love is Tasha Eurich. She's a a organisational psychologist, wrote a book called Insight. That's really, really propelled her to be one of the world's foremost thought leaders on self awareness. Tasha talks about how so few of us are really self aware, including me. And as a leader in a company, I have terminated lots of people. And almost all of them are because, Stacy, they lacked self-awareness. They technically had the skills to do the job. They were geniuses and very smart. They just didn't know what it was like to sit next to them or join a meeting with them or work a tradeshow booth with them, or be on a Zoom call with them. And I've learned a lot about what it's like to work for me, what it's like to lead me, what it's like to be married to me. You may know me. I have a lot of energy and my natural voice level is right here. I'm very comfortable speaking right here all day long, whether it's in front of 7000 people or sitting beside my wife in the car driving up to Park City. My wife is like: Why are you talking so loud? And I don't even recognize it.
Scott J. Miller: And so I have become more aware of talking like this all day long can fatigue people and oftentimes repel people. Now, people like me love me talking this way, but perhaps some of your listeners for the first time are starting to take me as credible as I slow down my elevated voice and my speed and my rate and my pitch. And I have to learn that this can really fatigue people, including my wife, sitting two feet away from me in the car for 30 minutes. So Tasha Eurich has really brought to the limelight a leadership competency is self awareness. And everybody should go out to their to their posse. What's it like to be married to me? What's it like to be led by me? What's it like to live next door to me? What's it like to serve on the church parish committee with me? And you'll learn a lot about yourself if you set the context and the environment for people to finally tell you the truth.
Stacy Mayer: Wow. Yeah. This must have led to your creation of your Mess to Success book series, right?
Scott J. Miller: You got that right. Yeah. I think you use this phrase self awareness about other people where they should be more self aware. They have no idea. But the fact of the matter is, we should be more self aware and there's a process to discover that because you can just go ask someone for feedback. And most people are going to say, Oh my gosh, Stacy, you're the best podcast host ever. It was lovely. I love your personality. Keep keeping on. Most people are cowards and that isn't a character flaw. That's kind of a personality trait. We grow with practice to offer more courageous feedback, and most of the times we don't offer it because we don't think the person can handle it. So when you're asking for feedback with the intent to grow your self awareness, you've got to set the conditions to make it safe for Stacy to really tell me what kind of guest was I? Scott you have lots of energy and you also talk too long. Maybe you should keep your answers to 90 seconds, not 9 minutes. But you won't tell me that unless I set the conditions where you feel, you know, I'll come back on some day or. If you'll have me. I'll try to keep my answers shorter. Sorry, I'm trying to be self aware.
Stacy Mayer: Well, so speaking of getting feedback, what advice do you have for people in using mentors in their career and how they can actually set those conditions?
Scott J. Miller: Delighted you ask that. I open the book with a story about the biggest mentor I've ever had in my entire life was a radio host from the eighties and nineties, a guy named Bruce Williams. He had kind of invented talk radio before Dave Ramsey, before Sean Hannity, before Sally Jessy Raphael. There was a guy named Bruce Williams, and he was, I believe, an attorney and a city councilman and a business owner. And he had this program called Talknet that eventually became the Bruce Williams Show. I listened to it every night for like ten years as a nerdy teenager. Most of my friends were listening to Aerosmith and INXS. And I was listening to 3 hours of a guy talk about when do you need a will? What is disability insurance? How do you buy a home? How do you invest a41k? And how do you handle inheritance? And all that kind of stuff? And he was my biggest mentor. The fact of the matter is Bruce Williams died having no idea I was even alive. And so I want to kind of reframe the idea of mentorship. I think there is a very valuable type that in organizations, most companies now, if they want to retain people, they have a formal mentorship program where they match mentees and mentors, and that may be for a six week program or a six month program.
Scott J. Miller: And they may or may not give you any guidance, but I strongly advise that that's usually got upside. They usually match on the rise more junior people with more sophisticated, successful people, and they may match task to talent or put your names in a basket. Lots of philosophies. There's that type of short courtship and I highly recommend that. There's also the mentorship where perhaps you are a solopreneur or an entrepreneur or you're a student and you're just looking to have someone wise in your life to coach you on what it is you want to accomplish. There's that kind of mentorship where you kind of reach out cold or maybe your neighbor is, you know, a successful business person, or maybe she had three bankruptcies and you could learn from that. I think oftentimes we seek mentors because they're the most successful. Let me tell you, if I want to know how to have a successful 30 year marriage, I don't go to the guy that's had a 30 year marriage. I go to the guy that's had three divorces because I can't replicate what you've done in your marriage. I don't have your personality. I don't have your patience, I don't have your education, but I can avoid your mistakes.
Scott J. Miller: I want to build my company. I don't go to the guy who's a billionaire. I go to the galas, head to bankruptcies because I can learn from their mistakes. I think learning from your mentor mistakes is really what you take the most out of relationship. And then there's the mentorship from like buying the book, which is all of these people can and should be your mentors. I just don't think you have to know your mentor. Most of my mentors are people that don't even know I exist. I read their books, I listen to their podcast, I follow them to conferences to hear them keynote speak. And they've had a massive impact on my life. In fact, most of the people in this book I had not met prior to the podcast, they didn't know who I was. And many cases we've become great friends. Obviously they gave me permission to write about them, but their photo on a card, right? By the way, don't write a book about 30 celebrities. That's like a legal nightmare. I don't encourage anyone to do that. But I think you have to reframe what kind of mentorship is right for you based on what it is you're trying to accomplish and where you are in your life.
Stacy Mayer: Yeah, I like that because one of the problems that I find for the women I work with in terms of mentorship is that they're looking for that one mentor or sponsor that's going to elevate their career, right? That's going to give them that answer. And so what they subsequently don't do is start to create allies and conversations and feedback loops. They're looking for that single solo mentor, that person. If I had the right mentor, then I could have a successful career. And in my experience, that is not the answer. And so I really appreciate the way you framed it, because it sounds a little bit like a combination of we have mentors who inspire us. We do have some mentors that give us direct feedback, and we have some mentors that could totally guide our careers. But it's it's sounds like a buffet, so to speak, rather than that one person.
Scott J. Miller: You clarified that because you're absolutely right. And the clients that are saying that are are naive and perhaps even opportunistic, you know, your mentor isn't necessarily your coach. Those are different roles and your mentor isn't your champion or your ally or your supporter. I don't think you should put that burden on your mentor. I think it's really important when you enter a mentoring relationship, whether you are the mentee or the mentor to set the boundaries. Do not ask me to fund your business. Do not ask me to advocate for your promotion. Do not ask me to open up my metaphorical Rolodex. That's not why I'm here. I'm here to determine. Is any of the wisdom I've gleaned on my journey replicable to your journey? Because I'm not you. I am me. I don't have your fears. I don't have your talents, I don't have your passions. And let's just let's just assume, maybe wrongly or rightly, that some of my wisdom and my journey may or may not be applicable to yours. But I don't think you should ever confuse your mentor as your advocate or as your champion. I would back out of that role immediately because that's not what I signed up for. Now, if you're asking me to be your champion, that's a whole different set of conversations and circumstances. And I've got to determine, am I going to put my reputation on the line to help be your champion? I don't know. I need to get to know you for a long time because at the end of the day, at least organizationally, professionally, all I've got is my reputation.
Stacy Mayer: Yeah. So as a listener, when you're listening to this, I really want you to think about we've got mentor expert. He's written two books, has many more, seven more on the way, eight more on the way. And he is telling you that use your mentor as a guide, as a person that you look to for their wisdom, their unique wisdom that they bring to the world. And so often what's happening is we're going to our mentors to sell ourselves, like literally to pitch ourselves. And I'm like: No, your mentor conversation needs to be a lot of questions, like just ask them and get and listen to them and how do they answer. Versus like: I'm going to use this as a time for you to tell you how great I am.
Scott J. Miller: That's completely the wrong conversation. That's a great conversation with someone else in the organization. But your mentor should not be your serendipitous champion. Now, if you actually show up on time to the mentoring sessions. If you actually show self awareness and you ask smart questions and then you actually make and keep commitments, you might earn, accidentally, that person's respect to say: You know what? I'd like to move out of the mentor role and move into the advocate role for you. How can I help the organization? But that's an outgrowth that the mentor gets to choose. You do not ever put them in that situation. And if you ever put me in a situation, I'd say, Hey, okay, we're done. You don't want a mentor. You want a champion. Let's talk about who in this company might be your champion, because it's probably not me yet. I am a champion of people that I know really well. But I was confused. I thought you wanted a mentor. No. You want someone that will actually be your trampoline. That's a good request. But that's not me.
Stacy Mayer: Right? Oh, I love that so much. And I think there's a lot of freedom in that definition. So thank you.
Scott J. Miller: There is an it sounds harsh, but I think it's important to talk straight. And by the way, I think the best relationships are not where the mentor has to set the boundaries where the minty does. Because if you've asked me to mentor you and I come on and Stacy opens up and say, Scott, I am so grateful for your time. Here's what I'd like to propose. I'd like to propose five sessions, a half an hour each. If I earn the right for five more, great. But if not, no harm, no foul. I'd like to work them around your schedule and I'll make you the following commitments. I will always be on time. I will not cancel unless there is some crisis emergency. I will show up, prepared, thoughtful, researched. And if I say I'll do something, I will do it. And I will also respect any boundaries you set. First, I'd like you to know I'm never going to ask you to do X, Y, and Z. If in some alternative universe you decide to do that, that's your...But to me, that's okay. I like this person. Bring it on. This person has an idea of what mentoring is like.
If you enter it wise... Because I think another thing, Stacy, most mentoring, I think the mentors take control by the very nature of being a mentor. You probably have some seasoned, seasoned leadership. You're used to running meetings, You're used to peeling the onion and driving something forward. And that can be dangerous because I think a lot of mentors say: Oh, I know what to do. Oh, no, I know how to do it. No, the mentor, you know how to do it for yourself. You may or may not have the right formula for your mentee. So the mentee needs to lead it. The mentor needs to take charge and lead out and be very clear on what is it they want to accomplish. What are they trying to do. So that the mentor can decide how and if can they help them accomplish that?
Stacy Mayer: Gosh, this is such a great lesson and I recommend if you're listening to what Scott's saying and you like how he's set this up, this relationship up go, we have the transcripts to this podcast episode, print it out, highlight it, make it your own, because it's just it's really so true. And we need to listen to the leaders, the CMO's, the people who have been in those seats and this is their experience. And I also see it time and time again that that's what the executive leaders as mentors are looking for. It's in their relationships. It's so, so good.
So since this is your second book, you've had the other one out for almost a year. And any surprises along the way that you have had since these books started coming out?
Scott J. Miller: I've been delightfully surprised with how willing and gracious these thought leaders are to lend me their spotlight. I mean, listen. I'm not naive, right? I'm hosting this significant podcast for Franklin Covey. My brand is growing on the rise a little bit. And I'm not naive for the fact that it's not a bad thing to be a friend of Scott Miller. I say that with humility. At the same time, I'm so honored that people like Arianna Huffington and Mel Robbins and Ed Mylett and others are posting about the book, Sally Helgesen who wrote the book How Women Rise. I see She literally just posted about it on LinkedIn. So I'm a little honored and surprised that how some of these I mean, every one of these people are much more influential than I am and their platforms are massive. And so little Scott Miller out in Salt Lake City, Utah, I'm delighted that they are obviously supporting me supporting them, but they're really supporting me and that's been a validation that one of the themes that they all share, the red thread, if there is one, is these people are super abundant. I mean, Volume 3, James Clear Atomic Habits. Arianna Huffington, Robin Sharma, wrote the book The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari and the Everyday Hero Manifesto, Jon Acuff, Adam Grant I mean, these are big names and they've all agreed to let me write about them. Most of them offer very few edits. I thought with these big celebrity names, John Gray Men are from Mars. Emmanuel Acho Right. Uncomfortable conversation with the black man. I thought their publicists, their agents would like, just shut it down and edit every word. I think in volume two, I think there were two mentors who made some changes and they were all factual things. I'm actually from Kenya, not Nigeria, and I have an MBA, not at NPA, it was just factual stuff. But for the most part, they trusted me tremendously to write about them, and I take that trust very seriously and the hope that I put them in the right and good spotlight.
Stacy Mayer: I'm also realizing as you're talking, why I am a little averse to compilations. I was like thinking: why do I really like this book so much? I think it's because Scott's voice is the throughline. That's one piece. But here's the other thing about compilations is so often, and as a new author, I get pitched a lot to be in compilations and stuff, like it's this sort of beginning charity prize. It's our first opportunity. Heck, you can even become a best selling author by being in a compilation that becomes a best selling book. And it's like sort of this easy road.
Scott J. Miller: There's a genre of that now, yes.
Stacy Mayer: Yeah, it's a genre. And I read these books and I'm like: uhh. But now listening to you, I'm like: Oh yeah, these people are successful. They do not need this book.
Scott J. Miller: Mel Robbins does not need me writing about her book. Jack Canfield has sold 500 million books. Chicken Soup for the Soul. Seth Godin, Dan Pink, Liz Wiseman. Susan Kane. They don't need me. At all.
Stacy Mayer: But what do they need? They need to be a part of this mentoring world, this world that has helped their career, whether it's even being on your podcast and sharing their stories because it is so important, because every successful person has had that person who they looked up to that inspired them to get where they are. And that is another throughline in this book. It's all people who believe in the value of mentorship and guidance and thought leadership and sharing their wisdom openly.
Scott J. Miller: Yeah, that's right. No one got paid any money. Well, one person asked for money and they aren't in the book anymore. But super abundant people...I mean, John Gray, does not need any more money, any more fame, any more attention. He's got more money than anybody I know.
Stacy Mayer: Scott, he endorsed the front cover of my book.
Scott J. Miller: He did?
Stacy Mayer: Yes.
Scott J. Miller: See that's point, right? That's just a gift.
Stacy Mayer: I know. Her gives. It's a gift.
Scott J. Miller: That's exactly right.
Stacy Mayer: I know. And actually, you know, to that point, sometimes what I do is I use mentors as this. What would Scott do? And I actually remember when I reached out to John Gray, I said, why not? Why not me? I was just like, I'm going to ask. And I had to ask a few times, but I got the yes.
Scott J. Miller: Stacie, that's such a great principle. Including when you're finding a mentor, right? Is here's what I've learned. These are some big celebrities, right? I mean, it's hard to get to Matthew McConaughey. And he and I become friendly. His wife is going to appear in Volume three, he and Volume four. But they're just like you. They're all up in their bed at 930 at night on their phone, scrolling through their Instagram throwing, scrolling through their TikTok, watching International House Hunters. They're all doing the same thing you and I are doing. So why not reach out to them? Why not reach out to John Gray? People can't help you if they don't know you want help. And so I really applaud your bold pursuit of John Gray and what a gift he gave you to endorse your book. Well earned. Excellent book, insanely practical. We've just proved the point. A lot of these mentors now that appear in the book, they just want to give back. They just want to give back. Not trying to sell more books. They don't need more. They don't need another 50,000 or 100,000 speech. They gave a ton of those. And now they're looking at their legacy and their mission and their crescendo. And they want to help people like you take the mantle to the next phase of thought leadership. And and you're on the rise, girl.
Stacy Mayer: I get so excited about I see this over and over again for the women who get promoted. And once they get their career to this place where they're not constantly seeking career approval, that's when the thought leadership opens up. That's when they're able to give back. That's when they're able to join a board or or give more talks, become a public speaker, a public figure like you. And and so actually, I think that's a perfect segue way to close out this conversation. Any final words of advice for someone who is growing in their career looking for what's next? You know, sees these mentors, says, wow, if I could be something like that someday, that would be amazing.
Scott J. Miller: Well, I think the advice you just gave was golden is you've got to become confident in your skills. I didn't say arrogant, confident in your skills to see yourself. One of the mentors in Volume two is a man named Patrick Bet-David, I believe Persian by birth, fled Iran and came to the US as a refugee and he went on to become a successful phenom, has one of the largest YouTube channels. He wrote a book called Your Next Five Moves and he's in Master Mentor's Volume two. And one of the concepts that he writes in his book, The Next Five Moves and shared on the podcast interview, which is the feature of my chapter, is something he calls your Future True.
And this is the concept of of living and speaking in your future truth. I am a board member. I host the world's largest podcast. I started saying that before mine became the world's largest weekly leadership podcast. Now there's a fine line between being a pathological liar and speaking in your future truth. You figure out what's right for you. But I love this concept of speaking in your future truth, because then it becomes a narrative for your mind and your mind and your words and your actions and your belief in your self are all dangerously connected.
Scott J. Miller: I'll tell you, after reading Patrick Bet-David's book, I have ceased all negative self talk. I've ceased like humble brags. I just brag. I've ceased any talking about my weaknesses. I don't have time for them. And by the way, if you've got a critique for me, I don't have time for it either. I've got a posse that I've picked that are my feedback loops. They trust me, they know me, I know their intent, and they will tell me the truth no matter how much it hurts. Quite frankly, I don't care what you think about me, not you, the audience. That's not me being arrogant. It's me living in my future truth. And so I have well-established feedback loops to keep me directed and humbled and focus on my strengths. And I'm living my future truth. I love this idea. I'll tell you, this is a great book recommendation, your next five moves. And it basically is about thinking strategically, not just what's next, but what's next on the five things. And this concept of speaking and living in your future. Truth So powerful.
Stacy Mayer: So powerful. I love that so much. How can we help and support you with this book? How do we find out and learn more about you?
Scott J. Miller: You just did. You dedicated 40 plus minutes to me and you're rising platform. I'm grateful to you. My website is ScottJeffreyMiller.com You can learn how to book me for a keynote, which I'm doing too many of right now. I'm honored to be on the show. You can follow me on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube. I am so overexposed on social media. Good grief, I have 56 TikTok followers. 56 million or 56,000.
Stacy Mayer: No, he said it first. 56.
Scott J. Miller: I'm new to TikTok. I'm not dancing or singing. I'm kind of giving book reviews and doing short promotions of other people's books. Not my own. Okay, occasionally my own, but maybe I'm up to 57 today. Who knows? Follow me on TikTok. I'll get to 60 by 2023.
Stacy Mayer: That's so great, Scott. Thank you for coming on here again. I so appreciate it. And I know my listeners do as well.
Scott J. Miller: Thank you. Thank you. And I apologize for Wilson's intermittent barking. Thank you for being tolerant of my new puppy.
Stacy Mayer: Yay!

About Your Host
Hi! I'm Stacy Mayer, a Certified Executive Coach and Promotion Strategist on a mission to bring more diversity to the leadership table by getting 1000 underrepresented corporate managers promoted into senior executive positions each year worldwide.
I help undervalued executives scale to the C-Suite using repositioning strategies that build your confidence and visibility, so you can earn the recognition and support you need from key stakeholders while embodying your unique leadership style.
My podcast “Women Changing Leadership with Stacy Mayer” tackles topics like executive communication, getting more respect in the workplace from challenging bosses and team members, and avoiding the common mistakes that sabotage career advancement.
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