109. Mindset Shifts You Need to Master Your Business with Pete VanderVeen

Connect with the host:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-e-jenkins/
Website: https://www.birchprosper.com/
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About the guest:
Pete VanderVeen’s background spans launching 10+ companies spanning energy, fitness, franchising, youth athletics, real estate, and others.  He’s gone from participating in and founding upstarts to leading $100+ million in real estate development, and even managing within a fortune 5 company with $10+ billion in operations and 1,000+ reports. Pete’s purpose in recent years is to passionately help others get life and business right through executive leadership coaching.


Connect with Pete VanderVeen:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pete-vanderveen/
Website: triumphsolutionsusa.com


Episode Highlights:
✔️ The importance of mindset in starting a real estate investment journey
✔️ Strategies for identifying profitable real estate investment opportunities.
✔️ The process of buying your first property and the challenges involved.
✔️ Advice for aspiring real estate investors and entrepreneurs.
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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

And if we make those better individuals, we make them stronger people where they're more empowered, they're more educated, they're more knowledgeable, they're more confident, they're enjoying life more, they're enjoying the journey more. Productivity is going to become a product of that environment. It's just going to be natural. And then the PL will reflect that productivity.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

How successful would you be if you had the blueprint for building wealth as a real estate investor or as someone who acquires small businesses? If you want to move the needle financially in your life, then you need to understand one thing the capital stack. I'm your host, Brandon Jenkins, and this is where your journey to financial freedom begins. Hey, what's up, and welcome back to the Capital Stack. I'm your host, Brandon Jenkins. You know, one of the things that we talk about quite often on this show is the importance of repeated success, okay? Establishing a system and a process that would allow you to um leverage things that you've learned from past success and then carry that over into future opportunities, business uh ventures. And it is possible. You know, there are a lot of people who believe that um that you have to focus only on one thing, that you can't do anything more than that one. And I strongly disagree. And our guest today would also disagree because he has had repeated success, as I'll kind of uh detail here in a moment. Our guest today is Pete Vanderveen. Pete, how are you doing today? Good, brother.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Been great.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

It's good to be here. All right, man. Great to have you here, man. So Pete is a very successful serial entrepreneur. So check this out. He's launched over 10 companies, spanning energy, fitness, franchising, youth athletics, real estate, and more. So his experience also ranges from participating in founding upstarts to leading 100 million or over 100 million dollars in real estate development and all the way up to managing within a Fortune 5 company with over$10 billion in operations and 1,000 reports. So in recent years, Pete has dedicated himself to passionately helping others through his executive leadership coaching program, where he fights hard for his clients, for their families, their relationships, and their companies. So, Pete, welcome to the show. Um, you know, look, this has been a long time coming, and I'm I'm excited to have you here, but I'm sure I missed some of the details in that intro. Kind of why don't you maybe fill us in a little bit on your journey and your background?

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Yeah, thanks, brother. Um yeah, my my journey's been kind of an organic one and uh just got out of college, went head first into the energy sector and and really moved up quickly, started building companies because I was I just got bored quickly and and I was always passionate to do better than the status quo. I'm I'm person I'm personally really bothered by people just accepting mediocrity or accepting inefficiencies. So then I always went back and I was like, I can do this better, or we can do this better. So then that kind of just got me into a hunger to just build company after company, fix company. And what I've really my career has really become is I've really become a turnaround expert where now I've I've fixed over 50 companies and I've just gone in and identified issues and helped bring leadership and help bring you know systems and processes, but really built a company on a strong foundation of empowering human capital. And and to me, I'm passionate. If I can help someone else be successful, that gives me a sense of purpose and a sense of pride. And I know that that is the foundation to corporate success or any type of success. If you make your success, you know, contingent upon the success of others, there's nothing that'll stop you.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Uh I couldn't agree uh more. I think that's a very, very important point. And I think it's one that that um is often overlooked, especially nowadays where everyone really kind of wants things, wants stuff to be done fast and now, and they don't really take the time to stop, and to consider um, you know, do they have the right tools um in place to get whatever result or outcome they're looking for? Um and so if for the listeners, because you know, we we are it for some of us it might seem intuitive when someone says human capital, but but maybe elaborate on that a bit. Like what is it about empowering people to maximize human capital that that can enable a business to turn around from maybe not doing so well to having success?

SPEAKER_00 4:18

So, what I would say is it's human nature to try to figure it out on your own. And then I think you know, corporate America is really founded on, or corporate America and American culture is really founded on this individual approach. And by default, what ends up happening is you create a culture where we all pretend we don't need someone else, we don't want anyone else, and then you step into a corporate environment where the entire focus of management, ownership, executives is profit, the PL. All they care about is a PL. And at that point, all they want is output, and they're willing to do whatever it takes, push on that accelerator to the floor and just drive performance. And what they end up doing is they just try to get more output without putting any input in. It's like taking the Corvette, you know, take a brand new Z06 off the lot today and put that thing to the floor without any gas in the tank, and it ain't gonna work. It doesn't matter how much horsepower is under the hood, it doesn't matter what you do to the motor, it's not gonna produce more. And I think that's what corporate America does. And I know that that's what the real estate world is prolific as well, is people just think if you just work harder, work longer, just drive with people, drive yourself harder, you know, sacrifice elsewhere for success, and success just being monetary, every one of us is gonna fail at some point because we're gonna run out of fuel and we're gonna run out of gas. Human power or empowering human capital to me is a fundamental word. It's realizing I can 3x your PL by helping you realize that what is that the foundation of your company is a core of people, you know, men and women that comprise of your team. And if we make those better individuals, we make them stronger people where they're more empowered, they're more educated, they're more knowledgeable, they're more confident, they're enjoying life more, they're enjoying the journey more. Productivity is going to become a product of that environment. It's just going to be natural. And then the PL will reflect that productivity. But what happens in corporate America is they don't focus on that because they think, oh, that's just HR. Let's just throw some documents in place. Let's just put some, you know, some tinsel on the tree. Human empowering human capital is really an is a leadership endeavor where you're just striving to equip. It's just like athletics, right? A coach can see if someone's playing forward on the court and they don't, they're not really getting it. Take them off the court, you help them become better. So the next time they go back on the court, they can play that, they can run their route better, they get the game better, they're they're a better teammate. And that's what if we can empower human capital, you can drive, you're gonna have stronger people, healthier people, people that are happier, and those people are gonna come to work with a better, with a better cadence and a better, you know, a zest for life, and that's gonna transfer into productivity, which will transfer into you know, financial health of a company.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

Yeah, I think that's an incredible um uh point there. You know, I I worked um in in corporate America for a number of years, and I've seen, you know, firsthand what happens when a company says, okay, well, hold on a minute. You know, let's actually do sort of let's flip things on its head, because you're right. The conventional approach has been just look at that PL statement and let's only focus on outputs and how much juice can we squeeze out of the lemon. Let's not worry about, you know, planting more trees. And so, um, so I've seen firsthand what happens when a company says, Well, well, let's let's stop and let's not do that. Let's focus on people and um and the productivity, just like you said, shot through the roof. People were much more excited to come to work, you know, the environment changed completely and totally. And um, and it felt good. It felt good to to to be there. Uh, but you know, the question is so for companies who are resistant to that, because you're right, that has been the status quo. That's been the way that things have always operated. Like, how could how do you get someone to see that, hey, listen, you know, this is what you need to focus on, you know, because I think sometimes it is very it's very clear to us who are maybe on the outside looking in. How do you get someone to kind of step back and see and see really what some of their own uh issues are and how to tackle them?

SPEAKER_00 8:37

Well, it's it's certainly a challenge because what you're doing is you're telling something that seems or telling someone, you're telling a leadership committee or you're telling an organization something that seems counterintuitive. So it you really have to get someone that's wanting to listen, and you have to remove ego from the equation because a lot of executives, a lot of management, they want they're driven by ego. And then the shiny object to them is profitability. Everything else to them doesn't matter because it doesn't, it doesn't fulfill the ego drive that they're looking for. It's not giving them that high. Empowering human capital is doing the things, it's like that saying where it's like you get rewarded in public for the hard things that you did in private, right? And that's what empowering human capital is is you're spending a lot of time behind the curtain to make people better versions of themselves, but then it becomes exponential, it becomes explosive. So it just it's it's someone that you have to have a group of people that realize this isn't working, and they also realize that this only works for a little while and then it creators. So it's like if I if I drive my my corporate team to the max, I might get some short-term you know productivity out of it, but eventually I'm burning people out. Eventually, people are leaving, eventually I've got turnover, and I also create an economy of fear because people are fearful that if I don't produce X, I'm done. I'm gone, career's over, income's gone, health benefits gone. And that's a culture of fear, it's a culture of scarcity. So you really have to get someone that gets it that hey, this this short-term approach is catastrophic. It's destroying people, it's destroying the economies of my company. Therefore, I need to go back and find something that really works. And it's it's got some, you know, this is lifelong, or this is kind of it stands a test of time in terms of being effective. It's biblical, it's just good nature where you just treat people well and then watch what happens. But once you get someone that can see and they can hear it and they can realize it, then it's like then there's no holds bar at that point. It's like we can we can do incredible things. Yeah, I I I can kind of see what you mean there.

SPEAKER_01 10:49

It's like you have to they they have to realize it, right? Um, before you can really, really get the most out of that engagement. Because if someone goes into it and they're already saying, sure, we can have a conversation, but this isn't going to work. Well, then it's like, okay, well, they have a mindset issue. And unfortunately, um, for people who do have a mindset issue, it can become an almost um, you know, impenetrable barrier until you know that whatever the issues are get it gets addressed. And then now they they of course sort of unlock this um this whole new world of opportunity and growth. And so um, you know, yeah, I it's it's it is interesting though, how there's there there's kind of like half half of us have seen and are aware of the many issues that are faced when you don't empower human capital and focus on the things that really move the company, which is uh are your people, and then there's the other half that thinks that, well, you just you know focus on the company doing what it's always done and we'll be just fine, regardless of what the um so so I want to talk a bit kind of about about your background because again, you have a very, very impressive background. And I'm just out of uh, you know, maybe if we can even start from kind of how you got your start, you know, and um and and what you I think you mentioned briefly kind of you know what sort of led you in this direction, but but how did you start to really see, okay, well, I can start to apply some of these efficiencies and lessons learned, all these things to multiple companies?

SPEAKER_00 12:08

Yeah, that's a that's a great question. Um I guess like you and I actually have a similar background. We're we're in the energy sector. So that to me was a was an exciting industry because it was it was blow and go. There was a lot of there was limited glass ceilings, like you see in other industries. So it's like the faster, the harder you work, the faster you climb, the more, you know, I was I was running 10 to 100 million dollar operations shortly out of college. And that was exciting. But what I started to see is even in my own journey, like I had to heal from trauma, I had to, I had to heal from family of origin, I had to heal, and I, and then stepping into marriage, I realized like I'm getting a lot of things wrong. So it was a lot of it was reflective of my own life where I realized like I have to become a better person to become more impactful, to become more influential, to become more, you know, to leave a better legacy. And then I started to look at corporate world, and I was like, well, what if we apply the same principles here? And and then, of course, I was in the energy sector, but I was also fitness enthusiasts. So I started building fitness companies. But my principle was let's build fitness companies where you're not a number, you're a human being. And well, let's invest in these people on a humanitarian level, and let's show these people we care. And then and I just started to bounce and then I got into real estate, which was like, let's let's do real estate better than the status quo, which was you know, fix and flip. It's like it was the real estate industry has really been founded on how fast can I get in, how fast can I get out, and whatever it takes to get there. Like it's scorched earth policy a lot of times. It's like whatever it takes. And so, what I wanted to do is build real estate business and and do real estate investing with a higher purpose and with a with a desire to do things with people along the way so that everyone benefits. So I guess it became just kind of a passion where I just hated to see this short-sighted approach, which I knew maybe gave them quick results, but the next person had a pile of crap on their hands. Like it would, it just like if I if I drive a company to the ground for profit, well, in five years that company is gonna be just it's just gonna be ashes. And then now what? Now we got a bigger problem. So that one executive might have benefited for three years. Now we got even a bigger problem on our hands. And it's just like you and I, if you and I try to work, you try to burn the candle at both ends, eventually your wife's gonna have enough, your kids are gonna wonder where you are, you're gonna be a you're gonna show up to work and be half productive. Like you just eventually, you just everyone suffers. Everyone, you know, has to deal with the crap that you threw their way because you you only gave half effort because you tried to be everything to everyone. So to me, it was just starting to build companies, which was help people see the truth and then help walk them to a place where they're like, oh wow, this really works. And I I I'm kind of a player's coach, but I always approach a company from like a special team where it's like I'm up in the stands and I'm looking down and I'm seeing what's working, I see what's not working, but I also see what people don't understand. And I think a lot of times it's an education process. If you can teach someone and if you can give someone the skill sets and the know-how and the tools, and then give them the encouragement to get back on the field, you'd be surprised what kind of performance they can have. But a lot of times, I would say in athletics and you know, corporate America, what you see is a coach yelling at someone on the field, just ripping on someone, being like, You stupid, why didn't you run that? Meanwhile, that guy just he froze, he didn't know what to do. Maybe he didn't get explained the play long enough. But most of the time it's he wants to, he just doesn't know how to. And a lot of times, if we can help people just know by empowering them and giving them skill sets and doing whatever it takes to help them get to a place where they know and they have the ability and the confidence and the tools, at that point it becomes natural for them.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

Yeah, I think that's um, you know, again, just an incredible point that you make there because uh you're right. A lot of times people they want to perform. And um, you know, and they and depending on who they're working for or working with, you know, that person might not really fully grasp that. And they're only looking at the person's shortcomings and they're trying to address those quickly and aggressively without thinking about the whole person, without thinking about whether or not they fully understand and have the tools in order to execute whatever the the uh plan is or the strategy is. And and that does come from a lack of understanding and empathy and compassion for people, you know. So I again it's for me, I just find it fascinating that what's at the core of this is what drives a group or a company or an undertaking. And it's it's always going to come back to uh, well, okay, let me let me talk to your people. How how do they feel? You know, how do they feel when they have a problem or a question and they approach you and say, look, I really want to do this, but you know, I don't quite understand how. You know, do you do you shove them out and or do you throw a binder at them or something like that, say, get out of the office and look, you know, look at this binder right here? Or do you stop and and really kind of ask questions um that can either help them see that maybe they have their understanding within themselves, or maybe you can clarify whatever the process is. Um, and you mentioned that in real estate, you know, you see this sort of churn and and burn depending on what the strategy is. It's really, really just about across the board, but um but uh that's another arena where it's about the people. You know, it's one of the most relationship heavy businesses and industries that there is, but you still, um, depending on kind of which which group you're you're in, which your strategy is, you still see this this uh lack of of of caring for people. You know, sometimes you just treat them like a like just a cog in the in the engine, and it's like if they're not doing exactly what I need them to do, I'm gonna take them out and replace them. It's like, well, maybe you can stop and understand kind of what motivates them, and and that's how you can get the most out of them, you know? Yeah. Um, and so uh so let's let's talk about a little bit about the um about your your your program, right? So how are you able to who's your ideal client and kind of what do you do to maybe help them realize some of the things that that we're talking about here and then to get the outcomes that you know that they can achieve?

SPEAKER_00 18:40

So yeah, I I'd say in the last I've like I've I've I stepped away from a Fortune 5 company in 2020, and then since then I've been really heavily focused on kind of the small to mid-cap companies, so you know, some of the smaller real estate groups, and then of course I've been in in medicine and SaaS and finance tech and aviation and several other other industries, media. And what what I've really been focused on is the venture capital private equity side of the of the field, where there's a lot of investment going into companies today, so private equity or venture capital investment into said company, and then there too, the status quo was they just want quick ROI. So they come in, they hack and slash, and then they exit. Well, I've been on the receiving end of that where I was the one that came in after the hack and slash and the exit, and I had just an extremely distressed asset. I had a company that had just been pilfered for a quick ROI. So then I would build it, I'd build it up again. So what I've realized is if we can get ahead of that equation and we can be upstream, where now we're we're helping, we're helping financial groups, family offices, private equity, venture capital, we're helping them buy assets that are distressed, but then we're making kind of a mission-focused turnaround. So this can be upstarts, this can be existing, this can be, you know, aged companies. But nonetheless, what we're doing is we're helping these people see like there's there's there's two ways of being successful. One is a perceived success, which is like instant success, or we can set this thing up for long-term success. So not only do you benefit, but now you sell a more viable product, a more long-term, long-standing, healthy product to the next person, and you change lives along the way, and you you don't just create, you know, create another problem for someone else to pick up. So what I do now is I just kind of try to follow money, follow distressed assets, and then really help them turn this thing around in a proper way. Because a lot of times executives, believe it or not, most I think I saw statistics the other day that 77% of companies in America admit that they have bad leadership. That's a staggering statistic. And so what oftentimes I feel like happens is leadership actually doesn't know how to lead. They've just been appointed a C-suite position, but doesn't mean they actually know how to lead. They just may be a subject matter expert at the point. So what I've really done is just trying to work with teams, work with organizations that I could see are distressed. And then I come in there and I provide a different approach to doing things, which is very counterintuitive, which is very counterculture to corporate America. But the results are exponential. And and to me, it's gratifying because I get to make I get to change lives. And to me, a company is a sum of people, and those people all have lives, they've all got families, they've all they all are part of communities. So if like if we have an endeavor to change America to make this a better country, we better start in the corporate environment because that has that has long lasting impacts into every facet of society.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

That's incredible. And you're right. I mean, that that um it that's kind of what's foundational to the country the company's uh sorry, the country's uh future and certainly the present, right? I mean, it just it's it has this huge ripple effect to where if you can actually change corporate culture for the for the better, um, then you have effectively changed the the the the the country, the country's path. I I I kind of love that that mission. It's one that you really don't hear that often, but it's like uh yeah, I mean and I said that because you know, too often I think that corporate America kind of is a uh it's a punching bag for very uh a great many things. But uh the reality is uh corporate America is in a very, very important and necessary part of this uh country and it's very important in people's lives. Okay, and so it's it's um it's it's super important. So I'm not quite, you know, I don't know exactly when it started to be this punching bag, but it is, and it's like, well, let's look at understanding exactly how we can um, if there are any areas for improvement, then sure, let's go ahead and improve those, but let's not just kind of unnecessarily target and attack um this thing that has done so much good for this country, for the or for the people of this country. Um and I want to ask you, okay, you you mentioned there that there are two ways to realize success. You mentioned that that perceived success and long-term, um, and that I think the second, the long-term success is kind of really what the preferred approach is. Um, and so, but but that's always something that's kind of challenging, right? When you're working with a client and um depending on what the relationship is, depending on how things are structured, they might be looking for this immediate turnaround, this immediate you know, feedback loop. And um, you know, how how how do you get them to see that that success is coming as a result of what you're doing now, even though you're sowing seeds for long-term success, not necessarily in a week you'll see a 50% boost in, you know what I mean? Like how do you get how do you get them to sort of buy into okay, listen, we're doing this for the long-term health and growth of your company.

SPEAKER_00 24:09

Well, let me get let me give an example. So I was working with a finance tech, uh, this is probably a two billion dollar finance tech um provider up in this in the Chicago area, and I was working with the executive team. And so the the CEO was really getting to a point where he was working Monday to Friday, working long hours, long days. He had a family, two little kids, and he admissioned to me, like, I'm coming into home base on my face, like I'm coming into home plate on my face. And and to me, if I'm talking about him, I'm talking about majority of corporate American. And I'm not here to punch them, but I'm here to admit, try to point a point out something that this philosophy just it has it has a lot of diminishing returns. And so this this individual, what I helped him see is, and a lot of their growth was actually during COVID. So they had a lack of culture, they had rapid scaling going on, and it was just it was out, they were kind of like unable to manage the speed and the growth and the and the dynamics of the corporation. But what I helped him realize is he as a leader had to become leadership material. So one of the things I helped him do is I helped him start to focus on how does he become more holistically strong and healthy. So getting him to really apply his efforts into filling up his tank, right? Which was in his in his default mentality and is in in what corporate America taught him to do was he just sacrificed his everything for corporate success. When I helped him realize like getting up in the morning and doing like this power hour where he just did his devotions and he did his like personal time and he invested into himself, and then he had a great breakfast with his wife and kids, and then brought his kids to school. And and then every day he was going to the gym, and every day and he was doing all these things to invest into himself. And then I helped him realize how much his leadership was was predicated by his investing in other people. It kind of goes back to the marketing, the no like and trust. I'm like, if you want your corporate team to to to transact the way you want them to, they need to trust you. Therefore, you have to help them like you, therefore, you have to get them to know you. So when I helped him realize and connect all the dots, he was no longer working 80-hour weeks, he was working 40 hour weeks and he was twice as productive, three times as productive as he was working 80 hour weeks. But then his impact on his teams, his lieutenants, was exponential because he started to like radiate, you know, positivity, started to radiate kind of this inner energy. He started to radiate a passion for people. And his team started to realize he wasn't just a dictator, he was someone that actually cared about them and he was interested in their success because their success was his success. And like I started to the momentum started to build to the point where he was thriving and his teams were thriving, and then the growth of the corporation just became exponential at that point. But I had to prove it to him. But what I did is I flipped, you know, corporate American, you know, perceived best practices on its head. Like we were like, hey, what you think you should do, it doesn't work, but this will work because what a lot of people do is they'll think, well, if I go to the gym, that'll make me feel better. Well, going to the gym is actually a superficial thing. You're doing superficial activities, but it's like, are you really investing in your spirit into your heart? Are you really getting filled and fueled in the things that matter most? And then are you a person that can apply that and make a difference to the next person? When you get that right, that's when you start to see this rapid growth and this rapid change. And that was just an example of like helping the leadership understand how they can become inspirational. And I think Deion Sanders today is a perfect example. He doesn't go in to win football games, he goes in to build better people. He he states, My passion isn't football. My passion is to build better men, better fathers, better husbands, better leaders. I'm helping these men that some of them had their dads are incarcerated. I want to make a difference in these men's lives, and then let's dominate life. And while we're dominating life, we're going to dominate on the field.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

Yeah, I mean, there's a direct I love that you said that there's a direct connection, correlation between how how we feel and kind of what we bring to work with us. It's not, it's not as if when we walk through, you know, whatever your your work is, it's not when we walk through those doors and get started, we leave ourselves at the door. We very much carry ourselves along with us in anything that uh we feel and our emotions and everything else comes right along with us, and it also carries over into our relationships and our families and things like that. And you know, I have to applaud you because you getting to getting a startup company, especially in the tech space, to see that hey, you can actually slow down a little bit, focus on people, and you'll get better results. That's not an easy task. Okay, because that's that's one of those industries where um it's all about speed, it's all about a lot of hours, it's all about, I mean, you know, they're very quick to um let people go and and things like that. So I I think that's uh a testament to kind of your commitment and dedication and what you're able to pull a lot of people, um, because that that's very important uh as well. So I just think that's that's incredible stuff. And so uh let's see. So on the um uh some of the other work that you've done and kind of what you're you're doing now, are are you still so you're focusing on helping helping your clients out by focusing more on the leaders? And do you get do you get more engagement, more results for your clients by focusing on the leadership or the teams themselves, or a little bit of both? Like kind of what's your what what have you seen that really, really starts to drive more uh results for a company?

SPEAKER_00 30:07

Yeah, I definitely give it a two-fold approach. Like I I love working with the teams, but I also realize like oftentimes, believe it or not, the leaders are the problem because the leaders are the ones that are steering the ship, the leaders are the ones that are the what the teams are looking up to, they're going to the leadership, and the leadership creates culture essentially. And if a leader, like if you took an average corporation where the leader is unable to really connect with the people and they're in their corner office and they're barking out orders, and they demand productivity and they demand higher sales and they demand better profit margins. Well, what ends up happening is that's what I was saying before, that creates a fear culture because he's demanding output, but he's not doing anything to deliver an input. Like he's not facilitating any type of, he's not fueling up the Corvette, so to speak. So that starts to create a disconnect where that person can get more and more adamant and the people become more and more fearful. And the here's the part that really chafes me is in a corporate environment, when people start to feel fear, then people start to bust chuck and it becomes everyone for themselves, and it's a dog eat dog culture. And that's when things rapidly decline. It's when you see high turnover, that's when you see management doing whatever it takes to cover their butt so that they look like they're not responsible, someone else is, and accountability goes to the pieces. And in that environment, like everything is falling apart and everything's breaking at the seams. So I'm passionate to help that leader understand like you have a huge impact here. But the impact comes from who you are as a person, not what comes out of your mouth. Because if you're what comes out of your mouth isn't inspirational, it doesn't match what you are as a person, like leadership becomes leadership is really who you are as a person because you empty words mean nothing. It doesn't inspire. But if a leader can become inspirational, then he can start to create massive influence inside the boardroom. And then that boardroom can create massive influence inside the teams. And then what I can also do is meet with the teams and work with the teams and help them see, okay, look what we're doing with leadership. We're helping them see what's working, what's not working. Now we work with the teams and I can help relay that message because I can help the leadership understand, but doesn't mean that they can still teach it or it doesn't mean that they can actually relay the message. But so it's a kind of a two-fold approach, is helping leadership understand and helping them start to, you know, walk the walk and talk the talk at the same time, not just talk the talk. And then helping the teams give them tools and techniques. Because I think one of the big things people make a mistake on is they think that leadership is something that HR can manage. Well, I believe that HR is actually terrible at empowering people because HR is an accounting program for humans. Like it's just checks and balances and raw laws and regulation. HR is just a compliance organization of your facility or of your organization. So they actually don't empower people. They just are one more reason why someone should be fearful because HR is looking at me. And if I say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing. You know, if I'm unproductive, I'm gone. So HR is not where this needs to happen. It needs to happen at the leadership level, but the leadership level has to show and lead by example. And then when everyone starts to march in the same direction, everyone starts to row in the same direction, that's when you create an incredible culture because it's based on authenticity. Because you can't fake this stuff. And I think that's the other thing is how many of us have worked with people, seen organizations, seen teams where everyone pretends they've got, you know, even in real estate, how many people on LinkedIn do you see they're driving a fancy car and they're they're they got the bling and they, you know, they pretend like their life is just they're crushing it, right? Meanwhile, what's happening? They got a divorce, the kids, the kids probably hate them, they're depressed, they're drinking. Like you can't fake leadership and you can't fake authentic change and you can't fake impact. Impact comes from sound effective leadership, and effective leadership comes when you really know and in your heart, you are living the truth and you're living that principle.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

Yeah, I think authenticity is is a very, very important piece to all of this, you know. And and I think one of the things that and in kind of continuing the topic that you mentioned there about real estate, what people will put on, you know, social media to make it look like, oh man, they're just killing it. Um, I think for some people it's the it's imposter syndrome, you know, and and because they're not where they want to be, they feel that they have to put a message out there that makes it seem like they they are. Um, but you're right, people see through that, you know, and that's and that's not authentic and it's really not helping anybody. It's not helping themselves and it's not helping the people that they want to serve. And so um, you know, having an authentic message and brand and just being true to yourself is so much more fulfilling. And um, and it's just it's just it's just so much, it's more real. You know, you can make a better connection with people by by doing that, being open. I think nowadays people maybe more than ever kind of appreciate a little bit of uh vulnerability. And so um I think that's that's very important going forward, you know. And on the on the topic of kind of leaders really showing leadership and walking the walk, you know, I've we've all worked for somebody, I'm sure, where you know, maybe they didn't they weren't kind of uh as verbose or as you know, they didn't speak quite as much as some people, but because they walked the walk, they were just that much easier to follow. You know, like you you mentioned we were both in the energy sector, and um, I worked in drilling engineering for for some time. And uh one of my managers was just a really, really good guy. And um, you know, we all worked extremely hard, you know, it was a it was a tough job, but because he was a true leader, it was very easy to follow his example and to work hard. You know, we had we we had to come in on Saturday sometimes, depending on if we were on shift and had to watch you know the operations. And so um, you know, so it was not a problem at all because it's like, you know what, I enjoy the work. He invests in in making sure that the the people are doing what they uh are feeling good and that their their situations and relationships are where they need to be. So it makes it easier to show up, you know, and um there's just so many examples um of that. I like also I like the point that you mentioned there too about HR. You know, you really can't rely on um that group to sort of build leaders. Um, you know, every organization is a little bit different, but I think fundamentally it it's it's more, you know, it's the first time I heard someone say accounting program for humans. That's pretty interesting term. But um, but yeah, it's just um you have to have more than just that kind of a written policy that says we're gonna build leaders because of this. It's it's more than that. Yeah. Absolutely. Um so it's so what's what's kind of what what's next for you? Like what direction are you headed? And especially because you know, we're in this time now, maybe more than ever. You know, we're on the hills of uh uh kind of of the pandemic where we saw some very interesting things and and kind of a some culture shifts, and especially because your one of your focuses is tech. And and you mentioned um earlier that uh that some of the companies that were born out of COVID, uh COVID, you know, they had that lack of culture. They're really very quickly trying to grow and scale, so they're forgetting about that human capital piece. So what what kind of direction are you heading in um now as we still sort of deal with this uh this post-pandemic sort of um environment and culture?

SPEAKER_00 37:58

Yeah, so I think I'm I'm actually involved with two tech companies. Both of them are relatively new in the upstart space, both of them going through you know significant VC rounds, kind of 506C rounds. And then I'm also working in real still working in the built-to-rent real estate space. But to me, I just feel like I'm more convicted. I'm more I feel like I'm finding my stride in terms of knowing that my calling is is to help other people get it right. And and I just to me, it's I feel like as I'm getting older and getting more mature, I I feel like I I stress the little things less. I'm not worried about so much exactly what I'm doing. I just trust, I just know that if I'm doing the right things and I'm helping the right people, that just things have a way of working out. And so for me, I just I'm more passionate to create, you know, and this kind of agency approach where we can help more people, help more teams, help more companies, and just kind of spread the gospel of how to run corporate America the right way. And because to poke to poke and prod and punch corporate America in the face and and that does nothing. It doesn't, and you and I being the drilling sector, identifying problems doesn't solve problems. It's come to the problem, identify a problem and then provide a solution. Otherwise, you're just another, you know, you're just another loud person that's obnoxious. So for me, it's like if we can, if we can make to me, I think it comes back to biblical principles, but if if we can have, if we can leave a legacy, if we can make change lives, if we can make Mother Teresa said, if you want to change the world, start at home. And I'm a sound believer in that is like whatever I do, I just want to be the rising tide in the harbor that can raise all the ships, not just some of the ships. But I just feel like I'm I'm more and more driven, more and more passionate to be, you know, someone with a loudspeaker on a hill to spread the gospel of how do we change lives? And because we we talked about it just recently, but we spend more time with our coworkers than we do with our families. Like there is no place on earth that you spend more time than at work. And if you grudge, if you begrudgingly drag your butt through 40 years of corporate America, what a waste. But if you can have 40 years where you were just enjoying life, you were enjoying the journey, it wasn't about the destination, but you you you blessed people, you cared about people, you invested into people, you collaborated with people, you communicated with people. If you do all that effectively, like I'm I just know and believe that we can have an incredible impact on people, incredible impact on companies, and we can see the productivity that results.

SPEAKER_01 40:49

Yeah, you know, it really is all about kind of having having that impact, you know, making sure, I mean, uh really investing in kind of what you can do for others. Um, you know, and it's it's something that it's funny because year years ago, uh in hearing um this, you know, for me, I struggled with that, with accepting that. And um, I just thought it was, oh, it's just a bunch of mumbo jumbo and people, but it's like, no, making an impact really does something um positive uh for for you. You know, it really is something that can really motivate you because in the end, it's it's uh, you know, people who are just looking for more and and just for the sake of having more, it's like, okay, well, now what? So once you have it, what are you gonna do with it? Um, it really starts, it doesn't really start to feel um worthwhile until you start to see what you can do for other people. So I just think that that is um absolutely vital to what we do. I think it's important that in really in any business that that's at its core, who you're gonna serve, you know, what group are you trying to um make a positive change on, or what what uh maybe what process or whatever it is that can then um indirectly make a positive change on someone. But to me, that has to be at the core of what we do. Um and so, you know, Pete, kind of getting to the actionable tip portion of the show. And so um I want to give like some some actions that can maybe help solve a problem for someone. So someone who is, you know, they're they're a leader with a in a company and they are trying to figure out how to drive change in their people, you know, what's some action that they can take today that can help at least help them begin to take a step in that direction?

SPEAKER_00 42:27

Yeah, that's a great question. I would I would say step one needs to be that that person needs to show their teams that their teams can identify with them, like they can connect with them. Like they're not they're not someone in a glass tower that's out of reach. Like the most effective leaders are the ones that rub elbows with their team, right? Like, let's go back to Deion Sanders. He's in the locker room, he's he's pumping his team up, but he's hugging, he's embracing, he's speaking over these guys. He is like, he's there, and that's how he has incredible impact. And he knows his team knows he's gonna go into battle with them. And I think as a leader that wants this to go on this journey, they need to light a fire in their soul so that they can start to show that to other people, and then that's when the authenticity starts to show itself, that's when the buying starts to show itself. But if you start with just, you know, trying to do something externally, like if you're just gonna go to the gym because you think lifting weights will make you feel better, you're gonna realize that that eventually that new car smell goes away too, because it has to start on the inside.

SPEAKER_01 43:41

Yeah, yeah. I love that. Kind of taking taking a look inward and then and then figuring out how you can improve. So that that that skill, I believe it is a skill of self reflection and then taking action. I think that's very, very important. Um, so Pete, look, this has been um absolutely incredible, man, and a value added conversation. And I know the listeners got A lot out of this, and I know I certainly did as well. Um, how can the listeners hear more about you, maybe reach out to you and kind of see more of your content?

SPEAKER_00 44:09

Yeah, I think the best place is just follow me on LinkedIn. Just I'm on I'm on LinkedIn just forward slash Pete Vanerveen. But I'm that's that's my passion is if I can help provide information or provide tools or or just another another perspective on how to turn your organization around. I'd love to help or I'd love to give someone some fundamentals that'll actually get them to where they want rather than realizing that the shiny object syndrome didn't pay off.

SPEAKER_01 44:39

Awesome, awesome. So I'll I'll include uh a link to your LinkedIn and the show notes. And again, Pete, look, man, this has been amazing, man. Just really appreciate you taking the time to kind of share some some uh some of your journey and some tips with us today. And uh just been awesome having you on the show. So thank you. Thanks, brother. It's been good. As always, thank you so much for tuning in to the show today, brought to you by Bridge Prosper. If you enjoyed today's episode and you'd like to learn more about commercial real estate investing, please like, subscribe, and share. And we'll see you again next week. I'm Brandon Jenkins, and this is the Capital Stack, where we help you learn, apply, and prosper.