But I think he’s forgot a lot more about leadership and coaching that I might ever know. I’m humble enough and my humility’s there to admit this, but I immensely respect Sean Glaze and the knowledge he drops. I had pages and pages of notes on it. I was probably not doing that great of an interview because I was writing down what he was saying, but he just authored a new book, what Effective Leaders Do amazing book.

And he writes ’em all just like I’m starting mine in a business parable, A story, a [00:01:00] hero’s journey, and it is just amazing. It is a plane flight read. When you’re done, you put it down, you’re ready to attack. And so that’s all I gotta say. So I’m gonna kinda shut up and just pass it on here to Sean. A fantastic conversation.

It might be a little longer than what we’re used to, but I promise you once you hear it, you’ll understand why and you’ll just, you’ll have your own notes as well. So, without further, further ado, here’s my really good friend Sean Glaze from Sticky Cultures. Let’s level up.

Hey, time to Shine today. Podcast Varsi Squad. Welcome back to another powerful edition of the time to Time to Shine Today podcast with Coach Fergie. I’m your host, Scott Ferguson. Blessed to be your gap coach, specializing in mental performance conditioning, working with professionals and amateur athletes, business leaders, entrepreneurs, entertainers, C-suite, and students to help them bridge their success gap and to live a life of options and not obligations on this platform, we are soaked to bring you high performers.

Who are not just chasing and attaining success, but redefining it through, providing above and beyond service. And talk about this, like I had my [00:02:00] really good friend who I’m about to introduce you to on May 12th, 2020. It was episode 78 and my good friend Sean Glaze. Is a game changer in the world of leadership and culture.

He went from commanding huddles as a championship winning basketball coach to now leading boardrooms and ballrooms across the country. His name again, Sean Glaze. Remember this name, and this man knows how to turn raw talent into unstoppable teamwork. Sean is a dynamic keynote speaker and team building expert who’s worked with powerhouse organizations like Cisco, John Deere, the CDC, and Emory University, helping them boost collaboration, productivity, and build what he calls.

Sticky cultures, environments, people don’t want to leave and teams thrive. Again. He’s the author of four books. I just getting a little late on this podcast because I was picking his brain and he was so generous with his time. He has got his books rapid Teamwork, that also the 10 Commandments of Winning Teammates Staying Coachable and his Latest and Greatest, which we’re gonna dig into what Effective Leaders do.

And each one of these [00:03:00] books are packed with real world lessons. I love, I love parables, real world lessons that create. Real time results. So if you’re a leader who’s tired of lip service and wants practical strategies that actually stick, buckle up. Sean’s here to help you elevate and influence your, energize your team, and lead with intention.

Sean, thank you so much for coming back. , Again, it’s been five plus years when you and I stay in touch periodically just via text, cheering each other on and and whatnot. But I have to ask you like, is there a superpower that you have that maybe nobody knows about

Sean Glaze: a superpower? Man. No, not at all.

I you just, you can just

L. Scott Ferguson: take I the results loving kids from different backgrounds and make ’em a championship team. That’s it. I I’m

Sean Glaze: the result of, of stealing and borrowing and adapting and adopting information. Yes. And unbelievable buffet of people. I’ve been you very blessed to be acqua acquainted with.

So yeah, no, I’ll tell you what, that introduction, Scott, I I’m gonna have to record or use that recording next time I’m up on stage. Ill do it. Thank you so much for that.

L. Scott Ferguson: [00:04:00] You’re welcome, man. You’re welcome. I like, I, I’ve been really a lot of people like, is that chat? I’m like, no, dude. I like to get creative with my stuff and like get, , because I’m just high energy.

And just wanted to like really get like, , the people that have carved their time to come on and share with the listeners out there squad, , like the, that make ’em shine. So what has been going on? What, what’s been happening lately? My friend.

Sean Glaze: Well, as you said, I’m really excited to to have what effective leaders do.

The most recent book that I’ve published. Yes. It’s been great and had, , unbelievable reviews and, , response in terms of referrals and and that being one of the more recent keynotes, obviously that’s kind of built around the book. So thrilled to share that with leaders. And it, it really is kind of the last piece of, I know you mentioned the idea of sticky cultures when I first started years ago with great results team building, , the idea of.

You’re building a great culture with rapid teamwork and yeah. Helping your employees become winning teammates, right, and then helping those people stay coachable. I think that effective leadership is that last piece of the cycle that helps organizations build a sticky culture.

L. Scott Ferguson: I love the [00:05:00] sticky culture.

I wish I would’ve thought of that per ’cause. It is just, it’s awesome. I mean, what, what you were before it was, it was kind of. , It was elementary, it was like spot on. Right. But this like, is like sticky cultures, dude. That’s, that’s awesome. That, that, that’s awesome. And speaking of sticky cultures, like, like people will talk to me about, , like I train my employees.

To actually leave me. Right. But I try to treat them like they never will. Right. Donnie? It’s like, but , like the, in all seriousness though, like that’s what I got a lot out of, kind of the book, , effective leadership, like really treating the people like they want to be treated right, but also getting them the opportunity to grow.

Especially with I believe the your, we’re gonna get into all the characters, but the boss, right. Because he was like freaking out like the whole book. Right. And I also have to talk about the husband. We’re gonna get there ’cause he never is in present. [00:06:00] He’s always away. But the, how you wrote that to have him such a domineering like effect in the book.

I’m which you that, that was awesome dude. That was just awesome. I’m know spoiling it a little bit. Squad, I’m not gonna spoil it too much. But I really wanna ask Sean here, like you talk about building sticky cultures, right? So what’s the one mistake that you think leaders make that causes their culture to unravel?

And is there any like kind thing that when you walk into. A company, right? Mm-hmm. That you maybe get them going to maybe start self-correcting, understand that they didn’t get there overnight. It’s gonna take ’em a minute, but help ’em start self-correcting quicker.

Sean Glaze: Yeah, most of the time, and that’s a great question.

I think most of the time when people reach out to me. It’s because they’ve looked for something regarding, , culture or team building and they understand that, man, they’ve got great talent and we’ve got good strategy, but we’re missing something. And that’s where I was my very first year after being a head coach when our talent underachieved, because I had been a horrible leader as a [00:07:00] young coach, and I’d focused upon the same two things that I think most organizations do, which is everybody.

In the talent acquisition business, whether it’s basketball or business, we want good salespeople. We want good technical workers. We want people who can fill this role and do a great job in that role. And then we put together and we have retreats and, and you have leadership invest a great deal of time and energy in building out their strategy for the year, for the next five years.

And I did the exact same. I had good talent and I had really good X’s and O’s, and our team underperformed because I neglected that third part, which is again, why people I think, ultimately reach out to me, which is they realize we’re missing that third piece of the puzzle that would allow our talent to implement the strategy effectively.

And that’s culture. And I think that culture is always. A symptom of leadership and when I work with organizations, always define culture as just the behaviors that are allowed and repeated, but you as a leader, regardless of reputation or title or , whatever, [00:08:00] that that position is you as a leader.

Leadership is that influence we have. On other people through the interactions that we have each day. And I think that, , the idea of being an effective leader regardless of position or title, has everything to do with being intentional about those interactions. So your influence ends up changing behaviors that improve your culture.

L. Scott Ferguson: You’re still going into companies and, and working with their leadership teams and stuff. And this is a question I’ve been waiting five years to ask you, ’cause I know I didn’t ask you on our last time, but, so if you go in to a, a company and you’re, you’re getting brought in maybe the CEO, maybe. Human resource.

Maybe somebody is like, say, we need to bring glaze in here, right? Like, we need, we need his, his skills. So there’s always gonna be that guy that’s one or two rungs maybe. Maybe above hr, above below the CEO E that is like, dude, what does this guy do in here? Like, really, bro? So how do you handle, I don’t wanna say handle, how, how do [00:09:00] you communicate with that person to get them again, to make that sticky culture?

’cause to be sticky culture, you have to be working together. Right. So can you tell me how you, how you do that?

Sean Glaze: Well, I, , my last book, staying Coachable is really what addresses that because I think for our people to be coachable, we need to be a great example of that in the first place. And I love that you do kind of gap coaching, Scott, because that really is what I end up doing with organizations is you take in to account.

When you’re contacted, it’s because there is a gap between where they’re at and where they want to be. Yes, sir. And, and acknowledging that is the reason they reach out and give you the call or send you the email.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right. When

Sean Glaze: you first have that meeting, whether it’s in a a half or a full day training or it’s in a conference situation, or you’re going in, , to do coaching with a leadership team, there’s always somebody who is arms crossed and leaning back with an eyebrow raise and that that’s the person that you really, that’s coming over because they’re the anchor on the ship and move forward.

Right. And I think that. [00:10:00] The very first and most significant thing you can do as a leader, again, regardless of position, is to acknowledge reality, right? There’s always going to be somebody who is hesitant, somebody who has questions, somebody who is a little bit cynical and not sure, somebody who’s seen other change, , prerogatives, , take place over the years and , says, I’ll live through this one too, et cetera, right?

Instead of really being somebody who is bought in because they do have an appreciation. For what’s gonna happen if we actually invest in and apply this thing. I think that acknowledging the reality of, , hey, when I’m brought in for team building, one of the first things I’ll do is alright, raise your hand if when you heard team building, you rolled your eyes ’cause you had no idea what the blank you were in for.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right?

Sean Glaze: I’m not gonna have you hold hands and sing songs. If we’re gonna do some really relevant activities and give you a chance to interact and to acknowledge how attitudes and actions of the people that you depend on and the people depend on you, affect your team’s performance. Sure. And I wanna make sure that by the end of our time together that [00:11:00] you value this and Yeah.

I want you to have a great time and laugh together. Mm-hmm. And I want you to have a few things in your. Pocket Sure. That you can take away is insights or tactics that you do differently. So you’re better in your role and you have more positive influence on your coworkers and clients. So you enjoy more success as well.

And I think that that idea of giving them what is that valuable outcome that’s gonna be the result of your investment and you giving me a little bit of trust to begin with is, is really, really important.

L. Scott Ferguson: I love that you, because I don’t b bash on anybody ’cause I’ve been to the breaking boards and fallen backwards.

And you expect people and, and, okay. I’ve learned, I I, I’m a sponge brother, so I’ll, I’ll pick up something anywhere and, and those aren’t my cup of tea either. Right. When I, when I teach and I don’t really talk, speak the leadership more than mindset. Right. But is there like. Is there any like thing that you can share that maybe you do in one of your leadership, , presentations where you’re with somebody for a day or a weekend, [00:12:00] that an exercise that you do with them that really gets them, that, that probably stands out to them when they leave.

Sean Glaze: Well, I, I think everything, , when you talk about, and I’m so grateful for you having me on, for my recent book, , what Effective leaders do and the opening of the book. There’s, , the, the main character Chad Yep. Is, is struggling with her new role as a leader. And there’s a big difference between technical skill and interpersonal skill as a leader and what management means.

Yeah. And so she meets up with this mentor and the mentor, the first of the four major lessons that he shares is about awareness. And I think that that is the thing that any experience that I facilitate, even when I’m on stage at a conference, if there’s 600 people in the audience, you can’t do small group type of activities, right?

But you’re still going to give them an experience. Maybe that’s a story that you tell that has a powerful, minimal takeaway, or maybe that is an activity. That you actually have them do individually or somebody beside ’em, or even a mental kind of activity where they’re thinking through something. It’s the [00:13:00] activities or the stories that as an experience, you hope to shift Their awareness.

And awareness drives our beliefs and beliefs. Determined behaviors and behaviors become culture. And so if I can, as a facilitator or speaker. Give them an experience that shifts their awareness, that makes them appreciate or notice something that they didn’t previously. The experience becomes powerful because when they think about that activity or that story, it’s gonna carry with it the nugget of insight that they can apply, and that’s where the value.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love that. It is just the awareness and being aware you have to be present, right? I mean, it’s a hundred percent. Like I love with my clients, I get to meet ’em then in person and I really started opening up more business here in Palm Beach ’cause my coach. Twist on my arm to do it anyway. So that’s another story altogether.

But , like I, I’ll sit clients in their car right in, in the driver’s seat, and I’ll sit in the passenger seat. What I wanna see how they keep their car. ’cause there’s a lot I can tell mindset wise that is so true. How [00:14:00] they keep their car, right. But secondly, , I, I should point out the rear view mirror and say that’s small for a reason.

It’s a great place to visit and learn from, but we can’t live there, can’t do anything about it. Windshield is big, scary. Oh my gosh, where are we going? And then, , but you can’t get anywhere unless you buckle your seatbelt if you so choose to start the car, , and, and then put it, , past neutral, past reverse into drive to go forward.

, But like in, I kind of explained that since 2011 on this thing that’s been sitting on your dash called the GPS, right? So like everything is about a present neutral mindset. So is that kind of what a real, real, real awareness is or is there something else that we could add to that?

Sean Glaze: Well, I think absolutely that idea of presence.

You, you wanna make sure that your, your stories and your activities in the midst of any session or program are gonna maintain attention because attention is that doorway where you, again, they are present enough to experience and appreciate and apply those takeaways. Right. And [00:15:00] I love the idea of sitting in the car ’cause it does provide not just, , information for me to see what’s in the floorboards or backseat, et cetera, but for that client, yeah.

To then appreciate, , because we used to teach our players back when I’m still coaching basketball, , no rear view criticisms, and we use the same thing as the rear view mirror, you know? Mm-hmm. My job, if I’m gonna be a leader, if I’m gonna be a winning teammate, is to think next play and look out the windshield what’s about to happen, thank you.

That I can influence instead of complaining about something that’s already happened that now we can’t change. And so I think that’s a powerful deal. The other thing that I would share with leaders that I think you can absolutely steal, Scott. Is that idea of you’re only going to make progress and improve as a leader organization when there is activity and not all activity is gonna end up being productive.

And sometimes you end up needing to turn the car, but you can’t steer a parked car. And a lot of the times we get so caught up. Whoa. Yes. Yeah. And, and we get. Keep going. Yes. That, that kind of sense of perfection and not wanting to be imperfect and not willing to be vulnerable mal [00:16:00] paralysis. Yeah.

Gotcha. That we get paralyzed and, and you need to give people permission to be imperfect. Sometimes you need to have a bad sales call to have a better sales call. And I think that idea of, , everything that we do is creating those moments of experience that then shift in awareness and give them something that they weren’t aware of beforehand, that they can apply and be better in their role.

L. Scott Ferguson: Gotcha. So Tony, okay. In the story, right? I have a Tony in my life. I’m sure you obviously probably have a Tony or two in yours, right? So the, the lessons that are echoed by Tony that I picked up from, , very kind of old school-ish, , rational way of teaching, he’s a plumber without, , , spoiling any, anything too much. But was, was Tony inspired by somebody in your life, like a family member teacher, someone from your past? Or is it a conglomerate of a lot of people mixed together? Just curious.

Sean Glaze: , I, I think that’s a great and. There’s part of me that wishes I had that one person that was a powerful mentor that I was always reaching out to that had always kind of been there in, in the right, in the [00:17:00] shadows, helping me to earn the spotlight.

And, and I, I’ve honestly, I think I’ve benefited Scott from the fact that there’s not been one, there’s probably been six or eight over the years, brother at different points. And, and I used to share with, with. , Students and athletes and parents and obviously leaders that , when the student’s ready, the leader will appear.

I don’t think that’s necessarily true.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right, right. I think when

Sean Glaze: the student’s ready, they’ll notice the leader who was already there. Thank

L. Scott Ferguson: you. There’s action to be taken in there. And you said like, I think you said something about awareness, belief and belief and action or something like that along with what you were talking about.

And if you’re aware of it, the beliefs then the person, the action’s taken. Right. So like. In the book and again, what effective leaders do squad go out and pick it up. I will do a book every way at the end if you stick with us, but is there a specific moment or character in the book that was pulled directly from your coaching life?

Sean Glaze: I think I’m Jen in a lot of ways.

L. Scott Ferguson: [00:18:00] Okay. Alright. Dude, Jen is

Sean Glaze: the main character. Yeah. And I think that we all, as leaders, at some point we have that squish moment where we don’t know what to do and we didn’t know that there was, , something going on that we hadn’t been addressing. Right. And I’ll mention to leaders when I’m, when I’m kind of giving this talk, , the most costly and and destructive issue on your team is the one that you haven’t yet addressed.

Yes. And the idea of. Awareness is, I think that there is a ladder of awareness. I think we start off. Being unaware.

L. Scott Ferguson: You stole my question, but keep going man. Let’s go with that ladder. Yeah.

Sean Glaze: And so when, so when Jen wakes up early in the book, she walks downstairs and she finds out that there’s an issue that she wasn’t aware of that has affected her day.

And and that lack of awareness didn’t keep the problem from causing damage. That lack of awareness just meant that she wasn’t able to address it early enough, right, to keep the damage to a minimum. Then what you are. Huh. Once you are symptom aware, right? You notice the [00:19:00] damage and we’ve all, at some point in our lives, had some type of water leak or some issue that’s occurred.

Sure. Where you see the symptom, but cleaning up the water off your floor doesn’t fix the problem. And I think that a lot of times as leaders, the main takeaway from just something as simple as that ladder of awareness is once you’re aware of a symptom. Treating only the symptom doesn’t improve your team or your culture.

Right. That idea of, , if I just consequence a kid for being late. And I’m making an assumption that he’s late because he’s lazy, irresponsible, or doesn’t care, that symptom doesn’t get better, and he’s gonna end up being late later on until I’m compassionate and curious enough to go from symptom aware to problem aware.

And I think that’s where leaders have such an opportunities to look at whatever the symptom is that’s causing damage in your organization that is an issue that needs to be addressed. What’s behind the symptom and how can you and, and one-on-one conversation be curious enough. And compassionate enough to discover [00:20:00] the problem that really needs to be solved.

L. Scott Ferguson: Isn’t it crazy that, that, that goes across anything in life, right? Symptoms don’t, like I, I dealt with something in the past couple years, health wise and the symptoms. We were just taking care of the symptoms. We weren’t digging down deep enough. To find that, right? Like, it, it, like what you’re talking about is once an aware of a system treating that does not affect the culture.

You gotta get to the problem, the actual root cause of it, right? So let’s go back a little bit to the ladder of awareness, right? It, it, it’s powerful, like unaware. How was it? I actually wrote this down. Unaware symptom. Unaware, symptom aware, problem aware and solution aware. I got those four. Right,

Sean Glaze: right.

L. Scott Ferguson: Okay. Gotcha. Okay. So, , this ladder in action, which is freaking awesome, is something that I’m definitely taking bits and part of that, ’cause there’s some of my mindset clients that work in leadership, , and I’m able to kind of pass it forward and I will always give you a m and be like, listen to [00:21:00] coach.

It’s a really good friend of mine, blah, blah, blah, , and stuff. But, , look, the, the whole ladder, like, is this. Again, not to get too personal, but is it, was it ladders of your life that you came aware of it, or where did you come up with the ladder analogy?

Sean Glaze: Well, I think that, and, and, and thank you because yeah, I think everything is autobiographical in some way.

Right, right. As good. Yeah. And, and, and when I referenced early on, , that very first year I was a high school basketball coach, I thought I knew everything. Right? I think every young emerging leader goes in with a little bit of arrogance. Which is, , I don’t need help. Right. I think confidence is thinking you can help.

Arrogance is thinking you don’t need help. And then ultimately, the most effective leaders realize that humility is a willingness to ask for help. Yes. And so that idea of as a young coach. Realizing that my arrogance had hurt my team and hurt my team’s performance. And that willingness to be coachable in the next off season, to seek out the answers and to, to try and improve my awareness.

’cause I knew what the symptom was and it was, we were losing games and we [00:22:00] really shouldn’t have played the way that we were. And we had, you should have had better effort and better enthusiasm and better teamwork. And I was responsible for making things better. And so what could I do to be better in my role so my team could enjoy?

A whole lot better experience themselves.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right.

Sean Glaze: And I think that ultimately you’re gonna have that ladder of awareness experience maybe a dozen times a day based upon the different things you’re dealing with. Yes, sir. And , we’re always in that mode of hopefully working to intentionally. You take time to reflect on and to get feedback for and to get coaching, to help us to recognize the things we’re unaware of that are hurting our team, and to move from symptom aware to problem aware.

Because once you identify what the real problem is and you can kind of get to the heart of what’s going, the solution is oftentimes a whole lot simpler than you think. It’s just realizing what the problem is so you can really address it. And I think that, , leaders when they [00:23:00] get intentional about kind of following that, , and taking those steps with every member of their team and every issue their team is in, , in kind of enduring or dealing with they become more effective in their role.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah. And the, the metaphor for that, I think might be the, the, the water leak. That we had in the story. Right? Like that, that’s genius metaphor by the way. ’cause it all came full circle, , because it got to the problem of it, not just it leaking. Right? So, like with what are you finding in the clients that you’re coaching right out the companies that.

Is a leak, but the actual problem goes a little deeper. Like what are you seeing in most companies these days as you’re kind of coaching them, , with regards to like the actual problems within companies. Like what are you seeing right now?

Sean Glaze: Well, if they’re calling me about culture. I think that culture, and this is from my first book, rapid Teamwork Culture is based upon five areas, right?

And the idea of great culture, and I use [00:24:00] cheesy acronym, but great culture is about five areas to focus on and it starts with goals. Have you clarified those goals? Not cheesy brother. It’s pretty awesome,

L. Scott Ferguson: bro.

Sean Glaze: Relationships would be next. And what does it mean to build trust and make sure you’re aware of and appreciate the differences and challenges of your people.

Then setting clear expectations. What does success look like for us? What are our standards and values gonna be? Having accountability conversations and make sure you’re making adjustments based upon maintaining those standards and then thanking people for their efforts and making sure they feel seen and appreciated.

Love that, that they value you. And so when I talk with a leader, ultimately that gap that you’re gonna talk with ’em about is going to be in one of the five areas. And we all as leaders, are gonna have one or two that we are incredibly strong at. Right. But we’re also, if we’re acknowledging the reality, we’re also going to have to admit, you know what?

I’m not doing a good enough job in this area or that area, and that’s where the leaks are and that’s why my people are leaving, or that’s why my people are a little bit less content [00:25:00] and our job as leaders now and, and again. Talent is at a premium. If we wanna keep the people in our locker room, we need to make sure that we are doing everything we can so they don’t get poached to a different locker room.

L. Scott Ferguson: Sure.

Sean Glaze: That’s not just NIL and college. That’s you and your business because good people and good talent, you wanna make sure that they do feel appreciated. And, and those five areas of culture are, are ultimately kind of loyalty anchors to make sure that they stay where they’re gonna be appreciated and opportunity to grow, et cetera.

L. Scott Ferguson: And, and I, and I love it with. With Jen, like, do you, like I saw some, Jen is the main character in the book squad that’s That’s in there out there, right. Okay. And her day wakes up chaotic bro. Like one, her husband’s not there and I’m like, dude, is he dead? You know what I’m saying? Because the way you started it was like you got you thinking like, where’s this Brian?

Do that, like Right. What’s going on with Genius? Genius how you threaded him in. Because a lot of time in stories, it’s like going home and the wife or the husband’s there. [00:26:00] Me and Mr. Supportive. Mr. Supportive. Like on the spot. Right? Like genius how you wrote Brian in from afar he was coaching. Right. Spain.

Or something like that. Yeah.

Sean Glaze: He, he’s, he’s in the story. He’s a college coach. He’s away for kind of a, a preseason travel experience with the team. Right. He had become a part of, but I think that that’s really necessary, and what I wanted to do in the story is to give that main character, Jen, especially as a, as a female leader.

That sense of confidence and confidence is always gonna be a result of the competence you build from having the courage to step into an uncomfortable situation and take ownership of it, and to address those areas within ourself that need to get better so we can become competent. And that’s obviously the last lesson of the book, is that idea of confidence.

But you don’t become confident if you actually have somebody else there as a crutch, whether it’s somebody as a leader or somebody as a coworker or somebody at home. I think that we build confidence when we realize I have the strength and skills [00:27:00] to navigate any circumstance. Yes, yeah. I can handle it.

And that’s a pretty powerful phrase, huge for leaders to have internally. Right? Whatever it is that I’m walking into today, I can handle it

L. Scott Ferguson: right. And love you say that. ’cause a lot of people will attach their confidence to their abilities, right? And it’s like, like I look at myself, kid that grew up in Detroit, dad worked on the line in General Motors, he’s my best friend.

I get it. But how am I doing what I do? Standing up in a couple thousand people, being able to coach professional athletes And even when I, before I got on stage one time. I, I was like freaking out. I’m like, I don’t belong here. Like, this is not me. And then, , really good friend of mine, a fellow speaker, , pulled me aside and said, dude, what’s your intention?

And I’m like, my intention, what do you mean? He goes, intention, when you get on the stage, I’m like, to have one person leave here and, and really level up, , and, and, and seeing it. And he’s like, then attach that to your confidence. , Attach those intentions to your [00:28:00] confidence instead of the abilities if you live an intentional life, which, Jen learns throughout her story.

Right, right. Intentional awareness. Like there, it’s like, , that’s what I’ve really learned and I think that you and I are like so similar because the name of my book that that’s coming out is Harmonic Cus. Right. It’s like a lot of people, oh, I want balance in my life. To me, I think balance is junk, but 10 pounds on this side, 10 pounds on that side.

You have zero. Right? But like, I like Susan and me and my Susan, we love jazz. So we’ll go out, , searching when we travel we’ll, we’ll find a jazz place and listen and like, I like to give the each pillar. Of like harmony, like God or spiritual might be the drums. Personal growth might be the horns, the family might be the piano community might be, , the, the guitar on and on.

If one of them’s outta tune, right. That’s a leak. Right. But we can, we can get that leak taken care of by getting the problem with leak. And you don’t have to be. , Beethoven on the piano or Eddie Van Halen on the guitar, right? You just have a [00:29:00] solid coach to help you get back into harmony. Now you have to have balance within the harmony, right?

To get it going, but you don’t really have to be balanced out, right? I mean, unless I’m wrong. Well, if you’re listen

Sean Glaze: to great jazz. Every one of those different instruments is going to have its own solo at some point, right? Yes, yes. And yet you’re weaving in with each other. And I think the idea of

L. Scott Ferguson: Love that.

Yeah. And I

Sean Glaze: think that, , and, and Dan Thurman, , fellow speaker here in Georgia, his, his book, and one of his messages is off balance, on purpose. And to your point, the idea of, , the, the best live lives aren’t on balance. They are off balance, but with a purpose and intention that I’m gonna pour more of myself into this at this point because it’s what today or this point in my life may need.

And I think there are times, if you look back across the seasons of even our life to this point, there are different times where you were off balance intentionally in order to build something that the other areas of your life would benefit from.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love that. And, and, and it is so true with that. It like the harmony, like it made sense to me when I was younger ’cause I was always searching, okay, [00:30:00] this is fine.

That’s perfect. Guess what? Something else is gonna come outta harmony. Like something else is gonna unb no matter what. Like, and every one of my speeches is, , everything’s finite. Whether it’s good or bad. If I’m like, oh, I’m gonna go up and, , , me and Sean are gonna meet at the grill there in Marietta and crush some good food, . But guess what? That dinner ends. So you have to find stuff consistently to feed yourself, to feed others, , to overlap happiness in a sense, right? So, know, that’s it. That’s amazing. Sean, we’re gonna do our leveling up lightning round. Okay? Alright. It will, like again, I know it’s been five years, but the rules are, you got five seconds with no explanations and they can all be answered that way, I promise.

You’re gonna put it on that, that, , 30 seconds left. You gotta draw up the play. You got it. Ready to go. Ready to go. Here we go. Mr. Sean, what’s the best, lovely up advice you’ve ever received?

Sean Glaze: Oh, that is so tough. I’ve enjoyed so much really good advice. I’m killing the five second rule. Be yourself.

Love that. Yeah. That idea of. I [00:31:00]

L. Scott Ferguson: mean, the shock cloth clock went off like 10 seconds, but that’s okay messing brother with the

Sean Glaze: release there. Certainly that, I feel that idea of being authentic as a leader and, and realizing that you are going to be uniquely yourself and the most successful when, when you actually, you give yourself permission to be a little bit different because of who that is.

L. Scott Ferguson: She, what are your hap personal habits that contributes to your success?

Sean Glaze: Oh man, I am a voracious reader. You see behind me, I’ve got three other bookcases throughout the house that my wife laughs at me ’cause I’m constantly buying stuff off Amazon. Looking forward to yours coming out ’cause I wanna learn from you as well.

L. Scott Ferguson: Thanks son. I appreciate that man. Your most commonly used emoji when you text

Sean Glaze: commonly used emoji. Probably unfortunately the thumbs up and I’m trying to get better. I’m a reformed thumbs uper and I’m trying to add hearts more often according to my wife telling me I need to.

L. Scott Ferguson: I love that. So if I was over your house and I was in my doldrums and you’re like, man, Fergi needs to be leveled up and like I’ve read all four of your books, like is there a book [00:32:00] back there that you would go back and reach and say, read this.

Like, it’s really helped me turn a corner in my life.

Sean Glaze: I am a huge fan of parables and that’s why I ended up writing parables myself. I think that . The greatest salesman in the world. Yeah. Og. Yep. OG Man. I think. Yeah. I think there you go. , Bob Berg and the Go-Giver. I think that I have even, , something like the Energy Bus and some of the others Yeah.

From from John. I think that I have very much been inspired by, yeah. Not just the, the entertaining nature of the stories, but the takeaways that you can apply. And that’s what I’ve tried to emulate with many of mine, Scott.

L. Scott Ferguson: I love it. And also have you read Andy Andrews a Traveler’s Gift?

Sean Glaze: Traveler’s Gift is on my bookcase, and that was the very first book that I encouraged my wife to read after I finished it.

Love that. By De Andrews

L. Scott Ferguson: 2009, my he’s gonna be my five, 500th episode interview, by the way, right? So 2009, my little brother put a gun in his mouth, unfortunately, took his life. I was in a really deep place. [00:33:00] Ran outta money and I went to the library just out of just boredom and this guy said, Hey, I think you need to read this.

And it was a traveler’s gift and I was like, wow, dude. Like David ponder, just like, , getting like what he did that, that, that’s awesome. It’s so cool that you read it as well. So chess checkers are monopoly.

Sean Glaze: Oh, chess for sure.

L. Scott Ferguson: Gotcha. Nicknames growing up.

Sean Glaze: Glazer. Love it. Playing soccer. Love it. Yeah, love it.

Wear elbows because I didn’t have the talent to be as good as I wanted to be. So maybe be a little more physical than I should have been.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love that headline for your life.

Sean Glaze: Ah, be better so you help others be better as well. That’s

L. Scott Ferguson: beautiful. Love that. Go to ice cream flavor.

Sean Glaze: Chocolate and coffee.

L. Scott Ferguson: Awesome.

So we’re gonna build a sandwich and call it the elbow. Glas. What’s on that sandwich? What are we eating?

Sean Glaze: Roast beef, pepper jack, lettuce, mayo, brown mustard.

L. Scott Ferguson: There we go. Perfect. Favorite charity and organization I’d like to give your time and or money to.

Sean Glaze: Well, miles from melanoma, we did a [00:34:00] walk in Augusta.

My sister-in-law passed away from melanoma, sorry, almost a decade ago. And so for the next five years after that, we put together a walk and raised, , thousands and thousands of dollars to hopefully help other people to to benefit from what Jan went able to

L. Scott Ferguson: Gotcha. Miles from melanoma or miles four melanoma,

Sean Glaze: miles four melanoma.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. Okay. Gotcha, gotcha. And last question, the, the best decade of music, sixties, seventies, eighties, or nineties. Oh,

Sean Glaze: I kind of straddle the eighties and nineties, but I’m gonna have to say eighties, just because there’s, there’s so much still back there that is horribly good

L. Scott Ferguson: now, right? I graduated in 1990, so I was like all eighties, right.

So it was like, I love to listen to the seventies when I’m kind of like editing a podcast or I’m re-listening to what my team gives me. ’cause like there’s story in the, in the seventies and stuff like that. And and yeah, so that like, we’re right on board with there. So. Sean, how can we find you, my friend?

Sean Glaze: Appreciate you asking man. So enjoyed the conversation, Scott. It’s if I can be a, a resource for your listeners, I would be thrilled. They can find absolutely [00:35:00] on@stickycultures.com. They can actually get all kinds of free resources from my website. If they go to toolbox stuff.com, that gives ’em a sign in.

Gives them the ultimate link to my toolbox of leadership and team building resources and downloads and activities and tools of goodies. And then online at LinkedIn, just find me at Sean Glaze and we’d be more than happy to to have a conversation, see if there’s any way I can help.

L. Scott Ferguson: Absolutely. And what effective leaders do.

It’s out now and and I just had a major issue here at my studio and I couldn’t get Sean in. When it dropped but I’m going to, let me just do this. If you are watching on Vimeo or YouTube. This is the book What Effective Leaders Do. Like it’s super easy to pick up very, very reasonable on price.

Again, it dropped in June of 2025. And again, it’s his fourth book. This guy is on. My good friend Sean is on a roll here. Each one of ’em are, , highly acclaimed and bestsellers, so I’m just [00:36:00] like so blessed and you guys need to get out there and pick this book up. I read it on a flight, like it’s funny, right before we recorded Sean’s, like, it’s a great read.

I like to write stuff. That’s great. Read on flight. It was literally a flight. It was a flight to Denver. I read this book and squad. The first three people that put elbows which I know you’ve blist in the podcast in any link or text it to 5 6 1 4 4 0 3 8 3 0 against 5 6 1 4 4 0 3 8 3 0. I’ll be happy to find time to shine today’s dime.

Send out a book to you and read it and just make sure you’re right. The testimonial feedback for it, because you’re gonna read it, you’re gonna go wave with lessons that Tony passed on to Jen. And again, pick up is other books as well. ’cause they are they’re amazing. I love parables, man. I’m so biased, right?

Like you are too. So that’s how I learned the best, , from Jesus Christ in the Bible. So like this now it’s like, dude, parables is where it’s at. So Sean, do me one last solid please. And leave us with one last knowledge nugget we can kind of take with us, [00:37:00] internalize and take action on.

Sean Glaze: Awareness is the key to being more effective in your role.

There’s three ways you become more aware, and that is through reflection, through feedback, and through coaching. And so again, look forward to them reaching out to you to continue to close their gaps with you. And if ever I can be of service, please know. Absolutely. I’m thrilled to have that opportunity.

L. Scott Ferguson: Squad, if you’re looking to, to bridge that gap and someone with like a, an excellent leadership sports background, I’d be happy to make a warm introduction to my friend Sean, who reminded us. A lot of businesses are just nothing more than a talent acquisition business, right? They’re just going after the stuff.

They’re not going after the culture. And the culture is a symptom of that leadership. , We need to acknowledge the reality. That’s within leadership and have people really leaning into the culture that everybody grows together. And again, the awareness, , it drives or your beliefs, your drive, reflection, feedback and, and through coaching.

That’s how you get [00:38:00] what it back, I just walked all over. I’m gonna edit that part out. But , , when there’s an activity, reminds us the only way to exceed as a leader, you have to have action. You’ve gotta press forward. And once you’re aware of a symptom. , Treating it just the symptoms not gonna really affect the culture.

You gotta get deep, you gotta get to where that problem is. One thing that stood out, he said that confidence breeds confidence, right? Get competent on stuff and the confidence will, will, . Follow and make sure that you’re intentional about what you’re doing. And also there’s a book that he mentioned.

I’m gonna pick up Off Balance on Purpose, that book by Mr. Thurman you said too, right? Sean Dan

Sean Glaze: Thurman, absolutely. Awesome.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah, absolutely. I’m gonna pick that up in squad. I just want to thank Sean for coming back. He got it here to second letter jacket here. Time to shine today. , Thank you so much, Sean, for coming on.

Anything I can ever be of service to you, I’m gonna be there and I can’t wait to collaborate with you at some time in our lives.

Sean Glaze: Very much grateful for the time with you buddy.L. Scott Ferguson: Appreciate you, Sean.