410 Christian Muntean

410 Christian Muntean

[00:00:00] Jeffrey Feldberg: Christian Muntean has helped hundreds of businesses rapidly grow, increase profitability and expand impact. He primarily works with entrepreneurial business leaders or boards who are scaling up or preparing for an exit or succession. As an executive coaching consultant, he's helped many new CEOs successfully launch.

He has a Master's in Organizational Leadership from Eastern University and is a Certified Exit Planner Advisor. Christian is the author of the successful new CEO, Conflict in Leadership, and a contributor to Forbes. com.

And before we start this episode, a quick word from our sponsor, Deep Wealth and the 90 Day Deep Wealth Mastery Program. Here's Jane, a graduate who says, and I quote, the Deep Wealth Mastery Program prevented me from making what would have been one of the biggest mistakes of my career. I almost signed on the dotted line with an unsolicited offer that I now realized would have shortchanged my hard work and my future had I accepted that offer. Deep Wealth Mastery has tilted the playing field to my advantage.

Or how about Lyn? Wow, he gets right to the point, and I quote, Deep Wealth Mastery is one of the best investments ever made because you'll get an ROI of a hundred times that. Anyone who doesn't go through this will lose millions. 

And as you're listening to these testimonials, are you wondering if you have the time? Are you even thinking that you've got this covered, you have the advisors or people in your network? Well, I got to tell you, these myths, they're often behind the 90 percent failure rate for liquidity events. Think about it. You have one chance to get it right for your financial freedom. You really want to make it count.

And when it [00:01:30] comes to time, let's hear what William has to say. We just got in this testimonial, William says, and I quote, I didn't have the time for Deep Wealth Mastery. But I made the time and I'm glad I did. What I learned goes far beyond any other executive program or coach I've experienced. 

So what do you think?

As I hear that, that's exactly what gets me out of bed every day. That's my mission. That's the team's mission here at Deep Wealth to literally change the social fabric of society. One business owner at a time, one liquidity event at a time, and my Deep Wealth Nation, what I want you to know, the Deep Wealth Mastery Program, it isn't theory.

It's from the trenches. It's the only one based on a nine figure deal. And that deal, that was my deal. You know my story. I said no to a seven figure offer. I created the system that later on, myself and my business partners, we said yes to a different buyer, a different offer, a nine figure deal. That's what we now call the Deep Wealth Mastery Program or the Scale For Ultimate Sales system.

It's built by business owners, for business owners, so if you're interested in growing your profits for preparing for a future liquidity event, and that may be two years away, it could be 22 years away, whatever the time may be, you want to do this now, and you want to optimize your post exit life, Deep Wealth Mastery is for you.

To get started, email success at deepwealth. com. Again, that's success. S U C C E S S at DeepWealth. com. You'll receive all the information about the Deep Wealth Mastery Program or better yet, why not hop on a [00:03:00] complimentary strategy call.

We'll go through exactly where your business is today and what's standing between you and your financial independence and your dreams. So that's where you want to be. You want to be with other successful business owners, entrepreneurs, and founders, just like you they're looking to grow their businesses, create markets.

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It's a confidential space with business owners, with businesses just like you, because they all wanna lock in their financial freedom and enjoy both success and fulfillment. So again, the 90 Day Deep Wealth Mastery Program, it has your name on it. All you need to do is take the next step. Please send an email to success at deepwealth. com

Deep Wealth Nation, welcome to another episode of the Deep Wealth Podcast. I have a fellow thought leader, author, someone who's a chief exit planner, and I'm wondering, as you think about your business, as you think about the future, are you wondering, how do I get from here to there? And not just anywhere there, but a there that has you feeling free.

fulfilled. Yes, it's with your success, but you're fulfilled, you're healthy, all those other things that go along with that. We're going to be doing a deep dive and all those things and more. So hold on to your hat. Christian, welcome to Deep Wealth Podcast. An absolute pleasure to have you with us. And I'm curious, Christian, because there's always a story behind the story.

So what's your story? What got you from where you were to where you are today?

[00:04:28] Christian Muntean: Yeah, well, thank you, Jeffrey. Yeah, [00:04:30] so my story started out in International Disaster Relief. I was working in countries like Kosovo after the war in the Balkans places like South Sudan other places in the Middle East, Latin America, And what I began to see was that you could be in a relatively secure area on a well funded project, and if our projects were not led well or the teams didn't get along well, it was a very difficult experience, and we didn't accomplish as much.

It was harder to produce results. On the other hand, you could be in the middle of an active conflict and in an underfunded project, And if you were led well and the team got along well, it was actually a really great experience and you could accomplish a lot. And so I became fascinated with that dynamic.

I felt like the work we were doing was important and important enough that if leadership was a factor in its success, then I really wanted to understand leadership better. Because Many of the experiences weren't as ideal as I would have hoped. So that's what got me launched into leadership and team dynamics and organizational dynamics and led me to where I'm at now.

[00:05:38] Jeffrey Feldberg: Terrific. And we'll start to unpack that. Deep Wealth Nation, in the show notes, please go there. It's a point and click. Please pick up Christian's latest book, Trained to Lead, The Unstoppable Leader's Plan for Peak Performance. And as you're about to hear, it's not just any leadership book. There are lots of them out there.

This is a very different one. But before we get there, I'm wondering, because [00:06:00] Christian, Quite the background that you have. And you have right now, you're in Alaska. So your journey from Alaska to becoming a renowned executive coach, it's really intriguing. Was there a pivotal moment along the way that had you realize, yes, this is where I want to be?

Or was it a, really an accumulation of different experiences? What was going on there?

[00:06:20] Christian Muntean: I think it was an accumulation of experiences. I began to see that. Coaching and working with leadership was something that I was drawn to, and it was something that other people were seeing in me, so I was being put into positions at a very young age, and maybe too young for some of what I was being asked to do and then I started, getting involved in it because I was being invited by somebody into meetings with leaders.

I didn't know why I was there. I didn't belong in the meetings. And finally, after two or three of those meetings, I asked why do you want me in these meetings? I don't understand why I'm here. And this was in my, late 20s. And she just said, because the meetings make more sense when you're in them.

And I realized there was something about the questions that I asked and how I related. Because I was feeling uncomfortable, but I didn't understand what was going on, so I would just ask questions. Microsoft Mechanics And apparently that made the meeting make sense to everyone else and I began to realize, okay, there's something I have that if I can refine it and build it, maybe I have something to offer.

[00:07:17] Jeffrey Feldberg: It's interesting and I love how you went from within and you really put that out there in the book. Now I want to ask you because in Trained to Lead, you talk about really the importance of developing [00:07:30] unstoppable leaders. Now when I use those words, people in Deep Wealth Nation may come to different conclusions of what's really going on there.

So straight from the source, Christian, when you mentioned being an unstoppable leader, what does that mean to you and how can the listener really cultivate that kind of a mindset?

[00:07:47] Christian Muntean: Yeah, love that question. You're the first person to ask me that. What I really mean is, okay, so the book, for the listeners, the book, I want to back up a little bit if that's okay. And, Yeah, so part of my background is also in athletics. I've been involved in athletics my whole life. For about 12 years, I was a strength and conditioning instructor, as a side gig.

And one day, as I was leaving the gym, I was wondering why is it we can train athletes to peak performance the day before they need to perform, the day before their event. We know precisely how to do that, but with leaders, We try to cue them, we know that we're going to give them a position, a raise, there's a secession, whatever the dynamic is, and it's just a, maybe here's some training, here's some books, here's some courses, but don't screw up.

And it's a sink or swim approach to leadership development. And I thought, why, with all that we know about leadership, why aren't we at least as good as a usually not super well trained fitness coach? And so, with fitness, as a backdrop to how I approached the book, one of the big things that I liked to work with athletes was really this idea of a lifestyle of fitness, a lifestyle of [00:09:00] health, and so that you don't stop with an injury, you don't stop when you get tired, you might change your pacing, And so on.

And that's really the approach to leadership as well, is that there isn't really a stopping point in terms of your personal development and in terms of your personal growth. This is really a journey of a way of living and a way of approaching life.

[00:09:20] Jeffrey Feldberg: It's so interesting with what you're saying, because Christian, I'm just looking back on my own journey, as well as those in the Deep Wealth Nation, when they go through our Master Program, we really get a chance to get to know them. And what's so interesting is the general public, in so many ways, they buy into these myths that, to me, we've got to begin to dispel, because the myths clearly are wrong.

And, you So what you're talking about, it's not necessarily a skill set. It's that old saying, we hire on personality, we train on skills. And what you're talking about, it's really that mindset. It's really within, it's how we are talking to ourselves. What's the narrative that we're telling ourselves?

What's the narrative that we're sharing with the team? What are we looking for in others? What are we looking for in ourselves? And the answer to our questions or to the narratives, it's the old saying, another one, what we tell ourselves internally, that's what we manifest externally. And so words, thoughts, stories, emotions are really powerful, but you don't hear about that a lot.

And I know this is so important to you and you go into the book, you're talking a lot about that. And If you could say, well, Jeffrey, I think you're on base, I think you're off base, but would love [00:10:30] to hear your thoughts just in terms of what's going on with that mental chatter and what you've seen that's perhaps working or not working for entrepreneurs.

[00:10:38] Christian Muntean: Yeah, well, I love that you picked up on that in the book because it is a, I think, a core theme to how I view leadership. I think you can argue the research supports this as well. Is that, and I would say it's a couple of phrases that I use. One is that you can only lead out of who you are. And so being an effective leader is different than being an effective accountant or an effective attorney or an effective firefighter or business owner or plumber or nurse.

All of those things are impacted by who you are, but there's a skill set that you're practicing. When you lead, it really is about a relationship that you're in with other people, because leadership only exists in the context of a relationship. And your ability to navigate that relationship effectively is what makes or breaks your ability to lead well.

And so the primary tool, so to speak, that you work with as a leader is yourself. And so working on yourself, cultivating yourself, being mindful of how you think and the influences that you allow in and how you respond and how you're reacting to situations and how you see things, all of those things create a foundation that will So, it's a great

[00:11:58] Jeffrey Feldberg: And as you speak about the invisible [00:12:00] blocks, I know I'm all over the map here in Deep Wealth Nation. I promise you there is a method to the madness. I actually want to go back to the very first section of the book, and Christian, what I loved about this, again, in most business books and leadership, what you start off with, you'll never see or hear in a book, and you're talking about the healthy habits.

And for the Deep Wealth Podcast, it's no coincidence that our tagline is, helping you extract the Both your business, but also your personal deep wealth. And when it comes to our health, for us here at Deep Wealth, our health is our first wealth. And so for the benefit of Deep Wealth Nation, who haven't yet gone through the book, and nudge, nudge, wink, wink, Deep Wealth Nation, pick up the book, go through it, you will be thanking yourself for it.

It's a gift that keeps on giving. Very high level, when you talk about the healthy habits, and you list a number of them, what would be the healthy habits? What do you want Deep Wealth Nation to take away of what the healthy habits are and why they should be thinking about that?

[00:12:53] Christian Muntean: question. In fitness or in athletics, if you don't eat well, if you don't sleep well, if you don't stay hydrated, you're not going to perform well as an athlete. You're not going to recover well. You're not going to feel well. Your performance is going to go down. You can't get around that, right? There's all sorts of sayings that are used that you can't outrun a doughnut, that you six pack abs are made in the kitchen.

All those kinds of things indicate that your nutrition or your core habits underneath how you live, Actually, outside of the gym, off the track, off the mats, wherever you train as an athlete, your habits outside have a huge [00:13:30] impact when you actually show up to try to perform. It's the same thing as a leader.

The things that you listen to, the relationships that you have, even your physical health, all impact how you can show up. If you don't sleep well, you're not going to be sharp the next day. If you're not eating well, you're not going to be able to think at or perform at your best. If you. Our consuming media that's negative and has a toxic effect on you, whatever that might be for you that's going to shape your ability to interact with and engage other people.

It's going to impact your ability to recognize opportunities or your confidence in pursuing them. That's basically what I'm talking about is there's a set of habits that outside of leadership skills, which I do get into, but outside of leadership skills, there's just a set of habits about living a healthy life or a robust life that sets you up for success and builds this resiliency so that you can handle disappointments or frustrations, which inevitably come with leadership.

[00:14:30] Jeffrey Feldberg: And Christian, it's so amazing to me how people don't connect the dots. When we talk about our favorite sport or our favorite athlete, what Whoever, wherever, whatever sport that may be. If I were to say to you, Deep Wealth Nation, yes, your favorite athlete, the day before the game, they're partying all night.

They're getting two hours of sleep. They're having all kinds of junk food the day before and the day of. How do you think that's going to affect their performance? And most people are going to say, well, obviously, that's probably not the smartest thing to do. Their performance is going to be affected. So when we go from the sports world [00:15:00] now to the business world, and to me, there really isn't that much of a difference.

It's a different arena. And how we sleep, What we're eating. But to your point on the mental health side, what are we consuming in terms of the information that we're listening to? The people who surround us, the people that we spend the most amount of time with. And it plays such a factor. And I love how with your background in sports and now in business, how you can really balance the two.

And I've got to tell you, in the Healthy Habits, chapter five, to me, really jumped out. It was one of my favorites of that section. And for the benefit of the Deep Wealth Nation, for chapter five, how I see life, the key to unleashing opportunities. Big picture wise, Christian, what would you want the default nation to know?

How I see life, the key to unleashing opportunities. What's going on there?

[00:15:43] Christian Muntean: Yeah, so I talk about three different dynamics of perception in the book, and these are all foundational concepts. How I see myself, how I see other people, and then how I see life, or how I see the world. And if you walk into life viewing the world as a dangerous place where you're a victim, or you don't have control where you don't have Act and have something happen.

Then it's going to be very difficult for you as a leader to be able to bring vision to your organization or your team, to be able to have confidence that you can make decisions that will make a difference, that you can set a plan and enact a plan. When I work with clients, I'm thinking of a client of a for some reason of a nonprofit that I worked with 30 years ago, and they really did not have a belief the way they saw the world.

[00:16:30] They really didn't have a belief that you could act and produce results. They were fatalistic or deterministic in how they viewed things. And as a result, they didn't plan. They wouldn't plan. And as a result, they were never prepared for Either opportunities or challenges, they just try to deal with them as they emerged.

And eventually that ended up really damaging them because they weren't able to set a course for themselves and pursue it. And nobody knows the future, but the way you see your potential path to the future has a huge impact on whether or not You'll be able to get there. I think it was Henry Ford that said, whether you believe you can or whether you believe you can't, you're right. And I think that's, that concept or that perspective is important for leaders to consider.

[00:17:13] Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely. And Christian, such a terrific quote. As you're saying that, you're actually, believe it or not, the mind works in mysterious ways, at least my mind does. You're taking me back to Psych 101. And I remember in that class, they shared an experiment, which I'll never forget, and they called it the Pygmalion Effect.

And it's going back a number of years. They took teachers and they said, guess what? You are A teacher that's above and beyond all the other teachers. And we're going to pair you up with a class of gifted and talented students. And we want to see what you can do to take these students to the next level.

So if you fast forward, and let me be off a little bit on the details, not far off though, you fast forward to the end of the school year. All these students, they did remarkably well. They were above the class averages and some of the students were really way out there. They pull the teachers back in and they said, by the [00:18:00] way, we just wanted to let you know something, two things.

Firstly, we didn't exactly tell you the truth. The students that we gave you, they were randomly selected. So you had some students who weren't terrific. You had some students who were, you had some average students, but there's nothing special about the students. They're all random. And we hate to tell this to you, but you weren't necessarily above and beyond as a teacher either.

You were randomly selected as well. And so Deep Wealth makes you think about that. Random teachers. Random students, remarkable results. What was the difference? Christian, to your point, it was that mindset. It was that belief. It was that narrative. Hey, I'm a teacher. That's better than some of the other teachers here.

I'm working with students that are gifted and it made all the difference. Thoughts about that?

[00:18:39] Christian Muntean: Well, yeah, and that's actually, A study, that specific study that you mentioned, didn't mention in the book, but there's a whole raft of studies that were based off of looking at that dynamic. The Pygmalion effect, the expectancy effect, there's a couple of names for it. Yeah, I mean, it's even been tested on rats.

The way people perceive rats affects the performance of rats running through mazes. It's that powerful, the perception that we have about other people. Let me tell you a story as an example, so when I was working in South Sudan, I was in a community, this was like 10, 000 BC, was the first white person that a lot of people had ever seen. It was terrifying to some people. The, but we were trying to help. This is previous to, a peace agreement. This is before South Sudan had separated as its own country. It was in a civil war. And, the, I remember I was talking to with a local leader standing next to his, his mud hut, [00:19:30] and a man walked up wearing nothing.

He had a spear over his shoulder, and he had little hobo bag, like a little napkin with some stuff in it. I don't know what he was carrying at the end of his spear. And he talked with the friend I was talking to for a little bit, and then just headed off down the trail. Now, there was nothing that I was aware of down this trail.

just went off into who knows, there wasn't anything that way. And he had told us he was going to go two weeks footing, basically take a two week hike to go to another community. And I just thought, wow, when we traveled in Sudan, because I was moving around the area quite a bit, there was so much work, so much prep, so much supplies that we brought with us so that we were safe, so that we were able to take care of ourselves.

And here was a guy who had literally no clothes, and he had a spear, and he had whatever he was holding, and a little handkerchief bag at the end of his spear. And he felt entirely confident to go on a two week hike to wherever he was going. And I realized the way I viewed that trail was one of threat and scarcity.

So I would never go walk down that trail. On the other hand, he saw potential because he was actually going to do some business in the middle of a war. He was planning to go to this other town, do some business and make something happen. And he felt completely at peace and confident about this journey.

And I thought this is his ability to do that. was entirely dependent on his perception. And so that really impacted me, I think, our ability to create wealth, our ability to pursue [00:21:00] opportunities, our ability to get the best out of people, our ability to take on challenges, is entirely based on our ability to perceive opportunity and to see, despite threat, despite things that may be challenges, that we can overcome that and accomplish what we're trying to accomplish.

None of it's predictive, But if you don't believe in any of that, your chances of getting there are pretty much nil.

[00:21:24] Jeffrey Feldberg: And speaking of nil, it's sad but true for most entrepreneurs, most high performing leaders. Oftentimes they fail when it comes to the big picture for their goals, particularly when it comes to a successful business exit. And you go into this, and let's talk about this for just a moment, because most entrepreneurs, founders, business owners, the glass is always half full, and that's terrific.

But sometimes we're like the emperor with no clothes, we're walking around and we don't really know what's going on with us. So, Christian, when you're working with high performing leaders, very talented, smart people, I'm wondering, is it the good old Pareto's Law, the 80 20 principle that's at work here?

Are you seeing the same 20 percent of the so called issues, I'm going to call them opportunities, that may be interfering or getting in the way of that ultimate success? And if you are, what would be some of the themes that you're seeing?

[00:22:14] Christian Muntean: One of the big dynamics is executive leaders, I actually just got an email this morning from an executive who's interested in coaching, and saying what most people say at the beginning of reaching out to me, which is I'm maybe too busy to work with you.

[00:22:30] And so we come back to self management because, In my experience with my clients is I can help them double or triple the size of their company and become less busy in the process. And so, but there's a perception that many leaders have, and this is maybe one of the major traps that they get stuck in, is that increasing what they're able to produce or accomplish is necessarily connected to increasing how hard they work.

and grinding harder, rising earlier, grinding even harder, and grinding longer, and it's not, and so I think that's one of the big challenges is helping people to understand how to leverage their capacity, how to utilize their teams and other resources more effectively, and that ties on a second topic, Which, I think comes to trust and dynamics that surround trust.

So many leaders get stuck in terms of being able to build their organizations, many entrepreneurs in particular, because they struggle to know how to trust that someone else will do a good enough job to fill in Kind of Behind them. that's both a psychological dynamic, but it's also a structural dynamic.

There's systems and structures you can put in place that reinforce trust. So I see those two kind of shooting from the hip here a little bit, but I would say those two are very common, sticking points for leaders. is, the ability to self manage in a way that allows you to be more efficient and knowing how to really fully trust and rely on your team. 

[00:23:59] Jeffrey Feldberg: [00:24:00] sure. And speaking of relying and speaking of trust, one of the things that really stood out for me and we seem to have lost our north star in this area as of late, and it has to do, I want to say it was in one of the latter chapters. I'm going to say somewhere around chapter 23, 24, you're talking about accountability Doing what you're saying you're going to do, and hey, if you don't do it, you're going to own it.

Not only are you going to own it, but you're going to take it to the next level and make it right. So what would you want Deep Wealth Nation to know about that? Because again, from what I see, and don't get me on my soapbox here with social media and all the other things that go on with that, we seem to have lost that, where it's just so easy to point the finger, knowing that when we're pointing a finger, we have four other fingers pointing right back at us.

But when it comes to accountability, what do you want us to know?

[00:24:47] Christian Muntean: Let me back up just a scooch from that. Think if you're a leader, you have to be aware that you set a tone, and you create a culture, and you give permission to certain kinds of behavior. So whether you're thinking about it or not, you're modeling. And what's considered an appropriate way of relating within the context that you lead and that you create. And so when it comes to accountability, it's simply doing what you say you will do and having a process in place where you check and say, did it happen? mean, that's a simple version of accountability. There's more to it, but that's a simple version of it. The challenge is that many leaders don't do what they say they're going to do, and then they wonder why their team also doesn't. [00:25:30] Or leaders, when something happens, and there's a problem of some kind, they find ways to deflect responsibility instead of figuring out, what could I have done to have made this different? And that comes up in their attitude and in their approach, and their team picks up on that. And they learn, And they'll learn something from that, and they'll somehow respond in a way that correlates to how the leader relates to it.

Whereas, if a leader takes ownership, Then their team also learns that you can begin to take ownership. And I think that's one big lesson. The other big lesson or takeaway I would encourage for your listeners is that accountability is an act of service. So we see this in the gym. If you have a trainer standing next to you that has a timer and you're running a hundred meter runs and they tell you what the time was on that run, that's accountability, that's somebody telling you your performance.

And then they say, go back and run it again. That's accountability. And then when they say, okay, here's how you performed this week compared to last week, that's accountability. And it's how that coach or that trainer serves the athlete by helping them perform at a higher level. But for some reason, when we take that same perspective and we apply it to the workplace, people feel like it's somehow being mean. And there's a threat to it and a sense of judgment in it. And my experience is that teams want to know how they're performing. They want that timer. They want to know how well did I do? And if you didn't Perform to expectations. What they want is help to so that they can perform to expectations. That's [00:27:00] what most people want. when leaders provide that structure and that accountability, most people on most teams like it. I don't, haven't observed many experiences of people who actually really dislike being given appropriate levels of accountability. And when you do see that, when you see somebody who's always avoiding it, that's typically indicative of someone who may not be a best fit for your team. 

[00:27:24] Jeffrey Feldberg: That's so interesting as you're going through that, there's a lot there. And let's speak about leadership. And we spoke about accountability. You talk a lot about this and I know it's key also to what you do when people are working directly with you. I'm going to bring up two words that when I bring up those two words for most entrepreneurs, they cringe or their eyes glaze over succession planning.

And for succession planning, absolutely crucial for any organization and it's not just by the way here at Deep Wealth, as we focus on some kind of a business exit, but there's other kinds of exits that aren't necessarily a good exit. It's the final exit for some people, you're just walking down one day and you're no longer here the next day.

And when you don't have those succession plans, you're letting your entire stakeholder system down. You're laying them down because the business is going to disarray and it can fail. The employees, team members, everything. Not such a great story there. So when it comes to succession planning, which is absolutely crucial for longevity, if we're going to go along with that health analogy, what would you have to say?

And I know you go through that and you talk about that, but if you can take some of the highlights from both your coaching practice, but [00:28:30] also from the book, when it comes to succession planning, what would you want the Deep Wealth Nation to know? 

[00:28:34] Christian Muntean: Yeah, well, succession planning, just to differentiate it, at least how I differentiate it, from exit planning, because a lot of people put them together, but I view succession planning as when An organization retains the same ownership, but changes some of the senior leadership inside of it. Exit planning, I typically refer to it as when ownership is changing.

Somebody is selling out their shares of ownership. And the reason I differentiate those two is because, while there's a lot of similarity, There are some really key differences in the dynamics around that. Succession planning is one of those topics that is boring until it becomes the most important thing in the world.

It's like estate planning in that regard. Nobody wants to do it. Everybody wants to avoid it. It feels so abstract and out there somewhere. But then when the need is there, all of a sudden, everybody wants to know, where's the plan at? Is there even a plan? didn't we think about this when we wrote the plan?

I mean, those are the questions that come. How did that get in the plan? Like those kinds of the things that come up. And so, succession planning, I would say When people approach it appropriately, it actually helps build a much healthier, more robust organization. That's been my experience, because it forces you to think about things that are different than what you normally want to think about.

this is interesting, the timing that, you mentioned this because I just recently produced a free resource in [00:30:00] terms of just giving things to people called Succession360. And so if people want that, they can go to my site and it's absolutely free. But what I want to bring up in that is most people think of succession planning as merely a transfer.

of a leadership position from one person to the other. So handing off a baton is often a, metaphor that's used for, to describe secession planning. And what I want to say is that is far too reductionistic, far too simple. Secession planning is much more involved than that, which is why most secessions fail.

Statistically, about 66 or so percent of secessions will fail. other words, The board or the owners who brought in the new leader will feel like this did not work. And the reason is because they're not looking at the broader dynamics that you're changing something significant in the organization. And so what I encourage listeners to consider is that building an organization, that's prepared for succession different and takes a little bit more thought than just handing off a baton. But if you do that. You have a much more healthy, robust, resilient organization. 

[00:31:07] Jeffrey Feldberg: So earlier, we talked about unstoppable leaders. Let's now talk about high performing leaders. And in terms of high performing leaders, what's interesting about this, and you talk a lot about that from the high performing leaders, we can set expectations in others.

And we go on to mention, in your words, I love it. High stakes performance. [00:31:30] And so for every entrepreneur, they want the team to be able to be consistent, whether it's an easy situation or a situation that has some challenges, is a little bit of a prickly situation that when the stakes are high, the team is going to come through.

And so from what you're seeing, what can we do in our culture? What can we do as the leader that our team is a high stakes performance team that they can perform and thrive under pressure and uncertainty?

[00:31:56] Christian Muntean: That's a great question. I think a couple of tips help with that, which is, I'm trying to think, because there's a lot of things, so I'm trying to think of something that would be simple that people can focus on. And I would say it comes down to two things. One is really ensuring that you have So, if you have very healthy relational dynamics on your team, so that people can talk, feel free to talk and communicate with each other, especially when there's challenges, especially if they doubt or don't understand something that someone else is doing, and if you can create a team that is willing to work in alignment, but is also able to Ask questions, express disagreements, and so on in a healthy way. That dynamic on its own will allow that team the capacity to problem solve in many different kinds of situations. there's a lot of studies around that topic, of, creating that, Sometimes people refer to it as psychological safety, or there's other terms that are used, but there's a lot of studies that show that just having a dynamic of people being able to communicate [00:33:00] well. The other part of this is practice. So, I have friends that are involved in special operations, and so all their work is in high stakes environments, and the story that I use in the book, near where I live, there's a lot of, Air Force special operators called pararescuemen, and so these are guys that are specifically trained.

It's the longest. Special Operations Training Program in the United States Military, and they spend two years preparing to even get into the program or to do it. And these are guys that are specifically trained to go into combat situations and pull people out. So this is after the other guys. It all fell apart for them.

They walk into a hot situation and save people and pull them back out. The only way they could do that is through extensive preparation. They practice. And so they try to anticipate challenges. No one's going to know for sure what the issue is going to be, but they practice for it. And so you can do that with your team.

You can create scenarios and tackle them in ways. That allow them to practice what they'll need in a crisis situation.

[00:34:02] Jeffrey Feldberg: It's interesting because there's a theme here, Christian, of what we've been talking about for success, to take the company to the next level, take our results to the next level. And it's what some people would call more on the soft side or the art side of business. It's mentorship. You talk a lot about that in the book.

It's our mindset. It's what we're doing before our day even starts, before we even step foot into the office or into the home office, wherever you're working out of in terms of our [00:34:30] health. There's so many things that are going into this, but they all add up. Some of them small, some of them big, they all really add up.

Let me ask you this, because We're about to go into the wrap up mode. I know there's a lot of questions that I haven't had a chance to ask, would have loved to ask, but is there one particular question that we haven't spoken about that I didn't have a chance to ask or a particular topic or even a message that you'd like to get out to the Deep Wealth Nation?

[00:34:54] Christian Muntean: Well, I think you're right in what you were saying, and it is an important element for people to grab, which is, I'm working with executives, I've been doing this now for just over 20 years, and when I first started, I thought we would be working with tactics and strategy and skill type questions, and what I began to realize is that almost all of the conversations with high performing, successful leaders, almost all of the conversations came back to soft stuff.

Came back to questions of self image, their levels of confidence, their challenges with second guessing themselves, personal habits that were holding them back, their ability to handle relationships, their ability to handle failure or perceived failure, those kinds of things. Very rarely, not never, but very rarely was the primary question, how do we handle this kind of business deal? And how do we structure this negotiation, that stuff comes up, but that wasn't the primary thing. And so I just began to see, at the core, if you want to be a [00:36:00] successful leader, really just embracing this idea of growing in the soft area, produces real true bottom line. Results. And so I think that's a primary lesson.

And what I hope for in the book was to illustrate what I have found and what research shows as to be the primary skills that need to be learned by effective leaders, particularly in the soft space, and then a very structured pathway That they can use. So it's not just a mix of things that you wander into, but an actual process that you can use that will predictably drive your own personal growth as a leader, in developing these skills.

[00:36:41] Jeffrey Feldberg: Wow, yeah, there is so much there, and Deep Wealth Nation, again, in the show notes, it's all a point and click. Pick up the book, Train to Lead, The Unstoppable Leader's Plan for Peak Performance, and while you're at it, check out some of Christian's other books, they're all actually really good. He knows what he's talking about, he's been in the trenches, he's been down this path, down this journey, could really help you.

And Christian, it's at this point in time, I'm going to rely on a tradition have here at the Deep Wealth Podcast. It's really my privilege, my honor, where I ask every guest the exact same question. And it's a really fun question. Let me set this up for you. When you think of the movie Back to the Future, you have that magical DeLorean car that will take you to any point in time.

So here's the fun part, Christian. It's tomorrow morning. You look outside your window. Not only do you see the lorry and car curbside, the door is open. It's waiting for you to hop on [00:37:30] in, which you do. And you're not going to go to any point in your life. Christian, as a young child, a teenager, whatever point in time it would be, what are you asking yourself?

Or what are you telling yourself in terms of life lessons or life wisdom? Or, Hey Christian, do this, but don't do that. What would that sound like? 

[00:37:44] Christian Muntean: Wow, that's an interesting question. I'm so future oriented. I never think about going back. I think if I were to go back, I would want to go back and talk to myself, probably when I was a preteen, maybe 10, 11, 12, and just say, it's going to be okay. You're going to be okay. I think that, life felt hard for me, and I went through a very long period of doubting my own ability and doubting kind of my worth, getting into deep topics here without a backstory, but I think that's what I would do is I would go back because that kind of touching on some of the soft things that impacted how I led for many years.

And I think going back and encouraging myself would be what I would do. 

[00:38:30] Jeffrey Feldberg: Christian is so interesting because as you share that, a number of guests have shared something similar. Hey. It's going to be okay. Everything's going to work out. Don't worry so much. And it's At that point in the journey, oftentimes seems like our darkest part at that point in our life, later on, that's the exact moment that helped us become who we become today.

To take on that future success that, hey, it's waiting for us, it's ready for us, we're not necessarily ready for it. And Deep Wealth Nation, I [00:39:00] hope you're listening, it's some terrific life advice, it's going to be okay, everything's going to work out. And so Christian, someone in the Deep Wealth Nation that they have a question, they want to speak to you, they'd like to go through one of your programs or have you work with them in the team, have you consult with them, where would be the best place online for someone to reach you?

[00:39:18] Christian Muntean: Yeah, they can go to my website, www. christianmuntean. com. I have tons of free resources. I believe in giving away everything I know. And so tons of free resources there if people want to get connected to that, the newsletter, material on succession planning, exit planning, all kinds of leadership topics.

So I would go there and you can get contact information from me there. 

[00:39:40] Jeffrey Feldberg: And again, Deep Wealth Nation, it's all in the show notes. It's a point and click and Christian has it all for you. And by the way, Christian's been on TEDx. He's a Forbes council member. The list goes on and on. He is just paying it forward, putting it out there, take him up on his offer. Take him up on some of his free resources, reach out, speak to him and get into his ecosystem and his community.

Well, Christian, it's official. It's a wrap. Congratulations. And as we love to say here at Deep Wealth, may you continue to thrive and prosper while you remain healthy and safe. Thank you so much.

[00:40:11] Christian Muntean: Yeah. Thank you, Jeffrey. I enjoyed the conversation.

[00:40:13] Jeffrey Feldberg: So there you have it, Deep Wealth Nation. What did you think? 

So with all that said and as we wrap it up, I have another question for you.

Actually, it's more of a personal favor. 

Did you find this episode helpful? 

Have you found other episodes of the Deep Wealth Podcast empowering and a game changer for your journey? 

And if you said yes, and I [00:40:30] really hope you did, I have a small but really meaningful way that you can actually help us out and keep these episodes coming to you.

Are you ready for it? 

The dramatic pause. I'll just wait a moment. Drumroll, please. Subscribe. Please subscribe to the Deep Wealth podcast on your favorite podcast channel. When you subscribe to the Deep Wealth Podcast, you're saving yourself time. Every episode automatically comes to you, and I want you to know that we meticulously craft Every one of our episodes to have impactful strategies, stories, expert insights that are designed to help you grow your profits, increase the value of your business, and yes, even optimize your post exit life and your life right now, whatever you want that to look like.

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So all that said. Thank you [00:42:00] so much for listening. And remember your wealth isn't just about the money in the bank. It's about the depth of your journey and the impact that you're creating. So let's continue this journey together. And from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for listening to this episode.

And as we love to say here at Deep Wealth, may you continue to thrive and prosper while you remain healthy and safe. 

Thank you so much. 

God bless.