368 Leo Popik

Jeffrey Feldberg: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast. Well, Deep Wealth Nation, you're in for a treat today as we bring back a friend of the Deep Wealth community. Leo is no stranger. He's been on a number of times. Leo is the mastermind and the founder behind a CEO peer group, otherwise known as Leading Peers. He's not only a terrific individual, he is an entrepreneur through and through, as you'll hear, but I'll put a plug in it right there.

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Leo, welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast. An absolute pleasure to have you with us and Leo, I'm curious for our newer members who haven't yet had the opportunity to hear about you and we'll put all that in the show notes, our previous episodes, what's the story behind the story of what got you from where you were to where you are today?

Leo Popik: Thank you, Jeffrey. Thank you so much for having me back. It's always a pleasure when I get to speak to you. And I know your podcast continues growing, reaching more people, and I commend you for it. I started [00:03:00] my entrepreneurial journey with a travel business when I was living in Argentina in 2003.

Incoming travel, before about a year or two, within the second year, we were doing corporate travel, corporate tourism, incentive trips and meetings and events for corporations that were doing events in Argentina, and when I discovered that we really had two divisions of the company.

I had that business for about five years until 2008 with a partner, 50 50 partnership, which was very successful. And in 2008, I went off and started my own agency with full ownership. My wife was my 50 50 partner, but she really was not in the business. I still own that company that we started in 2008 uh, started with the name Exclusive South America, and then in 2015, we rebranded as ESA Latin America, as we expanded to Central America and Mexico.

And that business grew to about 45 full time employees, 12 million [00:04:00] of annual revenue, and it was just a thrill to be, employing people reaching more customers and having just a stronger footprint throughout Latin America. We became the only corporate travel and event management company with offices in every major market in Latin America, from Mexico down to Chile.

And. I learned a lot of lessons, a lot of great things that I did, but also a lot of mistakes that I made along the way. Inevitably, you're going to go through those those setbacks as well as those achievements. And in 2019 I joined Vistage a CEO mastermind type organization, and I was a member for about a year, and then when the pandemic started, I found that my once Thriving business had zero revenue because 100 percent of the international corporate events were canceled.

I found myself having to let go of a team that I [00:05:00] had worked with for many years and that I cared about deeply. And during this gut wrenching stage of my entrepreneurial journey, I did a lot of soul searching, Jeff. really looked inward to figure out what was. I'm going to do next.

Was I going to wait for two or three years to let this business rebound? Or was I going to move on to something else? And while I was going through that decision I needed to leave my Vistage group because it was about 1, 300 a month back then. It's it's Vistage is more expensive now, but that felt like a lot of money when I had zero revenue coming in.

And so, I started looking into EO or YPO and I quickly realized I couldn't join those groups. YPO, I was too old. I was only 46, but that's a couple of years too old to join. And I couldn't even join EO because they were asking for an annual upfront payment of 11, 000. An enrollment fee was included in that.

And I said I don't have [00:06:00] that money to bet on something that I may or may not derive any value from. So when I saw that there were no other options online where I could pay month to month and have the same type of support system, really hit me with this whole searching that I was doing that I'm passionate about four things.

I'm passionate about leadership, about entrepreneurship, About personal development, and about bringing people together and creating collaborative communities. And so those were the four strands that had been in every stage of my life, everything I'd ever done, from being active in politics in Argentina in my 20s, to being active as a kid in student council, and creating a non profit that promoted leadership.

In Argentina, it had always been about these four things. Those were the themes of my journey. And I realized that's why I'm so eager to get back into a place where CEOs, entrepreneurs, leaders, Everything coming together, collaborating and working on themselves, personal development.

And [00:07:00] so that, when it hit me how much I wanted to start something that would give more value and reach people that couldn't get into the more established CEO communities but we're at the same time successful and established as business CEOs in their own right. I didn't want to help the person who just had an idea, start a company.

There's plenty of organizations that do that. There's SCORE here in the United States. There's a bunch consultants that work in that segment or coaches. I wanted to help the people that I knew best. People like I had been for the previous 20 years growing my companies. And that's when Leading Peers was formed in June of 2020, so approaching four years now, Jeff, and I went all in and became a full time CEO a year after that.

That's when I was able to transition out of the CEO role from my corporate travel and event business. I found a great CEO to lead that and he's been doing that very successfully for the last three years and, and the business has been rebounding and And that's what I went all in on Lady Piers and [00:08:00] that's what's led to the growth is growing one handshake at a time as you taught me recently when we were chatting before the interview.

Jeffrey Feldberg: What a terrific story. And before we talk about leading peers and what you're seeing, because you're really on the cutting edge of things, it's unfortunately an all too common story, particularly during COVID, things were going great in the business. You're making future plans. Until you're not, until something out of left field, in this case, it was the pandemic.

It came out of nowhere. Took a lot of people by surprise. And like so many others, you found that the thriving, incredibly profitable business that you had was no longer. And so now, thankfully, the pandemic is behind us. We're looking in the rear view mirror. Any personal lessons as you look back and reflect on that, that you can share with the Deep Wealth Nation?

Leo Popik: So I want to, be very real with your audience about the fact that when the pandemic started, I really saw it as an opportunity to to make some more drastic changes that I probably needed to continue making and I would have continued making without a [00:09:00] pandemic in a more piecemeal fashion but it was certainly an interesting time of making a lot of adjustments once I got the green card where I can access credit in the United States, where I could travel internationally, where I no longer needed to keep people on the payroll here in the U.

S. that I didn't need, and so on and so forth. To go back to your question about lessons of the pandemic itself, The period that started in 2020, the biggest lessons for me were on the personal side. It's the value of taking time to get to know yourself better and connect with your past. And understand what you've done throughout your whole entire life and how that sheds light on what your greatest passions are.

And more importantly, what's your purpose? Why were you brought into this world? Now, you may believe that we were brought in this world to serve a purpose which I do, or you may think that we just figure out what our purpose is. But whatever your belief system may be, at some point, you do have to be very specifically [00:10:00] oriented in a direction to give.

Your company, a very specific mission and a very specific set of core values for everybody to know what you stand for. And so this. Personal introspection of looking back at what you've been in your entire life and figuring out what did it for you, what got your energy up, what got people excited to be around you where you made the biggest impact on others that's invaluable and being able to just stop.

Everything, the busyness of life, which the pandemic really did for all of us, whether we liked it or not, especially people who, like me, saw their revenue plummet by a hundred percent. It gave us that opportunity and it's the biggest gift of the pandemic for many people that I know, certainly for me, is that pause and being able to listen to the right people, say, use the pause, capitalize on the pause put it to good use And for me, that was [00:11:00] spending time with myself my wife and I had great conversations during that period.

She's a life coach and a leadership coach, so she would ask me good questions that really got me thinking. And some of my good friends did that same. thing as well for me and that really led to finding something that I'm way more passionate about and where I think I can make a much bigger difference for good in the world in leading Pearson in my prior business.

As much as I cared for it and I liked it I was doing it, it certainly wasn't serving me any more in the best way. And this new business allows me to travel internationally way less For business and be more present my children, to my wife, and just have more time to consistently exercise, which for me is one of the lead dominoes of my life once I'm physically active and spending time just going on walks, which is my, Preferred method of exercise I am just in a good place mentally.

I feel positive. I feel [00:12:00] optimistic. So that and listening to great books, and great influence from, thinkers, podcasts, it brought me back to the highest version of myself that I've ever had. And that's the biggest thing is do not go onto the. rat race and lose yourself in the busyness of life.

If you're an entrepreneur and business is consuming you and you think that being productive is working 365 days a year, as many hours as you can, and every single day of your life is an opportunity to work, and work always comes first missing out. You're missing out on the highest and best version of yourself.

I truly believe that.

Jeffrey Feldberg: It's really amazing. It never ceases to amaze me. As you hear these stories. How it took at the time, Leo, I'm sure pandemic came, you had to really relook at your life. We look at the business. It didn't seem like a blessing at the time, but fast forward, now you're looking back saying, wow, if not for at that time, which seemed like a terrible, horrible, worst thing that could ever [00:13:00] happen, it actually turned out to be the best thing because it put me in a situation to make different kinds of decisions.

And why I want to focus on this first, there is a method to my madness here, Leo, in the Deep Wealth nine step roadmap. Step one, the very first step, and it's no accident that step one is all about the big picture. What some people call blind spots, we call them inflection points. In our 90 day Deep Wealth Mastery Program, sometimes called the scale for ultimate sales system, where you're looking at how do I grow my business?

How do I create a market disruption? One of the questions that we ask How can you put yourself out of business today so that you can put yourself into a bigger, more profitable business? Maybe it's in the same business. In your case, it's a completely different business, a different industry. Everything is different about it because as we're going, in your words, the rat race, we're just, day in, day out, we're really pushing. We're struggling. We're trying to get things out there. We often overlook sometimes the most obvious things that are in front of it. So keeping with that theme, it's really a perfect segue, Leo. [00:14:00] And thank you, by the way, for being so vulnerable and open with your own experiences and sharing with our listeners, what you went through, leading peers.

So you started this because you faced your own journey and had some challenges, which were really tremendous opportunities that you said, Hey, why not me? If I'm feeling this, others are feeling that as well. Let me bring this to the marketplace. And your community has been growing by leaps and bounds offline.

You're sharing with me the growth. It's absolutely phenomenal. You're very modest. So I'll share for the Deep Wealth Nation. When I first met Leo, this was just in the early days. Leo, your growth is off the charts and what I love about that, you're in different industries, different businesses at different stages.

Some of them, and I've spoken with some of the members, they are the heavy hitters becoming the titans of the industry. Others are just getting going and beginning to make their way. So I'm wondering when we look at the big picture, are there some trends that you're seeing across your members that you can share with Deep Wealth [00:15:00] Nation of, you know, recently we've been talking about this.

Here's what the situation is, here's how we've been addressing this, here's the benefits that come from addressing it, here's what could happen if you don't. Any common themes or trends that you've been seeing?

Leo Popik: Absolutely. Well, first of all, thank you for what you said. We certainly have grown a lot. you and I met, I think we only had one board at the time. And we had about six members. And and we currently have 120 members in 20 different boards. And five of these boards are online.

So people based in uh, Canada, Israel California, And even Argentina and Colombia but the in person boards continue to be primarily in the Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach area of South Florida. And we are going to be moving into also two other markets for in person boards this year. And that's the Tampa, Sarasota, St.

Petersburg, Clearwater area in the West of Florida, and also the New York City area to see how things go in those two [00:16:00] markets. So if anybody's listening and they are in those two areas, please know we can start a board in person in your areas. So to go to your question, Jeffrey, about trends that I'm seeing, let's start with a technological trend that's affecting nowadays, and that's artificial intelligence.

Jeffrey Feldberg: That's a

Leo Popik: There is, I think, no bigger trend I see affecting technological trend affecting small businesses today than artificial intelligence. There was a lot of talk about, blockchain being a disruptor, Web 3. 0, and, all things related with the metaverse. I'm really seeing that the impact of all of those things is much smaller than the impact of artificial intelligence.

So anything that has to do with machine learning data processing incorporating language learning models translation, using avatars having intelligent chatbots all of those things are making their way into the businesses that that the CEOs and leading peers are running. Some of our [00:17:00] entrepreneurs are way ahead of the game and they're designing solutions for, small and mid sized companies throughout the world.

Others are late adopters happens with technology trends in general. But even the late adopters are saying, man, I can't believe the things that are happening. I can't believe that you can now, ask Chachapiti to give you an entire business plan or, ask Gemini to create an incredible logo and design for, a new business line. And so everybody's aware of that this is happening. And of course, the leading peers were pushing that awareness level forward by bringing in great experts to run workshops and by creating conversation among the CEOs around that. Those conversations are powerful because sometimes the entrepreneurs, when they see a workshop says, that's not for me.

But then they realize that out of the six or seven other peers on their board who they consider friends, half of them are already using these things. And then they say, Oh, then it [00:18:00] is for me. You know, I thought this was for people who are very technological. And it turns out that my friend whose business is pretty much offline is using these things.

So I should too. I can too. More importantly, I can. This is not threatening. This is not foreign. This is something I can definitely learn and start to bring into the business. And I must, I have to. Let's talk about a Economic and political trend that I see affecting business today. It doesn't matter who you vote for, what party you like, but if you're in the United States today, is definitely a political climate of division surrounding the upcoming elections.

And there is a tremendous amount of geopolitical concern over what's going on in the Middle East, what's going on with Russia and Ukraine, what is happening in many other parts of the world, whether they be Haiti, Sudan, or you name it. This is creating a lot of uncertainty, and I see that there's a bit of a slowdown in you know, the stock markets, it's already affecting that last year was a year of growth, of [00:19:00] rebound after a very hard 2022.

And I see that growth tapering off and quickly coming to a standstill. that affects a lot of small and mid sized businesses that sell services to larger businesses that are discretional in nature. So if you're selling things that the business world considers discretionary, like, travel and event services or coaching services or certain consulting services, this is really affecting you a 1 percent drop in those big companies revenues, Can lead to a 30 or sometimes, 40 percent drop in the demand that they have for discretionary services even some on the logistics and admin side.

So I see that trend holding on for another six months. I think that, Whoever wins the election, it doesn't matter. I see things evolving much better after this election is behind us because, of course, the past election was pretty traumatic for the United States and the [00:20:00] events that happened in the Capitol on January 6th and, all the things that, that, that revolved around that election.

And we now face a tremendous amount of uncertainty how this electoral period is going to shape up. This, it's definitely going to be a unique presidential election with all of the, court hearings that are going on and all those issues. So cannot wait. For us to be past that and be able to look at that through the rear view mirror, but it'll be fascinating to go through it and see how things evolve day by day.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so Leo, right there, three really big inflection points that you talked about. So we talked about AI, you're talking about geopolitical issues that are going on, you're talking about the upcoming elections. Each one of those topics in and of itself could easily be an episode, but if we zoom back for just a moment.

I wanted really for the Deep Wealth Nation to get a sense of the culture and the DNA of leading peers. And I really have two scenarios in mind for a listener who's not familiar with the [00:21:00] CEO peer group. And the narrative this listener is saying to him or herself is, well, I'm really busy. I don't have time to take a half day or a few hours or a full day out of my schedule to meet with other business owners, to talk about these things.

For that listener, why A CEO peer group in the first place. We can talk all about leading peers and what you're doing as a specific example for that listener though, is I just don't have the time. I'm too busy. I'll get to it when I get to it now is not the right time. So how does a CEO peer group work?

And I'm going to layer on another angle to this while you're thinking about that for the listener, who's very familiar. With a CEO peer group, perhaps they've been in one for many years. Perhaps they're in several CEO peer groups. Sometimes you just don't know what you don't know. And as you found yourself, you're in a particular CEO peer group, you have to take a step back and say, Hey, this was great yesterday.

It really isn't good for me on a go forward basis. Let me Pause, reflect, and I'm going to go in a different direction. So for both those listeners, why leading peers in [00:22:00] terms of the method behind your madness of how you grapple with these issues, the kind of environment that's there, what I get out of it as a member.

Leo Popik: Oh, thank you for the opportunity, Jeff. Well, let me start with the people who have never been in a CEO peer group, and then I'll talk to the ones that understand and have experienced it. To the person who's never experienced it, this can seem daunting. What's going to happen when I go into one of these? The reason why sets our culture apart is that we want to bring the person who really wants to grow their business into a place where they're with people who share that same goal and who are willing to change themselves in order to achieve better results. So it really is a place for personal growth.

First and foremost, and that's the DNA of our culture, is people who are, have that growth mindset of what can I learn, and how can I improve what small adjustment can I make today that [00:23:00] compounded over time is going to lead me to an entirely different place, what habit, and Can I acquire, what habit can I stop having because it's not serving me anymore?

it really is about building your knowledge of yourself, your connection and awareness of who you are and what you're trying to do. And then create the space for you to think. So that the best version of yourself is coming out. So I would say to those people who say, I've never done it, I don't have the time for that.

That the number one thing that any person needs to do in this life is to really think for themselves. And learning how to think is more important than learning any piece of knowledge that exists. And when you go to a CEO peer group, you are essentially training yourself to think better and to think differently.

Because you're surrounding yourself with people who are also working on. Evolving and changing the way they're doing things and by embracing change, new ideas, embracing feedback, embracing different perspectives, that's how [00:24:00] they are able to Ignite that thinking that's going to take them to the next level.

So nothing is going to be achieved. No next level results are going to be achieved in any CEO's business. If the CEO isn't making changes to how they operate and how they see the team being able to operate and be able to convey that to everybody in the organization in a way that's thoughtful, well articulated, and exciting, compelling.

And that's what you get to do when you come to a CEO peer group, is you get to identify here's what's going to change, here's why it's going to change it, and make it compelling so that everybody in the organization is going to listen to that CEO and say, This is exactly where I want to be. I love the direction that we're going.

I understand the vision. I understand the changes that we're going to be making. our best days are in front of us. I actually have that sign here in front of me. The best is yet to come. And I know our listeners can't see it, but you can see it. The best is yet to come is this big [00:25:00] thing that I have in my, on my desk. CEOs if they're not feeling that, if they're not able to convey that to the team, they're simply not leading. They're not leading themselves. They're not leading others. So you basically learn, how to come up with that and how to articulate it and how to make it exciting for yourself and everybody else.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And Leo, let me just jump in there for a moment, because what you're saying, it's so crucial. And for what I'm about to say, whether you've never been in a CEO peer group, like leading peers, or maybe you're in one right now, it may not be the right one. Because you don't know what you don't know. And oftentimes, perhaps you can share for the Deep Wealth Nation, how critical, it's so essential that we can, in a closed room environment where everything's confidential, what's said in the room stays in the room, we can say and share anything.

You're not going to share this with your family. You're not going to share this with your employees. You're not going to be sharing this with other members of the business. Certainly not your customers. So if you don't have that outlet, mental health wise, are you bottling all that inside? Are you adding extra [00:26:00] pressure?

I'm sure you can share stories of how, yeah, you know what, Jane came in and she shared this one problem and five other members of Jane, I was in a very similar situation. Here's what worked. Here's what didn't work. And it's like the weight of the world is lifted off of Jane's shoulders. Oh, okay.

I'm not the only one going through this. And not only do I not have to guess what's going on, I can follow what's worked, what hasn't worked, and I can accelerate my progress. Can you talk to our listeners about that?

Leo Popik: I think that If there's one thing everybody leading peers gets, it's that feeling that I am not alone. Every time somebody shares a challenge, because of the level of trust that exists in our culture, the level of vulnerability, which is you can share absolutely everything. These things come out that this person that you thought, oh, this woman is so successful, she's Killing it.

Look at her numbers, and then she starts opening up about, an aspect of her life or of her business that's really weighing on her, that's bringing her [00:27:00] happiness down. That's creating a mental struggle that's keeping her up at night. Or could be straining a very important relationship, within her family, or within her team.

 and then everybody's able to pull her out of it and everybody feels so phenomenal for changing this person's outlook. And then when you're able to see that, you're like, if I'm ever in a hole, these people will pull me out. And by the way, I don't have that challenge, but I have my own set of challenges.

And because she did what she did, and she was this courageous, I'm going to share one that I'm having right now that, may not be as terrible, but Maybe over time will become even worse if I don't do something about it. So. You said it brilliantly well. is life changing from a mental health perspective and from a peer support perspective.

So, we call our organization Leading Peers because peers is a key word there. Everybody is in the same situation as everybody else, from me, the founder, CEO, to every board leader [00:28:00] that we certify to take these groups through this work to every member, we're all on the same level. We are peers and we happen to be leading companies right now.

We happen to be the entrepreneur, the CEO, the chief executive in this moment in time. But the most important thing is we are peers. We're going through life and we're here for one another. And I think that support system is even more valuable than some of the advice that you get or some of the, ideas that you pick up.

It changes how you feel and the way you feel emotionally is going to determine the things that you're able to envision and think about. So earlier I said that thinking and learning to think is more important than any specific piece of knowledge. But what we now know from neuroscience is that The way you feel is what's going to determine what things you're able to even think about.

If you're really in a hole, you start seeing everything from colored glasses or, black shaded glasses. And you can only [00:29:00] imagine bad outcomes. And whatever you start thinking about all the time will eventually manifest itself. So to change your mindset, you need to change, first of all, the way you feel.

That's why earlier I alluded to, physical exercise being one of my lead dominoes, getting out in nature, walking, because it changes how I feel. Once I feel good, I can start thinking about, hey, this life is good, the future is bright, and then I'm able to identify, all right what's going to keep it that way?

What's going to make it even better? So, a peer group is going to take you out of that feeling that I'm alone in this. Things are going to be terrible and you have people around you say no you're having some great wins, recognize them, look at the gains. Believe in yourself.

We believe in you. And you just need to overcome this challenge. And by the way, half of this room has already overcome same challenge before, and we've come out on the other side. So that's what I would say to somebody who's never experienced it. Now, there is an entire podcast. Section of our website, if you go to leadingpeers.

com and you click on the membership tab, the [00:30:00] very first one is called a member value or member gains, and you will see the 10 things that you're going to gain. So that's for somebody who's never had a CEO peer group, but for the people who've been in a CEO peer group within that membership tab, they'll see something called unique features.

I think it's a third option there. And that's what sets our community apart from other CEO groups, that I have a lot of respect for, by the way. I mean, I certainly have respect Vistage and YPO and we certainly have been doing things in a different way. haven't been trying to just do more of the same, because I don't believe in that.

I don't think that anybody should be in business if they're going to do things exactly the same way as somebody else. I think we all have to find a way to do things our own way, and really, Identify what's our unique ability and what we can create, and I know that my unique ability, as I shared earlier, and purpose is about creating collaborative community, and that's what I think really sets Leading Peers apart from these other more established communities, is [00:31:00] we're bringing our members together in networking events, we're creating powerful member networks, we're creating powerful shared expert workshop experiences, Where people are meeting people from in other boards, but also within each board, we're asking them to do a social on an ongoing basis to bond on a deeper level.

We're asking our members to meet one on one with each other and coach each other. So it's not just about that monthly meeting where you come in and talk about things and then you're done. It's about transforming You're gonna build your support group on a daily basis so that you can always reach out.

Any one of these boards has their own chat, that they can, bring each other into the conversation 24 7 if they need to. And a any member of Leading Peers can go to our directory and get the cell phone number and email of anybody in our community and reach out. Cause you might need that professional to help you cope with a situation in an urgent way.

And you really don't have all the time in the world to go to the person running your board or to [00:32:00] go to people and say, who do you know that you wanna go straight there? you could even do a filter search through our member directory and our member portal and identify who you need by the activity they're in, the type of work that they do the location that they're based in.

So it's about creating this powerful community that I really believe that CEOs end up being. Very isolated when they don't have this because by the very nature, they are at the top and it's lonely at the top. You don't have people in the, you know, if you're in the C suite, there's maybe five, ten other people in the C suite, but when you're the CEO, you're the only one that's their boss.

and most small and mid sized entrepreneurs are very isolated. And business leaders, they don't even have a board of directors that's meeting regularly. And when they do, sometimes the people on the board of directors are very difficult to deal with. They've invested money, but they're not really involved in the business.

So they're really there to see like, how can I increase my return? And I've seen that a lot and it weighs on the CEO quite a bit. So even if you have a board of directors, Having a peer advisory board is an entirely different thing, [00:33:00] because these people will support you specifically, even as you deal with those difficult directors on your board of directors.

They could be family members, if you're running a family business, or they could be investors that really don't align with your values and principles, but they happen to get a seat on the board, and now you're having to deal with them. And how can you avoid and affecting your mental health, right?

So, establishing the right boundaries with those people while still being able to operate from that CEO role is difficult. It's really challenging work. So, crucial and they'll find that, the people who've done CEO groups and are currently maybe in a CEO mastermind group will find those unique features.

And I don't want to go through each of the ten features because it would take quite a while. But we certainly have a very different way of doing things.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so Leo, you can share, yeah, Jeffrey, you're on base, you're off base with what I'm about to share with you. That's really what I'm hearing you say is even if you have a board of director, Leo, you correctly pointed out if you have your own board and there's different directors that are on that board, maybe they're being paid.

Maybe they're on it for vanity [00:34:00] reasons, things that aren't in alignment with you, you may or may not know. They may want to be quote unquote, politically correct and not be the one to say, hey, Jeffrey, you're completely off base on that. When you're in, as an example, with Leading Peers, it's another board of advisors that you have, and the only agenda, I suspect, that everyone has in there, because they're not being paid to be there on my behalf, they're there for their own benefit, but to also network, they're gonna be the one who, hey, Jeffrey, Yeah, you know what?

The emperor has no clothes. That's not going to happen here, because let me tell you why I don't think this is going to work for you, why this is not in your best interest, and really point out some of the inflection points, the blind spots that you may not hear anywhere else, because they've got nothing to gain, nothing to lose.

They're really there for, ultimately, everyone else's happiness. How am I doing with that?

Leo Popik: Yeah, 100 percent in agreement. And here's what I'll say to people who have investors who are sitting on their boards, is that even if you have the best people sitting on your board, even if you have people who [00:35:00] are like hearted as you, who care about you, life will inevitably bring up things where You need to have a conversation with those people about things that aren't easy to discuss.

Let's say, for instance, you started a business with two other people, and this is a real case of somebody in leading peers, that we helped this person through this situation. Started the business with two other people, they each had a third of the business. And they said, well, let's bootstrap. So they started without giving anybody a salary.

So the CEO who's actively running the business is getting no more compensation than the other two partners, but the other two partners aren't really investing more than a couple hours a month coming into a monthly board meeting, while the CEO is working full time. So fast forward a couple of years, the business is now making significant money, and the three partners are still taking out a third each.

Now, how is that fair when one of them is working full time in the business and the other people are just putting in a couple hours a month? [00:36:00] But because this person likes their board members, because they don't want to ruffle any feathers, they don't want to go in there and say, hey, I think it's time that I make more than you guys through this business.

But here's the problem. If you don't have that conversation at that point, and you're not fair to yourself, you're basically going to quit the business or give it way less than it requires. And as we explained as a board to this person. It's not because you need more money, or it's not because you want to make more than them so you, for the sake of vanity, but it's because, as humans, we have an ingrained sense of justice.

And, you know, studies have been done even on animals that show that even animals, when they feel that something's not fair, will quit playing the game. And so inevitably as humans, we have that, that, that same capacity and moral compass that says, wait, if this game doesn't seem fair, I don't want to play it anymore.

So what ends up happening with these people is they become disengaged from the business. Now how is it going to serve the other two partners that care about you that are good people if you become disengaged from the business? [00:37:00] You as a CEO. And your dedication is what made it a success. If you become disengaged, the business is going to basically spiral downward.

And that's not going to serve them. Now, if you come in and you say, hey, I need to make, 200, 000 a year in my salary. The business is making a million a year. These people should be thrilled that you're now going to feel that things are more fair. That you're going to be much more engaged in the business.

And rather than start looking for other things to do with your time, you're going to spend the next three years building this business and make it even more profitable and valuable. So that's an example of how, even when you have a board of directors and even when the people in the, in there are good, and you might even love them, it could be your spouse, it could be your children, you need to figure out how to make adjustments.

And sometimes it's not to make your situation better. Sometimes it's to make somebody else's situation better, because you need You know, move some of your time away from the business to something else, and you need to make an adjustment in how other people who are going to be more dedicated than you need to be compensated and rewarded and [00:38:00] recognized.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely. And some terrific insights. And Leo, you use one of our favorite F words, fair. Is it fair? And sometimes we can't see the trees from the forest. We're just so busy that we don't realize, you know what, deep down, this is really nagging at me. This doesn't seem fair, but who am I to say, or maybe I'm off base, perhaps I'm being selfish.

And again, when you're in a room, everything's confidential, the only agenda that everyone has is for your best interest. That's where what needs to be said will be said, and you can begin to map out strategies. What should I do? What should I not do? Let's really work through this. If I do this and this happens, then what?

And you're with really some of the smartest people in the room to help you navigate through what could be really a very tense or prickly situation. Thoughts about that?

Leo Popik: Yeah, 100%. And you reminded me of the importance of telling your audience how critical our core values are to leading peers. If there's one thing I do want to leave your audience with about what sets us apart is these five core [00:39:00] values that we've defined, and they are trust, Growth Mindset, Accountability, Meaningful Relationships, and Servant Leadership.

And the reason I bring them up is that we really do serve one another and we serve all of our stakeholders as CEOs. That's deeply rooted in our culture. We're not just in it to look out for the best interests of that peer in our group. We're in it Because we believe that peer in our group is operating from a place of wanting to serve all of their stakeholders in a balanced way.

It's not just about serving the employees, it's about keeping in mind that, you have clients that you need to serve. You have vendors that are part of the team. You have shareholders or investors that are an important part of the business. The business wouldn't have gotten to where it got without those people.

And then there's a community at large as well. And so as a CEO. If you're a servant leadership, you have the growth mindset, not just of, I want to grow my company, but I want to grow as a human. I want to grow as a person. I want to be the best version of myself. These are two of our core values.

And then you have that trust, another one [00:40:00] of our key core values where you can say to somebody else, Hey, I don't think you're being fair to yourself or even, I don't think you're being fair to this other person. You want your spouse to kind of go along with this, that, or the other.

But put yourself in, his shoes, or put yourself in her shoes. What would it feel like if you were being told, hey, we're going to invest, a couple million dollars a year, which is everything we ever, built in our wealth, to acquire a business after you've gone through 20 years of depriving her of family vacations, or this, that, and the other.

I wouldn't do it if I was your spouse. And so being able to really advocate from a servant leadership angle, what's going to be the best version of you not just what's going to make you more money. We're all in it to have profitable businesses and to thrive and to really be successful, but it's not just about you.

So when peers are advising you and leading peers, they're coming at it from this place of growth mindset, trust. And servant leadership and having meaningful relationships and then being accountable to themselves and to one another for their actions. [00:41:00] So, wasn't, as I mentioned, this is, I don't think I ever saw any of their core values.

I don't remember them. I don't think they were ever mentioned. We don't start a meeting. We don't start a peer advisory board meeting ever in any of our boards without just going over the core values and, reading one of them. And again, this is not to is which I'm very. There's a lot of people and indebted to having gone through their program, but it's just to say that, in our culture, these values are deeply embedded, and so people that come say, wow, what a great group of people, what a phenomenal group human beings, not just CEOs, they're first and foremost, people, and then they're leaders, and then they're CEOs, in that order.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Some terrific insights there. And Leo, let me ask you this. If we take a step back, what did we cover today? We talked about leading peers, what it is as a CEO peer group, what your DNA is, how the culture is, why you may want to consider a CEO peer group like leading peers if you're not in one. And if you are in one, what you should be getting out of it that you may not be.

And from there, we spoke about, well, inflection [00:42:00] points, blind spots, what could put you out of business, what could put you into a bigger business, as well as your mental health and really some insights on some of the latest inflection points. Before we go into wrap up mode, is there a question that I didn't ask, or a topic that we haven't covered, or even a message that you'd like to get out to the Deep Wealth Nation?

Leo Popik: Not really, I enjoy speaking with you so much that I'd come up with a hundred questions. So I would rather just keep it short and sweet that, we continue in some other point down the line and let the listener come to us directly if they have questions. There's a lot of answers in our website, but please, just You know, reach out to us.

There's online forums there through the website. Go to leadingpeers. com, click on membership, find a way to connect with us. There's a contact tab and let us know what your questions are. Let's set up a one to one conversation and we can think deeper about your particular case. We get asked a lot, like, how will I be placed in the right board?

That's a great question. And we certainly go through that process of saying, okay, where do we [00:43:00] have an open seat, first of all and does this person want an online board or an in person board? Does this person want a board that meets in English or in Spanish? Does this person do a very specific thing where they want some knowledge in the room?

We have a, an entrepreneur who's in Silicon Valley and he's raised millions of dollars from VC funds, and he recently said to us, really love leading peers, Didn't we change the makeup of my board a little bit? And I said, why don't we start a new one with people who are also looking for VC funding, because most of our members are not, frankly, and startups or, people that are creating a product.

And he said, if you could do that for me, I'd be even more energized. So we started a new group. But sometimes we don't even need to start a new group. We just need to find a group where you're going to have the right knowledge in the room. You're not going to have a competitor in the group, but you will have people that understand the world that you live in, the business world that you happen live in.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Well, some terrific insights there. And for our listeners in the show notes, it'll be point and click. We'll have all the ways you can get [00:44:00] to Leo and Leading Peers and the website, and there's some terrific resources. So all of that said, we're now in wrap up mode. You've been through this a few times.

It's an honor. It's a tradition here on the Deep Wealth Podcast where every guest, whether it's the first time or multiple times, I have the privilege, I have the honor of asking the question. It's a fun one. I'll set this one up for you. When you think of the movie Back to the Future. You have a magical DeLorean car that will take you to any point in time.

So Leo, the fun part is tomorrow morning, you look outside your window, not only is the DeLorean car there, the door is open, it's curbside, it's waiting for you to hop on in, which you do, and you're now going to go to any point of Leo as a young child, Leo as a teenager, whatever point in time it would be.

What are you telling your younger self in terms of life lessons or life wisdom, or hey, Leo, do this, but don't do that? What would it sound like?

Leo Popik: would say to, the child that existed in, between the ages of five and 10 that listen, Leo, you're eventually going to find [00:45:00] out, What really is important to you, and you're going to find what centers you, what grounds you, what gives you a feeling that there is meaning and purpose in your life.

So just hang in there, you'll be okay. And the best part of life is still ahead. Because I think that as a child, I didn't really. No too much about myself beyond the fact that I wanted to be an athlete or wanted to be in sports. And for, I think as I went through a lot of moves, growing up in Brazil and Argentina until the age of 10 in three different cities.

Four, actually, when I moved to St. Louis, Missouri at the age of 10, in, in three different countries, all in the first 10 years, it did for a while feel a little bit too much, and it did feel like I didn't quite know my place. So that's what I would do. I would reassure myself that eventually that would all come together.

And I just needed to be patient and and be optimistic about the future.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah, it's a great [00:46:00] message, particularly when we're going through some challenges, what some people call, we'll call them opportunities, where we're saying to ourselves, hey, everything's going to be okay. It's going to work out. The best is yet to come. What a message. It's a terrific way to cap things off.

Well, Leo, as we love to say here at Deep Wealth, congratulations, it's official, this is a wrap, and may you continue to thrive and prosper while you remain healthy and safe. Thank you so much

Leo Popik: Thank you, Jeffrey.

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 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.

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