¶ The Firefighter's Code
Welcome to One Insight . My name is Rich Litvin . I grew up in London and I now live in LA , and this is a podcast for extraordinary top performers and their coaches . You see , I've coached some of the most successful and talented people on the planet . I can see what most people cannot see and I dare to say what most people wouldn't dare to say .
And what I know about success is that on the other side of it , it can be incredibly lonely . You can feel more of an imposter the more successful you become , and when you're the most interesting person in the room , you're actually in the wrong room .
Clients who are more successful , more intelligent and wealthier than you need your support , more than they know and more than you can imagine . I coach around insight . Life looks one way , something happens and the world looks different and your entire world changes .
It can happen in an instant , and this podcast is called One Insight because a single insight can change everything . Hi , welcome to a new season of the podcast . For years , I've taught coaches how to build a word of mouth business . It's the prosperous coach approach . Sell the experience of coaching , not the idea of coaching approach .
Sell the experience of coaching , not the idea of coaching Create so much value for people when you spend time with them , they don't have to ask should I sign up for coaching ? They ask how can I not have more of this ? That's the prosperous coach approach . Now there's another level of coach , called an influential coach . An influential coach is a thought leader .
They share intellectual property , ip , tools , distinctions , scorecards . They write newsletters , they have a podcast , they share videos and they create a body of work that stands online for years after they've created it .
It that's when you become a thought leader and people start knocking on your door , and in this season I'm going to work with a whole range of coaches on drawing out their IP , their intellectual property , to show how they and then you can become a thought leader . So people start knocking on your door .
In a moment you're going to hear me working with Shannon . She's a former attorney who became a firefighter , became a coach and a consultant , and she has some IP that I want to play with , some ideas and concepts that she shares with her clients , called the firefighter code .
She works with very high level executives and entrepreneurs and I want to help her hone it so that they can hear it in a way that she doesn't use language that they're going to miss . When we're using IP , it has to grab somebody's attention , either because it shakes them up or because it has them think oh my God , I get it , I want to learn more .
Hi , shannon , hey , rich , hey . So I've been thinking a lot about , we've been back and forth in ideas before this call about the IP you're creating around what you call the firefighter's code . So correct me if I'm wrong your background was as a litigation attorney . You left that to become a firefighter .
You left that to become a coaching consultant , and what you've begun to do is use those golden threads from that previous career and pull them through to make you not the average coach , not the standard consultant . You stand out in the world because you've got an extraordinary story behind you . How's that ? For a quick summary , yeah , I like it .
Cool and you've begun to play with something called the firefighter's code . You've taught this to us in 4PC , my high-level mastermind for coaches and consultants . You've taught this to us in 4PC , my high-level mastermind for coaches and consultants .
You've taught it out in the corporate world and you wanted to play with that and hone that firefighters code in here with me . Is that correct ?
Yeah .
Cool . So I'm going to provoke your thinking . This is where I want to jump in and see where we go . Do you have it in front of you , the firefighters code as you sent it to me this morning ? I can get it . Yes , what are the six elements of the firefighter's code ? Actually , let me backtrack for a second . Yeah , why is the ?
firefighter's code useful to leaders , executives and entrepreneurs . It's a code by which they can lead under extreme pressure , with extreme stakes , high stakes , and following that code they can navigate those two parts of an intense world .
That's brilliant . So that hits immediately how to handle life and business when you're under extreme pressure and the stakes are high . Beautiful Subtitle for a book . It's great . It's really powerful . So now I know exactly why you want to use this tool and why leaders and executives and entrepreneurs are asking you to use this tool .
Now give me the six elements of this tool as you speak them right now .
Okay , okay , uh . The first one actually and I've been playing around with this is be safe . I'll go through them all um snuggle with uncomfortable so number one be safe .
Number two snuggle with the uncomfortable number three is slow down .
Number four is listen to both your heart and your gut mm-hmm .
Number five is execute .
Number six is have their back and your gut . Number five is execute . Number six is have their back and your own . And number seven is celebrate small wins .
It's great . I love your thinking , I love what it means and here's what I wanted to provoke you today . Number two , especially , is the one that I really struggled with . You call it snuggle with the uncomfortable . You are a really heart-centered person . If anyone's watching the video , you've drawn a heart on the whiteboard behind you .
There's also a firefighter's axe on the other side , and that's the two sides of you , right ? You're very heart-centered when you go into the corporate world , when you're sitting down with an entrepreneur who's worried about how they're going to make payroll this month , the words snuggle with the uncomfortable are not going to land very powerfully .
So that was the first thing that struck me and I thought well , let me play with these and see if I can turn them into something that that I can speak the language of the people who I know you're going to be talking to high level executives , entrepreneurs . I know those worlds . So I played with these , these different ways of phrasing what you do .
Number one fireproof your strategy . Number two embrace the slow burn . Number three trust your gut . Number four precision under pressure . Number five leadership in two directions . And number six sparks of success . I honed it down to six it doesn't matter if you decide you want to have six or seven , but this is where I got to . Here's why I did that .
Fireproof your strategy . Here's what that means . Ensure safety in high stakes decisions . The titles are to intrigue them , so they tell me more . I like that . Yep , I approve your strategy and I've got this written down so I can send it to you after afterwards , if I approve your strategy ensure safety and high stakes decisions . That's what they need .
You can teach them that . Number two embrace the slow burn . Find the power in discomfort and patience .
I love that .
Number three trust your gut . We all know that phrase , that phrase , we know what that three trust your gut . We all know that phrase . We know what that means . Trust your gut , Trust your instinct in critical moments . Yes , Number four precision under pressure .
Take decisive action .
That's a fun one because it's got the alliteration of precision under pressure , so it lands . It's memorable . Yeah memorable , yeah , number five leadership in two directions also memorable , because what does that mean ? We don't think of leadership that way . Leadership , two directions , supporting your team while preserving yourself .
Number six sparks of success , exactly as you say , celebrate the small wins .
I love it . The leadership in two directions is really creative , Rich , that is something that I think all of my clients struggle with in terms of . You know , it's always about leading yourself first and taking care of yourself first , and that is so hard to do when you feel like your world and your pace is unsustainable and everything about taking care of you .
It goes just off the table and you're in emergency . You know firefighter mode , and that is a huge struggle for almost everybody that I've worked with , so I love that .
It might come higher up , it might be higher up the list . You can , you can get to play with this one . Leadership in two directions is also provocative , because what I'm going to hear by that is , if I'm a leader is like oh yeah , I get it , I'm leading my team , I'm also leading upwards . How do I lead my board of directors ?
If I'm the CEO , I'm the vice president . How do I lead the senior vice president ? No , no , no , no . That's leadership in a vertical domain .
this is leadership in a horizontal domain , which is how do you take care of yourself ? Yeah , horizontal domain , yeah , and that seems to be a big struggle of people that I'm working with . Yeah , and , of course , there's a mirror there oh , yeah , yeah .
Well , we teach what we need to learn , and that's why we're good at teaching this stuff because we experience it , we get it . So , look , all I did was take your IP and think about how can I be a translator ? The IP is powerful , but I know these people over here and they have to be able to hear you .
You have to be the James Bond , the secret agent , for getting this information into their hands . It has to be something that has them go . Oh , my God , you're so right . Leadership in two directions yeah , I know . Vertical , horizontal . What do you mean about that ? Take care of me , last thing I do .
So all I did today was translate what you said , so your dream clients can actually hear you .
I love that . I wanted to resist that . They don't like snuggle with the uncomfortable because I think it's a bit of a scooby-doo . What , what does that even mean ? Right , so it gets their attention , because you don't talk about snuggling or getting in a onesie with your fuzzy or your teddy bear in a corporate arena .
So doing that does kind of make them go oh , wow , okay , yeah , we're going to be snuggling with what , but I like the way you put it .
It's your IP . You get to choose how you use it out in the world . If you find with your clients it provokes their thinking enough that it's like , no , we've got to keep this one because it shocks them , because it's so different to everything else , hey , keep it you see , it can be a plus and as well .
So yeah , yeah , it's still being .
It can be the secret one you bring in later . It's not the one you mentioned . Hey , by the way , there's one that I never say out loud , because if I say it out loud it freaks people out , but that's why I need to say it , and now you're in the room I can say it to you . So here's element seven .
It's the secret element of the firefighter code that nobody ever talks about . It's called snuggle with the uncomfortable . Now you've got an even more interesting way to talk about it .
I'm thinking about , I'm always thinking about enrollment and enrollment , whether that's someone coming in to become a client , or enrolling them to come to a workshop , or enrolling them to come and work with you , or enrolling them to read a book or an article that you've written , and so sometimes we can be really provocative .
Like you just said , snuggle with the uncomfortable shocks them , and sometimes we've got to speak their language so they open the book , so they click on the link .
Yes , I get that , I get that , and those were created without thinking about being spiky , uh , and I love how you've woven in um you know some , some firefighter wording in there too I
¶ Evolution of Coaching and Leadership
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I wanted it to feel like the firefighter code , like this is everything is to do with fighting a fire .
Yeah , yeah , I love it , it's beautiful thanks rich .
I think we're complete right yeah , it feels like it , yeah , yeah the cool thing about creating ip is when you get it , you get a sense of excitement and now you want to go off and play with it . Indeed , if you didn't have this feeling , we weren't there yet .
The moment you have this feeling we are done because now you've got some cool things to play with and , by the way , it's always a work in process , right . So you play like in your discovery . Come back to me in three months and you go . You know what ? One , two and four were perfect .
Three I had to change the wording slightly because I never quite got it and number five , oh my God here's what I did with this one .
We'll find out over time . Yes , perfect , and the firefighter code has evolved over time as well . Snuggle was not the first word that I used , so yeah .
And I like you pushing back on me , like it doesn't mean I'm right . I'm trying to provoke your thinking so you can provoke their thinking . And if the word snuggle is enough of a shock to the system , keep it . If it works , play with it .
I appreciate that . I appreciate you , Rich .
My pleasure . For most of human history , it wasn't called coaching , it was called leadership , and it's what I love to do to coach people , to lead people and to mess with people's thinking . If you'd like more of this , or if you'd like to learn more about our community of extraordinary top performers , go to richlitvincom . Forward slash one insight .