#249 The Version of You That Got You Here Cannot Get You There | Josh Zolin, CEO of Windy City Equipment Service

Josh Zolin was a Hollywood stunt man before he became a CEO. He walked away from the film business, started at the bottom of his father's restaurant equipment company as a field technician on minimum wage, and now runs it as President and CEO of Windy City Equipment. In this conversation with Bart Berkey, Josh explains the thing that made all of it possible. Every level of success he reached required a different version of him to show up, and confronting the old version was the hardest work he has ever done. He talks about why he left the stunt world, and it was not about credit or money. It was that he did not like the person he was becoming in order to succeed. He talks about the ten years he spent in the field, getting up at 4:30 in the morning and working a second job because his father refused to pay him more than minimum wage, and about the line that explains why he stayed: he did not like the work, but he liked who he was when he was working. Then he gets practical. Josh handwrites three notebooks every single day. A wins notebook built on four filters, freedom, presence, impact and love. A universal questions notebook that teaches him how to think. And an excavation notebook, where he writes the hard question, the unfiltered answer, the sentence that starts with "the lie I'm telling myself is," and finally "I am the man who." His claim is simple. Do that for a year and you will not be the same person. He also answers the question the show is named for. Why don't most people do this work? Because they mistake uncertainty for something they need to know, and anxiety comes from two things: what we are uncertain about, and what we feel powerless against. Josh is the author of Blue Is The New White, a case for purpose and real earning in the skilled trades, and the host of Everything They Don't Tell You. Find everything at joshzolin.com. In this episode: The one thing Josh does that Most People Don't Why he left the stunt business, and the moment in the mirror Starting as a technician with no silver spoons and no handouts Why fair and the same are not the same thing in a company culture What it means to give someone your present instead of your attention The three notebooks, and the four parts of every excavation entry Why uncertainty and powerlessness are the recipe for intrusive thoughts Blue Is The New White, and the case for the skilled trades Most People Don't... But YOU Do! is hosted by Bart Berkey, who spent 16 years as a global executive with The Ritz-Carlton and now builds HUMANALITY™, a system for making people feel cared for rather than processed. Listen, subscribe and share: https://www.bartaberkey.com/podcast