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"Mick Unplugged" is a transformative podcast that challenges listeners to move beyond the conventional 'Why' and embrace the empowering realm of 'Because.' Hosted by Mick Hunt, the voice of Modern Leadership, this podcast is designed for leaders, doers, and anyone aspiring to create meaningful impact in both their personal and professional lives.
Each episode delves into the principles of Modern Leadership, focusing on discovering your 'Because'—your core driving force—and how it can turn dreams into reality and aspirations into actionable steps. With practical advice, real-life stories, and forward-thinking insights, you’ll learn to make your 'Because' a daily focus, fueling your journey toward success and fulfillment.
Whether you’re looking to deepen your motivation, set meaningful goals, or apply modern leadership theories to overcome challenges, "Mick Unplugged" provides the tools, strategies, and insights to guide your path. Subscribe now and start transforming your life with purpose and modern leadership principles.
Are you ready to change your habits, sculpt your destiny, and light up your path to greatness? Welcome to the epicenter of transformation. This is Mick Unplugged. We'll help you identify your because so you can create a routine that's not just productive, but powerful. You'll embrace the art of evolution, adapt strategies to stay ahead of the game, and take a a step toward the extraordinary.
Intro:So let's unleash your potential. Now here's Mick.
Mick Hunt:Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Mick Unplugged. And today's exceptional guest is a renowned leadership and career coach who has dedicated his life to helping others find their purpose and achieve their professional goals. With the background in organizational leadership and a passion for personal development, He's guided countless individuals to unlock their potential and lead with confidence. As a speaker, author, and consultant, his insights and strategies have been transformative to many. Please join me in welcoming the inspirational, the influential Austin, Texas is on, doctor Benjamin Ritter.
Mick Hunt:Doctor Ritter, how are you doing today, brother?
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:Pretty good. Now anyone listening, this is your opportunity to clap. Like, wherever you are in the world, just start clapping. Standing ovation if you're sitting down, not if you're driving. People are gonna look at you be like, what are you doing?
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:Like, well, you don't know. Doctor Ritter is on Nick Unplugged, so you gotta listen to this episode.
Mick Hunt:Absolutely. So, doctor Ritter, I wanna get into it, especially with your background, man. Like, I have an MBA with Attract in Organizational Leadership. And I feel, you know, in the professional world, people don't put enough emphasis on organizational leadership. Right?
Mick Hunt:It's like, you know, I've got a small business, even a midsize business, and I'm supposed to have a manager. Maybe I should have a director or VP. Might even have a COO, CFO, VP of sales. But then collectively, how do I make those things work together? I'd love to hear your insights on your journey with leadership, but in particular, organizational leadership.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:Yeah. I'm personally passionate, and I imagine you are too on how leaders grow specifically within organizations. And so people hear organizational leadership, they're like, oh, organizational behavior. I know what that is. No.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:It's very much people tend to focus on, like, the operations and the efficiencies of an organization, but they miss the people. I don't know how you could focus on organizational behavior without actually focusing on organizational leadership. How are people leading the individuals in your company to make sure that it's effective and efficient, etcetera? I'm interested in this field very selfishly because I never want anyone to deal with a work environment or a mentality towards work that I had. I was a very unhappy, burnt out, underutilized, blame forward.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:I blamed everyone around me for the situation that I was in professional. And because of that mindset, I did not take advantage of at least 7 years of my career, at least, not including what happened below before that. And so when I decided to go into this field, I didn't have anyone I could count on or lean on or get support from. I did not have those positive relationships. I didn't see my authority as helpful.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:I didn't really take advantage of the job that I was in. I see a lot of people miss out on that, and I didn't know how to manage up and to create an environment that helped me grow and succeed in a company. And so my passion for organizational leadership is kind of this, like, well, how do we just make places really great for people to work at? And then how do we help leaders do that for their teams?
Mick Hunt:That's amazing. And I'm gonna share a stat because I just did a talk on this 2 weeks ago. I don't know if the people listening know and I wanna hit on what you said, doctor Ritter. 64% of people feel unfulfilled at work. They show up because it pays the bills and I'm just gonna be as blunt as possible.
Mick Hunt:So for 64% of your staff, they're there because right now, they don't have another option. And I I stress right now. Doctor Ritter, number 1, what are your thoughts on that statistic?
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:Yeah. And please call me Ben. It's easier on the tongue when moving forwards. And I know I made, like, a very ego driven kinda first comment around applause, but, really, it was in jest. I'm at everyone's level.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:No judgment towards anyone. I am who I am. You are who you are. We are equals in every way, shape, or form. Even listeners, I mean, you have some strengths that I don't know about.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:You could knock me out of the park in. So what I'm telling you is just what I've dedicated my my current life to in this current job and career, and feel free to disagree. But if you are working at a company, about half to 3 fourths of the people that you meet are waiting for a better opportunity. And so they're going into work every single day, wondering how to survive instead of really trying to figure out how to succeed. That's kind of scary when you think about it.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:I was there. I've been there. I mean, sometimes I'm still there some days. How do I just get through today? Now how do I make today help me for tomorrow?
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:Or how do I just enjoy today? How do I take pride in today? I have a book coming out at the end of September, kind of depends on when you listen to this. It's 2024. And one of the entries in there is about taking pride in your work.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:I made a mistake, and every entry is from experience that I had. And I made the mistake of going into work, not caring about what I did, and instead blaming my leaders and my job for not giving me the meaning and the satisfaction that I wanted. And And I totally gave away my power. And we every single day we go into work, we have the opportunity to say, how do I make today valuable for me, and almost 75% of people going into work right now are wondering, how do I get away with not working? That's scary.
Mick Hunt:That's crazy. In your field, in your experience, what are some common challenges that people face in their career when it goes, I guess, towards fulfillment? And and how do you help them overcome those obstacles?
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:When people that tend to come to work with me are generally unfulfilled, but at the same time, they feel like they're not doing enough. They feel like they're underutilized. They don't feel like they found where they're going to excel and where their home needs to be for their career. Like, half the time, maybe a third of the time, 100% true. The person's just in a really I'd say a third of the time in a negative environment.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:This person looks around them. This environment is not going to help them. It's not aligned with the things that they actually wanna do in life, and they need to maybe pivot or shift industries that can happen. I'd actually say the majority of the time, people are scarred by a previous work experience, or a leader, or a belief about how they're supposed to show up to work, or maybe they don't have a lot of confidence, and so they let the needs of other people take over theirs. And so they have completely and utterly created a job for themselves that does not put their needs or career first.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:And so they say yes to things they shouldn't say yes to. That means their boundaries and their time is spent in places that it doesn't need to be. They think work is important, but they don't really know what their priorities or expectations are. They have no true understanding of what they're trying to work towards in terms of their career. And they put themselves in a work environment that isn't really positive, or uplifting or supportive or has a certain level of mentorship.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:So we talk about this with self leadership. They they don't have clarity over their career, who they are. They don't have confidence in themselves, and so that leads to a lot of issues. So they don't actually set a a direction for their career or stand up for what they need or speak up to potentially get the visibility they need with an organization. So they're really just kinda sitting there and doing their job and just doing your job, doing a good job, doing amazing job isn't generally enough to help you get to where you need to be, especially when you're burnt out and exhausted.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:And then they just put up with negativity. They don't set boundaries. They They allow themselves to be in a negative environment. They play the victim, and so their environment automatically becomes negative because you can't create a positive environment when you see the world through negative lenses either.
Mick Hunt:There's so much that I wanna unpack and unplug right here because this is gold. I wanna start with you hit on something about confidence. And and I've, again, followed you for a while. And I know one of the things that you talk about is confidence in leadership. So how do you help individuals build that trait?
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:Oh, confidence. If there's one trait in the world, that could probably create peace. No. I'm just kidding. And if we believed in ourselves and didn't have to feel like we needed to prove ourselves or didn't feel that we had to hold back our thoughts and beliefs because we're worried about consequences, If we went into work each and every single day knowing that we'd be okay, that we'd find another job, I would love to work in an environment like that.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:Competence is 2 main things, really. It's a belief in your own skills, which is just okay. You can go read a book, listen to a podcast, which a lot of people do not do, especially leaders, when they doubt how great they are at leadership, or they have a difficult employee. They don't just type into their podcast app how to have a difficult conversation, which is sometimes the easiest trick. But it's belief in your skills and then belief in yourself and belief in yourself is probably the trump card.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:I mean, if people are happy at work, and they believe in themselves, and generally they respect others, like, I don't care how good you are or anything. Like, if you're happy, go for it. But generally, I work with leaders that care very deeply about being better leaders, and they do not believe in themselves, which is hilarious because generally people that come to hire a coach to get better at being a leader are probably pretty good leaders unless they've been forced to go hire a coach because you care, and you probably have a growth mindset. You believe that you can change. And generally that level of approach when it comes to leader overall, that human centric approach can be really powerful.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:So in terms of, like, confidence, people tend to act like their position. So if they don't have confidence, they don't act like the next position, which is what you need to do to be able to grow in your career. You are not a role. You are not your job. You are your skills and expertise.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:And if you can't show up that way, you're gonna limit your own growth and potential. And then also, if you are not confident and you don't believe in yourself, you don't know what you stand for, and you don't know what your priorities or expectations are. That's if you ask for them, because generally, unconfident leaders do not ask for feedback. You end up doing everything. And if you do everything, then you do nothing.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:And people don't really need a Swiss army knife. They need you to show up with the skills that energize you and will help the organization grow overall.
Mick Hunt:No. That's amazing. And the second thing that I wanna unplug that you talked about was negativity. And I have a friend who is on job number 3 in 2024. And I have this belief, Ben, and, you know, you're the professional, so I'm gonna let you attack my belief.
Mick Hunt:But I believe that negativity bleeds out. It bleeds up. It bleeds down. And if you're a person that seeks or always finds negativity, maybe it's a you issue or challenge. Right?
Mick Hunt:Like, if you ask people, tell me about your day or or what was great about your day or what was good about your day. And the first two responses you get are the things that went wrong all day every day, maybe it's a you problem or a them problem. And I think one of the things that leaders have to be very cognizant of is the negativity that they can be putting out into their organization. Because to me, it spreads like wildfire. Like, it's probably to me the number one reason why most unsuccessful businesses are unsuccessful.
Mick Hunt:It has 0 to do with marketing strategy, has 0 to do with sales. It genuinely has to do with negativity or a negative mindset that then bleeds down to everyone else.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:Negativity is infectious for sure. Let's say we take out the number one cause for business failure, and costs. We actually talk about culture and mindset because that might even trump it. And it might even that might even, take over. So your perception of the world and the attitude that you bring as a leader, it creates the culture of a company.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:And I don't care what the values are are. If the CEO gets up in a town hall and celebrate something or is trying to impact the culture in a positive way, if if your leader or if you as a leader are negative in any any way, shape, or form, that becomes it becomes the billboard that people drive by every day on the way to work. It becomes the one thing that they see. And I was working with a client the other day, and she was kind of in the middle of some gossip, pretty serious gossip on the executive team. We were kind of working through it, like how to react, how to manage the situation, and it came up that the strategy that would be really helpful would be to tell the person to go give the feedback to the other individual and to not feed it, to not feed the negativity, to not feed the critic, to not feed the types of values that you don't want in your company.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:And it was kinda like this big light bulb moment, this epiphany. Because if someone is negative, and there's negativity around you, oftentimes, we tend to try to connect with that individual, we try to say, Yeah, you're right, this is terrible, because we want to strengthen and build the relationship. But But that's one of the worst things you can do because what you're doing there is just compounding negativity in your company and organization. And as a leader, you can say a bunch of great positive things, and oftentimes, we don't. Leaders tend not to give enough positive recognition or to celebrate enough things.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:You say one negative thing, you say one thing against the company, you say one negative thing about a project or a client or a person, and that is going to become law. And to change that, it takes a lot of debate. And it's like, I think the ratio was, in terms of recommendation, 7 to 1, how many positive things you have to say to one negative thing for it to kinda cancel itself out. And I imagine that might even be a little bit more for a leader today. Ultimately, a leader's job, other than leading and helping people grow, is to champion the organization no matter what the decision is, period.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:You are not an individual contributor anymore. You if you have complaints, go take them to your personal relationships. Because if you start complaining within a company at all, especially to your direct reports or to your peers, you will, one, give them a reason to disengage from the company. So you will give them a reason to be unhappy. And you will also be seen as someone that does not go not interested in championing and growing with the company itself.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:It is I say it's it's it should be in the job description. I don't know if you've seen any job description that list this as a bullet point. Must champion and be positive about what the company chooses to do, not not in the ideation or brainstorming process, but in the distribution and teaching and the explain explaining and the support once the change is made.
Mick Hunt:That's deep stuff, man. Like, I would love to hear or for you to be able to tell the listeners and viewers because I know a little bit, but your approach to personal development, like, what strategies do you find most effective for unlocking potential in leaders?
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:You pick that leader up, and you put them around everything that they wanna be. I have this immersive approach to learning. And if you look at learning theory, and then probably you've studied this in terms of organizational leadership, learning theory or applied learning, how people learn is through as many different modalities as you can find, and they have generally a preference towards it, but immersive. They have to be immersed within the environment of the learning that they're trying to grow into. Just like with languages, you try to learn a language, you can play Duolingo or an app as much as you want.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:But until you go start having conversations and be forced to live your life within that country where that language is required, you probably will not become fluent or be able to use it appropriately. So if you're a leader and you're trying to grow your leadership skills, you have to immerse yourself as much as possible. So that might mean expanding your relationships in the company might mean expanding them outside the company. So finding some mentors, it 100% means that you have to then be learning about what you're trying to actually develop, not just in the work environment, but through books, through podcasts. By the way, I didn't mention this yet, but open up your podcast app and leave a great review for Mick Unplugged because he's providing some awesome content out there, and if I mean, number one way to pay it forward is to leave a review, And actually any content that you enjoy.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:If you listen to a podcast or a book, share that with someone because another way to learn is to teach. And so basically, you're looking at your life and saying, what do I do during my day? What types of content do I take in? What what types of people do I engage with and have what am I talking about? And each one of those things should have some aspect of what you're trying to learn.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:At least I'd say twice a week, at least twice, 2 or 3 times a week. It should be what you share at the dinner table, it should be what you talk about at lunch, until you feel like you've learned enough at that time, and then you can come back to it.
Mick Hunt:There we go. So perfect segue into you now. This whole episode has been about you, but upcoming you. So you briefly hit on the book that's coming out. I wanna unpack this book, man.
Mick Hunt:So let's let's talk about title, the concepts, the insights, but more importantly, starting with what was your reason for wanting to write the book? Because what I know about, he hates when I call him doctor Grader, but what I know about Ben is you're a giver. Right? And so I know that you're not gonna take the time to write a book unless you truly feel like, wow, this is something that's gonna be impactful and enlightening. So why this book?
Mick Hunt:And and we'll start there.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:All of our stories have a bit of ourselves in them. Right? Or actually, I mean, there are stories, so I guess they have a lot of us ourselves in them. I mentioned before that I am in the field that I am in because I'm trying to prevent what happened to me to others. And so to create organizations, better places for people to thrive in and helping people realize that they are accountable and empowered for their career.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:And I have podcasts. I do workshops, I coach 1 on 1, but I don't have something that people can read other than articles or LinkedIn posts. And LinkedIn posts, I mean, there's something on social media. Who knows what it's gonna if it's gonna be there tomorrow? But also, it's just like it's kinda gone.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:Like, no matter how good your thought is, eventually, it's gonna disappear into the ether. And so I wanted to create something that could last forever, and books are evergreen. They they can be there unless you decide to to take them offline, but generally, they can be there forever. And so it's a good, like, medium to provide content and information. But, also, I was coming out with these Fearless Friday little episodes, 2 to 3 minutes, little tips.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:And for me, those are the most fun because that's how I learn. I learn through, oh, that sentence really resonated with what I'm doing in my life right now. How do I go try it? How do I go do this thing that this statement represents? Because then you learn.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:You do something, you learn from it, and then you kinda reiterate and then reiterate and reiterate. It's just it's just a loop of learning. And if you don't do anything, you don't learn. And so these fearless Fridays were really just about doing. They're about taking action, and I got a lot of really positive feedback around it, which resonated with me because that's, again, that's how I learned.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:And it just kinda hit me one day, and I'm like, I have, like, 2 years worth of these episodes out there that encompass pretty much what I believe in in terms of living fearlessly in your life, in your professional in in your in your job. Why don't I turn them into a book? And it kinda like it kinda all the puzzle pieces fit into place. And so then I went out there because these fearless Friday episodes are directly from my experiences in my life, my clients, what I feel are people people are struggling with. I distilled them down.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:I transcribed all the episodes. Now we have AI. I could have done would have been a lot easier because, did not use AI. Transcribe them with my editor, went through them, selected ones I felt were most important, and so we ended up with 65 tips after some editing and kinda me looking, thinking about what what someone truly needs, that focus on your from your mindset, but all everything that you can do in your life to help you start becoming more fearless. And fear being fearless or being confident is a skill.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:It's something that you need to practice, but you need to know what to practice. So the book helps people start acting in their life to hopefully live more for themselves and live fearlessly.
Mick Hunt:That's amazing. How long did it take you to go from concept to finished product?
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:I think it's been 2 years. I think it's almost 2 years. And it's like that time just flies because we were about a year in, and I was like, I wanna get up I wanna get this out soon. It's taking way too long. It's taking way too long.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:And then it still took almost another year. It's incredible.
Mick Hunt:What do you think are your top or not not even your top 3 because I know the entire book is insightful. If you if you had to point to 3 insights that you want the viewers and listeners of Make them Puck to know today, What would the 3 insights from your book be that you want to get across?
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:Okay. Can I give you, like, an appendix? Oh, can I give you, like, the the pre word? I want because I wanna say 3 and then kinda give 3.
Mick Hunt:Let's go. Okay.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:So the first three are to feel your feelings, think about your thoughts, and and not to believe your beliefs. Don't believe your beliefs. I actually love this so much that I made into a shirt. And it this concept of you have to feel what you feel. You can't push it away.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:You have to truly understand what's happening within your body. You have to then also understand your thoughts. You need to, like, really deconstruct them. Where is this coming from? What do I actually think right now?
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:Because from your feelings come your thoughts, which then develop your beliefs. And then the once you understand all that, you look at your beliefs and go, I could believe something else, can't I? Because the same feelings, same thoughts can lead to a very different belief. The problem is you're stuck in the belief that you currently have. If you take away anything from this book, hopefully, it's that concept that we get to choose our beliefs and that fear is just an information.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:Everything is just information. We need to figure out what best serves us. And then the actual tips in the book or the strategies that I wanna call out for a second I already called out one, which is take pride in your work because that will change the game in terms of how you show up. The other piece is the true meaning of work that work is never done. Like, if your work is done, you you will be fired.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:You will not be needed within your organization. So let's stop prioritizing our work and acting like it can actually be completed each and every single day and start prioritizing some of the things we truly that also matter in our life, like our relationships, our pets, our own health and wellness, things that maybe we wanna learn just because we wanna learn them, not for any other reason. I love reading fantasy books. And then in terms of the work itself, I already mentioned it too, but I can't stress it enough. You have to act as if you've already been promoted.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:Don't wait for permission. If you have certain goals in your career, go talk to people that are in those positions. Go figure out what competencies are important in your organization and start preparing at a year before you actually wanna be promoted. I've seen too many people get discouraged and disengaged in a company because the company can't act as fast as they want. We're too impatient in our careers.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:We're way too impatient, and we need to give ourselves the opportunity to be patient by planning a little bit further ahead.
Mick Hunt:I love that what you just said because I tell people the same thing because I look at it from my viewpoint. From the CEO or, you know, the the senior leader of an organization, I want people to show me that they deserve to be Because a lot of times and I know you know this, Ben. A lot of times these promotions aren't something the company thought of. Right? Like, I didn't know I needed to promote Ben.
Mick Hunt:But once Ben started showing these actions, it was like, you know what? Ben can't accept more responsibility, or Ben can oversee a department, or Ben should be, you know, someone that I wanna have conversations with or drive strategic initiatives within the business. If you're waiting, I promise you your employer didn't know that that position needed to exist for you.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:100%. You can craft your job. You can make your job. And often, companies don't know what they need until you show them.
Mick Hunt:So, Ben, wanna wrap this up with where can people find you and follow you? We'll make sure that they're posted in the show notes. And then anything outside of the book that's exciting that's coming up for
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:you. Yeah. So please go to live for yourself consulting.com. You can find everything there. Also connect with me on LinkedIn.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:It's where I'm most active, doctor Benjamin Ritter. And honestly, the things I'm most excited about is really singular focus right now on the book, but hopefully just spreading the message. So you might see me in places that you haven't seen me in before. Just trying to get out there.
Mick Hunt:I love it. So for everybody, make sure you are following doctor Ben. I will make sure that we have all of these links everywhere in the show notes. I'll also do some social posts for you too, doctor Ben, and just make sure that I'm doing my part to support you. And I'm truly honored to have you on.
Mick Hunt:You know, you're one of the thought leaders that I personally look up to, so this was a pleasure to to share some time with you, brother.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:Oh, I appreciate that. Fills my heart up. Little note to everyone. If you recognize someone in your life, you think positively of them, this is an opportunity to go tell them. Because that comment from you just now, I mean, I'm gonna I'm gonna go through the week with that, and I'm gonna just, like, write it down somewhere because it it helps inspire me to keep doing the work that I'm doing.
Dr. Benjamin Ritter:And if you appreciate someone's work or appreciate someone in your life, do the same for them.
Mick Hunt:Absolutely. Thank you, doctor Ben. And for all the listeners and viewers, remember, your because is your superpower. Go unleash it.
Intro:Thanks for listening to Mick Unplugged. We hope this episode helps you take the next step toward the extraordinary and launches stay inspired, and stay unplugged. Stay inspired, and stay unplugged.