Strengths vs. Reality with Rusty Adair

# Karaoke, Strengths, and Risk-Taking: A Conversation with Rusty Adair

> Exploring the intersection of strengths and personal connections in coaching.

Bill Dippel and Mary Hamm kick off this episode with a light-hearted banter about karaoke, celebrating Dolly Day, and sharing their personal experiences with singing. Bill humorously declines to sing but praises Mary for her karaoke spirit, setting the tone for a casual yet insightful conversation.  

## The Strength That Gets You in Trouble  
The duo dives into a more profound topic, discussing their individual strengths and how they sometimes lead them into tricky situations. Mary reflects on her natural inclination to connect with people, sharing:

> "I talk to way too many people that I should not be talking to and I don't have any desire to change that."  

She explains that her desire to uplift others often overshadows her family's advice to keep conversations short. In contrast, Bill reveals that his tendency to activate quickly can create challenges:

> "I tend to activate quickly, fast, jump in, make something ready, fire, aim, right?"  

This dichotomy of strengths showcases their unique approaches to coaching and personal interactions, emphasizing the importance of recognizing one's strengths while understanding their potential pitfalls.

## Welcoming Rusty Adair  
As the episode unfolds, Mary introduces their guest, Rusty Adair, a certified Clifton Strengths coach. Rusty’s calming presence and deep knowledge add a rich layer to the conversation. Mary shares a touching anecdote about how Rusty believed in her coaching abilities long before she did, illustrating the profound impact of mentorship and support in personal growth:

> "Rusty believed in my ability to coach before I believed in my ability to coach."  

## A Conversation to Remember  
This episode is not just about strengths; it's about the relationships built through shared experiences and the risk-taking that comes with connecting deeply with others. Bill, Mary, and Rusty explore how strengths manifest in various situations, making for an engaging and thought-provoking dialogue.

As you listen to this episode, consider the strengths that you embrace, how they shape your interactions, and the risks you're willing to take in pursuit of meaningful connections.  

To delve deeper into this enriching conversation, tune into the full episode of Strengths on Fire.

Creators and Guests

Host

Bill Dippel

Bill Dippel is a certified, professional Strengths coach with a 35-year career in nonprofits and higher education. His passion is working with organizations, teams, and individuals to ensure they are performing and communicating at the highest levels. As president of Bill Dippel Strengths Coaching, he travels frequently for large events and public speaking, as well as working with whole companies through their management teams.

Host

Mary Hamm

Mary Hamm is a mental health expert, strengths coach, and cohost of Strengths on Fire. With her signature blend of Positivity, Communication, Woo, Includer, and Ideation, Mary creates energizing conversations that help people feel seen, understood, and inspired to grow. Based in Memphis, Tennessee, she brings warmth, curiosity, and practical insight to every conversation.

What is Strengths On Fire?

Strengths on Fire is what happens when two coaches with a whole lot of people energy, curiosity, and very different strengths start pulling apart how people really work. Mary brings Woo, Positivity, Communication, Includer, and Ideation—an infectious combination that creates energy, draws people into the conversation, tells a great story, and isn’t afraid to throw a new idea into the mix just to see where it goes. Bill brings Individualization, Developer, Activator, Woo, and Restorative—naturally seeing what makes people different, spotting their potential, digging into what’s not working, and pushing the conversation from interesting to “What are we actually going to do about it?” Together, they turn CliftonStrengths into something you can actually see, hear, challenge, laugh about, and use. Expect real stories, experiments, workplace mysteries, occasional disagreements, unexpected discoveries, and plenty of moments where strengths show up in ways nobody predicted. This isn’t a podcast about memorizing 34 themes. It’s about discovering what happens when you put strengths to work in the real world—and light them on fire.

Bill Dippel (00:02.492)
I am not gonna sing it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. I will I I won't. I refuse. I mean it's a great way to start a podcast, Barry, but but I'm giving you full kudos on the on the singing and the voice. But I can't see I so I get

Mary Hamm (00:05.811)
On

Mary Hamm (00:10.68)
Thank you.

Mary Hamm (00:15.694)
I mean, it was a little rough. Let's not lie about it. But you could have sung because when we're recording this, it's September twenty fifth, which is nationally declared Dolly Day in Tennessee, cause it's nine to five. There we go.

Bill Dippel (00:28.81)
Working nine two five. Right. Had a way to make a living. So see, I yeah, I love it. I but I singing is not my I know I get told all the time the voice for the podcast, but for some reason singing, no, I got I got nothing in there. So pull

Mary Hamm (00:43.468)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, someone told me I had a voice for podcasting and I was like, you know, there's there's two types of people, the people that have a voice for podcasting and the people that have a face for for TV. I'm like, thank you, thank you.

Bill Dippel (00:53.15)
And a a face for podcasting. Yes. That's very true. And people tell me the voice all the time. I wonder what that means. Huh. That's interesting. So and you've actually seen me do karaoke. So when I sing, it's traditionally not something that needs a lot of melody.

Mary Hamm (01:05.762)
I have.

Mary Hamm (01:11.05)
Right. It's a little it's a struggle. I mean, it's beautiful.

Bill Dippel (01:17.238)
I for our arsonists at our last event, I kind of wanted to make sure that my fellow coaches realized that I'm I'm willing to take risks. So I did Babies Got Back as my as my song. And unf unfortunately from a from a very wasted youth, I know every word to that song. So people were like, He's never gonna get this. That song is really crazy. And then I just

Mary Hamm (01:30.638)
Yeah you did. Yeah. And nailed it.

Mary Hamm (01:46.338)
He did every word.

Bill Dippel (01:47.359)
I'd love it. Yeah. And I have to tell you, in that bar that we were at, even the guy that does the karaoke that sets it up kinda came up to me when we I put the slip in and he goes, Are you sure? Are you really you really gonna do this? I was like, Y yeah. He goes, You gotta know this song. This is tough. And I was like, dude, I got you. Don't worry. I I got it. Right. Yeah. So

Mary Hamm (02:03.96)
Yeah, yeah.

Mary Hamm (02:09.602)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's fun. It's kind of become a tradition for our our group with Connect Learn Share to go out for karaoke at at some point when we get together. And and that's all I go for is you know, karaoke, you know, singing on stage. Give me a microphone, like yes, please. Thank you.

Bill Dippel (02:18.59)
Yeah. Yeah.

Bill Dippel (02:26.472)
Yeah. Yeah. Well, in relation to that, I got another question for you, right? In relation to us being at Learn Connect Share and we're learning about our strengths and we're understanding stuff. My quick question for you today is which of your strengths gets you in the most trouble, but you secretly have no intention of fixing it?

Mary Hamm (02:30.623)
Okay.

Mary Hamm (02:35.438)
Uh-huh.

Mary Hamm (02:45.006)
Bill Dippel (02:48.011)
Mm-hmm.

Mary Hamm (02:52.526)
I mean, that's gotta be my woo, right? Like it I it definitely gets me in the most trouble sometimes. I I talk to way too many people that I should not be talking to and I don't have any desire to to change that. Like I'm still gonna talk to everybody I meet, you know, like

Bill Dippel (02:54.902)
Does it?

Bill Dippel (02:59.542)
Yeah.

Bill Dippel (03:09.258)
Well, does it get you in trouble though? I don't know that talking to

Mary Hamm (03:11.67)
I with my family, yes. Mm-hmm. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, they'd be like, mom, you don't have to talk to every single person you meet. And I'm like, I don't know why. Why wouldn't I? Why wouldn't I? Like, what if I could make their day better? What if like they were having an awful day and just need to be seen in that moment? And I am pretty good at telling if if somebody w wants to talk to me or not. Like I've grown in that.

Bill Dippel (03:25.748)
Why wouldn't I do this? And as a Yeah, and as a

Mary Hamm (03:41.43)
Right. and so like if I'm riding up in an elevator with somebody, honestly, that's not when my woes hanging out. I am not an elevator talker person. I'm like, leave me alone. I don't want to talk to you. You don't want to talk to me. Let's just have that understanding. Right. So so okay. Yep.

Bill Dippel (03:49.227)
Gotcha.

Bill Dippel (03:56.791)
Just yeah, let's just do it. Yeah. I'm with you on the woo, right? Woo's high for me, right? It's number four. So I get that, but it's not the one that gets me in the most trouble. And I'm like, there's no chance I'm changing, right? For me, that's act developer. and by that, no, activator is number three for me. I said act developer. So activator is number three, developer is number two.

Mary Hamm (04:10.295)
Okay.

Mary Hamm (04:14.059)
Which is your number one, right?

activator. I thought you said developer. Okay. You did? Okay. Okay. Okay. huh.

Bill Dippel (04:25.546)
So for me, I tend to activate, right, quickly, fast, jump in, make something ready, fire, aim, right? That's me. And I get in trouble because I so want to develop those around me and help and and make that happen. But in smunching those together, right? My Wu, sure, my Wu gets there. And I've joked on the podcast before. Woo stands for winning others over in the Gallup world. It's the only acronym. In my world, it stands for wife objects often. and that's

Mary Hamm (04:27.608)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Right. Yep.

Mary Hamm (04:38.167)
Yeah.

Mary Hamm (04:53.454)
I mean, I've met her. Yeah. Uhhuh.

Bill Dippel (04:55.348)
That is fair because I'm wooing it up. Yes. Yeah. So I'm wooing it up while she's like, We have places to go. What's going on? But I would say the one the one that gets me in the most trouble really is developer because of the I'm I'm all bought in with some people, right? And I'm I'm ready to go. And then I activate and I keep developing and activating and pushing and but to be on just like you, I wanna help people. I I'm not changing it, right? I'm not I'm I just wanna keep doing it. And I do surround myself with

Mary Hamm (05:10.263)
Yeah, yeah.

Mary Hamm (05:16.29)
Yeah.

Mary Hamm (05:19.83)
Right.

Yeah.

Bill Dippel (05:25.098)
people that are really good at telling me you you can't care this much. You gotta stop. It's gonna kill you. So, you know.

Mary Hamm (05:28.578)
Yeah. It's true. You know, the other one that gets me in trouble frequently is ideation. probably if we were gonna be at like a coupling ideation and a ranger, because I'll have an idea and then I'll arrange everything else around it in order to make it happen. And so like we'll have a plan to do something and then I'll be like, ooh, but this might be better and probably throw a little strategic in there.

Bill Dippel (05:35.486)
Mm.

Mary Hamm (05:53.046)
Right. This one might be actually a little bit better and we might be able to do a little bit more if we do it this way. But then my very consistent deliberative husband comes along and is like, We had a plan. What happened to the plan?

Bill Dippel (06:03.05)
Yes. We were ready. We were ready at that moment, right? And by the way, I feel for your husband, 'cause doing a podcast with you has I mean, it is just hard. The ideas just keep coming. The the put no, I'm totally kidding. You're a complete joy to work with. I just

Mary Hamm (06:20.834)
He does he does listen every Tuesday though, I will say. 'Cause I'll check on Wednesday, usually on Wednesday, I give him a day. I'm like, Hey, did you listen to the podcast yet? And he was like, Yeah, yesterday. Like, why wouldn't I listen to it yesterday? Of course I did. It's like it's no different than normal.

Bill Dippel (06:24.278)
Does he?

Bill Dippel (06:33.45)
I listened to my wife on the podcast. Of course I did. my wife listens. Hello, Renee. She's I guarantee you, today, tomorrow actually probably like you Wednesday morning, maybe Tuesday night, when this episode airs. She's gonna be like, listen to it. Thanks for the shout out. Had a great time, right? yeah. And she always gives me a rating. She gives me a I really liked that, or I ooh, I didn't like that. So yeah, I get I get

Mary Hamm (06:39.926)
Hello, Renee.

Mary Hamm (06:53.347)
Ha ha ha.

Okay.

Bill Dippel (07:02.922)
positive income, positive feedback from from that. So

Mary Hamm (07:04.066)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Now I will say, Bill, our guest today made a really good point. Cause like, you know, you've had this podcast for two years and this is my first year, and you've kind of given me like just invite whoever. I've invited people for the past two years, it's all you now. And so I literally have just been inviting my friends to come on. And I'm really loving that because it's like seeing this guest today in

Bill Dippel (07:09.952)
Yeah.

Bill Dippel (07:26.58)
Yeah.

Mary Hamm (07:33.618)
It's been a while see him every week and he he's has a sweet place in my heart. so it's fun to be able to just invite my friends on here and and be able to interview with them, talk to them and just see what's going on in their life. So I yes.

Bill Dippel (07:50.901)
Well, so are well, so our arsonists are aware. Most of our friends are strengths coaches or or also in clients or in the community. We're not just randomly picking somebody I went to high school with, but I get your point, Mary. Yes. I I love it. And I love that you're bringing on yeah, 'cause after two years I've brought on a really wide variety of clients and and other coaches and guests and people and I love that you're bringing this whole new collection of

Mary Hamm (07:56.94)
Ha ha ha

Ha ha

Mary Hamm (08:07.63)
my goodness.

Bill Dippel (08:21.302)
people that and it's funny, most of them I know, but today's guest I actually don't. So do you wanna you wanna you wanna announce our guest today?

Mary Hamm (08:21.518)
People. Yeah.

Mary Hamm (08:29.53)
I do. So our guest today is Rusty Adair, and he is an amazing person, first of all, like just an amazing person. And he also happens to be a certified Clifton Strengths coach. And and he just comes with a wealth of knowledge and information and background that I don't have.

And he anytime I'm around him, he just has this very like I was telling Bill before Rusty came on this morning, like he's just very calming. Like when he speaks, it's a very calming voice and

Bill Dippel (09:09.086)
Well, I already have to agree with you because our pre show was just very listen to that wonderful right?

Mary Hamm (09:12.182)
Yeah. Yeah. And yet with a spark of like gitter, right? Like, it's okay. Ask her the hard question. Don't ask her the funny question. Ask her the hard question. It's fine. So I Rusty, I am so happy that you have said yes to being on the show. Welcome to Strengths on Fire the Lab.

Rusty Adair (09:35.302)
Thank you. It is so good to be here. And it has been four and a half years since I lived in Memphis. So that's the that's the duration. But I have I've enjoyed listening to the podcast. I'm excited to be a part of it today.

Mary Hamm (09:42.766)
My goodness.

Bill Dippel (09:44.446)
Mm-hmm.

Mary Hamm (09:53.068)
Yeah. And fun fact, Rusty believed in my ability to coach before I believed in my ability to coach. And my first team training was with a group that Rusty was working with. And it was my very first team thing. And I got COVID that weekend and had to swap, I had to do it remotely. And so he was there in person with this team, and I was virtual.

Rusty Adair (10:14.512)
Yes, you did. Had to do it remotely.

Mary Hamm (10:22.866)
And and I had already done coaching with all of the team members ahead of time virtually. But I was so excited to be able to go in person and everything. And then I got COVID. It was such an experience. So

Bill Dippel (10:33.758)
Wow. Wow. How was the how was the hybrid version of it? Having Mary virtual and

Rusty Adair (10:39.514)
It was it was great. I was there to kinda be the hands and feed and and and keep things moving, but all all of the you know, all of the expertise came from her and she did a great job with that and and then you and then you did a class the next morning, right? Yeah, also remotely. at it was at a church and she spoke to a class the next morning and it just went really, really well.

Mary Hamm (11:00.45)
That's right, yeah, yeah. That's right.

Rusty Adair (11:10.182)
Great experience.

Bill Dippel (11:10.224)
I I agree with you there. I have found like we get asked when we're working with a a fairly large team, inevitably, especially in traveling, some some people can't make it. So we get asked to do a hybrid regularly, and we're usually taking over the A V and we're you know, we're putting up decks and we're kinda showing the strengths grids and we're talking about, you know, power of two and we're showing that stuff. I've always found

strengths note for all of our coaches out there listening to our podcast. I've always found that really disengages the people that are remote, right? That the that are on hybrid because, you know, I yeah, okay, I kind of get it. And I can get up and get a Coke while this is happening because, you know, they're talking about two other peer, you know, whatever is happening. So the secret I found to that, which I think has been phenomenal, is I have one of the coaches on my staff on with us as well.

Mary Hamm (11:49.155)
Right.

Bill Dippel (12:04.712)
And when we break into sessions, instead of me saying, All right, everybody go into a session, write down these things, and then I'm gonna walk around the room and help you understand these or do this before we come back and I'll talk about it, that coach will be on the hybrid side doing the exact same thing. That way the hybrid groups are looking at it and they're getting a bunch of interaction as well. And they're getting as much out of it as I think the people in the room are. It's difficult, it takes more people, it takes a little more coach alignment, you know. I have to

Mary Hamm (12:27.128)
Yeah.

Bill Dippel (12:34.056)
mute it so that when she's talking to them, right, we're not, you know, we're not crossing up. There's a little coordination in it, but man, is it effective, effective, really effective. So I I I imagine Rusty having a coach in the room while she was doing what she did was incredibly helpful.

Mary Hamm (12:42.242)
Yeah, yeah. That's good.

Rusty Adair (12:50.992)
Yeah, it it went really well. It was it was extremely well received and we built on what Mary did that weekend for months after that. And and Mary had coached me, so that's the other part is when when I took the assessment she coached me and then I got her involved coaching this team and so I I take a little bit of credit for launching this bright career that you see now.

Mary Hamm (13:01.688)
Okay.

Bill Dippel (13:14.868)
No.

Mary Hamm (13:16.11)
As you should. Yes. Yeah, yeah. I I I really dedicate my career to Rusty and Rodney. So maybe I'll have Rodney on at some point. So Rodney was my coach, Bill. And so maybe I'll get him on. That's a good idea.

Bill Dippel (13:19.99)
taking a l little bit of credit.

Rusty Adair (13:26.776)
And running, you know.

Bill Dippel (13:30.294)
Mm.

Bill Dippel (13:33.568)
That's not a

Rusty Adair (13:33.86)
And Rodney's the reason that's where I took the assessment was under Rodney, so he'd be a great guest.

Mary Hamm (13:39.298)
Yeah. He would be. Yeah. Yeah. You can just see where it all came from.

Bill Dippel (13:40.779)
Very very cool. Very nice. well I yeah. we're gonna test. Let's test for one second before we get into today's lab. Let's test whether how how Rusty's Rusty keeps his cool under pressure, right? Go go Georgia Bulldogs. So let's let's see. How did that hit? Hold on.

Mary Hamm (13:58.902)
Ooh, okay.

Rusty Adair (14:05.298)
Well that I I can I can handle that. I I'm a realist. I understand where we are, I understand where they are. And but I I will tell you, I have been I've been going to Auburn football games since I was old enough to even stand up and walk in the stadium. So I've seen that rivalry from a number of different perspectives. It's a lot of fun.

Bill Dippel (14:14.749)
huh.

Bill Dippel (14:31.45)
Excellent, excellent. So if I said I'm actually an Alabama Crimson Tide fan, th that that w that one might get to rise to the level of All right. And by the way, I'm not a fan of either. I had to look up Auburn's rivalries. So

Rusty Adair (14:35.28)
That might be a different story. We might have some trouble there. Yeah, that one we might have a little bit of trouble with, Bill.

Mary Hamm (14:36.526)
That's a different story.

Rusty Adair (14:47.674)
I was really impressed that a guy out in Nevada is is a Bulldog fan. I didn't know they reached that far.

Mary Hamm (14:47.694)
That's awesome.

Bill Dippel (14:50.824)
And I'm just gonna let you know it's it's Nevada. We it's okay. It it's all right. and by the way, I I think I've I think I've mentioned this to some other people. I'm pretty sure the ancient Indian word for our state is Nevada. And as Nevadans we take we take great problem in that. We're like, no, no, it's you know, it's this way. So but no, I I had I I looked it up.

Rusty Adair (14:57.175)
sorry. Nevada.

Mary Hamm (14:57.229)
Never.

Not Nevada.

Rusty Adair (15:08.22)
Yeah.

Bill Dippel (15:18.496)
Pre-show. Rusty's coming to us from the Auburn podcast studios with an Auburn banner behind him for our arsenist listening. So I thought, well, let's let's throw a little salt on the wound for a moment. I I'm all in. Auburn's great. I you know, I I'm not a huge college football guy. I I like them. I watch them. I watch it all. But I it is.

Mary Hamm (15:25.987)
Ha ha.

Rusty Adair (15:29.466)
That's okay.

Mary Hamm (15:37.558)
It's a huge thing down here. Auburn versus Bama. Yeah. Yeah. I don't really understand it, but it's a thing. Rusty, will you tell us just a little bit about yourself and then kind of name drop some of your strengths?

Rusty Adair (15:39.834)
It is. It is.

Bill Dippel (15:41.867)
Yeah.

I get it.

Rusty Adair (15:50.897)
Yeah, sure. so currently I'm what Auburn calls a professor of practice in the management and entrepreneurship department. I teach human resources classes. and that's because I don't have a PhD, but I have thirty two years of experience doing HR. So that's my

That's my credentials. I I worked for a Fortune 150 company for over thirty years, most of that time in HR, twelve of those years in Memphis, which is where we met at the corporate headquarters, and traveled extensively, met a lot of people, lived in India for a little while on a short-term international assignment, so I got a chance to do a lot of things and retired from there and came to work here.

And my plan had always been, now I know that futuristic is is in my top five. but I have been I've been willing this retirement into existence since I was in my in my mid-20s. I was envisioning the day that I would be able to teach on a college campus. That's what I've always wanted to do. I had a an English professor when I was in college who begged me

to major in English and I thought she was crazy. I said, What will I do with an English degree? She said, You'll teach. You'd be a great teacher and I said, Well I can't make any money teaching. Why would I do that? And I spent the rest of my career trying to figure out how can I get into a teaching position because I realized that was that was my passion. So, I got a chance to retire early and and come here and teach. And it's it's a dream it's a dream come true. So I was

Mary Hamm (17:28.781)
Huh.

Rusty Adair (17:39.889)
I was telling you before we started recording, so I've I've used strengths in three different arenas. I was introduced to strengths in a church setting with with you, Mary, and immediately began to use it in a corporate setting 'cause part of my job then was I owned what we called the HRDP, HR development program. So I had all of the young HR professionals in a development program and

I began using strengths with them. I use strengths with my team. Then I retired and came here and and I use it, I offer strengths coaching to my students. And the common thread there is I've I have found a great application in churches and so I've used it in a number of different churches. So belief is my number one.

Which probably wouldn't surprise you. Belief is number one. Connectedness is number two. strategic and futuristic are three and four. And responsibility is number five. And to answer your earlier question, Bill, belief has gotten me into so much trouble over the years. It is it is hard. I have had to learn how to temper that significantly over the years.

Bill Dippel (18:59.985)
Yeah. Yeah. Well I you know, I when I coach people with belief, I kind of make the point. It's one of the it's it's one of the themes that I actually struggle with. One, belief is low for me. So I don't I can't completely wrap my brain around it in a way that I think I should. But I also point out, generally speaking, in in Gallup's world for belief, belief people believe in something, but

Unlike much of what the themes in here are saying, it doesn't tell us what you believe. It just tells us you're willing to absolutely stick a flag in the sand and rally around it. I don't know what the flag is, right? It could be it could be religion, it could be football, it could be auburn, it could be family, it you know, it could be knitting is better than crochet. I I I I don't know what the belief is, but I do know whatever you decide.

Rusty Adair (19:33.532)
That's right.

Rusty Adair (19:41.01)
That's right.

Mary Hamm (19:48.61)
Right.

Bill Dippel (19:57.276)
It is it's gonna take a lot of people to help you move that flag. So I might ask you in that because I think where we're going today is kind of a strengths versus reality setup today on the lab and it involves belief. how do you see belief playing out for you? What do you believe in that's so strong?

Rusty Adair (20:15.228)
Yeah, and and for me it was interesting as you gave that list because it a lot of what you say, I mean to me belief is core values and whatever those core values are, that's what drives you to make the decisions you make. It drives you to do what you do. And for me, at at the at the center of that is faith. That is, I have core values that are driven by my faith. I also have core values that are driven by family, huge

dedication to to my to my family. And when you said it, I kind of cringed a little bit. I I think Auburn football may be a believer too. I have I have shed a lot of tears over the years and gotten defensive when I shouldn't get defensive over something as silly as a football game. But it it's it

Bill Dippel (20:55.219)
Ha ha ha.

Mary Hamm (20:57.166)
Ha ha ha!

Mary Hamm (21:01.538)
Goodness.

Rusty Adair (21:09.22)
You you're right. You don't know I love the way you put it, you don't know what the flag is, you don't know what the belief is and so times sometimes it's hard to know what to do with it. I've identified what those couple of core values are in my life. And what's what's also hard with me is connectedness is number two for me. And that's the one that I didn't understand when I first was exposed to my top five. And and the more the more that I understand it the more I see

how that's a that's a difficult combination because I have really deep beliefs, but also believe strongly in community. And when I believe somebody, my fur when I believe something, my first inclination is I want somebody else to believe it with me. And I don't want to go do this by myself. And so that is where I've had to I've had to really kind of taper

Mary Hamm (21:55.271)
Ha ha ha.

Rusty Adair (22:06.394)
understanding how powerful that one strength can be and that it's important to manage it responsibly and it's also important to leverage other strengths against that so that it's not driving what you do. So my my my second five are all interpersonal strengths, developer, empathy, includer. And so I've had to figure out what is that formula look like? How do you

how do you use the one when you when it's really helpful, how do you pull back on one when it's not helpful? And strengths is strengths has taught me so much about myself that I look back and I think, whoa, if I'd understood this a few years ago, I I might have friends that I don't have anymore. I might I might have I might have saved myself some trouble along the way. So it's

Bill Dippel (22:54.794)
Ha ha.

Rusty Adair (23:03.218)
It's it's a powerful strength and I'm happy I have it because it it really is my north star. but it is also one that I've had to understand how to manage it and how to leverage my other strengths appropriately.

Mary Hamm (23:18.242)
Yeah, yeah.

Bill Dippel (23:18.537)
Yeah. I I would tell you, I won't go back over it. I've done it in a previous episode. I pushed away people that I know would have been friends for a long time, mostly by immature usage of strengths when I particularly when I was younger. And like you said, if I had known what these strengths are and how they played out, I would have been very, very different in them. I would have used them differently. And I would have many more friends, people around me that that I'm tight with or that I would know. I wouldn't have pushed so many people away.

Mary Hamm (23:39.714)
Right.

Mary Hamm (23:46.542)
So you'd have more people to invite to the podcast?

Rusty Adair (23:48.688)
Ha ha ha.

Bill Dippel (23:48.722)
I would. I might have a couple friends that would might want to come on now that I'm, you know, I'm back. So but I also would state I wanna make the point that because I don't have high belief, and this is for our arsonists that listen and are understanding the the the ideas and the themes in Gallup better and better, because I don't have belief high doesn't mean I don't believe in family or or in a faith or in a right. It's just not a

Rusty Adair (24:13.148)
Sure.

Mary Hamm (24:15.362)
Right. Yeah.

Bill Dippel (24:17.255)
something that I stick so hard in the sand, I might tend to be a little more flexible about it. I might tend to be a little more, you know, as a family, let's, you know, let's consider other family values a little less stringently, perhaps, or other religions or other, you know, depending on what that is, it doesn't mean we don't care about them. It just means we don't, man, have this powerful heaven and earth belief

Mary Hamm (24:21.89)
Right.

Bill Dippel (24:45.887)
Built right into it. So yeah, yeah.

Mary Hamm (24:47.106)
Right, yeah, yeah. And we might question things more, right? Like it just doesn't come as naturally and so I like I have all the questions about all the things, so yeah.

Rusty Adair (24:48.614)
Yeah, that's right. Yeah.

Bill Dippel (24:51.069)
Yeah, yeah.

Rusty Adair (24:58.108)
And that's part of what that's part of what I've learned in in terms of of of managing belief because I also have learner in my top ten. And so I'm not I don't have a set of beliefs and I'm just locked in and I never I never consider anything else.

Mary Hamm (25:08.664)
Yeah.

Rusty Adair (25:18.558)
I take in a lot of information. I challenge myself and I do change my position on things. But when I change my position and I have a new position, I tend to lock in on that position. Yeah, that's right. So I don't consider myself inflexible, but when when I believe something, I believe it strongly. Yeah, except Auburn. I'm totally inflexible when it comes to Auburn. Yeah, yeah. There's there's no room to give there. I mean that's

Mary Hamm (25:32.462)
Ha ha ha.

Except when it comes to Auburn.

Bill Dippel (25:39.303)
Right.

Mary Hamm (25:40.174)
Yeah, yeah.

Bill Dippel (25:42.385)
A Alabama Auburn, totally inflexible. I get it, yeah. understood. Understood.

Rusty Adair (25:47.953)
That's good and evil black and white, so it just is what it is. You might want to edit that one out, Bill.

Mary Hamm (25:53.254)
man. Yeah. He doesn't actually edit anything out. Be careful. He says he will, but then he doesn't.

Bill Dippel (25:55.488)
Yeah. Wow. Painful. Painful to watch. So

No, I no I actually I I leave it in because it's just more fun, right? It's just more interesting. I just for our non watching if your mom will spot it, Mary, but everyone else, for those not watching us, I just threw them a a curveball on the podcast. I got up and changed the aperture on my camera while he was talking and I he started to pause like, What is going on there? So I know it was it was a fun fun moment. Don't worry.

Rusty Adair (26:03.258)
Mm-hmm.

That's all right.

Rusty Adair (26:28.41)
You were leaving.

Bill Dippel (26:29.405)
I and I'm gonna leave all this in too. That way our watchers will be like, that was actu I learned that something just happened. So I like it. So mm-hmm.

Mary Hamm (26:37.944)
Okay, so the lab for today though is strength versus reality, right? Okay. And Rusty, I believe you came to us prepared with at least one scenario.

Bill Dippel (26:42.889)
Yep. Yep.

Rusty Adair (26:48.688)
Yeah, I d I do. I have a scenario that I'm I'm dealing with right now. I'm working with a leadership team, and it's a leadership team in a church. And and it's going it's going really well. The they're very open to what we're talking about. but when we did their when we did their strengths, one of the members of the team who is who's hard working, committed, he he he does so much for the group

his top five are woo, belief, positivity, context, and communication in some in some order. But woo is number one and belief is number two. And and you look at that on I looked at it on paper and I thought, well, this is gonna be a lot of fun. This is this is a really clearly this these are some really important leadership strengths. What what I've learned as I've gotten closer to the group is though

as we were just talking about, he he has some very, very deep, deeply held beliefs that are different from the other people on the team. And so as a part of a team, he's disruptive. And it actually at times is an impediment to what the team is trying to do because he he believes deeply that

in this case church should be done one way. The other people on the team are a little more open about that. And so because he has woo high, because he likes to communicate, there's a little bit of an issue here of how do you take this strong personality with these deep seated beliefs and how how do you integrate that into a team who also have beliefs, who also have there's another woo on the team

and there are some executors on the team. Yeah, two on the same team Mary. And there it is. That's right. and so what I'm trying to what I'm trying to navigate through as I coach the team is how does the team handle this? What does this mean for the team dynamic? What does this mean? And we've done the strengths grid, we've done a lot of the exercises with them. and

Bill Dippel (28:43.414)
Woos Unite, yes.

Mary Hamm (28:48.45)
I'm using my woo pen today.

Rusty Adair (29:10.586)
And it's it's become it's it's becoming the point as we work deeper with this group in terms of mission and values and priority lists, it's becoming evident that there is there's a div a divide here between this one leader and the other leaders. And since I understand his strengths, I understand how difficult that is gonna be.

to manage and so I'm trying to figure out. So what the so the realization to me is I looked at on paper and I thought, woo, that's a really good thing. Positivity, that's a really good thing. But in belief is a really good thing. But in his world it's all it all fits within a really small box and he's having a hard time getting outside of that box.

Mary Hamm (29:57.655)
Right.

Yeah. Yeah. just as a reminder to our listeners, our talent themes are all neutral. So it's not that one is good and one is bad, right? Just messing with you. Except for woo. We know that that one's the best. you mentioned that this person also has context high, is that right? So he's kind of like living in the like what we've always done type of situation. Yeah, that's hard. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Bill Dippel (30:00.896)
Hmm. Hmm.

Rusty Adair (30:10.298)
That's right. That's right.

Bill Dippel (30:10.516)
Well, except woo. Woo is the best. Right. Woo is the best.

Rusty Adair (30:18.768)
He does, yeah.

Rusty Adair (30:24.412)
That's right.

That's right. Yeah. And and his beliefs are are firmly entrenched in those traditional values and tr not even traditional values, traditional practices. Yeah.

Mary Hamm (30:34.018)
The traditions.

Mary Hamm (30:38.678)
Right, right, yeah. While the the rest of the team is like ready to like do we actually have to cut the turkey in half in order to get it in the oven type of thing. Yeah. Yeah.

Rusty Adair (30:47.11)
That's right. Yeah, exactly.

Bill Dippel (30:50.738)
Mary's Mary with a turkey analogy. I love it. That's a good one. I like it. let me can I ask you, Rusty? So when I'm when I'm coaching high developer people or high woo people, I associate with that in a different way, right? We're coaches, we're human beings, because those are high for me. Connectedness is high for me as well. So I I get your take on that and how that comes in. Responsibility is a bit higher for me. It's in my top 10.

Rusty Adair (30:52.626)
No.

Mary Hamm (30:52.871)
Thanks, thanks.

Bill Dippel (31:19.67)
coaching them and coaching those people feels different for me, whereas when I coach belief people or high self-assurance or you know, some of the things I don't possess, I step into it a little differently. I want to know more of their ideas and feelings around it. but you have belief number one as well, and you're talking about a person with belief. How does that flare up or affect your belief sequence? How do you coach that? How do you step into working with that?

Since belief is big for you, but woo actually isn't, or it's not as high for you.

Rusty Adair (31:51.099)
That's right. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, and in fact, n nothing else in his top five is a strength for me, but belief is. And so and so I I understand I understand where he's coming from and

And we've ha we have conversations a lot. I see frequently and outside of the formal coaching relationship, we talk a lot about his beliefs and my beliefs. We talk a lot about kind of what drives us. And it doesn't take long for the two of us to get to a common

you know, to a common foundation there and we we get there a little differently, but it but at the end of the day what he wants and what I want and quite frankly what he wants and what the rest of the team wants is not that different. It's really painful getting there because we have to work through several layers of of these values that he that he clings so tightly to. And Mary's right, a lot of those are

Bill Dippel (32:50.878)
Mm.

Rusty Adair (33:00.868)
are are things that have been very valuable to him and the community in the past, but as the community has changed, as culture has changed, some of it I believe is I hadn't thought of it this way, Mary, till you said that just now. Some of that is I think his context may as big may as big be as big of a hurdle, if not bigger, than his belief because he's having difficulty turning loose of

Who he has been and what has been in the past.

Mary Hamm (33:31.98)
Right. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if you heard that, Bill. Hold on just a second. Did you hear him say that? Say it. He said, Mary's right. I just wanna say that out loud.

Bill Dippel (33:33.972)
Yeah. I and I would under I did. I go ahead.

Bill Dippel (33:42.327)
I I heard him say something, but my audio cut out. I didn't get a real I don't worry that that I will edit out. That's getting edited. Yeah, that one's not going. And Rusty, I want to acknowledge that because context is number thirty-four for me. I joke it should be thirty-six 'cause I just have zero context over long periods of time. even short periods, like I'll, you know, I'll run into you.

Mary Hamm (33:47.758)
You're gonna edit that one out. I get it. Okay.

Right.

Bill Dippel (34:11.162)
in in three weeks, Rusty, after talking to you for an hour today and and I'll be like, we know each other. How do we you know, I'm I am really bad at that. I I hide behind the lack of context. So when I'm coaching high context people, I use a different set of tools because it's not something I'm really, really familiar with. But I do I think I structure and have a pretty effective way of pointing out how they use context and how it's very different from how I do it. so I'm not

Mary Hamm (34:14.04)
Ha ha ha ha.

Mary Hamm (34:18.434)
Do I know?

Rusty Adair (34:27.943)
Mm.

Bill Dippel (34:40.028)
simply insinuating that everyone listening should go get a coach that has the same strengths they do, otherwise they can't coach you. That's certainly not what I'm saying in any way. a good Gallup strengths coach will be able to work in all ways. But I do like to point out, if you are struggling with a strengths coach, get a different one. Right. actually don't be afraid to try out a couple and find somebody you really gel with. I feel that way for

Rusty Adair (34:59.09)
Mm-hmm.

Bill Dippel (35:05.406)
my golf coaches, my my personal strengths coaches that I work with. And you know, we're all gonna have we're human and different, we feel that way. And it sounds like you've made a lasting bond with this particular person at the church and and having them understand how their belief and maybe you might come back to this bringing up some of the context lock in to this. And how do you think their belief is gonna

Mary Hamm (35:09.966)
Yeah. Yeah.

Bill Dippel (35:32.55)
accept the idea that context might have a big part to play in this as well.

Rusty Adair (35:37.615)
Yeah, I I think I I think that would not be difficult that would not be a difficult conversation to have. I think he would recognize that and maybe even embrace that. And and to the point you just made, context is thirty two for me. And so yeah, no wonder I didn't see that as as one of the as one of the big contributors. I've I locked in on belief because I understand belief and I think context may as big be as is as big of an issue here.

Mary Hamm (35:51.63)
Twenty nine for me.

Mary Hamm (36:02.232)
Yeah.

Rusty Adair (36:07.306)
yeah, I don't think that would be a difficult conversation at all. That's not something that he would deny or be defensive about. I it he embraces that. He he recognized it's an interesting dynamic because it's a community we're in we're in a college community and so we have a large s college student population that's transient, that comes and goes, you know, as their college career comes and goes.

and then you have a population of they call them residents is the word they use here, of people that have lived here for a really long time. And that's the group that he identifies with. And so there is this dynamic of old and new coexisting and making sure that

that the people that have been here for a really long time don't feel like they are pushed aside by students who are are coming in. So it's it's an interesting dyn it's it's a healthy dynamic. It's a there's a really good diversity and and by and large, from what I can see, really good relationships, kinda intergenerational and you know, people with different backgrounds who get along really well. But there is someone

Mary Hamm (37:10.744)
Yeah.

Rusty Adair (37:34.438)
But he is the guardian of the old school. There's no doubt about that.

Mary Hamm (37:38.862)
So I I wonder, Rusty, if you were able to have that a contextual conversation with him of what are the traditions, what's the heritage that really mean something to him, right? Outside of like we can't keep thing everything the same all the time. Like that's not great. But some of the greatest companies and organizations out there acknowledge where they came from.

And have this future lens, right? Do you know where futuristic is for

Rusty Adair (38:11.676)
do not it's not in his top ten. Yeah. It is in mine, yeah. Mm-hmm.

Mary Hamm (38:13.964)
Not in his top 10. It is in yours, right? And so if you guys were to come together and help him see like that history is really important. Like where we came from has value. And where we're going is essential. and being able to bridge that gap and the two of you together might be able to do that. Is that where you also attend, or are you just coaching? Okay.

Rusty Adair (38:30.876)
Yeah.

Rusty Adair (38:39.974)
Yeah, it is. It is. I'm a I'm a member of that church.

Mary Hamm (38:43.244)
Okay, so being able to like help bridge that gap of like we're not saying it's not important. We're saying where where are we going from here? What's gonna be the n like where's the vision casting that's happening and can you bring those things together?

Rusty Adair (38:50.386)
That's right.

Rusty Adair (39:00.582)
Yeah, I love that. I love that. And we've done some vision casting exercises together. He's engaged in that. So that's yeah, I think there's

Mary Hamm (39:08.92)
Good, good. So how is his you you you harped a little on his woo. How is his w woo interfering or is his woo interfering?

Rusty Adair (39:20.806)
I don't I don't think it's interfering, but I I think his woo and his positivity. I'm gonna say something that it's it's it's probably gonna sound paradoxical. Yeah. Okay, good. Woo is woo's number

Mary Hamm (39:34.286)
Those are my one and two, by the way. Go ahead. Bring it.

Mary Hamm (39:43.374)
twenty two.

Rusty Adair (39:44.816)
n no, not for me. I know where for him I know it's down for me. For him it's one or two. And he

Bill Dippel (39:47.554)
Yeah.

Mary Hamm (39:52.332)
Okay.

Rusty Adair (39:57.391)
And he is he's influential because he has this big personality. But he def but but it's definitely kinda targeted if if that makes sense. I mean there's he has he has a big personality. He loves to be around people, but his relationships are more the people he has real relationships are really more targeted.

To the people in this group, right? And so yeah, go ahead. Go ahead.

Mary Hamm (40:28.878)
So Yeah. He rallies the troops for his cause.

Rusty Adair (40:33.52)
That yeah, that's thank you. That's that's right. That's right. He does.

Bill Dippel (40:37.13)
Mm. Wow. Wow. And I as I look at the themes and I I I I'm looking at some of the stuff that you do as well, Rusty. first thing I have to say is the vision boarding that Mary brought up and the idea of enhancing your futuristic to highlight his context and to understand how those are different and how those might play differently. I just wanna say it once for Mary's mom. Mary was right. I don't wanna, you know

Mary Hamm (41:04.734)
Save it for my husband too.

Rusty Adair (41:07.398)
Ha ha ha.

Bill Dippel (41:07.926)
for one eyed pie, Mary was right. that's as far as I'll go. and I'm curious from a coaching point of view, because you have strategic and learner both very high for you as well. So when you're thinking of leading him down that futuristic path, what have you learned in dealing with him, right? What is the strategy that you're gonna employ to take him down that path? From a coach, right? We're often thinking from our own strengths lens.

Rusty Adair (41:12.219)
Ha ha.

Bill Dippel (41:37.428)
I'm gonna have to turn this up, turn this down, right? Is there have what have you learned in working with him and what might the strategy move next for this group?

Rusty Adair (41:48.317)
Yeah, that's a great point. 'cause we continue to lean into Bill had a great point for for Bill's wife. yeah, we we continue to lean into you know, this this futuristic, you know, what is the future of this group.

Bill Dippel (41:51.841)
Did you hear that, Mary? I had a great point. I'm just the just I had one. I got one. Okay. No.

Mary Hamm (41:55.842)
I agreed. I said I agree. That was good. Good job. There you go, Renee. One time.

Rusty Adair (42:14.075)
And he participates in that really well. And so I think what I'm learning about him is he's not opposed to the future, but I have to be very careful not to make it sound like we're disengaging with the past while we do that. That that the the the past is the past is the bridge to where we are and that the things that we that he has done and that he has experienced is still a big part of who we are.

Mary Hamm (42:31.138)
Right.

Rusty Adair (42:43.801)
And so from a s from a str a strategy standpoint, I try to recognize that, which again is not who I am. I'm very much, okay, we've done that, now let's figure out where we need to be. And so, I'm I'm having to be a little more careful that it doesn't look like it doesn't look like that I'm dismissing

you know, the past. I'm dis I'm not dismissing the traditions. I'm not doing it on purpose, but it's just not the way that I think. And so as he and I spend more time together, I I have been able to affirm a lot of the things that he does and a lot of things that he feels and I think he sees that, you know, I'm not my goal is not to to just forget, you know, what has happened in the past.

And every once in a while he'll bring us around when we're having these few these conversations about the future. things that we used to do that we may be talking about going back to and you know, we I I r I recognize that, we pull that into the conversation. So for me, Bill, it's just being really deliberate. that futuristic doesn't mean there's no value in where we've been. Where we've been

is what lays the groundwork for where we're going. and that's exactly right. And even with my futuristic and strategic slant, I don't I I don't have any trouble recognizing that. It's just I want to I want to look at where we have been and then build on it and think about where we can be. Through my futuristic lens, anything I look at, it doesn't matter what it is.

Mary Hamm (44:13.272)
Yeah. It it's how it got us to where we are.

Rusty Adair (44:37.937)
My life, business, my students, my classes, the first question I always ask is, where could this go? How could this be better? I change what I do every semester because I go, I I see where this could be something that it's not today. And so I just have to be careful that I don't allow that to over to to kind of overwrite where

where we've been. I'm not sure I answered your question because I think that's what I'm trying to figure out is what is that next strategy?

Mary Hamm (45:08.578)
Right. Yeah.

Bill Dippel (45:11.37)
No, you Yeah, no, absolutely and I think you stepped into another component that I really admire in your coaching approach, and that is your learner. Cause as you kept saying, my futuristic when I see that and when I'm hearing this and we're moving that, I hear your learner just getting fueled. You know, the way you brought it up and the way I I I have to change and listen and know and I have to take this in. That learner I think

Mary Hamm (45:24.066)
Right.

Mary Hamm (45:30.988)
Yeah, yeah.

Bill Dippel (45:39.389)
Is such an important part of what you bring to understand, hey, I I realize your context is high. I realize our belief is different. I'm learning the differences in that. And for me, the coach client relationship goes so much deeper when we're both learning stuff. I don't, I don't want to know everything. I don't know everything, right? I I'm not even close. But as we learn it together and we're we're opening doors that we both step through.

That learner really gets fueled for you. I can hear it in your voice and I'm I'm pretty sure how would that would that be a fair assessment for you?

Mary Hamm (46:10.158)
Mm-hmm.

Rusty Adair (46:13.937)
Yeah, no, I I think it's I think it's very it's very fair, Bill. That's a great point.

Mary Hamm (46:18.456)
You know, Rusty, you also have responsibility high. It's in your top five, right? and and you're coaching this group, which means that you do there's a potential that you feel a responsibility to the group on a whole to help them move forward in this process. And I know when we started, like this this guy that you're working with tends to hold the whole of a group back.

Rusty Adair (46:23.665)
Yes, number five.

Mary Hamm (46:47.522)
From that moving forward, how does your responsibility kick in?

Rusty Adair (46:52.017)
Yeah, you you said it. Not not only do I feel a responsibility to the process and a responsibility to to the team, but as we said before, I I'm a part of this church. I feel a deep responsibility to the community as as a whole. And and I feel a responsibility to him too, to honor who he is, to honor what he's done and the place that he has there.

And so so we just try every every time we get together we go back. I I have a slide that talks about what we identified and he was part of that. Here are our priorities. When I we think about who we are as a group, here's what we focus on. And so I just try to take us back to that every time and and help help him understand this is what you said you want to be.

And this is where you said you want your focus to be. So let's talk about that so that we don't we don't spin off into other things that that are important but not be quite as crucial to what we're trying to do. And I I work well that way because of my responsibility. You know, I'm I'm I honor commitments and when I make a commitment, especially when I make it publicly or make it vocally, it's it's really important to me. And

And so I tend to go back to that and I think that helps with that conversation is that let's we all said this is what we're gonna do, we all said this is where we wanna go. So let's figure out as a group how do we go there. And that usually is pretty effective.

Mary Hamm (48:31.746)
Yeah.

Well, and that's good 'cause like you're going back to the the past when you do that, right? And so you're like, We already talked about this stuff here, right? And so I like that. That's good. Nice.

Rusty Adair (48:38.595)
Mm-hmm. That's right. Yeah. Yeah.

Bill Dippel (48:46.155)
Yeah, and circling back to the I don't always wrap my brain around people that have a different set of themes than me. And we don't as strengths coaches, we're all we're all aware we're not supposed to go to the bottom of the report, right? We're we're strengths coaches, we work in the top. However, you know, understanding them and knowing them and pointing out weaknesses is important. How do you coach people with focus? How does that how does that play for you, Rusty, which is number thirty four for you? Or

Mary Hamm (48:54.091)
Mm.

Mary Hamm (49:09.979)
Ha ha ha

Bill Dippel (49:14.77)
when you experience focus in the real world, how does that how does that step in?

Rusty Adair (49:16.551)
Yeah. So this so I I will give Mary here I go again, Bill. I'm gonna give Mary credit for this because when you invite your guest on, then this was one of the this was one of my first revelations when I looked at my strengths for the first time because I was I was a successful

Bill Dippel (49:24.459)
Don't. Would you stop? Rusty, stop. I'm I I can't edit this much out. I can't. I just

Mary Hamm (49:25.046)
Yes, let's go!

Rusty Adair (49:44.06)
HR director in corporate America. I did a lot of things. And if you had asked me before I did my strengths assessment about my ability to execute, I thought I was a a really good executor 'cause I got a ton of stuff done. And then I get the report back and it's the lowest thing I have. You know, focus is at the bottom. discipline I think is nineteen. It's

Mary Hamm (50:04.835)
Ha ha.

Rusty Adair (50:13.179)
I've I've got the only two executing things I have are belief and responsibility. Everything else is not there. And I could not understand that. I couldn't understand

Bill Dippel (50:22.635)
That was did you hear it, Rusty? Did you hear the dog snore? Was that That was epically good, Mary. That was a that was a great snore there. That was perfect. So sor sorry, Rusty, I cut I didn't cut you off the dog did, but go on. I'm I guess, yeah.

Rusty Adair (50:26.309)
I did not. Is that what she's doing? good for him. I'm glad he's so comfortable. No, that's okay. and so I couldn't understand I couldn't understand how I was able to do the things I do when executing was so low. And what I realized as we talked through that is that is the power of my responsibility.

Mary Hamm (50:29.774)
That was so good. My goodness. You can leave that in.

Rusty Adair (50:55.983)
strength is that I I don't execute I was I was working I it changed the way I work. I was working off a to-do list and what I realized is that working off a to do list every day really I just did the stuff I wanted to do that was on the list and the other stuff stayed on the list. And once I understood what responsibility meant and that I don't focus and that I'm not disciplined

the way I started working is I worked off a calendar rather than working off a to do list. I calendarized the things I needed to do. And then I shared those things with my team. And what I'll what I know about myself is it doesn't matter if I want to do it or not, if I tell you I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it. That that is the driver for me. And so when when I in a situation where execution is really important, I know

Mary Hamm (51:36.65)
Mm. Yeah.

Rusty Adair (51:48.476)
I know how to make that happen now. I know that that's when I need to kick in my responsibility theme and i if I can make a commitment around something, then it will get done. It doesn't matter if I wanna do it or not. And that responsibility theme has really carried me in these areas where I didn't realize that they weren't strengths, but now that I know they're not strengths, responsibility is the one that that

helps me through that.

Mary Hamm (52:20.182)
Yeah. Huh. So you put things on a calendar now. And so checking them off a list.

Rusty Adair (52:24.103)
Yeah, I calend if I if I put it on a calendar, yeah, and say this is what I do today, then I'll do it because I've made a commitment. If I just put it on a list, there's no commitment there. I know that I can do it today or tomorrow or next week. but and it it chang it has changed everything about the way that I work.

Mary Hamm (52:30.082)
Yeah.

Mary Hamm (52:33.922)
Right.

It's very ambivalent, yeah. Is that the right word?

Bill Dippel (52:45.655)
That's specta and I do coach people often on calendarizing everything. That there are some people that really do very well for that. I often point out to people that more than three things on a on a on a goal sheet is not a goal sheet. It's a to do list. Right. So let's set some goals, right? And let's just stick to three. And if you can get the three done in in

Mary Hamm (53:01.816)
Ha ha ha.

Rusty Adair (53:01.991)
That's right. That's right. That's right.

Bill Dippel (53:10.017)
four hours in the day, then take the rest of the day off. If you if it takes you twelve, stick to the twelve, right? Just you got goals for today. Here's where we go. Some people really resonate with that type of workflow. Sometimes it's I've got to schedule out the day and make that a a priority. I kind of do both. So yeah, I get that.

Rusty Adair (53:15.633)
There you go.

Rusty Adair (53:28.231)
The secret for me is I have to tell somebody else what I'm gonna do. Then it becomes a commitment. If it's not just me, yeah. That's right. That's exactly right.

Mary Hamm (53:32.93)
Yeah. And and then you've have to be responsible to it. Like you will sh you'll have to do it. Yeah. Yeah. Do you

Bill Dippel (53:40.245)
Yeah, and sharing your calendar does that for a bit, right? So yeah, yeah.

Rusty Adair (53:43.185)
That's right. Yeah.

Mary Hamm (53:44.674)
So does that get in the way for you sometimes too? Like do you find yourself over committing to things? Okay.

Rusty Adair (53:50.856)
Yeah, that's that's the other when we were talking about beliefs I mean strengths that get us in trouble, that's the other one for me is because responsibility is so high, I have to be very, very careful not to overcommit. And then I still overcommit, but I I I am I am prone if somebody needs something

Mary Hamm (54:08.034)
Yeah.

Rusty Adair (54:14.255)
I'm prone to say, Well, I'll do it or if I see something that needs to be done and nobody is claiming it, I'm usually the one that'll go, Well, let me just I'll just make sure that gets done and I have to be very careful about that.

Mary Hamm (54:16.674)
Yeah.

Mary Hamm (54:25.997)
Yeah.

Bill Dippel (54:29.109)
What high responsibility leads to burnout? I I've never heard this in my life. I'm stunned and surprised by my by this. So excellent. Well I Rusty, I I absolutely love your take on context futuristic. There are no technical opposites, right? But that is a I love the way you're bringing up the futuristic. I hate to say it again, Mary was right, you know, bringing up the futuristic and

Rusty Adair (54:31.955)
Who would have guessed?

Mary Hamm (54:32.134)
For what? my goodness.

Mary Hamm (54:53.326)
This is a great episode. This makes up for last week.

Rusty Adair (54:55.634)
Ha ha.

Bill Dippel (54:57.407)
We I beat her up. We beat her up a lot last week, Rusty. So I gotta I gotta make up for it. She might, you know, she might actually bail out of her one year contract, too early if I if I keep beating her up. Yeah. but I I do love the way that you brought up that the futuristic versus the context and knowing what you can and cannot step into. And I actually really appreciate your quest your answer regarding the focus question.

Rusty Adair (55:02.119)
Good.

Mary Hamm (55:02.894)
I would charge you more.

Rusty Adair (55:05.139)
Ha ha.

Bill Dippel (55:25.119)
Which is how do you coach people with focus? Well, I've learned I have to change. There are certain things I have to do, putting things on calendars instead of just I can't focus on a list. I actually have to hold myself accountable by having other people hold me accountable. And that's a that's a pretty powerful way to keep working. So I I do I do love that you step into those. We didn't talk a ton about connectedness today. We touched on it a bit with you and I

Mary Hamm (55:44.163)
Yeah.

Bill Dippel (55:52.766)
I have it high too, so I think we share that bond where I don't think there's a coincidence. you know, I just I I get to talk to Auburn and and a really cool guy today named Rusty and that's not that's no coincidence. It just so happens. So

Rusty Adair (56:07.227)
That's right. Probably not.

Mary Hamm (56:07.574)
Now will he remember you in a week? Probably not, but

Bill Dippel (56:10.615)
Mm, I'm sorry. And and who are you again? I there's another there's a female voice in my headphones. I can't quite so I keep trying to I keep trying to push her out, but it doesn't happen. She's she's so she's so rooted. So rooted. I'm just

Rusty Adair (56:13.217)
Ha ha ha

Mary Hamm (56:17.425)
no, not again.

Mary Hamm (56:23.234)
Wow. speaking of rooted, so connectedness, I usually use a tree analogy for connectedness. I usually use the that the tree and avatar, you know, that's in the middle of everything and it like connects everybody together. That's usually high. It's so it's 11 for me, so it's it's still pretty high. and and that idea of like we are really connected to each other, right? Like five degrees of separation, right? Kevin Bacon, you know, like we just know some

Rusty Adair (56:24.253)
Yeah. That's right.

Mary Hamm (56:52.982)
somebody who knows somebody or you know, you can just get it so the connected everything is

Rusty Adair (56:54.525)
That's right.

Rusty Adair (56:59.057)
Yeah, and for me it's it's a realize that one was really hard for me to understand for some reason. But for me it's just an understanding of no you know, nobody lives their life in a vacuum that everything that I do has implications and affects other people. And that just is kind of front of mind for me.

Mary Hamm (57:19.906)
Yeah. Like that the insurance commercial that like the one action affected the next person who affected the next person, like that connects a lot. Yeah. Yeah.

Rusty Adair (57:27.197)
That's right, yeah. Absolutely.

Bill Dippel (57:28.353)
Yeah. Yeah, I hate to throw Mary under the bus now, but it's six degrees of separation, but you did say five. But that's okay, right? It's you are your tree. That is true. Your your tree is so diverse, it's five five degrees. So I love it. Well, Rusty, thank you very much today. We've had an absolute joyous time having you on the show, listening to your strengths versus reality.

Mary Hamm (57:34.392)
What did I say? Five? That's because I'm more connected to people. So I only have five.

Rusty Adair (57:41.715)
You get there in five.

Bill Dippel (57:57.996)
pivot a little bit. thank you for bringing up a real world scenario where there is a little bit of grit, a little context. How do we start looking at that and how our arsonists may actually be able to play that for themselves in their modern world and the things that coaching that they're getting or just without coaching, understanding, hey, I might be seen as the person that's holding us back even though I am the leader and s and stepping in. So thank you for very clearly bringing that up. I hope

Mary Hamm (58:22.221)
Right.

Bill Dippel (58:28.489)
the church are not huge podcast listeners. I don't wanna throw you on the is it is it me. So I love it. But thank you very much for coming on today and doing that. Mary, you got a couple kudos today. You got you even got some your rights. I don't doesn't feel that doesn't feel natural. Something's wrong with this episode. So

Mary Hamm (58:32.246)
Am I the disruptive one?

Rusty Adair (58:34.083)
We are good. We are good.

Mary Hamm (58:44.558)
Let's go. Yep.

Mary Hamm (58:49.347)
my goodness. I love it. It's my favorite. Russie, do have any last words for our listeners?

Rusty Adair (58:49.479)
You're welcome, Mary.

Well, no, I listen, I'd appreciate the opportunity to be here. This is helpful for me to hear other people kind of think through this the same thing. And I appreciate what you guys do. I I think that you know the podcast is is great and for people that people that plug in to try to understand more about not only their strengths but people around I think there's a there's a huge value to that. So I appreciate it.

Bill Dippel (59:20.759)
Yeah, I would I I agree. We love doing it. We love talking to fellow coaches, clients, people just really curious about it. We I'm dead serious. I learn every time I do this, and we joked about this early on. I learn something every time I re-listen to the podcasts. So, you know, there's just a lot of value here and I love adding to that and enjoying that process. So, particularly with Mary, again, I have to, you know.

Mary Hamm (59:31.8)
Yeah.

Mary Hamm (59:37.048)
Yeah, yeah.

Mary Hamm (59:43.074)
Yes,

Bill Dippel (59:46.667)
Her mom watches. I have to make sure, you know, she knows that I do appreciate everything Mary does and and I'm lucky I'm lucky to have a co-host so good. So thanks for that. So yeah. All right. Well, with that, Rusty, we're gonna let you go. Get your day back. I'll let you move on to make sure the crimson tide have no hold over Auburn, right? I want you to hold that flag strong, have that high belief. What

Mary Hamm (59:55.842)
Yeah, yeah.

Mary Hamm (01:00:09.88)
Did you have to Google that too?

Rusty Adair (01:00:10.087)
That's right. Crimson Tide, that's impressive, Bill.

Bill Dippel (01:00:16.167)
well no, I now that is weird. Contextually I can tell you the mascot or the or the ma of almost any team. I don't know why. It's just years of listening to college football, but you know, knowing the rivalries, that was not good. I'm a San Francisco Giants fan, so I I don't like the Dodgers. That's about as far as my rivalries go, right? no, we're not. Yeah, I jumped around. I jumped around on you, Mary. I'm not even a huge I mean, I like football. I don't I'm more of a baseball guy.

Rusty Adair (01:00:24.295)
No.

Mary Hamm (01:00:35.63)
Are we still talking football? That's a that's a baseball thing, right? Okay.

Rusty Adair (01:00:37.275)
No, he's changed sports on his name. Good. Yeah.

Mary Hamm (01:00:44.632)
I w yeah, okay. All right, well Gotcha, gotcha, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Bill Dippel (01:00:46.485)
Yeah. I was talking rivalries was where I was going. So awesome. All right, Rusty. Thank you so much for being on. Thanks for coming in and giving us some truth and some honesty. thanks for blowing up Mary's ego. Now I gotta deal with it for another three, four episodes. And we will talk soon.

Rusty Adair (01:00:53.363)
Thank you, but

Mary Hamm (01:00:59.854)
Love it. Let's go. Bye.

Rusty Adair (01:01:06.26)
Thank you.