From Adversity to Advantage with John Register
Watch/Listen here or on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your podcasts“I believe as the leadership team goes, so goes the rest of the company. So if you don't have that consistent and significant sustainable growth, you've got some work to do.” — Mike Goldman
“We can prepare for the transitions that come in our lives, but transitions are always with us. They always will happen.“
–John Register
John’s Background:
A former world-class athlete turned soldier, John faced a life-changing accident that led to the amputation of his leg.
Despite this, he went on to win silver medals in the Paralympic Games and founded the U.S. Olympic Committee Paralympic Military Sports Program.
Leadership and Trust:
John emphasizes trust as the cornerstone of any great leadership team, drawing from his military experience.
He believes in the importance of having each other’s back and understanding blind spots within a team.
John’s Transition:
After his injury, John had to make a critical decision regarding the amputation of his leg, choosing to amputate to improve his quality of life.
This led him to adopt a mindset of "Amputate to Elevate," focusing on transforming adversity into opportunities for growth.
Resilience and Recovery:
John discusses the challenging process of recovery, both physically and mentally.
He highlights the importance of giving oneself "space and grace" to grow during difficult times.
Amputate to Elevate Model:
Reckoning: Acknowledging that life will never return to how it was before a significant change.
Revision: Crafting a new vision and redefining goals.
Renewal: Committing to the new vision and giving oneself the space to grow and adapt.
Transforming Adversity:
John’s model is applicable not only in personal situations but also in professional settings, especially when leading teams through change.
He encourages leaders to help their teams through the "reckoning" phase to avoid resistance and ensure smooth transitions.
John’s Current Work:
John now focuses on coaching and speaking, helping individuals and teams navigate through significant life and career changes.
His work includes leadership sprints and resilience training aimed at empowering people to make and commit to transformative decisions.
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Mike Goldman: Our guest today is John Register. John is a decorated Persian Gulf war combat veteran who faced a life altering accident while training for the Olympic games, embracing a new normal mindset.
He became a two time Paralympic games, silver medalist, but. Professional speaker and global influencer. John founded the U S Olympic committee, Paralympic military sports program, and authored 10 stories to impact any leader journal your way to leadership success. His silver medal winning artificial leg is displayed in the Olympic and Paralympic museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
I also can consider John a good friend. We met a few months back.
at a mastermind in Tampa where we had an amazing time and I got to know John real well, and he just won an award that is unbelievable called the CPAE. And no one knows what that stands for, but all you need to know is in the national speakers association, where we're both a member. He basically, not basically, he got inducted into the hall of fame, which is no small feat. very few people get that. So first, John, congratulations on that.
John Register: Mike, thank you. that was quite the honor, quite, quite the evening for that. So I was very honored. our good friend, Mary Kelly, who, called me to let me know I Had been inducted. she said, you can't tell anybody cause I'll kill you. so she's a commander for those that don't know out there.
Commander United States Navy. I believed her. So I kept my mouth shut. Right.
Mike Goldman: And I was sitting in the audience, there's a big banquet,
a formal banquet where a lot goes on. But the culmination is the awards of a few, hall of fame speakers. And I'm listening to John being introduced, not knowing who it is. They don't tell you who it is
until the award.
And I'm like, wait a minute. That, that, I think I know that guy that, that sounds like John. Oh my God. It's John. So it was amazing. Congrats on
John Register: I was doing the same thing. Hey, I think I know that guy. Oh my God.
Mike Goldman: he sounds amazing.
so, hey, John, as we dive in, and certainly I want to dive into your story and you've told me your story, but it's so powerful for others to hear. But this is the better leadership team show. So I want to start off with a, with a leadership team question in your experience.
What do you believe is the one most important characteristic of a great leadership team?
John Register: Well, Mike, first of all, thanks for having me on your show. I really have admired your work, what you do for others and how you really build these teams across multiple different platforms. so I consider you not only a good friend, but also a great leader in this space. And I think for your question, you know, what I look at for great leadership teams is the It really comes down to one word and that's trust.
it's trusting with inside of your team members to have your back your, we call it in the military, you know, have my six, you know, you, you're looking at my blind spots, things that I can't see. And you can see those things for me. And that takes a trust on both levels. Right? So I have to trust that you're back there.
Seeing the things that I can't see. And you have to trust me that I'm seeing the things that you can't see as well. And believing that if I see something that might cause you harm, cause you danger, or that might be an opportunity for you, that I'm trusting that to the point of, I'm not even questioning it.
I just move out on that, on that endeavor, that opportunity, that might be there. So I think trust is really one of the biggest things for teams.
Mike Goldman: love it. And I think trust and vulnerability kind of
go hand in hand. And those are so important. So, so John, I want to kind of set the stage and go back and help the listener understand your story.
So kind of take us back to, you know, that, you know, Persian Gulf war and what your life was like then, and then that, you know, transition to training for the Olympics.
John Register: Yeah. So that was, it's like all jumbled up into one thing in my head. Right. It starts off. I'm a world class athlete running track and field for the university of Arkansas. I graduate with a degree in communications. I'm a three time all American. So I go to the Olympic trials, And my culmination, my, my graduation in the high hurdles and long jump.
I want to continue to run track and field. So I enlist in the United States army for the army's world class athlete program, which allows a soldier athlete to train two or three years prior to the Olympic games in order to try to make team USA, on my way to that training session, cause I did make the squad and made the team operation desert shield, desert storm started.
And I was diverted to the Gulf war. So I went to the Gulf war for six months and when I came back, had an amazing experience there. We can talk about the leadership stuff in that, but had amazing spirits, came back without a scratch and wound up,trying to, I could not run the high hurdles any longer, right?
One of my disciplines, I was just out, not that I was out of shape. I was out of rhythm. I was still strong, but I was just out of rhythm. So my coach switched me to the 400 meter hurdles. One time around the track over 10 obstacles spaced 35 meters apart. And I found my niche. It was all, Oh my gosh, it was like a blessing in disguise.
So I found my race and I wound up finishing 17th at the 1990, at the 1992 Olympic trials in the 400 meter hurdles. And for those that don't know out there, team USA, everybody, pretty much, except for some of the, a few of the distance runners. Everybody has made the A standard for the Olympics. That means you can compete for any country if they choose to have you come and represent them.
but in the United States, because we have like 60 people in the hurdles that made the a standard, you have to have a trials in order to see who's going to be the, you represent your top three at those games. So I finished up 17th and I figured. With enough four years of training with four years more training, I could improve my time about a half a second every year.
And I would be on that team. I would give myself a shot to make the 1996 Olympic team. So I was on my way to officer of Kennet school. I love the military. I USA track and field has picked me as the one to watch for the 1996 Olympic, games and the 400 meter hurdles.
And on May 17th, 1994, I misstep a hurdle.
I land awkwardly. The landing dislocates my left knee, severs the artery behind the kneecap, and seven days later I'm left with a choice. Keep my leg, use a walker or a wheelchair for the rest of my life, or amputate the leg and use a prosthesis. For the rest of my life. So life transitions come, you know, sometimes they come with one wrong step.
Sometimes they come, you know, that we can actually train for the transition. We can prepare for the transitions that come on in our lives, but transitions are always with us. They always will happen. And many folks, when it comes time, that's why I think trust is such a crucial key element, because you can trust somebody to say, you know, like for, maybe a military person that wants to transition out of the military.
You have a safety net of people that you can trust that have made the transition before you, or you're a sports athlete, world class athlete, football player, basketball player that you're on the professional ranks, and you're about to make your transition out to a different level. Can you trust the people that you were around or is your identity solely based in those years of service or on those sports fields?
and so that was the culmination of what came to me and making of me making the decision to amputate. The leg above the knee.
Mike Goldman: Wow.
and what was that a quick decision? You knew exactly what that decision was going to be, or is that one you struggled over?
John Register: Now I didn't struggle too much. when I really, what happened, Mike, I was in so much pain that my male deductive reasoning said, if I just get rid of my leg, I'll get rid of my pain. I didn't count on phantom pain, right? The pain that's there after the leg is gone. So then I was in more pain than my male deductive reasoning had reason after the leg was amputated.
So what happens when you think that you made this decision and you think it's the right decision and you're in more, you're actually in more pain than it was Prior to the decision. And that's when we have to really give ourselves space and grace to grow because everything is totally brand new for us.
So, yeah, it was not a hard decision. It was a physical physiological decision. and then now without the limb, you know, you have to move forward because everything is, you can't use old systems, old thoughts, old ideas to put into this new bucket, to get a different output, I can't use what I used to know as having two limbs.
To move into this new existence. And that's what I call it. One of my models I use, amputate to amplify action model. when we make a commitment, that's the commitment. We don't get back. If you can get it back, you're in a different part of the model. You're not in the, like what I call the renewal, because people think you can, you know, they're there, but they're really not.
They, I can tell by their language, you know, I just want to, I just wish things would go back to the way they used to be. Well, you're not in the, that's an impossibility.it never goes back to the way it used to be. That's why change. It's so difficult because we have an old way of thinking about things.
We have an old way of viewing this current situation. even when we're at the National Speakers Association, somebody was challenging me with, you know, a prominent speaker was challenging me with, Amputate to elevate is like too harsh. And, you know, we all had a conversation about it and I keep thinking about it, keep going back to it and I say, well, that's actually the audience I'm going for, right?
I'm looking for people who are either right at the brink of making that critical decision where they know they can't go back to the way it used to be. Or they've just made it and now they need space and grace to grow in the new, because they realize the old is totally gone. So that's the amputation is the pruning process.
They realize they needed to eliminate something out of their life in order to elevate to the next level. And that is not for everybody. It's not the masses. Not everybody is there. And so that's the people that I work with.
Mike Goldman: Yeah. And I definitely want to come back and dig into that model
of the model you've created based on what you've learned. But before we do that, tell me a little bit about that. You know, that, that recovery for you, I mean,
to go from, you know, as active as you were and, whether it's, military or training, for the Olympics, what was that recovery like for you?
Cause I'm sure, you know, you look at it in such an empowering way. Now, I'm pretty sure like the day after you probably didn't have that mindset. Yeah.
John Register: Yeah, that's a great question. it was fast and then it was slow and then it was Oh right. So the fast part was once I made the decision, that was it. I knew I was not going to go back to the way it used to be. Right. So that was the quick part of it. And then I had to realize, you know, what the ramifications were afterward.
So then the slow piece was understanding. Of what I overcame and what I did not overcome.and so that took a lot longer. I'm still processing some of that. That's the work that I'm kind of doing now, but there was a transition moment that happened for me. That was, I still remember it was this visceral it's burned.
It's seared in my mind of. After the leg was amputated and I'm in such tremendous pain and I'm going kind of down the downward spiral. It's a month after the amputation of the amputation, almost a month after the amputation, it's, it's definitely one, it's definitely one month after the injury. So may 17th, 1994 was the injury.
June 17th, 1994. I'm in my cousin's house with the amputation. In the most tremendous pain I've ever been in.and it's like, I just, this has got to stop. I mean, it's, I'm really hurting. I'm by myself in the house and I'm sitting down. Just one of those things where you can't sit down because it hurts.
You can't stand up because it hurts. You can't lay down cause it hurts. You can't anywhere, everywhere it's hurting. So as I'm trying to get peace. I'm watching television, to distract myself and there is a white Bronco going down the I 5 or the I 405 freeway in Los Angeles and the reporters are coming on talking about, we think OJ Simpson's in the back of this white Bronco.
We don't know what's going on right now. And they started reading this, the commentator started reading this, what apparently was like a suicide note from OJ. They got a hold of it as he's in the back of this white Bronco. No one at this point, no one knows what's happening, right? We're all kind of just what's going on with this.
And when I saw that note, something just switched in me and said, you know what, John, this is going to get a lot worse. Before it gets better, but you're not checking out. You're not checking out. And I knew it. I knew it was going to get worse, right? There were days that were worse than that day, but that was my turning point.
That was the resolve, the resolution that at some point, this is going to turn. Right. And I'm fighting all the way through this because there's something greater for me on the other side. And that was my definitive moment. And I think we ha we all have those definitive moments. Are we going to fight?
Right. When something comes or are we going to succumb to the pressure and just give into whatever is there. And I just chose in that moment, I'm not saying I'm not writing or wronging anything that anybody else does. I'm just saying what that was for me. That I was going to, I was just going to fight for myself, fight for my family, fight for, but first fighting for myself because I can't help anybody else unless I'm fighting for me.
Mike Goldman: as we, we start to dig into what you learned from that and how you turn that into a model that, that helps others, the question it brings to mind, you said a few minutes ago that someone said that the idea of, you know, amputate to elevate was, man, that's too extreme. You're like, no, that's the audience I'm going for. What it makes me think about is, you know, Is, you know, so, so you're not talking about people who say, Hey man, maybe I want to make a change or, you know, I want to, you know, increment. I want to make some incremental change in my life. This is like a bigger change. There's no going back, but I guess I could see that two ways. One is someone who is going through something. Similar to you doesn't have to be an amputation, but some change where there is no going back and they've got to move forward. But there's also this idea of when you make a change, burning the boats is purposefully setting things up so you can't go back. So, so as we dig into the model. To get value from this model. You're going to take us through it again. You know, I coach leadership teams, folks, listening to this, are leadership teams, you know, they, Should people think about this as, you know, Hey, there's some permitting change in my business or my life. I can't go back. And therefore this is the model I could use.
Or should they say, Hey, if I want to make a change. I've got to burn the boats. And even if I could go back, I've got to find a way to make sure I can't go back. So it forces me to move. I mean, you get the difference in those two things.
Like I truly can't go back or I'm burning the boat. So I can't go back. Do both of those apply or is this model just for, Hey, if you've got this situation that happened and you literally can't go back
John Register: that's great. Yeah. the first part I would answer, I would say it is specifically for those who are about to make a commitment. Or those who are coming or just made the commitment, right? they're at the precipice. And, I'll get to the boats in a second. It doesn't have to be a major shift.
It's a resolve that whatever you're dealing with, you're not going back to the way it was. So there's a mental block that you're not going back. That's the amputation of it. It could be a high school student going to college. It could be a college student. That's going to move into the workforce for the first time, or go into the military or, you know, a different transition, it could be like, we said that the military person that's going to end time their service in the military and go into civilian sector.
Or professional athlete. That's going to go and turn their service as a pro and become a coach or, you know, coach little league, whatever it might be.
Mike Goldman: or someone who's had a job their whole life, who decides I'm now going to start my own business,
John Register: Absolutely. Entrepreneur could be somebody that wants to be an entrepreneur. you could be elevating inside of your business. Right. So I'm not talking about massive, you got an amputate, right? It could be very small. It could be the eighth grade student and they're on the, they're on the dance floor and you have the eighth grade dance.
And they're all, you know, the girls on one side, the guys on the other side, and no one's talking to each other. And then one guy makes the move. Right. And then they're just out there rocking back and forth on the dance floor and they stay, they're the catalyst that begins everybody else dancing. So it's not, let's not think about it in terms of big, grand changes.
That was my moment of what I was thinking about in my life, but I've made micro. Wins as well. Bonnie St. John has a dear friend of mine has a book out micro resilience, and she talks a lot about the small things that we don't often think about when it comes to helping us make larger decisions later on in life.
So that's that one. the bigger change you was talking about moving forward. I think we do move forward. we, when we make that commitment, I was just working with veil veterans team from all over the globe. And they came in and we worked through this model. Then I'll share with you in a moment here.
And that was it, right? they actually stopped the key that they won the keynote. And then halfway through the keynote, they wanted to break down the model. And then they gave people time to work on the model because they said, Holy cow, this is exactly where we are, you know?
And so we can begin to look at, I don't care what model you're using. You got to use it, right? That's all you can have a thousand models out there, but if you're not using any of them and that's the people I just, it's not that I don't have time for that.there was a brilliant host, what's his name?
Rodriguez, Renee Rodriguez. He was speaking for us. He was fantastic. And he said something was poignant, right? He said, we all have these colloquialisms around time. You know, I don't have enough time for that. I don't, I just don't, my time is more valuable than this. Right. and so then he said, instead of saying the word time, insert the word life.
I don't have enough life for this and that just lands differently and you begin to protect this life that you have and people that probably aren't going to make the decision anyway, to You know, they're just going to kind of wander around in this area. They just kind of, they're the ones that kind of, you know, they just hang out.
and they want to be around the people that are making the changes. And they're reading the books and they read all these things, the textbooks. And, they're always studying, but they never make a commitment to something. It's like a professor, right? That they have all these theories, but they don't really get out into the world and actually see if this actually works.
And so you have to make some type of commitment to it and go. So when I, when somebody asked me, when do I know I need to go? I said, now just start, right? And it's with me, too. I have to just begin. Sometimes I'm trying to make sure it's all perfect and all right. So, I think that's because so that'd be greatest.
Well, and then burn the boats. I have a different kind of take on burn the ships, burn the boats. I think we do have to do that. But we have to also remember when those folks came into, you know, take that city and when they said burn the boats, it was because they had a plan. It wasn't that they just nilly willy went in and just said, burn the ships.
I got this idea. I'm going to jump. I'm going to, I'm going to start doing my business now. And I don't have a plan. No, we need to put a plan in place as much as we can. I understand with trauma, but even in the trauma, I still had thoughts about, okay, what do I think my life is going to be like, I don't want this pain.
So I know what I don't want. And so I can, even though I don't have a lot of time to think about it, I had a plan and I knew that my plan was going to mean my leg was going to be the boat, right? So I was going to burn the boat, of going back. I can't go back to the way it used to be. And that's the mindset I think we have to have once we make the commitment, because that's tough.
It's very hard. And I don't, you know, I'm one of the coach, my coach, I just don't sugarcoat it. Right. And it's not a David Goggins type thing. it's just, this is where we are. And if you want this vision that you have said that you want in your business, your company, your team members, your leadership team, this is what you said you're going to do.
So just let's execute on it and see where it lands. I mean, it might come out something totally different of what you imagined, but at least you move forward. In the,in the process. Of going after that dream goal, vision, mission that you stated.
Mike Goldman: so dig into this model for us and if you can start with, let's be really clear on when this model applies, is it just, you know, I've heard you use the phrase transforming adversity to advantage. Is it, is that what it's about? Transforming, or is it like, Hey, this is a model when it comes to any change you want to make in your life, in your business.
So start to take us through the model, but start with what, when he is, when is the appropriate situation for us to think about using this model?
John Register: Yeah. I think about this in terms of it's any change because as, because it exercises the muscle, right. and then, and I would look at it and I haven't done this as far as creating the contextual model. I'm working on it right now. And that is, I think it's not the way I have it laid out. I think it's a different way.
It's a different, it's more of like a. An upward spiral type deal. So kind of put that in your mind. so I have, but I have blockages and I have things that you got to jump over and stuff. and I'll start with the end of what happened in the rest of the story so that you'll get a context. So I wound up.
getting out of the military, I swam for physical therapy. I got a job with the United States army's community and family support center, working in the world class athlete program, helping soldier athletes to get their dreams. I'm now an amputee. And then because I'm swimming for physical therapy, I'm getting faster in the water and I somehow make the Paralympic swim team, the parallel games to the Olympics.
Go. Who knew this was even a thing. So I make the Paralympic team. I see athletes running and jumping on artificial legs at the games in Atlanta. I have a leg made for running. I go over to Sydney, Australia, four years later, make that Paralympic team and win the silver medal in the long jump. in Sydney and place fifth and a hundred meters and 200 meter dashes.
And then I found that a program later, I started working for the Olympic committee and founded a program for, wounded veterans, which turned into warrior games that the department of defense runs now and Invictus games that Prince Harry runs now. So that's kind of the rest of the story. So let's go back and let me unpack.
Cause along the way. I've met, you know, Clinton, when he was governor of Arkansas, we won the national championship. Then I've also met him as president. Then I met the Bush's right. through their services going when I was living in Washington, DC. So, those are three presidents that I met.
President Obama. So, and I was on one of his teams. So I've been around this for a long time and everyone asked me, how did you overcome the adversity? How'd you overcome the amputation? And I realized I didn't overcome it because had to overcome the amputation of my left leg, I'd have my leg back.
Those are things that we think we're getting back with. They're gone. We don't get them back. So we have to adapt and innovate around them. And this is what leads us into our model. The first one is the first point is the hurdle is the reckoning moment, the reckoning moment is realized or hurdled.
When we realize we don't get back what we desire to have back after some type of trauma impacts our life. We have our everyday routine. Then the catalytic moment breaks the routine. And then we say, let's go on to the next new thing. No, we say, I wish things would go back to the way it used to be. I just wish things would go back to normal.
The pandemic happened. You know, we had other countries like in Africa that have been through multiple pandemics. they just knew what to do. They shut down. they isolate because they've been through it several times. We in America, I ain't doing that. You're stepping on my rights. It's all about me.
Right. We want things to go back to normal. There was no, there's no concern with anybody else, but myself. So the way that we show up in that time is our languages.I guess this is just our new normal. Can we just go back to normal? So that's how I know people are in the reckoning moment. As soon as we realize that we can never go back to the way it used to be.
Now we are, we have hurdled the reckoning and now we're into the revision. The revision is I can now cast a new vision of what might be possible. I haven't made a commitment to it. I've just cast a new vision. I'm beginning to think about things that are different. In my life, how can these be different?
Okay. So I don't have the Olympic games. Oh, you know what? There's this Paralympic games. I don't have a military career in the, for becoming an officer. But you know what? I can build a military support program for injured veterans. So I begin to see the parallel paths that are for me.
Haven't made, I haven't executed against them. I just can see a new vision.
So we
Mike Goldman: you can't, but you can't effectively craft that new vision to your point, unless you've gone through the reckoning and realized there's no going back to the
John Register: that's right.
Mike Goldman: Now I can create a new one.
John Register: That's right. You can't, once you're there, now you're in a process of Like we might call it in leadership teams, right? Brainstorming mind mapping. we're thinking about what we can commit to. We haven't made a commitment. The only commitment hurdle that we've gone over is the reckoning.
So we're still, but there are three things that hold us back.
So we own go back. We have, so we have this revision, right? this redefining we're redefining the problem. Then we. we rebuild on it. We start building crafting and now we have to release to the vision. That's hard.
Mike Goldman: Hold on. So the first one was the reckoning.
John Register: Yep.
Mike Goldman: Then we've got the revision.
John Register: Then we have, yeah, revision.
And so on, on the, so underneath the revision, we have three kind of buckets, right, three
little things. And so on the revision we have, we're redefining and the next one up is going to rebuild on, as we begin to redefine, we're going to start rebuilding and then we have a release. We need to release to the new vision that we have casted.
But there are three things that hold us back from this. That's why it's the second hardest part of the model. These things get progressively harder every time that we do it because it's on us that we have to do it right now.
And so, the first one is other people who believe for us, what we can or cannot do.
Which is often based upon what they believe they could, it could not do if they were in our situation. So we have team members on the, Oh, that'll never work. We've done that before. We tried that 14 times. Edison said, what I, after not a thousand times of not being able to get that light bulb to burn. I just found out 999 ways how not to build light bulbs.
Right. And so you just keep on doing it. And it was actually an African American on his team, Louis Latimer, who actually got the filament to burn. So he used all types of resources around him to try to get this light bulb to stay on. It wouldn't stay on for him. Louis Latimer got it to burn. So we don't, he's often lost in the story because we often just talk about Edison.
He was using people from Canada who are trying to do this thing and all this. So he was the one that actually got it to go and, to turn on and then Latimer got it to burn so that they could actually make money on it. Edison's company. So, But other people are in there saying, you'll never be able to do this.
You can't do this. We've done this twice now. it's never going to work, but we haven't gotten to the 999 time of trying to figure out how it doesn't work, you know, so failure is good to fail us forward and then secondarily, we have other,from other people.
We have society. Society has normalized some things for us.
How can I put this? Okay. So as an amputee, I'm now a person living with a disability. How are people with disabilities in our community treated?how do we see them in the movies? How do we see them when a school shooting happens? How do we see them?when we are every Halloween.
What's the images that come to us for people with disabilities, whether it mental or physical, it's not very positive. Even captain hook from our earliest days, he's we're afraid of him because he has a hook. He's an above the wrist amputee, but wait a minute. Oh my gosh, I'm an amputee. Am I now the villain?
Is that how I see myself? So we have these, you know, if I'm breaking out of that, trying to break out of it because it's so normalized, I just may go along with the crowd because I don't want to rock the boat. So it's hard. I've had the world's best hurdle coaches. This is number point.
Number three, none of them ever ran over a hurdle for me. So the third point is. On this, on the revision, I'm the one that has to attack the hurdle. No one else it's me. It's on me. That's why in my model, Mike, this is not for everyone, right? It's only for those that are, they're willing to make that jump.
They're willing to lose, you know, a few friends along the way to get to what they know is possible. You can't tell everybody your dreams.
you think Snoop dog was telling everybody. His dreams of I'm going to be, I'm, you know what, I'm going to be the America's darling and 10 years from now on NBC, after being a gangster rapper.
How
would that
Mike Goldman: that guy is everywhere.
John Register: everywhere?
Mike Goldman: think there's 15 Snoop dogs and they just haven't told us that yet.
John Register: He's everywhere. Talk about innovation like that. Our friend Diana Kander says are the best. I mean, she uses that as an analogy between Snoop dog and vanilla ice where's vanilla ice now.he's talking about his nineties tour. I love the nineties, man. Snoop is like elevated Martha Stewart.
He's got a football team, number one football team in America for junior peewees that he coaches.he's over swimming with Michael Phelps. He's doing, and, and then the leadership, when you look at this, right, because he's pushed himself out there, look how many celebrities are trying to get their light on television, and their claim to fame by going to the Olympics, there were no one used to do that.
It was Leslie Jones, comedian and Snoop dog. They found that they saw an opportunity. They started, they went on the opportunity, Kevin Hart got on board. So they started doing this whole Kevin Hart deal thing. and so they are their leaders because now you get, now you see Tom Cruise there, now you see all these other celebrities starting to come to the Olympic games, right?
Because it's the chic in thing to do because Snoop made it possible. So who's the real leader, right? We think it's funny. He's making money.
And that's
Mike Goldman: what I love about this and I want to go back to kind of reckoning and then revision is To, to your point of this is about change,
one of the things that, I mean, so many things come to mind that leaders and leadership teams grapple with, but one of them is the whole remote slash hybrid work
since COVID and there are leaders that I work with. Who have not gone through the reckoning of that.
They still believe everybody ought to be in the office. We're going to go back to the way it was. I hate it. You know, people are, when people are home, I don't know that they're really working. If I can't see them, I don't know that they're working. They have not gone through the reckoning of the world has changed. The ones who have gone through the reckoning are now way smarter about saying, all right, the world changed. You know, that remote and hybrid, what adds here and we're not going back. So how can I leverage that now they're in the revision piece. How do I leverage that and say, if we're not going back to the way it was, how do I take this? And make it better. How do I now make it an advantage? How can I have people, you know, when we are hybrid and they come into the office, how can I change work? So we're doing things that are more collaborative and we're adding value versus trying to do things the old way. So I think this is so relevant,
not just to, you've had some major adversity in your life, It's relevant to changes we need to make, whether it's going from being in the office to remote or hybrid, whether it's, you know, losing your best client and now having to move on and restructure your business to do things in a different way, changing a strategy that you can't go back. It's very relevant to a lot of situations dealers have to grapple with every day.
John Register: Absolutely. And that's why it's like you said earlier, you know, this is, who's this for is for everyone. it's very
broad. It fits because we all go through a change. we look what's happening with AI right now, generative AI. Right. And people are resisting that just like the taxi companies resisted Uber, just like the hotel chain started resisting Airbnb.
Yeah. We're in a totally different shifted environment and you're exactly right. People have not gone through the reckoning moment. It's not that going back into the office is wrong or hybrid is wrong. We think it's a binary choice. We have not realized that we're in a new space right now. And while some people went through the pandemic.
And didn't have anything happen to them, right? they were able to have their kids home there. They had internet connectivity. All their children were able to advance on all separate computers because everyone had a different wifi in the house that they were doing. Other kids were. Trying to get their homework done outside of McDonald's on their cell phones, because mom and dad were essential workers had to be in there.
They couldn't be at home. And so you say, well, the pandemic wasn't that hard for me. Again, we're not thinking about who it was hard for. Have we really thought about our next generation of leaders? And this two year blip that is going with us right now of high school students. I just spoke for the United States Air Force Academy cadets.
And this is the first class that didn't have a high school graduation. They didn't have a prom. They didn't have a turnabout dance. They were isolated and now they're going through without that.that experience that most of us have, so they can't relate. And we're just thinking, I just want everybody back in the office there.
They were, they grew up at home, right? So can we offer, and this goes into the next level. Space and grace to grow. So the next level, once we have hurdled that. the revision.
Now we're in the hardest part of the model, which is the renewal and the renewal begins with a rebirth. This is where you cannot go back to the way it used to be.
It's impossible. Whether it's a mindset, like when I've made that decision with the OJ Simpson, I'm, I know it's going to get worse before it gets better, or the doctor took my leg off physical mindset or the physical, you, you don't get it If you can get it back. I argue with my clients, you're in the reckoning.
You're not in the renewal.that's that's just that simple. Right. And so, and it's by your language. I said, when somebody says to me, yeah, man, this is going to be, this is going to be hard, you're in the, I know they're in the renewal, that's the language that they're using, that they're willing to do the work now.
And that's the clients that I'm trying to work with. We're talking about leadership teams or individuals with inside the team to actually pull the team to have our blind spots. we know we're in this together. We're going to advance forward because we'll have a better product when it comes out. So now I have to give myself space and grace to grow.
So just because the leader says we want everybody back in the office. We're more productive in the office like this. Yeah, possibly, but have you really looked at the,the new environment for you? Because environments don't change. Environments are environments. Under the water is an environment.
Outer space is an environment and the human body is operating in an illegal environment. If we're trying to do it without an atmosphere that we take into that environment. So I have to have an atmosphere. Astronauts take an atmosphere with them that has oxygen, nitrogen, all those things for the body to survive in space that where there is no oxygen under the water, same thing.
I have to have a breathing apparatus or something that allows me to breathe and sustain myself under the water. So whenever I walk into a new environment, environments don't change. I come into that environment. If I don't have an atmosphere with me, I'm probably not going to survive. I'm going to, I'm going to cause panic in everyone else.
How do we know that we were panicked at the beginning of the pandemic? What were we physically doing? Remember
what we were physically, everybody was physically doing this. We were hoarding,
Mike Goldman: Oh yeah. Oh my God. Yeah.
John Register: right? We're
Mike Goldman: paper,
and,
hand soap
John Register: all this
Mike Goldman: and masks.
John Register: all of it. And so then we started having fights about this, these AB conversations.why you got to wear the mask? I'm not going to wear the mask.
I'm going to wear the mask because I don't want to get sick. All these fights that are going on. Yeah. I don't want a vaccination. You're not going to make me do a vaccination. Yeah. You're going to take my rights. Oh, please give me the vaccination. I need the vaccine. So we had these AB fights over this stuff and it wasn't about
the fights here's what it was about.
If someone came to Mike, if someone came to John with the opposing view of my belief system, did I Add oxygen into their environment. Did I give them an atmosphere to thrive and sustain? Was my leadership team pouring oxygen into the environment or were we taking it away? Simple as that.
That's the AB because that's on me. How did I show up in those situations? Did I push oxygen? Did I create an atmosphere for thriving in the new environment? Or did I cause people to panic and run out and buy toilet paper? And we can do that right now. It's not that it's just the pandemic is only one thing that shows us who we are in the flash of a moment.
When anybody's tearing something down, exploding things, they're panicking. Panic causes us to do irrational things. Right.so anytime we're fighting, we're doing all these things and we don't, we're not thinking straight. we're tearing stuff up, tearing property down.that's panic.
So we have to honor that piece of it. And why are we doing that? Why are we doing those? Well, why are we doing those actions? So now that we've given ourselves space and grace to grow, now I'm in a resolve. I'm resolute in who I am.
Mike Goldman: So that's the fourth step
John Register: That's the third step inside of the renewal. So that's, so we have
the renewal begins with the rebirth.
Rebirth then goes to a,resolve. So, so if you look at like, that's why I said, that's an upward spiral, right? so in the renewal phase, we start with a rebirth and then after we kind of conquered the rebirth and we're moving forward now, I've done enough of giving myself space and grace to grow.
And I've learned enough. I've learned what these nomenclatures are, and I'm not listening to a Fox or CNN, giving me my information. I'm doing my own personal work. now I've, now I have a little bit of stuff I can say, right? Cause I've done my own personal work and I'm trying to get my binary lens off of me.
And now I'm resolute in who I am, not because I'm bragging about it because I've done the work and that equals my freedom, my liberation, my, what I call it, my reward and the reward in my situation is not a destination. The reward is a plateau for the next level of growth, because at some point I'm going to go back into a reckoning moment on another area of my life.
Right. And so, because I've come through this kind of upward spiral, I'm landing on this. This,plateau for the next level of growth. I should be able to go to the next spiral a little faster.
Mike Goldman: Got it. So the, but the, so there, there are three major steps. It's the reckoning, the revision and the renewal.
John Register: That's correct.
Mike Goldman: Love that. and again, I love how, you know, that's something as us leaders think about this, there are. Times we need to go through that ourselves. And I think it probably always starts with the individual, but we have to help our teams
go through this.
Cause our, if our teams have, if we've been through the reckoning, but we haven't helped our teams get through the reckoning, they're not going to be a mate, but
we're going to
John Register: a lonely Island,
Mike Goldman: Yeah, that we're well, why aren't people changing? Well, you haven't helped them get through the reckoning and understand that there ain't no going back.
John Register: right? Yeah, it was fascinating, Mike. Cause I, I didn't even see some of this stuff. Right. when I was working with Vail veterans and we're talking about my keynote, right. So I was doing a keynote for them. And then I started working, walking through my model that I usually do in my keynotes to us.
I walk, I do it very quickly through the model and we've done some other with other clients I've done, you know, a little bit more work in it, but they took it to the inth degree, man, we stopped like three quarters away through the presentation. And we just went in, they took a break, 15 minute break came back and we dove into each one of these so that the leaders could actually do exactly what you said, go back and see where their people are and help them through this process in order to get to that renewal so that they can explode the business.
it was, I was like, dang, this is, I think I got something here.
Mike Goldman: No, I think you do. and my suggestion, you may have already created what I'm about to recommend for you, but I could see you very easily, you know, with a very detailed blueprint that lays all this stuff actually got these three major, you know, stages of this. But then as you've explained to us a whole bunch of detail underneath, but for leaders with any change they want to make. To understand where they are, where are they personally, where is their team? And maybe even understand where each team member is. And then from this blueprint, what do they need to do moving forward? I mean, what you're doing is you're giving people a blueprint to make change. And that's pretty massive.
So I love this. This is so important for leaders. So John, as we kind of move forward.
Start to transition to, to wrap it up. I want to find out more. Tell us more about what you do these days. You know, I talked about hall of fame speaking, but who are the folks you help these days and how do you help them?
John Register: Yeah. A great question. I've been out now on my own doing this work for probably about almost six years and, it's not that it's just. I want to be clear about that. I've been doing it in a lot of different other spaces working for companies. So I worked for the United States Olympic Committee for 15 years and built that program out for the military sport program, right?
So there's a lot of acumen I have from that and building programs. I built, you know, two programs for it when I was working for the United States Army. It you know, with the better opportunity for single soldiers and program things that still are in operation for the world class athlete program when I was working for them.
So I've always had this intrapreneur or entrepreneur mindset, intrapreneur being inside of an organization, entrepreneur being out external and you doing it yourself. And so how I'm helping folks right now are like what we said in that, To, to get them to the point of making the commitment, because they're at the precipice of a breakthrough.
And then once they get over there and they're in the old crap moment, I can't go back to the way it used to be. Now we're trying to give some tools and resources to help them, you know, make it. But I've discovered Mike that I cannot make anyone jump.I can build a soft landing pad and I can't, and you're on the top of the diving board.
I can't push you off because if I push you off, you didn't do it. I did it. You have to jump. It's like when you're up on the diving board, you got to jump. You got to tack the hurdle. And I cannot do that. And I think that's where we miss it as you know, coaches or leaders or things and think that we can make people jump.
We can't.
They have to come to a point where they have to trust that the system has been built is going to catch them. And so that's really where I'm in with people and coaching them through their own jump. You got it. You can do it, Mike. Come on. Water's great down here. Right. and then you jump off and you're like all the way down.
You're scared. You forget everything that you've learned because you're about to hit this water and you're not protecting yourself and you know, at the 10 meter platform, you're jumping off. and, but when you hit the water,you survived. Oh my gosh. And he's like, Oh, that wasn't as bad as I thought it was.
And then you go back up and you want to do it again. Right. Then this time you're going to work on a little bit. I'm going to protect myself a little bit more, you know, cause my arms were out and I slapped my flabby arms and that hurt. So I'm going to, I'm going to make sure that my arms are tight to me.
And then by, you know, after maybe a thousand jumps, you're now flipping off the thing and you're doing high dives, you're doing handstands and you've become like a world class diver. So we got to start someplace. And that starts with that first jump. And that's hard. And I do not sugarcoat it. I know it's difficult and I'm there with you when you make that commitment.
Mike Goldman: So,
is this John, is this work you do? Is it mostly through keynotes
where you help people do this? is it coaching individuals, coaching groups, all those
things? What
format does
John Register: so, so thanks for that. Yeah. So it's keynotes primarily drives the engine, right? So we do a keynote speech and then other people want to begin to work in. And I have this, what I call these Jr 90 day leadership sprints.and so what these are, the first one is the first 90 days you're going to work on resilience.
Right. And then we just started with resilience and we're going to look at resilience from a lot of different ways. We have like Apollo Anton Ono in there that I've spoken with, and he talks about resilience from one way. We have another person that's in there, Anton Gunn. and he's talking about resilience as a gold star family member.
His
Mike Goldman: he's been on the show by the way.
John Register: He's been, oh my gosh. Yeah.
So, you know, his brother was killed in action on the USS Cole. So he's in there talking about leadership. Then we have another person that does it for as a business. And we look at resilience from the standpoint of, can I ask for help?
So we want to do a deep dive for 90 days and not just hit it and split it. We're going to do a deep dive. And that's one thing that we do. And it's in those nominal, you know, costs and it's not, that's not that much. And then we do, and then I do a, um. I'm going to start up this what's called the think letter.
So we're probably gonna drop it every Sunday night for leaders that are thinking about Monday morning. What's what comes up and really giving some high level to the weed. So like the thing of a funnel, right? So high level thought, and then let's boil it down to what action steps you might consider.
I'm not going to tell the leader what to do. Considerations for. What you might want to do with your team because there's too many, you know, too many teams out there, but I also want you to know that you're not alone and that's another thing for us leaders. We often think that we're alone in this and we need to be in community that helps us understand we're not alone and we can, you know, we can move.
And then there's the website, you know, you can find all that my social media handles on
Mike Goldman: What, so what, so where should people go if they want to find out more about all this stuff, where's the best place for them to
John Register: Best places. The website is johnregister.com
there's like a, there's some tabs on there. I don't know that my web guy does all this stuff, but, you know, they, you can get on there, poke around, we're changing some stuff up on it, but for the most part, it's really. It's the website is built for servicing people, right?
we have some offerings on there, but it's really, if you're like a conference planner or you're looking for a speaker, all your assets are going to be right there that helps you do that. So you don't have to come, you know, searching me down, just, you can grab anything that you want and go.
And then media teams, if you're looking for a media person, you got, we got questions on there that the best questions you can ask me. And if you're a leader, like, you know, on Mike's show right now, you can go out there and you can sign up for some of these opportunities that we do and build community. We have folks all over the world.
We've got somebody from Norway. We, we have another person, I think from France, we've got another person from Kazakhstan. So they're all in there at various times. Talking about their leadership, right. And what they're doing. And so we get the chance to learn globally because we're in a global environment.
Now we can't just stay United States. We've got to be thinking global. that's my perspective sticking to it. Thanks.
Mike Goldman: Beautiful, beautiful. Well, Hey, such an inspiring story. And I love talking to you anyway. So I think everybody else will feel the same way. And I always say, if you want a great company, you need a great leadership team. John, thanks for helping us get there today.
John Register: Hey, thank you, Mike. Really appreciate everything that you're doing, brother. you're phenomenal. Can't wait to see you next time.
Mike Goldman: Yeah. Looking forward to it.