Is Competition A Superpower At Work Or A Secret Liability? with Brandon Miller

Ever worked with someone so driven to win it feels inspiring… or maybe exhausting?

Brandon, whose top 10 strengths include a power-packed stack of influencing themes (including Competition, Command, and Woo), makes a compelling case for why Competition, when coached well, can elevate an entire team’s performance.

In this episode of Strengths on Fire, Sarah and Bill dive into a bold, energizing debate with fellow strengths coach Brandon Miller. You’ll hear stories from Brandon’s life as a coach, dad, and leader, including what pickleball taught him about performance, and why a driven eighth grader became his most inspiring MVP. They explore how Competition fuels preparation, why some of the best performers make the worst coaches, and how to spot the line between healthy drive and team disruption.

Plus, if Competition is nowhere in your top 10, don’t worry—this episode is packed with insight into how other strengths (like Woo, Achiever, or Relator) can help you compete in your own way. Whether you love the thrill of winning or avoid competition at all costs, this conversation will give you a fresh lens on leadership, motivation, and how to work with (and coach) the driven people around you.

7 Main Takeaways

1. Conflict on strong teams is normal and healthy—avoidance is more dangerous than disagreement.

2. Competition thrives on preparation, not just performance, and that’s where its power lies.

3. Everyone has the potential to lead, but finding the right role for your leadership matters.

4. High Competition can uplift a team—or derail it—depending on maturity and coaching.

5. Woo and Competition together create a drive to win people over and win in general.

6. Great competitors aren’t always great coaches; self-awareness is key in leadership roles.

7. Strengths don’t operate in isolation—context, maturity, and pairing with other themes shape behavior.

Sound Bites

1. “Strong teams don’t avoid conflict—they work through it.”

2. “Competition is a superpower when it’s mature, focused, and others-oriented.”

3. “The best competitors are also the best preparers.”

4. “Everyone wants to win, but not everyone is wired to need the win.”

5. “High competition without maturity is just ego on display.”

6. “Influencing themes like Competition are designed to bring people with you, not just beat them.”

7. “Immature competition says ‘me first’; mature competition says ‘let’s rise together.’”

8. “Great competitors show what’s possible—they raise the bar for everyone.”

9. “Coaching a competitor is easy—just show them how to win and they’re in.”

10. “A competitor with achiever next door is a podium threat every time.”

11. “Losing isn’t always the worst thing for a team—it’s sometimes the greatest teacher.”

12. “Control is the real culprit behind many dumpster fire moments, not just one strength.”

13. “Your strengths don’t make you great—how you manage them does.”

14. “Sometimes the best place for a high competitor isn’t on a team—it’s as an individual contributor.”

15. “A great coach doesn’t say ‘do it like I did’—they say ‘let’s do it your way, but better.’”

Bill's Top 10 CliftonStrengths 

1) Individualization

2) Developer

3) Activator

4) Woo

5) Restorative

6) Empathy

7) Harmony

8) Connectedness

9) Relator

10) Learner

Sarah's Top 10 CliftonStrengths 

1) Positivity

2) Woo

3) Communication

4) Harmony

5) Activator

6) Developer

7) Input

8) Individualization

9) Responsibility

10) Arranger 

Official Strengths On Fire Website:  https://strengthsonfire.transistor.fm

GET MORE FROM BILL AND SARAH:
Bill's info:
https://billdippel.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamdippel/
https://www.instagram.com/billdippelcoach/

Sarah's info:
https://www.wearecollinsco.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahcoachcollins/
https://www.instagram.com/sarahcoachcollins/

Transcript

Bill Dippel (00:02.043)
As always, the delicious Sarah Collins.

Sarah Collins (00:05.494)
god, it sounds so weird when you say it that way. You're never allowed to say I'm delicious, okay? Delightful!

Brandon Miller (00:10.569)
You can call me Delicious Bill. I'll take Delicious. I'll take that.

Bill Dippel (00:13.006)
As always, the delicious Brandon Miller, the delicious Brandon Miller. So yes.

Sarah Collins (00:16.593)
Yes, yes, okay, thank you for that. Go Brandon Miller, you can be delicious, Bill, you're never allowed to say that to me, ever!

Bill Dippel (00:24.275)
my God, listen, listen you.

Sarah Collins (00:28.295)
Delightful, dedicated, darling. All those are true. Great D words. Delicious. I just can't, I can't handle it. It's too much.

Bill Dippel (00:29.91)
All those are true. All those are true. Yeah, they

Brandon Miller (00:32.38)
All true. All true, Sarah.

Bill Dippel (00:36.942)
But you're amazing in every way. don't, you know.

Brandon Miller (00:37.728)
Too much.

Sarah Collins (00:39.663)
Well, thank you, but you have never, no, I can't even say it. can't even say it. Move on. This thing just started weird.

Bill Dippel (00:46.118)
good lord.

You

Sarah Collins (00:51.187)
Brandon's like, you know what, actually have never listened to this podcast before, what am I getting into?

Brandon Miller (00:55.976)
No, I have, I have and that was one heck of a start. I'm here for it. I am here for it. Let's go. Yeah.

Bill Dippel (00:56.013)
What

Bill Dippel (00:59.286)
what one just started. All right. You're all right. You're ready.

Sarah Collins (01:03.623)
Mm-hmm.

Bill Dippel (01:10.951)
As always, the amazing Sarah Collins.

Sarah Collins (01:14.835)
You can't just restart it! was too good! Brandon, we've never restarted in our entire lives! You totally threw me off!

Bill Dippel (01:18.638)
I can, I know I'll take it out.

We never have. Never have. So I'm going to make her laugh. all right. So hey, I, yeah, now that we've.

Sarah Collins (01:34.099)
The rail's so hard.

Brandon Miller (01:35.954)
And with start number two, I'll go start. Yeah.

Bill Dippel (01:40.064)
It's perfect. It's perfect. So so good morning, Sarah, we are rolling with it. It's it's rolling on and good morning. Good morning. How

Sarah Collins (01:41.711)
I thought we were just rolling with it.

Sarah Collins (01:47.059)
Good morning, Belle. Good morning, Belle. We are just, season two is just a train wreck of a season. Here we are.

Bill Dippel (01:55.062)
I think I think part of it part of it is we are so excited that we have an amazing other podcaster on with us today. Right. So.

Sarah Collins (02:02.749)
Yes, right. Yeah, the bar is set high because we have a great fellow podcaster with us and here we are showing a true dumpster fire of a show.

Bill Dippel (02:12.138)
Actually, I love the fact that you went dumpster fire right out of the gate, right? It is a hallmark of our show. It's a section. So I like that. I'll take the dumpster fire opening. I like it. I'm in with it. So yeah.

Sarah Collins (02:17.201)
Yeah, that's right, that's right.

Okay, let's just keep rolling. You have a question for me today, think, Mr. Dippel is that true?

Bill Dippel (02:28.704)
I actually do have a question for you. I'm just curious, can you tell me what is a misconception you're seeing around growth and leadership lately?

Sarah Collins (02:40.979)
Who?

love this question, which is a great way to delay to let me think about it a little bit more.

Bill Dippel (02:47.838)
Mm-hmm. It is. It's good. You've stepped into it. Yeah.

Sarah Collins (02:53.168)
about growth and leadership lately.

Bill Dippel (02:56.138)
And leadership. Yeah. Any of the teams you're working with, any growth or leadership issues coming up for you that you're spotting on a regular basis?

Sarah Collins (03:06.641)
don't know if this is something that is universal right now, but I do think sometimes there is this thought that good teams don't have conflict. as we know, Strengths Based Leadership, the book, you know, they talk about the five traits of strong teams. And I think the very first one is that strong teams have conflict, but they get through it, right? They work through it for the betterment of the team. And I think I'm constantly

telling teams this, that we are humans and we will be in conflict in any relationship you're in, whether it's your partner, your children, your friends, your parents, your neighbors, there will become times where we have disagreements. We have different talents, different experiences, different expectations. And so conflict will come up. Now it doesn't have to be big C scary, we're in a big fight conflict, but there will be disagreement, which in essence is conflict and that that is normal.

It is about figuring out how we have those conversations, how we can honor each people's themes. And I love strengths, of course, because it helps us see and have empathy for why maybe certain people think differently than us, because they're seeing it through the lens of their own talents at times. And so we just have to learn some frameworks, some talking points.

we have to understand that it is normal and natural to have conflict and to not run away from it, because that actually is going to make the situation worse or even avoiding it. I think silence is a really deadly, dangerous place for teams to be, is when no one is talking about the things. So it's not being afraid of conflict, knowing that that's totally normal and natural, and we just have to figure out how are we going to deal with conflict when it arises and that it's not something to be afraid of, run from, or avoid.

Bill Dippel (04:56.706)
Wow. Well said. I have been finding lately and one of the things I would say comes up frequently with some of the groups I'm working with is that, and I think most companies are dealing with this problem consistently now. It's the problem of attrition and how hard it is to keep and maintain. I don't want to...

Sarah Collins (05:17.053)
Mmm.

Bill Dippel (05:23.402)
Again, we don't get political on our podcast, but it certainly seems some of the leadership vibes that we're getting in the larger scheme of the world right now lead us to maybe understand that, hey, attrition is just attrition. You don't want the job, move on, go. Whereas I think it's incumbent upon us and some of the coaching that we do is, wait, actually, that attrition is not only painful and costly for you.

but it's unnecessary or at least some of it is, right? We should have a methodology in a way to take back that attrition and maybe curb that into something that is actually much more normalized for you, less up and down. And how do we get the cream of the crop maybe staring back at you? How can we get that coming back to that end?

Sarah Collins (05:53.331)
Yeah.

Sarah Collins (06:11.773)
Yeah.

Bill Dippel (06:14.764)
When I thought about that question today for me, it was the groups I'm dealing with, some of the some of the problems that they're running into and some of the mindset that they have around it that it's it's just okay. And maybe not okay, but it's just the price of doing business when in reality there are some there are some tools we can use to make that a much, much more palpable and less big problem for them. So, Brandon, what do you think? Thoughts?

Sarah Collins (06:23.868)
Mmm.

Brandon Miller (06:42.932)
You know, I get the question sometimes to see it come on social media about leaders born or made. And I always find that an intriguing question because I think every human is born with potential to lead and hopefully they accept whatever leadership role in the house, in the community, the school, the family, the job, of course. And then, but if development of leaders is something that we can grow in, it's skills we can learn, then I find that the

Sarah Collins (06:49.203)
Mmm.

Brandon Miller (07:10.42)
then nobody's exempt from the opportunity to become leaders. It's their aptitude, right, and then the investment to help them achieve. Now, I can also believe at the same time that some people do have different capacity than others. Some can lead tens of thousands, hundreds of large, large orgs, right, or on the political scope, millions. And then down to people that they can lead a family or they can lead a team of 10. But that is an interesting question I find.

Sarah Collins (07:39.335)
Mm-hmm.

Brandon Miller (07:39.786)
when it's put back in the idea that some can't. And I refute that. think it's very possible for every one of us to lead and lead well and do a good job at it.

Bill Dippel (07:48.876)
Yeah, yeah. I love it. I love it. And that's that's a direct lead in to speaking of good leadership, speaking of people that can lead and do really well. We need to announce our guest today jumping in early with us, answering some questions and Brandon as a leader of a fairly large team, especially from the strengths environment, the

amazing work that you're doing out of the Sacramento area, but also for governments, for whole large organizations. Welcome to the show. Fellow podcaster, fellow strengths coach, the man that pushes the envelope with Gallup as much as any human being we know, Brandon Miller. Welcome to the show.

Brandon Miller (08:37.308)
Thank you, Bill. Thank you, Bill. Can't say that last one is my preference, but I think by nature and life, I push boundaries. So it's kind of irrelevant who they are. It's going to happen as the maximizer sees new ways to optimize and increase and, you know, find ways to, we can make it bigger and better. And it's that number one that never, never quiets. It always is thinking out that way.

Bill Dippel (08:38.958)
Yeah.

Sarah Collins (08:39.164)
Yes.

Bill Dippel (08:43.237)
Ha ha ha ha.

Bill Dippel (08:47.757)
Yes.

Bill Dippel (09:06.018)
Yeah, completely.

Sarah Collins (09:06.321)
Yeah, and that's a great lead in. Can you tell us about your top 10? Because I am looking at a very orange report right here in front of me. So share with the audience what you're bringing when you are out there challenging, pushing for better, running these companies, running this big family, being a leader in the community. Tell us the talents that get you there.

Brandon Miller (09:29.652)
Yeah, so maximizer is the lead and comes the engine achiever that drives it all. Activator is probably the strength that is most core to my being in terms of the strength with no shutoff valve. That strength is present whether I want it to be or not. And sometimes not is more than is, but it's there and it drives things fast. The next two are really probably my primary leadership strengths. I lean very heavy on strategic and arranger.

Sarah Collins (09:34.931)
Mm-hmm.

Brandon Miller (09:58.89)
because they do help to categorize, calm, bring a bigger picture. My number six is what I call the anchor. It literally influences every human relationship, commitment I make, purpose, values, and that's belief. And then comes the orange slide, I call it. It just becomes just a blur of orange and command, communication, self-assurance, competition, and just for fun, 11 significance.

So that's the orange slide of life. And I've enjoyed learning the nuances between those strengths, how they show up, how to characterize, call up which character I need at which time. But sometimes they gang up on me and I have to realize that that influence will happen. And it's a matter of learning and growing and maturing how they're best used.

Sarah Collins (10:55.955)
And I love that because you're, think the perfect person to come in today, know, season two here at Strengths on Fire is all about the great strengths debate. And while not every episode is necessarily signaling out one's strength because we're not necessarily only wanting to do that, your episode we get to, because I think we get a lot of misconceptions about this strength that we're going to talk about today. And you have this in your top 10. You've got a lot of it surrounding you.

You have a lot of experience with it. And so I can't wait to get into it today. The question for our episode is, is competition a superpower or a secret liability?

Brandon Miller (11:34.496)
My answer to that is 100 % unequivocal superpower.

Sarah Collins (11:38.867)
Superpower you have to tell us more tell us more

Bill Dippel (11:39.832)
Superpower. He's running with superpower. I love it. All right, let's hear it.

Sarah Collins (11:45.703)
hard out the gate.

Brandon Miller (11:45.916)
Yeah, I'm taking a side. Very definitive on this one because I I mentioned at the front end of the podcast that three of my children lead with number one competition. It's in my top 10. It could could land anywhere in the top 10 at any given day, depending on the circumstance. So I like to think of the top 10 as a wheel. It's not linear. It just changes who you go to when. So it's a dial up, dial down and competition.

has such force behind it to make itself and everyone around it better for the purpose of winning. And winning is to a competition, a zero-sum game, either I did or I didn't win, period. And as a result, competition and its drive and its purpose really wins most in the field of preparation. Great competitors are great preparers. They practice, they invest in their craft.

Sarah Collins (12:28.211)
Mm-hmm.

Brandon Miller (12:44.34)
They do the extra work to be the best at whatever it is they're trying to win because no competitor wants to compete knowing they can't win. None ever. I recently started playing pickleball and for all my pickleballers out there, which by the way, big plug on this, I learned recently from Dr. Don, Dr. Daniel Amen, that paddle sports are one of the best things we can do as our brains age. It's one of the best things we can do to keep our brains sharp, to stave off.

Sarah Collins (13:08.947)
Brandon Miller (13:12.48)
dementia, other issues. so twice a week, it's great for you. Why? I was looking for another outlet for exercise on the cardio side, and I can only do so much on a machine that takes me nowhere. And I hate jogging. And so I'm like, but chasing chasing a ball that I'm trying to compete to win that I can get really excited about. Well, my 15 year old son plays pickleball in school.

Sarah Collins (13:27.569)
Relatable, honestly.

Bill Dippel (13:29.358)
I'm with you. Yeah.

Sarah Collins (13:34.323)
Mmm.

Brandon Miller (13:40.768)
And so we've started a banter about whether or not dad can beat him. Now, my 15 year old is a physical specimen. He is a, he's an amazing athlete and I really have no business competing with him at this point at anything because he can run faster, jump higher, last longer, like all the things except pickleball. And so in pickleball, I have a fighting chance with him because there's, know, you hit the ball too hard, it goes out. You hit it too soft, it's the net, right?

Bill Dippel (14:01.012)
hahahaha

Brandon Miller (14:10.57)
There's nuance to this game. so, I find something I can compete in because I know I can win. Now yesterday he beat me three games to one, but believe me, I cherish the one. I came home and I was talking to my wife. She's all how to go. I got him in a game. I got him. went to overtime, but I still got him because you know, he can, he's, he's all the things, you know, in terms of stamina, everything else. But, but that's, that's an example. So competition competes were

Bill Dippel (14:22.479)
I get it.

Bill Dippel (14:26.99)
Ha

Brandon Miller (14:40.734)
it can win and they can make their whole team winners. That's literally the right mindset for them when they show up.

Bill Dippel (14:49.42)
Excellent.

Sarah Collins (14:49.457)
Now do you think though that there are people with competition who have a hard time maybe seeing it for the team and get competitive internally just wanting to be the best?

Brandon Miller (15:00.702)
Yeah, think anytime we look at human personality, the reality of maturity, growth, and I think it's fair to say that every one of us at every level of any strength can be immature. And immature is by nature selfish. And so yes, absolutely. Every single one of us can be selfish and certainly competitors can turn the game inward and make it.

well, as long as I look good or as long as I compete well. So I happen to be an athletic coach as well. And as a sports coach, I coach football. There are times where your very, very best athlete is actually a liability to the team more than an asset because they're selfish, because they're mature. And a great coach doesn't dispel the athlete. The great coach works on character maturity almost more than the game.

There's more investment in, hey, let's make you an excellent team member so that you have, I coach eighth graders, so that as you move on with whatever you choose to do with sports, you become someone that, you know, that your team wants to rally around. And this last year we started with a young man, name is Nick. And Nick is an amazing athlete, fast, catch the ball, play any position you want him to play. And he was our number two, actually to my son. My son was our number one. That's not just me playing daddy ball. He was legit the number one guy on the team.

Nick was number two. Daniel got knocked out mid-season. Season over. Can't play. Nick had to become number one. So this kid who at the start of the year could not lead himself down his own straight line, all of a sudden found himself the leader of the team. And we got to look back on the investment we made in Nick's development at the front end of the year to realize now we have a leader. And I got to stand up at our end of year coaching event and I got to give the MVP price to this kid to say,

more than what he did to help carry the team to our success, this guy became a leader. And that was one of the coolest experiences that we had.

Sarah Collins (17:01.747)
And it goes back to your question, your answer to the question that Bill asked us at the beginning about, and you were talking about, people become leaders, right? Are they born or are they made? And I think you're just adding evidence to the fact that with development and experience, we can shape people in to step up. And it's interesting to see that competition be molded in a way that sees the we over the me.

Bill Dippel (17:01.773)
Wow.

Brandon Miller (17:30.848)
I will offer this because it is true that competitors want to win for themselves. I that's just a fact. Because it matters more to win than the fear or hate of losing. In fact, the fear or hate of losing drives them more than the glory of winning. Because the feeling of losing is so painful, so difficult, so vexing that they have to win. So my, I have a son at home today who's

transitioning to adult life and he took on a new job and he decided to go work for a door-to-door sales company that washes, windows, and cleans gutters, okay? And so when he started with them, he was a gutter window cleaner and we're like, cool job, you know, right on, go learn some good skills, go get out there and he was making great money for a teenager, great money. I'm talking like some weeks, $1,000 a week washing windows. I'm like, what am I doing with my life?

And so he's working for this kid who's, you know, he's 17 going on 18, he's working for a 19 year old going on 20. So the 19 year old comes to my son and he's like, hey, we're gonna give you a promotion and you're gonna get to be a door to door sales guy. And my first was like, you like, oh, are you sure that's really, really hard? And he's like, dad, I can make more of this, like, da, da, da, da. So first couple of days out there, this is my son who he,

revolves around competition, but it comes up at time. And you know what strength he leads with Sarah that you'll relate to is woo. He's a woo. You know what the first letter of woo is?

Sarah Collins (19:05.011)
Mm-hmm.

The big W!

Bill Dippel (19:08.792)
win.

Brandon Miller (19:11.52)
All of sudden this guy, get a text just yesterday, just yesterday from the 19 year old training him. He's all, dude, your boy is popping off six sales today. I'm like, what? He's all, what is going on? I'm like, wow, he's got a great teacher. Good job. You know, good job coach. And so he comes home and I'm like, dude, how'd that day go? So remember I said he could make a thousand bucks a week. He goes, dad, I made $500 today. And I went.

Sarah Collins (19:28.947)
Mm-hmm.

Brandon Miller (19:39.358)
That's amazing, buddy. That's incredible. So the point is that even a bad competitor, what they do for any team in terms of bad as in maybe behavior is they set really high bars. And when they show what's possible with the hard work, the practice, the routine, they show what's possible. If you can also get them to be ideal team players, whoo, you win huge.

Sarah Collins (19:58.172)
you

Sarah Collins (20:06.098)
Yeah.

Brandon Miller (20:06.73)
But even if they have to phase out what they did, the gift they gave any organization is they showed everyone what's possible. They showed everyone like, no, no, no, new standard. This isn't impossible. We've seen this. Now let's aim for this.

Bill Dippel (20:20.11)
Yeah, so so powerful the way you put that together and a great story to highlight that Brandon curious because competition is 31 and 32 for Sarah and I so I don't want to you know throw up both of us under the bus on this but she does well I did.

Sarah Collins (20:20.683)
I love how you set that up. Yeah.

Brandon Miller (20:36.512)
But Sarah's got the dub. Sarah's got the winning...

Sarah Collins (20:38.407)
That's true. And I love how you pointed out how woo and competition can show up together when you have them both in your top 10. That just sort of, because yes, you're right. In woo, just like Bill also has woo, it is winning others over. And I think that's so interesting. I don't know that I remembered this until you were just talking, Brandon, but I do, competition is low. Bill just pointed out, it's in my thirties. My husband has said to me before, you're way more competitive than you let on.

Brandon Miller (20:43.441)
Absolutely.

Bill Dippel (20:45.368)
Yeah.

Bill Dippel (20:53.612)
Right.

Sarah Collins (21:08.215)
And we've sort of like, you know, had the little back and forth about it and it is the woo. I'm only competitive in those things that like grab me favor with people or things I think I can do. So in facilitation, like the work we do, I do feel the competition come out. I want to be good at it because there is a part of the pulling the people in, but it's not the pure winning. if you're not first, you're last. I don't have that, especially in like

gameplay and different things where a lot of competition people, they just want to win. They're racing me at the stoplight. I'm like, I'm in a minivan. What's happening here?

Brandon Miller (21:44.318)
Right. Right. My wife, my wife is a number one woo and the the fun banter around the family is that mom is super competitive. Board game, pickleball, you know, if we pay card game. my wife is a real estate agent. And so she lives in a zero sum world. Right. You either sold the house, you either found the house, you either get them in contract and complete the deal or you don't.

Bill Dippel (21:47.138)
Right.

Brandon Miller (22:12.21)
and your pay depends on it. At the old adage in sales, you get to eat what you kill, period. You don't kill, you don't eat. It's survival of the fittest. And so the family laughs, because mom doesn't have competition anywhere near the top 10, and they're always like, yo, but you're a closet competitor. And I joke with them, I'm like, yeah, it's in your number one. You want to win. she knows, as you probably both know well, you know when you've won people over. You know when you got it. You know when you got it.

Sarah Collins (22:17.619)
Mm-hmm.

Bill Dippel (22:37.959)
yeah.

Brandon Miller (22:40.338)
And you know when you don't and sometimes it makes you work harder to win them over when you don't. And that's very close to competition. live very similar lives in just different spaces.

Sarah Collins (22:45.681)
Mm-hmm.

Bill Dippel (22:51.864)
Yeah, yeah. Well, where I was where I was going with that brand, it's low for us and we both there. And I love that you brought up the orange slide in your assessment because we should point out and I know we coach around this, but for our arsonists, our regular listeners, having that much influencing at the top component of this of this assessment is a is a rarity. Brandon, you are a unicorn in that way that

Sarah Collins (22:51.975)
Yeah.

Bill Dippel (23:20.578)
that much influencing shows up. Traditionally, is much less prevalent on these assessments, as we point out to our teams when we're showing them strengths grids. The first thing when we ask them, what do you notice? Almost inevitably, they say, well, we don't have any influencing. All the influencing is gone. Or sometimes, depending on where you're at, we'll even see strategy crop up or executing.

Brandon Miller (23:39.806)
Yeah, on the people's side, far more blue than orange. It's far more blue.

Sarah Collins (23:42.482)
Mm-hmm.

Bill Dippel (23:48.056)
But that influencing tends to be low depending on where we're at. When it's up, we get to point it out. We obviously work away from that. But my question for you is when you get around groups with no competition, Brandon, like Sarah and I, you're coaching us and you're right, we both have woo very high. It's number four for me. So when we have that, what other themes other than woo, or maybe it is woo, but what other themes are you pinning into or from a coaching point of view?

How do you feel you help those that have it so low? Like what is the way to make it there? Because I struggle with that from a debate point of view. For people that have it super high, sometimes I want to bang my head, walk it in. So looking at it from your side, how are you doing it? How are you getting me to get there?

Brandon Miller (24:38.794)
Yeah, I think it's fair to say that if someone doesn't share that need to win, very hard to import it because it's just a different way that they process data around what drives the most satisfaction. So for someone not as high in competition, I like to say everyone loves to win.

And we have a saying in our company, revenue solves all. And so revenue and winning business, let's use that as three business owners. We all know when we've won a deal and we all know when we don't. And say that, gosh, I need an extra, because I need to up my business. Well, then we would need to tap into where is your greatest satisfaction when you win. And then the key to competition, and it's what I think gives it its edge, is prep.

It's practice, it's effort. And that's often what I help teams clue into is how can we prepare like you're trying to win the hundred in a major event? How can we prepare? So I'll use public speaking. I have either of you coach people in public speaking. Yeah, so, okay. So if you've ever worked with a leader that's like, you know, okay, what's an area of your professional life you wanna improve? I've had public speaking more than any other answer. And for some of them, I'm really honest. All right, you're not ever gonna be Tony Robbins.

Bill Dippel (25:46.599)
yeah,

Brandon Miller (26:00.37)
and you're not ever, let's go like 10 levels down and you're probably not to be there, but we can get you to be adequate and stand up and not be shaking while you're trying to and get points across and have a way to get there if we can do the work. And so I give them an example that for every one minute, a top level speaker is out there, they prepare an hour, an hour per minute. So you go, wow, a 30 minute talk, they're putting in 30 hours.

yeah. And early on in their career, it might've been 50 hours to get to that 30 minute talk that looked so effortless and just so woven together, like what we see in a TED, right? Like just so beautiful. It's tapestry, it's art, it's amazing because it's prep. And so if it's needed, right? So if you need it, then we would say, great, then let's just factor back to what's prep look like. What's practice look like? And if we can invest there because you...

have to have this, you need that, then we'll do that. And that's where some of the strengths philosophy we all talk about is, well, should you really prop up a weakness? Well, that's probably why they call it work sometimes, because sometimes you have to work at something, because you need it. And then the answer is, yeah, you betcha, put in the work and get adequate so you can stand it up.

Sarah Collins (27:12.04)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah Collins (27:17.073)
Yeah, I think what you're I also hear you're saying, which I talk to clients a lot too about is we can get an outcome in the world from your strengths, right? Like, so what is the outcome you want? So it's like you're saying, like if you need to be a public speaker, but that is not natural to you. You don't have those talents that high communication, that high, maybe competition or we have a lot of influencing. I feel like is good at that, but even some strategy and

and some of those other executing themes. But if you just feel like you're not there, what do you have? And so it's like thinking about what is in your top 10. And maybe it's a mindset reframe about it, right? If you have high relator, and so talking to the big groups is hard for you because you prefer one-on-one, well, how can you think about talking to one person in that room? And what would you tell them if you were alone with them in that room?

that would be impactful and then like you're saying, then prep the heck out of it, but in the mindset of relator. So it's still probably never gonna be effortless and easy for you, but at least you can manage to do it based on what you have.

The other thing that I was thinking about as you were talking about competition is it's orange. It's not purple. And I feel like if it were an executing theme that was purple, it would really drive people to do things for themselves. But it is orange because it's an influencing theme because it is impacting and influencing those around you, which I think drives us to believe that it is meant for we.

even though it can of course in a raw or an immature state be really me driven, it is orange, which needs people to, right? We need people to beat, of course, the big W wants to win. So you have to have those people. But I think it is inherently also open to taking those with you up the mountain.

Brandon Miller (29:18.654)
Yeah, it's very rare to meet a high competition who doesn't have achiever next door. It's very rare. Those two often come side by side. I worked with a coach in the past who said he could help athletes determine whether they would podium or not based upon how high he could elevate, how high he could elevate their competition achiever. If he could get those two strengths in top two or three.

If they could stay either one, two or one and three respectively, he could help them get to the point of choosing the difference between third and fourth place podium or not podium at Olympic level. And I was so fascinated by that. was like, Oh my gosh, like that's super interesting because what you're saying essentially is one, we can turn these powers into things that become more intense. He goes, of course you can. It's effort, it's practice, it's repetition. It's just do reps in anything you're going to, you're going to improve, especially if you already have aptitude.

But then two, how they come. What I like that you said though, is that you're right, the competitive strength in its true essence is an influencing talent. It is meant to pull others in. That is its goal. And even in an individual sport, finds, it has to have competitors. Competition requires competitors to be better. It has to. And sometimes they're competitive, you know, friends, right? Like people I compete with, but we have some kind of

You know, secretly we hate each other because we're competing, but really, you know, we're, we're, we're friends. Cause you know, it's like, this, I love hate thing. Yeah. Yeah. Like it's like, I love you, but I hate losing to you. Right. and, and yet at the same time, that community is where competition thrives. It has to feel like it's being pulled up along with others. And so the outcropping, I love that you brought the purple. Yeah. I mean, it's very rare to see a high competitor who doesn't have work ethic. Super rare because.

Sarah Collins (30:49.519)
frenemies.

Brandon Miller (31:12.522)
how they get to that level. Once one wants to cross from good to really good to world class. If you want world class, no substitute. You're in work, lots of it. And that drive becomes so important.

Sarah Collins (31:26.557)
Mm-hmm.

Bill Dippel (31:26.562)
Yeah. Yeah. Well, so regarding the question today and Brandon, you're really swaying me towards superpower. And I think that the convincing argument on my end of it, it revolves around preparation because how often from a relation, I'm a pure relationship guy. How often am I coaching people and they aren't doing the work? How often are am I investing in them and they aren't

prepping, doing the homework, doing what we're doing, whether it's a group and I've got to push them to get there, or more likely an individual where I send them off and I know they did the homework in the car sitting in front of the spot here because they didn't do it for the week, right? And so I can see it in that frame as a superpower. And I like that you're bringing that, you're tying that together because I would have never made that association myself, that competition

is about putting in the back work and the preparation, the 30 to 50 hours to compare to the one. Those are all really great tie ins and I love I love that you're bringing those in, but. Yeah.

Brandon Miller (32:28.672)
Yeah.

Brandon Miller (32:34.912)
I'll tell you, I'll tell you about the secret on that. Um, uh, this is, this is something I don't normally tell. So competitors close your ears for a second. Um, these are literally some of the easiest people to coach because winning is catnip. They can't not win. And if you lean in like, Hey, do you want to know how to win? Cause I have a secret. could tell you how to win. They, they can't not lock in. They can't not get hypnotized by you have a secret to win. You know how to win.

Sarah Collins (32:48.999)
Mm-hmm.

Bill Dippel (32:57.986)
Right.

Brandon Miller (33:03.616)
And, whatever proceeds that into like, yeah, you'd be a great team member and you help them to win and you start telling them good job and you start making this about an us, not just a me. And it's amazing. watched a 14 year old figure this out and, and, whose reputation all proceeding years was prima Donna, uncoachable super attitude. It's because once, once a coach's mind shifts to.

Bill Dippel (33:10.776)
Can you?

Bill Dippel (33:19.669)
Right, right.

Sarah Collins (33:19.731)
Mm-hmm.

Brandon Miller (33:33.258)
You're one good coach away from being the superstar on the team. One good coach away. That's it. One good coach. And so that's how it frames the Super Power Site for me.

Bill Dippel (33:41.736)
so good. So powerful. Well, in bringing up the debate side of it, right, you mentioned, hey, I can tell you the secret. I will point out how you can do it and get there. But I for the sake of a debate, can't it be more of a subtle liability in the backside of it, a secret end of it that I am going to push the team? I am going to put us under the umbrella of competition and I am going to

Go one on one, do it secretly or subtly on the back and push. I'll do the prep, but I don't need everyone to see it or notice it. I can do it in a different way that pushes it. mostly for the sake of the question, still putting in the prep, but don't need the all out win unless we're all doing it, right? We're all there.

Brandon Miller (34:26.986)
Sure.

Brandon Miller (34:34.718)
Yeah. Interestingly enough, and I wonder if you two have seen this, the people that I've noticed in my career and even on my teams that have the toughest time with competitors can certainly come back to just bravado and behavior attitude. But what I've often noticed is it's intimidation. It's this level of, they're like, they're like everywhere, all at once they keep doing everything. Like why, why are you know, why are they just

working so hard, right? And it's this interesting piece where, yes, they can really stunt a team if the leaders aren't careful, absolutely. And if a leader, this is where it gets super toxic, right? If the leader wants to have the competitor run with the field, so it's trying to pull the competitor down to the field, that's toxic.

that actually starts, I've watched that just completely undo a team dynamic. Cause now the competitors over here under the breath saying things, well, if you just let me, just give me the, give me the chance or just put me in coach, like this mindset. And so I do agree that the toxicity factor that can come with this strength is acute. It can unravel a team fast and bad.

Sarah Collins (35:44.083)
Mm-hmm.

Bill Dippel (35:56.302)
Sure.

Sarah Collins (35:56.371)
Yeah.

Brandon Miller (35:59.966)
I mean, very bad. And I'll give you the worst example of all. This is like the one that some know this, maybe you two have heard this or seen this. It is very rare for the number one competitor in a given field or sport to also be a great coach.

Sarah Collins (36:16.518)
Mmm.

Brandon Miller (36:19.274)
Very rare. they keep running it through themselves. They keep running it through if you just did what I do. If you just do what I tell you. And that's not great coaching. Because you...

Sarah Collins (36:21.159)
And why is that?

Sarah Collins (36:27.771)
Right, this is how I did it.

Sarah Collins (36:32.947)
because they're not seeing the people for the talents that they have and bringing those up. They're saying, it the way I did it.

Brandon Miller (36:39.156)
Yeah, arguably one of the best basketball players on the planet. And Michael Jordan was a terrible coach. Wasn't even a good owner. because it was always ego for him. Because where he belonged was making teams amazing on the court. Trying to coach people to do what he did. That's not going to be. So there are times, to your point, that competitors may struggle in some of those roles. But interestingly enough, when they're not the coach of the team, but they're the

Sarah Collins (36:45.009)
Hmm?

Sarah Collins (36:50.067)
Yeah.

Brandon Miller (37:09.074)
CEO of an org, sometimes that's perfect positioning. That's actually great because then they're out there fighting for the brand. They're fighting though the big enemies. And so the internal team is being pulled up to it. That's my.

Sarah Collins (37:11.314)
Yeah.

Sarah Collins (37:17.319)
Yeah.

Bill Dippel (37:17.517)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Sarah Collins (37:20.519)
I love what you're saying here because it is highlighting to me that, again, going back to our leaders born or are they made, I think we're hearing more and more like you can be born with high competition, which may set you up to be a good leader, but it's finding the right place for your leadership, right? Is that as a player on the team being the team captain or the person rallying people, is it the coach? Is it the CEO? Is it the supervisor?

Right? So there are so many different places and types of leadership, some really formalized and some more indirect. And it's finding where is that sweet spot of leadership for you. Just like knowing Michael Jordan could be a great leader from the court, but as a coach or an owner, not the same because that's a different place. It's a different mindset. And so it's like recognizing where is my leadership and it might take a coach.

Brandon Miller (38:17.812)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah Collins (38:19.517)
to help you figure out where is that place where you get that leadership in the right swing for you.

Brandon Miller (38:25.674)
I'll give you a good example. go ahead.

Bill Dippel (38:25.73)
Yeah. And well, I want to add on exactly to what you just said, Sarah, because when you mentioned the, you know, the absolute best in the field isn't always a great coach in that way. Instantly in my brain, I saw Michael Jordan. It, that was the, that was the vision that flashed for me right when you said it. And I was thinking, well, I can't go there. I'm going to, I'm going to upset every arsonist out there, but, you brought it up. It's a fantastic reference to it. And I would build on that.

Brandon Miller (38:53.876)
Don't, don't arson me people, don't arson me.

Bill Dippel (38:56.108)
No, don't do it. I would also. Yes, only only lighting strengths on fire. However, talking about another star in his own right, not I think we could all say not in that same realm as Michael Jordan, but has made that transition from being incredibly good himself, but to being amazing Steve Kerr. And so when we see when I think of Michael Jordan and and

Sarah Collins (38:56.741)
No, no, no, We only use our arsonist for good.

Bill Dippel (39:24.844)
The minute he was done, played a little baseball, disappeared. World famous ego didn't want to, you know, play place here in the in the golf tournament up at Lake Tahoe. Difficult to talk to, difficult to deal with. Do it my way. And then that's the best it'll be versus Steve Kerr, who was fantastic as well. Led an elite team was amazing and now has made that transition. I can take.

amazing players that are superstars in the Michael Jordan category. Think Steph Curry, others in that way. And I can actually develop that and help that. Nothing away from Michael Jordan's ability on the field. I tend to be more envious of the Steve Kurz in life who knew it and then can promote it in a way that means something for everybody. And I think, Sarah, you were bringing up that, you know, that Michael Jordan part. I think that's the contrast in my mind, Brandon.

Brandon Miller (40:22.912)
I think I'll give you a great example from our government experience and Bill you might relate to this. When some teams that upsetting the balance of the team and having a high achiever competitor in a government setting could potentially you know really dislodge their effectiveness for whatever it is they're trying to accomplish and so what I've seen some really adept leaders do is that they'll create what are called specialist positions.

where it segments a person away from a team. So now they're individual contributing and responsible for themselves. And I've watched this work masterfully, where they'll put them in this role where it's on a different level, so they're in a different position, but they don't have reports and they're really just accountable and responsible for their results. And sometimes great competitors don't belong on teams, they belong in individual sports. They belong doing the thing that they most hold and that's great for them.

works for who they are. so knowing that in an org is very helpful as you develop team dynamics within your departments.

Sarah Collins (41:30.803)
And I think you point to the fact that strengths don't work in isolation, right? It's your, what are your other strengths around your competition? You need to know that your manager needs to know that because it's gonna look different. The way you show up with your competition will be impacted by your other nine, 10, 11, 12 strengths that are around it and how you've been developing and your life experiences. And so it behooves.

your leader, your teammates to understand that and for you to do a deep dive on your own top 10 to figure out like what does this competition come out like and where does it come out the best and how could I maybe polish it up to get even better results for the thing that I'm working toward.

Brandon Miller (42:16.402)
Absolutely.

Bill Dippel (42:17.582)
So good, Sarah. Really nice. Now, would Kobe Bryant had been a good coach? I don't.

Sarah Collins (42:20.615)
Thank you.

Brandon Miller (42:23.356)
no.

And not because he didn't make people better, because he really did. I he's famous for calling people up and his work ethic is legendary. I mean, that guy was an uber talented individual who became out of this world talented because his work ethic was the I think it was him who said about Shaquille O'Neal, another world global best basketball player. If Shaquille worked half as hard as Kobe, half as hard, the guy could have been

Bill Dippel (42:30.466)
Yeah. Yeah.

Brandon Miller (42:56.508)
otherworldly with his natural physique and his ability, but he laid back on talent, right? He had all the size, the skill. Kobe was the guy that just so exceeded because, you know, his, his, the Kobe rules, how hard he worked. And so that, that would be difficult to transition to the next generation of athletes, perhaps.

Bill Dippel (43:04.056)
Yeah. Yeah.

Bill Dippel (43:11.682)
Yeah. Yeah.

Bill Dippel (43:16.32)
It would. I agree. Again, just a big Kobe fan. I and I agree with you. I think it would have been difficult. But from a difficult point of view, transitioning from that. And this doesn't have to be competition for you, although that's the touch point today. Brandon, let's hit on a dumpster fire for you. So obviously, you're pretty amazing at the orange slide. We see a lot of strength in there from a lot of the strengths that you have.

Brandon Miller (43:21.14)
Yo, me too.

Bill Dippel (43:44.494)
Listed and the themes when when does one of them get in your way? Which one would you say is the most likely to cause a dumpster fire in your life?

Brandon Miller (43:53.918)
Hmm. It's hard to pinpoint one that does because the cause for dumpster fires in my life always revolves back to the issue of control. It's when I don't think I can control a situation, a circumstance, something I'm working toward, and it will induce a level of anxiety. And once I move into any level of

of thinking outside of my logic stem, right? If I move out of frontal thinking to amygdala, now I'm just fight or flighting and, we gotta move fast. That's dangerous for everyone around me because it comes with so much force behind it. The decision has so much force and it can lead to a bad play. It can lead to a wrong call and those stakes get higher as you grow further, right? You have more responsibility.

So I find that I probably have to call activator out because it is my catalytic sense of urgency. And I need, know, it's no, we need to do it this way. We got to do it now. And if I feel the spin of that coming of now I can feel the pressure. That's my trigger warning to go, whoa, let's breathe. Let's count box breathing in for four, hold for four, let out for four, hold. Like I have to reset everything back. it's.

Sarah Collins (44:54.813)
Mm-hmm.

Bill Dippel (45:07.779)
now.

Sarah Collins (45:07.887)
Yeah.

Bill Dippel (45:11.265)
Right.

Brandon Miller (45:16.328)
No, we're going to think this through. Same urgency, different emphasis. My 50-year-old self now thanks my 30, 40-year-old selves for teaching me things not to do that hopefully this new phase of life I get to carry that wisdom.

Sarah Collins (45:18.972)
Mm-hmm.

Bill Dippel (45:35.278)
Yeah, yeah.

Sarah Collins (45:35.793)
I love looking at your report and seeing maximizer, achiever, strategic. I can see those as catalysts of control, right? Getting stuff done, knowing what to do, driving for perfection. And then it's just hilarious. You mentioned at the top that activator is so innate and core for you. feel that way. I feel like a lot of people with activator, that is just a core strength that we cannot deny.

Brandon Miller (45:45.408)
Hmm.

Sarah Collins (46:03.237)
And it is almost always people's dumpster fire too, is that for whatever reason, right? It looks different for everyone, but that push, like, it has to be managed to control it. And then to look at your strengths, I can see the activator is the one that jumps you on maybe that influencing slide that then push forcefully because you've got command, self-assurance, right? Competition, communication, if not managed right in an activator state.

Bill Dippel (46:15.0)
Yeah.

Sarah Collins (46:32.283)
I can see it coming at you like a freaking hurricane. Like this is what we're doing, we're doing it now, we're gonna do it this way and I know, right? Like boom. I'm sure.

Brandon Miller (46:36.51)
Mm-hmm.

Brandon Miller (46:40.424)
Which is fantastic in a crisis. Fantastic in a crisis, very clear headed. I go into a mode of just make decisions, move quick, very definitive. Yeah, and that's natural. So I don't lose myself in those settings that go actually to a cooler state, but it's the lead up sometimes that I've had to learn, whoa, now I'll just use family crisis.

Bill Dippel (46:42.872)
Sure. Sure.

Bill Dippel (46:50.158)
Do it, hit it, yeah.

Sarah Collins (46:53.692)
Right.

Sarah Collins (47:02.195)
Mmm.

Brandon Miller (47:07.988)
things that I want to control. I want to step in. I want to fix. I can see the answer. Why aren't you listening to me? I can see the answer. for the love. Like that's such a humbling life reality of you are in control of very little. You're in control of so few things. And the one that you can try your best to maintain is your response to it. How you respond, how you channel peace, how you channel

Sarah Collins (47:24.232)
Yeah.

Bill Dippel (47:24.792)
You

Sarah Collins (47:32.615)
Yeah.

Brandon Miller (47:37.832)
one of the last year of my word of the year was shalom. How do you channel that peace that overrides chaos?

Sarah Collins (47:45.073)
Yeah, that's really nice now.

Bill Dippel (47:46.604)
And I hear you saying your activator is the one that does that. You and I have activator in the exact same spot, number three. Sarah, it's in your top five, right? I think it's number five for you as well. But you have maximizer, number one. And when I see that activator maximizer, I tend to think supercharging each other, right? I'm going to jump on it. And not only that, I'm going to push, push, push, drive, drive, drive.

Brandon Miller (48:11.206)
Once the Maximizer gets rolling on what it sees is wrong, which is where the Maximizer restorative cousin combo comes to play. Once the Maximizer starts to see what's wrong and Activator wants to fix it. Ooh, that's a dangerous, that's a, that's a, that's a dangerous place to fall because the Maximizer will pick it down to the nub. I'll see everything wrong. I'll notice all the ways it needs to be upgraded. And that's, that's not good for a person. It's not good for a team.

Sarah Collins (48:18.419)
Hmm?

Brandon Miller (48:40.67)
So I, it's that, it's that place it can go where it does require some, because if I'm being very honest, if it's going to make us lose, then, then, then that competitor is coming up going, Hey, we're going to fit. We're not going to win the game, the deal, the, you know, the opportunity. If we don't clean our collective stuff up here, we got to clean it up to get where we're going. How I help us clean it up becomes more to the point, more to the issue because

Sarah Collins (48:40.935)
Yeah.

Sarah Collins (49:04.253)
Mm-hmm.

Brandon Miller (49:10.814)
I've learned with teams, sometimes losing is not the worst thing that can happen to them. Because if a team can learn through a loss, it's actually better for them sometimes than just winning each week.

Sarah Collins (49:19.133)
Yeah. I, however, could see in fatherhood that being more challenging because that maximizer push when you're looking at your children and their decisions and maybe the same philosophy of like sometimes they have to lose, but I have to imagine that's harder as a parent, even if you know it's good than it even is as a coach.

Bill Dippel (49:19.596)
Yeah, absolutely.

Brandon Miller (49:35.009)
god.

Brandon Miller (49:38.368)
So my youngest of seven is 15 and I was telling someone recently that I am seven for seven with my kids losing their mind at the age of 15. Seven for seven with just the stupidest decisions at 15. And it's like I knew it was coming. I knew it was coming with my youngest two are boys that are still at home and I knew it was coming and I'm just like, okay, I'm ready. I think I'm ready. But it's taken on all different shapes with all seven.

Bill Dippel (49:52.674)
Hahaha!

Brandon Miller (50:08.646)
And honestly, they're all so much better for having to learn through bad choices, failure. They all are better. And as much as I might hate it as a dad and I want to control and change and I'm actually finding some decent success with this young guy, Daniel, in how I'm coaching him through and working through and all right, dude, you know, yeah, you're grounded for six months for that craziness. But

Bill Dippel (50:15.822)
to go through it.

Brandon Miller (50:35.594)
We're gonna learn, we're gonna grow. I'm gonna give you every opportunity to come back from this. Let's rebuild, let's get trust back, let's start again. This is crazy. My kid decides to sneak out of the house. We have cameras on the sides of our house. So at 10 o'clock at night, the night he knew he was gonna sneak out, he's on a phone, okay? And he's talking to the person about using.

Sarah Collins (50:36.883)
Yeah.

Bill Dippel (50:37.71)
That's a learning moment. Yeah.

Bill Dippel (50:44.0)
Yep, learning moment.

Sarah Collins (50:44.381)
in it.

Brandon Miller (50:58.47)
a box to cover the camera while he's on the camera. And so so he's talking and then, the cardboard box goes over and then no more video for the night. And I'm like, man, you're not a very good criminal. Like that was like that was poorly executed, son. You don't you don't describe your play while you're making your play. But I'm like, you know, you know, it's one of those words like you still want to deny it. Are you sure? Are you sure you want to say that didn't happen? OK, we can.

Sarah Collins (51:02.806)
honey.

Sarah Collins (51:14.365)
Wee-Dee!

Sarah Collins (51:24.07)
Right?

Bill Dippel (51:26.99)
Got it. We do. Another perfect learner.

Brandon Miller (51:27.252)
We could do that too. But hey, we gotta learn from that, right?

Sarah Collins (51:31.239)
Well, and we always say, you know, the best managers are coaches. And I think the best parents are also coaches. Like learning how to be a good coach and to lead with curiosity, you know, I just think that it can help us all in so many ways.

Brandon Miller (51:46.336)
I'm glad you said that because I remember how competitors need something they can win. So this is what I did for him. He has a 24 week consequence that every he has and then a list of like, right, but he has a list of 12 things. And if he does the 12 things each week, a week comes off. And so it works backwards. Exactly. So if he if for 12 weeks, he's he's doing all the things we don't have to ask about chores. He's doing some other personal development growth things.

Sarah Collins (51:50.354)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah Collins (51:55.259)
A long time.

Bill Dippel (51:56.716)
That is wow.

Sarah Collins (52:03.219)
so you've gamified it. You've gamified his consequence.

Brandon Miller (52:15.392)
He does it like, hey, 12 weeks is gonna fly. And what he doesn't know is I'll bring it to 10 if he knocks it out. The time is actually less important than learning how to grow. Yeah.

Sarah Collins (52:20.68)
Yeah.

Sarah Collins (52:25.019)
lessons.

Bill Dippel (52:27.608)
So smart, so good. Well, we've added a new section on this one, Brandon, on season two. That section, instead of just asking you a dumpster fire, talk about a firework moment. When do you think one of your themes or a combination of your themes gives you that moment to explode in brightness, shine, be out there, and really exemplify you at your best?

Brandon Miller (52:52.896)
Sure, probably my favorite strength of all of mine is arranger from the standpoint that I am so naturally wired to be a team player and to celebrate the success of team players because I can see which team member fits the best role to get the best outcome. so when I have the win of bringing in the...

the next level of talent. So this is Max Miser plays, right? That right person, right position, and then moving away from them so they get to be the fullness of who they are. Don't micromanage, right? Let them lead. Let them become what they need to be in order to fill every role. Those are my firework moments. That's when I'm the most excited. It's a major transition I'm making in our business right now with the acquisition of another company, launch of a third. My role has to transition, and I'm thrilled.

thrilled to have amazing leaders ready to take position in each organization as we grow.

Sarah Collins (53:55.953)
Yeah. it's so great to hear people's firework moments. I love this new segment. So another new thing we're doing on the podcast is we're trying to bring in the LinkedIn audience. So we're putting up polls every week as we record these episodes to see what the people out there think about these things. And so the poll for this question was at work competition is dot dot dot. And their options were a performance driver, totally misunderstood, a culture disruptor, or it depends.

And we had 92 % of our respondents say it depends, 8 % a culture disruptor, big old goose eggs, I'm totally misunderstood and a performance driver. What does that tell us about what people out there are thinking about competition?

Brandon Miller (54:39.54)
I think if your sample size includes strengths coaches, they're given the safe answer. Because depends is always the safe answer. That's always the, well, every strength that depends, how it shows up, the maturity of the person using it. I'm more of the performance driver because I think that's the gift competition gives any team.

Sarah Collins (54:43.739)
Yeah

Bill Dippel (54:44.77)
Ha ha ha.

Sarah Collins (54:50.899)
Right, right, right.

Bill Dippel (54:52.302)
Right?

Sarah Collins (54:58.099)
Mm-hmm.

Brandon Miller (54:58.368)
is whatever, whether for good or not, they're gonna do something with performance. You're gonna learn from them. They're gonna show you ways to win you hadn't thought of before. But I do think depends technically, right, in terms of help, hinders, what we know about strengths, what we know about talent patterns. It really is conditional. But sometimes, as I said today about the bad rap of competitors, and going back to your Steve Kerr comment, Bill.

It's going to come down to the coach. So often it's come back to the coach. Michael Jordan was not Michael Jordan without Phil Jackson. He would have never, ever won six championships without a coach who understood him and understood how to work within that strength. That's his genius, right? It's how he went on to do with the Lakers. That's his genius. So great coaches, I think are, you know, the depends isn't them. It's who's driving, who's leading that.

Sarah Collins (55:29.127)
Mmm.

Sarah Collins (55:52.113)
Yeah. And we had one comment from Chris Kruger on here who I've coached before. So I'm happy to hear that she said, healthy competition can be good in certain situations, but for the most part, I like to express that we are all one team and when we work together, we accomplish much more. So seeing that competition as a we over a me and that mindset of that as a leader and how powerful it can be.

Bill Dippel (55:52.514)
Yeah. Yeah.

Bill Dippel (56:19.136)
Excellent. Yeah, I in that poll survey. I did not choose it depends so

Sarah Collins (56:24.967)
You filled it out?

Bill Dippel (56:27.342)
Please. I'm part of the public. Come on. Yeah, no, I absolutely. I went in and voted, which, by the way, based on the poll results, you know what I chose. So if it wasn't, it depends. Right. There's only one other option. We got goose eggs everywhere else. So. I do. I there I would I would it's fair to say it depends, but I did choose culture disruptor because I see that

Sarah Collins (56:30.675)
Sure, absolutely. Give us your thoughts.

Sarah Collins (56:45.565)
So you thought it was a culture disruptor bill?

Bill Dippel (56:57.166)
playing out for a couple of groups I'm working with right now that I'm working to get them to the it depends matter. So yeah.

Sarah Collins (57:03.763)
So have you learned anything from our episode today that you can take back to your teams?

Bill Dippel (57:09.346)
Absolutely. The first thing is I need to bring Brandon to Reno a couple of times, have him like co-work with me on some of my groups. But yeah, no, there's so many good moments and I would say I'm getting them all to the middle ground. It depends. I've partnered up with some other coaches in Reno for one or two people and they've made a big difference too.

Some of them don't even use strengths. Some of them are based on another philosophy that works well and that seems to tamper and work with those teams. So I would just say I chose as a disruptor because I spot it and that's the one that I see but getting it to move the other way is the goal. And I love trying to get to the goal, Brandon. You you and I approach coaching very differently but we end up in the same spot so frequently.

And I think that's why you and I have worked together on some stuff and we've we've partnered up and talked on on on ways to keep moving and I just love the philosophy and the idea that there are so many ways to get there through competition or through other means and let's let's find that ground where it's the most successful for you. So, yeah, I I agree with that part of it. I.

Absolutely love the idea of what we'll get there. We will make it happen. So did you vote Sarah? I didn't even look

Sarah Collins (58:37.991)
Of course not. made the poll. I don't need my opinion in there. I've got this whole hour to talk about what I think.

Bill Dippel (58:44.076)
Well, I mean, I mean, at very least you can get a poll result out of it. mean, you're part of it. Come on. So all right. Well, Brandon, I you know, we are so fortunate that we have a cadre of amazing guests when we asked to do this. How often many people fill in come to us. We get requests on the street where Sarah pointed out to me a friend of hers came up and said that a doctor.

Approached her and said I'm listening to this new podcast you have to check this out And she said not only have I checked it out. I'm good friends with Sarah. So You know, we're starting to hear some of that great feed but that really is a is a shape of the people that we bring on that brings such good content to the people we reach out to and the listeners and the arsonist that we have so thank you for that Brandon for coming on talking about what you do and how you come in

how you see the competition debate, but also how that orange slide moves so effortlessly for you to help you influence and move people.

Sarah Collins (59:50.663)
Brandon, you want to tell the people where they can find you and your companies?

Brandon Miller (59:54.272)
Sure. think it's at LinkedIn, know, Brandon Miller, 34 Strong, LinkedIn. You can find me there. And from there, you can learn about Coach to Coach, the podcast that I'm hosting. on season three, and this is all about secrets of the strengths. So we're uncovering the nuances of how two people can share the same strength as the three of us share activator and how it can show up very differently based on the ones that are around it.

So we're having fun with that and you'll also find 34strong.com and churchillleadershipgroup.com is our most recent acquisition partnership.

Bill Dippel (01:00:32.714)
Excellent and how much we love Brandon's podcast Sarah and I have both been a guest on season two For Brandon's podcast and we're both being re-invited for season three. So I'm sorry. I know I'm already on and Sarah I know well pretty sure on the pre-show Sarah got him

Sarah Collins (01:00:45.735)
I mean, I haven't been, but you know, no FOMO over here.

Brandon Miller (01:00:50.388)
We're going alphabetical, Sarah. We have a little time to get to yours.

Bill Dippel (01:00:53.454)
Yes, it's going alphabetical. So hitting Wu on later in the year. So but yeah, Brandon, again, thank you so much. Your podcast works for us. We we love being on it. We love listening to it and we love your honesty around competition and how you bring it from a family point of view as well as as well as what you're seeing out in the world. So thank you for thank you for all that. So awesome. Well, with that, we're going to we're going to step away for this week.

Brandon Miller (01:00:56.864)
you

Mm-hmm.

Brandon Miller (01:01:16.468)
Thank you guys.

Bill Dippel (01:01:22.638)
We love our arsonists, so thank you for joining us. And from all of us, heartfelt, we will talk soon.

Sarah Collins (01:01:30.834)
Bye.