Embark on an inspiring journey with Brad Petersen, whose story of resilience and transformation unfolds with raw honesty. As he reflects on the highs of leading Canada's top toy company to the lows of bankruptcy, Brad doesn't shy away from sharing the tough lessons that paved his path to redemption. Witness the power of embracing failure as a stepping stone to success, and how Brad's newfound commitment to sustainable practices with ventures like Pela and the Lomi composter is changing the game for future generations.
In the heart of our conversation, Brad digs deep into how adversity can be a formidable teacher, echoing the profound insights of Victor Frankel and biblical teachings. He candidly explores the emotional rollercoaster of his struggles, revealing how these moments have not only tested but also strengthened his character. His openness about finding wisdom in the wake of setbacks offers a transformative perspective, encouraging listeners to perceive their battles as opportunities for growth and learning.
Thanks for listening!
Click here to take the LeaderImpact Assessment and to receive the first chapter of Becoming a Leader of Impact by Braden Douglas.
Remember, impact starts with you!
Embark on an inspiring journey with Brad Petersen, whose story of resilience and transformation unfolds with raw honesty. As he reflects on the highs of leading Canada's top toy company to the lows of bankruptcy, Brad doesn't shy away from sharing the tough lessons that paved his path to redemption. Witness the power of embracing failure as a stepping stone to success, and how Brad's newfound commitment to sustainable practices with ventures like Pela and the Lomi composter is changing the game for future generations.
In the heart of our conversation, Brad digs deep into how adversity can be a formidable teacher, echoing the profound insights of Victor Frankel and biblical teachings. He candidly explores the emotional rollercoaster of his struggles, revealing how these moments have not only tested but also strengthened his character. His openness about finding wisdom in the wake of setbacks offers a transformative perspective, encouraging listeners to perceive their battles as opportunities for growth and learning.
Thanks for listening!
Click here to take the LeaderImpact Assessment and to receive the first chapter of Becoming a Leader of Impact by Braden Douglas.
Remember, impact starts with you!
Welcome to the Leader Impact podcast. We are a community of leaders with a network in over 350 cities around the world, dedicated to optimizing our personal, professional and spiritual lives to have impact. This show is where we have a chance to listen and engage with leaders who are living this out. We love talking with leaders, so if you have any questions, comments or suggestions to make the show even better, please let us know. Best way to stay connected in Canada is through our newsletter at LeaderImpactca or on social media at Leader Impact, and if you're listening from outside of Canada, check out our website at LeaderImpactcom.
Speaker 2:I'm your host, Lisa Peters, and our guest today is Brad Petersen. Brad is an award-winning entrepreneur, angel investor, thought leader and sought after business coach. In 2008, he founded and scaled Canada's top toy company, tech for Kids and subsequently co-founded Pella, the $100 million sustainable phone case startup that created an entirely new category. In 2021, Brad and the team at Pella successfully launched a record-breaking 9.8 million crowd-sourced funding campaign for the Lomi, the world's first smart waste kitchen composter. Brad has a passion for faith, fitness, adventure and outdoor pursuits, and lives in the mountains of British Columbia with his amazing wife, where they are building a beautiful life. Welcome to the podcast, Brad.
Speaker 1:Thanks, lisa. What a great introduction. Sounds like I should get you to do that for me every time that was. I'm blushing a little bit actually.
Speaker 2:Well, it took a lot to shorten it because there is so much more and I feel like some of it. I'm like you know what, I'm going to ask you about some of that stuff. But a great, you've had some trials and tribulations, I can say that, and I think they might come out here, but I just want to thank you for joining us today. So we will get started if you're ready.
Speaker 1:I'm ready, let's talk.
Speaker 2:So in later impact we're obviously looking for a little bit of your professional journey and how you got to where you are today, so I'm wondering if you can give us a few couple snapshots that were pivotal moments along that journey.
Speaker 1:Yeah, look, my life is a series of happy accidents. I don't think, you know, when I started out that I ever thought that I would be doing an AM today. In fact, it'd be hard to imagine it, and I think that's it's part of what most people develop. It's called a narrative fallacy. We say we had perfect clarity about where we started and where we're going, when the reality is we can only connect the dots when looking backwards. So you know, I grew up in the prayers of Canada. Where I grew up, basically, there's two things you do, which is agricultural oil. Now I did neither, because I came from a family of chiropractors. My father was a chiropractor, his father and mother were chiropractors and my great grandfather was the very first chiropractor in Denmark, and you know pettersons were designed to be chiropractors. So I was on a path to do that and through kind of a series of, again, happy accidents, I stumbled into the wonderful world of toys and it started off as a toy distribution company and you know it was a bootstrapping business that I did for my basement in Red Deer, alberta, which we were very proud of that. You know, our competitors are all based in Ontario and Toronto and here we were this little startup that could, based in Alberta, that was actually showing them that we could build a really meaningful opportunity. And over time we scaled that and by the early 2000s we built the largest toy distribution company in Canada.
Speaker 1:And you know, I was in my sort of late 20s and feeling really good about life. It seemed like I had the mightest touch. And that's when I came to learn that a little bit of ego can lead to a lot of overhead, and very quickly my business went from being a hero to a zero and that we went into special loans because we found out the hard way you can grow too fast and when you break coverage to your bank, they don't like that and they decide that they want to put you in the penalty box for that. And you know, special loans is like slow strangulation they cut off your supply, your blood supply being the money, and and you're you're, you know they drip you just enough to kind of keep you alive, but not enough to actually thrive. So so I ended up going through a restructuring which is a fancy word for bankruptcy to try and fix the business.
Speaker 1:Two years later, after a failed attempt, we ultimately bankrupted that company and I had to start all over again, and that became what I now call as my inconvenient blessing, because from sort of that you know, basement foundation of rock bottom, we're able to rebuild a better business that went from being a distribution company to a manufacturing company and that business ultimately became infinitely more successful. And so we went down another path of building a toy company that did manufacturing and fast forward to twenty seventeen. I exited that opportunity and now I commit myself to sustainability and things that will leave a lasting impact, because you know, it's been a big part of my life putting smiles on kids faces, but ultimately what I wanted to do in the next part of my life was to do things that would matter to generations that are yet to come. So that's what that gives you a bit of a background.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was talking, I think, with a mutual friend and he talked a little bit about you. For years, you built these plastic toys and you shipped across, which is the sort of the reason for the I now want to save and the composting and that you know. Is that true?
Speaker 1:A hundred percent. Yeah, okay, again during my my career. So I co-founded a company called basic fun and most people wouldn't know basic fun, but you know the brands that we made. We made things like light, bright, tonka connects, carabir's mashams, and during that time we literally shipped billions of pieces of plastic around the planet again putting smiles on kids faces. But the consumer economy that we're part of is this very much make, take use, waste, linear economy. And yet if you think about history is made up of a loop economy always done. You know the past was something that was Helpful for the next generation of things that we're gonna grow. So I really want to contribute to how do we return back to that loop economy? And it comes down to making things that a better, materials that have a great one to life, and providing the infrastructure to allow that to be possible, and that's my focus.
Speaker 2:Wow, that is great. Thank you, brad. All right, well, the next one is about a little bit about your principal success. If you have a best principal of success and a story that you might have to illustrate that, yeah, look, I Kind of go back to my my story, opening story.
Speaker 1:I tell people like I don't have an MBA, but I have a PhD and DUMB from the school, hard knocks. I've learned a lot of my lessons just by doing it, going through it, and what I've discovered Is that there is purpose. There can be purpose to your pain. You know, on the other side your struggles is more strength if you choose and just takes time and reflection to to understand that there is. There's a famous quote that the world breaks all of us, and some of us are stronger in the broken places, and this is from Ernest Hemingway and the idea being this is that broken bone, when it breaks, if you let it heal back properly, it's actually stronger Then it was before. The alternate, of course, is that if you don't heal it properly, it becomes gangrenous and ultimately can lead to death. But I think, as I think, about our human condition. You know there's a few things we need to ultimately be thriving humans. We need, you know, food, water, sleep, shelter, companionship. And I would add to that we need struggle. We literally need to go through difficult things to develop our character. It's a part of the human experience and to deny that is denying a part of what we're really meant to be. So, you know, I stories I've got many, but going through bankruptcy was probably a pretty good one, you know, I would even say that how I left the toy business, so I didn't talk about that.
Speaker 1:So in 2017, I had an exit. People say, oh yeah, an exit that's amazing, and I say, yeah, it was amazing in that I got fired from a company that I co-founded and again, just kind of learned the hard way that when you get into business, you're choosing your, your partners, and you should inspect what you're expecting about the type of culture that they're leading. And so this partnership was based on financial outcomes and not on cultural impact, and so, on paper, it looked perfect. Put the two companies together. The cultures are clashing. At the end of the day, there is no such thing as merger. There's only acquisition, because one culture is going to win, and I found out the hard way that my culture was not the winning culture and I got exited.
Speaker 1:Now, fortunately for me, it was a sudden exit, but it had a soft landing because at the end, they bought out my shares and that provided me new optionality. But you know, to be disrupted from, you know, 27 years of blood, sweat and tears, bootstrapping companies, going through bankruptcy, starting again and get into a place where suddenly you feel like you're built something of significance and now it's taken away. It was pretty disheartening, but again, as I let time and reflection take their place, I've now learned that the best gifts often come wrapped in ugly paper, like that was an ugly paper, like that was an ugly moment to go through. But it provided me the gift of freedom and the optionality to choose again and ultimately to focus on something that I think is infinitely more important to be thinking about, which is how do we create waste innovation and how do we create a more sustainable future.
Speaker 2:Yeah, big risks have. Big can be big failures. Right, like I mean it sounds like you have done some really big, big things and and you could fail, big too. Listening to you, I think of how fast and I think maybe this is a question Things happen and the transition because you have. I mean, do you sit in that pity for a bit and kind of go, oh you know, but your mind knows to get out of here Like there's the next. I don't know if you can and you're a coach, so I mean someone's got to ask you that.
Speaker 1:For sure. Yeah, look, I think there are. There is a reason. There's five stages of grief. Right, there has to be that initial anger and denial. You just it has to be there.
Speaker 1:Whatever happens, happens and you have to let it land, because we're meant to be emotional and to feel things and to deny those denying part of who you are. But you know Victor Frankel, you know he talked about that we might not be able to choose what happens to us. We get to choose our response to it. We get to decide what it means and you know I didn't have to live through the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp, which he did. But I think if you give yourself the time, you get to decide if this is something that is providing you grief or is it something that is going to be a gift. And it really is a decision, because within everything there is a silver lining. There is that choice to like glass half full, glass half empty.
Speaker 1:And what happens to most people, including myself? You spend a lot of time in the victim zone which come with the four B's. Where you're? You're blind to your involvement of how you got to that place. You're begrudging others around you who seemingly are doing well, because you're comparing, and you compare you to spare, you're blaming people for the circumstances they're in and ultimately it's creating bitterness, which is an insidious poison that intoxicates only yourself. Right, it's? When you surrender to that past you get to choose a new future, because endings on the other side of endings are new beginnings. New beginnings are full of possibility because we get to imagine a new and better future and use hope to drive potential and opportunity forward. So, yeah, I mean rejoice in your suffering. Romans 3, 5, and 6 talks about this that we rejoice in our suffering, because suffering produces perseverance, perseverance creates character, and on the other side of character you've created new hope for a better future, and I firmly believe in the way that that rolls out.
Speaker 2:Wow, I am glad I asked that question. That was great. Thank you. I think you're going to have a great one here. We're going to talk a little bit about our failures and mistakes, and I think we all know we learn more from our failures and mistakes than our own successes. So if you would share a greatest failure or mistake and what you learned from it.
Speaker 1:Look, there's been so many failings and I'd like to delineate between failing and being a failure. Okay, because I think there are two different things. Failing is a part of succeeding. In other words, we come up with a thesis, we test it. They usually don't work and hopefully we learn from it. You know, we talk about failing fast, fail often and fail cheap with an organization, because if people aren't failing, that means they're not pushing themselves. They have to continue to push outside their comfort zone to find the edge of possibilities. You know, just, if you make mistakes, just don't repeat them, just learn from them and move on and make improvements. So they're iterations. I mean, if you take a look at SpaceX which is, you know, top of mind in terms of like, how they got these rockets to eventually be recoverable the first I don't know how many tests failed, the things blew up, it didn't return back, they lost it. It cost hundreds of millions of dollars, but with every failing they move closer to succeeding. Where now, today, they have rockets that successfully deploy I was going to say astronauts, yes, they do astronauts as well but satellites into the abyssal and then return back, and it's an incredible innovation. But it took a lot of failing to get to that success.
Speaker 1:Becoming a failure is when you get knocked down and you choose to stay down. In other words, you surrender, you don't give up and go again. And so, for me, I'm going to use bankruptcy that's. You know that when that happened in 2006, that was when you think about it as a founder. This is like your worst nightmare. You build a business, you burrow that into the marketplace and then you build it and scale it, and the unimaginable is I don't ever want to go to that place and I know that for me, that was my greatest fear. And then I was forced to go there and it was super uncomfortable. I can tell you, on the other side of that, I discovered something super valuable. I discovered that there's flanking maneuvers that can happen to your business if you're not aware of it. So the reason I call them flanking maneuvers is that in battle, most people think that these two armies come together and they clash it out and you know, the prevailing army wins. Typically, what happens is there's a flanking maneuver Another army gets in behind the other one cuts off their supply or the reinforcements, and that's how they end up losing the battle. And if you go back in history, that's kind of the most famous way that battles have been fought and won. And in business there are flanking maneuvers that can happen to you if you're not aware of it, and the three that I've identified are your people, your systems and your capital.
Speaker 1:If you're growing and scaling a business, you are stressing the business, and in order for you to stay ahead of those stresses, you have to be constantly reinventing those. And if the faster you grow, the faster you have to reinvent those. And what I mean by that is that the people, the team you start with, is not the team you're going to finish with, so the people that got you to where you are may not be the same people are going to get you to where you want to go. So you have to be constantly upgrading, either adding in new bodies or replacing the bodies that have their best buy date as past due. They just can't get you to that next level. So it's really important you're thinking that through.
Speaker 1:Second is your systems. You need to know what to you're inspecting what you're expecting and measuring the right things and making sure they're not vanity metrics. I tell people that this saying has so much truth to it. You should think about all the time top lines vanity, bottom line sanity and cash flows. Reality Are your systems telling you what you need to be monitoring and they giving the right feedback so you can make the right decisions at the right time.
Speaker 1:And then, finally, the third is cash. You need to have a continual supply of cash. You people ask me all the time when they should stop a business, and I'm like well, when you're out of cash or you're out of hope, and sometimes is both. But you can avoid running out of cash just by getting ahead of it and thinking beyond that. And I would tell you, to this day, having lived through special loans and having that sort of productive paranoia of knowing what that look like, I'm always thinking about reinventing those three things. I'm all constantly looking down the road map to say where we at, where we going and what are the resources on those three areas that we need to have in order to make that so. And so there's my example of how I used a failing to now be more formidable in my future ventures.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I clearly need to change the question to failing, not failures. That was a great, a great definition. Listening to you, there are so many lessons that I'm just I just actually want to stop and keep like I actually want to just write notes right now. So I have to listen to this again you are a business coach, a leadership coach, and I believe you have a book and I want to jump in right there because I feel like, have you written all this down, these lessons?
Speaker 1:I can save you some time. I think the book now book is a really deceptive thing. Right? You look at a book in a shelf, you go what is a book? What, if you think about that? Two hundred, five hundred pages how are you might be is the opportunity to get into somebody's mind, learn About them, their character and also the situations that form them. Like what, what happened that gave them that unique point of view or that neat, unique amount of wisdom. So it took me three years to write this book, and I would say that three years is distilling fifty years of my life In three years. That's now condensed into two hundred fifty pages of a book. And you know most of my lessons came from things that were painful, that were difficult.
Speaker 1:So the book is, start up, santa toy makers, tale of ten business lessons learned from timeless toys. And the thesis really starts from the fact that you know, we were created as playful, humans are meant to be playful and we don't stop playing as we grow old. We get old because we stop playing. I'm a big believer that the way we were created was to be playful, because it forces us to problem solve, be more curious and interact with others in a way that is is, create meaningful relationships. And so the book takes an iconic toy.
Speaker 1:That's a talk of the history. So there's a sketchers monopolies, gi jose, just example of a few. Where do they come from? And then what are they teaching us? And then I tell a story about my experience in toy business, typically a tale of what not to do. I tell people this is not a to do book, it's a what not to do book, so you learn from the wisdom of my wounds. In an unpack, the lessons, that kind of co join them together, and I think it's the fun way to do that to tell stories and to explain the lessons that came as a result of several failings on my journey.
Speaker 2:Yeah well, we remember the lessons. When we hire the story. It's the story that you know, we remember. No, there was a lesson in there, yeah well. So what leader impact? We want to grow personally, professionally and spiritually for increasing impact. So would you be willing to share an example Of how the spiritual makes a practical difference in your life as a leader?
Speaker 1:Yeah, look, for me, it's being able to zoom in and zoom out you need in life. You need both a telescope and a microscope the telescope to zoom out and see the universe for what it is and to feel small and to feel it that that's an important part of who we are. We are a speck on, a speck in a very small galaxy, floating in a universe that seems to be infinitely expanding, and when you put it in that perspective, you get to a place of wow. The things I'm going through at this point in my life are not that important, yet the microscope has you zoom right through all that back to who you are and know that there's only been one of you like you that ever will be in all of history. You are here, you're breathing air, you are creating energy and you're here for a purpose, and so it's helpful to understand that you're not that important to the scheme of things, but that because you're unique, you're very important in the scheme of things, and that really helps me get grounded in my prayer and meditation, which is a part of my daily practice. For us to shine our light, we need to be plugged into the source of all life, and the only way you get there is by getting grounded, through gratitude and connecting with the Creator in a meaningful way. And what I would say is that I've spent a lot of time going through challenges and it was during those challenges that there's a few mantras that I spoke often, and one was Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, which is Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding, but in all your wit-lays. Acknowledge him and he will guide your paths. And I can remember just saying it over and over and over again. Particularly when things seem to be somewhat hopeless, which is a tough place to be when you're in a place of despair and anxiety, and it creates a scarcity mindset, that's really, really awful, and that ability to say that really reinforced my thinking about that.
Speaker 1:I, at the end of the day, only have a very small part that I have to control, like Stephen Covey talks about that. There's your circle of control, there's your circle of concern and there's your circle of influence. It's in the middle of all that and your circle of control are the things you can control, which really is only four things, which you say think, ultimately feel your initial feeling be felt, but ultimately what you choose to feel be yours, and then what you do, that's it. Then there's you use that to grow your circle of influence. But then there's God circle which is infinite. It's like the planet spinning around at 16,000 miles an hour going around the sun and the universe is expanding.
Speaker 1:I mean, the part I get to control and the part he has to control are very different, but it's very comforting to know that I have him in control of the bigger things. I get to control my part. I have to do my part. He's like when Moses went to the Red Sea. God had the hard work he had to split the seas, but Moses still had to put up his arms. He was involved in co-creating. So for whatever reason I can't explain, our creator has designed a universe where we're co-creators with him and knowing that is empowering. But understand that your part, however small it might be, is still important to actually making the eternal happen.
Speaker 2:Did you always have such a strong faith? Have you always thought this or was this? I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 1:No, I would actually say for a long time I felt I had an imposter syndrome and infuriety complex. I would say a certain part of me still was there, particularly because I think growing up I grew up in a home where money was considered bad, or at least too much money was considered bad. And since businesses are about money, business is bad and if you really want to make the most of your life you should be doing something in ministry. And so I actually thought for quite a long time that I was doing something kind of rebellious and that was not what I should be doing.
Speaker 1:And it took time and patience and coaching and reading, and I would say the book that made the greatest impact on my way of thinking was Every Good and Ever by Tim Keller, and he unpacks that everybody's got a role as a part of God's kingdom on earth and that work is sacred and it's eternal. And in fact, irwin McManus talks about how our first job description comes from Genesis 28, where God says he blessed them. He said be fruitful, increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. And that fill the earth and subdue it piece is really fascinating because if you go back to creation, the creation story in the six days.
Speaker 1:The first six days, what's happening is God's taking chaos and turning it to order. And then the other three days, god's taking the order he's created and filling it with creation. And then, right after that, he creates us and says here's your job description fill the earth and subdue it. In other words, subdue it, take chaos, turn it to order, fill it. The earth was already pretty full. He made a lot of stuff, it was very diverse, but he wanted us to continue to become co-creators. And so when I understood that my role as a human is to be creative and to create creation that builds more value into people on the planet, and by doing that it's an act of service and love and has eternal consequence, that was super empowering. So, yeah, I would say that's. It is a evolution, has not happened Over time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, great answer. Thank you. Leader impact is dedicated to leaders having a lasting impact. So, as you continue to move through your own journey, amazing as it is, have you considered what you want your faith legacy to be when you leave this world?
Speaker 1:Kind of just following on what I just said. I mean, look, I I'm inspired by the story of John Newton. You know, for those that don't know, john Newton was a slave trader who felt remorse over his fact he was a slave trader. In fact he irony is he actually was a slave. He was a redeemed slave but then became a slave trader, felt bad about it, but it was still business. And he was in a cotton, a storm off the coast of Ireland and at that time he got in his knees and he prayed to God. He said, hey, if you saved me from this, I promised to turn my life around. And God saved him. He went back to London and Trude his word. He started a movement and teamed up with William Wilberforce and became the sort of forces they'd abolished the slave trade in the British Empire.
Speaker 1:And People may not know that story, but they'll never forget the lyrics of his most famous work, which is the hymn amazing grace.
Speaker 1:And so when you hear that hymn and hear him talk about being a wreck saved a wretch like me, you can actually feel viscerally the deep conviction he had about I had a wretched life, I was doing things that were not In integrity with who I was and what I really understood to be true. And so, as I think about applying that story to my story, I shipped a lot of plastic around the planet again, putting smiles on kids faces, and it was definitely a noble endeavor, but I also felt convicted that it just wasn't a sustainable practice and it's not just a toy. It's anything to do with consumer goods, where it's basically push out as much stuff as you want and the end of life has forgotten. So I feel that this opportunity for me to create redemption and to redeem Waste into something of value and making sure the end of life of products actually has this full 360 benefit, that that builds value for people and the planet, is really a legacy that I'm excited about, because I think it's something that can affect positively generations that I'll never see.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think of your. When I think of someone's legacy, I I think of your book. How do you feel your book plays a part in your legacy?
Speaker 1:Yeah, look, I, I think it does. I, I think. By the way, I think everybody has a story to write. Everybody should take the time to write it out, whether it's in a book or a journal or memoir. I just think it's number one. You will be the greatest benefactor of the learnings, because we don't learn from what happens. We learn from reflecting and unpacking the lessons. So I learned a ton about myself through that process.
Speaker 1:But beyond that, I mean I have pictures of my great-grandfather, who was the first chiropractor in Denmark.
Speaker 1:I see his face, but I have no idea who he was, and I wish I did, I wish there was an opportunity for me to get inside of his head and understand what he was thinking, what he did, because, you know, he traveled from Denmark to North America to become a chiropractor when a profession was not even a legitimate profession. At the time there was no internet. It wasn't like he could go ahead and Google and do a search to see what the local, you know restaurants and hotels were like in the area. I mean it was blind faith to take that, that step, and so I think my hope is that this book is is for my kids and my kids, kids and I obtain and know who their ancestry was and that I did make the best of my life and I did put the time and the effort in to continue to become the best and brightest version myself, and I want to inspire them Through that to be able to do the same.
Speaker 2:It's great, thank you, and my last question is what brings you the greatest joy?
Speaker 1:Look, I think this is an interesting one. Joy is actually comes from the word Enjoy, enjoyment, right like. It's something that when we enjoy something, we get joy from it. All right, and I actually think it's important to delineate joy from happiness Everybody's talking about.
Speaker 1:I want to be happy, and happiness to me comes from the idea of happenstance, it's, it's something that happens in the moment.
Speaker 1:So, like a bottle of wine, an ice cream cone, a new pair of shoes create happiness, but true joy comes from living a life of alignment with what you believe, what you value and how you act on the on those those values and virtues and convictions.
Speaker 1:So what I really love to do is I love to invest into building things that create meaningful and magical memories with other people, because I really believe that you are most enjoying your life when you're growing and you're giving, and so one of the things that I I do here in British Columbia is I host events for founders, entrepreneurs, where we get together and we go mountain biking or we go skiing or we do timber sledding number of different outdoor pursuits that I love and I love building these events, hosting people, creating surprise and delight moments within that, but, most importantly, building in a way that we're going to create a meaningful memory, because, at the end of the day, the memories that we create with other humans that truly connect emotionally to each other, or what is going to matter the most when we're laying on our deathbed.
Speaker 1:So that's my true belief that we really invested our time and our attention to give people and care for people in a way that created something that was truly magical together, and so it's friends, family and those that you want to surround in your circle of influence. I'm just a big believer. That's where we should really lean in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, lean in, brad. I want to thank you for spending the last half hour with us. I've Again, I'm gonna listen to this again and start writing notes. You had some Really some great answers and I just appreciate you taking the time. I know you're a busy guy. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:At least it's been my honor and I look forward to getting to know you better and Figure out ways how we can maybe make some magic memories together.
Speaker 2:I'll be following up. So if anyone wants to engage with you, like myself, how can I mean? I know how to find you, but how can people look you up, find you, engage with you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, first thing I'd say, go to my website, which is Brad Pedersen, calm, and you spell Peter Pedersen, peterson, however you want to say it with a D's and E's. I get called all kinds of things, but it's fine and you can learn more about me there. You can go to my book website, which is startup Santa book, calm, and you can actually download the first chapter for free and there's some videos and resources that I think your, your listeners, you'll find helpful. And then, if you're interested in the companies that I'm working on, it's loamycom, lo, micom, and from there there'll be links to other things that we're working on as well.
Speaker 2:Sounds good. I'm sure by the time this launches there might be something who knows? All right, well, thank you. Thank you again, brad. It was. It was wonderful to meet you.
Speaker 1:You as well.
Speaker 2:All right. Well, if you're part of leader impact, you can always discuss or share this podcast with your group. And if you are not yet Part of a leader impact and would like to find out more and grow your leadership, find our podcast page on our website at leader impactca and check out our free leadership assessment. You will also find on our webpage chapter one of Braden Douglas's book becoming a leader of impact. You can also check out groups available in Canada leader impactca or, if you're listening from anywhere else in the world, check out leader impactcom or get in touch with us by email. Info at leader impactca and we will connect you. And if you like this podcast, please leave us a comment, give us a rating or review. This will help other global leaders find our podcast. Thank you for engaging with us and remember impact starts with you.