Join the hosts Andrew Romeo and Anthony Sapountzis in this episode of the DevReady Podcast as they have an insightful conversation with Tim Bishop, CEO and Founder of NXT LVL Group, a people-performance business that builds high-performance leaders and teams.
Tim has donned many hats but the one thing that he has always been passionate about is helping people and businesses take themselves to the next level. Talking about his life’s Marvel-esque arch, Tim recounts how he who grew up in Papua New Guinea ended up having a military career where he held positions of leadership and was told he had a knack for lighting a fire in people and getting them focused. He calls the military the place where he was forged—a place where he learned who he was and who he wasn’t. It was there that he became passionate about human excellence and high performance. He understood that what he enjoyed the most was helping and serving people. That is what drove him to build two successful companies and to impact 1000s.
Tim starts with a base principle that all individuals want to be better versions of themselves. And in this chaotic world, aspiring for that change becomes challenging when there’s no structure and system. That’s where Tim’s Big Five comes into play:
1. Vision
Most people don’t know who they are, where they are, who they want to become and where they want to go. Such people, in fact, all individuals, need to have a clear vision of who they want to become. The same goes for a company or organization as they can no longer bank on buying people. People intrinsically want to ‘belong’ and that need has to be addressed through a clear vision.
Vision is the true north star and it needs to address the following when creating a meaningful existence for individuals and groups:
· Aspiration
· Relationships
· Occupation
2. Planning
Planning is an essential step in ensuring high performance. It entails the ability to understand that a product is the by-product of a process. Without the ability to plan, an individual or an organization stands to waste time on things that are not important.
Even though each individual and organization might be unique, Tim underscores that the basic principle of planning remains the same: becoming the best in the most effective and efficient manner so that the best returns for time and energy are generated.
3. Team
Building systems without a team is a quick way to fail, says Tim. One person alone cannot get everything done and it is only with the building of a good team that change can be made at a scale.
When one is playing a bigger game, having a good team is a prerequisite. As people are the power-house of any organization, its success depends on its leader’s ability to tap into the cognitive ability of each of its members, individually and collectively.
4. Training
People are the most valuable resource and for the resource to yield the wanted results they have to be trained on how to focus and how to use the tools at their disposal in the most efficient manner.
5. Recovery
An unexamined life is not worth living, adds Tim. He says that most people get the final stage wrong because they are all busy for the sake of being busy. People need to stop and reflect.
Quoting Robert Browning’s ‘A man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s heaven for?’, Tim says that the start of playing a long game is having a vision that creates a compelling dynamic. Having done that for himself, his team and countless others, Tim’s goal is to scale the transformation and also along the way, ensure an asset-protection system for founders and business owners.
Topics Covered
Have a vision
· Have a plan
· Build a team
· Train the mind to focus
· Take time to recover
· Get a coach
· Play the bigger game
Key Quotes (Time Stamps)
“You know, I am a nerd. I am a super nerd. I was like, there’s actually no respawn involved in this videogame. I don’t like it and I am really not enjoying the role-playing game kind of features. I am not picking up the items that I like and I am not becoming the man I want to be.” (4:03 – 4:17)
· “At the end of the day, you can say people buy great products. But people buy great products and services that are extensions of personalities and people they really like.” (5:17 – 5:24)
· “I can tell you know. Anyone who’s building tech, be careful when you pivot—it’s very expensive.” (7:39 – 7:43)
· “What you can do is—either become an entrepreneur or intrapreneur, which means bring your best inside the company and build something really awesome with some awesome other people. It’s way more fun.” (14:52 – 15:00)
· “Most people haven’t had the time or stopped or been given the strategy and the structure to convert to reality and action, right now, their vision.” (15:15 – 15:24)
· “You can no longer just buy people. Because people want to—they intrinsically want to belong. They want to be part of something bigger than themselves, they want to know they are impacting, they want to enjoy what they are doing.” (16:02 – 16:13)
· “The vision is not what you see, it’s how you see.” (17:18 – 17:20)
· “You’re the number one project you’ll ever build in your own life.” (23:08 – 23:10)
· “Vision is much like a horizon line; you can only get so far.” (33:57 – 33:59)
· “In organization, what they tend to do is: there’s a heavy focus on mechanics without attention on the manner in which you execute mechanics.” (40:01 – 40-11)
· “And if anyone is in business or in the business of creating and connecting, you’re in the business of potential because the reason we keep getting up and doing what we do is because we believe in the thing coming that we’re building.” (41:49 – 41:57)
· “The future of any organization won’t just go to how much cash you’ve got but how well you are tapping into the cognitive ability of each of your members, individually and collectively, because that’s the powerhouse.” (44:59 – 45:11)
· “Hence why, you know, a founder or a business owner or a great leader or a team-whatever you-want-to-call-it-manager is always in service of others. But the best way to help serve others is through being the best version you can be. And also know that there’s no such thing as perfection. It’s just the process.” (54:43 – 55:00)
· “They are all too busy being busy to be busy in order to be busy for the next busy.” (55:33 – 55:36)
Social Media Clips (Time Stamps)
· BOSS: Battle Operating Success System (6:39 – 7:35)
· Impacts of COVID on the business (7:44 – 9:52)
· Creating a meaningful existence (16:21 – 16:47)
· Get yourself a coach (37:58 – 38:31)
· Play the bigger game (39:45 – 42:18)
Useful Links:
Tim Bishop| LinkedIn
