Finding the Freedom to Be Yourself

04/06/23 • 39 min

When you’re allowed to be yourself and play to your natural strengths, the difference you feel is astounding. This is true even for those who have found success otherwise. Take Hutton Henry for example.

He didn’t feel comfortable in school. He didn’t fit in the corporate world. That didn’t mean he didn’t meet benchmarks or find himself achieving, it just meant he couldn’t be everything he wanted to be.

Now, Hutton is the CEO and Founder of his own business, Beyond M&A, and the author of two books: People First and Diversity of Action. He is finally thriving, and he’s using the knowledge he gained from his personal journey to empower others.

Hutton uses a practice called technology due diligence. The goal is to place the people who build tech solutions first and show investors the value behind such teams. Kolbe is part of the process, and in this episode, Hutton shares how taking the Kolbe assessment changed his and his clients’ business perspective and how he helps others use their strengths to reach their full potential.

Host: David Kolbe (8273)

Guest-at-a-Glance

Name: Hutton Henry (2295)

What he does: Hutton is the CEO and founder of Beyond M&A.

Company: Beyond M&A

Noteworthy: Hutton works with VC, private equity, and corporate investors, assessing tech teams on their behalf. The practice is called technology due diligence.

Where to find Hutton: LinkedIn

🎙️You may still be on the path to discovering your strengths, and Kolbe can help guide you toward your true self by understanding why you acted a certain way in the past and determining your natural way of engaging in professional and personal interactions. ''I always thought I wasn't doing well at school because I'd had a weird upbringing, and no one was watching. So I was being quite delinquent at school. But what I got from the Kobe result is that I don't need that type of very structured academia. So it changed my story from somebody who could not do something because of a disadvantage in education to this quite suited me; I just didn't realize that. So you could have given me the best school in the world, and I still would've done the same,'' shares Hutton.

🎙️ People Over Technology and How Kolbe Helps Teams Embrace Individual Strengths

''The technology is the tangible output, and that's the thing that you can track and measure. But if we don't look after the teams, you will find that they start to worry. And there are so many things that can happen in an M&A transaction.

Our investors are people-focused, and they want to look after. So, it's a relationship in the first place to agree to be invested in or acquired. And so, both parties want to relate with each other.

So we have a pre-deal position and help companies after the deal has been completed. We will run Kolbe assessments before a deal for certain investors who are open to this and where it's appropriate to the deal. So everyone will look at the sensitivity of what's going to happen and say, ‘Well, you know what? It would be interesting to know what that is.’

I'm looking for a couple of factors. Number one is innovation. That's what investors are looking for. They tend to buy something that's working well and want to scale. The other piece is systemization. So that's the Follow Thru aspect.

So if we can look at an entire team and say to them with data, ‘You're strong at this, and that's how we can create extra value,’ it's a wo

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Find the freedom to be yourself by taking the Kolbe ATM Index or The Student Aptitude Quiz for the youth in your life.

Host: David Kolbe (8273)

Guest-at-a-Glance

Name: Hutton Henry (2295)

What he does: Hutton is the CEO and founder of Beyond M&A.

Company: Beyond M&A

Noteworthy: Hutton works with VC, private equity, and corporate investors, assessing tech teams on their behalf. The practice is called technology due diligence.

Where to find Hutton: LinkedIn

🎙️ People Over Technology and How Kolbe Helps Teams Embrace Individual Strengths

Our investors are people-focused, and they want to look after. So, it's a relationship in the first place to agree to be invested in or acquired. And so, both parties want to relate with each other.

So if we can look at an entire team and say to them with data, ‘You're strong at this, and that's how we can create extra value,’ it's a wo

***
Find the freedom to be yourself by taking the Kolbe ATM Index or The Student Aptitude Quiz for the youth in your life.

Previous Episode

Build a Business & Stronger Relationships with the Power of Conation

When Angelique Rewers read her Kolbe results, she cried.

Finally, she had been seen for what she can do, not what needed to be fixed. Now, as the CEO of BoldHaus, with Executive VP Phil Dyer by her side, Angelique uses Kolbe to ensure ALL of her clients are seen as who they truly are.

The results, like their business, have been bold.

Join Angelique, Phil, and Kolbe Corp CEO David Kolbe as we kick off season 3 with a bang. In this episode, the BoldHaus duo share the story behind BoldHaus and the role of Kolbe in the company's rebranding. They also recapitulate their first encounter with Kolbe and how it helped them build a team and grow as leaders, and how Kolbe has helped them provide high-quality service to their clients, while maybe even saving a few marriages!
Host: David Kolbe (8273)

Guest-at-a-Glance

Name: Angelique Rewers (6392) and Phil Dyer (5393)

What they do: Angelique is the CEO, and Phil is the executive VP at BoldHaus.

Company: BoldHaus

Noteworthy: Angelique and Phil use Kolbe internally and externally, helping clients build solid teams and grow as leaders.

Where to find them: Angelique: LinkedIn; Phil: LinkedIn

Podcast Insights

🎙️One size fits all doesn’t exist — even for companies operating in the same industry. You need to be able to understand your clients. What's more, teams consist of individuals of different strengths, led by leaders with unique superpowers. The growth starts when they are aware of those and know where the change is necessary, whether within a team or processes. Companies like BoldHaus can assist you in this process. ''When we look at our client retention rate, when we look at the success rate of our clients compared to the industry averages, there's no question that us being able to get inside their brain and see how they're going to operate and take action instinctively allows us to be a better trainer, a better coach, a better consultant, a better advisor to them. We are clear with people. So whenever we walk into a strategy with a client, for example, we're like, 'Look, this is how we're built, and this is how you are built. And so, a couple of times you might see how we've done something, but that doesn't mean you have to do it that way.' So we're always reinforcing their freedom to be themselves,'' says Angelique.

️Kolbe helps create relationship bliss. Given the benefits, Kolbe brings to relationships in the business arena, it doesn't surprise why many move it to the private sphere. ''I'm 5-3-9-3, married to 7-7-3-3. So we have two action modes where there are significant — Follow Thru and Quick Start — where there is significant potential for conflict. [...] There were a lot of times when my wife was getting frustrated with some things. And the nice thing is understanding the Kolbe and having that seven-page blueprint on how to operate effectively together, whether in business or life, is super helpful. [...] The little tweaks can make massive differences in removing conflict and potential from conflict, from all types of relationships, whether it's boss to employee, team member to team member or spouse to spouse or spouse to adult children,'' explains Phil.

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Find the freedom to be yourself by taking the Kolbe ATM Index or The Student Aptitude Quiz for the youth in your life.

Next Episode

Tales of a Newly Certified Kolbe Consultant

Are you an assessment aficionado? Think you’ve tried them all? This week’s episode of Powered by Instinct is a helpful way to learn how Kolbe is different.

Kolbe helps you understand the ways you naturally take action and interact with others. But unlike many assessments, Kolbe is particularly suitable for work environments and can be used at various stages, from hiring to alignment within an organization. That said, understanding your instinctive strengths is a game changer in every relationship, whether professional or personal.

In this episode of Powered by Instinct, Elizabeth Cook, a Kolbe CertifiedTM Consultant and Founder of Elizabeth Cook Consulting, LLC, joins our host Eric Herrera to discuss her first encounter with Kolbe, what changed once she took it, how she decided to become a consultant, the process behind it, and how she uses Kolbe with her clients. Also, you’ll definitely want to stay tuned for her theory on parents having a “favorite” child.
Host: Eric Herrera (5392)

Guest-at-a-Glance

Name: Elizabeth Cook (8633)

What she does: Elizabeth is a career and leadership coach.

Company: Elizabeth Cook Consulting, LLC

Noteworthy: Elizabeth is also a Kolbe CertifiedTM Consultant.

Where to find Elizabeth: LinkedIn

🎙️Kolbe enables you to look at things through other people's lenses, especially in the work environment, leading to better interpersonal relations, understanding, and collaboration. However, Kolbe also helps elevate personal relationships. Take Elizabeth as an example. She is the mother of three. Although her daughters are adults, two of them always felt that the third sister is their parents’ favorite. Elizabeth and her husband fought against that, but it was not until they all did the assessment that they understood that the daughter considered the favorite had a similar MO to her parents, as opposed to the other two sisters, which led to an unconscious bias. ''I suppose we were biased towards her approach because that made sense to us, for both of us. That's how we approached it, and that's how she did. So, of course, we were rational; it made sense. It seemed like she was moving in the right direction. Whereas the other two were more frustrated. So it helped me understand. That constantly comes up — even though now I've had that knowledge and have been working with it — that constantly comes up in conversations with them in terms of trying to guide them or when they're asking me for advice, to think about it through their lens and not my own.''

🎙️Even if you are successful in your current role, it doesn't mean you are happy doing it or consider it your calling. That's where instinctive strengths come into play, helping you see, acknowledge, and embrace your instincts. So, whether you stay in the same role or change it, you'll deliver better results, as you and the people around you will understand and encourage your MO. ''They have a chance to — especially with everything happening in the world of work right now — take a broader view of how they view their work. And what they want from their work is looking at this bigger picture of how I can thrive and contribute at my best and not dread it every day.''

🎙️Not all entrepreneurs have the same MO. So contrary to the common misconception or concerns among entrepreneurs who take Kolbe, one-size-fits-all doesn't exist. Again, Elizabeth is a great example. ''Sometimes people think that you have to initiate in Quick Start to be an

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Find the freedom to be yourself by taking the Kolbe ATM Index or The Student Aptitude Quiz for the youth in your life.