Drayton Wade - Senior Director Strategic Partnerships UiPath

01/01/20 • 117 min

"If work is going to be that consuming and that integratable into life, it better be something you’re interested in. I keep making these pivots because of A.) self-awareness and B). what I am interested in. If I’m going to put in lots of hours, I want to be interested in it. [So I ask myself,] is it something I’m interested in? Is it something that leads to more opportunities?" -- Drayton Wade

Drayton Wade (@draytonwade) is a millennial entrepreneur, start-up veteran, Clemson grad, Knoxville Fellow, and graduate of London School of Economics. As one of the youngest delegates at the Christian Economic Forum, Drayton has worked at multiple start-ups and is currently working at a start-up in the area of technology and automation at UiPath. His passions include counterterrorism, economics, automation, artificial intelligence, nonprofit work, and sales.

Drayton joins Bob in this podcast to talk about his unique passions and how they helped him pivot in his atypical career path from his college studies that started out in engineering to his post-grad days working for start-up companies in AI and automation. Together, they banter back and forth over what sales really is, the differences between American education and British education, and the many remarks people make about millennial career men and women. Not to mention, they discuss countless books they’re reading, how they implement education into their life, and the mentors that have authority to speak into their lives.

Quotes from this episode:

-“People with backgrounds that are atypical can leverage that in sales because they have a good EQ. They have a good understanding of how to communicate precisely and concisely. [At the London School of Economics,] they wanted to know how you thought, how you could structure an argument, and how you could communicate. That’s sales in a nutshell.”

-“We aren’t rational creatures. With sales, it’s the same way. It’s all about the relationship. It’s about understanding the person, it’s about getting to know the person on the other side.”

-“The atypical path has helped me. I don’t know any better. I don’t have this rigid path I have to follow. I jumped around, and I pursued whatever there was.”

-“I’ve changed jobs almost every 2 years. It’s often viewed as a negative [for millennials]. It’s total crap to me. Think about the expectation you’re setting on them. You’re expecting them to be self-aware enough to know their interests and gifts God has given them [for their lives at the young age of 18 - 22].”

-“If work is going to be that consuming and that integrable into life, it better be something you’re interested in.”

-“I keep making these pivots because of A.) self-awareness and B). what I am interested in. If I’m going to put in lots of hours, I want to be interested in it.”

-“Too little options cause unhappiness and too many options cause unhappiness.”

-“[With a mentor], there has to be the freedom to just straight up tell you, ‘You’re wrong.’ That’s really valuable in a spouse and in a mentor. Otherwise, you don’t really have a mentor. I’m giving you authority over my life to tell me no or to tell me I’m wrong.”

-“Every day is running up the score. Every day, [I ask myself] what meaning can I derive from this particular day.”

-“If you truly believe what you say you believe, it doesn’t matter. You’ve already won. I’ve gotten more than I deserve to begin with, so I’m just running up the score.”

Links in this episode include:

The Knoxville Fellows, a branch of the Fellows initiative in Knoxville, TN

The Fellows Initiative, a network of Christian Fellows programs all over the US

Thinking, Fast and Slow, a book by Daniel Kahneman on Amazon

Force multiplication, a military term to multiply power to have greater effects than without it

Napoleon Hill, a Wikipedia article on his life and work as an author

MOOCs, these are massive open online courses available to all via the web that are free

Khan Academy and Coursera, both are online learning platforms where you can find lots of courses on various subjects

New Way MBA, an online learning community designed to help entrepreneurs fill the gaps ...

Quotes from this episode:

-“The atypical path has helped me. I don’t know any better. I don’t have this rigid path I have to follow. I jumped around, and I pursued whatever there was.”

-“If work is going to be that consuming and that integrable into life, it better be something you’re interested in.”

-“I keep making these pivots because of A.) self-awareness and B). what I am interested in. If I’m going to put in lots of hours, I want to be interested in it.”

-“Too little options cause unhappiness and too many options cause unhappiness.”

-“Every day is running up the score. Every day, [I ask myself] what meaning can I derive from this particular day.”

-“If you truly believe what you say you believe, it doesn’t matter. You’ve already won. I’ve gotten more than I deserve to begin with, so I’m just running up the score.”

Links in this episode include:

The Knoxville Fellows, a branch of the Fellows initiative in Knoxville, TN

The Fellows Initiative, a network of Christian Fellows programs all over the US

Thinking, Fast and Slow, a book by Daniel Kahneman on Amazon

Force multiplication, a military term to multiply power to have greater effects than without it

Napoleon Hill, a Wikipedia article on his life and work as an author

MOOCs, these are massive open online courses available to all via the web that are free

Khan Academy and Coursera, both are online learning platforms where you can find lots of courses on various subjects

New Way MBA, an online learning community designed to help entrepreneurs fill the gaps ...

Previous Episode

Mark & Raquel Williams - Police Officer, Entrepreneurs, Sales Leaders

"I had a win, and it told me that I could do it. I had that piece of me that kept reminding me of that win saying 'You can do it. Remember?’" -- Mark & Raquel Williams

Mark and Raquel Williams (@mdub50 and @RRWilliams_) are a couple of entrepreneurs partnered up with Bonvera. Both from different backgrounds, these two are humble but incredibly successful on their own and together in their respective industries. Mark comes to the table with a background in law enforcement, detective work, SWAT team, and kicking butt, while Raquel comes from a background of recruiting, staffing, and sales. Coming together, they’ve brought their expertise and grit to be business partners, entrepreneurs, and industry professionals in their own ventures, including an ice cream shop and a Bonvera business. Mark and Raquel reside in California where they manage a big family, multiple businesses, and several teams of entrepreneurs.

They join Bob in this podcast episode to talk about how to win. Raquel personalizes her story about how she came to believe “I can do it!” Mark shares his training and experience with law enforcement and as a SWAT officer. Together, they share with Bob the lessons they learned from a typical 9-to-5 job and how they applied them in their entrepreneurial pursuits.

Notes on Believing in Yourself:

-Remind yourself over and over again of your self-belief.

-You can do it. Remember? You’ve done it before.

-Find a great mentor who will believe in you and push you.

-A great mentor instills the courage in you to help you develop and grow.

-Oftentimes, we have pain and wounds that hold us back.

-It takes courage to go into our wounds, heal them, and move forward.

-Find tools and resources that help you heal your wounds.

Links in this episode include:

Mark & Raquel’s Leadership Profile, a bio on their story, why they joined Bonvera, and what their life looks like as entrepreneurs

How to Beat Self-Doubt and Stop Selling Yourself Short, an interesting article from Forbes on the very topics Raquel faced early in her career

SWAT Team process, an article on how you become a SWAT officer

Hair Loss Solutions, a company somewhat similar to what Raquel did in LA early in her career

Hair Club, hair replacement solutions for men and women

Hair Grafting and Restoration Methods, a medical procedure on hair restoration

The Power of the Subconscious Mind, a book by Joseph Murphy on Amazon

Bonvera RTE, it’s a regional training event hosted by Bonvera and powered by the New Way MBA education program

Attitude is Everything, a book by Jeff Kelly on Amazon

To learn more about Bob’s two books, find them on Amazon here: The Leap and Love Your Work.

Follow Bob Dickie on Twitter @RobertDickie

Next Episode

Kirk & Nicole Porter - Founder of MacDaddy, Entrepreneurs, Sales Leaders

“You get that exhilarating feeling of like, ‘Oh, man, I could get out of this place.’ And that's really where I was. I was very hungry to learn. I was very hungry for different results. And so even though it took time, a lot of people think it's going to be easy too when they take that leap. Like, ‘Oh, I'll just make this decision, everything's going to be easy.’ You got to be willing to stick it out. You've got to be willing to do the hard things to be able to get where you want to go. And so even though we made the decision that we were going to do something different, it took time to begin to work hard and to switch that from being an employee to jumping over into entrepreneurship.” - Kirk & Nicole Porter

Kirk & Nicole Porter (@Kirkporter and @Nicole_insights) hail from Dallas, Texas where they fell in love, started their careers, had their boys, and pivoted to multiple different ventures, including their current venture as Bonvera entrepreneurs. Before becoming entrepreneurs, they were comfortable and keeping up with the Joneses but they wanted so much more. With Nicole as a dental hygienist and Kirk in IT, they were trapped and stuck in the daily grind. But, they weren’t staying stuck. Through battle after battle, they gained more knowledge, got grittier, and learned to stay in the fight. Today, they’re serial entrepreneurs who run multiple businesses in realty, technology, network marketing, and education. They’re passionate about helping others find success as entrepreneurs too.

In this episode with Bob, Kirk & Nicole recount why they decided to pursue entrepreneurship. In this process, they learned how to shift their thinking from an employee mindset to entrepreneurial freedom. They learned how to keep pushing past the challenges, and they learned how to focus so strongly on their dream that nothing stood in their way.

Notes and Quotes:

-We basically got into the spot where we bought the American dream, right? Like we had the nice cars, we had corporate jobs, we had the nice house, and we looked good from the outside. But on the inside, we were in debt. Any money we made, we spent it.

-We learned three keys to wealth, which was delayed gratification, long term vision, and the power of compounding.

-But [in this documentary of Pumping Iron], he says, "When I'm competing, if my car gets stolen, I can't even think about my car getting stolen. Because I'm so focused on my goal to get where I'm going, that someone else can't even come and tell me that, they have to handle it for me."

-When you're chasing your dream and you're doing those things, you’re so focused on your goals. Nothing is going to stand in your way. Your car gets smashed on the side of the road. You're like, I don't got no time for that, right?

-I'm in the hunt. I think a lot of times people want to pass that hunt and just talk about the success that they think they've already achieved. But I love the hunt and I think the hunt is the funnest part of the whole thing. The battle being the battle and getting to where you want to go.

-I think there's always a challenge. There's always something that’s being created, there's always something being recreated. I mean if you're a business owner you've got to be okay with that. You know that you’re constantly reinventing yourself, constantly you're on to the next challenge. It's challenge to challenge to challenge to success. Challenge to challenge to challenge to success.

-Man, do I have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? To me, one of the biggest keys is having that long term vision. You've got to be able to see far ahead, not just what is this going to produce for me in a week. You've got to have that staying power and be able to see things long term.

Links in this episode include:

Kirk & Nicole Porter’s Leadership Profile

Kirk & Nicole’s website & blog

Visit their store at Macdaddy’s

Lockheed Martin, an Aerospace and Defense Company

Define, Learn, Do principle, a method of learning referred to in the New Way MBA program

The Messy Middle by Scott Belsky