Latest / The Action Catalyst / Calling the King Out of the Kid, with Shawn Harper (Success, NFL, Teamwork, Culture, Coaching)
Transcript
- 0:00Adam Outland: On today's episode, we welcome Sean Harper.
- 0:03Sean is a former N F L offensive lineman who played a total of seven seasons in the N F L and N F L Europe, and now the founder and c e O of American Services in Protection, as well as Bridge Builders International.
- 0:17Sean is a highly sought after motivational speaker and.
- 0:21Sean, I'm down here in Houston, Texas.
- 0:23I heard you.
- 0:24You used to play for the Oilers,
- 0:25Shawn Harper: yo.
- 0:25Long, long, long time ago.
- 0:28You know, I didn't even finish out the entire season, but that's when Jack Pardi was the head coach.
- 0:32It was a blast though.
- 0:33Great team.
- 0:34Yeah.
- 0:34Funny team.
- 0:35Yeah.
- 0:36Yeah.
- 0:36Adam Outland: Just reading a little bit on your background and your story, I thought was just a really amazing one.
- 0:42I love any progressive story that talks about overcoming limitations to accomplish, and yours in particular is a, a really wonderful story in terms of what you overcame as a young man to then go on and accomplish all the things you've accomplished.
- 0:59I mean, to date, you played in the N F L for the Rams, Oilers, Colts, and then over in.
- 1:05Yes.
- 1:06Shawn Harper: How long?
- 1:07That was a total of seven years all combined.
- 1:10Three in the N F L, three and a half over in N F L Europe, so pretty close to seven years,
- 1:15Adam Outland: and then today, c e o of American Services and Protection, which supports people with individual protective services.
- 1:22Right.
- 1:23Shawn Harper: Yeah.
- 1:23It was just a no-brainer for me being an offensive lineman to be able.
- 1:29Carry this over to protecting clients like I protect running backs and
- 1:34Adam Outland: quarterbacks.
- 1:35That's brilliant.
- 1:36That's such a great analogy.
- 1:37Your clients are your quarterbacks.
- 1:39That's right.
- 1:39And then beyond that, you still are on the speaking circuit.
- 1:42So this is what I love.
- 1:43You are literally on the professional speaking circuit C of a company, N F L player.
- 1:49But if we go back to the very beginning of your story, tell us a little bit about going from the challenges that you had as a youth to what you do.
- 1:57Shawn Harper: I'm probably the least likely an individual to make it to this level.
- 2:02Born in the south side of Columbus, Ohio.
- 2:06Documented with four to five learning disabilities, stuttered my entire life.
- 2:09Couldn't complete a sentence till college kicked out of schools for disciplinary issues.
- 2:15Left high school with a 1.62 accumulative gpa, not on my a c t out of 150 first seniors to graduate.
- 2:21My academic ranking was 154.
- 2:23I can imagine.
- 2:24Voted most likely to fail.
- 2:26And to be really honest, everything I just mentioned is the edited version.
- 2:30You don't have to get into the extreme poverty.
- 2:33One of six kids, father physically abusing me.
- 2:36It, it was bad.
- 2:38It was really horrific, but I was able to find something.
- 2:40And what I was able to find was the win.
- 2:44And what I mean by that is that every single one of us, we are created to win.
- 2:47We're born.
- 2:49Success is a manmade construct.
- 2:51There's no such thing as success.
- 2:53They give it to you.
- 2:54Society prescribes it to you, but you're not created to be successful.
- 2:58You're created to win, which is why even down to a physiological standpoint, you know, hormones that you release, the excitement, the dopamine, all of that is predicated and based off of winning along the lines.
- 3:11Third or fourth grade, were taught a new concept, and a concept is called success.
- 3:14So they stripped away a lot of the.
- 3:17To me, winning is the fullest expression of who you are mentally, socially, emotionally, financially, obvious, and legacy.
- 3:24That is the complete win.
- 3:26Well society, what they've done a great job is they stripped away, you know, everything else, and they kept maybe one or two aspect of winning Popularities financials, and now they've pushed everybody in that direct.
- 3:39One of the reasons why a lot of people are incomplete, upset, depressed, lacking in so many other areas of their life is because they're on a success model versus the win mile.
- 3:49Well, then I was able to put myself on a win mop and I looked at my goals, dreams, aspirations, and I looked at it from a winner's perspective as if I've already won it, as if you've already obtained it.
- 4:00Now that changes your perspective and I begin to attack, not address, but to.
- 4:06Areas of the life or areas of my life that I wanted to accomplish.
- 4:09If life is a game you play to win.
- 4:11Adam Outland: You know, I, I, I love that.
- 4:13And one of the, the things that I do outside of this podcast is I actually, uh, we run a coaching program for youth, not athletic coaching, but you know, mentality, emotional intelligence, confidence, goal setting, vision.
- 4:25and we not too long ago, started working with foster youth and the reason I just bring that up is that I think what you talk about in your early story, I talk to students that have similar backgrounds and I think, you know, if any of them end up listening to this, I, I, I just would love to hear just a little bit on what was the turning point.
- 4:42I mean, you know, we call this the Action Catalyst podcast.
- 4:45We're always kind of zoning in on that.
- 4:47What was it that flipped a switch that made you dive into pushing through education and everything else?
- 4:54Shawn Harper: Well, first of all, just let me say I'm extremely interested in your actual coaching program.
- 4:59Everywhere I'm going, it's like youth, youth, youth youth's like, okay, God, I'm gonna go get 'em.
- 5:03But what changed in me was being catapulted into the cornfields of Mason City, Iowa.
- 5:09I went to a junior college in Mason City, Iowa.
- 5:12Right?
- 5:12It's like 26,000 blonde hair, blue wise.
- 5:15Everyone's last name is Schneider.
- 5:16Okay?
- 5:16I'm in the cornfield . I'm in the cornfield.
- 5:20Totally different mindset.
- 5:22I'm I'm, and where.
- 5:24Now check it out.
- 5:26If you call the seed potential, then the soil is the culture and I was able to germinate that seed in a different culture.
- 5:36Everything that was placed in me.
- 5:38Once you put it in a certain situation of circumstances, it begins to germinate.
- 5:42And unfortunately, and this is man, this is bad, but unfortunately a lot of people, they're not able to change because they're not able to change their culture, their.
- 5:54and that's one of the first things associations has to change.
- 5:58Hmm.
- 5:58People you hang with, people who, who you talk to, people who, who you consult with.
- 6:02It has to change.
- 6:04If we put our energy on the culture of the family, the culture of the workplace, the culture of our community, man, I tell you what, you could take an average, a sub average seat and turn it into a bumper.
- 6:16Look at the, uh, recent Super Bowl champions.
- 6:19The Rams.
- 6:20Now understand this.
- 6:21Vaughn Miller was considered to be a Washup.
- 6:24Oden.
- 6:25Beckman Jr.
- 6:26Was a washup.
- 6:27The starting quarterback was with Detroit.
- 6:30It was a washup.
- 6:31The left tackles played that game.
- 6:33He played with, guess who?
- 6:34Cincinnati.
- 6:36They got rhythm two years ago.
- 6:37It was a washup.
- 6:38What was the difference?
- 6:40The difference was the.
- 6:43The Rams haves and have, and has an amazing culture to take these individuals, these tainted seas, whatever you wanna say, and turn 'em into crops.
- 6:53Hmm.
- 6:53Adam Outland: Culture.
- 6:54Culture is a big thing, obviously in, you know, the business realm.
- 6:57It's, it's not just in athletics.
- 6:59What's the crossover?
- 7:00What do you see when you look at a sports culture?
- 7:02I, I always think of high, obviously highly competitive in a lot of ways, but there's gotta be a balance to that and, but what, what are the crossovers and culture, what are the defining factors and culture that you see in really great sports organizations that transfer to business organizations?
- 7:19Shawn Harper: Well, first thing you have to do is that you have to.
- 7:24Redefine the corporate culture.
- 7:26A lot of, you know, mid or major corporations, the C-Suites and above, you know, win, win, win the numbers, win.
- 7:33This projections, this market share.
- 7:36Think about the words I'm using.
- 7:38You know, market shares, stealing influence in business from your competitor.
- 7:43You give a cute name called market share.
- 7:46Making your numbers either A, you made the numbers or you didn't make your numbers.
- 7:51Let's just get all that out of the way.
- 7:53Let's get black and white.
- 7:54Let's say win loss.
- 7:56Creating that culture is first.
- 7:58You have to redefine it as this is a winning culture.
- 8:01Okay, we are here to win now.
- 8:03Win now.
- 8:04Fosters automatically teamwork, it fosters collaboration because we're all working together for.
- 8:11And everyone who participates, whether this much, this much, or a whole bunch is appreciated, respected, and honored a lot of times the same.
- 8:21The kicker, he celebrates as if he was the quarterback.
- 8:25He ain't score no touchdown.
- 8:26No.
- 8:27We scored a touchdown in the locker room in the culture.
- 8:31The win is The win is the win, and everyone's excited and everyone participates it.
- 8:35And that's what has to be accentuated in corporate.
- 8:39What's going on with the pr?
- 8:41What's going on with hr?
- 8:42Are they winning?
- 8:43Well then you ain't winning.
- 8:44Hmm?
- 8:45The entire culture has to win together or we lose together,
- 8:48Adam Outland: period.
- 8:49A hundred percent.
- 8:50You see it at a lot in corporate America.
- 8:52There's kind of different levels of how people relate to each other, and a lot of corporate America is, there's a lot of internal.
- 8:59Not winning together.
- 9:00It's in order for me to win, you have to lose.
- 9:03But you're on my team, right?
- 9:04It's like I need to be better than you.
- 9:06Shawn Harper: I want to speak for a very prominent, I'm not gonna mention the name Bear, not mention this name, organization.
- 9:12And as I'm speaking for this organization, there was a small group, maybe like 25, maybe 20 people, and they all put up screen blockers on their laptop, every single one of them.
- 9:25So no one else could see what they're.
- 9:28And I'm like, wow, this is that culture.
- 9:31Adam Outland: Hmm.
- 9:31Because you gotta hide your work from someone else.
- 9:34Wow.
- 9:34Yeah.
- 9:35You know, one of the parts of your story I'm just fascinated with, and I think it comes back to the culture piece you're talking about.
- 9:41There's gotta be some mentors, people that played a positive influence in your, your development of that vision and progression.
- 9:49I mean, were, were there some people that you were able to latch onto that encouraged you or.
- 9:53The total opposite and there's, there was no one that believed and that just had this chip on your shoulder that really pushed you through a lot of, of that challenge.
- 10:01Yeah.
- 10:01Shawn Harper: So one of the most genius and fascinating things that my mom did is that she made me play football.
- 10:08I didn't wanna play football.
- 10:09She made me play.
- 10:10And finally one day she broke down and told me why.
- 10:12She said I was a single mom and you needed to be around men.
- 10:16Hmm.
- 10:17So Adam flew of just man, you know, over the years I gravitated towards, So whether it's high school, whether it's junior college or my actual college coach, they were my mentors.
- 10:31They were men, and that's exactly what I needed.
- 10:34I needed a man in my life, somebody who can see the potential and challenge me.
- 10:39Someone who can call the king out of the kid.
- 10:42I'm always
- 10:42Adam Outland: curious what people think makes a great coach.
- 10:46Shawn Harper: You know, water is water at 211 degrees.
- 10:50At 212 degrees.
- 10:51Water boil.
- 10:52Boiling waters change the world as we know.
- 10:55Now, getting into the two 12 is very difficult.
- 10:59You cannot do it by yourself.
- 11:01A coach, whether they're aggressive or passive aggressive, their job is to push you into the two 12 and have you live in the two 12 as long as possible.
- 11:12That's it.
- 11:13Push you past yourself.
- 11:15That makes a great coach, whether it's with.
- 11:18Or with a stick, because what else in our society does that?
- 11:23Your boss had worked, he or she's gonna work you to death, but now you have a coach and that person's like, listen, you're doing this the wrong way.
- 11:31Do it this way.
- 11:33And by the way, you can do more.
- 11:35Let's go think about all these athletes.
- 11:38All winners have coaches.
- 11:41Remember, I don't know if you remember Kobe Bryant got rid of Phil Jackson.
- 11:45Directly or indirectly, I don't wanna quote that, but he left for whatever reason, so I'm a backtrack that he left for whatever reason, they had to bring him back.
- 11:52Mm-hmm.
- 11:53as great as Kobe was, he needed a coach.
- 11:57Yeah.
- 11:57You know, it's so funny, I was, uh, having
- 12:00dinner
- 12:01Shawn Harper: with a double dined and a multi-level marketing organization.
- 12:07And he's talking.
- 12:08He's like, you know, John, it's like, talk John.
- 12:11I speak to my coach who's a triple diamond.
- 12:14I speak to my coach every day.
- 12:16I heard Anthony Robbins say the same thing.
- 12:18You have to have it.
- 12:19You have to have it.
- 12:20Adam Outland: I, I love it.
- 12:21I love the perspective.
- 12:22You know, I, I was talking to a guy named Florent Groberg.
- 12:24He won the, the Medal of Honor for service in Afghanistan recently.
- 12:29and I asked him this question I kinda wanna pose to you.
- 12:32I, I always wanna know the down slope on someone's Disney story.
- 12:36And what I mean like is, is that critical point where things almost break and, you know, Florence shared that for him.
- 12:42It was in ranger school, he said it was the, that going through that ranger training in the army.
- 12:48There was just a point where they just push you so far that even as athletic as he was, you just had to kind of come up with a mental game to not quit.
- 12:57Right.
- 12:58But I'm, I'm curious, when in your life, when were you at, at a breaking point?
- 13:03When did you get pushed so much where that little voice in the back of your head started to say the things that you didn't wanna listen to and maybe started to catch on?
- 13:11Shawn Harper: Going into the second year of my junior college.
- 13:15Hmm.
- 13:15You know, it was so easy to just give.
- 13:18Think about it.
- 13:19You know, I had all the excuses, you know, I had the learning disabilities, I have this, my fleet are flat.
- 13:25I can't play football.
- 13:26I had all the excuses and, and I, there's, there's no reason why I have to continue.
- 13:32I had the perfect out and everyone would, everyone would accept it.
- 13:36And it was at that moment when you push a little bit more, it's when you can get through.
- 13:42. There's been several moments like that.
- 13:44When I first took over the security firm and it just broke me and I wanted to quit, I was like, I'm done.
- 13:51Push past the moment.
- 13:52Push past the moment, push past the breakdown.
- 13:55What I mean by that is when you lift weights, the purpose of lifting weights is to tear your muscles down.
- 14:01Then once you tear 'em down over the next day or so, they'll begin to build back even stronger, tear 'em down.
- 14:08The challenge is, is that we don't wanna be torn.
- 14:12So we do so many things to hide into icks and the cover and the mask and the pacified paint.
- 14:18But when you allow life to break you down, four, you come back so much stronger.
- 14:24Adam Outland: Um, just go into it just a little bit with me, Sean.
- 14:26Cause I know there's a lot of people listening here that are probably in or around that point when you're out of it.
- 14:34Right.
- 14:34You can reflect and go.
- 14:35Yeah.
- 14:35And you push through in the.
- 14:38I mean, what are you, what are you grasping for?
- 14:40I mean, is it a conversation with your wife and there's some encouragement there and encouragement in your social support network that that helps you get through it?
- 14:47Is it this piece where you have a conversation with yourself at night when you can't sleep at 3:00 AM I mean, when you kind of go into your head and you think of those breaking points, what's been that tool, that conversation, that support system, and maybe it's a little bit of everything that helps you flip over and decide that you push through.
- 15:04Shawn Harper: I'll tell you what, I have to be careful with this.
- 15:08. The reason why is because the question that I've been asking myself and everyone should ask themselves is, are you hurt or are you injured?
- 15:17Okay.
- 15:17Hmm.
- 15:18If you're hurt when we played football, if you're hurt, then you gotta just tough it out.
- 15:24You gotta fight through it.
- 15:25You got some aches and pains.
- 15:26You gotta keep moving.
- 15:28If you're injured, well then you gotta allow the trainer to take your helmet and he will hold that.
- 15:35And that signals without saying anything to the coach, it signals to the coach.
- 15:40You cannot go back in that game.
- 15:42You need to have somebody in your life when you're going through, who is watching you to make the determination.
- 15:49Are you hurt or are you injured?
- 15:52Are you making critical decisions?
- 15:54You playing this game and you're injured, you can make some bad choices and bad decisions.
- 16:00Hmm.
- 16:01As a leader, Have the ability to pull out the flag and say timeout.
- 16:08Mm-hmm.
- 16:09, timeout.
- 16:10And so what I is, I use my speaking engagements as timeouts cause I leave and then I may tack on an extra day and just lay in the hotel room.
- 16:22Time out.
- 16:23Yeah.
- 16:23Adam Outland: Some of the, the most creative executives and leaders in terms of problem solving take time off because you, you almost have to, right?
- 16:31Whether that's a day, like to your point, but you've gotta, yes.
- 16:34You gotta be able to pull yourself outta the weeds to be able to get that perspective.
- 16:37Yes.
- 16:38How do you keep yourself at this stage?
- 16:41We all go through different phases.
- 16:43You had the athlete, you know, pull yourself out in the IU and then go to the N F L, and that phases your life.
- 16:49You're in this phase as c e O speaking now.
- 16:52With each phase, I feel like there's a new vision that comes out of that.
- 16:55What's the vision at this stage of your life that compels you to stay motivated?
- 17:00Even though you have a lot, you have, you have all the things that you, you didn't in the beginning of life.
- 17:05Um, that, that many would say I'm successful.
- 17:07I can call it, I can sit down and it's been way more than one night in a hotel room, , and be comfortable.
- 17:13So, um, what, what's the drive, Sean, that, that keeps you building and wanting to do?
- 17:20Shawn Harper: First and foremost, hope this doesn't offend people.
- 17:22It's God.
- 17:24Hmm.
- 17:24It's God, it's Lord, I'm here for a season.
- 17:27I'm here for a reason.
- 17:28Number two is gratitude.
- 17:30Gratitude's important.
- 17:30It's like, you know, I've been given so much, I've been given so much to give and to be a blessing.
- 17:36And you wanna know the third one, which is, you know, it's kind of scary, but it's the truth, it's fear.
- 17:42Hmm.
- 17:42In the sense that you don't have to win all four quarters in life to win the game, but you can lose the game in the.
- 17:49So you have to be diligent and you have to fight this thing all the way out cuz there are a lot of people who get to the fourth quarter of life and lose.
- 17:59And I want, at the end when it's 0, 0, 0, and Aaron, Sean Harper's life, I want it to be like, okay, he played the game and he died empty.
- 18:08It's all out of him.
- 18:09Adam Outland: And I feel like part of what you're saying is also that idea that success is almost never owned.
- 18:14It's rented.
- 18:15Right.
- 18:15And and yes.
- 18:16Here is if I stop paying the rent Yes.
- 18:18What might happen as a
- 18:19Shawn Harper: result?
- 18:20That's right.
- 18:20There is no such thing as retirement.
- 18:24Like what is that?
- 18:25I'm not retiring.
- 18:26Do you know what the whole concept of retiring is?
- 18:28In my opinion is when you're no longer productive.
- 18:32Mm-hmm.
- 18:32, it's like art.
- 18:33Success is based off of production.
- 18:36Winning is based off of reproductive.
- 18:38He can just unpack that forever.
- 18:41Winning is congruent with nature.
- 18:43You see a apple, it died.
- 18:46It reproduces cause seed is in the apple.
- 18:49Everything the apple needs is in the seat.
- 18:51The DNA of the caterpillar is in the butterfly.
- 18:55It's there.
- 18:56Transformation get you have to reproduce.
- 19:00You gotta plant seeds and keep planting.
- 19:01And keep planting and planting.
- 19:03That's your.
- 19:04Love
- 19:05Adam Outland: it.
- 19:05I, you know, you're with that vision, what, with, with all the things driving you at this stage, you know, one, one question we ask almost every guest is, what does a morning look like in Sean's shoes?
- 19:15Like, what's your ideal routine to, to start your day off, uh, in a way that's, that makes you successful?
- 19:22Okay, I'm gonna
- 19:22Shawn Harper: share this.
- 19:23Everyone has all the secrets and you know, and you know, you take a cold shower, you get to the gym at 5:00 AM positive affirmations.
- 19:33So I'm gonna get something real simple.
- 19:36My goal is to down within an hour, hour and a half, an entire gallon of water.
- 19:45Wow.
- 19:46Adam Outland: In, in the first hour and a half of waking
- 19:48Shawn Harper: up.
- 19:49When you look at the benefits of water and what it does and how people
- 19:53aren't
- 19:53Shawn Harper: getting enough water and how they're drinking diuretics with, you know, caffeine and everyth.
- 19:59Drinking water.
- 20:01I drink a gallon of water before the first hour, hour and a half of the day, it's
- 20:06gone.
- 20:06Adam Outland: Wow.
- 20:07I've gotta wrap my head around that
- 20:08Shawn Harper: one.
- 20:09here.
- 20:09Here's the deal.
- 20:10Yeah.
- 20:10They say that you're supposed to drink half of your body weighting ounces.
- 20:15Okay.
- 20:16But I'm 300 pounds, so that's 150 ounces of.
- 20:21I'm thinking that right.
- 20:23, that's so right.
- 20:25Yeah.
- 20:25It might not be a gallon for you.
- 20:27Let me clarify that.
- 20:28People be like falling around here crying and dying and you know, that's me.
- 20:33I'm a big boy, big boy.
- 20:35300 pounds, so hundred 50 ounces for me, and I'm getting done.
- 20:39Sean,
- 20:40Adam Outland: this has been great.
- 20:41I've taken away a lot of good things.
- 20:42Uh, you have a book, the Winning Edge American Services and Protection is your L L C.
- 20:47And then in addition, you also do some nonprofit work with, is it the Kings Ransom Foundation
- 20:53Shawn Harper: in Ransom Foundation?
- 20:55Uh, it's an amazing organization.
- 20:57Look it up.
- 20:58King Ransom Foundation.
- 20:59100% of every dime that comes in goes right back out for sexual trafficking, the whole nine yards.
- 21:07And the reason why I know this cuz I sit on the board so I know
- 21:10Adam Outland: the numbers.
- 21:11Oh, that's wonderful.
- 21:12A and then lastly, uh, bridge Builders International, where you founded that a as a speaking writing platform to help with business and corporate staff.
- 21:20A lot of the things we talked about
- 21:21Shawn Harper: today.
- 21:21That's it.
- 21:22And then also I have a non-for-profit up called Game Changers and that's when I'm doing work with the youth.
- 21:29And just changing the trajectory of people's lives at a young age.
- 21:33Adam Outland: Yeah.
- 21:34I love that.
- 21:34Well, I, I appreciate you being on here, Sean, and great value, great lessons, and, uh, just a great story.
- 21:39A lot of our listeners need to hear another story of someone who's had every challenge in the world and every reason not to, but did it anyway, and did it incredibly well.
- 21:47And what a good speaker you are just from this interview.
- 21:50Really outstanding.
- 21:51Well, thank you so
- 21:52Shawn Harper: much.