Episode #197: Green Beret Lessons for Founders: Leadership That Scales with Otis McGregor

Otis McGregor doesn't just teach leadership—he’s lived it. A retired Green Beret Lieutenant Colonel turned entrepreneur, Otis shares hard-earned lessons on how to lead with clarity, trust, and purpose. In this episode, Otis explains why most business leaders fail when they micromanage, avoid accountability, or try to go it alone. He offers a refreshingly direct take on what it means to lead in today’s world—whether that’s in a combat zone, a boardroom, or your own home.

Otis opens up about the grit behind his 38-year marriage, the power of vulnerability, and how true leadership starts with knowing your purpose and building your tribe. His company, Tribe + Purpose, helps business founders develop leaders at every level of their team, enabling them to scale without burning out.

If you're leading a team, growing a business, or struggling with self-doubt, this conversation is a masterclass in resilient leadership.

Want to learn more about Otis McGregor's work? Check out their website at https://www.10xyourteam.net.

Connect with Otis McGregor on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/otismcgregor/.

Key Points with Timestamps

[01:05] — Otis’s military background and why he founded Tribe + Purpose
[04:46] — How elite military units shape self-improvement and accountability
[08:02] — Why trust beats control in any high-performing team
[11:00] — Otis’s take on leaders who don’t listen—and why they fail
[15:19] — Making a 38-year marriage work as a military family
[18:08] — Why shared struggle builds stronger communities and better leaders
[20:01] — Otis’s raw take on suicide, mental health, and asking for help
[24:01] — “Name it to tame it”: confronting your mental gremlins
[26:35] — Leadership isn’t an excuse: use adversity as fuel
[31:20] — Why Tribe + Purpose exists: building aligned, mission-driven communities
[35:17] — Purpose-driven habits: how Otis shows up ready for the mission
[37:07] — How Tribe + Purpose helps business leaders build leaders
[39:06] — Why CEOs must get out of day-to-day work to grow
[39:20] — Where to find Otis and how to work with his team

Transcript

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;30;20
Craig Andrews
I was in a coma for six weeks while the doctors told my wife I was going to die. When I woke up, she told me the most fantastic story. My team kept running the business without me. Freelancers reached out to my team and said, we will do whatever it takes. As long as Craig's in the hospital. I consider that the greatest accomplishment in my career.

00;00;30;23 - 00;00;51;10
Craig Andrews
My name is Craig Andrews and this is the Leaders and Legacies podcast where we talk to leaders creating an impact beyond themselves. At the end of today's interview, I'll tell you how you can be the next leader featured on this show.

00;00;51;10 - 00;01;05;19
Craig Andrews
Today I want to welcome Otis McGregor. He is an entrepreneur, inventor, author, and a retired Green Beret Lieutenant colonel with 20 years service in the U.S. Army.

00;01;05;19 - 00;01;30;07
Craig Andrews
Otis founded Tribe in Purpose to share his purpose of creating legacy leaders with others. He is a podcast host, resides in Colorado with his wife, and has three grown children. We're going to talk about that because that's, you know, if we're running our businesses, we need to think about who's watching and who's who's around us while we're doing that.

00;01;30;07 - 00;01;43;08
Craig Andrews
And Otis has worked as a business development director and chief strategy officer, managing multimillion dollar programs ranging from construction to training to information technology. Otis, welcome.

00;01;43;10 - 00;01;45;28
Otis McGregor
Hey, great to be here, Greg. Thanks for having me.

00;01;46;00 - 00;01;54;18
Craig Andrews
Absolutely. Well, I you know what? I just kind of want to win back to the conversation we had before we met. You know, somebody introduced us, and,

00;01;54;18 - 00;02;03;26
Craig Andrews
And I learned you were a Green Beret. I knew that you were in the European region, and I just said, do you know Ben Sanford?

00;02;03;28 - 00;02;06;02
Otis McGregor
I oh, yeah. You gotta love that,

00;02;06;02 - 00;02;07;00
Otis McGregor
small world.

00;02;07;00 - 00;02;11;28
Otis McGregor
You know, Ben and I went through the Special Forces qualification course together.

00;02;11;28 - 00;02;14;10
Otis McGregor
And he's really good friends with,

00;02;14;10 - 00;02;17;18
Otis McGregor
a guy friend of mine and one of my best friends that,

00;02;17;18 - 00;02;20;07
Otis McGregor
we were in the same squad and then,

00;02;20;07 - 00;02;22;25
Otis McGregor
on into the unit together.

00;02;22;25 - 00;02;23;10
Otis McGregor
And,

00;02;23;10 - 00;02;28;22
Otis McGregor
just the fact that about that small world that you never know.

00;02;28;25 - 00;02;31;25
Otis McGregor
And that's that's why, truthfully, you know, people will say,

00;02;31;25 - 00;02;46;26
Otis McGregor
you probably don't know. Or in their mind, they won't even ask. But what's it hurt to ask? I mean, because you never know. I mean, Ben Sanford, I was telling you about the the guy I met in Wellington, New Zealand, at a bar that knows my,

00;02;46;26 - 00;02;47;18
Otis McGregor
my, my

00;02;47;18 - 00;02;48;26
Otis McGregor
my other best friend,

00;02;48;26 - 00;02;51;04
Otis McGregor
from Special forces and hunting buddy.

00;02;51;07 - 00;03;00;17
Otis McGregor
And and Wellington, New Zealand. And they met in England. I mean, it's just it's crazy. You just never know.

00;03;00;17 - 00;03;13;19
Otis McGregor
And that is, there's, there's some real, real cool. We're all human. We're all connected sort of things. When you start thinking about that.

00;03;13;21 - 00;03;27;07
Craig Andrews
Yeah, yeah. And, and you know, it's there are of questions we, we don't ask that we should ask. There's some that we shouldn't ask. I mean, you probably noticed I deliberately didn't ask you why Ben suddenly disappeared in,

00;03;27;07 - 00;03;28;23
Craig Andrews
the fall of 99.

00;03;28;23 - 00;03;29;11
Craig Andrews
And,

00;03;29;11 - 00;03;40;18
Craig Andrews
but, you know, it's, I think the, you know, one of the things that does happen in the military,

00;03;40;18 - 00;03;54;03
Craig Andrews
especially in the late forces, is it just gives you a boldness to kind of put yourself out there and the things that scare others, just like, what's the worst that's going to happen if I ask this question?

00;03;54;05 - 00;04;05;29
Otis McGregor
Yeah, yeah. And that's, you know, the military, the, the, the Brotherhood you get in the military and then when you start taking other steps, you know, the,

00;04;05;29 - 00;04;08;03
Otis McGregor
the triple volunteer as,

00;04;08;03 - 00;04;18;26
Otis McGregor
as a Green Beret and the, the path that you had to walk to get there, and you know, that that other guy that that is next to you, you walk that same path.

00;04;18;26 - 00;04;19;08
Otis McGregor
There's,

00;04;19;08 - 00;04;22;10
Otis McGregor
you know, I, I always refer to it as an instant bowl of feeds,

00;04;22;10 - 00;04;46;00
Otis McGregor
you know, that that verification that. Okay, we're similar. We've we've got some similar values because we're willing to go through all this additional effort to get to the top level, because that's where that's why you join, you know, you volunteer for the military to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

00;04;46;02 - 00;05;05;00
Otis McGregor
But then you take the next step and the next step and the next step. And each of those steps, the reason you do it because you're already supporting, defending the Constitution, the reason you're doing it is to push yourself to get to the next level. How do I how do I make myself better? How do I challenge myself?

00;05;05;00 - 00;05;08;12
Otis McGregor
How do I get around the best of the best? You know,

00;05;08;12 - 00;05;13;28
Otis McGregor
when you're when you're sitting there and I was having this conversation with the,

00;05;13;28 - 00;05;15;27
Otis McGregor
former Navy submariner,

00;05;15;27 - 00;05;18;03
Otis McGregor
yesterday, and it was just yesterday, y'all,

00;05;18;03 - 00;05;27;02
Otis McGregor
and how, you know, you're the smartest math guy in high school. Then you enlist in the Navy and go nuke in the Navy.

00;05;27;05 - 00;05;31;11
Otis McGregor
Now, all of a sudden, you ain't the smartest math guy in the,

00;05;31;11 - 00;05;46;18
Otis McGregor
you know, around. And that's kind of the way. That's the way I felt in the Green Berets. You know, I, I can remember when I first got there thinking, okay, I'm a badass, right? And then then you get schooled and realize that everybody around you is a badass.

00;05;46;20 - 00;06;14;14
Otis McGregor
And then when I was a commander and I had a bunch of Green Berets working for me, and I remember thinking, Holy shit, I'm sure glad I'm not competing for promotion with these guys because the guys behind me, you know, that were following me up were better than me. And that's I think that's a testament to the organization itself also in that how do I make it better?

00;06;14;17 - 00;06;46;14
Otis McGregor
Everybody in that organization is not there to sustain. They're there to not only get personally better, but to make the regiment better, to make the process and procedures and systems and the operations better and better and better. And I saw that when I when I came back. So I'm there as a captain working with guys and getting humbled with my peers and the guys in my on my team and go away for a year and a half, two years come back is now a major.

00;06;46;17 - 00;06;53;20
Otis McGregor
And I had all these guys working for me and I just like, Holy crap, those guys are good. I mean.

00;06;53;23 - 00;06;55;10
Craig Andrews
So yeah.

00;06;55;12 - 00;07;27;01
Otis McGregor
Great decision making analysis. They understand the bigger picture and it's like, wow. So but I, I, I give credit to the people, you know, maybe I had an effect on that and the things I did maybe the guys I, you know, you don't know. But I think that's the the beauty of that legacy in that type of an organization is if you're there just to mark time, you're gone, people sniff you out and you're going.

00;07;27;03 - 00;07;33;22
Craig Andrews
You know, I the reason I went in the Marines was I, I goofed off during high school. I had like a 2.54 GPA.

00;07;33;24 - 00;07;35;28
Otis McGregor
You knew you were going to nuke subs, were you?

00;07;35;28 - 00;07;37;17
Craig Andrews
I know I won some,

00;07;37;17 - 00;07;49;28
Craig Andrews
I, but I knew I was capable of more. I was just going in the Marines kind of a resort my life and then go to college. And I went in honestly, a little bit arrogantly, I thought, you know, I'm going to be an around all these dolts.

00;07;49;28 - 00;07;52;16
Craig Andrews
But, you know, hey, I'm going to do it.

00;07;52;19 - 00;07;56;13
Craig Andrews
Oh my goodness, these folks were smart.

00;07;56;16 - 00;08;02;28
Otis McGregor
Oh yeah. Yeah, folks, you know, there ain't a dumb soldier out there.

00;08;02;28 - 00;08;12;15
Otis McGregor
Oh my God, a dumber and there ain't a single one. I mean, even the the, you know, the backwoods boy from West. My God, Virginia that,

00;08;12;15 - 00;08;18;10
Otis McGregor
you know, barely made it out of high school. That enlist that kid, that kid's got it going on.

00;08;18;10 - 00;08;38;20
Otis McGregor
I mean, I saw it, I worked with them. Had. I'm working for me. I was basic training with these guys, and it's like, yeah, there ain't a dumb soldier out there. I mean, there's and there. You know, the other thing that I think some people I, I don't know if they still do, but I always every time this comes up, I always bring, bring this fact up.

00;08;38;20 - 00;08;50;22
Otis McGregor
The there any robots in the military either they don't just fall do exactly what's told. Oh oh so good Yeah.

00;08;50;25 - 00;08;52;16
Craig Andrews
You know, that's funny. I was I was,

00;08;52;16 - 00;09;04;23
Craig Andrews
volunteering in an organization, and they were asking me to do something that was stupid, and I just said, no. And they. And they're like, well, Craig, you're in the Marines. You understand? The,

00;09;04;23 - 00;09;14;18
Craig Andrews
you know, the chain of command and what have you. And I said, you know, here's the thing with Marines, when you're giving orders to somebody has the ability to kill you.

00;09;14;21 - 00;09;19;25
Craig Andrews
You think through your orders, you think through, you think very carefully.

00;09;19;27 - 00;09;42;27
Otis McGregor
Yeah, very, very true. And, you know, that means that the organization is is spot on. Because going back to the what do they want to do? They want to make it better. They want that team that a operational detachment Alpha to be the best one. They look across the whole at the other teams and compare themselves to the other teams.

00;09;42;27 - 00;10;05;06
Otis McGregor
They want that one to be the best. So you're damn right if I, if I was to say, hey, we're going to do x, y, z today, they would look at me and go, oh, sir, that's that's not a smart thing to do. That's a dumb thing to do. That won't work. Whatever, whatever the necessary reply was. And I can tell you, the guys who,

00;10;05;06 - 00;10;06;17
Otis McGregor
were successful,

00;10;06;17 - 00;10;09;07
Otis McGregor
the leaders that were successful would listen.

00;10;09;10 - 00;10;09;28
Craig Andrews
Yeah. You know.

00;10;10;04 - 00;10;13;03
Otis McGregor
There's there's those guys that thought they,

00;10;13;03 - 00;10;15;29
Otis McGregor
you know, the sun rose and set on them,

00;10;15;29 - 00;10;20;11
Otis McGregor
who would say, no, we're doing it anyways because I'm in charge.

00;10;20;11 - 00;10;23;22
Otis McGregor
You know, those people don't last long.

00;10;23;24 - 00;10;25;24
Craig Andrews
You know, when I was in the Philippines,

00;10;25;24 - 00;10;29;28
Craig Andrews
we had some dopey lieutenant lieutenants supply and,

00;10;29;28 - 00;10;45;26
Craig Andrews
I think one of our staff sergeants, staff sergeant and Gunny, just looked at them one day and said, sir, you are no officer of Marines. And he went crying to the sergeant major saying, hey, you know, the gunny told me I was no officer of Marines.

00;10;45;26 - 00;10;51;21
Craig Andrews
And Sergeant Major said, he's right. You better square yourself away. Pull it together.

00;10;51;24 - 00;11;00;19
Otis McGregor
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, and that's an indicator to me right there that he didn't have his head on straight, because if he went to the sergeant major,

00;11;00;19 - 00;11;12;18
Otis McGregor
the sergeant major, I'll give you no sympathy. I can tell you that. He saw major is worth his salt. Ain't he's going to look at that officer ago. Yeah. No, sir.

00;11;12;21 - 00;11;15;08
Otis McGregor
No, sir.

00;11;15;11 - 00;11;29;07
Craig Andrews
Well, so here's here's a story officer from the Philippines. And I think this will ultimately somehow get to where we're going today. But it because it's really interesting. There's a lot of lessons in this. So when I was in the Philippines, I was at,

00;11;29;07 - 00;11;37;12
Craig Andrews
Cubie point, which is attached Subic Bay, and we were living in some Quonset huts out in the jungle because we were just there temporary.

00;11;37;14 - 00;11;55;19
Craig Andrews
And there were there were, I think, three squadrons there at the time. And so and we were this place called Sky village and different Quonset hut, Splunk, the different squadrons were, were assigned to different squadrons. Well, there were a couple of Marines in my shop that decided they would go homestead it. And another Quonset hut that was pretty much empty.

00;11;55;22 - 00;11;57;10
Craig Andrews
And one day they,

00;11;57;10 - 00;11;58;14
Craig Andrews
they bring a couple,

00;11;58;14 - 00;12;02;13
Craig Andrews
take us out of the ville into the Quonset hut,

00;12;02;13 - 00;12;14;18
Craig Andrews
without realizing that Squadron Sergeant Major would toward the barracks periodically. And he comes through, finds these guys, and he's like, all right, out of the rack, Romeo. And,

00;12;14;18 - 00;12;18;21
Craig Andrews
and one of the Marines was this guy named Chuck of his Chuck and Rodney.

00;12;18;21 - 00;12;28;09
Craig Andrews
Chuck was the smart one. Chuck immediately runs down to the duty hut, calls out, gunning, says, hey, Gunny, I need to let you know,

00;12;28;09 - 00;12;28;25
Craig Andrews
you know,

00;12;28;25 - 00;12;29;29
Craig Andrews
here's what happened.

00;12;29;29 - 00;12;37;14
Craig Andrews
You know, we were just coming back from the Ville. We had these girls with us. They wanted to go to the library, and we wanted to take them to the library.

00;12;37;14 - 00;12;52;20
Craig Andrews
But the library was closed, so we stopped by the barracks on the way to the library. And doggone if the second we just walked in, here comes the sergeant major. And and the guy was like, all right, so the Gunny. Gunny runs up the chain. And by the time,

00;12;52;20 - 00;12;55;20
Craig Andrews
you know, in the air, Sergeant Major finds out pretty quickly.

00;12;55;23 - 00;13;01;09
Craig Andrews
So when the other squadron, cause Sergeant Major is able to say, yeah, we know about we're dealing with it.

00;13;03;13 - 00;13;12;00
Craig Andrews
Rodney, the dumb one did that again, but he never called the Gunny when he got caught by the sergeant major. And

00;13;12;00 - 00;13;27;29
Craig Andrews
I just thought, you know, there's, there's a number of neat lessons in that of, you know, the importance of communication, the importance of making sure, you know, you never want your boss surprised.

00;13;28;02 - 00;13;36;20
Otis McGregor
Yeah. Well, and bad news doesn't get better with time. You know, that's that's where my mind is, like, Holy shit, I screwed up.

00;13;36;24 - 00;13;48;02
Otis McGregor
I need because fortunately, that wasn't his sword, major. That was another sergeant major. Which means there there might be you might be able to survive it.

00;13;48;02 - 00;13;49;20
Otis McGregor
But,

00;13;49;20 - 00;13;57;29
Otis McGregor
yeah, if you don't tell, you don't pass that word up to your chain of command to your boss and communicate.

00;13;58;01 - 00;14;08;15
Otis McGregor
Hey, I screwed up. Here's what happened. And maybe not tell the whole truth. Like you, you you alluded to the library. Yes. We all know about the library.

00;14;08;15 - 00;14;12;09
Otis McGregor
But that that's probably saved him,

00;14;12;09 - 00;14;12;29
Otis McGregor
from,

00;14;12;29 - 00;14;20;25
Otis McGregor
from, you know, non-judicial punishment, getting the captain's master or whatever happened to him.

00;14;20;25 - 00;14;28;20
Otis McGregor
Because when you do something stupid as a young marine or young soldier, you don't fess up to it, man.

00;14;28;22 - 00;14;33;10
Otis McGregor
Yeah, you you lose a lot of credibility that way, too.

00;14;33;13 - 00;14;33;27
Craig Andrews
Well,

00;14;33;27 - 00;14;53;23
Craig Andrews
they have a unique form of punishment that was, one level short of Njpw in the Philippines. They would take your your green ID card and give you a blue ID card, which meant you could never make it through the front gate. So it's kind of like, you know, put putting the dog in the crate, winning pest in the house.

00;14;53;26 - 00;14;56;12
Craig Andrews
Right. And,

00;14;56;12 - 00;15;02;18
Craig Andrews
and for many, for many folks, that was worse than Njpw.

00;15;02;21 - 00;15;07;09
Otis McGregor
Yeah, probably because they couldn't go on out into town anymore, right?

00;15;07;12 - 00;15;15;19
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, man. Well, one of the things you told me that I just found,

00;15;15;19 - 00;15;19;24
Craig Andrews
amazing. How long have you been married?

00;15;19;26 - 00;15;24;05
Otis McGregor
It'll be 38 years next month.

00;15;24;07 - 00;15;40;20
Craig Andrews
I I've been continually impressed by military spouses. They're unique creatures. It's a hard life.

00;15;40;23 - 00;15;47;19
Craig Andrews
And how did you guys make that work?

00;15;47;21 - 00;15;49;08
Otis McGregor
A lot of hard work.

00;15;49;08 - 00;15;49;18
Otis McGregor
Because,

00;15;49;18 - 00;15;52;20
Otis McGregor
you know, the the right answer would be communication.

00;15;52;20 - 00;15;54;24
Otis McGregor
But we sucked at that.

00;15;54;24 - 00;16;01;20
Otis McGregor
It was no one. Our places. And me being,

00;16;01;20 - 00;16;12;03
Otis McGregor
quickly adapting because she would remind me, you know, that's that's not one of your soldiers. It's not one of your sort.

00;16;12;16 - 00;16;16;14
Otis McGregor
That's your daughter or your son, you know, that sort of thing.

00;16;16;14 - 00;16;24;13
Otis McGregor
And that little because pretty much damn near after every deployment, I would have to be reminded of that,

00;16;24;13 - 00;16;33;23
Otis McGregor
because, you know, nowadays we take a lot better care of the family, and there's, you know, transition help and counseling and and all these sort of things.

00;16;33;23 - 00;16;34;11
Otis McGregor
And they're one

00;16;34;11 - 00;16;35;12
Otis McGregor
of the,

00;16;35;12 - 00;16;37;26
Otis McGregor
so we just had to figure it out. And,

00;16;37;26 - 00;16;39;28
Otis McGregor
you know, she's,

00;16;39;28 - 00;16;43;04
Otis McGregor
a beautifully patient woman.

00;16;43;04 - 00;16;43;21
Otis McGregor
And,

00;16;43;21 - 00;16;48;07
Otis McGregor
that's that's the key to it is her patience,

00;16;48;07 - 00;16;55;24
Otis McGregor
accepting me for who I am and knowing that when I come back from deployment, we have to go through this again.

00;16;55;24 - 00;16;58;16
Otis McGregor
You know, I would get better at it.

00;16;58;18 - 00;17;05;00
Otis McGregor
It wouldn't take, you know, 3 or 4 weeks. It would take maybe a reminder or two.

00;17;05;00 - 00;17;28;28
Otis McGregor
It was just that and that reintegration. And then, you know, the back to the Green Berets as as hard as we would work and as much as we would deploy. We were also very good about the family aspect. And here's an example.

00;17;28;28 - 00;17;32;06
Otis McGregor
So my team, we deployed,

00;17;32;06 - 00;17;34;03
Otis McGregor
to Europe for some training.

00;17;34;03 - 00;17;37;15
Otis McGregor
It was tough duty. It was it was four weeks in Switzerland.

00;17;38;24 - 00;17;46;13
Otis McGregor
Skiing and and rock climbing. But it was over Thanksgiving. Well, my wife, Miss Suzanne, and,

00;17;46;13 - 00;17;48;19
Otis McGregor
my, my kids call

00;17;48;19 - 00;17;49;29
Otis McGregor
on Cindy.

00;17;49;29 - 00;17;52;01
Otis McGregor
My team sergeant's wife,

00;17;52;01 - 00;17;55;04
Otis McGregor
became very good friends, and they hosted,

00;17;55;04 - 00;17;59;14
Otis McGregor
the entire everybody's family for Thanksgiving.

00;17;59;14 - 00;18;08;04
Otis McGregor
At my house while we were all deployed. And to this day, you know, that was a long time ago.

00;18;08;04 - 00;18;09;18
Otis McGregor
Whatever the math is on that,

00;18;09;18 - 00;18;12;14
Otis McGregor
probably close to 30 years now,

00;18;12;14 - 00;18;34;23
Otis McGregor
that my wife still talks about how that was probably the most special Thanksgiving she's ever had, you know, and includes all the ones we've had with family and other friends. And but it was just that special aspect of the common bond that they all felt that they were all they weren't alone.

00;18;34;25 - 00;18;46;14
Otis McGregor
They didn't have to suffer through it alone. They could all rely on each other. And the kids all got together and the kids all played, and it was like a big family.

00;18;46;14 - 00;18;56;19
Otis McGregor
And that's a, a key piece of that, I think, in their ability to succeed in that room, that,

00;18;56;19 - 00;18;59;12
Otis McGregor
And anything you're not alone and doing it,

00;18;59;12 - 00;19;01;06
Otis McGregor
it's not.

00;19;01;09 - 00;19;06;19
Otis McGregor
I'm the only one who understands this. I'm the only one who's suffering through this,

00;19;06;19 - 00;19;30;26
Otis McGregor
screw up. You're being an arrogant and selfish person when you think that. Because there's plenty of other people out there that may not have walked exactly the same as you, but I guarantee you, they walked pretty damn close to the same problems and might have some ways and ideas for how to handle it, how to how to overcome it, and might just maybe not even that.

00;19;30;27 - 00;19;50;08
Otis McGregor
Maybe just that pat on the back and say, man, that's tough, that's tough. And that's you know that. Do you want to talk about it? And there's anything I can do to make you an apple pie or whatever. Then, then let me know because nobody gets through this alone.

00;19;50;08 - 00;19;55;12
Otis McGregor
That's such a I get frustrated,

00;19;55;12 - 00;19;58;01
Otis McGregor
and I'm going to, I'm going to divulge into,

00;19;58;01 - 00;20;01;01
Otis McGregor
suicide because I've dealt with it a lot.

00;20;01;03 - 00;20;02;04
Otis McGregor
Over the years, both,

00;20;02;04 - 00;20;03;14
Otis McGregor
soldiers and

00;20;03;26 - 00;20;05;09
Otis McGregor
teenagers.

00;20;06;07 - 00;20;35;19
Otis McGregor
And, and young men. And it's it pisses me off because it's a selfish act that my troubles are so bad that the only solution. And by the way, I also truly believe that a person that commits suicide makes a poor decision that is permanent in the moment. They are not a poor person. They are not a bad person.

00;20;35;19 - 00;20;49;16
Otis McGregor
They make a bad decision in the moment. That is permanent. But that that's a selfish act because you're not alone. You're not the only one.

00;20;49;16 - 00;21;09;19
Otis McGregor
And and truly the, the pain and suffering it causes beyond that decision, you make that permanent, grotesque decision you make in the moment is. This is selfish.

00;21;09;19 - 00;21;11;09
Otis McGregor
That's really the only way I can.

00;21;11;09 - 00;21;15;00
Otis McGregor
I can put it. And, you know, a good friend of mine,

00;21;15;00 - 00;21;17;28
Otis McGregor
Scotty Mann, another Green Beret.

00;21;17;28 - 00;21;34;10
Otis McGregor
He says this a lot, and I truly agree with him, is nobody's coming to rescue you. Nobody's going to just drive by and say, oh, what's wrong with you? Because whether whether we're talking suicide or business,

00;21;34;10 - 00;21;37;26
Otis McGregor
family relationships, any of these things that,

00;21;37;26 - 00;21;48;18
Otis McGregor
we deal with as humans, if you don't ask, ain't nobody gonna help 100%.

00;21;48;20 - 00;22;11;25
Otis McGregor
I mean, because you have to ask in order to be open to receive, somebody can come and say, hey, Craig there, and then you're doing all right. And what are you gonna say? Oh, yeah. Yeah, man. No, it's all good. Oh, good. Okay. Good day. Happy to Chapman. See you later. As opposed to. Hey, Craig, you're doing all right.

00;22;11;27 - 00;22;13;14
Otis McGregor
Yeah, I'm dealing with some shit, man.

00;22;13;14 - 00;22;33;19
Otis McGregor
You got a minute? Of course I got a minute. And that's again. That's. We're not just talking suicide. We're talking either. Hey, do businessmen really struggling with this thing? And, you know, business is flatlined. It's going down, you know, this whole Doge thing and the government cutting back and people laying off.

00;22;33;19 - 00;23;00;06
Otis McGregor
And now it's really starting to affect our bottom line. And I'm, I'm I don't know what to do. Hey, Otis. Hey, Craig. Let's talk, man. Let's set something up. Let's, let's let's jump on the phone, man. I got I got time at 3:00 this afternoon. What's. That's the differentiator? The people that sit there and soak and think, my life sucks.

00;23;00;06 - 00;23;10;27
Otis McGregor
My business is broke. I can't figure this out. Are being selfish because they think they're the only ones dealing with it. And that's. Sorry.

00;23;10;27 - 00;23;39;03
Otis McGregor
I'm emotional about this kind of stuff because it. I despise people thinking they're all alone because you ain't. We just. When we started the show, we proved that Wellington, New Zealand, you and I talking on a zoom call and our doctor recall last week, and there's probably a hundred different other folks and small worlds that we could connect.

00;23;39;05 - 00;23;55;00
Otis McGregor
You ain't alone. And let me tell you, there ain't no finish line other than the coffin. And the only way you're going to be happy between now and in the coffin, the dash on your tombstone is do it with other people.

00;23;55;02 - 00;23;57;08
Craig Andrews
And I think there's power,

00;23;57;08 - 00;24;01;22
Craig Andrews
in just declaring the describe the struggle. You know, there's,

00;24;01;22 - 00;24;15;04
Craig Andrews
I heard the phrase once, when you name it, you tame it. You know, you just put it out there. There's there's therapy just in saying, hey, here's what I'm struggling with.

00;24;15;07 - 00;24;15;25
Otis McGregor
Oh, yeah.

00;24;15;25 - 00;24;18;07
Otis McGregor
You know, one of the things, when I went through my,

00;24;18;07 - 00;24;24;23
Otis McGregor
life coaching certification years ago, one of the exercises that they taught us and we went through,

00;24;24;23 - 00;24;36;12
Otis McGregor
was, was dealing with your your gremlins and the gremlins. You know, the little the little dude that sits on your shoulder and says, you're smart enough, you ain't good enough, or all those sort of things that keeps you from taking action.

00;24;36;14 - 00;24;55;12
Otis McGregor
One of the things we did was we literally built something to represent a gremlin, and then named it and then brought it to class, almost like an elementary school project. Right? Brought it to class and then destroyed it. And,

00;24;55;12 - 00;24;58;07
Otis McGregor
I'll always remember watching my, my,

00;24;58;07 - 00;24;59;08
Otis McGregor
my friend,

00;24;59;08 - 00;25;05;29
Otis McGregor
Allison do that, and, wow, did it hit her.

00;25;06;01 - 00;25;15;26
Otis McGregor
I mean, she, like, almost uncontrollably started to cry as she destroyed her gremlin model.

00;25;15;26 - 00;25;34;17
Otis McGregor
So that is 100% true. You name it, you identify it, and now I can take it and I can say, all right, George, Fred, Sally, whatever it is, I ain't going to let you do that. Put you over here. You know, I, I always,

00;25;34;17 - 00;25;48;01
Otis McGregor
think of it as, like, putting it in the box and putting it in a box, and I'm snapping that master lock, that series 200 lock on it, and I'm going to put it there, and I'm going to secure that key.

00;25;48;03 - 00;25;59;17
Otis McGregor
But it also doesn't take a whole lot for that gremlin to creep back out, figure out a way out of that box, and I gotta find it again to get it back in the box.

00;25;59;17 - 00;26;11;17
Otis McGregor
So yeah, I guess the, the whole point of that story is. Yeah, you name it, identify it, but don't use it as an excuse.

00;26;11;19 - 00;26;13;14
Craig Andrews
Yeah.

00;26;13;16 - 00;26;35;15
Otis McGregor
That it's I think, there's a tendency right now in our society to, to label my anxiety my, this, my that and put it as an excuse, a justification for not

00;26;35;15 - 00;26;47;24
Otis McGregor
moving forward, for not doing something. Yeah. There's don't get me wrong. There are there are some folks that are dealing with that that need a need a pill to break the cycle.

00;26;47;26 - 00;27;16;11
Otis McGregor
Because it's gotten the it's gotten so bad internally in them. But in the end, you don't use that as an excuse. That's like, you know, any amputee you've ever seen going, well, I can't I can't do that because, you know, my leg got blown off. Well okay. Yeah. Did that do you want to do it? You know, if you really want to do it, that there's plenty of people,

00;27;16;11 - 00;27;27;20
Otis McGregor
examples of folks who have done various things that far exceed in any expectation by their, their physical or mental capacity.

00;27;27;23 - 00;27;31;26
Otis McGregor
So I'm doing the tough talk and,

00;27;31;26 - 00;27;53;27
Otis McGregor
but that's what I believe. You can't you can't use any of these things as an excuse. Yeah. Identify it and then go, all right, George, you mf get out of my way. I'm not going to let you screw this up, because I got this opportunity, and I earned it.

00;27;53;29 - 00;27;55;03
Craig Andrews
You know, when I was in the,

00;27;55;03 - 00;28;15;04
Craig Andrews
you know, when I was in the hospital, about two weeks after I woke up, you know, when when you wake up from a coma, your mind's all fuzzy and screwed up. And, you know, after week and a half, two weeks, I was getting a real clear picture of what was going on, and it sucked.

00;28;15;06 - 00;28;34;21
Craig Andrews
I couldn't do anything for myself. I could barely, barely lift my arms and legs. I was in constant pain and dependent upon everybody else. And tomorrow was going to be the same way. And the day after that was going to be the same way, and the day after that would be the same. And I remember there was one more morning.

00;28;34;21 - 00;29;10;29
Craig Andrews
I just started spiraling down to a very, very dark place. Dark, dark. And around lunchtime it hit me. I was like. Greg, you can't accomplish what you want to accomplish if you let your mind go there, you gotta turn your mind around. And so I did. I started working on it and my wife came in. She would come in in the afternoons, and one of the first things I did was I told her, I said, I've been I was spiraling to a dark place this morning, you know, set name it and tame it.

00;29;11;01 - 00;29;13;25
Otis McGregor
Put your hand up. You put your head up too.

00;29;13;28 - 00;29;14;17
Craig Andrews
Yeah.

00;29;14;19 - 00;29;16;22
Otis McGregor
Yeah.

00;29;16;25 - 00;29;31;06
Craig Andrews
And and it was night and day difference. But yeah, if you sit around, it's fine to say it sucks, but if you just lay back and do nothing about it, it's going to suck more.

00;29;32;04 - 00;29;42;09
Craig Andrews
And it would suck not only for me but would suck for everybody around me. I would have made everybody around me miserable if I kept going to that dark place.

00;29;42;12 - 00;29;48;02
Otis McGregor
Yeah. Yeah. That's the, that's the choice we all get to make.

00;29;48;02 - 00;30;07;10
Otis McGregor
You know, we can choose it. Don't get me wrong, there's some dark. You you've you've been there. Dark, evil things that our mind can put us into. But in the same sense, our mind is so powerful that we can overcome any of those things. That's the.

00;30;07;12 - 00;30;09;01
Otis McGregor
That's when you really start to,

00;30;09;01 - 00;30;15;03
Otis McGregor
get into this and understand this, that I can choose to make it different.

00;30;15;03 - 00;30;38;05
Otis McGregor
Yeah. This sucks. This is the the where I'm at right now sucks. Is is not who or what I want to be at this point in life or where I am or whatever. However you frame that. The beauty is you can Walter on that and make it more true and deeper and darker.

00;30;38;08 - 00;30;51;12
Otis McGregor
Or you can say, well, I'm just not going to do that. I'm going to accept this is what I am. This is who I am today, and I'm going to change it because that's not what I want to be tomorrow. And it may feel like,

00;30;51;12 - 00;30;56;28
Otis McGregor
it ain't never going to change, but boy, it does. It does.

00;30;56;28 - 00;31;06;09
Otis McGregor
Once you start to make that choice and you take action in that choice, that's the power of our mind. Is that frickin powerful?

00;31;06;11 - 00;31;20;06
Craig Andrews
Yeah. You know, as I been listening to talk, it makes more and more sense why you named your business tribe and purpose. So let's talk about that.

00;31;20;08 - 00;31;23;19
Otis McGregor
Yeah. So, you know, just,

00;31;23;19 - 00;31;29;27
Otis McGregor
a little bit of the origin. It took us a while. We did some. I did some deep dive in with a branding friend of mine,

00;31;29;27 - 00;31;35;16
Otis McGregor
sharing stories like 2 or 3 hours,

00;31;35;16 - 00;31;41;29
Otis McGregor
calls, like, every week for about two months. And one day, it just came to both of us,

00;31;41;29 - 00;31;43;01
Otis McGregor
tribe and purpose.

00;31;43;01 - 00;32;05;21
Otis McGregor
And the reason is, is everybody has a purpose. And if you want to be happy in your life, you have to know what your purpose is. You have to have clarity in that purpose, and you have to live your life intentionally in pursuit of that purpose. Because I know that's why I do what I do. That's where I'm going.

00;32;05;21 - 00;32;34;02
Otis McGregor
That's why I'm that's why it sucks right now. Because I see the benefit I have to go through the suck to get to the benefit. Everybody has that. And when you have that, the beauty of it is, is people are attracted to it that have the same or aligned purpose. They believe in your purpose and their purpose is aligned with your purpose, and that that's how you get the tribe.

00;32;34;05 - 00;32;45;12
Otis McGregor
The tribe is a group of people with similar values and aligned purposes that want to work together to help everybody in that tribe succeed.

00;32;45;12 - 00;32;48;28
Otis McGregor
I always say that one of the one of the tests,

00;32;48;28 - 00;33;02;27
Otis McGregor
of the individual being the right fit for your tribe is that they get 51% of their effort to help everybody else in the tribe.

00;33;02;29 - 00;33;03;14
Craig Andrews
Yeah.

00;33;03;16 - 00;33;32;18
Otis McGregor
It's more important to help everybody else in the tribe succeed than it is to help themselves. And it's not what I get out of it is how I help others. Because in the end, nobody, nobody has been successful by themselves. Go read every history book, every famous name. You read their biography, and you start to see that. Yeah, they might have made some great decisions, but those decisions were implemented, done by other people.

00;33;32;20 - 00;33;44;24
Otis McGregor
Those actions were followed through by other people. Yeah, we all may know Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos, but he wasn't alone. Neither one of them were alone.

00;33;44;24 - 00;34;10;16
Otis McGregor
The they had the people around them that that that helped them, that believed in them and supported them and did the actions. Because if you're just an island unto yourself and you think you're the greatest thing since sliced bread and you're you're selling your vision, it is it's fake, it's surface, and it's not going to get anywhere.

00;34;10;16 - 00;34;18;16
Otis McGregor
It's not going to succeed. You made you have a couple of people that are desperate to buy in, but it's not going to be an enduring legacy.

00;34;18;16 - 00;34;31;22
Otis McGregor
It's it's going to be a flash in the pan. And what I'm what I'm doing, what we are creating with tribe and purpose is that a legacy is a legacy of leaders to change the world.

00;34;31;22 - 00;34;37;24
Otis McGregor
And that's man. That let me tell you, 4:00 in the morning when when my,

00;34;37;24 - 00;34;40;10
Otis McGregor
wake up early disease kicks in,

00;34;40;10 - 00;34;52;28
Otis McGregor
it still sucks to get out of bed. It still sucks for you to go downstairs and work out. But I do it because I tell myself, you know what? Even you know, this morning,

00;34;52;28 - 00;34;57;11
Otis McGregor
it's like, man, I've got this call with Craig, and I know that if I.

00;34;57;13 - 00;35;17;20
Otis McGregor
If I don't work out, I can still I'll still be on the call. But I won't be who I need to be. I won't be 100% or 95% of the person I need to be. So I'm going to get on the bike, I'm going to ride the bike, and I'm going to do my stretches and I'm going to eat my breakfast.

00;35;17;20 - 00;35;37;16
Otis McGregor
I'm going to do my walk and all these things because my purpose is pulling me to do those things. It fuels my actions because I know that being here with you helps me fulfill my purpose.

00;35;37;19 - 00;35;53;15
Craig Andrews
You know, and I think one element in the tribe is there's there's some accountability. Not only is there support, but there's some accountability, you know, and when when I was having to learn how to walk again,

00;35;53;15 - 00;36;03;20
Craig Andrews
one of the things that I kept squarely in mind is I had a name that I had to honor. It wasn't my name on the line.

00;36;03;22 - 00;36;16;21
Craig Andrews
It was the name of every marine out there. And, I, I was going to recover in a way that would honor my brothers.

00;36;16;24 - 00;36;21;04
Otis McGregor
Yeah, that was powerful fuel for your one.

00;36;21;07 - 00;36;28;26
Craig Andrews
Yeah, yeah. And then there's another guy. Yeah. You talked about amputees. There's,

00;36;28;26 - 00;36;37;05
Craig Andrews
a guy named Kyle Maynard. It was born without no arms or legs. And I used to work with his dad, and,

00;36;37;05 - 00;36;51;17
Craig Andrews
And something else I kept telling myself was like, if Kyle can do it, I can do it. You know, real simple. Yeah, but that's the accountability of the tribe.

00;36;51;20 - 00;36;55;15
Craig Andrews
So who do you who do you help and how do you help them.

00;36;55;18 - 00;36;57;11
Otis McGregor
So we help

00;36;57;11 - 00;37;07;01
Otis McGregor
we love working with small business leaders, CEO and founders of small businesses to help them create leaders and their team.

00;37;07;01 - 00;37;21;15
Otis McGregor
We have a leadership development system that we call the Green Beret Leadership Program that is designed to build leaders in your team because leadership is a skill, and everybody needs to continuously hone that skill.

00;37;21;17 - 00;37;45;14
Otis McGregor
You have to work. And our leadership development program is a way of doing that, so that you have a team of leaders, and leading a team of leaders does two things for you. Leaders bring you solutions, not problems. They solve things. And then if you're up to it and you do this, they're going to make you a better leader because they're going to push you.

00;37;45;15 - 00;37;51;16
Otis McGregor
You're going to like I was talking about when I was a major and I was leading those those younger captains and,

00;37;51;16 - 00;38;08;16
Otis McGregor
other CEOs that were in my company. And I'm looking at them going, Holy crap, they're good. I better pick up the pace, I better I better figure out how I get better, how I can match their level of success.

00;38;08;18 - 00;38;20;22
Otis McGregor
So that is that is one of the ways that we help small businesses. The other way is if you are that CEO, founder and you found your your business's flatlined,

00;38;20;22 - 00;38;42;23
Otis McGregor
because you are head down in the day to day operations and you can't step away. Well, we have a program and we provide a fractional CEO that comes in and helps establish the systems and processes so that you can disengage from the day to day operations.

00;38;42;26 - 00;39;06;26
Otis McGregor
And we also help assure that you have a positive culture in your organization so that you can launch and grow to that next level. Because, Mr. CEO, founder, when you get out of the day to day business and you start to do what you're supposed to be doing, which is set the vision, fulfill the vision, lead towards the vision, get out and sell your business because nobody has the passion

00;39;06;26 - 00;39;10;28
Otis McGregor
for it like you do, and nobody can sell it better than you can.

00;39;11;01 - 00;39;14;15
Otis McGregor
Then your business is going to grow now.

00;39;14;16 - 00;39;17;22
Craig Andrews
Well that's awesome Otis, how can people reach you?

00;39;17;25 - 00;39;20;10
Otis McGregor
The best way is through LinkedIn.

00;39;20;10 - 00;39;24;04
Otis McGregor
Otis MacGregor on LinkedIn, you can also find,

00;39;24;04 - 00;39;37;29
Otis McGregor
information about all of our programs and how we're creating that legacy of great leaders at ten X, your team dot net. That's the number ten. The letter X your team while you are to,

00;39;37;29 - 00;39;41;21
Otis McGregor
dot net like a fish in that.

00;39;41;23 - 00;39;45;00
Craig Andrews
That's awesome. Well thanks for sharing that. And leaders and legacies.

00;39;45;02 - 00;39;47;22
Otis McGregor
Thanks for having me.

00;39;47;22 - 00;40;14;16
Craig Andrews
This is Craig Andrews. I want to thank you for listening to the Leaders and Legacies podcast. We're looking for leaders to share how they're making the impact beyond themselves. If that's you, please go to Ally's for me.com/guest and sign up there. If you got something out of this interview, we would love you to share this

00;40;14;16 - 00;40;16;11
Craig Andrews
episode on social media.

00;40;16;13 - 00;40;39;23
Craig Andrews
Just do a quick screenshot with your phone and text it to a friend, or posted on the socials. If you know someone who would be a great guest. Tag them on social media and let them know about the show, including the hashtag leaders and legacies. I love seeing your posts and suggestions. We are regularly putting out new episodes and content to make sure you don't miss anything.

00;40;39;25 - 00;40;48;00
Craig Andrews
Please go ahead and subscribe. Your thumbs up. Ratings and reviews go a long way to help promote the show. It means a lot to me.

00;40;48;00 - 00;42;50;05
Craig Andrews
It means a lot to my team. If you want to know more, please go to Ally's for me.com. Or follow me on LinkedIn. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.