Inside Strategic Coach: Connecting Entrepreneurs With What Really Matters

Hosted by Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller

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258

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Jun 2026

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Inside Strategic Coach is a practical resource for entrepreneurs, or anyone with a growth mindset. Hosts Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller share breakthrough insights, educational success stories, and insider know-how, gained from working with thousands of successful business owners, worldwide.

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June 16, 202639 min

Unlock A Fourth Level Of Thinking That Elite Entrepreneurs Rely On

Everyone knows what cognitive thinking is, but what about metacognitive thinking? Dan Sullivan uses this term to describe the kind of thinking The Strategic Coach® Program develops in entrepreneurs. In this episode, Dan and fellow business coach Shannon Waller explore metacognitive thinking and how it helps the right kind of entrepreneurs achieve their biggest dreams with greater clarity and confidence. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:The three levels of thinking most people rely on in daily life.The fourth level of thinking that unlocks your best entrepreneurial ideas.Dan’s first childhood experience of thinking about his thinking.The question that set Dan on a completely different life path from his peers.Why entrepreneurs gain an unfair advantage when they learn to think about their thinking. Show Notes: One level of thinking is thinking about things. People like things, and they often use shared things as common ground for conversation. The second level of thinking is thinking about people, which is why social media has become such a powerful phenomenon. For most people, thinking about things and thinking about people uses up almost all of their available mental time. The third level of thinking is thinking about thoughts, which is the focus of higher education and high-level media. In higher education, professors typically teach other people’s thinking rather than developing and teaching their own. The fourth level of thinking, which very creative people—and especially entrepreneurs—can access, is thinking about your thinking. Thinking about your thinking gives you the ability to deliberately change how you’re thinking about a situation or problem. Strategic Coach® provides hundreds of thinking tools to help entrepreneurs think about their thinking in structured, practical ways. Your emotions are not a direct response to what happens outside of you; they’re a response to how you’re thinking about what happens. Resources: My Plan For Living To 156 by Dan Sullivan Unique Ability®

June 2, 202623 min

Real Entrepreneurial Creativity Can’t Be Copied

Entrepreneurs often need to be creative to have a profitable business. What do you do when you aren’t a creative person? In this episode, business coaches Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller talk about the “why” and “how” of imitating other people in order to achieve business success.Here's some of what you'll learn in this episode:Why we imitate other people’s performance.The reason Dan never attends workshops by other coaches.How real creativity involves grafting.How uses of technology can be a step back instead of a step forward.Show Notes:There are two timeless ways of learning and improving yourself: imitating other people's performance, and repetition.Humans are the only species that can use their brains to access the uniqueness of other people's brains.We all imitate other people, whether we like to admit it or not.If you're creative, and you come across someone who's more creative, you imitate, but at a certain point, you make it your own.What an imitating person does, and for how long they do it, tells you whether they're just an imitator or whether they're creative.If you appreciate someone else’s skills, you can translate them into your own world.Creative people can be polarizing.You create a new capability using vision and obstacles.The combination of two people’s uniqueness creates something brand new.People who imitate but aren’t creative are stealing.In a world of AI imitation, creative people are going to get wildly more creative to differentiate themselves from robots.Resources:Unique Ability®Your Life As A Strategy Circle by Dan Sullivan

May 19, 202635 min

How To Create A Company That Top Talent Never Wants To Leave

Every great entrepreneur wants (and deserves) to have a dependable team around them so they can be freed up to develop new ideas and focus on growing their business. But how do you get one? After all, the first question most entrepreneurs ask when they join The Strategic Coach® Program is, “Where do you find such great team members?” In this episode of Inside Strategic Coach, Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller finally answer this question in-depth. From identifying and nurturing Unique Ability® within a team and creating a positive and collaborative work culture to investing in team members’ growth, Dan and Shannon share everything that makes Strategic Coach® a magnet for skilled and passionate talent—and how to become one too.Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode: The number one tool necessary for building and maintaining a great team.How to determine if an activity is right for a person.Why Strategic Coach team members don’t really need to be managed, monitored, or motivated.How Strategic Coach creates an incredible sense of safety for its team members.The two things that team members are looking for.Why you should think of hiring someone as an investment, not a cost. Show Notes: At Strategic Coach, you’re always either winning or learning. There are a lot of Coach tools that support having a great team. Everybody's on their own unique growth path in terms of who they are and the kind of work they’re most likely to enjoy and excel at. Strategic Coach team members can continually focus their time at work on doing what they’re excited about. The moment someone is hired, Coach invests in learning about who that person is and how they can grow their skills. At Strategic Coach, if something doesn’t work, the system gets blamed, not the individual. The four core values of Strategic Coach (PAGE) are: positive and collaborative teamwork, being alert, curious, responsive, and resourceful, getting results, and providing an excellent first-class experience. Strategic Coach has uniformly very helpful and very positive staff. Some Coach clients have been with the company for 15, 20, 25 years, and so have some team members. The educational system generally disparages successful business people. Almost all Coach team members are directly in contact on a person to person level with the company’s clients. A team member can’t be at their best if they don’t feel safe. If you want great team members, you have to be a great entrepreneur. And that also includes being a great person. Great team members who want a bigger future aren't interested in being with someone who doesn't have any future. If you're going to be able to attract and retain the best people out there, you can’t have an entitled attitude. Resources: Unique AbilityⓇ Article: Your Business Is a Theater Production: Your Back Stage Shouldn’t Show on the Front Stage The Team Success Handbook by Shannon Waller Everyone And Everything Grows by Dan Sullivan Who Not How by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy

May 5, 202618 min

The Powerful Mindset That Makes 10x Growth Feel Easy

Every entrepreneur would love to go 10x. So what’s holding them back? In this episode, business coaches Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller share the mindset you need to experience major business growth. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:The incorrect way that most people interpret 10x.How you can learn about going 10x from looking at your past.Why people are currently experiencing 10x greater growth very easily.How to think of 10x in terms of entrepreneurial freedoms. Show Notes: The world is progressing on the basis of new tools, new technologies, and new opportunities. We’ve all gone 10x many times in our lives. It’s useful for entrepreneurs to look at how they’ve grown within the framework of their entrepreneurial lives. You can look at massive growth as a series of 10x jumps. If you don’t have a deadline for it, it’s only a wish. Entrepreneurs don’t drive themselves crazy with their goals, they drive themselves crazy with their deadlines. Money you make can be good or bad depending on the activity and who is writing you the check. The four entrepreneurial freedoms are freedom of time, money, relationship, and purpose. All entrepreneurs seek the freedom to focus on whatever they want to focus on. Looking ahead doesn’t tell you how to go 10x. Change is a natural part of being an entrepreneur. Resources: 10x Is Easier Than 2x by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin HardyThe Four FreedomsThe Self-Managing Company by Dan Sullivan

April 21, 202617 min

Just Because You’re Busy Doesn’t Mean You’re Productive

A lot of people go to great lengths to always appear busy. But should you really see being busy as a badge of honor? In this episode, Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller explain why the answer is “no.”Here's some of what you'll learn in this episode:What busy people are really after.How busy people are actually wasting energy.How to achieve results more easily using teamwork.Why there’s a real cost for entrepreneurs who are focused on being busy.Show Notes:People try to establish their value by always being busy.Being busy has nothing to do with any kind of results.As results oriented people get better at what they do, they achieve their desired results by being less busy.Depending on the rules you set up in your company, either being busy or achieving results will be rewarded.Busy people see it as dangerous to not be seen on any workday.In large bureaucracies, you get promoted on the basis of your busyness because the organization’s purpose is to be seen as busy.Entrepreneurial companies get connected to the marketplace very quickly.There’s no progress without measurement.Entrepreneurs tend to make for really lousy employees.We’re always ignorant and incapable when we start anything new.Resources:“Geometry” For Staying Cool & Calm by Dan SullivanThe Entrepreneur’s Guide To Time ManagementArticle: Your Business Is A Theater Production: Your Back Stage Shouldn’t Show On The Front Stage by Shannon WallerThe 4 C’s Formula by Dan Sullivan

April 7, 202615 min

Technology Isn’t Cool Until It’s Boring

A technology doesn’t truly transform the world until it becomes so normal that it’s boring. As dramatic as AI feels today, it’s headed for the same destination. In this episode, Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller explore the different stages people are at with AI, what entrepreneurs can expect as it becomes embedded in everyday life, and how they can turn AI into a capability that multiplies their existing strengths. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:How all technologies go from exciting novelty to everyday normal.How entrepreneurs, team members, and the public are each thinking about and using AI right now.How big companies are building AI into their products and services so it simply becomes part of daily life. Show Notes: Technology only becomes truly useful when it’s so normal in your life that you barely notice it. What feels disruptive and exciting today will quickly become just another dependable part of how you get results. AI will embed into every tool you use at a far faster pace than any previous technology shift. Electricity, highways, and smartphones were once extraordinary breakthroughs, but now they’re simply part of everyday life. If you’re overwhelmed by AI, the real issue isn’t the technology itself, but unmade decisions about what you want and what it means for you. Humans are uniquely wired to normalize change, which is why your biggest breakthroughs eventually feel routine. The faster you can emotionally normalize new technology, the faster you can turn it into a strategic advantage. No technology changes your character, but it can dramatically multiply the results of your existing habits. AI is particularly powerful for repetitive, standardized activities that free you up for higher-value thinking and relationships. If you struggle with people and teamwork, AI won’t fix that problem; it will just expose it more clearly. Most fears about AI come from team members feeling it’s being imposed on them without context, safety, or a future they can see themselves in. Your team’s concerns about AI are useful raw material for designing solutions that grow their confidence and engagement. The real opportunity is not just building smarter tools, but helping people feel capable and confident using them. Every 10x jump in your business starts with a period of fear, uncertainty, and discomfort that later becomes your next version of normal. Measuring your progress backwards shows how many things that once felt extraordinary are now just part of how you operate. Instead of waiting for AI to feel safe, decide how you want it to support your best future and then take small, practical steps toward it. The entrepreneurs who win with AI will be the ones who treat it as an everyday capability, not a one‑time miracle. Resources: 10x Is Easier Than 2x by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy

March 24, 202614 min

This One Small Change Makes Every Day A Win

What if your only job today were to create a great yesterday? In this episode, Dan Sullivan shares a simple daily mindset shift that keeps entrepreneurs grounded, focused, and remarkably productive. Learn how “creating yesterday” calms future anxiety, turns frustration into successes, and helps you fully appreciate the small actions that make each day a real win. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:The real-life benefits Dan has experienced from using this daily focus.How to make sure you always remember your daily goal.An example of how to change a bad day into a great yesterday.How writing down small actions makes you more conscious, present, and productive. Show Notes: ADHD can pull your attention into endless future possibilities. Thinking about tomorrow can make you feel great about what you’re doing today. Focusing on creating great yesterdays keeps you grounded in the present. Staying focused on creating a great yesterday helps you avoid feeling bothered by what you can’t control. We never actually experience the future. We can only act on the future when it shows up as the present. Don’t let yourself get upset about something you can’t do anything about. Stay in charge of your experience instead of letting situations be in charge. Focusing on creating great yesterdays keeps you from getting worn out by the future. Writing down what you do throughout the day anchors the experience. Being conscious about the activities you’re doing has its own reward. Resources: The Gap And The Gain by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy My Plan For Living To 156 by Dan Sullivan

March 10, 202618 min

Magic Happens When Improv Meets Entrepreneurship

Most entrepreneurs were trained to win through competition, not collaboration. In this episode, Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller show how the rules of improv—no one in charge, “yes, and,” and always supporting your partner—create transformative business partnerships, helping you think on your feet, combine unique strengths, and co‑create new value that competitors simply can’t copy. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:How the first two rules of improv translate directly into powerful business collaboration.What instantly shuts down collaboration and kills momentum.How Strategic Coach® workshops function as true collaborations between the coach and members.The structured way of thinking that Strategic Coach clients use to create new breakthroughs.What it really takes to be a great business coach. Show Notes: Strategic Coach® has always taken a theatrical approach to business, with a clear structure for entrepreneurs to bring their own content and breakthroughs. Thinking about your thinking lets you compare experiences, spot patterns, and create better solutions than you’ve had before. When you combine past experiences in new ways, you generate fresh ideas and opportunities that didn’t exist on their own. At Coach, the workshop tools may stay the same, but what each entrepreneur focuses on and transforms is totally unpredictable. Great coaching means being comfortable with anything participants say or ask and using it as raw material for progress. Your work life and personal life work best when they collaborate instead of compete, supporting the same future. Most entrepreneurs grow up in a world of pure competition and have to consciously shift into collaboration. At the highest level, successful companies collaborate with other successful companies to create a “third thing” for shared clients. This “third thing” is a new value creation that competitors can’t copy because they don’t know how it was created. In improv and in collaboration, no one is the boss; each partner brings different strengths and has equal status. The first rule of improv is to say yes to any new idea your partner brings instead of debating or analyzing it to death. The second rule of improv is to actively support your partner’s progress by adding value to what they’ve started. Powerful collaborators stay alert, curious, responsive, and resourceful so they can build on what’s happening in real time.Collaboration dies when your partner doesn’t respond, fails to comment, opposes your idea, or refuses to contribute to it. The best collaborative days often come from letting go of rigid plans and following the energy of the group’s best ideas.Being a great collaborator means arriving prepared with a “quiver” of experiences and examples you can draw on in the moment. You can strengthen your improv muscle by asking unpredictable, high‑value questions rather than trying to have all the answers. Resources: Casting Not Hiring by Dan Sullivan and Jeffrey Madoff Thinking About Your Thinking by Dan Sullivan Unique Ability® Yes, And by Kelly Leonard and Tom Yorton

February 24, 202618 min

Why Your Kind Of Smart Is Exactly What The World Needs

Do you ever catch yourself frustrated that other people don’t think or perform the way you do? In this episode, Dan Sullivan and Shannon Waller reveal why that difference is actually good news. Discover how appreciating your own uniqueness frees you from comparison, deepens teamwork, and helps you recognize the countless ways other people are smart and useful. Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:Why it’s a good thing that no one else is like you.How comparing yourself to others drains your confidence and progress.Why complaining that others are different is really the same as complaining about your success.How to quickly spot the specific way another person is smart and uniquely valuable. Show Notes: Wanting to be unique while also blaming others for not being like you is a mental trap that creates frustration and resentment.As an entrepreneur, your success comes from being usefully different in the marketplace, not from everyone else sharing your strengths or level of intelligence.Profiles like Kolbe, CliftonStrengths®, DISC, and Working Genius® make it obvious that every person is wired in a distinct way that can be incredibly valuable. The fact that other people don’t see what you see or think how you think is good news because it proves your uniqueness has real marketplace value.When you measure other people against your own personal “ideal,” you drop them into “The Gap” instead of appreciating the real progress and capability they already have. The moment you genuinely appreciate your own uniqueness, it becomes much easier and more natural to appreciate other people’s uniqueness too. Better teamwork happens when collaborators don’t have the same skills, instincts, and talents because each person covers gaps the others can’t see or fill. A powerful question to uncover someone’s intelligence is, “When it’s completely up to you, what do you most like to do?” and then keep asking curious follow-up questions. You’ll quickly discover that even people who don’t seem “smart” in your way are often extraordinarily knowledgeable and perceptive in areas you know nothing about. Most of the useful progress in the world has come from people without formal credentials who simply applied their kind of intelligence to real-world results. Being okay with the way you’re smart liberates you from constant comparison so you can focus on deepening your strengths and expanding your contribution.Unique Ability® combines what you love doing, what you’re exceptionally good at, what gives you energy, and what consistently creates value for others. When you commit to getting better and more useful with your Unique Ability, you naturally attract opportunities, collaborators, and clients who value exactly how you think.Trying to be good at everything or match other people’s strengths keeps you average, while doubling down on your Unique Ability makes you extraordinary.Appreciating your own uniqueness removes blame, anger, and guilt from relationships and replaces them with curiosity, respect, and more strategic collaboration.The most productive entrepreneurial communities are built around uniquely different people who share common rules and values, not around everyone being the same. Resources: The Gap And The Gain by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy Unique Ability® Kolbe A™ Index Working Genius® CliftonStrengths® DISC PRINT®

February 10, 202627 min

Simple Habits For True Happiness While Building Your Business

Happiness can be tricky for entrepreneurs, especially when the outside world thinks you’ve already “made it.” In this episode, Dan Sullivan shares a simple daily framework for staying genuinely happy as an entrepreneur, regardless of what’s happening in your business, your relationships, or the larger world around you.Here’s some of what you’ll learn in this episode:Why an entrepreneur’s happiness depends on three simple ingredients.How to measure your daily achievement in a way that actually feels like progress.What excites Dan most about creating and sharing a brand-new thinking tool.Why your greatest value shows up when you spend your time doing activities you genuinely love. Show Notes: Entrepreneurial happiness comes from a way of being that you practice every day, not a goal or a destination. The first ingredient for a happy entrepreneurial life is making real daily progress, not just occasional big wins. Measuring yourself against an ideal future is like measuring your distance to the horizon line—you never feel any closer. You feel genuinely successful when you measure progress against where you started and what you’ve actually achieved. A simple end-of-day reflection on what you accomplished turns an ordinary day into a tangible gain you can build on tomorrow. The second ingredient for a happy entrepreneur is liking who you are, which means appreciating how you handle setbacks, not pretending you’ve never made mistakes.When you give yourself grace for past decisions, it becomes much easier to extend that same grace to other people. Even if you don’t achieve your goal, you can be pleased with how you went about things. Being truly useful to other people each day is the third ingredient that makes entrepreneurial happiness feel complete.Strategic Coach® is built on hundreds of thinking tools that help entrepreneurs reframe situations and recognize the progress they’re actually making. These three ingredients—progress, self-liking, and usefulness—keep you grounded in the present instead of trapped in past regrets or future fantasies. Of the three, liking who you are carries special weight because without self-respect, progress and usefulness don’t feel satisfying.It’s hard to feel useful doing work you’re not good at or don’t enjoy, so designing your role around your Unique Ability® is crucial for happiness. Greater self-awareness helps you like yourself more because you understand which situations you handle well and which ones you should avoid or delegate. Dan describes happiness as living in “local reality”—what’s real, available, and actionable right now, instead of chasing someone else’s reality.Viewing each day through this three-part lens is a practical way to keep your entrepreneurial confidence high, no matter what challenges arise. Resources: The Gap And The Gain by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy Shannon Waller’s Team Success podcast Unique Ability® The Positive Focus®