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Listen "Col. Scot Heathman Doesn’t Bring His Best Self to Work Every Day, and That’s a Part of His Leadership Mantra"
Episode Synopsis
Scot is owner and founder of “Elevating Others,” a professional coaching and consulting business focused on increasing personal and organizational soft skills. He has been a leadership and development coach for over 25 years and is best known for being a servant leader and putting people first, with a passion for elevating others to become the best versions of themselves. His leadership mantra is simple, “Be Present, Be Bold, Be Innovative.”
In 2020, while serving as the Commander of Scott Air Force Base, Scot underwent a life threatening surgery to remove a brain tumor. Following surgery, he underwent extensive therapy and radiation treatments. Scot continues to battle today, but his approach to adversity and an optimistic outlook on life is infectious. His story inspired thousands across the Air Force and was showcased on the local CBS affiliate’s “Surprise Squad” segment.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION:
Brett Gilliland 00:02
Welcome to the Circuit of Success. I’m your host, Brett Gilliland. Today I’m fired up. I’ve got another local guy. I love having local guys on the podcast. I’ve got Colonel Scot Heathman, Scott, how you doing today?
Col. Scot Heathman 00:13
Good. I’m doing great.
Brett Gilliland 00:14
Good.
Col. Scot Heathman 00:15
What day is it? I’m retired.
Brett Gilliland 00:17
Everyday is Saturday, every day is Saturday for you. What is today? Actually, it’s Wednesday, August 17. Right? That’s the day it is. Well, hey, it’s so good to have you, you’ve got an amazing story and I really look forward to sharing that with our listeners and our followers. But just really the way you’ve listened to some of the shows, I know, so I’d like to really dive in to really what’s made you the man you are today? There’s a lot there. I know that’s a big question, a pretty loaded question to start with, but but there’s a backstory there. So I’d love to start there if we can.
Col. Scot Heathman 00:47
Well, I was born. That was a good thing. That’s a great thing, always a great thing to be alive. And I was born actually at Offutt Air Force Base, my dad was drafted. And so that’s why I came into this world. Saw Star Wars at age three, in 1977. You know, so that put me on a track to I want to be a pilot, you know. And so most of my childhood, that was where my dream was. And eventually I worked my way to ROTC up in Chicago at Illinois Tech right outside of Chicago, and got a pilot slot and flew for most of my career in the Air Force. And I’ve had a number of jobs in the Air Force, and a lot of leadership jobs here in the last probably 10 years, command jobs. And then literally just retired just a few weeks ago, July 15 was our ceremony and John Michel, who you know, he officiated did a fantastic job was very comical, exactly like I wanted it.
Brett Gilliland 01:43
High energy John, right?
Col. Scot Heathman 01:45
Yeah, he hit it out of the park. And, and we’ve been traveling ever since you know, all summer just being on terminal leave. And now I’m trying to start a coaching and leadership business. I’m like, you know what, I want another challenge. And so I’m starting from the ground up again, and then join it.
Brett Gilliland 02:01
Well, you think about what you’ve been through in your careers, how long were you in the military?
Col. Scot Heathman 02:05
Just over 25 years.
Brett Gilliland 02:06
Okay. So 25 years? I mean, you’ve learned a ton about leadership, and you’ve had great leaders and yeah, just a little bit. Right. And yeah, so absolutely. That seems like to make a lot of sense. And I saw that your leadership mantra, which I loved was: “Be present. Be bold. Be innovative.” When you hear that, what’s that mean to you?
Col. Scot Heathman 02:25
I actually, I talked about this during the retirement ceremony I, that was the hardest speech to write. Because, you know, you can go so many different ways with a retirement speech, you can start pointing at people or, and I always like a talk right and learn something. And so I thought, you know what, maybe I’ll tell people what I’d been about these 25 years now. That mantra really didn’t come, I would say, into my public vision until maybe at my 12-13 year point in my career, when I was starting to really take on some heavy leadership responsibilities. But for me, it really breaks down into kind of three areas that I find myself, ebbing and flowing throughout any given day, in a given week, in a given month. They’re not all balanced. But there are three important areas that kind of guided my leadership. And when I became a Squadron Commander, I laid it out on a mug. And once you do that, if you put on the mug, it’s for real. Right? So to me being present was always about more than just passing people in the hallway and saying “What’s up?”, or just showing up to a meeting on time, it was about bringing your full self. Doesn’t mean your best self, but at least your full self, you may not have 100% in the tank that day. But you’re still bringing your full self to your day. You know, it’s maybe dive in a little bit deeper with people and I learned this from Cy Wakeman, who I’m a huge fan of. And she says instead of saying what’s up to people, she says try asking people, “what’s your update?” Like so on a Wednesday ask somebody give me an update today? What’s going on with you? I’m like, that is ingenious. You know?
Brett Gilliland 03:23
Yeah. Yeah.
Col. Scot Heathman 04:10
It gets the conversation flowing.
Brett Gilliland 04:11
Well, absolutely does, right? Because you’re not just gonna be like, yeah, it’s great. That’s the go-to, right? You actually get into a detailed conversation.
Col. Scot Heathman 04:19
It’s understanding maybe if you know the times where I’ve been at the head of the table, and I’ve had my commanders and leaders and experts around the table. It’s, It’s understanding everybody’s learning style, or which ones are introverts and extroverts, and how do I manage a meeting in such a way that I can keep them all included in the conversation and not let any one personality dominate? Maybe a certain decision. So to me that presence is about not only understanding my needs, it’s more so about understanding their needs and what we’re going after, you know. Being bold. I’ve been underestimated most of my life now. Being five foot six, you tend to get underestimated a lot. And I do know I’ve got kind of young boy looks, at General Michelle pointed that out during my retirement think he called me major, boy major. You know, and it’s good in some things, but it is something that people have brought up. And I think, you know, when you meet somebody who’s six foot five and, and has a look, you treat them a little differently. So to me about being bold was not only internally finding ways to maybe stretch myself in a way that I haven’t done before, push the envelope of staying curious, that was always the go-to is, if in doubt, just be curious, ask questions, you know, because the best decisions if you want the best decisions, you need to ask better questions. Don’t just rely on data, but actually ask the questions, get the context of what’s going on. And so I’ve always tried to push the envelope in my personal self, because I’ve always been at, it has felt like to me at times, at a disadvantage. So I’ve got to find other ways to maneuver. And it might take some good old fashioned boldness to maybe bring somebody into my network or say, “I’m not the expert in this” and be vulnerable enough as a leader to just say, “Hey, I don’t know all this. Can you? Do you mind running this conversation? Because you seem to have, you know, the expertise here.” I think not only one does that really make people feel good that you’ve empowered them, but two it shows everybody at the table, you’re the kind of leader that’s actually open, you’re gonna create that level of trust, which is really what we’re all after. I don’t ask I don’t tell people you need to earn my trust, I tell people you have it. From day one. You can lose it. Now, there are situations out there. But I just I’ve always succumbed to the philosophy that you don’t need to earn it with me you have it, I will give it to you from day one. I respect you that much. Being innovative. This isn’t to me like inventing something it’s not, you know, selling something on QVC or anything like that, to me being innovative was about working within a very hierarchical, bureaucratic, policy-driven environment and how can I be successful and get after the things that I want to do? It may take some very creative thinking, or means to do something to get after a mission set or to get after the goals we want to achieve. And it’s important that you find a way to do that. I brought a couple books I want to leave with you because––
Brett Gilliland 07:34
Oh thank you.
Col. Scot Heathman 07:34
This has been part of my my growth over the years. But this this book Orbiting the Giant Hairball by Gordon McKenzie, I don’t know if you’ve ever?
Brett Gilliland 07:43
No, I have not.
Col. Scot Heathman 07:44
So Gordon McKenzie was an employee of Hallmark just in Kansas City for 30 years, and he wrote this really goofy book. And funny enough, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force had this on his reading list. So I pulled it down in my, this is an amazing book, it’s to him, he describes a hairball in an organization, as each hair is another policy that you keep piling on, and over years and years and years, we keep piling on these things, but we never take away, the hairball grows, right? Your job as a person within an organization is to figure out how to stay in that right orbit. You know, because if you come in too brash too, out of sync this and that the system is going to eat you up, you’re out of orbit, and you’re just going to float away. If you’re in too close, you become part of that machine. And you’re now not creating an environment where we need to think differently,
In 2020, while serving as the Commander of Scott Air Force Base, Scot underwent a life threatening surgery to remove a brain tumor. Following surgery, he underwent extensive therapy and radiation treatments. Scot continues to battle today, but his approach to adversity and an optimistic outlook on life is infectious. His story inspired thousands across the Air Force and was showcased on the local CBS affiliate’s “Surprise Squad” segment.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION:
Brett Gilliland 00:02
Welcome to the Circuit of Success. I’m your host, Brett Gilliland. Today I’m fired up. I’ve got another local guy. I love having local guys on the podcast. I’ve got Colonel Scot Heathman, Scott, how you doing today?
Col. Scot Heathman 00:13
Good. I’m doing great.
Brett Gilliland 00:14
Good.
Col. Scot Heathman 00:15
What day is it? I’m retired.
Brett Gilliland 00:17
Everyday is Saturday, every day is Saturday for you. What is today? Actually, it’s Wednesday, August 17. Right? That’s the day it is. Well, hey, it’s so good to have you, you’ve got an amazing story and I really look forward to sharing that with our listeners and our followers. But just really the way you’ve listened to some of the shows, I know, so I’d like to really dive in to really what’s made you the man you are today? There’s a lot there. I know that’s a big question, a pretty loaded question to start with, but but there’s a backstory there. So I’d love to start there if we can.
Col. Scot Heathman 00:47
Well, I was born. That was a good thing. That’s a great thing, always a great thing to be alive. And I was born actually at Offutt Air Force Base, my dad was drafted. And so that’s why I came into this world. Saw Star Wars at age three, in 1977. You know, so that put me on a track to I want to be a pilot, you know. And so most of my childhood, that was where my dream was. And eventually I worked my way to ROTC up in Chicago at Illinois Tech right outside of Chicago, and got a pilot slot and flew for most of my career in the Air Force. And I’ve had a number of jobs in the Air Force, and a lot of leadership jobs here in the last probably 10 years, command jobs. And then literally just retired just a few weeks ago, July 15 was our ceremony and John Michel, who you know, he officiated did a fantastic job was very comical, exactly like I wanted it.
Brett Gilliland 01:43
High energy John, right?
Col. Scot Heathman 01:45
Yeah, he hit it out of the park. And, and we’ve been traveling ever since you know, all summer just being on terminal leave. And now I’m trying to start a coaching and leadership business. I’m like, you know what, I want another challenge. And so I’m starting from the ground up again, and then join it.
Brett Gilliland 02:01
Well, you think about what you’ve been through in your careers, how long were you in the military?
Col. Scot Heathman 02:05
Just over 25 years.
Brett Gilliland 02:06
Okay. So 25 years? I mean, you’ve learned a ton about leadership, and you’ve had great leaders and yeah, just a little bit. Right. And yeah, so absolutely. That seems like to make a lot of sense. And I saw that your leadership mantra, which I loved was: “Be present. Be bold. Be innovative.” When you hear that, what’s that mean to you?
Col. Scot Heathman 02:25
I actually, I talked about this during the retirement ceremony I, that was the hardest speech to write. Because, you know, you can go so many different ways with a retirement speech, you can start pointing at people or, and I always like a talk right and learn something. And so I thought, you know what, maybe I’ll tell people what I’d been about these 25 years now. That mantra really didn’t come, I would say, into my public vision until maybe at my 12-13 year point in my career, when I was starting to really take on some heavy leadership responsibilities. But for me, it really breaks down into kind of three areas that I find myself, ebbing and flowing throughout any given day, in a given week, in a given month. They’re not all balanced. But there are three important areas that kind of guided my leadership. And when I became a Squadron Commander, I laid it out on a mug. And once you do that, if you put on the mug, it’s for real. Right? So to me being present was always about more than just passing people in the hallway and saying “What’s up?”, or just showing up to a meeting on time, it was about bringing your full self. Doesn’t mean your best self, but at least your full self, you may not have 100% in the tank that day. But you’re still bringing your full self to your day. You know, it’s maybe dive in a little bit deeper with people and I learned this from Cy Wakeman, who I’m a huge fan of. And she says instead of saying what’s up to people, she says try asking people, “what’s your update?” Like so on a Wednesday ask somebody give me an update today? What’s going on with you? I’m like, that is ingenious. You know?
Brett Gilliland 03:23
Yeah. Yeah.
Col. Scot Heathman 04:10
It gets the conversation flowing.
Brett Gilliland 04:11
Well, absolutely does, right? Because you’re not just gonna be like, yeah, it’s great. That’s the go-to, right? You actually get into a detailed conversation.
Col. Scot Heathman 04:19
It’s understanding maybe if you know the times where I’ve been at the head of the table, and I’ve had my commanders and leaders and experts around the table. It’s, It’s understanding everybody’s learning style, or which ones are introverts and extroverts, and how do I manage a meeting in such a way that I can keep them all included in the conversation and not let any one personality dominate? Maybe a certain decision. So to me that presence is about not only understanding my needs, it’s more so about understanding their needs and what we’re going after, you know. Being bold. I’ve been underestimated most of my life now. Being five foot six, you tend to get underestimated a lot. And I do know I’ve got kind of young boy looks, at General Michelle pointed that out during my retirement think he called me major, boy major. You know, and it’s good in some things, but it is something that people have brought up. And I think, you know, when you meet somebody who’s six foot five and, and has a look, you treat them a little differently. So to me about being bold was not only internally finding ways to maybe stretch myself in a way that I haven’t done before, push the envelope of staying curious, that was always the go-to is, if in doubt, just be curious, ask questions, you know, because the best decisions if you want the best decisions, you need to ask better questions. Don’t just rely on data, but actually ask the questions, get the context of what’s going on. And so I’ve always tried to push the envelope in my personal self, because I’ve always been at, it has felt like to me at times, at a disadvantage. So I’ve got to find other ways to maneuver. And it might take some good old fashioned boldness to maybe bring somebody into my network or say, “I’m not the expert in this” and be vulnerable enough as a leader to just say, “Hey, I don’t know all this. Can you? Do you mind running this conversation? Because you seem to have, you know, the expertise here.” I think not only one does that really make people feel good that you’ve empowered them, but two it shows everybody at the table, you’re the kind of leader that’s actually open, you’re gonna create that level of trust, which is really what we’re all after. I don’t ask I don’t tell people you need to earn my trust, I tell people you have it. From day one. You can lose it. Now, there are situations out there. But I just I’ve always succumbed to the philosophy that you don’t need to earn it with me you have it, I will give it to you from day one. I respect you that much. Being innovative. This isn’t to me like inventing something it’s not, you know, selling something on QVC or anything like that, to me being innovative was about working within a very hierarchical, bureaucratic, policy-driven environment and how can I be successful and get after the things that I want to do? It may take some very creative thinking, or means to do something to get after a mission set or to get after the goals we want to achieve. And it’s important that you find a way to do that. I brought a couple books I want to leave with you because––
Brett Gilliland 07:34
Oh thank you.
Col. Scot Heathman 07:34
This has been part of my my growth over the years. But this this book Orbiting the Giant Hairball by Gordon McKenzie, I don’t know if you’ve ever?
Brett Gilliland 07:43
No, I have not.
Col. Scot Heathman 07:44
So Gordon McKenzie was an employee of Hallmark just in Kansas City for 30 years, and he wrote this really goofy book. And funny enough, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force had this on his reading list. So I pulled it down in my, this is an amazing book, it’s to him, he describes a hairball in an organization, as each hair is another policy that you keep piling on, and over years and years and years, we keep piling on these things, but we never take away, the hairball grows, right? Your job as a person within an organization is to figure out how to stay in that right orbit. You know, because if you come in too brash too, out of sync this and that the system is going to eat you up, you’re out of orbit, and you’re just going to float away. If you’re in too close, you become part of that machine. And you’re now not creating an environment where we need to think differently,
In God we trust