Amplify your Uniqueness and Flaunt your Weakness w/ David Rendall -17

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Shawna Rodrigues 0:01

Author Daniel H. Pink said it best. Dave Rendall has a radical prescription for chronic dissatisfaction. Stop working on your weaknesses and start amplifying them instead. During the last 15 years, David Rendall has spoken to audiences on every inhabited continent. His clients include the US Air Force, Australian government and Fortune 50 companies such as Microsoft, AT&T, UnitedHealth Group, Fannie Mae and State Farm. Prior to becoming a certified speaking professional, he was a leadership professor, stand up comedian and nonprofit executive. In between presentations, David competes in ultra marathons and Ironman triathlons. David has a Doctorate Management degree in organizational leadership, as well as a graduate degree in psychology. He's the author of four books, which we will talk about during this conversation and tell you more about at the end. Thank you so much for being here, David. I'm glad you can make it.

David Rendall 0:51

I'm excited to be here.

Shawna Rodrigues 0:53

Yes. And I think this whole concept you have about amplifying people's weaknesses. Tell me about this.

David Rendall 0:59

Well, I mean, it started as a personal experience, right? I was always in trouble when I was a kid because I couldn't sit still and be quiet and do what I was told. And then as an adult, I became a professional speaker. And I realized, wait a second, people are paying me to stand up not to sit down. They're paying me to talk and not to be quiet. And they're paying me to run my own business not to do what other people tell me to do. So, I learned that my weaknesses were strengths, and that I shouldn't have spent most of my life trying to fix them. And all those well intentioned people who were trying to help me were wrong. And I should actually be turning up the volume on those characteristics instead. And once I realized what it was doing for my life, I got passionate about helping other people see that their weaknesses are probably strengths, and that sometimes the things that the well intentioned people around them are trying to show them about how they need to get better, are actually making them worse, and actually keeping them from becoming the best version of themselves. And so, I'm just passionate about the topic, passionate about what it can do for people, for families, for relationships, for children, for organizations. And yeah, it's my life's work.

Shawna Rodrigues 1:57

It's amazing. And now the title of one of your books is Pink Goldfish. Tell me more about Pink Goldfish in that title and how it ties in.

David Rendall 2:04

So, Freak Factor is the book that started it all about how weaknesses were strengths. And my friend is in marketing, and he's also an author. And he said, Hey, he's got a series of these books called Goldfish. So it's like, Blue Goldfish and Yellow Goldfish and Green Goldfish, and they're on all sorts of different topics around organizational effectiveness. He said, I want to do a marketing one on differentiation, and I want it to be based on your concept, but for businesses instead of for people. And so it became Pink Goldfish. And the reason it's Pink Goldfish is because I'm well known for my pink. So you see, my wedding ring is pink, I actually have pink tattoos now, so that no one can ever accuse me of not wearing pink. I forgot, Oh, wait here,

Shawna Rodrigues 2:49

you got a built in,

David Rendall 2:50

I forgot to switch.

Shawna Rodrigues 2:51

Ooh.

David Rendall 2:52

So I've pink glasses, and my car is pink. My triathlon bike is pink, and my helmets are pink, and my suits are pink, and my shoes are pink, and my socks are pink. My watchband only isn't pink, because I recently got a new one. And sometimes it takes a little while for the new watchbands to come out in the colors that I need. And that was an example of, sort of, what I talked about like, I have all daughters. And so I make these jokes about how living with all women in my house is turning me into a woman. And so, I started wearing some pink as a representation of that, but also as a way to challenge people's perceptions of what's right, what's normal, what's, you know, masculine and feminine. People will say, you know, pink isn't a man's color. When you do a gender reveal, pink is for girls, and blue is for boys. And so, I want to be practicing what I'm preaching, as I tell people to be different and to stand out and to be unique that I'm doing the same. It's no fair to stand up there and khakis and a light blue polo shirt, telling people to be weird. And so, it's just a way to demonstrate that I believe what I'm saying. And so, yeah, pink has become, I mean, to the point that when I did my first Ironman instead of being impressed, some people online were like, no pink, like, when they saw me cross the finish line. And if I ever post a picture of any kind, on any kind of social media, and it doesn't have some kind of pink, people like, it's all a lie, you know, we thought, you know, we thought she was someone else.

Shawna Rodrigues 4:14

You're known for it.

David Rendall 4:15

So, and it's a great way to be, be memorable by going against kind of the norms. And that's why the book is called the Freak Factor because to, to flaunt your weaknesses, to be willing to be yourself in a world that wants to shame you into being what they want from you, is going to make you different, is going to make you unusual and I've been taught that normal is good so then different is bad. And even when we don't teach people directly the different is bad, we teach people that normal is good. So, consistently that you would have to assume that different is bad. And so, it's just a way to live, what I'm talking about and show people that I'm the primary customer for this, right? I'm not selling this, this is something that I'm living and as I see it working effectively in my life, I get more passionate about sharing it with other people.

Shawna Rodrigues 4:57

That's very exciting and I love it so that integration of the work with kids kind of came a little bit later in your publications. And so, tell me more about how that transition was. Is this something you realize from the beginning, and then it naturally evolved to that?

David Rendall 5:10

Well, most speaking engagements, as you can imagine, aren't in front of children, right? Like, that's not your audience. They don't run conferences, they don't run events. So, the only way to really speak to kids would be at schools. And I wasn't particularly like, a school speaker. There are some people like that, or like, middle school speakers or something like that. That's sort of the last thing I would have anticipated. I became a college professor precisely because I wanted my summers off, but I didn't want to deal with small children, right? I didn't think I'd be effective in that environment. So, what would happen is, I would go to these events. And sometimes I remember one time, it was very specific. And I think this is a good explanation. It was an event for people who were leaders of health care companies. And the people who organized it were very specific. They're like, we want this to be about business, and managing people and making them more engaged and productive. This is about leadership. This is about making your company more effective. So, I did the presentation on what are the ways that seeing that your employees weaknesses or strengths can make people more engaged, and more productive and improve teamwork and all those kinds of things. And those are all legitimate benefits of it. It was no problem to do it that way. But they were just very specific, like, don't think you're up there and goof around or talk about personal value. This is about business, success. And then the first person that came up to me was like, That's great. Yeah, I'll use that up my business. So I've got this kid with ADHD. So, I've got this kid with dyslexia. So, I've got this kid with autism. So, I've got this kid who's being bullied. So, I've got this kid who doesn't fit in. So, I've got this kid who also likes to wear a bunch of pink, and they feel like they shouldn't. So, I did a marketing presentation once. It was pre Pink Goldfish. But it was the first time I did the Freak Factor for marketing. And it was for a Marketing Association. And then at the Q&A, and I didn't use any personal examples. I didn't use any, I use only business examples to illustrate all the points, which was very unusual. And the first question for the Q&A was, Now this applies to parenting too, right? Like, if this was true, that's what, though, it wasn't me being some kind of like genius, or like, seeing the writing on the wall, it was like, people consistently saying, what do you have for kids? What do you have for kids? What do you have for kids? What do you have for kids? So, it actually did, I think it came pretty fast. I mean, I've updated the book and done some stuff with it. But I think it came pretty fast after their Freak Factor was like, people just kept saying, I want something for kids, I want something for kids, then a teacher used it with like, second graders, and the kids totally got the concept. And they did this project where they drew pictures, and talked about one of their weaknesses that might be a strength and how it might be true. And they put them on the wall in the hallway. And I'm like, holy cow, like, if a second grader can get it, you know, then this is a thing. So, and I wish someone would have told me when I was a kid, right? If I can get the kids directly, you know, that's everything else. Then when they become a manager, when they become a teacher, when they become a parent, when they become a spouse or a partner. Right? They can use this so, and then I have, I've talked to kids as young as five years old, you know, kindergarten kids and one of the events I do end up being family events. Now again, even when it's entrepreneurs, they're like, can we bring spouses? Can we bring partners? Can we bring children? Can you do an event for the children, you know, so I talked about Dumbo, and I talked about Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and I talked about these stories that we know and we teach the kids and then we don't actually let them live like that as they grow up. Like, we tell them, but we don't actually want them to learn the lesson of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer because as soon as they get weird, as soon as they have a red nose, as soon as something's wrong with them, as soon as they're unusual, we want them to be normal and fit in and follow the rules and all this kind of stuff. So, we don't actually let kids live out the lessons of Dumbo had gigantic ears, but instead of going and getting it fixed at the plastic surgeon, Dumbo learned how to fly. We're like, now just go get fix it. Don't be a weirdo, you know, and certainly don't have physical abnormalities but if you can just get plastic surgery and make them go away, you know. So we tell these stories, and then we don't actually let kids live out the lessons that they learn in these stories.

Shawna Rodrigues 9:04

So, when you came to the first book, and the first decision to have this be kind of your platform, you were a professor at that time, did it kind of just click? That this is when you realized? How did it happen? Tell me more.

David Rendall 9:15

No, not at all. I mean, it was just an idea. It wasn't a book right away. It was just, ha, I remember I was driving and listening to a book on strengths. And I had never heard anything like that before, you know, and I was like, Wait a second, they're talking about strengths. But I wonder if my biggest weakness might be a strength. It seems like when I stand up in front of people, they like it. When I stand up and talk about my whole life people were, I mean, my parents called me motormouth, you know, for most of my life, because like, my problem was I couldn't shut up. And like, wait, but people seem to like it. I seem to like it. It seems to be working. I wonder if my strength is a weakness. I wonder if my weakness is a strength. I wonder if they're connected somehow. And so, when I was a professor, I would just like, initially, it was just like, a 10, 15 minute thing. I wonder if weaknesses might be strengths. I wonder if this might it'd be true. Here's a couple examples. Do you have any examples? Does this resonate with you? And gradually, it started growing. And then I started blogging about it and started finding examples, you know, the more it's confirmation bias, you know, but positively when you start thinking about something, you start noticing things you might not notice. So, Rudolph, I was like, holy cow, one of the most famous stories of all time is a Freak Factor story, you know.

Shawna Rodrigues 9:15

Yeah.

David Rendall 9:15

The weakness turned out to be a strength in the right situation, the weakness became a strength, people made fun of something that they, they told him to fix. And his parents were afraid, you know, I've been lost, respect for Santa, you know, he covered up, you know, he's, he was ashamed of Rudolph that covered his parents, covered up the nose. So, you start seeing this everywhere. And so, I started blogging about it. And it was probably three years, nobody paid attention to the blog, nobody cared. But gradually, I had like, 30,000, 40,000 words and stories and examples. And I'm like, maybe this is a book. And as far as presentation, there was no idea like, this is my platform now. Absolutely not. Like, when I was speaking, I was just, people be like, can you talk about time management? I'm like, sure. I know a bunch about time management. You know, I studied time management, I can talk about that. Can you talk about stress management? Sure. So when I came up with this idea, I just added it to the menu on my website, right? I can talk about this and this and this and this. And there was like, probably 15 things, you know. And then what started happening was very quickly was like, can we get that Freak Factor thing? Sure. Can we get that Freak Factor thing? Sure. And then the next referral was these people said that we need to hear you, but we need to hear you do the Freak Factor. Can you do the Freak Factor? So, it's like, I was being referred, but also the message was really the thing being referred. And I think, I do a good job delivering it. I'm funny, and all these kinds of things. But people don't say like, can you just come in? Like, it's like, a band that still has to play their song from 30 years ago. They're like, we don't care about your new stuff at all. Like, we don't care what you're interested in, we want you to do that thing, right? So, even though I think I do it well, and there's not other people doing it, people don't just say whatever you do, I'm sure we'll be fine because you're a good speaker. It's like, no, we want to hear that topic. We want to hear you talk about that thing. Because we've heard that that thing is really valuable and important.

Shawna Rodrigues: 12:12

So it really, really resonates.

David Rendall: 12:14

Yeah, so there was no sense. There was no sense that it was my platform. I didn't even know if people would like it or think it was stupid or ridiculous. I mean, imagine, your weaknesses, your strengths, flaunt your weakness, be unique, like, you know, meanwhile, or here's five ways to improve your time management, here's four ways to be a better leader. Those are things that everybody can look at and go our organization needs that or I want my people to be more productive or whatever, you know, the be weird freak out, even the name, I didn't know the name, you know, I was taking a chance there, the freak factor. In fact, I've even had some people who tell me I can't say freak, and freak is a bad word. And that freak is going to hurt people's feelings. And they don't want people to see themselves as freaks. And, and they feel like, that can be offensive. And could I take that part out. So that was taking a chance to even call it the Freak Factor instead of like, you know, discover your uniqueness or, you know, just something much more neutral. So, yeah, no idea that it was going to become the platform, no intention behind it other than this seems to be helping me, I think it might help other people, I'd love to share it. But at that point, you know, I didn't have like, the ability to just say, like, you will listen to me talk about this, you know, you're at the mercy of who's willing to hire you to do a presentation and they control, you know, what they think is going to be valuable for their members or their employees to hear from you.

Shawna Rodrigues: 13:30

Well, it sounds like, the resonance, it starts as your work be with organizations and leadership and management. But the resonance is so much deeper. And that's kind of why it's really stuck as people see in their families and their lives and more personally. Do you have a lot of people that come back and tell you the stories of how it's affected them?

David Rendall: 13:46

Oh, absolutely. I mean, that's the most meaningful part of what I do, you know, people saying, Hey, I went home and took my 16 year old son out to lunch and apologized. And I know I did one in Australia. I did a whole series of them in Australia for the Department of Education. And this woman came down afterwards and said, Our daughter has dyslexia. And now we have hope. One of the kids that got the kids book, one of the first kids that got the kids book, he was 10 years old, his name was Leo, I'm still friends with his mom on Facebook and still get to watch him growing up. But she came back the next day after buying the book with this little scrap piece of, you know, like, yellow legal pad paper. So he had ADHD and his mom's like, I think this book will be perfect for him and she got him the book and she came back the next day with a little note from him and said, Thank you Mr. Rendall for the book. It made me feel better about who I am, right?

Shawna Rodrigues: 14:36

Yeah,

David Rendall: 14:37

because I was the first person who told him that his ADHD, the thing that people thought was the worst thing about, it might be the best thing about, it might be the most positive thing about. It might actually make him successful instead of making him unsuccessful. No one else was telling him that, in fact, everybody else was telling him the complete opposite. So, yeah, I mean, even just recently I've been speaking to, I do a lot more school stuff now because again, I'll talk to the entrepreneurs or to the business people or whatever, and then they say, you should talk at my kids school, you should talk for schools, you should talk in front of people at schools, and stuff like that. So, I just did a recent series throughout four or five different schools in New Jersey, and one of them was a school sort of, for special education for kids with autism. And this woman was like, I had to leave three times, because I was crying so hard during your presentation, and this was so meaningful to me. And I think, I was on the verge of, you know, potentially committing suicide last year. And if it wasn't for one of my disabled kids, right, whose uniqueness sort of cheered me up and their unique approach sort of lifted me up every single day, I might not have made it and your message just resonated with me so strongly and encouraged me in the work that I'm doing that what I'm doing is really meaningful, and is really the right thing to be doing. I obviously need to make money, I need to pay the bills, I need to take care of my family. But this work is incredibly, when I say it's my life's work, I mean it in that sense, this is incredibly meaningful to me when I think it's important work. And so I'm passionate about it beyond just like, hey, can you buy the book or hey, can you book me to speak it's, Hey, I want this to, I want this to change your life. In fact, the kids book is free on YouTube. I just had somebody read it and turn it into a video and put it out there right away, as soon as I made it, because, well, for two reasons. Number one, I'm interested in the message being shared more than I am in the money being made. But second of all, because maybe some of the kids with ADHD aren't going to be able to read it, some of the kids with autism aren't going to be able to read it, some of the kids with dyslexia aren't going to be able to read it. And so it makes it in a format, you know, why is it fair to put out a book for, that tells a kid who can't read very well that, you know, maybe it's okay, in a form that requires them to read it, right? So, I wanted to make the format as accessible as possible. But I put that out on YouTube right away, because you know, that's how passionate I am about it. That's not a sneaky way to make money or something. There's no money to be made at all from having it on YouTube, I've just want to and then that way teachers can use it in their classrooms, and people can share it in other ways. So,

Shawna Rodrigues: 17:01

that's amazing. We're definitely gonna make sure that link is on the show notes. So people can be able to access that quickly and easily so that that message can get to this kids.

David Rendall: 17:08

Yeah,

Shawna Rodrigues: 17:08

that's incredible. So you start an organization development, and you become this beacon for kids. Which is a great road to end up on.

David Rendall: 17:16

Yeah, well, I mean, I did start out in, you know, my master's is in psychology, my undergraduate's in psychology, my goal, and when I started, I was in nonprofits, helping kids with disabilities to get job opportunities, then moved on to help adults with disabilities to get job opportunities. In fact, that's part of where the Freak Factor came from, is, I was helping people with developmental disabilities to get job opportunities. And one of the biggest things I would notice is that there's a lot of different kinds of definitions, and there's words that have come in and out of favor, but basically, the people that I dealt with one of their primary characteristics was, you know, what's called sub average intellectual functioning. You know, IQ is in the 70s, and low 80s, the inability to do what we call jobs, of tasks of daily living, you know, like shaving yourself or getting yourself dressed. So these are people with significant barriers, especially to employment and just to, you know, to accomplish some of the things that a lot of us take for granted. And so, I was responsible for this program, and part of it was helping people get jobs and people would, my employees would take the person out to an interview, and then they would come back and complain to me about the person, and oh, my gosh, they smelled bad. And they, they fell asleep during the interview, and they weren't paying attention, and their clothes were dirty. And, and I would listen as long as I could, and then in my most sarcastic voice, say, Yeah, it's weird. It's like, they got a disability or something. It's like, something's wrong with them. I wonder, you know, I wonder what it could be. And it's like, how much genius does it take for you to tell me how disabled this person is? Like, we already know that. I've got a stack of papers. Since the day they were born, there's been this continuing file built on this person defining every possible thing that's wrong with them. And some of it isn't even correct because once you start deciding something's wrong with somebody, you just keep,

Shawna Rodrigues: 19:03

keep looking, yeah

David Rendall: 19:03

what they do is wrong, because you're going to interpret it in a negative way. I said, Here's what matters. I said, what matters is, what do they like and what are they good at? None of this stuff, that's where the genius comes in. You find something that this person can do, and likes to do in this giant pile of things they can't do and don't like to do, that's genius. That's intelligence. That's insight. That's what I need from you. And so, and we do this every day, we think we're so smart because we can pick what's wrong with our kids or pick what's wrong with our spouse and talk about what's wrong with our co-workers. And yet, so, I learned that that lesson I learned there is actually true for everyone. We all really only need to focus on what do we like and what we're good at. We all can't really, I mean, one of the features of a developmental disability that makes it different, you know, some other issues that people might have is, it's just not fixable. There's no therapy, there's no program, there's no process. The limitation just is the limitation, right? That those are static, you can't change those. So, you have to deal with what you have.

Shawna Rodrigues: 19:04

Yeah,

David Rendall: 19:04

yeah, I think that's more true for the rest of us than we think. I think, oh, you know, people say you can be anything you want to be if you just, you know, want it bad enough and try hard enough. And that sounds so encouraging and motivational speakers like me says, there's no limits. That's total nonsense. And that actually traps people and makes people feel, feel poorly more than it encourages them. Because if I could be a nuclear physicist, and be on the, in the International Space Station right now, then I'm a huge failure, because I'm not, you know, if I could be a professional football player and making $27 million, if I just didn't wanted it bad enough and tried hard enough, then I'm a failure, because I'm not, right? And so, you know, I'm six foot six, I'll never be a jockey and ride the horse to victory in the Kentucky Derby, right? Anybody who tells me that's an important dream, or go for it, and then we'll make a movie about how hard you tried even though you failed. You know, that's total nonsense, right?

Shawna Rodrigues: 19:04

Yeah.

David Rendall: 19:04

So, I think what we need to do is help people tap into who they are, and build on that instead of telling people everything out there is a potential option for you. It's not, I was so skinny, I was 145 pounds when I graduated from high school, and I was six foot four, I wanted to play football, I dreamed about it my whole life, I wasn't even allowed to play Junior High football. There were girls who could beat me up, right? That wasn't an opportunity that was available to me. Someone coming along told me, Dave, there's no limits, and people would, oh, just drink a shake, you know. Just lift some weights, there's no amount of anabolic steroids that would have turned my body into the body of a football player. And so, we really do people a disservice when we don't acknowledge that there are limitations, right?

Shawna Rodrigues: 21:44

Yeah.

David Rendall: 21:44

But George Eliot said, every limit is a beginning as well as an ending. And so, what I show people is that the things I can't do for close certain opportunities, so that I can focus on those things that I can do and move in that particular direction. I don't think there's limits on our happiness, on our fulfillment, on our impact, on the meaning we can have in life. But there are certain specific things that we're just not designed for, that we are not made for. And that needs to be okay. Instead of, No, if you just will push it, you could, you could make it happen.

Shawna Rodrigues: 22:12

Yeah, no, that's so true. And I love it, that you found those places in your stuffs kind of naturally. And then realize, wait a minute, these are all the things that people said, were a problem most of my life. And these were actually the gifts that got me where I'm at.

David Rendall: 22:26

Well, and that's what's the important part is what you said, I found it naturally. So I stumbled across it, I accidentally found that my weaknesses were strengths. And that's why I'm so passionate about this, because most people won't. Most people aren't going to accidentally have this realization, most people, I mean, I didn't even know professional speaking was an occupation until somebody said, Hey, can we pay you to do this talk? When I was volunteering to do some other work for the nonprofit that I was doing. So, the number of things that had to go right for me to discover this and to have it, you know, transformed my life is just, you know, absolutely insane. And so I know that that's unlikely for most people. And so I've taken it on as my responsibility to try to share it with as many people as possible, because it not only are most people not going to stumble across it naturally, it's not a message that most people are sharing. And in fact, the message people will share is, be careful, some of your strengths if you overuse them might be weaknesses. And then if you came along and said, oh, so does that mean that all of my weaknesses are potentially strengths? Ooh, don't be a weirdo. Like, that's not, there are tons of people, like, if you Google, can my strengths be weaknesses? It's coaches, and leadership folks and all sorts of advice givers, really, move, be careful. Oh, you know, you love to be active, don't get too active. That's why this is called amplify. You love to be organized, don't get too organized. Don't take it too far and let it become a weakness. Don't let it, don't get too obsessed and let it become a problem. I'm like, No, that's where success happens. It is session amplification. You know, they called me motormouth, don't talk too much. And it's like, no, people give me money to talk. I mean, right now, there's an absolute flood of inquiries, especially since the pandemic is over, because people are having events again. And it's just like, Dave, can you speak on this? I mean, next week, I can't do a two day event in one city because I'm doing a two day event in a different city. Last week, I gave a keynote to one of the friends of mine because I was already speaking at one place and I couldn't be speaking in another place. So, I pay my bills. I send my kids to college, I pay for my house, I bought a house for my parents with the money that I make doing the thing that people spent their whole life telling me to stop doing and I don't do it part time, I do it full time. Sometimes I do it every single day of the week. It isn't in the moderation, the reduction, the elimination of these characteristics. It's the amplification of them that we find success and that's one of the lessons that we just do not hear it. In fact, we hear the opposite so much. Well, be careful. If you really get in to that, if you really go too far, if you really do it too much, and that's why I call it amplify, because I want to encourage people to go in the opposite direction. Sorry, you can see I'm passionate I get fired up about this.

Shawna Rodrigues: 25:09

I love passionate. I love being that. That is definitely something that's very welcome here, David. So keep that up. People need to hear this and be reminded of this. Do you have examples of other people you've heard stories about or work, doing all of that, but some of their weaknesses are that they've been able to really amplify and do amazing things with?

David Rendall: 25:25

Oh, I mean, that's everything that I talked about. So one of my favorite examples is dyslexia. Obviously, if you have dyslexia, you struggle to read and struggle to write, which means you're going to struggle in school. And so then we're taught, oh, if you've struggled in school, you're gonna struggle in life. So they were studying millionaires in the United Kingdom, which is the one of a good example of a positive study, right? Instead of saying, like, what's wrong with people? And how do we fix it, it was like, hey, these people are millionaires, how did they get there? How, how can we learn? And that's, again, we don't tend to do that in medicine. We don't tend to do that as a psychologist. So anyway, they discovered that 50% of the millionaires in their study have dyslexia.

Shawna Rodrigues: 25:58

Wow,

David Rendall: 25:58

that's surprising.

Shawna Rodrigues: 25:59

Yes,

David Rendall: 26:00

we would tend to think that you wouldn't see a single millionaire that had dyslexia and when it's just a sample of people, you didn't have every person in this society and your study. So, right?

Shawna Rodrigues: 26:09

Yeah.

David Rendall: 26:10

Then they were doing a study in the United States of entrepreneurs discovered that 35% of the entrepreneurs had dyslexia. Ingvar Kamprad, the billionaire founder of IKEA had dyslexia. Richard Branson, the billionaire, founder of the Virgin series of companies had dyslexia. And so then what some people say is, okay, that doesn't prove anything. Those people fought through their dyslexia, learned how to read like good, normal people, and then they had success. But Richard Branson, they actually asked him how his dyslexia affected your success, and he said, strangely, I think my dyslexia has helped. So what he's saying, and science is starting to back it up is that people with dyslexia don't have broken brains, they have different brains, and the same brain that caused them to struggle in school causes them to succeed in real life at a higher level than most of the rest of us. Well, there's a guy named Paul Orfalea, he had dyslexia and ADHD. He got kicked out of four schools. And then when he would get jobs, he get fired on the first day.

Shawna Rodrigues: 27:03

Hmm,

David Rendall: 27:04

then he went to work for his own dad, then he got fired by his own dad. And then he started his own business, he built it into a multinational corporation. He called it Kinkos. And he sold it to FedEx for $2.4 billion. Right, just that is, and the reason I like to use more extreme versions of a weakness like, a diagnosable disability is because sometimes people are like, well, you don't understand, I'm really messy. You're like, Look, if Dyslexia has an upside,

Shawna Rodrigues: 27:30

yeah,

David Rendall: 27:31

if a thing that makes you illiterate has an upside of a thing that makes you fail school and be unable to accomplish the basics of reading and writing,

Shawna Rodrigues: 27:40

yeah,

David Rendall: 27:40

of school, and you can be a billionaire, not even though you have dyslexia, but because you have dyslexia. Paul Orfalea is famous for saying, I think everyone should have dyslexia, right? They asked him, if you could have a pill that would cure your dyslexia, would you take it? And he said, Absolutely not. So, I have example, after example, you know, Michael Phelps had ADHD, you know, you call him hyperactive at school, when he's in the pool, nobody calls him hyperactive, they call him a champion.

Shawna Rodrigues: 28:05

Yeah.

David Rendall: 28:05

And that's one of the key lessons of the concept is that his mom didn't give him medicine to make him successful at school. She put him in a situation athletics, that rewarded a high level of activity instead of punishing a high level of activity. She didn't change him, she changed his environment, right?

Shawna Rodrigues: 28:22

Yeah.

David Rendall: 28:22

So that's one of the key lessons of the Freak Factors that we don't find success by fitting in, we find the right fit. And the right fit is a situation that puts the spotlight on the best things about us instead of the worst things about us. Both pieces are always there. But when I'm in school, I'm in trouble for talking too much and being disruptive. When I'm on stage, I'm praised and literally given money for doing the same thing. In fact, there's been times I did a talk recently in New Jersey, and they had no air conditioning, it was like, 90 degrees. And then you put a bunch of people, 400 people in a room and I was just sweating cause I've never, just the sweat is dripping down my face.

Shawna Rodrigues: 28:59

Yeah,

David Rendall: 28:59

it wasn't that their air conditioning was broken. They didn't have any, right? So I literally made 20, like, improv jokes about the heat throughout the presentation that actually had everybody rolling. I was disrupting my own presentation, right? Like, I still have that same instinct. But now I'm getting paid for it instead of punished for it. And so the alignment is really the crucial thing. If you put me in certain situations, I would look just as bad as when I was a kid.

Shawna Rodrigues: 29:26

Yeah,

David Rendall: 29:26

if you put me in corporate situations, if you made me work for somebody who was difficult, if you made me play politics, if you made me keep my mouth shut, if you may be, be dishonest about what I was really feeling and say what somebody else wanted me to say, sooner or later, I break down and it would be a real problem. I'm not a better person. I'm in situations that reward me for being myself. And I have the privilege to stay away from situations that don't require me to be someone else. And that's I think the really, really crucial part of this whole thing is finding that alignment. So I love to tell stories about people who found alignment, helped other people find alignment, because I think that's the crucial thing.

Shawna Rodrigues: 30:04

I love that situations that reward you for being yourself. I love that. I think that's a very crucial key takeaway from this. This is amazing. I love it.

David Rendall: 30:12

Well, yeah, we talked about at the beginning self care, I think that's the ultimate self care. If you can see it for me, right now, it's six o'clock where I live, I've had a full day of work. And I think you can tell I'm not exhausted, I'm not worn out, I'm not struggling. If anything, the reality is, when I'm done talking to you, my energy level will be higher than when it started. And how many people wish they had work where, I mean, that's the ultimate self care . If you could go to work and get filled up, instead of going to work and getting emptied out, you know, it's not about the Starbucks. It's not about a massage, it's not about a nap. And we talked about the other part, meaning if you could do something that was meaningful, and energizing, something that was enjoyable to you and had purpose and meaning, that's the ultimate self care. You can't ever be burned out when you're doing that. You can't get overwhelmed when you're doing that. Because when your work is filling you up, where's the burnout gonna come from, right? Where's the, Oh, that's too much. If you told me, Dave, you know, you need to immediately after this, I have a different podcast, and it's for kids. And this message is so important. I need you to do that. I wouldn't be like, No, I'm kind of tired, and I just can't be bothered, I'd be like, you know, Sign me up. Instead of, No, I have to manage my mental health. And I'm not doing more than what we agreed to, and you're not gonna push me around, right? I don't need to meter my energy and my time, if what I'm doing is filling me up and doing something that's valuable. That should be the goal not to, you know, I think that's what they said, the goal is to have work like, you don't need a vacation from or whatever. And that might sound unrealistic to a lot of people, but I do. I have work I don't need a vacation from. In fact, my work as we talked about is a lot of travel is often a form of vacation, right? And the most important part, if I went on a trip to do a speech, and they canceled the speech, but told me they'd pay me and everything, but they just didn't need me to do the speech, I'd be bummed out. That's the whole reason I'm there. You don't get to speak to these 400 kids, you don't get to speak to these 400 teachers, you don't get to do the thing that you love almost more than anything else on Earth. We just don't need it today. Here's your check, have a nice day. Can you imagine being upset when you didn't get to do your job? That is a possibility if we can understand that our weaknesses, our strengths, and then find that alignment, find that situation that rewards us for who we are.

Shawna Rodrigues: 32:24

That's incredible, I was about to transition to our, about the self care spotlight, and you just did a beautiful spotlight that your self care is to be in alignment and to be using, what is your strength, which others saw as a weakness to really be able to make a difference and be stepping out and doing that.

David Rendall: 32:39

Well. And let's talk about that as it relates to self awareness. So I think in order to do self care, you have to have self awareness, right? If you don't understand yourself, you don't know what self care would look like, Maybe that's a Starbucks for somebody else, maybe it's a quiet walk. But for somebody else, maybe it's an activity with a bunch of people, that's what's going to fill them up, right? It's totally different. So you can't go borrow somebody else's self care. But even for me, one of my strengths, weaknesses is I don't like to be told what to do, which means I like to be in charge, I like to be in control, not of you but of me. I don't like to have people in charge of what I'm up to telling me when I work and when I don't work and what I can do. So for example, one of the things that I do that's a great form of self care is I get enough sleep every night. Because I get to decide when I sleep. And when I wake up and what I have to do because I run my own life. And I run my own business. And like we talked about, I'll sleep on the plane if I need to, I'll take a nap if I need to. But if you're just like, hey, I'm at work, and Hey, boss, lady, I'm just gonna go ahead and knock off for about 45 minutes, I'll just put my head down on the desk and just you know, I just need it, you know, that's just part of my rhythm is I get tired in the afternoon. But I know if I can get a nap, that's going to bring my energy level off. But it's better than caffeine. It's better than a five hour energy. And then I basically feel like the day started over. And I'll be back to being super productive. So I'm just gonna check out for a little while. You don't get to do that. You just don't get to do that. So, part of it is, can you build a life where you have permission to run on your rhythms? You have permission to stay up late, you have permission to get up early, you have permission to take a nap when you need to. You have permission to say you know what, I need to get out and get moving. I can't sit around anymore. I need to go for a walk. I need to exercise. I need to work out. I need a snack or do you feel constrained? Oh, I can't because that's not acceptable around here. I can't take care of myself because the people around me define that as a negative behavior. And so that's part of what it is for me. I've created a life where I have enough control, which is one of the things I really, really value that I can take care of myself in the ways that I decide without needing somebody's permission to rest or to take a walking break or to you know, I'll do phone calls while I walk around or something like that. And maybe, somebody else would be like, you can't do that. You need to be on Zoom. You need to be in the office, you need to be at your desk, you need to be touching the mouse and letting us know that you're online. You know, I don't have to do that. And so, can you create a situation where you're allowed to take care of yourself, right? And where you know what that care would be like. And I think that's the thing. When you don't have control for too long, you forget what you really wanted to begin with, because you haven't had it in so long when somebody says, do what you want, you're like, I don't know, I've had to deny that for so long. I don't know what it is anymore.

Shawna Rodrigues: 35:18

Yes, that self awareness can be that first step for self care is understanding what you need to do to care for yourself. And what in your environment is preventing that so you can find a way to get back to that.

David Rendall: 35:28

Yeah,

Shawna Rodrigues: 35:29

I like that. And that is something because we are big on self care, we actually have a line of coloring books. And it's called the Color of Grit. And we actually, as a thank you for all of our guests for being here, we offer you a free coloring book, we did a nice little cheer with his hands in case you guys missed, that was awesome. So we have one that's already out, it's called Vintage Mermaid and Magnificent Ocean. And the one that's coming out is what's called, You've Got This, which is funny and inspirational quotes. And you get to choose which of those two you would like.

David Rendall: 35:57

Well, I was gonna go mermaid because of the pink and because of my daughter's, but I think I'm way more excited about inspirational quotes, to be honest with you,

Shawna Rodrigues: 36:05

because you are a talker and quotes and you know, it all kind of gets together. So, I kind of like that. All right.

David Rendall: 36:10

I love me, I love me some quotes.

Shawna Rodrigues: 36:12

All right, when that comes out, you will be one of the first people to get a copy of it when it comes out. So You've Got This is what we will be sending you as a thank you because we value you taking time to be with us today and sharing with all of us. So thank you for that.

David Rendall: 36:23

I love it.

Shawna Rodrigues: 36:12

And so for all of our guests, or all of our friends who are out there listening to us today, what is something that they can kind of walk away with and apply tomorrow or today to kind of, what do you think is the high level thing they need to take away from our conversation today to apply to their life?

David Rendall: 36:37

Well, you can't do anything else until you know how your strengths and weaknesses are connected, right? So, there's a free assessment right on my website where you pick your strengths from a list of 52, you pick your weaknesses from a list of 52. And then it shows you how they're connected. So, it all starts with assessment, right? It all starts with assessment. And that's what amplify is going to be, it's going to be a more advanced version of that assessment. But right now, it's just a three page PDF. And it's also in the book and you just go on there, pick your strengths, you pick your weaknesses, and you go to page three, and it's like, hey, guess what? Persistence, your strength and stubbornness, your weakness, they're the same thing, right? It's the same thing. And you can't be more persistent and less stubborn at the same time. So that's where it starts, you can't find alignment unless you know what you're trying to align, right? So it all starts with self awareness. So I think any assessment is good. You know, I don't care if you take the DISC, you take the MBTI, but again, be careful when it tells you, Okay, now we know this is true about you. Now, let's fix it, right? Let's work on the downside, let's balance you out. Let's make you more well rounded, let's not have any deficiencies, and let's not have any imperfections. Start with the assessment, but just don't let them give you that. Don't take that advice of fixing it and adapting and adjusting. Start thinking about, okay, if this is who I am, now, how do I find that alignment? But it all starts with assessment. So I think starting with assessment, that's the place to start get to know who you are, be really clear on how those weaknesses and strengths are connected. And you'll oftentimes find that you don't have to do the assessment, I do an activity in my presentation where I just tell them a bunch of bad things about one of my daughters. And then I tell them to tell me the strengths when I'm done. And they do. So, it even just when I started, when I was, especially, when I would do it on Zoom, it was hilarious, because I'd go, because in real life, people have to wait till the end. And then they raise their hand and they tell strings and this is after like five or six minutes. In Zoom, I would just say, my daughter is difficult. And as soon as I would say that people would jump on the chat and just start typing and things that they thought were awesome. So it really is if you just start doing it, if you just start asking, Okay, if every weakness has a corresponding strength, that's what Dave believes. I don't know if I believe that yet. Let me start looking. Just look at your kids. And when you're frustrated with something, ask yourself, is there an upside? When you're frustrated with your spouse or your partner? The thing that you're frustrated with is probably the reason you married them, you just don't realize it's the same thing.

Shawna Rodrigues: 38:52

Yes,

David Rendall: 38:53

you know, you're mad. They're gone all the time. And they work so hard. And when somebody asks you, Why did you marry them, you go because he's a hard worker, I really respected them for that. And now you're like, you're a workaholic, you suck, and you're like, Wait a second. And that doesn't mean there doesn't need to be some discussion there. But recognizing that the weakness is a strength, that thing you're frustrated with is also a positive characteristic. Meanwhile, somebody else is upset because their spouse is a lazy piece of garbage. But, when you ask them why they married them, they said, Oh, well, they're so relaxed and easygoing. They don't let anything bother them. And they just go through life. And they just take it as it comes.

Shawna Rodrigues: 39:26

Yeah.

David Rendall: 39:27

And then now you're like, Hey, can you ramp it up and get worried and get focused on your career and be a little more anxious? And it was like, Wait, that's not what you signed me up for. That's not what you loved about me. So once you start looking for it, you'll start to see it, the assessment can help but even if you just start with that, walk through your day, every day and every time you see a weakness, ask yourself what the other side might be, and you'll find yourself discovering it. It's a fairly obvious thing in reverse, but it's just something nobody was really talking about.

Shawna Rodrigues: 39:53

No, that's brilliant. I love it. There's a lot to do with that. So everyone here can start doing that as they walk through their day. There's an assessment to help. We'll make sure we have that link in the show notes, but just in general, as you're starting to find yourself finding challenges, even in yourself, when you're getting frustrated with yourself, to do the flip side and with your partner and your kids,

David Rendall: 40:10

absolutely,

Shawna Rodrigues: 40:10

to see what it is. That's awesome. I love it. And what is the best place to find you?

David Rendall: 40:14

DRendall.com. So, D-R-E-N-D-A-L-L.com. I couldn't get DavidRendall.com and then somebody asked me one time, why is your website doctor and all? They thought it was like, euthanasia. So, you win some and you lose some and that was like, the old system, you know, for email, right? It was your first initial and your last name, right? So I did the best I could. And then it turned out to be a Jack Kevorkian website on Google search.

Shawna Rodrigues: 40:43

Oh, I love that.

David Rendall: 40:45

Don't forget, it's Dr. Endall. But also, if you Google, David Rendall, if you Google the Freak Factor, I'm the first thing that comes up. The funny thing about that, I'm the first thing that comes up, the pictures are me, the books are me, the website is me, the videos are me. And then it says, I was born in 1940. And I'm married to some lady named Matilda, and I'm from England. So, there's a David Rendall, opera singer, and then it pulls some of his information, and then combines it with all of mine. So every one of the other Google search results is correct. But that little box they create where it kind of has your personal info, is an external with some 70 year old guy from England who used to sing opera.

Shawna Rodrigues: 41:23

Oh, you're not gonna sing opera for us?

David Rendall: 41:25

But if you just Google, David Rendall or Google, the Freak Factor, it's the first thing that comes up. I'm right there in the search results.

Shawna Rodrigues: 41:31

That's funny. Yeah, cause that's how I found you. It was the search. So I definitely didn't know that the Dr. End All but that is a good way to remember.

David Rendall: 41:39

Dr. Endall.

Shawna Rodrigues: 41:40

We'll remember that you were Dr. Endall. And finding you on LinkedIn is also a good way to connect with you.

David Rendall: 41:45

I do. On Facebook. Yep, LinkedIn, Facebook.

Shawna Rodrigues: 41:47

Awesome. And the books are the Four Factors of Effective Leadership, the Freak Factor, the Freak Factor for kids, which is also on YouTube, and we'll also have that link and the Pink Goldfish 2.0, which lends towards marketing, a little bit.

David Rendall: 41:59

Marketing and strategy. Yeah, it's like the business applications of what we talked about.

Shawna Rodrigues: 42:03

That is incredible. So, thank you so much for being here, David. This has been a wonderful conversation. I think there's a lot of value in it. And I think our audience is gonna get a lot out of it. So, thank you.

David Rendall: 42:11

Thank you. I had a lot of fun.

Shawna Rodrigues: 42:12

If you're interested in getting your copy of one of our coloring books, just Google, the Color of Grit, or look it up on Amazon. We also have downloadable pages available. You can find more about that on our website, thegritshow.com. Self care is most important. After all, you're the only one of you that this world has got, and that means something.