Billy Keels  0:00  

If your professional goals aren't making the people around you laugh, they simply are not big enough. In this episode, European tech executive Carsten Nitschke breaks down how to ditch all the corporate fluff, stop brutally forcing yourself to fit in, and use absolute raw honesty to dominate your industry as well as your role and be able to do that on your own terms, so let's get uncut and let's get you to optionality.

Today's episode is sponsored by Billy Keels Advisory Services. If you want to learn more about how to make your 99 optional, just go to Make It optional.com Once again, that's Make It optional.com

Speaker 1  0:41  

helping you build freedom without losing your edge. This is the Going Long Podcast with Billy Keels.

Billy Keels  0:53  

You know what, some leaders take a different perspective to make the impact and get the amazing results. You know why, because they dare to ask different questions, and they tend to walk their own path. Today's guest is no different, because in his 20 plus years, and yes, if you're watching the video version, you're not even gonna believe it, in his 20 plus years in the enterprise sales strategic partnerships and leadership space across different cultures in multiple languages in different industries. He continues to bring more knowledge to light, and you know what, he also is the man who brings leadership, sales, and AI to life. I'm going to tell you a little bit more about that, because in his general management responsibilities today across Germany, Austria, as well as Southern Europe, this is one of the things that really brings everything to life. As I mentioned before today, he brings leadership, sales, and AI in his newest invention through none other than Carsten Uncut, it brings me great pleasure to welcome to today's conversation mr. Carson Nitschke. Carsten, welcome to the show, man.

Carsten Nitschke  2:08  

Oh, Billy, thank you so much, and it is so wonderful to hear somebody say Carson Uncut, that is just such a joy. And thank you very much for hosting me. I'm, I'm really excited about

Billy Keels  2:18  

it. Yeah, I can't, I can't wait for everybody to learn more about you, more about the story, and the impact that you continue to make. And I want to, I really want to jump right in, and with you, Carson, I want to do something different.

Carsten Nitschke  2:31  

Okay?

Billy Keels  2:32  

Because I want people to get to know you,

Carsten Nitschke  2:33  

okay? And

Billy Keels  2:34  

I'm going to read something to you, and I want you to really share what this means, and how has this impacted you?

Carsten Nitschke  2:41  

Okay.

Billy Keels  2:41  

Here we go. If people say your dreams are crazy, if they laugh at what you think you can do, good, stay that way. Don't ask if your dreams, if your dreams are crazy, ask if they're crazy enough, you What does that mean, and how has that affected your life?

Carsten Nitschke  3:06  

Wow, so you have touched a very, very sensitive point in me, and I might need to roll back a little bit. The quote that you just made comes from one of my absolute favorite videos, and thank you, Nike, for doing it, and 2018 when you made the first dream crazy. I was at that time, I was very blessed, because my, my then manager at SAP, he gifted me with a great course at Singularity University in San Jose, and where one of our professors really talked about how we need to be different, how we need to look at things also differently, and he played that video, and it was a video, and if for those who haven't watched it, I can just recommend it to you. It's on YouTube, Nike Dream Crazy. There's different versions of it, but for me the first one is still the best one. It is an advertising, yes, but it's highly emotional. It has a lot of those messages in it, right? And if people laugh at what you do, right, it is, and that happens so often. People laugh at what we do. When you have an idea that is different, that is not the typical mainstream, you easily become a sort of outsider. You're not necessarily belong to that particular group, and whatever else, and there's so many more messages in that video that personally, to me, were, "Wow, this is it, right? This is finally it. I, it was a click moment, it was a life-changing moment. You can ask her, "Why did it take him until 2018? He was quite old at that time, already 47 to be quite honest, but the honestly, well, that's just what it is. That was the moment when it happened, but it made me understand that I have a lot of things in common with the people that are mentioned. Of course, I'm not a tennis star, I'm.. I'm not. The biggest sprinter, I'm not a football star, or whatever else, but yes, I have sometimes crazy dreams. I love to also call it like this. This is my crazy dream. And then let's just see how people react to it. And the most interesting thing is, most of the times people look at you and say, wow, I haven't thought about this, or dude, you're crazy, right? That's a compliment, that's not something bad. But I think the most important thing that happened there to me was, and is a little bit of cutting into my own flesh right now, but it's I never really fit in, right, and I was always trying to fit in very brutally into all the different groups that were around there, but I never fit in. I was always somehow different. Different is not a bad thing, not a good thing, just different, right. And, and there is another line in this, in this video that I really love, and that I've basically now made my, my next bandwagon is Don't Dream of wearing OBJ's T-shirt, dream of him wearing yours, right? And I think that is something super, super important, right? Be yourself and have people also wanting to follow you, and from then on, a lot of things in my life changed, and the latest step of that is course non-cut, as you said it, but it means a lot to me. Yes, it really means a lot to me. Highly emotional, but also our business life is actually highly emotional. We can calm it down, and whatever else people buy on emotions, right? A lot of things are really bought on emotions, because you feel good, because you do trust that is an emotion, right? And yeah. yeah, I love it.

Billy Keels  6:44  

Yeah, so you know what, and I mentioned before, you have had different roles in terms of leadership, in terms of sales, and you've done that across different cultures, you've done it in different languages, and I guess one of the things that is always interesting to me, as someone who has decided to maybe live outside of their country or has worked across a different region, like I talked about earlier. Southern Europe is, you know, in a number of different countries and different languages. Can you tell me what that that aspect of corporate life, how that is actually helped to enhance the way that you either work with and or lead others? I

Carsten Nitschke  7:22  

don't I would say, first of all, multicultural, I think, is the biggest gift that we can have, right, speaking different languages or looking at things also from different lenses. I mean, there is this great book called The Cultural Map, and I think it's almost a bible right now that helps to understand a lot more about it, but also people need to understand really how differently business is being conducted in different places, and then on the other side, for example, one of the things that I always use quite a bit is, yeah, I'm German, but I live for 30 years in Spain, so I can do, I always say I can do both. We had a meeting at nine and not 902 right, and I can come 15 minutes late to a meeting and not feel guilty at all, and the funny thing is that completely disrupts people because they do not expect that, but this disruption is good because you're not just walking down the treaded path already, but you can do things slightly differently, and I think once in a while to put in a piece more from the Latin culture into maybe English culture or the German culture, and there is a big difference. It's a big gift, and it makes it also more fun for the other side to work with you, right? So just add a little bit spice, right? It's not just bread without salt, it's bread without salt. Bread with salt tastes a little bit better, at least to me. Sorry,

Billy Keels  8:40  

I love it. No, so that's that. That's great, and it is one of the one of the real advantages of corporate life, and being able to see different perspectives, and especially when you are moving towards those types of experiences, but one of the things that I do also want to bring into the conversation, like, and it's just this perspective of, you know, I talked about Carson and Cut, I talked about your as a general manager, the roles that you, that you have today in your area, but you know, most people with 2520 plus years of experience across market leading companies, like the ones many have three letters in their names, etc. and others don't, but they keep what they've learned inside of the walls, right? A lot of times, and I invested 26 years of my corporate life inside and keeping a lot inside the walls. I'm really curious, what made you decide that the world outside of those walls also deserves to hear a lot of the things that you talk about in Carson and Cut,

Carsten Nitschke  9:45  

perfect, I love that question, because actually it leads back to an interesting moment that I had after this 2018 life-changing experience, so when I joined my, my recent employer, I was just. Normal individual contributor, right? Just like anybody call it a seller, right? It's the easiest term for it. And, but I always had the task, hey, we need to do these special things with our most strategic customers, and all of a sudden I felt that they were people doing something interesting, they were following me, they were listening, they wanted to hear more, and I went, and I actually wrote that always in my yearly when I had to, this is what I did, and how I did it, etc. And I said, it's amazing to see that people follow me, it's a very different level of power, and power is not to be misinterpreted now, but when you're a manager, you have command and control over your people, but people that follow you choose so, right? And I think that makes it all the more powerful, because all of a sudden there is, you feel like there's something that you give that makes others want to listen. May it be that I like to be a little bit more provocative, or whatever, right, joking, or also that I always say what I think, and that's also not necessarily, as you know, very common in the corporate world. There we try to smoothen it out sometimes, a lot, of course, I smoothen it out sometimes, but also I think just saying this is how I see the world is important, so when I did that, so I started with that. Then I had different people that asked me if I want to be their mentor, and I said yes, and I love being a mentor. Actually, most of the times people are giving me more back than probably I can give them, because it's the different level of energy you see young people with, oh man, I'm thinking about doing this, and what do you think they come really with ideas of how to do something different, and it was actually in one of those mentorship sessions where then somebody said to me, you should write a book and say, well, writing a book, maybe, or do a podcast, and so that sat with me for a while, and actually I always, I had that idea already some years back. I was inspired, I wanted to do, actually, with a colleague that we basically walk around, and you see the first Kaustlan cut videos, I'm walking around, and I called it the walk the talk, but we never got to do it right, so and when this person then said again, hey, this is maybe what you should do, you have stories to share and like to tell stories. Then it was last summer, and I was not necessarily in my happiest moment of life. It was when my, when my mom passed away, and how they call it when she passed away, and I said, well, now's the time, right? And I did my, my first video, probably did all the things wrong that you could possibly do on a video. I learned, oh yeah, the camera was too low, you were talking too long, and la la la, right? Bug, you always start with something, and since then I got a, I got a lot of inspiration out of it. I think the great news is always you need to always remember where you come from, right. And I think that is just utterly important. You must know where you come from. Where I came from, when I started to work back in 97 I had, I was the youngest on the team, little bit big mouth, and but I had wonderful people around me that helped me, that guided me, that gave me tips, and etc, etc. And I think right now it's just my time to give it back and pay it, pay it back, I can't pay it forward, I'm paying it back now to allow others, hey, maybe they find it interesting what I have to say, and or how I handle certain situations. So that's that's really the inspiration to say I want to give back.

Carsten Nitschke  13:51  

And today I see really Carson and cut a little bit of almost as a, as a therapy for me, because I can say a lot of things, and I'm not saying it to anybody directly, so, and those who want to watch it, watch it, and those who don't choose not to do it, but I'm really having fun in it, and, like I said, it started off as let's just give it a try to really make it something that I take very, very serious, I mean, how I prepare myself for it, just like you, the things that I want to talk about, and also make it always clear for me, this is me, right? There is no mask, there's no anything else, and there's also nothing that is banned, right? I mean, as just a side note, is for example, I talked in one episode very openly about ADHD, and how I think it is awesome. I know a lot of people. How do you say that? I think it's awesome, right? It hinders me to do certain things, or I need to do it differently,

Billy Keels  14:54  

differently, but

Carsten Nitschke  14:54  

it also allows me and gives me superpowers, right? So that's why I think it's awesome. And it's just me,

Billy Keels  15:02  

yeah. So, and I love that, and maybe piggybacking on that, that story is, you know, what I see is that you have, you know, and we keep in mind that, right, as you're continuing to over perform in your, in your corporate role, you're doing this, and, and you know, you've built something with real momentum in I don't know what you said, in like a year, so, or less, a little less than a year, actually, yeah, so it's less than a year, so you build something with momentum in less than a year, and when you're, you're, you're constantly looking at leaders, and you're looking at young professionals who are already, like, they're already finding you, right, they've found they're finding you on on YouTube, in the different places where you, where you locate, and don't worry, everybody will tell you where you can find more about Carson Uncut. What do you think is what do you think it is that they're really actually looking for when they're looking for you that they're not finding elsewhere?

Carsten Nitschke  15:57  

No corporate bullshit. Absolutely, but I think honestly, we have - we're living in a world where everything is being moderated down to make sure that nobody could feel that you stepped on their toes or whatever else, and but guess what, real life isn't like that, right? If you go to the through the metro or the subway, right, people will step on your toes, not necessarily because they want to, because just that happened. Is it the end of life? No. And you know what's the best thing is, well, typically what I always say, hey, if I stepped on anybody's toes, just let me know, right? And I'm super happy to apologize. And by the way, if you let me know, feedback is a gift, I can do it better next time, and, but I still feel like just saying the things as I see them, or as they are. I mean, if I say typically, it will be my view of the world. I'm just offering honesty, and I think maybe a lot of times people miss honesty, right? They hear the typical rah rah rah rah rah, and I found at least that people a are not necessarily interested in listening to the rah rah rah, and also they don't believe it. It's not genuine, it's not real. I give you an example. I had a meeting with some several CIOs from one company with different parts in the company, and it was really interesting, because we're talking about coding and how AI is going to change the world, and everything else. Man, I just studied business, I have never coded anything in my life, right? And even I sit in front of this famous tool for spreadsheets like this, right? I shouldn't say it, but I'm not necessarily the gifted in that. But then a colleague of mine said, Kirsten, you have to learn how to do this, and I sat in front of this tool and just said, hey, this is what I want to build, and yeah, maybe I spent two or three or five hours, I don't know how many, but I built a tool that is actually really useful. I showed it to them with full my emotion, right? As a he can do it, what could we do, right? And that's this genuine piece that I think is just super important to share. Be genuine, be yourself. Back to this, do not dream of wearing somebody's T-shirt, dream of them wearing yours. I think that's becoming more and more my life motif now for my next fiscal year.

Billy Keels  18:24  

Yeah, no, I love that. So, as we think about that and that idea, and you know, people are finding you because you are doing and creating something in an unfiltered way, right? It's, it's Carson, uncut, as we talked about before, while you continue to perform in your, in your corporate role, what do you feel like it is in your, in your, let's say, in your corporate environment that brings out the best in your leadership?

Carsten Nitschke  18:52  

Wow, let me think. Well, I think my boss, if I'm dead, honest, in my corporate world, my boss brings out the best in my leadership.

Billy Keels  19:02  

What do you mean? Help us understand.

Carsten Nitschke  19:05  

It's, it's, I mean, he is just simply outrageously amazing. He hired me in my previous job, and I still remember the interview that I had with him. He leaned back on the chair like he was, he was laughing, almost right. And because I was trying to build that story I asked before, so is there anything I should prepare? No. And the very same morning, they told me, "Well, you do like a half an hour pitch on how you will do this. And okay, great, thanks for a lot letting me prepare that. But it's, I think, we had an instant connection. He, he was able to see a little bit beyond this and back to this dream crazy thing. He was able to see that there is somebody that has different capabilities that is maybe not always as polished but will be able to walk down the miles that nobody else walks down, and he gave me great, great guidance in the time I worked with my previous employer, and even more now in this employer. Yeah, he lets me be right, and so once somebody said, well, you might want to tone that down just a little bit, right? Just, just be careful, I mean, just, just be good on that one, but on the other side, he always takes the time to come back and said, hey, think about what we just did here, and what do you think we could have done better, and we go into this very, very honest exercise of what was good, what was awesome, and what was to be improved, and I get the freedom of being with guidance of being always a little bit better, right? And I think that is just that's the gift, right, and I try to give that as well to my team, right, and to really see that they grow, that they stand on their own feet. Of course, I will always put myself, I always say I take the first bullet, so I throw myself in front of you, but I really love the fact that I can do what I can do, because I know I have my back covered, right? And I may oftentimes I say, my team today, or our team, my boss's team, my team, we're like Navy Seals, right, Navy Seals of Sales, and that's a special thing you need to want to do. This, it's a very, very tough job. You will never get invited to the President's office to have dinner or whatever, right? And you will make, not necessarily be on the photo finish, where everybody then smiles and cheers and whatever else. But we do a lot of magic, and you need to want this, but you can only do it when you know that you really have your back covered, right? That it's either your manager or your peers, that they're in it with you, and to instill that type of culture. This is us who win, and it's me, Carsten, who loses. When my team loses, it's Carson who lost, not them. So that they also, they can get up again tomorrow, very quickly, and do it again right, whenever doesn't matter, get up and go. So that's to my boss.

Billy Keels  22:08  

No, yeah. So, and when you have that leadership, and you have an example, a leadership style that resonates with you, and and it has its effect, because one, it resonates, two, it's achieving, helping you to achieve the result. It makes it much easier to replicate. I mean, I think about in my, the last employer, I invested 16 years in my 20-six year career at SAP, and one of my managers was, you know, was just there, and it was at a moment in my life when I was creating a business on the side, and I was over performing, I was in Hawaii, I was doing this, I was doing that, but just because of the way that he led and allowed me and created the space for me, very similar to what you're talking about, like he allowed me the space to grow, but also the space that if I got in in a challenging situation, I knew I could go back and get, get, get his point of view, and so it is such an important thing, and then I never went back into a leadership role, I stayed an individual contributor, but I also resonate a lot with what you said, it's amazing what happens when you no longer have the title, but you have people who are following your lead, so I appreciate you, appreciate you sharing that, I feel like there's something else you want to add on that, but

Carsten Nitschke  23:21  

it's you just really, I think this, this point is just so, so important, right? And it's, I, when people tell me, "Hey, I'm going to have an interview with X Y Z, I always tell them, "All right, have them talk. And so, what do you mean? Look at who's going to be your boss and make a very, very wise choice about who is going to be the one that is having to have your back, right? And I've seen fantastic leaders, I'm really, really fantastic leaders. I have seen also the worst, right. And I think there is just.. and let's just say there, we're only in a for a limited time in this world, right? And actually, we spend quite a lot of time in our jobs. Some people say I eight hours, I wished it would be eight hours funny, but on the other side, I don't complain. I love what I'm doing. I really have a lot of passion for it, but you can only do these type of things when you feel safe, and when you feel that you are in a place where it actually makes a difference, right? So, having somebody that guides you, protects you, makes you better every single day, I think, is absolutely fundamental. Yes, the money is important, and everything else, right? But I would, would really, really take a very, very careful look before I make a money decision versus really who is my boss.

Billy Keels  24:48  

Yeah, no, no, it's yeah, it's very, very well stated. So I was going to ask you another question, but you just made me think about something, because it's it's one of the things that like that you are actually doing right now. It's one of the things when I'm working with clients that they, in the beginning, they kind of, they have a little bit of a challenge with it, but once again, you're performing really well in your, in your role, right? That is something that's really, really clear, and at the same time, you're, you have this, this goal that is already beginning to take fruition, and where you're helping other people, and there's always this, this concern of, like, oh my gosh. Well, I'm going to share something that I'm doing outside of what I'm doing in my role, and even though you know it can help other people, sometimes there is this tendency to say I don't want to do anything else other than my role. You maybe talk to that person that is having some concern that if they do something else, they're not going to perform in their role, or maybe just how they can, or how you've approached that more than more than

Carsten Nitschke  25:45  

Billy. I love that question. You know what it's interesting about it. So maybe if I just make a little jump back in time, 35 years ago, we just had my 35 year class reunion on the weekend, right, and it was funny because we had like this yearbook type of paper that we did, and then a lot of people just had many people just wrote below, also what they wanted to be, and I think that's a very important question back to the people to also ask them, that what did you want to be when you were out of high school or starting university, what was it that you wanted to be? I wrote down Rockstar, right, and I would say probably very good that I'm not, because I'm not necessarily the best singer, and so we want to keep people happy and not jumping off bridges. But rock star can be many different things, right? It can be somebody that performs, that entertains, doesn't have to be the guy that is falling back on stage and let's get carried on the hands by somebody while he still plays the guitar, and yes, I always wanted to do that. I always wanted to be somebody that also entertains, and I try to entertain while I am working. I make it pleasant. It's the beautiful saying, you always been more honey, sorry, with always win more flyers with honey than with vinegar. Make it pleasant, right? Am I always the most pleasant person? There will be a lot of people that would disagree. No, because I'm very direct and I say what I think, and when I think that something is not good, I say it, but I also say the opposite. When I think that something is awesome, then we really celebrate it. So ask these people, what did they really want to do, right? And are you doing today what you really wanted to do when you were still and very fresh, unpolluted mind, probably out of high school? And if the answer is I'm not exactly doing that, well, don't leave it there. I mean, there's probably something still burning inside of you that you might want to get out, and concerning the time or the performance, and everything else. Actually, I found that starting to do my videos makes me better. I found it makes me better because I get certain things out of my system in a very healthy way. I can talk about it, I also think that it's super important to just not be the best and the coolest in the world. Yes, and I, as you see on the videos, I often talk about also where I lost or where I really stepped aside. That's where I really learned. I remember once we had a bigger, bigger meeting, team meeting, and then people asked me about what was your most important experience so far, and I said we were, we lost a very, very big deal, and I said it was my fault, and people looked at me and said, How did you say that? And so, well, it was my fault, right? It was, I was not overall responsible for the account or whatever else, but I was also there, I could have said something, we should do this or we should do this other thing, and I didn't, and, and I think just it makes me, it makes me better. It makes me also think about in certain customer situations, hey, how is there something I can take out of that, and I can use for something else? So it keeps my mind beautifully busy, and I really think it makes me better, and time. Yes, it is time that I invest into this, but guess what? I have sometimes I fly quite often, right? So those two and a half or three hours on a plane where I cannot really talk to anybody, I spend the time also. Hey, let's write about this next script, or let's think about what could be the next topic, and but then try to also implement that again into my daily job, so it's a, it's a mutual fertilization,

Billy Keels  29:27  

yeah. So, and it's interesting that you say that, because this is one of the things that I found, right in the very beginning, I wasn't really telling many people at all, and I was, you know, building real estate on the side, eventually ended up owning, you know, 40 some different different properties while I was working at my employer, and still, you know, being able to perform high at a high level, doing both things, but it's very similar to what you're talking about, it is, it becomes this loop where the things that I was doing in my role, and a lot of the transferable skills that I've been building up over two decades, I was able to use them, and what I. Doing on the side, and then all of those new experiences outside of my corporate walls, they were giving me new perspectives on how I could actually approach situations inside of the corporate walls, and so it became, it helped me to become much more confident on both sides of the things that I was doing, so I see you, maybe some of that resonates with you as well, or 100%

Carsten Nitschke  30:24  

because I mean, if you look at the just the format that I do on my videos, right, I call it Carson Uncut, because it's uncut, it's one recording done, right, there's no editing, no cuts, nothing, it's just exactly how it comes out, that's how it is, I mean, maybe I scratch my face, while some people would cut that out and do it again. I don't, I leave it there, but what it actually obliges me to do, and that's the interesting piece, is I need to really think about what I'm going to say for the next five or six minutes, and I watch myself often. Also, do I say whatever else? No. So I really try to build these things, then into when I do a pitch. Interestingly enough, on that one, when with pitches, right? I actually put it down also as one of my videos. I find people pitch way too little, and I think that's just a skill and an art that we should not forget. You want to be charmed by somebody that wants you, want to feel that they understand what you really talk about, that you understand their business, that you ask the right questions. It's difficult that you do all that when you are guided by presentation. People said, 'Do use PowerPoint. I said, 'Yeah, use it once in a while, but typically I bet more as a guideline, so that I'm not losing track. So, hey, we wanted to cover these five or six points, but really the rest freestyle always, and I always did it like this, because it allows me to really react also to the room. You see that somebody maybe looks bored. Let's just find out why is that person maybe bored. As so, what would make this good for you? You do not do that when you really talk off of a talk trend, and and I think this is really a great way to practice it. I want to tell you something, and do that as freestyle as possible, so it's a continuous learning.

Billy Keels  32:26  

So, what is your big, your big dream for Carson Uncut? And who are, who are the people that, that you're impacting today? I know, but my big dream..

Carsten Nitschke  32:36  

how.. wow, I have a, have a million followers now, or subscribers, my big dream is that this continues to grow. That I love, for example, the other day when I walked into the offices, oh, Carson, on cut, oh, you're watching it. Oh, this is great, right? So it, I think it's, it's let it, that it just continues to grow. I think the biggest gift again, feedback that people give more feedback and real feedback. What I found interesting is that a lot of people give me feedback like offline, it's also great. Yeah, but if you like something, why don't you just click like? It's as easy as that, and nobody gets punished for doing that.

Billy Keels  33:22  

It's a corporate thing.

Carsten Nitschke  33:24  

Thank you. That's the corporate thing. I'll tell you,

Billy Keels  33:26  

it's a corporate thing.

Carsten Nitschke  33:27  

It's so funny. It's like, wow, what are you afraid of? And I think that's the other part. I think one of the things that I do want to achieve is that people are less afraid of saying and speaking, and of maybe speaking not only from the heart, I love that on your on the episode that I just listened on your podcast, because it's man, just if things come from the heart, people take it very, very differently, but just really team, be honest, just say the things, and it can only get better for all of

Billy Keels  34:04  

us. Yeah, so, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna.. well, so we're talking about the community, we're talking.. well, you're.. I'm putting words in your mouth now, but you talked as it, as it continues to grow, like you're.. you're building a community of people who aren't just following you like blindly, they're genuinely looking for connection because of the things that you've talked about, like the things that you stand for, the things that you stand against, and you've started to talk about what some of that, what that looks like when it's fully alive, but what do you think are the like, what's the impact that you want that to have on the people that are that are literally inside of the community.

Carsten Nitschke  34:43  

I think the impact that I really want to have is first of all, again, that people feel that saying things out loud is a good thing, and not something that could be potentially dangerous, right? And again, back to this corporate world thing, it isn't dangerous, right, I. And I think also there's this big gift of say things with a smile, it makes all the difference, you can say things a little bit tougher, but you say it with a smile, and you can build tension, take the tension away, and all these little gifts that sometimes, when you just chat things, right, I'm a big fan of just call right, don't write to me, just pick up the freaking phone and call me right, because I know in the mood you are, I can, I can read a lot more things out of the conversation we have than when I read something for the community to really, I would love to see more also feedback, hey, could you talk about this thing, or have you experienced that? Right, I just today on my LinkedIn post I had a very, very interesting feedback, so hey, I think you're maybe, maybe that was your case, but I think there's many more other signs that you need to look up, and etc, etc. So that's great, that was very, very good additional insight. So I call it cross fertilization. I'm very much looking forward to that, and as I move along, I probably will build it out to a little bit bigger format, like, like you do right now, for example, where two people are talking and not just one person is talking, and have more of these conversations, because, of course, I can share my point of view, but let's just get other points of view in the room as well, which I think makes it then all the more interesting and entertaining for others.

Billy Keels  36:24  

No, I love that, and being able to make the impact that you want, and having the people in the room that are looking for that impact and are willing to also share something that's really, really important. So, I know we've talked around it a bit, but Who is Carson Uncut? Who's it for, like, and I know I said sales, leadership, AI - these are these are a lot of the topics that you're talking about, and we talked about the people that are that you are building momentum and that you are growing, but someone who's listening to us for the first time, and they haven't - they weren't aware until they saw the cool, like, advertising for today's session. Who is it for?

Carsten Nitschke  36:59  

It is, it is actually for any professional that is out there that doesn't want any, any of the fluff and the rah rah rah, and just points of view, like I said. I like to talk about a lot of things, let it be leadership, and also the things that I experienced make me a better leader. I think I made a video once, you wanted too much, right. While harsh feedback can be your best friend, and so I had that moment, for example, at the employer where we joined three letters, and I didn't get a promotion, right. And he took then the time and sat down with me at a, at a, at a dinner, and said, personally, do an excellent job, but you piss off so many people along the way that you cannot even imagine you're abrasive and nobody would want to make you a manager if you're doing it like this. Wow, that was feedback. I mean, swallow that and have sleep after that, after a good dinner. But those are the things that I love to give back to people, and maybe to a broader audience, right? I mean, it's one on one is great, but a broader audience really, this feedback then has led to other things. That's why I was then able to get, for example, this the San Jose moment with Singularity University, because I got promoted into a different role. Why I have the role today that I have, and I think it's just for all of us. I mean, we're here, limited a moment of time. Let's make the most out of it. And if there's things that I can share that made me a better person slash leader slash seller slash negotiator slash partner, whatever friend, then happy to share that, and if people can learn from it, I'm very, very happy. In the worst case, and that's just the worst, it's just for me to say what I wanted to say, and then I say it out in the universe, I've said it, and maybe I just feel a little bit better afterwards, but the real purpose is really to help others to really find a way that took me sometimes a little bit harder way to find, if I can make it easier for others, then I would be more than happy. It's, it's give back time, as we said at our age. I mean, I thought you were so much younger than I am. Back to that, right? The lotions really work. It is, it's, it's, hey, there's not that many more years of my career in front of me, right? And it's now really time to give back to younger people that are maybe struggling in this world, they want to climb, climb up the ladder. Don't do it so fast, I mean, the higher you get, the thinner the air, very, very simple Mount Everest thing, and and enjoy also the moment that you're living, right, and there's a lot of goodness when you're in quotation marks, just an IC, yeah, because you're just responsible for yourself. It is awesome as well.

Billy Keels  39:52  

I enjoyed my last eight years of corporate in that IC role. It was a great way for me to expand after having done, you know, a lot of global and regional. And stuff like that, but which is great, so as we get ready to wind down things, there's a question that I really would like to know from you, because it was, you know, we tend to talk a lot about all of the things that work really well, and we tend to talk about it, and we want to, you know, when things are going well, I always say that they're going well, and you know, you don't really pay attention, because things are going well, but when things are going not according to plan, there's a tendency to want to dwell and stay in that moment and say all the things that aren't working, but you and I both know that those are just moments as well, they're just another moment, and it's really important that you, when you're in those situations that are not moving in the way that you want them to, that you, that you have a mirror moment, like I like to say, the person in the mirror, the man in the mirror, right, which is you have to tell yourself something to get yourself out of that rut and get you moving in the other direction. I would love for you to let the going long family be a fly on the wall, if you will, and share with us, if you want to. Let's imagine you're three years ahead, and you're looking back on Karsten Nitsch today, and you're saying, you know what, I'm really glad, Carsten, that you told me that in that specific moment, because that's what it took for us to get out of that bad spot. What is the one thing that you know that you need to say to yourself to get you moving and getting back in the right direction,

Carsten Nitschke  41:22  

actually, will laugh. It has a lot to do with my background. So, those are two things, two things that I find that are typically helping me to get out of my out of my black hole. The number one, the sun that you see there, I'm a huge fan. I think the sun is something just miraculous. It has this magic power. It lights us up. It gives us an energy. I mean, forget solar energy, right? That's beautiful, but it gives us people energy. We smile more in the Latin countries because we see the sun more, right? And let's not forget that. So, I always put myself back and say, and the sun is going to rise again tomorrow, right? So it's no better how bad it is today. It's going to be better tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, into the after tomorrow. And then I think just I'm.. I try to be very, very optimistic, no matter how bad the news are that are coming in, right? I mean, it's for example, I just crashed the car and said, are you okay? Yes. Well, then it's just the car, right? The positive is you're okay. The car, well, we can get that fixed. That's not really important, but another one is, and that's why I said the two things in the image in the background is I have this very, very strong view on we cross it bridge by bridge. We will solve that problem when we get to that bridge, right. And, or I love, I make a lot of movie analogies, and any given Sunday, where Al Pacino then said the game is one inch by inch, right? It is, don't forget the big leap frogs and everything else, awesome. The game is one inch by inch, and no matter how bad it is today, tomorrow it will be another inch better, and it will be another inch better, and that's one thing. The third thing that that's, but that's something that I typically do, I try to write things down for me and just say I feel like this, and why do I feel like this, and then find typically a third party can be anybody in your universe to say, hey, I've just had this reflection, can we talk about this, right? And because it's very interesting, because you get a different view on the very same thing, right, and let's shine with a very, very different light on the problem. There is only very, very few problems in this life that are worth to really break your head on, and I watched once a beautiful video with one of, I think it was an Indian philosopher, then basically, so why worry, right? Can you fix it? So, why worry? You can't fix it, why worry, right? It is, it is, it's really simple, and I think we just need to come back also for us to simplicity. That's what I do. Does it work always? No. Am I 100% successful? 100% not.

Billy Keels  44:11  

But what's important is to think about, I mean, and just as you talk about the sun will come up tomorrow, take it, you know, bridge by bridge, inch by inch, if you will, and you know when you can to write things down, because it is a matter of being able to say, okay, have I forgotten so many different things can happen in a day to day, but once it's written down, it's really etched in stone, and I cannot believe Carsten, like literally, how fast these conversations. I love these conversations. I love these conversations. Time warp. Yeah, exactly. I'm like, oh my gosh, everybody, everybody's like, wait, wait, wait, let him keep talking, let him keep talking. But I love

Carsten Nitschke  44:55  

it. Honestly, it really feels.. I mean, Billy, you really have a very special energy, I. And I think people hopefully tell you that if they don't, then I tell you that. Appreciate, keep that in mind. You have a very, very special energy, and it's such a joy to see and to work and to talk and to listen to the energy that you transmit. So really huge kudos to you. Yeah. No,

Billy Keels  45:16  

yeah. But here's the thing, so I appreciate that, and that's really, really kind of you, but I'm thinking about the beginning of our conversation, and we're going all the way back - all I say, all the way back, because people will be listening this decades from now. We're gonna go all the way back to 2018 when you had that moment, when you had that, that opportunity you talked to us about. Well, you didn't have a leadership opportunity, and then that actually took you to Singular University, and then there was a moment in time where you recognized that there was a Nike commercial that really just had a massive impact on you, and then you went from there to really recognizing that it wasn't about how you know you're wearing someone else's T-shirt, have that person wear your T-shirt, and it starts to dream in a way that is bigger, crazier, and then you get to a point where you're, you're going out and you're recognizing that it's not just about doing what everybody else is doing, it's about being able to offer honest answers and offer them honestly from your perspective, from your lived experience, also continuing to achieve, recognizing that you have these different, different capabilities, and yeah, you know, when growing up, maybe it wasn't everybody wanting you wanting to be a part of everybody else's group, but there eventually, you know, what you don't need align leadership, you don't need a title anymore, you can even be in, and I say with air quotes, individual contributing, you start realizing, wow, people are actually coming to me asking me for my input, from my point of view, from my thought process, and it helps you to recognize that you can continue to offer, you can continue to build, and even beyond that, when life happens for you, even in the most difficult, in heart-wrenching situations, you shared with us with your mother's passing, that that was the thing that moved you to recognize, hey, listen, I tried this in the past with somebody else to share my unfiltered thoughts, my unfiltered ideas, but now's the moment, and this is the moment that was for you the beginning of Carson Uncut, and as you continue to go out and you continue to have people move to you, and like we said, in less than a year, you're already continuing to, you're already building this movement of people that want to learn more about leadership, more about sales, more about AI, and do it in a way that is unfiltered. It's Carsten Uncut. And so everybody's asking me, Billy, just just be quiet, just ask Carsten. So I'm just gonna ask you, Carsten, how can the going long family find out more about you, what it is you're doing, and also how can they be involved in Carsten Uncut?

Carsten Nitschke  47:47  

Oh, perfectly, it's super, super easy. You find me on LinkedIn, Carsten Nichke, and I think you will propose the link as well, or on YouTube if you look for Carsten Uncut, two words, you will find me, and I would love to really hear from you. What is it that you want to know, right? And I also have the very, very simple philosophy: you can ask any question, and most likely you will get an answer. Some people are shocked when I then actually answer what they ask, so that's that's one thing. But I have actually one thing for you, Billy. I have one question for you.

Billy Keels  48:18  

Oh, one thing, question for me. What's the

Carsten Nitschke  48:20  

one moment because you watched the video where it ticked for you, especially on Nike Dream Crazy?

Billy Keels  48:26  

Well, I think in the well in the version that I watched was the when everything comes together and you realize, man, there are people that are going through a lot more than the things that I thought were really, really challenging, and they continue to do it, and there are moments when I think to myself, though this is too difficult, and it really isn't. So, why not dream even bigger?

Carsten Nitschke  48:51  

I love it. I, you know, I use this video with all my mentees, so they are forced to go through that, and to tell me where it takes for them, and just as last story, because it was for me, it was a fun part, and we did that with my, with I did that with my team, and many people on the team already knew how important that video for me is, and has very, very strong emotional impact still today. And then one of my team members said, Kirsten, I really have no idea why you just showed up that video, and you could see the entire room froze for a moment. Everybody was thinking, okay, he hit the big red button. Said, well, thank you. Seriously, I appreciate it. Now I know that this is not the type of language that speaks to you. Yeah, I know something more. It's not there's no good and bad and no wrong and right, but it's but it's I think it's a really, it's a powerful message, and let's just dream crazy, and do it every day a little bit more, and ask if it's crazy enough. I think you really hit it on the spot when you hit it off.

Billy Keels  49:47  

There you go. All right, fantastic. Well, listen, Carson, for me, and also on behalf of the entire Goinglong family, I just want to say, thank you very, very much for deciding to invest your time with us and to share your. Knowledge with us. Thank you very much, man. Really appreciate

Carsten Nitschke  50:02  

it. Thank you so much, Billy. Thank you. I'm looking forward to it. And big greetings to the Going Long family. Um, you're awesome, and I love really to listen to your show. It is.. it's just great. Thank you, Billy. Keep the energy, please.

Billy Keels  50:15  

All right, fantastic. Appreciate it. Hey, by the way, Going Long Family, when you reach out to Carson, not if, but when you reach out to him specifically on LinkedIn, make sure that you send him a personalized invitation. Let him know that you've already invested time listening to the conversation. It's just going to help you and Carson have a conversation that continues much more fluidly. So, listen, go along, family, go out and make it a great day. Thank you very much. I'll be back here preparing for the next conversation, and we'll talk to you soon. Thank you. Thank you so much.

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