Unlocking Business Success with Behavioral Leadership: Insights from Sid Mohasseb | Behavioral Profit

Welcome to The Behavioral Profit, where business

meets behavior. I'm your host, Debbie Longo,

executive behavioral coach. And each week we

dive into the mindset, leadership strategies,

and cultural behaviors that drive higher performance

and greater profits with you leading a team and

building a business. This is not just a space

to learn how human behavior fuels business success.

We have a very special guest today, Sid Mahabid.

a visionary leader whose career spans CEO and

board level roles across multiple industries,

from leading billion dollar consulting firms

to serving as president of the largest angel

investment organization in the United States.

With experience as our partner and managing director

at firms like KPMG and Enterprise with $26 billion

in revenue, he brings decades of insight into

what only drives business transformation. But

what sets him apart is his core belief, who we

are, our emotions, our experiences, and even

our blind spots shape what we do. For him, behavior

is not a sidebar to leadership. It's the foundation.

Culturers are built by behavior, and in turn,

culture determines creativity, contribution,

and result. You'll also hear the story of a personal

real estate negotiation that reveals how emotional

intelligence and human connection can triumph

where logic alone fails. If you're ready to move

beyond titles and tactics and into the heart

of effective leadership, this episode is for

you. Good afternoon, Sid. Welcome to the show.

Pleasure to have you here. Would you like to

add anything to that intro? There's nothing more

we could say. And the less is that it's not about

me in general of what I've accomplished. I believe

it's about them and what people can accomplish.

That begins in their mind and their mindset and

how their emotions work together, how they put

the pieces of the puzzle together. So let's focus

on them and less on me. So there's a few questions

here. Why frameworks are only as useful as the

people and problems they solve? I would appreciate

that. In business, in MBA schools and in a lot

of places, we're fascinated with this idea as

a, let's follow this framework and it has certain

elements to it. And it could be a management

framework. It could be a performance framework.

It could be HR framework. And then we have these

best practices that we learn from in business

school. We teach students, but The problem with

that is life is not like a cake that means the

pieces don't fit together nicely and cleanly

and you can't say okay take piece A and screw

it in piece B and then piece C bring it to at

an angle of there and boom you have a bookcase

you have success That is an illusion we've been

driven to believe in a way because it makes life

simpler. Every kid is different. There are thousands

of books raising kids. And show me that exactly

work it doesn't. So raising a child is like raising

a business. Leadership is right. Grow a company.

We are all individuals with very unique characteristics.

There is 110 billion people that on the face

of the earth that have come and gone. There's

8 billion now. Name two that are exactly the

same. We're all different. What is practical

for me is not practical for you. So the idea

is, yes, there is learning that we can take from

these frameworks of how Jeff Bezos has done it,

but the tailoring of those things means that

it has to fit my organization because just as

I am unique, everyone in my organization is unique.

They are here for a reason, and it's not necessarily

money. It's a bundle of satisfaction. It includes

creativity that we can give them. It includes

security. It includes the benefits. It includes

the opportunity to make money. It includes their

ability to be with their family. That's why they

become a part of us as a company. Each person

has a set of satisfaction, reasons to be with

us, as a customer, to buy from us, as a partner,

to partner with us, or as an investor, to invest

in us. So here's where I say that the framework

idea has to have the flexibility. It's a learning

point. It has to put the pieces of the puzzle

of success and leadership and culture together

with the understanding of the reasonings that

satisfies the people in our ecosystem and ourselves.

So here's the argument. We write something on

a wall that we are a company that believes in

people and believes in creativity. That doesn't

create culture. What creates culture is if those

people who are joining us have a belief of being

creative, being honest, diligent, productive,

or whatever it is that we want that culture to

be. So it begins with who we attract as opposed

to pushing some sort of a framework for a culture.

Let's have a Fourth of July hamburgers in the

backyard and talk about how great we are. It

works bottoms up, not top down, regardless of

what framework we use. I hope that makes sense.

Yes, it does. Thank you very much. My experience.

has been that people and their minds, because

the mind controls everything, make it useful

for themselves and depends on your thought pattern

and what you're thinking and how you're thinking

it, and even whether you want to be useful or

not. The framework is the thought, it's the thinking,

but it can be translated to a physical thing.

The mind and your behavior and how you come to

make that framework possible or even create a

thought for that framework, any type of thought

at all. That to me is the original thing that

happens. Then I build the framework in a way

that might not always be the case because people

might think of something physical or something

solid as that and they just do it that way. They

just think of it that way and they don't realize

that their mind can alter it or think of it in

a different way. in order for them to get maybe

more of a benefit out of it, or maybe it become

more useful, different things like that. For

one thing I say, common sense is not that common.

The point that you're actually suggesting is

one of the key pillars of my belief. We have

the Anabase Academy that fuses mindfulness and

entrepreneurship, which is at the core of who

we are. Mindfulness means being aware of situations,

being aware of emotions, being aware of the reality

of life. If I want to accomplish something and

I don't have the money or the right customers

or they're not ready. Those are realities that

impacts execution. That's what I think. It matters

what it is. So mindfulness is about, I use the

term actuated mindfulness. Stimulated to connect

to results. Mindfulness. A lot of people talk

about mindfulness as going into, we're thinking

about, oh, isn't it that we're connected to this?

I realize that my fears are this. I'm not against

meditation, but meditation without detachment

to actual, you have to be attached in order.

for you to realize results, impact in real life.

This idea of I'm completely detached, sit here

on the top of a mountain or in a basement of

a room or in front of an ocean and I think about

great things and then I come out, it doesn't

work. So mindfulness is at the core of looking

at what I call our that zone, people call it

the comfort zone, where we think everything is

awareness and the need for awareness drives our

ability to listen without our biases and say,

here's the reality of people. This is how people

feel when they work for our company. This is

not an illusion and our behavior is influencing

their behavior. It's not abnormal to get results

from people within the thing because that's the

reality. But the key is to actuate mindfulness,

to take mindfulness and that awareness into impact.

Reality, actions and reactions. Our decisions

have consequences. Our progress has to do with

choice. So I always say the best friend we have

is change. but people see it as the enemy, something

that has to be managed, something that has to

be controlled. If we didn't have change, our

children would never grow up, we'll have McDonald's

for lunch every day, we'll do the same thing

every day. It is change that gives us options

towards prosperity, towards more, towards better,

gives us the opportunity to choose. It is this

ability, looking at change, looking at it within

the context of awareness of our reality, for

the sake of change, is not necessarily a good

thing. mindful of who we are, our ecosystem,

with clarity of thought that is not around false

hope. It's not being fearless. It's being aware

of the fears that are approaching us. Because

fearless is stupid. If I'm fearless and I don't

see them using me, this is some of these stuff

that you see on Instagram and Facebook and so

forth in terms of motivational nonsense. These

are stopping us from actually realizing we are

in control. We need to learn. I'm not against

learning. We need to look at the frameworks,

at books. But there are no two people who practice

leadership the same way. There are thousands

of leadership books out there. But depending

on the situation, depending on who you're speaking

to, depending on where you are, who you are,

what your business is, and all of that, your

leadership style changes. It should change. I

don't care if there are 10 ,000 books out there.

What matters is how you individually put those

pieces of puzzle together. It's good to learn,

but it's dangerous to follow lifestyle life,

thinking I'm like Elon Musk. I am like Jack.

I'm like somebody else. You are unique. Realizing

that authenticity, realizing that uniqueness,

and realizing that everybody that works with

you to your colleagues, to your employees, to

your friends, to your family members. They're

all unique too. That is at the core of how we

behave, how we practice mindfulness, how we actuate

it, activate it, to actually connect us to outcomes,

results, prosperity. Okay. So the next question

is how behavioral leadership drives trust, innovation

and change. So if you could maybe combine those

three things, talk a minute about each one and

then combine it. Innovation and change. Let's

take an organization. We have employees. Let's

just take that dimension. Forget about the customers

or partners, investors, and how we interact with

the society. Because those are the five pillars

of any organization. Let's just focus on the

employee. We have an assumption that when we

hire somebody, we give them a job description,

a salary, and we expect a certain level of productivity

from these people. Who has the decision to join

the company? Us or them? They make the final

decision. When they say, I'd like to take on

this job, they are processing it based on their

own set of reasons. The job offers two days work.

working from home. I like that. The job offers

good benefits. My wife or my husband has a health

problem. So the benefits is good. The job takes

me to California. I have a boyfriend or a girlfriend

in California. I like to be close to them. The

job pays me $100 ,000. I think I'm worth really

$200 ,000, but the rent is due. So I'm going

to quit at five o 'clock every day and I'm going

to do something else after that. We choose as

the employee, not as the employer. The employee

chooses how much productivity they create. much

capability they bring in, how much creativity

they bring in, how much innovation they bring

in, how much commitment they bring in, they choose

based on their own set of reasons. The fact that

they do that requires this notion of them being

satisfied with what you offer them. And that

is at the core of trust. They have to trust that

you are genuine, there is alignment between the

two of you. And if there is trust, then I would

believe that the direction that you're taking

me, the right direction. Otherwise I wouldn't

trust. I wouldn't go in that direction. I wouldn't.

People change when these two things exist. One,

there is severity of a problem or an opportunity.

That is, I would change if I see the company

is going broke and I have to do something or

there is such a wonderful opportunity ahead for

me and for the company, my career, my family.

satisfying my needs that I would define, then

I would like to change. Then the question is,

what is the direction of change? Usually the

leader says, here's our vision to change. The

only reason that I would follow that leader is

if I trust them. If I trust, then I would follow.

So I will change. Otherwise, why would I change?

There has to be a reason for it and there has

to be a direction of it. The direction is leadership

issue and the leadership requires trust. Trust

is a funny thing. People think that you trust

me, I trust you. But there is a three -way trust.

It's not a two -way trust. The first thing is

I have to trust myself as a leader. Genuinely

trust. Not BS -ing myself that I'm capable of

conquering the universe, seeing myself in the

White House or as the head of this or that. Trusting

my abilities and trusting I can't change, I can't

evolve, I have these issues and I can recover.

Trusting, genuine trust in me and my capabilities

and who I am. Then I have to invest trust in

others. I don't expect them to trust me. Then

I have to trust them first. And if I do those

two things, what comes back is a compounding

effect of trust. Their trust in me as a leader.

And that is an unbelievable three -way trust.

Now there's a partnership. Now there is collaboration

in a particular direction. Now a culture begins

to form, to shake. And the last question is,

why seeing others clearly beyond money, ego,

or assumptions can unlock powerful outcomes in

business and life? I believe... And this is after

40 years of doing business. I'm an immigrant.

I came to United States when I was 16 years old

by myself. I have built a number of companies.

I have worked, as you mentioned, at the beginning

in a lot of startups. I have helped a lot of

companies grow. I've learned a few things in

my journey. We talked about this idea of mindfulness

and actuating mindfulness. So that's one piece.

Each one of us have the ability to build greatness

and it is in our gene. We are designed not just

to survive, to thrive, to create better, to create

more. People think an entrepreneur is someone

who makes a lot of money, someone who's a BSer,

all of that hoopla. That's not the case. The

definition of entrepreneur, which was originally

introduced in the 1700s, is an entrepreneur is

someone who has something, who wants to exchange

it with something better. It could be your time.

It could be a product. It could be an idea. It

could be a service. You want to exchange that.

with something better of higher value. You decide

what you have and you decide what higher value

and knowing that there is risk. I may not get

everything I want. This is essentially in our

genes to want better. We're all entrepreneurs.

We can take what we have and exchange it with

something better. If we realize we have that

ability, it's the same in life and business.

You and I as an individual. in our lives want

to create better. Maybe it's making a better

dish for lunch or dinner. Maybe it's we have

a kid, we want to take him to Disneyland because

it's fun. Maybe it's a date night. Maybe it's

spending time with our children at some ball

game. We have work. We have our relationship.

We have our friend. We are an enterprise and

we're always trying to create better. The same

thing applies to a company. It's designed to

create better. The better is not always money.

The mistake is that I have I've worked with hundreds

of entrepreneurs. I've made investments in tens

of companies. And whenever the entrepreneur wanted

to focus on money, the results were suboptimal.

Because at midnight, at three o 'clock in the

morning, when everything is going wrong, when

things don't work, when we face the reality of

the difference between a plan and what happens,

money is not enough of a motivation to get you

a crime. It's just not enough. That's when you

give up. That's when you unfold. That's when

you look at other things. That's when you begin

to do things that are immoral, that are not the

right thing to do. That's when you begin to compromise,

not only yourself, but your business. So the

key is we are all an enterprise. We're all an

entrepreneur. We have the mindset, the ability

to evaluate things and create better. That's

our mindfulness, our awareness. that comes in

from how we listen, how we do things, how we

create our emotions, how we deal with our emotions,

how we see comfort zone, how we desire to imagine

and be better. And if we take all of that together,

we have a fusing of mindfulness and entrepreneurship.

If you put these two things together, mindfulness

as awareness. entrepreneurship as a desire to

be better, to create more as we define it. Martin

Luther King is an entrepreneur. Mother Teresa

was an entrepreneur. Almas is an entrepreneur.

But we decide what is better and that could be

anything. We desire someone who works a cleaning

job. gets up in the morning at six o 'clock,

a single mother, and goes to work, takes a bus

an hour away, cleans hotel rooms, and makes $10,

$12, or $22 an hour, saves that money to take

children or grandchildren to Disneyland. She

had something. She exchanges it with something

better, knowing that there is risk. The kid may

not like Disneyland. It may never happen. The

risk is that I don't have enough money to pay

the rent. We're all entrepreneurs, and that's

essentially here. The Anabases Academy is where

we focus on these elements. We focus on provoking

people. It's the most non -academic academy.

There is no test. There is no conclusion, there

is no certificate. It's not for tens of thousands

of dollars to join it if you find your next best

version by being purported, by putting the pieces

of the puzzle your way together because you're

unique. If I do that, if our neighbors do that,

if your son does that and if your friends do

that, we are going to be in a much better place,

live in a better world. People can have a better

culture, they can have better behaviors because

they understand who they are, because they understand

their communities, because they understand that

we're not alone with our own driver. You touched

on a lot of different topics and different ways

that the mindfulness and the entrepreneurship

come separately, and then they go hand in hand.

And what I teach starts off that way, but then

that helps the person to create whatever their

goal or dream is. Maybe they're an entrepreneur

and they want to establish a company, or maybe

they're a solo entrepreneur, maybe. They're from

a medium business and they want to go to a big

executive type. position. It's not only the first

step, because sometimes the first step is the

giant step. If I get through that, then I could

do all different things. That depends on really

what the person wants. You were saying before,

the person determines what job they're gonna

go to. The company doesn't, because the company

has to sell their position. They literally have

to sell the position to the candidate. because

they have to hire somebody and they want to hire

the best person. How does mindfulness connect

with how I'm performing at work and whether I

want to get a promotion or not? How am I treating?

My peers, my boss, am I trying to control and

manipulate my boss? Am I trying to make my own

rules and not want to follow the job duties the

way that I'm told? Had his mindfulness connect

with that, then what you're saying, I work much

deeper than that. So I'm just curious about that

as the last question. The idea is the journey

begins with the first step, as they say. The

giant leap is the realization that I am designed

as a human being wherever I am. If I'm in high

school, college, I have a PhD. I have sold three

companies and I'm wealthy. Doesn't matter where

I am. I am designed to create better. I have

that ability within me, genetically. That is

a recognition. that a lot of times is loss. The

purpose of the way that you look at the world.

I'll give you an example. They asked two people

who were working on a construction site. Hey,

what do you do? The first guy says, I'm digging

ditches, laying pipe, making a living. They asked

the second one. He says, I'm building a hospital

to cure the sick. They were doing exactly the

same job. The perception of what they are doing,

what the cause, what the drive, what is internal

to us, the creation of. I am doing something

better than just survival. That is critical.

That is Realizing I do have a choice, I do have

a capability. The second is, if I do have this

control, this choice, how do I guide? How do

I win? How do I prosper? And that's activating

the mindfulness part. I have the ability. Just

because I have the ability, that doesn't necessarily

mean I sleep in in the morning. It's greatness.

There's work to be done. That work is about not

only just sitting in a mountaintop and thinking

great deals and then coming down and you have

employees not paying them, doing hard things,

saying the wrong things, hard work, and not being

empathetic to them, either from an employee's

perspective or an employer's perspective, just

to actuate that awareness into reality. If you

combine those two things as a first step, not

as a last step. Now, there is a lot to do. Every

day we have thousands of decisions. Every day,

at every given point in time, I may be wealthy,

I may be poor, I may have one leg, two legs,

no legs, I may be an IQ of this, we are all different.

So the practice of doing those things gets into

a lot of detail activities, a lot of detailed

relationships, psychologies, a lot of behavioral

issues. So there is a lot more, as you say, in

the detail, but it all begins with what I would

say, provoking people to see that they are an

entrepreneur. By activating their mindfulness,

there is a better version of themselves. If they

get into that practice, there's nothing to stop

it. If folks believe or resonate with what I'm

saying, I would encourage... them to go to the

Academy. It's called AnnaBases Academy. Anna

means moving up in Latin and bae means the bae.

So it's a -n -a -b -a -s -i -s, academy .org.

And there's a place they can join our wake up

calls which is for free. We have a membership

that's one dollar for life. So you can see the

approach. that we're taking, it's a movement

in my opinion to provoke and engage people and

we're learning partner. I don't have all the

answers. Collectively, we can put the pieces

together. You may have a piece and I may have

a piece and somebody in Philippines and we have

people from Africa, from China, from all across

the US joining us on these wake up calls and

then going into other things that we do. We have

conversations with experts. We have these collections

that are small five, seven minute videos, lots

of stuff. If you believe that you can evolve

and more, the first step is to be provoked. And

that's the choice, to be provoked. It's not motivational.

I can't give you motivation. All this stuff on

social media, I'll do three things and four things,

you're going to be trillionaires and you're going

to have a great life. It's nonsense. So the last

thing that I want to say is I do all different

industries and that gives a lot of different

suggestions, opinions, outlooks about how to

perform in all different industries. If you're

listening, and anything we say attracts you,

or you're in this type of industry, or you do

this type of work, then you might want to consider

trying some of these or getting in touch with

us, because it comes, like Sid was saying, it

starts with me. It comes with the first step

of me. And do I want to try this, do something

different, make a difference in my life, become

a different person? the person that I am not

now. This is the reason why I do these podcasts.

It's for the listener. And I really want to get

that point across because I think that's very

important because I'm trying to get a wide range

of people. This podcast is not narrow. The more

exposure I get, the more people relate to it,

the more people are able to listen. So how can

they get in touch with you? They can go to the

site, adivasesacademy .org, and contact us. Also,

my name, sid at mohasib .com is my email, so

they can reach out to me that way. Thank you

for being on the show. It was great to spend

time with you. Thank you, Debbie.