The Show Episode 21 – Brett Murry

John : Hello everyone, and welcome to the BUILD Show.

I’m John Peitzman, JP, Certified High Performance Coach and creator of The Build Framework.

I help individuals all over the world thrive in their personal and professional lives. And as the host of this show, our aim is to transform lives one guest at a time, and we do that by having amazing guests. And today is no different, we have with us Brett Murray.

Brett is an author, he’s a producer, and he’s an activist. He is the CEO of the world’s most effective bullying education and prevention charity, SAFEHEART Foundation. Brett authors books that are distributed internationally and he has written and produced television series and documentaries for Australian Television Network. And as if all is not enough, he is also, and this is huge, a five time nominee for Australian of the Year.

It’s truly an honour to have him with us here today. Brett, welcome to The BUILD Show.

Brett :  JP thank you for having me.

John :  Five time nominee.

Brett : Yeah.

John : Congratulations.

Brett : Yeah, haven’t got the gong yet, but-

John : Yeah, but we’re going to bring it home, right?

Brett : Absolutely.

John : So, that must be a huge honour.

Brett : It is, it’s huge. It’s been Australia’s highest honour and to be nominated once was amazing, but to have five nominations in the last 11 years is pretty special.

John : Yeah, That is amazing. So what are you excited about right now as we sit here?

Brett : Oh, wow. Well. What isn’t there to be excited about? I mean COVID is sort of been one of those   things where it’s thrown everyone into a bit of mayhem, but it’s given us a new opportunity  to really focus on where the direction of the charity is going, and that’s really, we call it going upstream. You mentioned that we’re a bullying education prevention charity, and we deal with the domestic violence as well. And all the research points to one common denominator  and that is the influence that men have, or the lack of influence that men are having. So positive male role modelling and fathers lost in this modern society. We’ve got up to three generations of young people growing up without a positive male role model. Most kids who are victims of bullying or are bullies, don’t have a positive male role model or a father figure I  in their life and-

John : Right, so that’s the causation mostly?

Brett : That’s the causation, yes. So we are going upstream. And majority of perpetrators of domestic violence are male and men. So we’ve decided, well instead of putting a band aid on a bullet hole, let’s go upstream, go to ground zero and help men be better men. And so what we’re doing now is we’ve really shifted our focus over the last two years to now work with men and help men be men of courage, character and conviction.

John : That’s so important and so amazing. And if I may ask, how did you get into this stream of  profession?

Brett : Oh, wow. Well, as a kid growing up in school, I was chronically bullied.

John : Really?

Brett : I wasn’t six foot one, and you know almost 90 kilos sitting before you now. I was the runt of the   litter. I was a littlest kid in my year. I only went to year 10 in school, which is, I don’t know  what that is equivalent in American high school terminology. It probably end of middle school. But yeah, it didn’t go into year 11 and 12 because I was chronically bullied, bashed every day. I was a kid who was just the punching bag for everyone. And, and I was a late developer. So When boys are hitting puberty at 15, 16, I wasn’t. And so they’re much stronger. They got the    Strength of a man and I’ve got the strength of a boy. So I couldn’t fight my way back. And yeah, it was just something that I just … It literally destroyed my education in that sense. I left school as soon as I could, got out of there. And….

John : Did you know then that you would do something in your life to help this very important issue or did that come later?

Brett : I don’t think so. Well, life is journey, it‘s never a destination, as we know. And the journey is sort of…. I made this decision that I has been so badly treated by the guys that I thought were my friends  or my peer group, that when I left school and then I left home, I moved out of           home at the age of 16 and I wanted a clean slate. I wanted to get away from my neighbourhood where everyone knew me. And so I moved to the south coast of New South Wales to a place called Wollongong, just South of Wollongong. And it was actually a place called Kayama, beautiful place. And started all over again, really had a clean slate. And I just made a decision that I knew that is was like to be mistreated. So I would never allow someone to be mistreated. So I sort of had this mantra if you like, that anyone who came into contact  with Brett Murray had to walk away feeling valued through a positive experience. So I just want it to be one of those …. You know when you have a conversation with someone or you have an interaction with someone and you just walk away going, “Man, they’re awesome. I’d love to catch up with them again.”

John : Yeah.

Brett :  I want it to be that guy.

John : People remember how they feel and not what you said.

Brett : Exactly, yeah. So I just wanted to make people feel awesome because I knew what it was like to feel horrible. And so I wanted to be that guy that everyone liked. And just life’s journey, just sort of unfolded. I just found myself volunteering in a lot of youth work through surfing. Surfing was a passion and an escape, so–

John : Yeah, are you still a surfer?

Brett : Yes.

John : Yeah, okay.

Brett : Very passionate. I was actually a sponsored surfer for about 20 years, so.

John : Awesome, look at this. Australian of the year, sponsored surfer.

Brett : Yeah. You got it all going on. Being able to do a lot of things which you look back and go, “Oh, wow, isn’t that amazing?” But I mean, I think what I love about what you’re doing JP it’s the relationships you build along the way, which matters the most. That’s not the accolades. So, yeah. And life’s journey just…

You know I started to win surfing competitions and then our local youth leader sort of said to me, “Hey, my nickname’s Chipper.” So he was out in the water and he said, “Hey, Chipper, the kids locally,” “they don’t talk about you much at the parties,” “the party scene.” I said. “Well, no, I want to become a world champ.” Like I’m not going to go and get smashed.”

John : I’m practicing.

Brett : And he goes, “I speak at schools, can you come in and jus share that?” And I said, “Why would I do that?” And he goes, “I’ll buy your lunch.” I went, oh okay, I’m in.

John : Anything for free lunch?

Brett : Yeah anything for free feed. And so I went and spoke to these year 11 and 12 kids. And I would have been in year 11. So these are kids that are older than me, bigger than me. And I walk in and they’re just silent and they’re hanging on every word I said. And I’m like, this is really cool.

John : Right, they’re listening to me.

Brett : Yeah. Normally people who would bash me. And now listening to me.

John : And respecting you.

Brett : Because of my ability of surfing. They knew me as Chipper, the guy who worked in the local surfboard shop. I was a spray painter at the time, that’s why I moved out of the home, got the job at the South coast in a surfboard factory spraying and designing surfboards. And so, that was like a dream job and living on the gold coast. And so now I’m the guy who’s spraying some of the custom boards that these kids are ordering plus on the guy who’s beating them all in competitions, we should listen to him. And it was like, this is am… I’d never experienced anything like it before. So every opportunity I got to speak. Can I do that again? And this guy was like, yeah, you can come speak here and then I’ll go to a different school. We go to a different school. And that just sort of became something I liked to do. And I ended up volunteering in a lot of youth work and speaking, ah, for probably 14 years before I ever got paid to do it. So it was just passionate. And I just found out young people.

John : But you got good at it then so you could demand a fee?

Brett : yeah, yeah. I mean in that time. The recession hit in Australia in the early nineties. So my work with the surfboard industries dried up. I had to move back to the Sydney where the work was. I used my skills as a spray painter to become a vehicle painter. And so working in a panel shop or a body shop.

John : Vehicles that looks like surfboards, right?

Brett : No, no. No, not quite, not yet. No, and it was just an amazing journey. And this time round, it was like, Oh, okay, so. I’ve got to do education with this apprenticeship. I have to go to TAFE. Wow, if I really focus I could do really well. And so I become apprentice of the year in New South Wales in my first year, and then a number two in New South Wales in my second year. And then I though, now I’ve got to be number one. So, I knuckled down and studied and did all my homework and all the practical, and I become apprentice of the year in my third year in theory and practical. So, I was the best spray painting apprentice in the state. And Yeah. So then in my fourth year, my accolades weren’t translating into pay raises at work. I’m like, hey, I’m this apprentice of the year, what’s going on?

John : Come on, show me the money.

Brett :  Exactly. So I went and found another job closer to me.  I was working in the city, but, I’d moved to Western Sydney, so North-western Sydney. So I decided I want to work closer to home. And so I found a job that was only    10 minutes’ drive away. And as a fourth year apprentice, you finished your four years and then you become a tradesman, you’re a qualified tradesman. But as a fourth year, I was running a shop. I was, because of my accolades, they said, okay, well you run the workshop. I had guys who had been spray painting for 20 years under me, and I’ve been doing it for 4 years.  And so I learnt leadership really quickly. And then, through there that timeframe got married and I was still 21, I got married very young.  And then a couple of years later, an opportunity opened up in 1999 for me to work at something that I never thought would be possible. It was a panel shop that actually helped disadvantaged youth. And I’m like, how does it works? This is unreal.

John : Perfect.

Brett : So, I become a spray painting teacher. And so the kids we worked with, were kids who had a rap sheet, as long as your arm. You know, they are passionate about cars, but it was more like stealing them. And so, we would turn their passion into an apprenticeship. And so, I become a spray painting teacher there. The place was called Handbrake Turn, giving young people a hand, breaking their predicament.

John : Love it, love it.

Brett : So I worked there from 99, worked my way up to become the manager. And in 2000 we were judged by the International Youth Foundation as the best working course of its kind in the world. And we had a 79.25% success rate of kids who would come in last chance, if they didn’t turn their life around, they go to jail. And-

John : So, because that’s huge, just repeat that. What was the success rate?

Brett : 79.25%.

John : That’s outstanding.

Brett : Yeah, well that’s was why–

John : Nothing else has that right? It was best in the world.

Brett : Anything in the world that was similar, had less than 30% success rate. And it was just an amazing experience and seeing lives turned around and I still now, you know, all those years later, now, 20 years later, I have young people, well they are men now, stopping me in the street saying, “Brett, you trained me and Handbrake turn.” I’m like, “Do I know you?” “Yeah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. “ And I’m married now and I’ve got my own business. And all thanks mate you saved my life.” And I’m like, wow, that’s you can’t-

John : Nothing else is more important, right?

Brett : You can’t put a dollar value on that. Yeah, so that was just amazing. And then from that, got invited to get into politics because I was on the TV a lot and the federal member for Parramatta at the time where we were stationed, he said, “Ah, you need to get into politics at a state level?” So I thought, yeah, why not? I’ll have a go. I had no idea what politics was about and just had to go, didn’t win. And thank goodness, because I’m not a politician.

John : You are a surfer.

Brett : Yeah. I speak my mind. And during that time, funnily enough, this whole thing about bullying was still there. I still was dealing with bullies, but I was dealing with something internally myself. So, I actually got into the boxing. And I became the state champion in boxing.

John : Of course you did. AAs you do.

Brett : And so, I’ve always sort of had that sort of mentality life is not a spectator sport, you just got to have a crack. And so yeah, just was able to overcome that inner fear inside of me of do I have what it takes. Because my parents got divorced, separated, when I was 9. Divorced when I was 11. Didn’t see my dad until I was, from the time was 11 to the time I was 19. So, I was one of kids who didn’t have a positive male role model. I am one of those guys. And I was a victim of bullying because I didn’t have a dad who was instilling into me my sense of identity, which is what dads do.

John : SO, on that, I’m just interested. Because when I hear that there’s no positive role model, I’m thinking the kind of framework is that that provides an environment for them, the children to become bullies. But when you are saying it is also the other way that when there is not a positive role model from a male standpoint, then you can also become a victim?

Brett : yeah, it’s an amazing-

John : So it goes both ways?

Brett : Yeah it’s an amazing common denominator we found with the research. Kids with the positive role model that are involved, tend not to be victims of bullying. Because they have a self-confidence. They just have an air about them that they are not worried about stuff. They are not worried about what people think. They are not worried about trying to fit in because they know their identity and they don’t want to bully anyone either. Because people who are confident are too focused on going after their dreams, goals, and aspirations to worry about what else everyone else is doing. And so the common denominator of the bullies and the victims usually having the same traits, was quite amazing.

John : So by addressing that, you are addressing both sides. Absolutely, yeah, yeah. And that’s what SAFEHEART Foundation—

Brett : SAFEHEART does. Is all about. Is building safe people and safe places. And I mean, it’s a bit of a throwback to the medieval days. You look at The Code of Chivalry, which is over 600 years old that developed around the time of knights and maidens. The only law in The Code of Chivalry that is repeated twice is respect women. People don’t know this, is a 600 years old. They had it right back then.  Yet we have domestic violence and family abuse becoming rampant globally because men are behaving badly. They don’t respect women. And so we need to change that. We really need to do that. And going back to that medieval analogy as well. Whenever a village was under attack, where would the townspeople go? They go into the fortress, into the castle and the knights, The Code of Chivalry, would be the protectors. And the men in a nuclear family, father, mother, and children really should be the protectors. As well the guardians.

John : Providing a safe place.

Brett : The fortress. And so, yeah, we want men to become fortresses for their families. And so they are not dictatorial autocratic, horrible taskmasters. They are servant leaders that love their family, and were willing to give up their lives for their families.

John : I love that. And I love the journey you have been on and I want to go back through it now in the context of BUILD, right?

Brett : Yeah.

John : So as all of you know, hopefully if you don’t, I’ll share it with you right now, BUILD is an acronym it stands for, Build Relationships, Understand the Business, Implement Strategies, Lead and Inspire and Deliver Excellence. And what I love about this show and the guests and the unique insights that come as we just walk through BUILD, and we talk what that means to you and what insights you want to share in those different categories with our listeners. So, and you have talked a lot about it. You know, along what we did right now, but I think if we dive more specifically into “B” to start with “Build Relationships,” what are the most important relationships that you have had in your life  that have allowed you to become so successful?

Brett : I think second to none. Or yeah, second to none. I’m a guy of faith. So, I develop a relationship with God and people are at different levels and different walks near spirituality, and I think it’s something that Western society neglect too much is the spiritual side of life. We are spiritual beings. And you just look at the different types of spirituality. That are out there. People are hungry, they are searching all over the world.

John : Absolutely

Brett : Whether it’s through different religions or different experiences, there is a spiritual need in our life. And I believe I found that through a relationship with Jesus Christ. And I did a lot of research on it and made sure it wasn’t a quack thing and the proof is overwhelming. And so that was the paramount relationship I have developed. But the secondarily to that would be my wife. Because we got married so young, I have never been the perfect husband. I have made many many mistakes, but I have learned that you are not an island unto yourself. And many times my marriage could have ended, but I learned a key in that relationship was humility. And if I’m prepared to say, I’m sorry, I have stuffed up. Instead of being defensive, like most men do, and I have been done that. But my marriage could have ended many times, but it was almost like that just shut up and own it.

John : like what’s more important, right?

Brett : Yeah.

John : The relationship or this particular issue?

Brett : Exactly.

John : Right, wrong or indifferent, who cares if at the end of it, you lost the war because you won some stupid battle.

Brett : Absolutely.

John : About whatever.

Brett : And here I am now over a quarter of a century, have been married almost 27 years. To the same gorgeous women who I don’t deserve. And we are more on fire now for each other than what we ever have been. And there’s been some rocky times, there’s been some heartache that I have made some major mistakes. And you here in society, Oh, you know, once get married, that’s it, fun’s over. It’s like, no what’s an adventure.

John : It’s the beginning, right?

Brett : It’s a life partner. And so, yeah that would be the two key relationships, I would say, a paramount to my life, had to be right off the beginning yeah.

John : Love it, thanks for sharing. So, let’s move right into “U”, ‘Understand the Business.’ So, certainly you have an amazing understanding of the business, but as it relates to sharing with our listeners today, any key elements of understanding the business that you think are appropriate? What would that be from your journey?

Brett : For me, for our charity and for what we do, we’ve been in the space now, anti-bullying space years. And domestic violence from 17 years.

John : 17 years.

Brett : So, to understand, I think first and foremost, the issue of bullying. People misunderstand what bullying is and what bullying is not. And so we had to understand that, but then understand both the victim and the perpetrator, because in modern day society, we tend to be victim focused. Let’s stand up for those who don’t have a voice, and that is needed, I’m not dismissing that.

John : But, there’s another side.

Brett : But, there’s another side, there’s perpetrators. So, why? And in business, we all know that the way is important. So, why do people do what they do? Why is corporate bullying so rampant? I mean, the federal productivity commission two years ago stated that in Australia, workplace bullying costs our entire economy almost $36 billion in lost profit.

John : 36 billion.

Brett : So, you think of workplaces where people actually despise their co-workers because of the way they are being treated. The morale is low.

John : Low morale. The environment, I mean, it just ruins everything.

Brett : Low morale. Low turnover. And business are about usually bottom line. If you want a high turnover, you want high productivity, you need to have high morale. So, if people are being bullied at the work at any level, they are not doing to enjoy coming to work. They are not going to perform at their peak. So, understanding what bullying does to people as well. And it’s not just a schoolyard things, it goes from the school room to the boardroom. And so I‘m-

John : And what does it? Because earlier you said it’s important to understand what it is and what it isn’t. So, how would you educate our audience so that they can understand what it really is?

Brett : Well bullying is long term, ongoing violence, threats of violence or Anatomisation where a person or a group of people are disempowered.  There becomes a power imbalance. So, the key words though are long term, ongoing. It, it’s one off, incidences of inappropriate behaviour, there incidences, they could be conflict.

John : Still not good, but it is not by definition bullying.

Brett : Yeah, absolutely. It’s not habitual or there’s not a pattern. And a lot of people flip the script on this, particularly in the corporate sector, if, they are into say performance-based, management. And if someone is not performing, so, their senior, manager comes in says, “Hey, look, we are reviewing your contract. You are not performing well. I’m sorry, but I don’t think we are going to rehire you once the contract comes to an end.” Oh stop picking on me, you are bullying me. No, it’s not accountability. We need to be adults. We need to grow up and take responsibility for our actions.

John : So people use that kind of as a shield to inappropriately shield themselves.

Brett : Absolutely, and this is where a lot of business fall over because they don’t realize, particularly here in Australia, that the legislation changed in  201mnow, 4, that if you employ more than three people and you haven’t done specific acute anti-bullying training, you are at risk. Because a lot of people think, when we do our induction, that’s you know, we don’t put up with bullying. We don’t put up a sexual harassment, sign here.

John : We said it, yep, here we go.

Brett : That’s not training. You haven’t told anyone what bullying is. You haven’t even told anyone what sexual harassment is. So, when it actually happens and the victim says, “Well, we never had any training.” “So, I’m just going to go for the juggler.” The law is geared to protect the employee rather than employer. But, if the employer has provided acute training, which with what we provide, then you usually find there’s no accusations and there’s actually no complaints. Because everyone knows, okay, we have this clear understanding of what this behaviour is, and why it’s not acceptable and what it does. I want my workplace to become the most awesome place on the planet to go to work. So, bullying literally just dissipates. So, that’s something that we love doing in the corporate sector.  That’s something that we love doing in the corporate sector.

John: And it’s a great understanding for everyone to have so hopefully you wrote that down. So let’s move into implement strategies now.

Brett: Yeah

John: Now so, in the category of implement strategies. I’m sure you’ve implemented obviously a lot of strategies in your lives.

Brett: Yeah

John: What would you like to share with the audience today and the listeners about implementing strategies?

Brett: I think having a clear defined goal and a strategy towards that goal-We started off as as I said you know anti-bullying or bullying education prevention but then, we realized bullying was broader than that we originally thought it was.

John: Right

Brett: Domestic violence became the huge thing.  The whole white ribbon campaign really made the global community stand up and go, oh, wow this isn’t good. And so we had to develop strategies to go, okay how do we how do we then educate young people on that? And so we had to really start to work backwards. You know what the end goal is, we want to build healthy relationship.

John: So, begin at the end in mind in a way.

Brett: Exactly. Figure out what you want to do. So, we did and this is really my wife, I can’t take credit for this. Teresa, my wife she’s the strategist. I’m sort of like the face and the mouthpiece.

John: You’re the talent.

Brett: Yes. But she’s the she is the genius behind what we did. And she said look if we want to stop men being brutal fathers or husbands or partners get them while they’re young so we started to develop a program and implement the strategy to create a program that was palatable for high school students to teach them what a healthy positive relationship look like. Because they’re getting all this brutality through the mainstream media.

John: Oh right and everything they watch. Video games.

Brett: Video games. You know. So they’re seeing what brutal, horrible, nasty relationships look like every single day, but very rarely are they seeing amazing relationships. Like the divorce rate in Australia is over 52% and it has been that for quite a long time. So you look at 52% of marriages in Australia end up I divorce, and 80% of those that have children the custody goes to the mother so we’re having kids growing up void of any positive male role modelling. They’re not seeing what a really healthy positive relationship looks like. And you know they watch all of the soap operas on TV. If they still do that, or they’ve got all the YouTube shows all the all the you know streaming TV things you can binge on now, and they’re all about “Drama.” It’s not about unity.

John: Because that’s what sells.

Brett: Drama sells, but unity is boring in a TV sense, or in an entertainment sense, but to live it it’s amazing.

John: Right.

Brett : And so we thought, well strategy was, how do we implement this strategy of teaching kids well let’s go to the end in mind. And what we did we figured out what an unhealthy relationship was, so we flipped it. So what’s the opposite? And so we started just sharing with kids this is what a healthy relationship looks like. And it was all started with knowing you’re worth. If you know what you’re worth, you’ll know how to be treated.

John: Right.

Brett: And you won’t allow yourself to be mistreated. And most kids grow up in domestically violent families these days, so they just think that’s normal, that’s just the norm.  So implementing that strategy of we have got to educate them earlier was really, really important. And then from that, educate the schools as to why we are providing this service. And then it spun off into okay, well then let’s work with men. So, we can’t just sort of shut the gate the horses bolted, people can change. Your own life story shows that you can change. You can grow. There is always hope. And so, we then implemented the strategy we’ll then okay, we are talking with the kids and let’s go upstream again, let’s start talking to men and saying, okay, you may have been like this, you may have experienced this, but it doesn’t to stay the same. My dad was violent to my Mum, but I have never been violent to my wife. I drew the line. At some stages, I stopped blaming my past, drew the line and said, “Okay, that’s the strategy in itself, in a personal space.”

John : There you go, stop the cycle.

Brett : Stop the cycle.

John : Take accountability.

Brett :  Yeah, and I think implementing strategies is about making decisions and sticking to them.

John : Yeah.

Brett : It’s not about, I’d love to do that. Oh, what about this? Oh, squirrel. You know?

John : Shiny Toy Syndrome.

Brett :  Yeah, exactly. It’s more about, okay, having a clear defined goal and then making decision to implement that strategy and then sticking to it. Having a bit of resilience and a bit of tenacity in saying, look, we’re going to get this things done. So, I’d say, that would be what I’ve learned.

John : I love that. And I love how it’s comprehensive too. It’s like, you begin with the end in mind, and then you make it broader.

Brett : Yeah.

John : and the depth and really expands to include things that you might not even see in the first issue or your insight or the vision that you have

Brett : And that’s what life, life will unfold things. And we don’t know everything. We don’t know, what we don’t know. But, as life, you know, you start to head towards that goal. It’s like, oh, wow, as you get closer to the to a destination, it’s like, oh well, I’m going to move-

John : You go deeper and you get more impact then. No matter if it’s domestic violence and bullying or whatever topic people might be embracing out there in their own professional journey, that’s great. And that leads to leading and inspiring of course, obviously you ‘Lead and Inspire’ I everything you do.

Brett : I try.

John : But what do you to share with our listeners about leading and inspiring, as you sit here today?

Brett : There’s an American artist, singer, who I can’t claim credit for this.

John : Are you going to sing a song for us?

Brett : No way, but he has a line in a song that I heard when I was about 16.

He said, you can’t lead where you won’t go. You can’t tech what you don’t know. And I thought that is so cool. It sounded cool. It’s rolled off the tongue. But I thought that is so true in leadership. You can’t lead where you won’t go.  You can’t tech what you don’t know. I mean isn’t that classic. The joke about physical education teachers, PE teachers is those who can’t do teach. And those who can’t teach do PE. So, I didn’t want to be one of those guys and everything I have ever done.

When we started running boot camps for bullies, we would take them and we would wake them up and teach them that discipline is not a dirty word. And one of the things, I went through boxing was the more disciplined are the more successful you’ll be. There’s that s saying….. I think it was Muhammad Ali said, “The more you sweat, the less you bleed.” And you have to live by example. As a young person when I started to realize back in that ‘school room’ situation as a 16 year old, these people are listening to me. Why? Because I wasn’t doing drugs and I was successful in their sphere of knowledge and influence, it might have been just local board rider’s comps.

John : But you were role modelling the way. And they wanted to attain that, so they listened.

Brett : Yeah, exactly. And in that, just personally, I wanted to be someone worth following. And you can’t say, oh, I’m a leader, but no one is following you. You are just a person with a badge or a title and a badge or a title doesn’t make you a leader. I believe it’s a life example. If you live a life example and show the way people will understand that you know the way.

John : I love that. There’s a song in that. You can coin on that one, right?

“Know the way, show the way.”

Brett : Feel free to use it.

John : I’m going to use that.

Brett : So, back to that, you can’t teach what you don’t know, you can’t lead where you won’t go. So yeah, That’s my philosophy.

John : And finally ‘Deliver Excellence.’

Brett : Yeah.

John : How do you deliver excellence in everything that you do, and what does excellence mean to you?

Brett : For me, it’s the continual pursuit of becoming better. Every time I speak, I mean, I have spoken to well over a million people face to face in my career, but every time I take the stage, whether it’s something like or whether it’s something a bit more broad spectrum, an audience of 5000 people or a hundred kids in the classroom, I want my next presentation to be better than my last. Always want to be better for, if people say, we want to engage you to deliver this service, I want them to say, wow, I would have paid you double. Because it’s so good. I want to give bang for buck. I want people to feel valued through an experience with Brett Murray, with SAFEHEART to the point where they become your raving fan, because you have over delivered. And that’s something I learned through, my short political career is you always under-promise, over deliver.

John : Yes, don’t the opposite.

Brett : Because, there’s nothing worse. You hear about it, go to a restaurant, you are about, oh, they have got the best stakes in the world. And people are in and they might even advertise. We have got the best steaks in the world. You’ll never have a better stake. And you go there it’s like, I cook better than this at home. They have all promised, under delivered. And it’s just then you don’t feel like you have an excellent experience.

John : Because the expectations was here and they delivered here.

Brett :  Yeah. But if you flip it and you say, they are pretty good. This service isn’t too bad and you get there and they look after you look like a king or a queen. And you feel like a million bucks just by the way they place the cutlery in front of you. And the atmosphere is unreal. The food is brilliant. You just, I wasn’t expecting this man. I’m coming back. That’s excellence. And I think with everything we do, if you do what you are passionate about, you’ll never work a day in your life. That’s an old saying. But these truisms, these saying we all know throughout the business community and throughout the life. That are sayings that are popular because there’s truth to them.

John : Exactly.

Brett : And when you hold onto them, study them and implement them, that’s how you can deliver. And I think a key point of delivery excellence is don’t ever think that you are arrived. I’m the best. I’m unreal. I’ve been there.

John : Or your growth stops, right?

Brett : Yeah, I had my own TV series back in 2006. And I thought that, you know, my crap didn’t stink. I thought I was unreal. People are growing to be knocking down my door to have me come and speak because I’m on TV. And after filming the show and the production went for 12 months and we would finished production, I had an empty diary. And for six months had nothing and spiralled into financial ruin because I didn’t save my money or wasn’t diligent. I was believing on my press. I thought I was unreal. I have arrived, I’m the guy. I have got my own TV series.

John : Guess what?

Brett : your reality hits pretty hard. So, always, always aspire to be better. Always learn, always glean from others. And I think a key in that is stay humble.

John : Yes, love it. I could talk all day, we could. As we wrap up, are there any final words of wisdom or other thoughts that you would like to share with our listeners today?

Brett : I think the biggest thing for anyone is just to believe in yourself, believe in yourself and be yourself. The greatest advice I think I ever received since I was as a 16 year old newly out of home, and I had a kind of mentor and he just said, Brett, you know, you know, my nickname is Chipper, Chipper, you just got to figure out who you are. And as a 16 year old without a day, I’m like, who, who am I?  And yeah, life is a journey, as I have said, but believe in yourself and who you are because no one has your perspective on life.

And another greater saying is don’t try and be anyone else they are already taken. Like, if I tried to be with you, I would fail miserably. And likewise, if you tried to be like me, you would fail miserably. Because you have got your skillsets that are unique to you. And I have got my skillsets that are unique to me. If we teach people from the school into the boardroom, that you are unique. There’s there characteristics that every human being has that are unique to them. That is their retinal scan, their DNA and their fingerprint. That makes them unique.

And the word unique when you look at it means that you are beyond compare, you are beyond measure. There’s no amount of wealth could be put on you that could be, so that’s what you are worth. Because, you are you, what can we compare you to?  And so, when we understand that each and every one of us are unique or have a unique take on life, a unique story to tell a unique view to share. Then that helps us value ourselves and understand that we have something to offer this world.

John : Right, without that comparison of trying to be better than someone else, because in that judgement it lets you down.

Brett : And when we live in that world. Instagram, what is it? It’s a comparison with someone else.

John : How many likes, how many this, how many that’s?

Brett : Exactly.

John : so, finally, how can people get a hold you? Your website? How do they reach out?

Brett : Yeah, safeheart.tv. And we also have our old website, which is makebullyinghistory.org. But safeheart.tv is our new website. Lookup SAFEHEART foundation on Facebook or Brett Murray on Facebook. And yeah, I would like to hear from people.

John : Alright. Thank you so much. It’s been such a privilege and honour to have you with us here today.

Brett : thank you.

John : Thank all of you for joining us as well. For more great resources to help you become your best self, including free worksheets and downloads, make sure to check out TheBUILDFramework.com. That’s it for the episode. I’m JP. We’ll see you next time, on The BUILD Show.