Alden is a former 3-time U.S. Navy SEAL Platoon Commander. After leaving the Navy, he became the co-founder and CEO of Perfect Fitness which he led to $90 million in sales in just three years, becoming ranked by INC Magazine in 2009 as being the fastest growing consumer products company with 12,000% growth over those 3 years.

Alden is now a national speaker and an author helping people to understand how they can lead using the C.A.R.E. framework that he has developed.

The two of us share a similar platform around becoming unstoppable and the lessons that you will learn during this episode are invaluable.

Learn more about Alden on his website.

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MACHINE-GENERATED TRANSCRIPT

What follows is an AI-generated transcript. The transcript likely contains errors and is not a substitute for listening to the podcast.

Welcome to episode number 11 of the Built Unstoppable podcast. I'm your host Justin Levy, and today I'm joined by Alden Mills. Alden is a former three time Navy SEAL platoon commander. After leaving the Navy, he became the co-founder and CEO of perfect fitness, which he led to $90 million in sales in just three years becoming ranked by Inc magazine. And 2009 as being the fastest growing consumer products company with 12,000% growth in over those three years. Alden is now a national speaker and an author helping people to understand how they can lead us in the care framework that he has developed. Thanks for joining us.

 I'm honored to be here, Justin. I love your podcast, and I love what it's all about.

 We share something which we'll jump into in a minute.

 So I'd like to start off with your time as a US Navy SEAL. You know the SEALs are considered one of the most elite Special Operations units in the world, one of those units that very few people will ever go through that level of training and have that distinct honor.

 Can you share some of the training that recruits go through and what they people may not see? You know, I think a lot of people have seen, you know, the snippets on TV and whatnot. But what kind of additional insight could you provide?

 I think the first thing for people to understand is, you know, here's this terms seal, and seal is an acronym for the three environments we work in Sea, Air, and Land.

 What they try and do is really take a whole series of different environments and get you to a point of finding your weakest link inside of you. And then when They find it, they want to exploit it and see how you deal with failure. Because that weakest link, when they start to really press on it, you end up facing failure.

 They want to know how you're going to deal with that and the fact of the matter is, you know, it certainly was for me. I mean, perhaps there's somebody out there as a guy, you know, SEAL training was a breeze, but they want to find out. Where's that weak link for you? And then how do you deal with it? And when you see things like drown proofing, when they throw you in the water, and they have your feet tied together and your hands tied behind your back.

There's an example of dealing with a belief that every one of us most likely has, and that is we need our arms to swim. Why am I doing this? Like how can this be be done. And so the other, that's another key component of what SEAL training does is, it's going to bust some old beliefs of yours, and how quickly you can handle resetting an old belief with a new belief that will help you get through there versus holding you back is a really important part of training.

 You know, when I was going through, and it's no different today, you have this classic PT test, this physical training test, it's push ups pull ups, sit ups is swim in a run. You trained for it.

 You can pass it pretty much anybody kid with enough training, right? And so here it is, you had in my class you had 120 to show up who had all passed pass that test multiple times.

 Yet six weeks later, after Hell Week, we're down to 18. Now why is that? What? Why does that happen when everybody is physically fit enough? Why do we drop so dramatically? Because the point of SEAL training isn't about ball, how many push ups and pull ups?

 Yes, there's a threshold they want you to have. But it's about what's going on between your ears. And how are you looking at adversity? Are you looking at adversity is pain and suffering? Or are you looking at adversity, adversity as an advantage that will build you strength, resilience and empower you to move forward.

Now, during your career as a SEAL, you had the distinction to serve as a three time platoon commander. Now, how did that prepare you for your future leadership roles, which we'll get into in a minute, but what did you learn about yourself moving from being a seal to now being a platoon commander,

 The very first thing you learn is humility. And when I mean humility, I mean, the ability to check your ego and open yourself up to learning from everyone around you, and literally going in with a beginner's heart.

 The reason I say that is when I was given my first platoon and I looked around at everybody in my platoon, I had the least amount of seal experience.

 I may have been the most senior from a rank perspective from a traditional hire. hierarchical point of view on a org chart. But if you were to flip the org chart and call it an experience chart, I would have been at the very bottom.

 The platoon commanders that excel are the ones that immediately recognize this distinction. And go in with a listen to learn mindset, not a listen to when like you're, it's my way or the highway kind of attitude.

That's number one. And when you start off a career, saying, Hey, you know, I've got something to learn from everybody. And you take that, that becomes a really wonderful component. When you show up later in life, and you may have more experience, but you still have that humility of knowing there's always something new. I can learn That would be the first thing I would say and probably the leading indicator of what I learned making that transition.

Now, and I probably should have asked you this first but for everyone's so people understand it. How many people or teams or whatnot are in a platoon that you would command at any given time

A total platoon is made up of 16.

Now following your time in the SEALs, you became a co founder and CEO of Perfect Fitness. One of the most popular products that can be found in most gyms at least everyone that I've ever been a member of. is was the was the perfect push up. Even nice it in the past. it the perfect pull up and perfect setup soon followed. Given the success of the perfect push up the company out As I mentioned, grew wildly in sales and you led the company to an acquisition. What did you learn during your time growing that company?

Well, I learned a lot of things. 

The first thing I could tell everybody is, though it was called perfect. It was not the perfect journey from perspective of looking at sales growth. I mean, our chart look like EKG of a heart attack, gone wildly up and down and all over the place.

 Yes, we did have phenomenal growth. But we also had phenomenal challenges. I mean, the things people don't hear is I had two businesses fail before perfect fitness. I had been in a software company before then, was miserable almost went back into the military and actually did in the reserves for a while and when perfect fitness finally took off

 At the height of our growth, I lost my way. And this would be the major thing that I would share with everybody for my greatest learning. And when I say I lost my way, I say I mean that I got too caught up in the byproduct of what the business was, and not the reason for the business. And the byproduct was sales. Right?

 How many more units can we sell every month that the Walmarts and the targets and the Dick's and the world and it's very easy to get caught up on that, especially when you have investors of which I had 37 and more and more hungry mouths to feed and how much more money can you make how much more money can you make? And I remember at a point when we had just been Name the fourth fastest growing company in the country, the fastest overall and consumer products and I had been on covers of different magazines.

 Three months after that the bank had decided that they didn't want to loan to us anymore. And all of a sudden that put us into a situation where we could be going bankrupt, like bankruptcy was a really solid alternative.

 I remember sitting there late at night, my desk gone I can't believe this. This is like the greatest ball from grace ever. I mean, I've gone from here to zero and three months. And I was flipping through the mail and you know what to do and I got this letter. It was handwritten in pencil.

 It said, Dear Mr. Perfect pushup, man. My grandmother gave me the perfect pushup basic. That means she bought it at Walmart because at that time, we only sold a lower price option at Walmart. And I followed your workout routine. Four times. workout routine is three weeks long. So you did 12 weeks worth. And after I finished doing that, I am proud to tell you that I made the JV football team. Thank you for vetting the perfect push up next year. I'm trying out for varsity. Johnny, number 25. And it hit me like a sledgehammer right then in there.

 That I had forgotten why I had originally started this business and that Johnny's little note made my heart sing again and I really lies that I had to save the business but I had to save it the right way. And we had to get back to helping little Johnny's Jamie's of the world helped make their dreams come true by helping them take control their bodies.

 I took that letter, and I put it on a bulletin board where everyone saw it when they walked into the company. And I reminded everybody, this is why we're in business. And this is why we're gonna stay in business. And we got to get to work saving this business.

 That is the single greatest lesson I learned. And that is, don't ever forget the service of why you started that business in the first place and who you truly serving. It's not your bank account, your bank account, it's just a byproduct.

 When you stay focused on who you're serving and the value you're providing, you'll never have to worry about your bank account. But keep the front sight focus on who you're serving.

 Send incredibly powerful story with receiving that letter and going through those trials and tribulations I think that, you know, most people, they they see a successful company or a successful individual and they think that it's been rosy and you know, they have that perfect house and family and cars and vacations and does that the other thing and they don't see the behind the scenes of what that is whether that is the business potentially failing or, you know, in some instances, failed households then, you know, whatnot.

 So I think that's a great piece of advice. Now, besides having a great mutual friend in Allison Levine we happen to share a power Theme around being unstoppable, actually using that word and both of our platforms.

 Now, part of what you share in your book, in with your audiences, is this concept of a care framework, which is born out of your time in your leadership positions.

 Can you go more in depth into what that means?

 Yeah. So I've written two books. The first is called be unstoppable. And the second is called unstoppable teams. And both the books represent a progression in your leadership, our leadership as people. And I first want to stress to everybody, that we are all leaders. If there is a moment of, you know, weakness that's going on, like, well, I'm just not a leader. I didn't go to the military or I haven't let anybody know everybody's a leader. You're leading yourself every moment of the day you're leading yourself to listen to this podcast, you're leading yourself to make a meal.

The bigger question is, well, how many people want to follow you? And that's a different question. And when you start thinking about how people why people want to follow you, I want you to think about this hundred plus year old quotation from Teddy Roosevelt, where he said, and he probably said it, he had kind of a gruff voice. I think he said something like this.

Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.

So let's say you're a leader of one right now, but you want to be a leader of money. And I would also argue the reason you want to be a leader of many is so you can multiply the impact that you want to make And assuming and hopefully that impact is for force for good.

Then how do you attract others to join you, in your journey to making a positive impact? Well, it's going to start by building relationships. And it's going to start by building relationships in much the same way I mentioned earlier in this podcast, about my greatest takeaway of being a seal platoon commander. And that was having that learners heart that beginner's heart always being open to learning new points of view of showing like, hey, teach me what I need to know attitude. And when you start to develop that, you'll find there are four key actions and they form a loop. And I happen to turn those actions into what it really takes to attract people to your cause.

 Whatever that is, and that is showing how much you care about them. And the acronym is called care. But it's in the form of a loop. And the four actions are called Connect, achieve, respect, and empower. And those are the basic phases. And the reason we connect is to build trust.

We achieve something because we want to set a direction. Every team needs a direction.

Respect is about building contributors and empowering is about you, Mr. Leader, letting go of your power to empower others, who then become stakeholders, they become owners in the loop continues to spin and people will spin out as they have become such developed owners because they've been so empowered that they go off and build their own teams, whether that's another division in a large organization you're in, or they become their own entrepreneur. 

But that's the basic premise, then it really goes back to that wonderful quotation about nobody knows how much you know, nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.

One of the things that you talk about, kind of side by side with the care framework is this tax advantage. What do you mean by the tax advantage?

When you look at the world of special operations, people and Battlefield strategists will talk about force multipliers on the battlefield, where one soldier is effectively more effective than 345 10 soldiers And that force multiplying effect is very similar to what I mean by this 10 x advantage in the world of special operations, on average, a special operator which seals are among them, delta Ranger greenbrae force recon, you know, we've got a myriad of fantastic special operators in the United States. They become force multipliers. 

I offer this story in my book about the OD a 555 team, which has been immortalized in a movie called 12 strong. And here is this small little greenbrae team, first team that landed in Afghanistan military team to take on a force much larger than them. Taliban and about 50,000 and What they ended up having to do through a series of force multiplying effect, because remember, they also had access to the Air Force. And they also had access to some other government agencies, but they built relationships and those relationships eventually, even though they didn't directly report within one another, they weren't any direct control.

They were the Northern Alliance came together. And those were other Afghans that fought against the Taliban and defeated the Taliban. 

Now, that same kind of dynamic happens in is not just reserved for the battlefield. It's also happens in our communities. The How does that happen? Well, you take an organization and you realize and let's say you're the team leader, that your team is really just consistent in those that report to you by If you open your blinders to say, Well, actually, my team depends on a whole bunch of other people that don't report directly to me.

Those people could be your customers, contributors, which would be suppliers, vendors. They could be other co workers in the organization, and certainly the communities in which you operate in. And the more you take the principles of the care framework, and expand your definition of what a team is to include what I call these influencers of the four C's, customers, coworkers, contributors and community. Then you get force multiplying effect, just like od a 555 did in Afghanistan, and that will give you a 1020 in 30 x advantage.

That's amazing. And I liked the comparison between you know, militaries Certainly Special Operations and individuals, because a lot of people don't make that connection, right.

They don't understand that something that they may see on TV, you know, whether it's a documentary or a movie, based on true events is something that they could take away in some form or fashion and implement into their life. And, you know, I've certainly seen that movie. And it's an incredible story that anyone that hasn't seen it should go watch it and then do some research on it, either before or afterwards.

Now, and you've certainly touched on this throughout this episode already, but you've held several leadership positions over your career in various forms and fashion. What advice would you listen Or would you provide to someone who's listening to this episode that they could begin implementing today? Right after they finish? 

I have three pieces of advice. Number one, unstoppable is a choice.

Number two, we are all unstoppable. 

You have a phenomenal story, Justin, of talking about your trials and tribulations on your path being unstoppable. And that should be used as inspiration. I'm glad you do that with others. But let them know that it's a choice and that we are all built, unstoppable. It is our choice to want to embrace the adversity and use it to our advantage. And then Part Three is understanding that we all have a purpose, every single one of us.

You know, Mark Twain once said,

Yeah, the two greatest moments in your life are the day you are born and the day you discovered Why?

Well, I think he missed one other piece.

After you discovered why, then act on it.

And so my final piece is, if anybody wants to be unstoppable, all they have to do is take action in the direction of what their, what they want to do. And if they're struggling with that, always remember follow what your passion is.

You take your passion, you find a purpose and your passion and then you Use the power of your gifts. We all have a unique gift or two. And that little trinity of those three P's, passion, your purpose, your power.

When you put those three and you harness them and focus them, I promise you, you will be unstoppable.

I think that that's really precise and in interest in way that you put it because, you know, like you're talking about with my story.

It's something I tell people often it's it's more my family than anyone, but is I all I did was recover and all I did was the physical stuff.

I was fortunate to have been physically fit, going into my seizures and healthy. Actually when the seizures happen. My wife was new prepping for the week for me some chicken and broccoli and brown rice, bland stuff to repeat, rinse and repeat.

But all I had to do coming out of it was focus on my recovery. I just work to defy my, you know, surgeon's orders, basically. But that's what helped me to swim in open water five months after my surgeries and four months after my brain surgery and things of that nature. 

It was my mother in law, my wife and who had to do so much more physically and mentally for me and be there through some of those trials and tribulations, right. I couldn't feed myself I couldn't drink water by myself or reach things or anything. Hold the remote.

So, it was I agree with everything you said. And you know, one of the other things I've written about lately is the other side of that, of being willing to show your emotions right that it's okay to be vulnerable. And that you have to acknowledge that you, you do have that mindset at the same time you can be vulnerable as you face those adversities.

Certainly with my story I, I've always put the best foot forward, but there have been times that I've went in that I've faced fears of, I faced a fear of not coming out of my brain surgery, but I was strong for everyone around me, my family, everyone that was online, going through the experience, so I want to ensure that.

We talked a bit about this course that you have coming up and it's called the unstoppable mindset course. Do you want to give a brief overview of what that is?

Yeah, happy to.

You know, when people talk about wanting something or experiencing something, they often will look at that as the destination of it well, but that's not for me, like, I can't have that thing. Or I can't have that size of a bank account or I can't go to that place cuz it's just I just can't. And what I want to encourage everybody to understand is, you are the captain of your ship.

You consider your body, that vessel and your life is that course. You You get to co create that. Not saying you're in total control, but you have enough control, to co create a destiny of your input. And the way that all starts is between the ears and in the heart and how you understand and grapple with your thoughts, your beliefs, your focus, and taking action will directly impact not just your destination, but your destiny.

 And I broken those pieces down into a five part course, that walks people step by step through the exact principles I used as a division one national champion athlete as a seal platoon commander as a CEO. multiple different companies to being on the speaking circuit and helping out the communities in which I operate in. And both nonprofit and charity work.

 It's all the same, the principles are all the same. But it always starts with the mindset.

 This is a question that I asked everyone. What does being Built Unstoppable mean to you?

 Means to me is that I make a choice every day to go in the direction of my dreams.

 And I do not give up on this. And that that is the single most important thing. And then I understand that I go after in the direction of my dreams and I'm unstoppable with that and I'm unstoppable. It's serving others when that happens those that you Serve. We'll help you get to that dream.

 As you said, it's all in the air of service and leadership, right?

 It's how it works.

 So you know, we're off. Yeah.

 Absolutely. We're all connected. And finally, where can people find you on the web?

 Oh, they can come to my website, which is my name, Alden. Dash Mills, calm.

 Great, and everything is linkable from there's every place that that you are and, and what have you. So, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day. I appreciate it and stay safe. We're both in the Bay Area. And right now the state is burning itself to the ground so stay safe.

 Hey, thank you, Justin and keep inspiring people. I love what you're doing.

 Same here. Thank you.