The New Era of Leadership: Building Teams Fueled by Purpose with Art Serna Jr.
What if the greatest asset in your business isn't talent alone, but the purpose that guides it?
In this episode of The You World Order Showcase Podcast, Jill Hart sits down with Art Serna Jr., entrepreneur, author of The Unknowns Rising, and founder of Cosmos Renewed, to explore why the future belongs to mission-driven builders.
Art shares how purpose transforms teams, why the next generation of leaders is seeking meaning over titles, and how getting closer to the problems we feel called to solve reveals our greatest work.
From education and technology to global impact projects, this conversation is an invitation to rethink leadership, success, and what it truly means to build something that lasts.
The Unknowns Rising
If you're on Substack what is that URL
https://substack.com/@sernaajr
Want premium clients from your content?
Grab a free Client Acquisition Audit and I’ll show you exactly where your message, offer, and CTA are leaking conversions—and the 3 fixes to turn your podcast/Substack into a client pipeline.
👉 Book here: https://coachsalchemist.com
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp
Transcript
WEBVTT
1
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Every business owner wants more talent, but almost no one realizes that the same people capable of accelerating a company can also become the very thing holding it back.
2
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Today, we're exploring why purpose
3
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Not paychecks, perks, or strategy is the hidden force that decides whether talent becomes the gas or the break of every venture. And by the end of this conversation, you'll understand the one shift that changes everything. Hi, and welcome to the You World Order Showcase Podcast, where we feature life, health, transformational coaches, and spiritual entrepreneurs stepping up to be the change they seek in the world. I'm your host, Jill Hart, the coaches alchemist, on a mission to empower
4
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Our coaches and entrepreneurs to amplify their voice, monetize their mission, and get visible.
5
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: If you are ready to start attracting premium clients without chasing algorithms or hunting people down like a banshee on a mission, head over to Coachesalchemist.com and schedule your free client acquisition audit. It's the first step to building a business where your clients seek you out rather than you having to hunt them down.
6
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Today, we are chatting with Art Serena, Art Jr. Art is a Latino entrepreneur, author, and founder of Cosmos Renewed, who has spent his career leading transformation across public systems, education, technology, and cybersecurity. Through his book, The Unknowns Rising, he helps mission-driven builders align purpose, people, and
7
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Enterprise to create lasting impact.
8
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Welcome to the show, Art. It's great to have you with us.
9
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Thank you, Jill. Appreciate the intro. Love to be here. I look forward to having a meaningful conversation for the audience.
10
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Okay, so let me ask you the big question. What's the most significant thing, in your opinion, as individuals, we can do to make an impact on how the world is going?
11
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: I think, for me, in my journey, I've learned that being proximate to Pain points and problems.
12
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: is the thing that really helps you calibrate the good you want to do in the world. And…
13
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: I've seen that in different industries, being infatuated with the problem that you're trying to solve, and I found, Jill, personally, that that's helped me put up a mirror.
14
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: to understand who I am.
15
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And, and really come to, grasp, truly, why am I even here?
16
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And that's been the connection to human paint and the connection to, purposeful things that require fixing and making better.
17
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: So I think that's the thing that we can get really proximate, as opposed to running away from a problem.
18
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: If we can get better, at getting closer.
19
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: To whatever thing that makes you
20
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Tick that makes you come alive, and staying really infatuated with that issue?
21
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: that… I found it allows us to awaken something deep within us.
22
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: that empowers us to truly become builders. I've learned at this point in my life that I'm a builder. I want to go build meaningful things that are gonna have meaning beyond me, and that are gonna impact the next generation. And the way that I've learned that is by being present with others in pain.
23
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Whether that's a business issue, or, a health issue, or a purposeful other social impact type of issue, proximity to the problem helps us find our own purpose.
24
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: I could not agree more. It's so important for us to be able to embrace the things that are…
25
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: are problems for us, because if they're problems for us, they're probably a problem for somebody else, and…
26
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: If somebody can see something being modeled.
27
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: to be overcome, it helps them have confidence that.
28
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: hey, that guy did it, I can do it too. And, you know, we offer coaching around those sorts of things, but mostly it's being a beacon and standing out there and saying, hey, yeah, this is a problem.
29
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Absolutely. That's not something that you just have to brush aside.
30
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Absolutely, and then just understanding yourself within a bigger plan, right? So, I'll share a story. So, part of my, history has been working with organizations that… that are…
31
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: you know, have grown phenomenonly over their period of time. Teach for America being one of them. I was an executive director with Teach for America in Oklahoma. It's been around now over 30 years, but… but the…
32
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: basically, the… for folks who may not know who Teach for America is, so we… it's a teacher corps in the U.S. that, take some of the most talented
33
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: future talent in America, whether folks are going to become future doctors or lawyers or other business owners, that we… we make, we were making a pitch to them. Would you dedicate two years of your life?
34
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: right, to teaching, and bringing your incredible talent, and regardless of what you go on to do in life, come to serve in some of the most complex, challenging teaching environments in America. And we believe that if you apply your leadership skills to that issue.
35
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: build connection to, children and families, wherever you get sent, that it's gonna make you a better leader regardless of what you choose to do. A good portion of them remained in education, others did not, but whatever that was, they gained a deeper perspective of what was wrong in educational systems.
36
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And…
37
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: What type of leader they wanted to become, how they define problems, become better speakers and communicators, and just helping others become better.
38
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And that was by proximity. You're spending 2 years. It wasn't just, like, a weekend.
39
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: You were spending two committed years being consumed by that problem of what is it going to take to truly provide a quality education for children in our country.
40
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Who are not being well served by the systems of education.
41
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And what I found, having many relationships with a future alumni at Teach for America, that many of them found a deep sense of who they truly were, or wanted to be in life, because they did that.
42
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And it was that proximity, right? And I learned that to build
43
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: very, very strong teams that drive something forward, whether, it's… in my work with Spine Hope, whether it's a medical… global medical team.
44
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: that's going to provide scoliosis surgeries for children, or Teach for America, where we're saying we can turn this thing around for children.
45
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Building relationship with others in a deep way, solving a meaningful problem that is challenging, and you're bringing all of those talents together over a period of time. That's truly what helps you develop strong teams that find deep purpose and do
46
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: meaningful, hard work that I believe is the secret sauce for talent, and retaining, kind of, future talent, especially
47
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Knowing what the next generation of leaders really care about.
48
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Gen Z, Alpha generation.
49
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Yeah, they seem to really want to make a difference.
50
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: More than anything.
51
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Absolutely.
52
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: And it's…
53
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Yeah.
54
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: it's not about… when I was young, it was like you were gonna go sit in your cubicle and bide your time until… collect your paycheck until it was time to leave.
55
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: per day.
56
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: A little slice of… lush slice of prison.
57
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: And… but now… and you were shuffling paper. I… I remember distinctly sitting there thinking, I'm just moving paper from one stack to another.
58
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: And making some marks on it.
59
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: This is…
60
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Do you still remember your first job?
61
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Yeah, I do. I've had a lot of jobs.
62
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: I think I was selling knives at one point, you know, it's kind of hard, yeah.
63
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: I was collecting quarters, I was probably 10, at the Officer Club swimming pool. You had to pay… pay to get in there, and then I was a lifeguard.
64
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Then I was a lot of other things. I was a check driver at one point in my life.
65
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Wow.
66
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Wow.
67
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: So, good.
68
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: I mean, I realized that it wasn't…
69
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: White.
70
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Yeah, yeah, it wasn't quite, like, sales wasn't necessarily the thing, but I could sell something if I truly cared about the issue and the mission, right, and the purpose, and I found that to be true for me, at least. And so now… now I… I am a salesman for possibility, whether it's, like.
71
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: getting surgeries for children, and countries that don't have that type of care, like in Ecuador, might have challenges.
72
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: bringing teams together to do that, and casting a vision and mission around that, I found is deeply purposeful. And in my consulting company, Cosmos Renewed, I figured out that, you know, part of my purpose in building meaningful things that change the world
73
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Or somebody's world. World can be defined many things, like, you don't… your world can be, like, your block, and it could be your family of five.
74
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: whatever that is, if you're a good steward of that, and you have a vision for it, and purpose, you bring others along, you gotta be responsible for the small, and then go do big things in the world. But I found purpose is deeply important in that, and for me, I've learned that
75
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: By going through government and nonprofit and private, and many different contexts.
76
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And really, identifying what… what are things, meaningfully, that should be solved, and how do you bring my skill set and evolve over time?
77
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: and bring good teams with their skill set to come together, and I think the communities that you're building, for example, in Substack and other with creatives and coaches is…
78
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: is deeply important. I think we're going through a massive disruption through many economic system disruptions and geopolitical, and post-COVID, you know, health.
79
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: disruptions that… I think many folks are just trying to find… reground themselves.
80
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: From that kind of global pandemic era, and figuring out what is…
81
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: How do I find my purpose?
82
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: How do I build strong teams? And to what you said about the next generation, they do, they deeply care. They're not just going to trust authority.
83
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: right, institutional authority, or the old system. They're looking for new models. They're looking for authentic relationship, deep relationship, especially in the AI era, where, at least at this iteration of it, right, where people want…
84
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: they care about the efficiency and doing more stuff, but they care deeply about what's authentic, and what's true, and what's personable. I think that's what we're learning as people seek to build strong teams, is
85
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Can you put something out into the world that resonates in a way that's deeply authentic and genuine?
86
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And people gotta find what that is for them and their leadership, if they're a CEO or if they're the head of a department.
87
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: What is gonna cause them to connect to that deep selves of their personal why?
88
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Sometimes that's… that's going deep, maybe getting past that scary door that you've never gone through, or allowed yourself to get past.
89
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: To go… to really connect with a deep part of who you are.
90
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: You know, and if you can find that, and many people have different avenues to do that, some find it through spirituality, or religious practice, or taking a global trip somewhere else in the world, and just finding something new.
91
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: But I encourage people to do that. I found that through…
92
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: friends all over the world that it looks different for everyone. You gotta find that thing for you, and if you can find that, you're just gonna become a better leader.
93
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And people are going to be drawn to you, to walk alongside of you, be part of your community, follow your writing, follow your speaking, because you're putting stuff out in the world that resonates for people.
94
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: I think you touched on something early on in this conversation when you were talking about, gathering together leaders and having them teach, future leaders and having them teach. Teaching is the fastest way I know of
95
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: To master a subject, but also to discover your passion and to understand how people perceive what you're putting out to educate them.
96
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Yeah. Which is… teaching is just, like, throwing information out. Educating means that there's a change happening.
97
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: As a… as a mom who homeschooled her kids, mostly they were unschooled, to be honest.
98
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: I found that I learned so much about so many different things. Math, for example. I thought I was really bad at math, but what I was really bad at was I didn't have the foundations. But as I was teaching my kids, I was learning myself.
99
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: pretty good at math. I get the idea of how things go together. But it's all about foundations, but the… the thought of finding teams that you can join, and you all have a common purpose.
100
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: But you're each individuals, and you're exploring a different aspect of the community project.
101
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Yeah, you know…
102
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Absolutely, and I love… I love to hear that you… you went through that journey of… of homeschooling your kids, you know, I think that's…
103
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: having been in education, and now what we've seen, at least since COVID, was that there's been such an increase of people willing to take that jump, right, to try something new, and homeschool their kids, or just try a different form of education.
104
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And sometimes for us, it's getting past that fear, that initial fear of, I'm not enough, I don't know enough.
105
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: So I won't do that, but you… you miss out on the learning experience, like you said, Jill, right? Like, you learn something. And my wife is… I think when she came into the world, she was going to be an educator. She just is that, right? And she's incredible at it, and she homeschooled both her kids, and…
106
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: My son, the oldest, is about to go, you know, he's finishing his senior year, and he's done exceptionally well, very driven. He's gonna finish his BA in, like, a year and a half. He's done so much dual enrollment.
107
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: He, he's just…
108
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: done really well, right? And that, for my wife, has been a journey of walking with him and becoming better, even better, better. Now we've got our daughter, who's a freshman next year, doing well. But I've learned that
109
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: by observing, because she's the teacher, I'm… I just help where I can. The co-creation component of learning.
110
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: So, in my… I've learned I've become a better leader when I'm willing to teach other… somebody else, and not being afraid of learning something new, whether that's launching a podcast, which…
111
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Donna, Jill, you do a far better job than I ever did, but I tried it, because I wanted to learn what it was like, right, to do that, or starting a substack.
112
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Because I love to write, I love to communicate, and so I had to go through, like, will I… am I willing to learn that? Now, over a year in, I've found that to be… I've learned a lot of things, and found a community by doing that.
113
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: But
114
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: part of the way that I do that, and just stay fresh for anyone, I want to just at least present the idea of co-creating with another generation.
115
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: So I think that's deeply meaningful to… I talk about building from the future, that many of us are so narrowly focused on the present, like.
116
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: kind of the next 30, 60, 90 days, or your outlook for business, you know, over the next 2 to 3 years. But I think that most transformational leaders can look down at 30, 50, 100 years, right, and be able to think through
117
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: what does that look like? And those are, I think, the leaders that inspire us, right, that we hear about in film and other… in folklore. And I want to become, at least the remaining years that I have.
118
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: that type of… at least somebody that aspires to be like that. And so the way I do that is I… I joined the Presidential AI Challenge. I was a supervisor for my daughter's project. She was building a solution, AI solution, in the foster care system for Wisconsin.
119
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And spent hours, you know, helping coach her through that, and learning from her. What did she want to build? What was in her personal why? Simon Sinek talks about the Golden Circle. What was her personal why?
120
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And then from that, what was a pain point in the world that she had some connection to, and that she had learned about the foster care system? So we did that. Deeply meaningful. She did incredibly well in the first round. She won, for her 8th grade.
121
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: level, she won the state of Wisconsin, competition for that, and so she went to regional, so it was meaningful.
122
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And I'm working with a young man right now who is a junior in high school and wants to develop an online game for teenagers to help better their… get through issues of bullying and mental health and body image. And so, I spent about
123
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: I don't know, 10 hours a month,
124
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: with him, and at a Panera with his mom, and I'm just listening to what he wants to build.
125
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And I'm bringing everything that I know, technology, skill, vision.
126
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: How to run ideas, business plans, and helping them do that.
127
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: ultimately, I'll wrap this portion of it, just to say, from what you said, I think building strong teams means, like.
128
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: You're present with people, and you're present with problems.
129
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: you're not ever too busy, I guess, to… to…
130
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: get your hands dirty, and I think the next generation, at least.
131
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: resonates. That resonates for them, right? Because you're… you're real. You're real. You're getting in it with them.
132
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: I think when you get in it with them, as you're talking about, you're… you're not…
133
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: trying to come at them from the I-know-everything position. If you can approach
134
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: the experience as, hey, I'm coming alongside you, I have some experience that worked then.
135
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: We'll see what it works, how it works now. Let's… let's take your idea, and what has worked in the past, and see what will develop in the future. And that's how we can move into a world that
136
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: This is… that we're shaping right now. They're shaping, too.
137
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Yes.
138
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: you know, with the whole AI thing, and you were talking about, you know, people want personal connections.
139
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: I don't think things like podcasts will ever go away, because people really do want to hear
140
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: humans communicating ideas with each other, and exploring things, not from the position of, I'm right, you're wrong, but from the… from the position of.
141
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: This… this is a perspective. Just one perspective. Let's look at that. And then maybe you see it a little bit differently. Let's look at that.
142
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: And it doesn't have to be, like I said, right or wrong. It's just exploring, and the more we can be curious rather than having to be right, the better the world is going to be, in my opinion.
143
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Yeah.
144
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: You know, one thing that was…
145
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: illuminating for me was realizing how challenging sometimes it is for us as human beings to embrace change.
146
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Read books connected to the immunity
147
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: immunity to change, and… and we've got…
148
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: We're deeply committed to our version of truth, right? We're deeply committed to being right. And unless you intentionally train yourself.
149
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: and put yourself in situations that, actually push against that. Not that, you know, we need to be grounded in who we are. I fully, fundamentally agree in that. But I believe you get to that stronger version of that by
150
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Allowing situations where you open yourself to a set of perspectives, especially when you're dealing with very complex issues and dilemmas and business problems, like, for example, international business, where you're having
151
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: To consider that there's various cultures at hand, different time zones, different realities, different value systems, what is most prioritized versus not.
152
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Coming from a Latino background, at least for myself, not a stereotype, but we cared deeply about family. Faith and family was deeply important, right? And so…
153
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Sometimes more important than time, or, like, being on time, because you wanted to go deep with someone, and you didn't want to be disrespectful.
154
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And so you wanted to treasure if a moment was present and you could feel emotional resonance, you wanted to savor, and that moment was sacred, right?
155
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: So you savored it, as opposed to being, at least for me, in an American culture, where sometimes the clock defined the next step, right? Like, you have to be on time. Like, okay, it ends now, and we're gonna be at that other thing.
156
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: and I've learned to take the best from all those places, to… to make something even better. But yeah, to the concept of purpose, you know, I… I was…
157
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: just as an example, I've been wanting to write a book for
158
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: many years, and I had components of
159
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: of what that could be, or what that would be, but I couldn't ever get past that, you know, ideation stage that I scribbled notes. But I would say for me.
160
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: I hadn't quite had enough
161
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: experiences that would have a breakthrough at a heart level around my purpose, the clarity of purpose. For one, I was too busy trying to get to, kind of, the CEO level of their journey, of what it would be to do that. But…
162
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: COVID began to teach me the practice of becoming still, right? And I've learned the practice of journaling through a mentor of mine many, many years ago, post, you know, college, and I maintained journals over time. And so COVID just taught me a way to get back into… into going over my journals
163
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Trying to find the threads.
164
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: of who am I, who do I want to be in the world.
165
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And considering, you know, kind of the post-COVID era and the AI era.
166
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And people finding meaning. Like, well, if you had the capacity to build anything you wanted.
167
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: A product, a service, a channel, a podcast, a show, whatever, radio show.
168
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: If you could.
169
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: What would you build?
170
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And that was a question that, for me, wasn't easy to answer.
171
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Clearly.
172
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: in a way that wasn't just about me, but really considered all the layers of value and all of that. But, through going through my journals, I got closer and closer to an answer that helped me reinvent myself in a way, of looking at my failures, where did I try to do something and it failed, and what did I learn from it?
173
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: I think one thing that encourages me… so I went… I got my undergraduate degree at the University of Texas, and as a young person, I wanted to go do something cool, Jill, something that I think would… I would enjoy learning. So I went and I got an astronomy degree.
174
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And for those… it wasn't astrology, so I don't know the zodiac, but it was about astronomy, the science of planets and systems, all of that. And what infatuated me about that was that I knew that books would be rewritten, right? Like, what we knew and could know at the time, now this was back in the late 90s.
175
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Do you know Jerry Hilburn?
176
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: I don't. I don't. Why should I know him? Tell me more.
177
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: He's… he's a… an old friend of mine, a really old friend of mine. But he has been into astronomy for decades, and he has…
178
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: observatories that he maintains. Oh, I love that. He goes out… there's someplace in Utah, I think, that they meet once a year, and there's a big…
179
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: astronomy kind of convention sort of thing, but it's out in the desert, and everybody's looking up at the sky, and they stay up all night.
180
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Wow. I love… I love that kind of stuff. You know, I… somebody told me what… because I…
181
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: One, I wanted to study something that had some math in it, because I, at the time, loved math, loved calculus, and… and something that… an aspect of science and tech in it that was always infatuated by that.
182
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And ultimately, for me, it wasn't… you know, I was not going to become a researcher in astronomy, I realized, but there was something that infatuated me about the being a seeker of truth, and looking up at the stars, and understanding meaning and purpose, all of that, and the meaning of, like, why are we here, type of stuff. And I found that to be grounding for me, and over time, as I read the journals.
183
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: I realized that I was a seeker of truth, and not just, like, in one place, but in every geography I would have the opportunity and honor to go be part of a seeker of truth. How do…
184
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: what… why… having…
185
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: spent some time in Latin America, why were some nations struggling, right, in their systems, and why were others better off? So I was always infatuated by that, and working with human beings to
186
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: explore what are the symptoms of failing systems, whether it's healthcare or education, and how do you develop safety nets, and all of that. It just helped me figure out more the concept of loving your neighbor, serving your neighbor, whether it's a business that you're doing that helps people improve their mental health.
187
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Like, that you have some… some type of improving humanity at a core of the vision and mission, and you're not exploiting people just for profit.
188
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: I've learned that that… one, I deeply cared about those things, those set of values, and I've gone through my career helping build that, so it…
189
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: when I wrote The Unknowns Rising, I had this deep, meaningful encounter myself that helped me see the future, in a sense of what would it look like, you know, 30, 50 years from now?
190
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And… and I am spending the rest of my life having that clarity.
191
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: to help become the person that I saw supporting that reality in the future. So, Cosmos Renewed, people ask me, well, that's a cool name. What does it mean? Well, for me, part of that, it connects to…
192
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: my astronomy beginnings in undergraduate, the cosmos meaning everything that you see, everything that's part of, like.
193
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: What we see and live in, both, you know, planetary and just everything, nature, all of that.
194
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: But it includes every system, every economic system. It's everything that we see and where we live.
195
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Being renewed, meaning there's a better version of all of that.
196
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And we are…
197
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: To work with others, to be good stewards of the resources we have in our generation while we're still
198
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: here, in this sense of, like, a physical matter, and do and build great things together, and make somebody else's quality of life better as you go on that journey. So, the unknowns rising, Jill, for me, I saw a new breed of leaders and builders that would emerge.
199
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: That would fundamentally lead and build things from a different orientation, and they were not going to be defined by, like.
200
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Just, greed, or being egocentric, or…
201
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Building something without thinking through the consequences of what they will build, but that they would
202
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: one, be whole in themselves, so they would be those committed to healing deeply in themselves. And I believe that we're a multi-faceted type of being, right? So it wasn't just, like, my body physically, but your soul emotions and your spirit.
203
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: all of that was important, and I saw that there would be leaders that would be… become whole in themselves and figure out a path to do that, and two, they would begin to bring their skill set and build with these incredible tools that we have in this generation to renew
204
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: the cosmos, and… Again, for me, right now, practically, if people say, well, what is…
205
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: What does that look like for you, Art?
206
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: I was on a call earlier today with folks in Ecuador, and this was folks that care about… there's a local foundation that cares about supplying better healthcare access to children that suffer from spine deformity.
207
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And, and different versions of scoliosis.
208
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And that issues of the spine that begins to, when becomes extreme, impacting organs and just growth and development, limit quality of life. And… and they had great vision to say, how could we collaborate with our partners in the U.S. through Spine Hope?
209
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And bring medical brigades, medical teams of incredible, talented surgeons and teams to support them.
210
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: To, spend a week or two
211
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: with a hospital system in… in Ecuador, and… Transform the lives of children.
212
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: I mean, I'll get up every day and do that, like, 100%. Like, yeah, I'll go fundraise for that. Yeah, I'll go ask people for money. I'll go ask medical device companies for, you know, implants for that. And that makes me come alive. And I think every individual
213
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: You gotta find what that is for you.
214
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And then you can bring people alongside of you to do that, build a community around it. You just… I've learned you've got to be clear on what you're putting out there, and being authentic to yourself.
215
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: I think you've hit on the real secret of… Putting teams together, and whether…
216
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Whether those people are going to…
217
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Really push your… your thought, or your program, or your inspired action-forward, or they're going to… stop your…
218
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: thing altogether.
219
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: You're… you're motivated, you're inspired, you light up when you talk about it, so when you talk to other people about joining you.
220
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: You're looking for people that also get lit up about the idea, instead of just people who want to come on board because there's a paycheck involved.
221
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: When you talk about big ideas and bringing people along for the experience, it's different than looking for people to fill a position
222
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: And then it's all about the money.
223
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Yeah. It's two different ways of coming at solving problems in the world, and I think that we're moving more towards building teams of excited people wanting to do something significant.
224
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: And so they're willing to invest in themselves as well as the project in order for that big thing to… to…
225
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Actually bloom into something.
226
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Versus, you know, big companies that are just all about the bottom line, and they don't really care.
227
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Hmm.
228
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: I think that was one of the things that we learned from COVID, is that money is behind a lot of the systems that are out there right now, and people sucking money out of the system for personal gain.
229
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Whereas… There's a… there's a big movement towards
230
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Doing things the way that you're talking about doing them, rather than the old way of, you know, we'll just get a big company to help us do this, and…
231
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Then there's… there's all the greed and ugliness that…
232
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Yeah, there can be. Listen, I had a mentor once,
233
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: really, you know, people talk about, like, cognitive dissonance, and that's the concept. You… something comes in front of you that you hadn't expected, that's an outlier, and it causes you to rethink, right, what you were thinking.
234
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And it was the way that we build, whether it's a company, or a business plan, or a family, or a city. And many a times, the structures of our day, kind of in the old way of doing things.
235
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: It centers a system or a structure first. It creates a structure, right? I have an orchard of 10 roles, and then you assign a function to that role.
236
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And then you'll find your person.
237
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: or a person to fill those slots in. And many times, the…
238
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: you underutilize the talent within that person, like the creative energy, the potential, because they're fitting the structure that only you… that you've already rigidly defined, right? And… and I think, to what you said, I think we're in this process of
239
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: in the disruption of old systems, old models, old ways of doing things, we're… we're going… my mentor said this, it's, you know, to flip that, flip that reality to where you lead with… you lead with creating conditions for community and belonging in relationship.
240
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: That comes first.
241
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: That relating with each other, seeing other people, valuing other people, engaging, bringing out the best in people, that…
242
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Helps you collectively define function.
243
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Like, what is somebody most talented at, right? And then… and then you… you begin to build structure around that energy and synergy.
244
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: only enough
245
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: that it won't kill, kind of, the momentum that's going forward, but it will actually anchor and allow you to scale or grow what's really working. Sometimes we get ahead of ourselves, we curate the structure, or the system, or the org chart.
246
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And we haven't gone through that journey, and especially haven't invited people to come along to co-create that with us. So it's somewhat underwhelming, and it makes you… makes it difficult. I think those that will compete, those small, kind of.
247
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Malcolm Glatwell talks about the David and Goliath, right, that small underdog.
248
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: That small little company over here, or your small, whatever venture you have.
249
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: If you… if you build from a different way of operating, as an example, what I just said, you might find yourself that you've got a team of 3 people
250
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: that are dynamically innovating every month in a way that you can take out that Goliath, like, if you're the blockbuster and you're Netflix coming in, because you've… you've figured something out around creating conditions where it helps people become better, find themselves, enjoy community.
251
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And they're gonna go… they're gonna give you more than what's even defined in a typical job description, because you're giving them latitude to grow, find themselves, and then bring that forward, right?
252
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: I think it's hard, for people sometimes to make that shift and change, but I think
253
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: the transformation that can come from it, I think it's fundamentally worth it.
254
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: I agree, and I… I'm old enough that I remember when Amazon first got started.
255
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Okay?
256
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: And it's… it's a…
257
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: big enough company and think whatever you want of it now, but I watched it develop along the same lines that you're talking about, because the reason I believe that they got as big as they got was from their affiliate program.
258
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: They would pay really good returns for people to promote the stuff that they're selling on Amazon. And so, all the bloggers got out there, and they… wow, this is an easy way to make money. We'll talk about a subject, and we'll send them over to Amazon, and they'll buy it. And people made really good money doing that.
259
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Back in the 90s.
260
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: early 2000s, maybe, was, like, when it really started blowing up. And they've changed their model now, but they still have a space for people to set up stores under their umbrella, so they're like.
261
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Yeah.
262
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: The malls of the 80s, where you have a bunch of different vendors, and and they make it easy for vendors to be profitable.
263
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: using their… their distribution system, which is, you know, pretty amazing in a lot of ways. They…
264
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: I was in Arizona. I live in the country right now, and, you know, 2, 3, 4, 5 days from Amazon. It's… that's good. We're good with that. Yeah. But in Goodyear, Arizona.
265
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: you order it, and then, like, 20 minutes, my dad was joking, he ran out of toilet paper. He's just like, oh, I got my phone, I can just order it from Amazon! And my sister's like, yeah, but they won't bring it to the bathroom for you.
266
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Right, right.
267
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: show up so fast. But that's just a case of innovation, and I know my husband used to drive for Walmart, so I know that Walmart was
268
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: at one point, I don't know how they feel about it now, but they were really concerned that Amazon was taking over their client base.
269
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Yeah. And, you know.
270
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: doing something different, starting small, leveraging other people's skills and talents, and giving them space to really shine, allowed Amazon to grow into the behemoth that it is now. And so, whatever you.
271
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Think about.
272
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: it, it's… There was a progression.
273
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Yeah, totally, and I think there's… I think there's also progression on, like, the definition of team, and… and for those on the call, that it…
274
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: you know, I think more people are betting on themselves as they've been disrupted by their current industry, or, you know, times are changing. You still see people, like, being somewhere for 20, 30 years, but that's rarely…
275
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: becoming rare.
276
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: more so, because sometimes the values of an institution or a corporation and what they're willing to do is changed over time. And I think it's encouraging people to really
277
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Take that next step to bet on themselves, and take their figure on that purpose that they carry, their unique skill, by looking at their background and what they've done and thrived, and doing whether people call it, like.
278
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: you're a side venture, or a side hustle, or something on the side that you can grow over time, but I see as more people in my network are doing that, that they're defining team differently, that it might be more like affiliate… affiliates
279
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: within a network that you build around yourself and your talent. My twin brother has started a channel, and he's doing exceptionally well, and, like, he's like the yard pirate. He's taking old cars, goes to, like.
280
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: old car yards and finds and resells a ton of those parts, and he's find… he's found… Jill, he's started a community.
281
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: people that follow them, because they have a skill or know how about cars, and it's just resonating. He's found his niche.
282
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And he's telling that through TikTok and YouTube, and he's found his community and doing really well. And I think more of us
283
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: will be on a journey of doing that. You know, writing, just… I love doing that and speaking, and so the book became part of that, and it unlocked something in me that now I'm now… the redefining team, what does it look like to promote the book?
284
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: The ideas in the book.
285
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: finding the unknowns that are rising, that might have the questions, like, I am really good at X, but I don't have the networks of social capital.
286
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: or whatever those… the need might be. I don't have the technology know-how to create the infrastructure for my thing.
287
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: That team is becoming more and more defined, You know, the… You really know your why.
288
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: To doing things, or why you exist.
289
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And what change you want to do in the world. And you find others that care about the same thing.
290
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: But your how may be different. They may be really good at marketing, and you begin to barter and share those resources, so it's not necessarily that you're living under the same structure organizationally, but you have the same vision and mission, and you're collaborating and scaling your capacity by having partnerships.
291
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And I'm seeing more of that, and I encourage people to explore that
292
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Because what could take them 3 years to develop internally, and they don't have the budget.
293
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: financially to do that yet. They could do through some kind of affiliate partnership structure.
294
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: They just gotta be really clear about what they're putting out in the world, and why they're doing it, what, you know, and if somebody believes the same thing.
295
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: I think Simon Sinek is the way that he said it in his Golden Circle. People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it, and… and if you know your…
296
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: your why. Other people are gonna buy your time, your attention, your company.
297
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Like, being present with you and building stuff together.
298
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Yeah, it kind of reminds me of… of molecules.
299
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Bug.
300
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Hmm.
301
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: When the… or Adams.
302
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Nothing is… nothing is solid, and the electrons are always changing balances with each other, and
303
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Building teams now is kind of like we're all individual atoms out there, and we connect for a short time, and then we break off, and then we connect with other things. And sometimes we connect all together to form something unique.
304
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: And it will go along for a while, and maybe it'll break up and become something else, and… or maybe some more atoms will join in and will become a different thing. It's just… it's so exciting to be alive right now, because the possibility.
305
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: I agree.
306
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: are so…
307
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Yep.
308
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: It's so amazing. Never in the history of humanity have we been so close, even though we're spread out all over the world. And we can… we can help each other
309
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: you know, friends in Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, and they're all part of our community, and they're all very important parts of our community.
310
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Before the internet, it would not have been a possibility.
311
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Yeah, and you know, and I've heard people… I mean, I haven't vetted this myself directly, but I've heard people
312
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: talk about, you know, the seven people in the world that are defining the future of humanity, and that typically there's the seven people, mostly… most of them are men, and I am one, so I… but not one of those seven, but I, you know, identify as male, but that seven individuals, mostly men, are defining the future of humanity, and they're sitting at the top of, like.
313
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: the infrastructure for artificial intelligence, right? And that will redefine the economic systems of the future, and the economics of the future, and employment of the future, all of that.
314
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And at the same time, so I recognize, okay, you have a situational awareness that that change is happening before our eyes. Sometimes we feel like we have no agency or control over that, but I think as more people talk about, well, what should the future be.
315
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: in this new reality, I think that we have the capacity collectively to begin to shift and have more agency of how that future world will come to be, and I'm giving my time partially to
316
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: developing that next generation, like I said, you know, supporting people like my daughter in the presidential challenge, to say, okay, let's assume this thing is here to stay.
317
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: How do you bring your value system into what it means to be human, and actually focusing on human flourishing?
318
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: To building with this technology and this tool.
319
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: I think that's deeply important, right? And so I… I'm spending more time with people from that generation to at least do my part in helping shape their mental models and how they think about defining problems and situating how to use this technology, how to develop the future models and the way that they work.
320
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: I think that's important to do, and sometimes we're scared because of the 7 people.
321
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And we feel like we can't do anything. And I found my releases to get in the game.
322
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Get in the sandbox.
323
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: start playing with the tools that are available, start building something meaningful, and then I think over time, as more people do that, and…
324
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: we… we will help shape, kind of the future of… of how this thing actually develops and the world that we want to live in, right? And I think we've got to get past the fear
325
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Or just sitting at our desks and… and…
326
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Griping, maybe, if we're not okay with the thing, and imagine a future world
327
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And then go write about it. Go talk about it. Go build stuff that helps that world actually become a reality, like, within the center of influence that you currently have. Again, that could be 5 people in your network.
328
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Or… or more. And… and go do that. Don't be afraid. It only takes one. Impact one life, right? And go do the… go do the work, and… and that's…
329
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: That's, I think, the…
330
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: the… the type of benefit I want to create in the world, I believe the Unknowns Rising book is the first
331
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: step for me, fundamentally building that, but from that will come, I hope, future micro-schools where I help young people develop into their families, think through that journey of learning and becoming… what does that area of new leadership look like? But it's also giving time to organizations like Spine Hope that are trying to scale
332
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: You know, many times fold by 2031, so that any child who's experiencing pain medically doesn't have to suffer 2 to 3, 4 years
333
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: But can actually receive the surgery they need to be made whole.
334
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: I hope that's encouraging to someone, because I by no means, like, deserve any of it, but I think I've just tried to get better at listening.
335
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: And make… making myself available for those moments.
336
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: I'm really glad that you're doing it. It's just… somebody was… it was a gap, and you're filling it. People can find your… your Unknown Rising book where?
337
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Yeah, they can go to unknownsrising.com, and they've got a… there's a free assessment. If you go to the landing page, if you… you're thinking, like, I might want to build something, but I'm not sure where I'm at, they can take that free assessment, it will spit out a report that they can use. They'll find other free versions on the website, also the links to where they can find my book, and also how to reach me.
338
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Excellent. And you're writing over on Substack.
339
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Yes, yes, I do. I've got two publications, The Omega Pulse and Threshold. People can follow my work there as well.
340
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Excellent, and they can find that at substack.com forward slash at.
341
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: Serena A. Jr.
342
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: S-E-R-N-A-A-J-R.
343
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: And…
344
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Good job.
345
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: That's… that's your profile part, so you can actually get to both publications there. Art, thank you so much for joining us today.
346
::Art Serna, Founder | Author: Thank you, Jill. Appreciate the time.
347
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: You can learn more about Art and find his book by visiting unknownrising.com, and please consider subscribing to his substack at substack.com forward slash the at sign, S-E-R-N-A-A-J-R, and we'll put those links in the description below. Thanks for tuning in with us today. If you're ready to amplify your voice, monetize your mission, and start attracting premium clients, your next step is simple. Head to thecoachesalchemist.com and schedule
348
::Jill Hart-The Coach's Alchemist: your free client acquisition audit. Join us for our next episode as we share what others are doing to raise the global frequency, and remember, change begins with you. You have all the power to change the world. Start today, and get visible.
