Welcome to invest in yourself, the digital entrepreneur podcast. Join the podcast mogul Phil Better as he interviews successful entrepreneurs that make their living in the digital world. Now let's join your host Phil Better as your special guest today on invest in yourself, the digital entrepreneur

Welcome back to another episode of Invest in Yourself, the digital entrepreneur podcast. I am, of course, your host for the most feel better, and I'm excited to have our guests today because they are extensively experienced, dynamic approach to leadership, and nothing short of extraordinary. Our guest today is a seasoned professional with over 30 years of a diverse experience ranging from entrepreneurship and small businesses to significant roles within the US government and running a massive data center campus for Google. Our his journey through various scales of operations showcases versatility and deep understanding of different organizational dynamics. In his current role, he has dedicated himself to helping leaders and individual unlock their potential and discover their superhero like abilities. He empowers them to achieve incredible daily outcomes, turning everyday tasks into opportunities for significant achievements. Today, he's gonna share his insights on leadership, the power of self discovery, and how to harness your unique abilities to create impactful results. Whether you're a budding entrepreneur, a leader in a large organization, or someone looking to maximize your personal and professional potential, our guest expertise and strategies are bound to provide valuable lessons.

So get ready and be here for the amazing founder of ISG, Eric Wage. Eric, thank you so much for being here.

Oh, it's my pleasure. Thank you very much. And by the way, you flatter me very much with that introduction. That's it's quite kind.

It's it's my goal to make my guests feel like they have to give a 120% because I gave them such a great, intro. But, Eric, I'm excited. We had a great conversation with before we jumped on, the podcast. So I'm excited just to start in with it. So we're gonna do the the first question. Why? Why did you become an entrepreneur? What made you spark to go around this crazy road and lifestyle that we live?

Sure. I mean, as the intro said, right, I've I've kind of done everything. I've done all different scales, in my career, and I've always been someone who's been in someone else's kind of career orbit. And I realized that what I really wanted in life after having done all the other kind of stuff is helping people 1 on 1 become incredibly successful, and that's very difficult to do unless you're your own entrepreneur. Right? It's very difficult to go do that as part of a a larger consultancy like a, like an Ernst and Young or anyone else. Right? You don't have someone that does that level of hands on effort. So for me to go to go take on this this, scope, it's it's only makes sense to do it as an entrepreneur.

I love it. I love it. And of course you're coming from somewhere where you were surrounded by, like, hugely successful entrepreneurs, you know, like maybe the founders of Google. You were kind of, you know, hobnobbing it with them. When you were in these positions working for these major corporations and major businesses, entrepreneurial ventures, Did you did you have that spark when you saw or met with the leaders that you're like, oh, I see something of myself in them. Maybe I deserve to be an entrepreneur.

You know, it it it's really interesting because, Google's a place where every single person is absolutely incredible, and, we have a conversation all the time internally about imposter syndrome. Like, do I deserve to be here? Am I am I good enough to be here? And so I'm gonna find out that I'm actually not that great. And there's always a little bit of self doubt, right, as as an entrepreneur. Right? Can I pull off what I'm trying to accomplish? And the thing that Google allowed me to to do was to really spread my wings and really not take no for an answer. Now there there are numbers of times in my career where the right thing to do was the difficult thing that involves sitting down and having 1 on ones with, at the time, the most tenured person in the company. Like, Larry and Sergei had already left, the the company, and literally the person who was their, their mentor in college, their college professor was still an employee, Erz Holzlay. I had many, many conversations with Erz 1 on 1 about trying to steer various outcomes in the data centers. And when I spoke to people at Google, they were terrified that I was doing this.