In this episode, Dr. Nate Salah—an inspiring entrepreneur and educator—explores how overcoming adversity shapes effective leadership. Drawing on the grit and perseverance instilled by his mother in a financially challenged immigrant family, Dr. Salah reveals how facing challenges head-on fuels personal growth. He cites icons like Herb Kelleher and principles from Stephen Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People to emphasize the power of trust, empathy, and supportive work environments. Beyond professional success, he advocates a holistic approach to well-being—balancing psychological, physical, and financial health—and adopting an infinite mindset for sustained impact.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- Resilience as the foundation of effective leadership
- Importance of discovery and clear vision for leaders
- Role of influence in galvanizing teams
- Achievement of shared purpose and outcomes
- Significance of empathy and grace in leadership
- Introducing the four pillars of health for leaders
Dr. Nate Salah’s Bio
Dr. Nate Salah, is a lifelong entrepreneur, award-winning educator, and advisor to business leaders. As the CEO of Salah Financial Corp for over three decades, Dr. Salah has guided entrepreneurs toward financial success, personal growth, and meaningful social impact. He is also the founder of the Great Summit Leadership Academy and the podcast host of “A Call to Leadership”, where he shares his passion for faith-infused entrepreneurship and servant leadership. An inspiring mentor, marathon runner, and devoted family man, Dr. Salah is committed to helping others rise above limitations and create a future filled with exceptional leadership.
- http://www.greatsummit.com/podcast-1
- http://www.theincometaxcenter.com/
- https://www.facebook.com/incometaxcenter
- http://www.linkedin.com/in/natesalah
Links & Resources
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Email us at: thebolt@toddbertsch.com
Todd Bertsch: 0:10
Welcome back to BOLT Podcast. I’m Bertsch and I’m thrilled to be your guide on this inspiring journey of personal growth and leadership. Together with my guests, we’ll dive into transformational stories, uncovering how small, intentional changes can create massive positive results in your life from overcoming challenges and setting impactful goals to building lasting habits and living with confidence, health and positivity. We’ll explore it all and, if you’re ready, to embrace a growth mindset, and unlock the best version of yourself, then let’s spark that transformation today.
Todd Bertsch: 0:46
Today, we’re thrilled to have Dr. Nate Salah, a lifelong entrepreneur, award-winning educator and advisor to business leaders, as a CEO of Sala Financial Corp. For over three Dr. Salah has guided entrepreneurs toward financial success, personal growth and meaningful social impact. He is also the founder of the Great Summit Leadership Academy and the podcast host of A Call to Leadership, where he shares his passion for faith-infused entrepreneurship and servant leadership. An inspiring mentor, marathon runner and devoted family man. An inspiring mentor, marathon runner and devoted family man, dr Sala is committed to helping others rise above limitations and create a future filled with exceptional leadership. Listeners, get ready for an inspiring Dr. Nate. Welcome to the Bolt Podcast, my friend.
Dr. Nate Salah: 1:39
Thank you, my friend. Thank you so much, todd, glad to be here.
Todd Bertsch: 1:42
It’s so good to see you. I enjoyed our conversation. It was a couple months ago, right.
Dr. Nate Salah: 1:48
That’s right.
Todd Bertsch: 1:49
We had so many similarities, I feel like we’re kindred spirits, right 100%, absolutely.
Todd Bertsch: 1:56
Yeah. So I’m just so impressed with everything that you’re doing, that you’ve done. There’s so much to unpack here. A lot of my listeners are leaders, so I definitely want to focus on leadership. To me, there were really two themes that were woven into your story throughout leadership, obviously, and faith. So I really want to touch on those today. But if you wouldn’t mind, nate, just tell us a little bit about kind of your struggles, your challenges, because that was one thing you and I hit it off right when you asked me and I shared my story. You’re like, oh wow, I kind of had a similar story. So we don’t have to go into all the details, but I think it’s good to set up, because to get where you’re at right, you have to build resilience and to get that grit, and that takes going through some challenges and overcoming those obstacles.
Dr. Nate Salah: 2:49
Man, doesn’t it ever Todd? Yeah, I think about resilience, I think about all the different characteristics of leaders. Of course, a lot of my education and my research has been in the study of leadership, business leadership, entrepreneurial leadership and faith-based leadership, and life is in that direction. And people ask you know what are some of the most essential skills or traits, requirements for leadership? And I would say at the very top of the list, or hovering in the top three, is resilience. If you’re not a resilient leader, you’re just not going to make it because you’re going to run into roadblocks, you’re going to run into challenges. You’re going to run into two situations and your listener today is like yeah me, right Me, I don’t think there’s a person on the planet who hasn’t run into challenges. You say, well, maybe there’s people who have had a silver spoon in their mouth and they’ve got a cush life.
Todd Bertsch: 3:45
Well, that’s a challenge in and of itself.
Dr. Nate Salah: 3:47
Yeah To to get to get some kind of tension in your life, and you know when we’re, when we’re facing tension. Me, I grew up we were poor, we didn’t have much you know kind of the story of the immigrant, you know immigrant family, my, my family, migrated from the Mediterranean area and my parents divorced when I was young, single mom and just trying to get by, you know, and that was the journey. My mom was a hustler, like she would do whatever it took and I didn’t really understand that when I was little. Most kids don’t. You have memories, but you really can together, uh, the the larger context of what’s going on.
Dr. Nate Salah: 4:27
I remember one time we were at denny’s and when I was a kid in the 70s, they there was this 99 cent kids chicken meal. You got a piece, a chicken drummy, some french fries and a soda. It was a buck and I remember eating that and I offered my mom a fry and I’m like I wonder why she’s not eating. And the reason was there was just 99 cents, there was just enough for one. And it impacted me later in life as I began to unpack this struggle that she had faced, that she had taught adversity is not something to have misery over. Adversity is something to have mastery over. It’s not something to disengage from, it’s something to take head on and find a way. And that was a valuable lesson A lot of them.
Dr. Nate Salah: 5:19
My mom used to climb into dumpsters and, at Goodwill, pick up stuff to take to the flea market hey, perfectly good stuff. Climb into dumpsters and, at Goodwill, pick up stuff to take to the flea market hey, perfectly good stuff. And I’m like man, why is she going into the trash? Because she’s looking for ways to make a few bucks. Like this is like real, todd. You know, this is like that’s. This is really happens. And then she got on her feet more. She started these businesses. She had a pet shop and a bakery and all these other businesses. It’s funny.
Dr. Nate Salah: 5:45
I asked her later in life because I became an entrepreneur, of course. I asked her later in life hey, mom, what was your favorite business that you that you had? She said none of them. I don’t like business. I didn’t like being a business owner, but she had to find a way. She had to find a way and that taught me valuable lessons throughout life of resilience, of that. And of course then you know I struggled, right. I mean, look man, we all have challenges, but the quick and dirty is. I thought when I was a new entrepreneur at 21, I was going to get rich. That was the reason why I dropped out of college. Man, hey, I’m going to be like these guys that I see on TV or in a magazine, like a Michael Dell or Steve Jobs or Bill Gates. Right, all of them dropped out of college. Oh yeah, that’s it. That’s the ticket.
Dr. Nate Salah: 6:32
Follow them hard, and so within a few years I was so. I was a hundred thousand dollars in debt because I didn’t know what I was doing. So, like now, I needed 1.1 million. Like I was, I was going the opposite direction and I realized through that journey you talk about leadership is a. You know, even though my mom certainly was a great inspiration when I was young, I really didn’t have. I didn’t really have the kind of leadership and mentorship in my life to help me to really identify what was most important and how to pursue true purpose in my journey as a leader, I developed the resilience that was necessary, which is important as a foundation. However, I didn’t really have direction, and you know just as well as I do leadership requires direction. Right, because leaders are going places.
Dr. Nate Salah: 7:17
In fact, I look at leadership from the perspective of four critical elements of leadership. That first, it involves discovery. As leaders, we have to be discovering where we want to go. So we’re observers of the world around us. And what’s wrong with this picture? Because no one wants to go to a worse future state. Everyone wants to go to something better, and so, in that desire, we have to carve out a visual representation that we can communicate of what a better future looks like, whether it’s your business, whether it’s your family, whether it’s your community, whether it’s your faith relationship, I believe of all leadership. So I didn’t have a lot of discovery in my life because I didn’t have anyone who can help me to point to a direction of a better future state. So I was getting in trouble. You know my teen years. I don’t know if you ever got in trouble, todd. I got in a lot of trouble, brother.
Todd Bertsch: 8:17
I was lucky I got in trouble. Once I’m so embarrassed I don’t even want to share it, but once I don’t. I’m so embarrassed I don’t even want to share it. But yeah, I spent a day in juvie, but that was enough.
Dr. Nate Salah: 8:30
That was enough for me, good for you. I grew up on the West side of Chicago, so it was trouble everywhere, right, all you had to do is look one way and you can get in trouble. And so I just got in a lot of trouble. And I had, I had moved back with my dad for a little, while my mom moved back overseas, and I didn’t want to live overseas when I was a teenager, and so I was. I was just, uh, I was just trying to figure it out and I was just doing a lot of the wrong things because I hadn’t discovered a better future state and and it took some time. It took some time to really get out of that hole and find a new way, because it really I was. I was on a one way road to nowhere. I just be honest, dude, I was, I was right there with you.
Todd Bertsch: 9:10
Yeah, yeah, it’s it’s.
Dr. Nate Salah: 9:12
It’s a tough, it’s a tough road and you feel alone yeah, it’s lonely.
Todd Bertsch: 9:16
It’s dark, it’s foggy, yeah yeah.
Dr. Nate Salah: 9:20
Yeah, and so and so. In that, in that journey, man, when, when, when there’s just even a sliver of light that finds its way into that darkness, it’s like, oh my goodness, there’s hope, there’s possibility. And I really believe there’s at least two kinds of hope. There’s hopelessness that sees things only as they are, and they can be dark, they can be lonely, they can be cold, they can feel as if there really is no way out. That’s hopelessness. And then there’s another kind of hope fullness. And hopefulness sees things as surely as they can be bright, engaging, life-giving. And as leaders, I believe one of our primary mandates as leaders, my primary responsibilities, is to move toward that hopefulness and show others the pathway to that hopefulness. Sometimes we don’t have all the answers we never do but we can draw out what that might look like and invite others to join us along that journey. And I believe that’s the second aspect that I tend to look at leadership from the perspective of if the first is discovery, the second is influence. Of course we know leadership is influence.
Dr. Nate Salah: 10:34
It’s important, john Maxwell, john Maxwell right, all about that, yeah all about influence and I would say it’s not the starting point, but it’s definitely the middle ground, the middle space. The starting point is always discovery right. As leaders, we always have to be figuring out what might look better and then we start sharing it. We start sharing that vision of where we desire to go and then others who share in that vision they say okay, let’s roll right. It reminds me of Forrest Gump, if you remember the movie. He just started running and, like all these people, just started running behind him.
Todd Bertsch: 11:07
Right.
Dr. Nate Salah: 11:08
He said I’m just running, well, that’s, you know, he had influence, right, and he didn’t necessarily know where that end state was, but they shared in that journey. And of course, the third part. Then, once you influence, at least effective leadership has an achievement element. Effective leaders are achievers. They get stuff done. You can be the kind of leader that influences and you can be the kind of leader that has great discovery. But if you can’t achieve, then you’re just not an effective leader, and we’ve followed leaders like that. Perhaps we’ve been leaders like that.
Todd Bertsch: 11:39
And.
Dr. Nate Salah: 11:39
I think it’s so incumbent upon us to deliver, to have impact, and I think that’s all wrapped around this fourth element of shared purpose, right? So leaders? So I look at leadership. If I were to define it, I would say leadership is the discovery of, the influence toward, and the achievement of shared purpose.
Dr. Nate Salah: 11:59
That’s how I embody this journey as leaders. And, of course, just to go back to your opening statement, you’re going to need resilience. I mean, there’s no two ways about it. I think about, and you think about, leaders who have achieved on a massive scale. Right, think of, I guess, in our modern times, perhaps an Elon Musk really comes to mind. I mean, you talk about one industry automotive. Okay, wow, okay, the electric car got that to fly. Most people couldn’t. There were so many different manufacturers never got that to fly.
Dr. Nate Salah: 12:30
And then he’s like well, let’s do some rockets next. That wasn’t enough of a challenge, right, right. And then, well, let’s work on this neural link. Let’s see if we can get people who have never been able to see or walk or use their limbs to do that again. I mean, these are like any one of these. Any one of these in and of itself, for a lifetime, is more than enough to wrap your mind around. Yet you know there’s just three, right there, we can go on.
Dr. Nate Salah: 13:04
I guess the point I’m making is massive adversity along the way and the resilience, the ability to say, hey, look, you know what? I don’t have it all figured out, but here’s where we’re going. If anyone wants to keep going this road with me. Let’s do it, and I love this way. He had mentioned something some time ago about giving up. I’m paraphrasing the only time you give up is when you’re basically a total disaster, in other words, you’re no longer living, Right? So as long as we have breath, todd, it’s not over. We still got this and even opening our conversation today right. This, you know, in this morning, right, we got the whole day ahead of us, it ain’t over and we’re starting off with a great conversation.
Dr. Nate Salah: 13:44
Yeah, man. So that’s been kind of my framework for the challenges I’ve faced in life and the leadership that I’ve developed over time. I’ve been in business for, as you had mentioned, 30 years and I’ve learned and grown. Started off pretty rocky because I was a novice, you were young man, you started.
Todd Bertsch: 14:05
21 years old man, I mean, who started? I mean back in those times, that was rare. Right, yeah, that was rare. All my buddies went to college Bill Gates and Steve Jobs but I mean yeah, I mean those were yeah they were anomalies.
Dr. Nate Salah: 14:20
And I had to make a decision. Did I want to be, you know? Did I want the entrepreneur track or the or the career track? And I was watching my buddies. They were. They were getting great jobs out of college. They were engineering or different areas. At the time You’re talking, you know, you’re talking in the 90s, 40, 50 thousand dollars was decent money back then to just to start Absolutely For these. And I’m like woof and I’m struggling to just to start Absolutely. And I’m like woof and I’m struggling. I’m eating Raymond noodles. I’m at Aldi’s just getting 25 cent bread because-.
Todd Bertsch: 14:50
Like you, are in college.
Dr. Nate Salah: 14:59
Like you are. Yeah, I’m like exactly. I’m a struggling business owner, and I think part of it, though, is people say, well, what keeps you, what gives you resilience? I think part of it, at least for me, was that I yeah, I liked the way Arnold Schwarzenegger put it there is no plan B. Yeah, there was no plan B. It was it, like the old adage of Hernan Cortez of scuttling the ships right, just don’t turn it back. This is my course, and whatever it takes, Right.
Todd Bertsch: 15:25
I think that goes back to getting out of your comfort zone, right, not being afraid to fail, not being afraid to take risks, like you said with Elon. I go back to resilience with Bill Gates, even Walt Disney. A lot of times, all we hear about are the successes. We don’t really hear about the many, many failures that these people went through to get to one success. Walt Disney he failed many a times but he kept going. Bill Gates his first business flopped like crazy. He kept going Look where he’s at today. So You’re going to fail. Learn, pick yourself up and then you’ll start to build resilience for when you start that business that does flourish, because there’s going to be bumps along the way, right?
Todd Bertsch: 16:26
You said I was reading on your website business is all about solving problems and it all comes down to a mindset and everything you were talking about to me. I love how you unpacked leadership. Your philosophy on it is is right, on par with how I believe in leadership. But that really comes down to a mindset. You know it’s how, how you approach any given day problem or scenario. The choice is yours and that’s that’s influence, because you’re going to influence how everyone else on your team is perceiving that problem or that client or that customer.
Dr. Nate Salah: 17:01
You’re so many nuggets in what you just said. I look at failure as failure is not final, it’s feedback. It’s only final when we give up. So just don’t give up. Right, use it as part of your playbook. Look, we don’t and I’ve said this before we don’t look at little babies when they fall, when they’re learning to walk, and scold them, right, you don’t say, oh yeah, you blew it. Right, we don’t do that. We do that to the adults when they’re like they’re, they’re trying to figure stuff out, like no, hey, man, a little bit of grace, because this is my, I’m trying to figure this, this thing out, and as much as we learn and we read and it’s great to do that many of these situations are on the fly and we’re in motion.
Dr. Nate Salah: 17:46
Something you said about these leaders who have done such large projects. You think about Steve Jobs, who was ousted from his own company. I mean, come on, how many people does that happen to? And you talk about Walt Disney, in fact, who was ousted from his own company. I mean, come on, like, how many people does that happen to? And you talk about Walt Disney, in fact, I was just.
Dr. Nate Salah: 17:59
Of course, a lot of my PhD research was on Walt Disney, steve Jobs and Milton Hershey. I wrote my dissertation on their vision and formation, yeah, and so I have a whole section of my work on their failures. And so I just had a group just last week. I took through Disneyland and we do a Walt Disney Vision workshop immersive, fully immersive workshop. And I’m walking through the park with these entrepreneurs and I’m listing failure after failure after failure and I just I said, you know, imagine this park halfway through and Walt Disney is walking through it and he’s, he’s so broke, he’s over budget. He looks around and here’s what he says Nobody would rub two nickels together to come here. Think about this guy. This is Walt Disney you were talking about here. Like he was so stressed, even his teams were like oh my goodness, yeah, yeah, this is, this is a tough, this is a tough road. But look at it today, you know.
Dr. Nate Salah: 18:59
Look at it today because he had the fortitude, the resilience, he had the and here’s the other thing the confidence. Even through that stress, he pulled himself together. Here’s the thing, friends, it’s okay to have stress. We’re humans, right, it’s what we do with it. And you said something very important, todd the choice.
Dr. Nate Salah: 19:16
So we can’t choose a lot of things. I believe you know in life, by the time you get to a certain age, you realize a lot of things. You cannot choose, but what you can choose, you can. There’s one thing you can choose you can choose your attitude. You can choose an attitude of defeat. You can choose an attitude of resilient success. It’s your attitude that will get you through and others, because your attitude is contagious. Right, our attitude as leaders, our energy that we put forth is contagious. We got to check that.
Dr. Nate Salah: 19:46
And look, I’m not a saint in this area. I haven’t arrived every so often I got to slow down. I’m like hey, Nate, how are you coming into this? How are you coming into this room and it doesn’t not just in business and family when I get home some days and you know this, todd, you’ve had a tough day and you know I’ve got my, my, my wife and my kid at home. You know, just just hang in the garage, just hang in the garage just for a little while longer, take a few breaths, reset, and and here’s how I think sometimes the antidote for self-pity and downtroddenness will be squashed is to think of just a few things that you can be grateful for. I was getting ready to go there. I was getting ready to go there. I didn’t know you were, but gratitude will set you up.
Todd Bertsch: 20:36
So, if you can bookend your day right, start it off with a gratitude journal or inside your meditation or affirmations. Two minutes Just write down the top three, five things you’re most grateful for. It sets your whole day up for success and then you’re in a positive mindset because you’re focusing on what you have, not what you don’t have.
Dr. Nate Salah: 20:57
That’s right, boom, that’s it, mic drop. And that’s it. And it could be the simplest, most elemental things like hey, I can breathe.
Todd Bertsch: 21:08
We all have something to be grateful for If you can’t. We’re here. Yeah, we’re here right now.
Dr. Nate Salah: 21:13
Yeah, I mean, and here’s what I’ll do sometimes, and I do this when I get home, and you know, sometimes there’s a dad or a mom or even a kid that doesn’t make it home. This is heavy. I’m here, they’re here, wow, that’s the truth. Hugs bro.
Todd Bertsch: 21:28
Hugs.
Dr. Nate Salah: 21:28
You know and here’s what I do Two things I’ll rejoice that we’re here and also, on the other side, I’ll try to create an atmosphere of empathy because somewhere, somehow and this is where the faith piece comes in somebody is really in misery and agony because they’ve lost someone, or something tragic has happened, or even a scare, you know what. Let’s just take a minute and pause and just reflect on that, perhaps say a prayer, and I think that’s another way that we can release some of those tension, those burdens, by having empathy and care for others.
Todd Bertsch: 22:05
Yeah, and I think that’s actually a great topic with leadership right Leading with empathy. I know we had to really focus on this during COVID right. I think it brought it to light more than it had ever been and some of it has stuck around, but I know I’ve adopted that into my leadership practice.
Todd Bertsch: 22:24
And you know there’s a throttle, right. I mean, there’s a point where you still have to hold people accountable, right. But you know, I always say like, assume that everybody is struggling with something, because they are, even you and I right, I can name some we’re all struggling, right. Oh yeah, the whole I’m not good enough syndrome, imposter syndrome every day, so everybody’s struggling.
Dr. Nate Salah: 22:46
If you can assume that, then you can come in with an open mind, right An empty cup, and you can lead with empathy 100%, and I think, and so even in the servant leadership models and you had mentioned that early on some of the foundational or the first aspects of servant leadership are one listening right. So have, and we know, not just passive listening but active listening, listening, which is not easy. Not just passive listening, but active listening, which is not easy. It’s not easy for leaders, especially entrepreneurs, who have their minds, are in about a thousand places, business people and whatnot.
Todd Bertsch: 23:23
And they have the answer, or they think they do right.
Dr. Nate Salah: 23:27
Right, yeah, but you don’t. Listening means not speaking. So listening, active listening, and what is? I think that’s a great starting point, because what it means when you, when we’re active listening, with undivided attention, by the way is saying you’re important, you are important enough for me to stop and give you the most precious and the most precious commodity on the planet is my time, time, baby. Just about anything on the planet you can remanufacture, just about anything on the planet you can get more of. It’s the only thing, it’s the only thing that once it’s gone, you can never recover that moment. It’s gone forever. So it’s super valuable. And so when we’re listening fully, that means we’re saying you’re that important.
Dr. Nate Salah: 24:22
And then the second piece is empathy, which is important, because then you say you know what? Not only do I hear you, but I understand what’s happening with you, and that acknowledgement and, as you said, then we continue to move forward. And then the third aspect is is it’s called healing? What really that means is it’s, it’s, it’s let’s start working toward resolution, let’s start working toward problem solving, and that’s what you’re talking about. Accountability, okay, so let’s. Okay, let’s suit up now get something done. Right, where do we go from here? Right, and that’s critical, I think, for us as leaders to identify those characteristics and embed them in our day-to-day practices of how we lead. Because people number one they want to be heard, they want to know that their challenges are important and they want to know that you’re there to help walk through and get to some resolution. And so, on the macro level, we do this, like in companies, for example, and when it, when it supports the mission, vision and the values, we want all of our team members to work toward resolution within those confines.
Dr. Nate Salah: 25:26
So, because people sometimes say well, nate, aren’t you focusing too much on the individual? Aren’t you like missing the grander scheme of the customer and all this other, you know, all these other mandates and things that are important in business, like you know what, it’s a great point. Here’s what I believe. I believe if you can create strong, cohesive teams that are truly driven to do their best possible work and create a massively impactful experience through the experience you create for them, you’ve got a strong organization. You’re going to get stuff done. So start with your team, start with your internal and say, hey look, how can I create an environment where your experience is exceptional and you can do your best possible. Work in your genius zone. Like who doesn’t want to work in a company that starts there.
Dr. Nate Salah: 26:12
It’s a good starting place and committed to that, and that doesn’t mean things don’t go wrong. It’s a good starting place and committed to that, and that doesn’t mean things don’t go wrong, but that’s. I think it was Herb Kelleher, a Southwest Airlines CEO, who was once asked who’s most important your customer or your employee and he famously said my customer is most important because I make my employee most important. It’s starting with that internal team as a leader, building, developing them and then turning to do great work for your end user or whoever it is that you’re serving.
Todd Bertsch: 26:42
Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree with you on that, nate. And it is time. Is that one thing you can’t buy back? And I think, leaders, we’re all super busy, right, our schedules are overpacked, but we need to block, right, we need to schedule those blocks of time to give to the people that are most important to us, and it is the best retainment tool you could ever have, but it is. It takes time and it’s time away from solving another problem. But when people know you give a damn and you care and you’ll just listen, right, they will be more open-minded. You will build more trust. And if you have trust, man, you have it all right. That is the foundation of any great relationship, whether it’s with your partner, your spouse or your colleague or your direct report, whether it’s with your partner, your spouse or your colleague or your direct report.
Dr. Nate Salah: 27:49
Now you have the gold, now you can start building. They will follow you into the water. They will do whatever is required to make that company successful. Really, I don’t think we. Sometimes we don’t. We take for granted its impact and its value and utilizing it, keeping it top of mind.
Dr. Nate Salah: 27:59
I remember Stephen Covey’s book, the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People Old one, but a good one. Right, that’s a staple. Right, that’s a staple. And so I remember in the book he talks about trust and he identifies trust with two primary characteristics. He calls them the pillars of trust. He says competence and character. So knowing how to do what you say you know how to do. Competence and character, doing the right thing for the right reasons, he says you know there’s a lot of other factors in trust. In fact, I almost wrote my dissertation on trust and different aspects and characteristics of it. However, if we just focus on those two things, am I developing into the kind of person who has massive competence? I can get the work done that I propose that I can get done, and then do I have good character? Do I have moral integrity? Do I have principles that I can stand by, that others can rely on and recognize that whatever Todd and Nate say they will accomplish, they’ll see it through. It may take a little longer, it may take a little less time, but they’re committed. Those are the pillars and the foundation, I think, of trust. And here’s the other thing you had mentioned about I love that you’re bringing these concepts up the calendar.
Dr. Nate Salah: 29:15
We’re leaders, we are the keepers of our calendar, and so often I’ll just step up to be the first one to say yes, guilty as charged. So often we leave very little margin in our calendars because we’re doers, we want to get stuff done and we want to be very effective and efficient. The problem is that we don’t leave enough margin for rest or for reflection or for that one-off question or something that might be needed to be addressed. We run so hot that we don’t take the time necessary to function. Well, you know, it’s like hey, have I? And just like a machine. We’re humans. But if that machine runs constantly without getting maintenance or oil or anything else, it’s going to malfunction.
Todd Bertsch: 30:03
It’s going to get burned out. I just listened to your episode with the dentist. Yeah, yeah, I mean, right, it just happens. You just get thrown in and you just keep going, going, going. But if you don’t have a reminder, right, a check in. So that’s where a coach comes in. That’s where I really feel like and I’m not kind of tooting my own horn here but I have a coach and man, she’s my checkpoint, she is my accountability partner.
Todd Bertsch: 30:27
Everybody is struggling with something, everybody needs someone to talk to so that they’ll listen, and everyone needs to get off their island. Right, we all need to get it, especially leaders. It can be lonely. I always say find your thinking partners, find those people that you can trust. You can get into a safe space where you can just talk or vent or brainstorm or whatever, right. But leadership is lonely and it is heavy and it is a huge responsibility. So if you are a leader, you need to constantly be reminded that there is a lot here. And if you’re a parent, you’re a leader and that’s a huge responsibility, right? So we need to be on this trajectory of personal growth and getting better every single day.
Dr. Nate Salah: 31:17
Yeah, man, I love that the community is so important with leadership and it is. It’s lonely and, depending on, of course, the different kinds of environments, whether it’s parenting or a business or community there’s so many different challenges along the way and we need one another. And I love that you brought up the coaching aspect of it, because there are others who are a few steps ahead and they can help guide and just be a, not only a barometer, but be a sounding block. Sometimes the best coach again back to the first part is just listening. Right, they just need to listen, and then perhaps, hey, I love that because sometimes leaders will flesh out what needs to happen with a, sometimes with a great coach. You know this, todd. Sometimes it’s like, oh, my goodness, wow, you listen the whole time and you help me find my answer, and that’s right.
Todd Bertsch: 32:08
That’s it, really. That’s all you’re doing. You’re just guiding. Yeah Right, you’re really supposed to allow them to find the solution, because they’re going to be bought in more right? Because, at the end of the day, we can provide our employees, our clients, with all the tools and resources, but they need to make the choice.
Dr. Nate Salah: 32:28
Only they can make that choice.
Dr. Nate Salah: 32:30
Yeah, absolutely. And here’s the other thing that you’d mentioned about some of that, that process and the calendar and all that. I would also just to to to consider when you’re, when you’re taking a look at your calendar and you’re saying, you know, I’m going to give myself more margin, I would also include, or encourage you to include, margin for grace, to first receive some grace, because we we run hard, we’re hard on ourselves, and I would even put it in the calendar Like hey, you know what? Here’s a 15-minute sliver for grace.
Todd Bertsch: 33:04
A grace sliver Dude. That was my focus word last year. Wow, my coach said look, todd, you are beating yourself up. Never good enough syndrome. You need to give yourself some grace. So I had sticky notes on my laptop. I had it in my journal, my daily journal. I have reminders on my phone. I needed it to be visible, right Like a habit. I needed to create that environment where I saw it often enough with different senses. That then it just became kind of a habit and I’m you know, I’m still working on it.
Dr. Nate Salah: 33:35
I’m definitely not perfect, but we got to get ourselves some self-compassion right, absolutely, and then you can turn around and give it away, give it away.
Todd Bertsch: 33:45
That’s right, but we, you know, typically we’re more prone to do that and always harder on ourself.
Dr. Nate Salah: 33:51
Yeah, this is true?
Todd Bertsch: 33:52
No, I’m glad you brought that up. Grace is huge.
Dr. Nate Salah: 33:54
I hear it a lot.
Todd Bertsch: 33:59
I don’t know if people truly understand what it means or how important it is, because when you start, when you’re beating yourself up, that puts you in a negative mindset and then you can throw off your whole day, right, you can’t visualize, you can’t manifest those dreams or overcoming those obstacles, because you’re just focused on the negativity. So if you can shift your mindset into a positive reframe, you’re going to be on your way to success and fulfillment.
Dr. Nate Salah: 34:24
Oh yeah, and if you’re listening and you’re, of course, anyone can look it up. However, I like the terminology to describe grace as unmerited favor. You know, because we’re earners. You know, as leaders, we’re always earning, we’re always trying to get merit, meritocracy, Everything is an unmerited favor is saying you know what? I didn’t have to actually work for this, I’m just going to give myself just a reprieve that I didn’t have to earn.
Todd Bertsch: 34:52
I love that man. I’m going to pull that out and make that a social graphic. Is that okay?
Dr. Nate Salah: 34:57
Yeah.
Todd Bertsch: 34:57
I’m going to quote you.
Dr. Nate Salah: 34:59
Just sort your sizes. It’s your site. Sort your site, your sources, yeah.
Todd Bertsch: 35:05
I haven’t had any coffee today. Say that three times fast yeah definitely.
Dr. Nate Salah: 35:09
Good stuff man, it’s solid and I think people need to hear it and they need to take it into action and just live more wholly, more fully. And my philosophy is I have, I think, of four, four pillars of health, if you will, is what we do, especially on our education side, on our great summit side you had mentioned earlier, and we have an educational community for, for entrepreneurs, in a faith based environment that focuses on four pillars of health. So the first pillar is spiritual health. You know, having a sound spiritual being, spiritually healthy. I tell my son sometimes hey, are you nourishing your spirit? I’m like dad, what do you mean? Nourishing my spirit? Because everything, you know, everything is so physical, right, like, how can I physically nourish my spirit? I have a banana in my hand, like, well, it doesn’t come from, like, necessarily food, it comes from spiritual food, right, and in our case, you know scripture or prayer, or fellowship with others who share in your spiritual values, et cetera. So, spiritual health.
Dr. Nate Salah: 36:12
The second pillar, psychological health. This is your mental and your emotional health, so important, right. Psychological health, this is your mental and your emotional health, so important, right. So important to be healthy there. Nourish your mind to grow and sharpen, nourish your emotions so that you’re emotionally healthy, emotionally resilient and emotionally mature. And then the third pillar, physical health taking good care of this temple we’re entrusted with. The more we take care of it, you know, the better it’s going to function. You just you put leaded gas in your car. The engine’s going to start knocking. It’s just the way that people are, like what’s leaded gas, like I remember when there was such a thing.
Todd Bertsch: 36:48
Yeah, we say garbage in, garbage out, that’s right what?
Dr. Nate Salah: 36:51
you put in 100%, put good, good fuel into that physical body. And then the fourth pillar financial health. We need financial health to function in life. We know most people stress more than anything about money. Yeah, you would know CPA, I would know. Let me tell you, accountants, we know firsthand Numbers guy, oh for sure. And so we want to develop financial health. That means impulse resisting. Right, it’s okay to wait. We don’t need to get the 90 inch TV if the 70 inch is working, just fine, right, maybe, if you’ve got financial health, then make that decision. But you know we live in a world where everything is now, now, now, and then we face the consequences of it because we lived on impulse. So if we can take those four pillars and we can maximize their, their health level, we’re going to live more holy, we’re better aligned and and functioning in that way. And I think that for me and for those who I get to be honored to serve, alongside of it’s transformational I love it.
Todd Bertsch: 38:04
It’s that holistic approach and that’s how I teach my life optimization techniques. It’s looking at everything. Everything’s tied to the hip right. So if you’re not nourishing your mind and body and your soul or either one of those pillars equally, then you’re just not going to fully be balanced. That takes work right, that’s a lot of work. It’s just like perfecting a golf swing there’s a lot of different variables that go into hitting that tiny little ball.
Dr. Nate Salah: 38:32
That’s right. Yeah, and those four pillars the way I look at it is, they hold up the rooftop of your home, if you will, all the relationships you have which live inside your home.
Todd Bertsch: 38:45
I can see, I can visualize. I like that you visualize that right, so you go into this building with these pillars.
Dr. Nate Salah: 38:50
And here’s all your relationships your relationship with your creator, your relationship with your family, your relationship with your community social community, civic community, church your relationship with nature, of course, and all creation and your relationship with your business.
Dr. Nate Salah: 39:03
And oftentimes we run real heavy on the business side relationship. We spend an inordinate amount of time in that area and the way I see business is business is designed to fund your ideal life. It is not your ideal life and so many people climb that ladder of success Todd and I’ve seen it over these years and they get to the top and they realize all this time that the ladder was leaning against the wrong building and you just like, let’s evaluate that building. You know, let’s just evaluate that. Those are the four pillars that that building is on and that’s the building you want to climb. Because at the end of the day you talked about the end journey Right, and even Stephen Covey talks about the beginning. With the end in mind, like I always encourage you to write your tribute, write your eulogy, write the end statement of your life and then work backwards.
Todd Bertsch: 39:57
Yeah, I, you know, I love it, I love it and honestly, I take a slightly different approach, in that I I don’t feel there’s an end game. It’s the infinite game. Because, for me, because it allowed me, I struggle with embracing the journey. I’m a perfectionist, or used to be, and I want to check off a box. I want to get to. Here’s the five things to get there to the summit. I’m there, I’m done, right. And then you’re like, well, what’s next? But if you can just enjoy and embrace the small shifts, right, that’s where the goal’s at and you just keep going right, we’re just I’m just constantly going and getting better and better. But I love the idea of the ladder and, yeah, we want to pursue what makes us happy and we want to make sure we’re climbing the right ladder.
Dr. Nate Salah: 40:41
Yeah, true fulfillment, and you’ll love this on that level. So, with Great Summit, when I was sharing with the team the long-term goals of this ecosystem, this community and this ministry, if you will, let’s look at it like over the next thousand years. Like, oh, nate, that’s a long way. Yeah, that’s okay, let’s do that. Let’s not just say, hey, in my lifetime or in your lifetime, or even a hundred year business, right. Say, okay, in the next thousand years, what will people continue to need that this experience will provide for them? And let’s do that. That’s what you’re talking about, todd.
Dr. Nate Salah: 41:16
You’re talking about like the infinite game, right, and even a thousand years, maybe it’s not enough time, right, maybe I should have did 10,000 years, maybe we’ll be interplanetary, but that’s vision and there’s a lot of things we don’t know that are going to happen in the next thousand years. However, you’re calling it out and you’re not just stopping with your lifetime. That’s strong, like, that’s a powerful statement. It’s like, hey, you know what Others are going to take this mantle and continue on with the foundational values and the desire to help and to really help to make people truly fulfilled, better human beings and more satisfied in life. So, anyway, I just wanted to share that, because that’s right on the lines of what you’re talking about. Yeah, go beyond ourselves.
Todd Bertsch: 42:04
Go beyond ourselves, right, you talk about rise to the greatest call of humankind.
Dr. Nate Salah: 42:10
That’s one of your mottos right, yeah, man, that’s it. It’s serving others, serving others. That’s the call to greatness is through service.
Todd Bertsch: 42:20
Yeah, you talk a lot about servant leadership. That’s a big piece of who you are and your program.
Dr. Nate Salah: 42:27
Exactly. Yeah, that was the turning point for me. Remember when I told you I wanted to be a millionaire when I dropped out of college back in 2000? What was it? The year was 1995. I was trying to serve me all right, that’s the focus, right me. And then that’s one of the reasons why I was floundering. It’s like you know what, nate, that’s not the formula. It took me some time and what you know, when I, when I, when I figured it out, it’s like, oh no, the, the, the pathway to greatness, is serving others. That’s where, that’s where it’s it’s found. And once I began to, and I think, uh, oh gosh, which, uh, there’s a bunch of guys have spoken on this go give me, what’s that?
Dr. Nate Salah: 43:13
the go-giver, right? Yeah, yeah, it’s like hey, you know what. You can help people solve their problems and they’ll help you solve yours. Right, and you do that with sincerity, you do that with genuinity, you do that with care and people will begin to then bind around you because your value proposition increases in the marketplace and anywhere. When you go from adversary to ally, when you go from adversary to ally because sales and business is adversarial generally, right, because you’re trying to take something, you’re trying to take my time and my money, right, that’s hey. How many people have gone through the mall and avoided that middle kiosk trying to, like, get you lotion or whatever?
Todd Bertsch: 43:50
else right, Snake bobbing and weaving like I got skis on.
Dr. Nate Salah: 43:56
It’s an adversarial conversation, because maybe I don’t want you to have my time or my money, right? What if that’s not the conversation? What if the conversation is look, I just have these kind of problems I can solve. This is how I serve. This is my avatar. If you know anyone or you’re that person, then let’s talk. You go from adversary to ally. That’s the function of true servant leadership. That’s the function of that. I’m no longer focused Now.
Dr. Nate Salah: 44:25
Granted, your needs are important. I’m not saying that you won’t ever have your own needs met, but I actually identify success in five words, and here’s the. Here’s the five words that I I use. I say this solve relevant problems with excellence. We solve problems for our clients and our stakeholders and whoever it is who we’re calling to follow, who are our followers, our families, et cetera, et cetera. We also solve our problems because you may have a problem hey, look, I need to make sure I make payroll for my team.
Dr. Nate Salah: 45:02
Okay, let me solve that problem with excellence by providing a service or a product that is valuable in the marketplace at a price that’s positioned properly, that also provides enough margin for us to pay our bills, grow our company, et cetera, et cetera. Right, that is valuable in the marketplace at a price that’s positioned properly, that also provides enough margin for us to pay our bills, grow our company, et cetera, et cetera. Right, if you can do those things with excellence. There’s a lot of other pieces to it, but that’s how, and the problems have to be relevant, and when they’re relevant, they’re important, right. The way I define relevance is you can hear it, you can understand it and it causes you to go to action. Right, those are three pieces of relevance, and if you can do that consistently, you’ll run strong, you’ll run faithful, you’ll run in a way that is truly remarkable and you won’t leave anything on the table. You’ll give your very best and you’ll reap the benefits yeah.
Todd Bertsch: 45:51
I love it. Well, you’ve yeah, you’ve had so many different businesses, serial entrepreneur. You started so young. Yeah, you know there’s so many things that you’re doing, nate. What gets you up in the morning?
Dr. Nate Salah: 46:02
Oh man, great question. So here’s my thing I wake up every morning and I have the same. I say the same thing every morning and it’s this. I open my eyes and I say I’m here, thank you God, my work is not finished yet. Every day I wake up. If I wake up, that means that my work’s not finished, that means that I have people to serve.
Todd Bertsch: 46:52
That means that I have people to serve, I have good to bring into this world and I have a mission to help wherever I can and when I lay my head down at night, as long as there’s someone, someone who has benefited from my effort, that’s a mic drop moment. There I have to ask about the marathon runner, and I saw triathlon too. So are you still doing these things? There’s a tremendous amount of preparation, resilience and time that’s needed to basically overcome one of these goals, right? So how do you do that with all these things that you’re doing? And so you have a family?
Dr. Nate Salah: 47:14
Great question. Yeah, I did triathlon and marathon for a long time and I actually had. I did all the way up to to a 70.3 Ironman, which is basically a half iron, and I was going for the full iron and I had a back injury, not not running, not swimming, not cycling, especially at the office. I picked up a copy machine and I turned the wrong way and I, I, I I already had some sort of some intermittent back issues.
Todd Bertsch: 47:44
And.
Dr. Nate Salah: 47:44
I. I had two bulging discs. I herniated two discs L5, s1, bad, bad day. So my doctor said no more running, no more swimming, no more cycling until we can get this, this back thing, under.
Todd Bertsch: 47:56
I’m like, oh my goodness this is my life, this is my life.
Dr. Nate Salah: 47:58
I loved, loved the pursuit of it because when I was conditioning myself to overcome these obstacles through through the physical endurance, it helped me to overcome obstacles later in different areas. For example, as you had mentioned, you know, I’ve owned an accounting and advisory firm for a long time. Tax seasons are brutal and when you’re working until midnight, one in the morning, remembering what you have overcome and the challenges and this mental toughness you had talked about earlier, it helps. It helped me to get through those. Those days it’s like, dude, you’re an Ironman, you can do this, you can do this, and uh. And recently I just started getting back and I’ve been doing a lot of strength training over over time. So I recently started, yeah, I got a buddy who’s like, hey, let’s do a marathon together and I was like, okay, let me, let me get, uh, get the, uh, the, the, the oil out. And and Of course, you know, with health is the most important aspect of this journey.
Dr. Nate Salah: 48:54
However, I encourage anyone who’s able physically to challenge themselves physically within reason, of course, without being injured and build that toughness, whether it’s it could be just you know, and don’t look at anyone else else. Go, you know, you go with your own ability and give yourself, board yourself. Every time you hit a milestone, celebrate that milestone, don’t? You know? I’m not going to look at, I never looked at the what they call them. They call them elite athletes. They’re getting done with an Ironman like two and a half hours Like this is, like you know, of course I’m exaggerating, but they’re, they’re, they’re, they’re almost superhuman, right, that’s not, that’s. I just want a PR, I just want a personal record, I just want to continue to improve and progress and then and then and then take time to celebrate. As leaders, we just don’t take enough time to stop and say back to the gratitude and grace and the grace and those have helped me tremendously, all tied to the hip brother.
Todd Bertsch: 49:56
Yeah, yeah, man, yeah, there’s a lot there. That’s awesome. Well, good for you, good for you getting into that. That’s huge. That’s huge. Almost stick with pickleball and weights. But you know, hey, I’ll be watching for you.
Dr. Nate Salah: 50:11
There you go, brother. I appreciate you.
Todd Bertsch: 50:13
Man Nate, this has been just a great conversation. I love what you’re doing in the leadership community. I mean, you’ve committed essentially your life to this. I love the principles that you bring to the table and what you’re preaching. The Great Summit Leadership Academy sounds like a tremendous program. If there’s one thing you would love our audience to take away today and I know we’ve dropped some serious nuggets, but I know you got something in there One last one what would you want to leave with?
Dr. Nate Salah: 50:43
Oh man, great, great, great and it’s great being with you. And a great way to end, I would say many people want to see change in the world for the better. Way to end, I would say many people want to see change in the world for the better, and many people don’t realize just how much power there is, simply by us modeling what the change we want to see in the world can be. So I would say for anyone listening be that change and don’t ever think twice that your change is not seen and it doesn’t matter when it’s for the good of those who you seek to lead.
Todd Bertsch: 51:16
Thank you, my friend. That’s a great way to end Nate. How can people reach out to you if they’re interested in hiring your financial team or signing up for one of your courses? Or classes at the Great.
Dr. Nate Salah: 51:29
Summit.
Todd Bertsch: 51:30
Leadership Academy Leadership.
Dr. Nate Salah: 51:32
Academy. Absolutely yeah, and the show notes would be great. Just put greatsummitcom or theincometaxcentercom for our accounting and advisory side or for our leadership development side. We’re fully invested in both sides of the equation. We think they’re both necessary for healthy businesses and healthy leadership.
Todd Bertsch: 51:50
I couldn’t agree more. I wasn’t a numbers guy, I’m a graph designer by trade. So starting a business and learning QuickBooks and Excel, boy, those have become my best friends. There you go, pretty damn good. I wouldn’t say I’m a guru like you, but I’m kind of liking numbers now which is my math teacher in high school would say wow, todd, good for you, man, good for you Thanks for having me.
Todd Bertsch: 52:12
So, yeah, thanks, Nate, I appreciate you. Let’s continue our conversation and reconnect again, brother, absolutely. Be well. Brother, thank you for listening to this episode of the Bolt Podcast. You’re on an inspiring journey of growth, transformation and joy, and I’m honored to be a part of it. Inspiring journey of growth, transformation and joy, and I’m honored to be a part of it. If you found this episode valuable, please like, share it with your friends and consider leaving a review. It means the world to us For show notes, resources and to subscribe to the weekly Motivational Monday newsletter. Please visit toddbertsch.com and don’t forget to follow us on social media at the Bolt with Todd B for more inspiration. Remember, real change doesn’t happen overnight. Folks Start small, stay consistent and watch as your growth unfolds. See you next time.

EPISODE SUMMARY
On this episode of the BOLT Podcast, host Todd Bertsch welcomes Dr. Nate Salah, a lifelong entrepreneur and educator who shares how overcoming adversity shaped his leadership philosophy. Drawing on early lessons from his immigrant mother’s determination, Dr. Salah underscores resilience as a key leadership trait and breaks down the four pillars of personal and professional well-being—spiritual, psychological, physical, and financial. He and Todd discuss the power of servant leadership, emphasizing empathy, trust, and listening as foundational to building high-performing teams. They also explore framing one’s vision with an “infinite mindset,” seeing success as a continuous journey rather than a fixed destination. From the value of scheduling time for self-grace to the importance of modeling the change we wish to see in the world, this conversation offers a holistic take on leading with purpose and integrity.