Episode 335 - Frank Kitchen

Episode 335: Frank Kitchen
“Does Your Recipe for Success Have Fresh Ingredients?”

Conversation with Frank Kitchen, a professional speaker who has earned the Certified Speaking Professional designation by the National Speakers Association and he’s known as the mindset master chef who works with organizations who want their people to break through the mental barriers they have to cook up the professional dreams they hunger for in business and life.

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  • ****Please forgive any and all transcription errors as this was transcribed by Otter.ai.****

    Frank Kitchen 0:00

    Hello, my name is Frank kitchen and you're listening to A Shark's Perspective.

    (music - shark theme)

    Kenneth Kinney 0:20

    Welcome back and thank you for joining A Shark's Perspective. I am Kenneth Kinney, but friends call me Shark.

    Kenneth Kinney 0:25

    I'm a keynote speaker, strategist, a shark diver host of this show, and your Chief Shark Officer.

    Kenneth Kinney 0:31

    How would you transform your professional dreams or visions from a thought into a reality? What mental barriers are holding you back? Are you in need of some fresh ideas? And are you getting rid of the stale ones? I caught up with today's guest at the 2022 National Speakers Association's Influence conference, and we recorded a show live on site.

    Kenneth Kinney 0:52

    Frank Kitchen is a professional speaker who has earned the Certified Speaking Professional designation by the National Speakers Association and he's known as the mindset master chef who works with organizations who want their people to break through the mental barriers they have to cook up the professional dreams they hunger for in business in life.

    Kenneth Kinney 1:09

    And on this episode, we'll discuss some fresh ideas what you tell your pregnant wife and father along after you get fired want to change careers, the National Speakers Association's Influence annual conference, earning a CSP and what that means a recipe from going from vision to reality for what you're hungry for getting past mental barriers, going from a stale office to a fresh environment. The five step recipe for success having an MBA legendary Hall of Fame doppelganger, a 1700 mile journey from one kind of eat to another fruits and veggies, sharp puns, kitchen puns, and a lot more. So let's tune into a kitchen fresh, certified speaking professional with a professional speaking shark on this episode of A Shark's Perspective.

    [intro music]

    Kenneth Kinney 1:53

    Frank Kitchen, welcome to A Shark's Perspective. If you would tell us a little bit about your background and your career today.

    Frank Kitchen 1:58

    All right, so Mr. Shark, my name is Frank Kitchen. I am the mindset Master Chef. Quite simply, I work with organizations who want their people to break through the mental barriers, they have to cook up the professional dreams they hunger for. So simply put was as chasing down as professional speaking dream. I had the wrong mindset around the wrong people in the wrong environments. And that led me to being fired from my employer on Father's Day of which had to go back and talk to my wife and explain to her why she's six and a half months pregnant that I've lost my job. It's Father's Day, we've got our second child on the way. And to make it even worse, we gotta go to her parents house that weekend, and I gotta go to my father in law's house and go, I've got no job. The third grandchild on the way I've got no, I want to be a professional speaker, I love you. And that's how things started. But uh, that's who I am. I just I teach people how to transform those professional dreams or visions from a thought into reality.

    Kenneth Kinney 2:48

    So you got fired, lost your job, and she's pregnant? What became the motivation to help you? Because you could have sat in a dark place for way too long. Yeah. So don't allow you to do that.

    Frank Kitchen 2:59

    Yeah. Well, the first one is, you know, you're driving from Arizona to New Mexico, and I got my wife, and we're talking about it. And we had to do some self analysis. And I recognized, it wasn't the world's fault. It wasn't anybody else. It wasn't me. I wasn't putting the work or effort I kept talking about. I'm the speaker. I'm a professional speaker, but I wasn't putting the work in. So you know, I started talking to my wife. And, you know, we had the conversation and she agreed, okay, you know what, let's go ahead and put the full effort into it. But then she said scary words to me, which were, I'd set up for Speaker showcase in New Mexico. She goes, take my dad with you. And he had never seen me speak in public before. So now I gotta take my father in law, to the speaker showcase with me. And I've gotten, you know, hard enough to get high school kids there. But now get my father in law retired, you know, marketing exec in the back of the room analyzing me. But the funny thing was, after the speech was over, he goes, let's go home and talk about this. And I brought a couple speaker friends with me to his house, and he sent his backyard for several hours. And he goes, this is what you're meant to do. What can I do to help you? So once I got his validation, so get my wife approving, I've got my father in law proving there's like, okay, you know what, let's make this happen.

    Kenneth Kinney 4:06

    So we're at the 2022 National Speakers Association's influence at the gaylord opryland hotel in Nashville, which is why you hear a lot of background noise, big congratulations to you for getting a CSP this year being warned of that. Talk a little bit about what the CSP is, and what that means for you and your career.

    Frank Kitchen 4:22

    Right. So CSP is certified speaking professional, and it's the highest earn designation or accreditation you can get as a professional speaker. So it means you know, you can you can be nominated for different things, but for this one, you have to earn it over a 10 year period, you have to prove that you have so many paid speaking jobs that you have earned so much money you have peer review, you have client review that review your business plans. I mean, it's like a six month process, just to be able to earn this but then the shorter you can get it in five years. I mean, you have to put a lot of work into it. So this year, we had 10 people who were you know, in our class, since it got created in 1980 by global speaking Federation, 17 different Federation's Less than 1000 people have ever earned it. So less than 17% of speakers worldwide veteran speakers have ever earned this. So for me, what it means to me is, you know, we're sharing. Seven years ago, I was fired on Father's Day, so broke no work, no jobs. And then seven years later, I'm on the stage being recognized for my peers is one of the top speakers in the world. I mean, so that's just validation to me that, you know, quote, hey, I've got it. But it's also saying that you know what, nothing is easy. But anything's possible and really put your mind towards it.

    Kenneth Kinney 5:30

    I think you're off on the percentage of, there's got to be a lot more speakers than that. Yeah, it's probably like 5%, or less or less.

    Frank Kitchen 5:37

    I mean, when I started to think about like, what, there's 8 billion people, and there's only five out and there's, like, 950 speakers ever. I'm like, Whoa, it's like talking about this, like, less than less. Or Tom singer. I know. He's a friend of yours. I think he said it's like 226,000 professional speakers on LinkedIn. If you think about only 950, roughly, of those people that earn your CSP. Yeah, I mean, that's like, what less than 1%? I mean, so that's just blows me away?

    Kenneth Kinney 6:03

    Well, and I focus a lot of my own show about marketing and business growth. What is it going to do for you, from a marketing perspective, how you present yourself as a brand?

    Frank Kitchen 6:14

    Well, as a brand piece, um, my clients are already using it. I mean, it's announced that you have one of the top speakers in the world stepping on the stage provides value, you know, to the client, but for them, because they're risking their reputation to bring you in. It's a good marketing piece, like, hey, guess what, we've been at out different people. And we're bringing in one of the best of the best to come and work with you. So that helps draw people in. So I mean, it's just a great marketing tool, but it's almost like a signing like, you know, PhD or MD behind your name. Because it's proof that okay, I'm not just a speaker walking off the street. I've had, like I said, a peer review going, Hey, you have worked, you put the years in. And guess what, we agree that you are one of the best because I believe 22 people submitted this year, and only nine got selected. So I mean, so you have to earn this. I mean, so just like getting a degree or any type of you know, accreditation,

    Kenneth Kinney 7:05

    that means you're required to wear this super cool gangster Olympic medal now, everywhere you go, who was it that said, somebody CSP their pants? That was you know,

    Frank Kitchen 7:15

    that was? I don't say that. That was that was one of our speakers today. up on stage. I think that was a Shan Shan That's right. That's right. That was that was very fun. It was very funny. But yeah, it's like, you gotta you have to wear the metal. They say we're supposed to sleep in his shower. And it I can't say I went to that extent. But, I mean, yeah, I'm like, I'm gonna get it. You know, monogrammed here. You saw me last night, we took the big group selfie, but I'm gonna get the certificate, the metal in the picture and just put it up in the house. And it's just gonna remind me of anytime I get down or think I can't do something is to show that moment where I'm in Nashville, surrounded by all my peers and being recognized for the work that I do.

    Kenneth Kinney 7:51

    Well, other than being a long journey, figuratively it was also a long journey physically to get here. Yes. So 1700 miles in seven years. So what a lot of people also don't know that she was you had a very famous NBA Hall of Fame right?

    Frank Kitchen 8:05

    Yeah. Like I was you know NBA Hall of Famer five time all star you know, Indiana Pacers. I was the the three point champion. I mean, I know what you're doing with the joke here. Yeah. A lot of people will, will comment and say that I look like Reggie Miller.

    Kenneth Kinney 8:20

    Very much. So as that helped you at all in your speaking career? Or where's the celebrity run into a normal everyday life? Cuz you're not 6'8"?

    Frank Kitchen 8:28

    No, not six, eight. So celebrity doppelganger does start conversations which are which are good. But the issue one is, it's been something I've been able to add to my speeches in the sense of letting people know that okay, I've got a celebrity doppelganger. I explain it, we're one click away from achieving our dreams, personal professional. So a lot of people for years, were saying that I look like Reggie Miller. So I made it a point of let me go try to meet Reggie Miller. So I was getting stopped in airports and hotels. So actually made a point to where I went and contacted him on social media. And she had all my followers go and stalk him when he came to Phoenix, Arizona. And the funny thing was, he was in town and anytime he goes to any town to broadcast the game, he goes, Hey, fans, come meet me. We're gonna do some trivia questions. I'll give you tickets to the game. I didn't want tickets to the game. I just wanted to meet him because for 20 years, people been saying, I look like him. So like, I just wanted to get the picture. So I'd like let me apply what I teach on stage, you know, to my life, so I can everybody go stalk him for a few hours and I go into Instagram live one day he's on and he actually sees my name in the scroll. So as he sees my name, he goes oh, my god Frank kitchen. The guy's had his following harassing me all day cuz I made this hashtag, you know, hashtag meet Reggie. And everybody had been harassing putting side by side separated birth picture. So he goes, Okay, well, if you think you look like me so much. He's like, come meet me in downtown Phoenix. Bring your Obama looking self so he's gotta get some see humor. He's like, and we'll meet so I was so happy and I went on social media. And you know, social media is the place where everybody's writing go do like everybody like guess what is it gonna be Reggie, thank you so much for helping me living my dream. And then social media came back and goes, Yeah, you're not meeting him tonight. So I said, Hey, I'm meeting him tonight, and we could not meet him tonight. Tomorrow's the game. So I'd actually write reg and go, Hey, can I get a rain check? So he's gonna go speak the next day. So we go a few more years, it became something where I said, Hey, you know what, you don't live your dreams all the time. But I said, you know, I really want to go meet him. So in 2019, I set the goal of I'm gonna go meet Reggie. And about 19 months go by a silver minimum and put the actions in, in a short story is I was in Ohio speaking, my phone blows up from followers, and they go read, he's gonna be in Phoenix, you need to go meet him. So I get back into Phoenix, like, at about midnight, there's like a rainstorm. And he's supposed to go hiking that day, but I got rained out. So people is just not going to go work out followers come back in again, and say, well, he's going to change his meeting time to noon, at the arena. So I get approval from my wife, I get my daughter, we go down. And we actually got a chance to meet Reggie Miller. He took the picture. There's videos on YouTube. But the whole piece was to explain to people that we're one click away from making something happen. And when it comes to our job, or our work, or you know, our personal and professional dreams is you got to be willing to go out there and do it. And the funny thing was, I wasn't so excited about me. Meeting Reggie Miller, it was watching the reactions of all the people who saw me do it. That inspiration was a piece that you know, gets me going out and showing people that hey, anything is possible when you have the right mindset.

    Kenneth Kinney 11:19

    Who do you think is better? Are you a better keynote speaker? Or is he a better three point shooter? Wow, that

    Frank Kitchen 11:27

    is a great, that's probably the best question here during this podcast. So So ego wise, I should say I'm a better speaker than he's a three point shooter. But at this point, yeah, key like he's number three you in horse, but you can take him in fresh. Yes, I can take in a fresh, right. I'm like, I've seen one of the commercials, like, you know, State Farm winnings, but no, yeah, I could take them on the stage. So yeah, on the court. Yeah, I'm not gonna take them. But yeah, I'll take them on to say, hey, go,

    Kenneth Kinney 11:49

    alright. Well, you can do the keynote from the NBA All Star game or something like that. I will do that. Let's talk a little bit into the nitty gritty of what it is you do what you're talking about? How is it that helping people break down these mental barriers are going to help them achieve new growth?

    Frank Kitchen 12:04

    Yeah, so I mean, essentially, I share with everybody it sounds like your mindset is your mental cookbook. So if we're going to go make a meal, right, now we're hungry for something, we're going to either go to Google or go to a cookbook to look for it, if we don't see a recipe, or see a prior recipe that we've had or had an experience with, we don't think we can do it. So for me are the people I work with, when I'm going to do is I want to provide them, you know, visual proof of what can be done. So when I speak, I just share my story with people who I've worked with, through mine, everybody's like, Hey, you don't have to be a speaker. You don't have to be you know, a diver. But guess what these people found some that they're hungry for, that they're passionate for. And here's the steps of the recipe that they use, to transfer from vision to reality is like, stop thinking about what you're doing, stop talking about it, start living it, in order to live it, you have to put the action in. So for me, I tell them, I share a recipe with them. I like it, here's a proven recipe for transforming that vision into reality. So that's the big piece is for me, and anybody I know who struggled, our mental barriers become physical barriers. And I had to work with the groups that really go back into self reflection, because we want to blame everybody, especially in the United States, the American way is to blame or complaint, which means it's not anybody else's fault. You have to go really look back like okay, well, what have I done? Have I put myself around the right people, and I put myself in the proper environments, or if I'm on stage, I start to share, like, Okay, here's how we burn our meal. The vision is what we want the thing that we hunger for. But many times what we'll do is, we will wait. And you know, you can't wait to make something happen. We will try to be somebody that we're not, we will, you know, care about the opinions of people who don't care about us, we will try to be somebody who we're not an all these mental barriers become a physical barrier, because our mind is designed to protect us, you know, not to cause pain, not to get us injured, so we can self justify why we might get hurt, or why we can't do something lying to ourselves, trying to be somebody or else hearing about somebody else's opinion, like, Oh, they're not gonna like it. You know what, I'm not as good as shark. Hey, you know, what is not the right time? Hey, you know what, I never really accomplished anything good. We're actually doing it to protect ourselves, we're actually holding ourselves back. So what I'm doing now, as a speaker, I could have done years ago. But what happened was, I held myself back mentally, because we're here at this conference with all these amazing speakers. I didn't put myself around other amazing speakers who are making their careers happy. I just said, You know what, I'm not as good as him. So that's what I try to teach people is, what are your mental barriers once we can get past those so we can make the physical happen?

    Kenneth Kinney 14:31

    So how do you keep yourself from doing this as well? Because it's easy. I'm gonna sort of lean on the stale, yeah, versus fresh. And there we go. How do you keep yourself from falling into that trap as well?

    Frank Kitchen 14:42

    So great question. And the big pieces as you said, you try not to surround yourself by steel people. You know, I was talking with my wife earlier today. And she was saying, you know, she went to the table, and there's some people to fix mindset. And the fixed mindset was, let's find all the problems this point all the problems out versus is offering solutions, fresh people a fresh mindset or people who are offering solutions. Anybody can point out a problem. But what happens is we all want solutions, we need to be around people who point out solutions. So we're here at this conference right now. And everybody here, majority are saying, Okay, you're telling me right now free, here's the tools, you need to start a podcast. That's a solution. Fixed Mindset is, I've never done a podcast before. I don't have the equipment. I've never done it. I'm not good at it. And guess what? You're not going to do it. But if I go hang out with sharp insurance, okay, great. Here's all the things you can do. If you have any questions, please let me know. That's the fresh mindset. What can we do is either new, exciting, unexpected, but that's how we grow.

    Kenneth Kinney 15:39

    So what would your advice be if you're in a workplace? Because when you're taking yourself somewhere outside of there, you can focus on that and yourself, look in the mirror, hopefully deal with it. But there's a lot of a lot of business offices I've been part of as you probably have as well, that stale is a polite word. Yeah.

    Frank Kitchen 15:56

    Rotten, rotten. Yeah. I mean, essentially, when I'm on stage, I share with people like, you either have to find that fresh environment, or you have to create it. Now, many times, I'm honest, you know, in the workplace, you may look at that workplace and say, hey, you know what, is not going to change. And you might have to take yourself out that workplace and find a new workplace. Or there's other occasions where you can step up to be the leader and say, hey, you know, what, and you can start small, is, you know, what's the complaint that you have, go to the leader, you know, go to your boss, go to your manager, go to the supervisor, and make a suggestion, because many times for our employers, people come to them with complaints. Here's what's wrong, here's is wrong as wrong. But very few people come and make a suggestion, or offer some advice on how we can improve it, of which that may get you into a leadership position or or give you some responsibility, it gives you a chance to move up. So while you're complaining about growth, professionally, guess what? The other person who hears making options and go hey, you know what? Frank brings ideas on my wife next to us right now Kelly brings ideas, know what that's the person to go to, versus the person who's always complaining, always waiting around, never seen anything. You know, I worked for an employer, where I wanted to, I had all these ideas. I'm like, I'm gonna go work super hard. And you're gonna see how hard I work. And then they're gonna promote me.

    Kenneth Kinney 17:12

    Okay? That's the same mindset. Everybody says, yes.

    Frank Kitchen 17:16

    Promotion came up. I didn't get it. Yeah, I went to the person goes, like, hey, like, how come I didn't get the promotion. And they go, you never asked. I never spoke or made a suggestion. So when you ask about the workplace, anybody I work with, they go, hey, you know what, you gotta go share those ideas with the workplace is like, if they don't take them, then you're not meant to be there, you're gonna have to leave and go find a place that is respected or respectable to your, you know, receptive to your ideas, or truly value by listening to your ideas. So that's the whole case about the environment is you either find an environment that's going to allow you to grow, or to get to create that environment for yourself.

    Kenneth Kinney 17:50

    But what if you're the manager, trying to motivate your team to get to get out of that?

    Frank Kitchen 17:56

    So the first piece is, let's say you go to a restaurant right now, and I work with managers. If you had to go to a restaurant right now, and they put the menu on you and I put you out of the conversation go, what are you hungry for, and you're gonna explain to me what you want. And I'm gonna say the same thing. So we came to Memphis, you gave me the list of where I should go. Guess what that was the vision you start to share with me. So many people in management do not share what the hunger for what the division is what they want. They're like, Okay, I'm waiting for them to bring the idea. So we said, waiting doesn't happen. So we were hungry for something, guess what, we have no problem. Share with people at the table, that we're hungry. And many times when you share it you're hungry for I will find it on the menu before you do like a shark. I found it like a frank, I found what you want. And then that is what starts to build up. So when I'm working with managers, I explain to me like, Have you ever sat down in front of your employees and explained your vision, explain what you want, explain where you want to go explain the change that you want to go do to get them excited to give them you know, quote, a target to shoot for it to go? No, I was like, so the problem is not your employees, you know, you have created the culture of nobody says anything, everybody's quiet, it was gonna sit on their hands and wait, I was like, it's up to you to create that environment is like that attitude becomes contagious to where everybody starts to share ideas.

    Kenneth Kinney 19:06

    So talk to me a little bit about the five step recipe for career advancement.

    Frank Kitchen 19:10

    Alright, so the five step recipe quite simply is this. Essentially, it's my, my diary, like when things you know, rebuilt that on my face. These are the types of what I did. So the first one was is calling living fresh. So the idea is don't talk about it. Don't think about it living remembered by how we live more than what we say or what we think about. So the F and fresh is for focus. What do you focus on? What are you hungry for? Many people when I work with the CEO, she goes, Well, the focus is to make more money. So I challenged her I go, Well, how much money do you want to make? She's like, more money than last year. I'm like, Okay, but how much do you want to make? She goes 1 million last year. So by the time we get to about the sixth time, I asked her the question, she looks at me, he goes, I want to make more effing money than last year, and I went back to my booth, how much do you want to make? She was like why you asked me this question is like so we make $1 more than last year. Is that enough? She goes no, I would like to make at least 10% more. So we have to be clear with our focus, what do we really want? So that's the first piece.

    Kenneth Kinney 20:06

    Well, she did say "f"ing.

    Frank Kitchen 20:07

    Yes, she was getting. She's getting it in there. Right? So she gets the F word in there. That's really great. So the first piece is, what's the focus? You know, what do you want? How much of it? When do you want it? So we're going to be working in the workplace. Hey, you know what, in five years, I'd like to be the supervisor, I'd like to, you know, get this position, you know, put it down, put somewhere where you can go see it be very focused and intentional with what you want. From there, we I get resourceful? So now the case is what do we need to make it happen? So we're making a recipe right? Now we're going to list the ingredients. And the number one ingredient we need is a network, who are the people around us that we need the human resources? Because we don't have all the answers, but we probably have somebody in our network who has the answers. Who can go direct this, we're in this world, we try to do everything by ourselves. But you don't have to, like people will ask me is like a freight. Man, you must bust your butt like, No, I'm surrounded by a great team of people. And each person has a different role to help me play as I'm the tip of the iceberg. But there's like 20 people around me who helped me out. So what are the resources that you need to create this career success? From there? Are you enthusiastic about it? I know you're enthusiastic about diving, I know keeps you up at night and makes you smile, your body language changes. Well, I show people that if the dream or the goal doesn't keep you awake at night, in a good way, you're not thinking about it, you're not reading about it going. I was like, Don't go for it. Because the human body and the mind, guess what? We're not designed to want to go do work. I mean, like, how many hours does it take to get certified to be a scuba diver? So many, so many, right? But we're not motivated by work. And what we have to do is we have to recognize that the How should I say it's like, the the emotion of the result must be stronger than the emotion of the work. So the idea is, when you go scuba dive, you're not thinking about getting the tanks together and going in the weights and all this piece and traveling and making sure you know, oh, wait, I can't fly in on this day. Because I have to make sure that the lungs and the decompression Oh, I got to make sure the flights two days after my last dot. What's gonna happen guys, like that's just too complicated. Let's not do it. But you're going, hey, you know what? I'm going to be off the grid. I'm going to be seeing things I've never seen before. I'm going to go deeper than I've ever gone before. The result is what drives us. So we're going for this work, but like, what are you going for? What is like at a fire captain I work with? And like, what's this going to provide for you goes more security for my family ships for my family? And like, do you see how your body language changes? Like yeah, he was thinking about the result more than the work. So that's the eat from there, we have to be strong. And if not strong, physically strong mentally, where our mind goes our body and our case for speakers, our mouth will follow. So the idea is what environment are you placing yourself in? Are you putting yourself around strong willed strong minded people? We're in a room full these people right now. Or fixed mindset people who didn't want to go so? What environments? What are you consuming? Mentally, I might podcast that you listen to books that you read the media. I mean, we've got people were thinking about it. Our media right now we look at it, we watch the news. First 30 minutes is all negative. And then the last minute is, you know, Puppy, but that doesn't take care of that piece there. I mean, we're talking about how good we're not doing like I talked to a marketing teacher one time he goes, Hey, if you watch any TV commercial, he goes designed to make you feel worse about yourself. But someone's like, Well, what about the family of four in the car, it goes to the house, he goes, so think about it, you need to have an SUV, you need to have a boy and a girl. You have a picket fence and he's a two story. Oh, he does this all designed to make you go and buy something. So he's like, mentally that holds you back. So we have to make sure that we're putting ourselves around Mentally strong people consuming the right information to help us go towards our goal. And then from there, we got to be honest, that's the H and honest is how are we helping the process? What can we build on from in the past? I mean, have you ever driven stick shift? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I mean, anytime I think about okay, can you do anything tough? I'm like, hey, guess what? I drove a stick shift in Pennsylvania, up and down hills, you know, I stalled it, pop the clutch did all the pieces there. But honestly, it's just a case of what am I doing that help or hurt the process? But more importantly, what are some experiences that I had in the past that I've learned from that can apply to this one now. It's a self reflection piece. Instead of thinking about what other people are doing, what the criticism that you got? It's like you have to look yourself in the mirror and say, hey, you know what? The person who controls me living this dream looks at me in the mirror every day. It's no one else. It's me. So honestly, I've got to get up. I gotta put the work in. And when you break it down, focus, resourceful, enthusiastic, strong and honest. Now you're not just talking about anymore you started to put this together this plan? And that's what freshman's

    Kenneth Kinney 24:27

    Yeah, and you say stick shift. Most people are gonna have to google that. Because they're gonna think that's some prehistoric time travel machine. Hey, bang Datamax

    Frank Kitchen 24:38

    black and white VHF UHF I mean, yeah, just all that craziness.

    Kenneth Kinney 24:41

    We didn't achieve color until the mid the late 80s. So alright, so frank, you've been diving before? I asked this of everybody on the show. What is your favorite kind of shark and why?

    Frank Kitchen 24:51

    I'm going to say it because my daughter's favorite. The bamboo shark? Yeah, yeah, the the bamboo stick a lot of aquariums, a lot of aquariums use the word To the Phoenix Zoo years ago, but that's where the kids can touch them and they can kind of feed. So it's kind of like their first approach to shark because a lot of times people try to just throw people in the deep end or scare them. That bamboo shark is a kind of understanding like, hey, guess what? All the sharks aren't Jaws all the sharks aren't going to hurt you. So it's just a case of, you know, exposing them to guess what, sharks are nice. You know, they're not what the media portrays them to be.

    Kenneth Kinney 25:22

    Alright, so it's time for the special part of our show. Are you ready for the five most interesting and important questions that you're going to be asked today?

    Frank Kitchen 25:30

    Let's go for it.

    Kenneth Kinney 25:32

    All right, number one. You're very healthy, annoyingly helping vegan. Fresh fruit or fresh vegetables? Fresh fruit. Amen to that. All right. All right, number two, drove from Phoenix to Nashville. So you've experienced a lot in a few days. Referred dry heat or humidity where you're sweating your shirt off in 10 seconds here

    Frank Kitchen 25:54

    you gotta go dry here because yeah, the kids are asking me my wife to pick them up came around they're sticking to his to closer sticking to us. So yes, they gotta go to dry.

    Kenneth Kinney 26:02

    All right, number three. You're in the kitchen who do you refer to cook with Emeril Lagasse or Paula Dean?

    Frank Kitchen 26:11

    I'm gonna go Emeril because Paul Dean just loves too much butter. Yeah, so Paul Dean might kill us. So let's emerald, you know, he might drink us to death. But you know, so I think that'd be less painful than like dying of a quarter.

    Kenneth Kinney 26:23

    I just ate at a Paula Dean's and the meal should come with the defibrillator. It was amazing food and everything was butter, butter, butter, two

    Frank Kitchen 26:30

    sticks of butter. Exactly. So

    Kenneth Kinney 26:32

    number four, CSP, which you've achieved, and again, congratulations for CPAE. Next aspirate,

    Frank Kitchen 26:44

    it gets the CPAE that's Hall of Fame. And obviously, that's being recognized by your peers. But I'm gonna say CSP because it means I earned it and I put the work in. So it's proven validation to me that I did the work, man. All right,

    Kenneth Kinney 26:55

    number five. And the most important question you're going to be asked today. Vegan or non vegan you choose? This gets or cornbread.

    Frank Kitchen 27:03

    I've heard you asked this one before. It's gotta be cornbread. My family's from South Carolina. So you gotta go. Okay, well, cornbread's the thing I go for my wife knows about that one. So yeah.

    Kenneth Kinney 27:11

    Well, Frank, where can people find out more about you find some recipes. So this recipes, mindset recipes. Find out more about you learn about CSP and more.

    Frank Kitchen 27:22

    Yeah well, I didn't hire you as my marketing guy. So it's just gonna be Frank kitchen.com. So fr, a and k and then another K. Kitchen spelled just like the room because people always ask me how do you spell So Frank kitchen.com. Go there, you're gonna find blogs, videos, YouTube channel links, but everything's in that one spot. So just look up Frank Kitchen.

    Kenneth Kinney 7:38

    Well, you and I share something. I mean, I'm shark has been part of me my whole life. So I do a lot of sharp points. You do kitchen, you're gonna be recipes and fresh and kitchen stuff. So we're stuck in that kind of stage for the rest of our life.

    Frank Kitchen 27:55

    This is gonna be puns and puns and more puns, right.

    Kenneth Kinney 27:57

    Exactly, exactly. Alright, Frank, thank you so much for joining us today on A Shark's Perspective.

    Frank Kitchen 28:01

    Shark. Great to be here. Thank you.

    [music]

    Kenneth Kinney 28:07

    So there was my conversation with Frank kitchen, a professional speaker who has earned the certified speaking professional designation by the National Speakers Association. And he's known as the mindset master chef who works with organizations who want their people to break through the mental barriers they have to cook up their professional dreams that hunger for in business in life. Let's take a look at three key takeaways from my conversation with him.

    Kenneth Kinney 28:28

    First, what's your recipe for success? For a lot of people, it's unfortunately trying to be something they're not a lot of us hunger for something different, but build something around us that holds us back. Frank said, once you get past the middle barriers, then you can make the physical happen. And that's a great point, you might just be holding yourself back from inaction. So start cooking up whatever you need to move forward and tear down those walls.

    Kenneth Kinney 28:51

    Second, love the point on sharing your vision, especially for managers. When's the last time that you as a manager or you saw your manager, truly sit down with employees and share the vision? You can tell people where you want to go? Let's stay with the metaphor a bit further with cooking and what's the meal you want to cook? It's rare to never that managers explain how they're getting to the dish. They just tell you what the dish is. Sometimes you have to explain to people how you're going to cook the pie and not just show him a slice. What are the ingredients? Are we baking? Are we microwaving? Is it more salt plus pepper or vice versa? People often need to understand more than just telling them pie. Your team will bind to your vision much more quickly when they better understand the how and the why you get to the result. Let everyone in to understand your pie making process and they'll buy into it more quickly. And well. I'm really hungry for some pie now.

    Kenneth Kinney 29:44

    Third, should you worry about what people think about you? Except for the ones I love? I don't I won't let still people bring me down and help me point out other stuff I'm wrong on absolutely pull me down. No way. Being successful as a speaker or a person is a mindset choice. Much more than your wallet or your accomplishments. And if you want to be successful, then surround yourself with successful people and do the best you can to cook up a better future. And a better you.

    Kenneth Kinney 30:10

    Got a question? Then send me an email to Kenneth at a shark's perspective.com.

    Kenneth Kinney 30:14

    Thank you again for the privilege of your time. And I am so thankful to everyone who listens.

    Kenneth Kinney 30:19

    Please consider writing a review letting me know your thoughts on the show.

    Kenneth Kinney 30:22

    This shark is not letting any barriers hold me back. Join us on the next episode of A Shark's Perspective.

    [music]


Connect with Frank Kitchen:

Picture of a back and side view of a Spiny Dogfish Shark (NOAA).

Shark Trivia

Did You Know that Spiny Dogfish Sharks have Spines….

….that curl up or arch when they are being threatened or attacked?

Their spines are located at the base of their dorsal fins. They curl their backs to point the spines at the attacker.

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