Special Guest Feature: Niels Gott | Purpose Fueled Saint Paul
Niels Gott hosted Purpose Fueled Saint Paul for the first time back in September.
This time he is on the other side of the table. Niels helps executive teams be more human with each other, work he traces back to a training packet that landed on his desk during his years in the Army National Guard.
Mick White is guest hosting Saint Paul on October 1st, our first morning at CHS Field. Niels is our Special Guest.
Here is more about him, in his own words.
What do you actually do (in plain language), the way you’d explain it to a friend over coffee?
I help executive and senior leadership teams be more human with each other. Leadership teams are getting more efficient and less connected at the same time, and that can have a negative ripple effect throughout the organization. So I design experiences where they actually talk to each other, figure out what’s working, and change how they show up. AI can make us faster; it can’t make us better leaders. The stats have been around a long time, that people don’t quit the job or the company; they quit their boss. I think that’s even more true today, and so the more we can be the kind of leaders that people want to follow, the better we can give people a chance to do their best work.
What’s the moment or decision that changed the direction of your life or career?
Around 2010 I was a company commander in the Army National Guard getting my Soldiers ready for deployment, and a package of training materials landed on my desk that I’d never seen before: what I came to know as Master Resilience Training, developed by Dr. Martin Seligman and the team at the Penn Resilience Program. That was the first time I had heard of positive psychology, the field that all of these research-backed tools came from, or even resilience as a learnable skill. This new program gave language to what I’d been watching for years; that some people feel defeated by challenges, while others are great at using a flexible mindset to adapt and overcome. I could see that this stuff could not only help my Soldiers be better at their jobs, but be better at life.
When I got out of uniform, that was part of my motivation to become an executive coach, and my fascination with positive psychology eventually took me to Penn to study under Marty Seligman. I even got to be one of Marty’s assistant instructors, and I helped with some of the editing of his newest book Agency, which just came out September 8th.
What do you believe about people that most others in your field don’t?
That everyone deserves the chance to get to do their best work. This isn’t to say that leadership is all puppy dogs and rainbows, it’s not. Again, I learned this stuff in the Army, which isn’t particularly known for fluffy feel-good stuff. But more than that, we all deserve to pursue flourishing in life. And part of that is getting the chance to lean into our strengths and find our zone of genius, wherever or however we work.
These days, too often a lot of leadership stops at “nobody’s burned out, nobody’s quitting.” I think that’s the bare minimum standard, because people might not be quitting, but that doesn’t mean they’re flourishing. They could be quietly suffering under terrible leadership, and that kind of environment doesn’t stay at work. It comes home with us and impacts all parts of our lives.
What are you most proud of, in life, not just in work?
Nearly 22 years in uniform in the Army National Guard, and in particular the Minnesota National Guard.
Few people realize the rich tradition of service we have here in the state. The MN ARNG has been in every major armed conflict since the Civil War. In fact, I deployed with 2-135 Infantry, which we call First Minnesota. That’s because that unit traces its lineage back to the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment, the first unit to volunteer for federal service in the military war. That unit went on to play a pivotal role in that war on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. They quite literally held the line at a key point in the battle that many view as the deciding factor in the Union’s victory.
During that battle they suffered an 82% casualty rate, considered by many to be the highest of any surviving unit. Not just in the Civil War, but in the entirety of U.S. military history.
That tradition of service continues today, and I’m proud to have been a citizen-Soldier, ready to answer the call to duty for my community. But honestly, it’s my family. Nicolette and I are raising three kids on a few acres in Stillwater Township, and I’m trying to build a life by design instead of by default so they see what an intentional life looks like.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
A spelunker! Not sure why I was so captivated by caves and caverns; I’m still interested in adventure, and even though I’m not especially claustrophobic, I don’t get excited about wriggling through tight spaces, in the dark, crawling through bat poop! I must have had a more romanticized vision of grand, majestic caverns with beautiful geologic formations.
How do your closest friends or family describe you? Who do they say you are?
Warm, direct, and authentic. The guy who takes the work seriously and himself not so much. Bit of a nerd about all things Nordic. Also a ‘joiner’; sometimes I can’t help but volunteer, and I’m fiercely loyal to the teams I get to be part of.
What don’t people know about you that they should?
I’m on marathon number 14 this October. And every long run, without fail, my quads try to cramp in the last few miles. Fourteen times. I keep signing up anyway. So maybe my friends and family would also describe me as a little bit crazy!
What does “purpose” mean to you personally?
Human flourishing. Marty Seligman put a moonshot out there: 51% of the world flourishing by 2051. I took that personally. My purpose is to move that number, one leader and one team at a time, and to raise kids who keep building that kind of world after I’m done.
What’s the title of your next chapter, in life or in business?
The 51 Threshold. This is an event I started this past spring, in which leaders from different industries and different walks of life come together to spend a day workshopping that moonshot goal.
What don’t people know about you that they should?
That I’m neurodivergent. I didn’t discover that until very recently, and suddenly so much of my life growing up made so much more sense. It took my kids’ diagnoses to start the process of considering the genetic path. And that diagnosis couldn’t have come at a better time, halfway through my Master’s program at Penn.
What’s one thing you’re hoping people leave your conversation thinking about?
How they can consider human flourishing in their own life, and in the lives of those they care about. The authors of the Declaration of Independence were only partially right with ‘the pursuit of happiness’, but they were on to something important. We all need a sense of purpose in our lives, and I see that as key to advancing human flourishing.
What’s a question you wish more people would ask you?
What is Nordic positive ritual?
Come meet Niels
Niels Gott is our Special Guest at Purpose Fueled | Saint Paul on Thursday, October 1st, guest hosted by Mick White. CHS Field, 360 Broadway St, Saint Paul. Doors open at 7:00 AM and the event begins at 7:30 AM.
Come hear his story and bring your answer to his question. Register here.