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9 Plays7 days ago
AI is transforming everything—but it’s not your edge anymore. In this episode, Manny Teran breaks down what truly separates those who win in the age of AI from those who get left behind. The answer isn’t more tools, more automation, or more speed—it’s alignment. Through a powerful framework of 10 human qualities, this episode explores how integrity, discipline, courage, and presence create a competitive advantage that no machine can replicate. If you want to stand out, build meaningful success, and create real momentum in your life and business—this is where it starts.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Voice of Growth' Podcast
00:00:04
Speaker
The Voice of Growth, Mastering the Mind and Market. Welcome to the Voice of Growth podcast, Mastering the Mind and Market. My name is Manny Turan, and I'm your host.
AI's Impact on Markets
00:00:16
Speaker
There's no doubt that AI is taking the world by storm. There's no doubt that it's disrupting all kinds of markets, all kinds of areas. There's no doubt that we have people on one side that are embracing it and climbing onto these new tools like a bucking bronco. And you have other side of the spectrum where you have people that are pushing it away, thinking that it's the devil and you have everything else in between.
00:00:42
Speaker
There's no doubt that it's increasing in popularity, in power, in adaptability, in reach. And you see all these things happening so quickly.
The Evolution of AI
00:00:54
Speaker
We worked on a podcast when we first launched this podcast about a year ago, and my team did some research and we had a scientist that said that at that time, ai was at the amoeba stage, meaning it was a single-celled organism in complexity.
00:01:13
Speaker
Fast forward a year, i would say it's probably like an ant in complexity. It's getting more and more complex. It's getting more and more powerful. Things that we worked on a year and a half ago, i look at now, and I feed that back into these large language models.
00:01:30
Speaker
Complete night and day difference. So already in a year and a half, there's been such a tremendous growth in AI.
Embracing AI for Future Security
00:01:39
Speaker
I've said it before that AI will not take your job.
00:01:42
Speaker
but somebody who knows how to use AI will. Somebody who knows ah how to harness the power, somebody who knows how to launch these agents and use them to their advantage will take your job if you're not careful. So be that person.
00:01:56
Speaker
That's for for a different conversation.
Embracing Humanness for Success
00:01:58
Speaker
Today is about what does it take to stand out? What does it take to be fulfilled? What does it take to succeed in the age and the rise of ai And the simple answer is settle into your humanness.
00:02:16
Speaker
Go inward into your humanness. Own your humanness. So there is...
Qualities for Embracing Humanness
00:02:24
Speaker
we compiled a list of 10 qualities that we believe are important in order to settle in and become more human.
00:02:33
Speaker
And i say good human in in the sense that ah not a a judgment call of good or bad necessarily, but more of how much can you represent to the world your humanness, and in in doing so,
00:02:50
Speaker
gained the power, gained the success, gained the um the joy and the peace. you know Being human is amazing. We have so many experiences in life. We have success, we have joy, we have comfort, but there's also discomfort.
00:03:08
Speaker
There is failure, there is sadness, there is sacrifice. There's all these things put into one area.
Building Bonds Through Humanity
00:03:18
Speaker
So to jump in, by settling into humanness, by owning the fact that you are human, by sharing to the world that you're human, you create stronger bonds.
00:03:29
Speaker
You create more momentum. You strengthen your networks among people. And you're able to take a stand and say, this is who I am. And by doing so, that gravitas, that... that gravitational pull will bring you success, will bring you business, will bring you joy. You still have to use AI, by the way.
00:03:53
Speaker
You still have to have that feature of yourself that knows how to navigate AI and use it to your advantage. But there'll be a lot of other people that are doing the same thing.
00:04:04
Speaker
If you're able to settle into your humanness and and stand up and say, this is who I am, you will not only be more satisfied in your life and have that joy and other things that I mentioned, but you're going to stand out.
00:04:19
Speaker
You're going to be the person in the crowd that is different from the others, and that will attract more of everything that is good.
Integrity and Alignment of Actions
00:04:27
Speaker
First thing, integrity. Integrity is all about alignment. That means that you're aligned, your acts and your thoughts are aligned with your values of who you are.
00:04:39
Speaker
So there is no gap between what you think and what you say and what you do. Super powerful integrity. This idea is about keeping commitments. This idea is about being strong and have a foundation. So in engineering, if something has integrity, it means it has has the ability to hold weight. It has a foundational character to it. It doesn't leak. It doesn't um break apart.
00:05:11
Speaker
So number one, integrity. This is a foundation. without Without that, nothing else will stand.
Ownership of Actions and Success
00:05:19
Speaker
Second one, responsibility.
00:05:22
Speaker
Responsibility is about taking ownership and taking full accountability of your actions, your words, and your outcomes. Super important to be responsible and accountable because as much as it's hard to be human sometimes, by owning it, you're able to then deal with the consequences and fix it.
00:05:48
Speaker
I am an engineer by education. i am also a man living in 2026. So when I see a problem, I want to fix it.
00:05:58
Speaker
I am constantly fixing stuff around the office, or around the house. I'm doing these things because I just am wired that way. So when you accept responsibility and take ownership, that means that you will fix it, you'll deal with it, you make it right.
00:06:13
Speaker
Success is your duty, and that lives in this number two of responsibility.
The Importance of Truthfulness
00:06:19
Speaker
Number three, honesty. Honesty, and this is your truth orientation, is foundational as well.
00:06:29
Speaker
You speakook speak truthfully, You don't distort reality to make things smoother. You're up front, you lay it down the table, and you say, this is the way it is.
00:06:42
Speaker
There's such powerful aspects of being honest that far outweigh the seemingly discomfort from being honest.
00:06:53
Speaker
I have people in my life that have struggled with being truthful. um that have always tried to skirt around the truth because they believe that it will make things less painful.
00:07:11
Speaker
But in the end, the truth will always come out. The truth and being honest is always the way and the path to take if you want to stand up and be noticed and have all those things come to you.
Compassion as Strength
00:07:26
Speaker
Number four, compassion. Compassion is strength with humanity. Compassion is understanding others without necessarily exuding your own weaknesses.
00:07:42
Speaker
The idea of showing compassion is one of the most powerful things that I've seen a human do. When we are standing healthy, we we're in a place of privilege, when we're a place of gratitude and we reach across the aisle, we reach down to pick pick somebody up who needs our help, there's such magic in that.
00:08:08
Speaker
I've been very upfront with my politics of being a libertarian and believing that government should find a a very small role in our daily life, I believe the balance that makes up all these other things we need to do as human beings is that level of compassion, is giving in a way that creates...
00:08:31
Speaker
that warmth, that reach across the aisle to give people what they need. Compassion is is power. There's so much power in it, and there's so much of internal, of that internal warmth and fulfillment you get from showing compassion.
00:08:48
Speaker
The idea is that this is not softness. it Compassion isn't always about butterflies and rainbows. It's really controlled strength and and gratitude and a huge dose of giving, of selflessness, compassion.
Courage in the Face of Fear
00:09:10
Speaker
Number five, this is one of the stoic virtues, courage. Courage is you do what's right despite fear, despite knowing some negative consequences, things that will hurt.
00:09:24
Speaker
You go into that burning building knowing that you're going to get burned and you go in there anyway. That's courage. Courage is having that tough conversation with somebody, even though you know it's going to be uncomfortable and it's going to be painful in the short term.
00:09:39
Speaker
but in the long term will make things right. Courage is you act when others hesitate. I've seen courage play out right in front of me, and there's such power to that. I've always has tried very hard to be courageous, even before I went and in my stoic position.
00:09:59
Speaker
path as a, as a boy scout, as somebody who grew up in a small town with, with um you know, no father and and having to support my mother. And so I always try to take that path. That was the one that just, when things need to be done, you lean into it.
00:10:17
Speaker
I've told the story of, an astronaut that we we met back when I was in my college days that, it sounds silly, but had the courage to go get us water when we needed to to drink, we were thirsty.
00:10:33
Speaker
I've told that story many times, but fundamentally, He was the star of the night. He was actually the person that was receiving the Hall of Fame award. We happened to be sitting at his table. We all just rolled in from from Arizona, thirsty, and the waiter was walking around and not serving us.
00:10:49
Speaker
We didn't even know he was the the star guy. Got up, went to the back, came back with a bunch of pictures, served us, and as he sat down, they called his name, and he gave this beautiful speech. And the idea just has always stuck with me that he did what it took to just fix something, just make things happen.
00:11:07
Speaker
Doesn't sound courageous in the same way because it was he didn't even think about it, but it was true courage in that he saw a need no matter what it was and he made it happen.
Discipline and Self-Mastery
00:11:18
Speaker
Number six, discipline.
00:11:20
Speaker
Discipline is about self-mastery. Discipline has a control factor to it where we control our impulses, our emotions, our behaviors.
00:11:32
Speaker
Discipline is one of the hardest things to wrap our mind around. We actually have to use sometimes some hacks. I've mentioned atomic habits many times.
00:11:43
Speaker
Discipline is dealing with what's right in front of you to the benefit of you in the future. Super hard to understand sometimes, but the power is in the small details. It's in the small wins, that delayed gratification.
00:12:01
Speaker
We do this today so that we can have this tomorrow. When I meet somebody who has discipline, I can read it in their body. I can see how they're dressed. I can see how their cars are. I can see how they they carry themselves. And you can tell when somebody is disciplined. And when somebody is disciplined, there's so much power behind that.
00:12:22
Speaker
They did a study of thieves that were looking at who their next subject was going to be. These are pickpockets. These are people that assaulted people.
00:12:34
Speaker
And so they went out and they did a survey to try to understand why'd you pick that person and not that person? Why'd you decide to attack that person and not that person?
00:12:46
Speaker
And it wasn't always necessarily that somebody was, was, um, giant or looked menacing, they also pickpocketed those people as well.
00:12:56
Speaker
The number one thing that they actually found out by this study is that when they saw somebody who looked put together, who looked disciplined, who walked, who stood straight, who had confidence to them, they tended to not go after people like that.
00:13:16
Speaker
because those people were a complete and utter jack-in-the-box. You didn't know what you were gonna get, so they didn't even wanna go anywhere near that person.
00:13:27
Speaker
They'd go to somebody who's disheveled, who is scooting around, who was looking down at their phone, who was shoulders down and not really exuding confidence. That's who they would attack.
00:13:40
Speaker
So a lot of power in the idea of discipline.
Strengths, Humility, and Learning
00:13:44
Speaker
Number seven, humility. This is where you know your strength without arrogance. This is where you acknowledge your limitations without insecurity. This is where you are open to learning that you are still in a place, no matter where you are in life, of still being capable of learning.
00:14:06
Speaker
Humility has a um ah sense of peace to it. When somebody's humble, when somebody, especially if they come in ah from a position of power, when they show that humility, there's so much power to that.
00:14:19
Speaker
It's going attract people to you when you're humble. Be truly humble. And Humility has a certain level of gratitude associated with it. When you're grateful for things, that humidity humility comes in. And actually, gratitude is the next
Appreciation and Resilience
00:14:34
Speaker
one. So gratitude is about perspective.
00:14:37
Speaker
It's about recognizing what's good It's about being grateful for what you have. It's about being grateful for what you don't have. A lot of gratitude is about what things do you not have on your shoulders.
00:14:51
Speaker
I'm grateful that I don't have, obviously, a lot of diseases and and and i'm I'm healthy, but I'm also grateful that I have had challenges in my life. This leans on the idea ah of amor fati, love your fate,
00:15:07
Speaker
I'm thankful and grateful that I've been through so much madness in my life. I've been sued. I've had so many things happen in my life that I'm grateful for them because those things have forged the person that I am today and made me stronger and more relevant and more capable than anything else could have done.
00:15:30
Speaker
There's so much power in gratitude and I've done an entire podcast on it before and it will continue to be on my top of What I see as, especially my mornings, I spend time in gratitude.
00:15:47
Speaker
I spend time thanking God, thanking my life, thanking my opportunities and my failures and everything because they have brought me so much.
Fairness and Principled Decisions
00:15:57
Speaker
The next one is justice.
00:16:00
Speaker
This is another one of the Stoic virtues. Justice is you treat others with fairness and with respect. Justice is you make decisions based on principles, not favoritism, not emotion.
00:16:14
Speaker
Justice is you stand for what's right, even if it's unpopular. This is very subjective at a times, but if you lean on your own principles, it becomes crystal clear.
00:16:28
Speaker
Justice is fairness and principle brought together.
Balancing Self-Interest and Value
00:16:35
Speaker
And the last one I'll bring in for today is contribution.
00:16:39
Speaker
This is your service orientation. This is how you give to the world. You seek to add value so beyond your self-interest. This is the selflessness aspect.
00:16:52
Speaker
But if you if you remember a podcast I did a while ago with Randy Dorman, when I talked about how being selfish is also very powerful, it sounds really bad. The world the word selfish sounds bad, but it goes back to the Adage, when you're on that airplane, they tell you to put your own mask on first before you put your your your child's mask on.
00:17:20
Speaker
It goes the same for your motivation in life. I firmly believe that we need to be selfish it in taking care of ourselves, in setting boundaries, in setting our values, our vision, and launching. I think we need to be 100% selfish in doing that. That means you need to protect yourself.
00:17:41
Speaker
That doesn't mean that you need to belittle others or be disrespectful or or show um just a a bad angle towards people. No. It means you deal with, you get yourself in a good spot first in a selfish way so that you can then be selfless.
00:18:00
Speaker
I have seen people in my life that are that are not selfish at all. And those people end up buckling over time because they give of themselves. They drain themselves over and over again.
00:18:14
Speaker
And they end up not being able to serve others because they have exhausted themselves. You got to be selfish. You got to be selfish.
Standing Out in an AI World
00:18:23
Speaker
leaning onto your self-interest, but those self-interests need to also align with this list I just told you about, the gratitude, the the the contribution, all these other things are powerful.
00:18:34
Speaker
So the these principles, which I'm going to list in the the description here, need to be relied upon so that you can stand apart from all those other people using AI and to bring it more into a little bit more clarity,
00:18:52
Speaker
Go out to events. Go to networking. Go to the park. Go to restaurants. Be out there in the community.
00:19:03
Speaker
Because if you live behind a screen, if you live on a Reddit channel, if you live, you're not going to go anywhere. You're going to be just a bunch. You're going to be a username.
00:19:15
Speaker
which that's already occurring right now, by the way. It's been happening for a decade, decades. But as agents come into the the fray even more and more and more, they all they have is a username.
00:19:29
Speaker
All they have, all the agent has is a username, is its ability to email and send voice messages and video messages. I mean, they're still gonna still come through devices.
00:19:44
Speaker
But if you're a human being, settle into that. Lean into that. Lean into the humanness. Spend time. Get on the phone with people.
00:19:54
Speaker
Go have lunch with people. I once had a sales manager that said he wanted me to be at lunch with a customer or a partner or a vendor every day of the week.
00:20:08
Speaker
What that means is you're breaking bread, you're connecting with people, and you're forming that momentum that will separate you from all the agents. Thank you for your time.
00:20:19
Speaker
Lean into your humanness, and we'll talk to you later. Cheers.