Anthony Flynn Journey From Born in Poverty to Becoming America’s On of the Top Business Consultants & Coaches

Anthony Flynn founded Amazing CEO LLC in 2017 with a mission to empower CEOs and Key Executives with increasing productivity and profitability. Anthony is known for his unique “people first” approach to complex problem solving, emphasizing vision/strategy alignment, product/service enhancement, and operational models. His client list includes Fortune 500 companies like Morgan Stanley, UCB, FedEx, Toto, and more, along with a substantial list of private clients in music and entertainment, hospitality, food services, financial services, banking, and education.

We asked some questions. Anthony Flynn's journey is really Inspiring!

What motivated you to start Amazing CEO? How did the idea come about?

I have spent the last 20 years walking alongside CEOs and Key Executives via business, ministry, and philanthropy work. Because of my proximity and closeness to them, I noticed that many CEOs and Key Executives were experiencing many challenges in their personal lives and business. Because they were limited to such small circles of a community (if they had “community” at all), they spent much energy attempting to navigate their pain in isolation. They battled with impostor syndrome, they were on the edge of burnout, their marriages were failing, they had fragmented relationships with family, etc. On the other hand, several CEOs and Key Executives were doing quite well and wanted to accelerate their success in life and business. In either case, I launched Amazing CEO for the sake of adding value and taking away pain from some of the top leaders in the world. Ultimately, I wanted to move them from “good” or even “great” to “amazing!”

What do you attribute your success to? Is there a trait you have or a person who helped you along the way?

I attribute my success to many things, but the most significant two are tied to my Christian faith and, secondly, coming to grips with my reality, i.e., self-awareness. I was born to a teenage mother in poverty. My biological father was not involved in my life. I spent most of my childhood living in apartments surrounded by gangs, violence, crime, drugs, etc. That shaped me. Resilience, tenacity, faith, grit, and many other great qualities came out of that, but pain, adversity, trauma, limited education, scarring, and more resulted. I spent a lot of years mentally tormented and torn due to this polarization. I needed to get healthy. Thousands of dollars in therapy, coaching, mentorship, etc., helped me move beyond my pain. Now I am living my dreams daily, but it took tons of work!

When times get tough, what would you say motivates you to keep going? To not hit the snooze button and to keep fighting for your goals.

I have experienced a ton of pain and trauma throughout my life. I haven’t seen a day yet where I didn’t survive it! I have not just survived; I am thriving! Hitting the snooze button in life is not an option for me. I consistently wake up every morning between 3:30 am, and 4:30 am. I see getting up as a privilege. I don’t “have to,” I “get to!” There are so many people counting on me! My wife, my amazing son, and daughter, employees I have the privilege of leading and serving daily, my family and friends, etc. I am the guy “who made it out of the hood.” The excellent news for me is that I don’t feel unhealthy pressure from anyone. It’s just that I know I have the opportunity to be an example for so many others, and I gladly accept the challenge!

Employees are one of the most important players to succeed in business. What do you look for in an employee?

The number one attribute I look for in employees is servanthood. I need to know they intend to serve, not primarily to be served. If each employee spends her/his time aiming to help others, the reciprocal effect is that others naturally will want to honor them by serving them also. I firmly believe in this principle! Secondly, I look for a learning posture over a “know it all” posture. We can teach the technicalities of business, but we can’t always teach the spirit of humility.

What is unique about your business? Is there a competitive advantage that you have over the rest?

Amazing CEO is genuinely a human-centered consulting and coaching practice. We don’t even prefer to work with clients who are unwilling to allow us to learn, coach, and consult the individual first. In other words, businesses don’t run businesses…people do.

What are the three best pieces of advice that you would give to anyone starting a business? What do they need to know from the very beginning?

There are so many pieces of advice I would love to give to anyone starting a business. However, for the sake of narrowing, I will share just a few. First of all, understand that starting a business requires some of the most significant levels of adaptability you can imagine. I have never met a wildly successful entrepreneur that had a plan to work out exactly as planned. Be ready to pivot either by choice or by force!

Secondly, you need to persist. Obstacles and hurdles are inevitable. It’s a part of the journey of launching and scaling a business. You have to muster up a level of toughness that might require you to dig in ways you have never had to do in prior experience. Keep digging!

Finally, don’t neglect some of the practical and technical things that keep your business healthy. As an example, lean into the finances/numbers, paying bills, paying taxes, etc. Most people don’t start a business to do the technical stuff. However, the technical stuff supports helping you maintain and scale a business. All parts of running a business are inextricably linked. One without the other eventually can lead to a disaster in the long run.