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Elevate Podcast: A Recap of the First 50 Episodes · Elevate Podcast: Powered by Braden

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  Welcome to the Elevate podcast where
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  every leader has a story.
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  We bring you conversations with
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  influential leaders who are shaping our
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  local communities.
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  Hear about their path to leadership
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  and experiences that define them.
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  And how they're driving meaningful
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  impact today.
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  Hey everybody, Jason Almer here with
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  another special episode of the Elevate
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  powered by Braden podcast. As you can
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  see, I'm kind of by myself and
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  actually my face is up on the screen
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  behind me. This episode is our 50th
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  which is pretty special. We've had an
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  awful lot of fun since we've launched
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  this show
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  in January of 2026.
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  The conversations that we've had with
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  for-profit leaders, non-profit leaders,
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  we've talked with educators, with higher
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  ed, K through 12, but the conversations
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  have been terrific and we've heard a lot
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  of themes across these first 50 episodes
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  that have actually been very interesting
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  to talk about. Just wanted to thank
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  everybody that's been part of this
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  community.
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  We have had so much fun sharing these
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  shows, sharing these episodes, the
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  backstories and creating
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  an opportunity for people to hear the
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  journey of the leaders of a lot of the
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  businesses that you know and you see and
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  maybe even work with around the state of
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  Indiana and Illinois. So first, thank
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  you for all of those folks that have
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  trusted us to share your story. We've
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  appreciated it and it has been
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  wonderful. For those that we've already
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  recorded that are on their way out, be
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  on the lookout for them.
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  It's been an awful lot of fun having
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  those conversations and
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  before we get to some of those themes,
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  you can also tell that we've kind of
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  evolved the actual studio as well.
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  More shelves, more books, more items.
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  Thank you for the items that are in here
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  and all of the branded pieces that we've
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  had. A little bit of something from all
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  the different conversations and the
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  books have been very special. It's been
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  one of the kind of neatest questions
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  we've had a chance to be able to ask our
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  guests that have been on for their
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  favorite books. As you can see, there's
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  business books, there's family books,
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  there's children's books, but every one
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  of these has a a story behind it, and
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  those stories were told right here in
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  the studio, or in some cases out at
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  their locations where we've had the
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  chance to do that.
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  One of the things we've done that's been
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  very consistent is not only we shared
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  their stories, but we've asked three
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  specific questions of our guests.
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  And one of those questions is the
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  the evolution of technology in their
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  space.
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  You know, Braden Business Systems has
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  been around since 1989, and we're a
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  technology company. And one of the
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  things we like to hear is how is
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  technology evolving across all these
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  different businesses that we're talking
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  to?
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  And one of the things that we've heard,
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  just in general,
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  is that everybody we talk to is in the
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  people business. Whether they're high
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  school educators and superintendents
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  helping that next generation of leaders,
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  whether they're in manufacturing, or
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  they're legal, or medical, they're all
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  about taking care of people. And kind of
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  one of the things that I've heard is
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  leveraging AI as a tool to be able to
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  supercharge
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  their employees, their workers, their
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  teammates, to be able to do more and
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  accelerate their business, but also
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  creating an opportunity for them to do
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  what we've kind of called around here
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  HI, human intelligence. We've heard that
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  quite a bit where let's leverage the
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  machine to be able to take care of some
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  of those tasks that can be automated
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  very easily,
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  but allowing those workers to be able to
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  do more and be able to be in front of
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  customers, patients, whoever that
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  happens to be, more and provide a better
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  care and a better level of service.
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  It's been great to hear how our leaders
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  have thought about leveraging technology
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  as another tool in our arsenal to be
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  able to go out and help our clients.
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  The other question that we ask people
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  is about community.
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  And when we thought about putting the
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  podcast together, we wanted to
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  understand what people thought about
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  community. We asked that question. I
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  asked that question.
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  What's community mean to you?
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  It's been answered so many different
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  ways. It's awesome. But there are a lot
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  of themes in there as well. You can hear
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  people talking about others first.
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  You hear them talking about maybe
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  nonprofits that they happen to care
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  about. You hear them talking about their
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  families. You hear them talking about
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  their culture and their business.
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  And you hear them talking in general
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  thinking about how to help others and to
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  raise up people in their community to
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  make the world a better place.
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  That theme is very common across all of
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  our leaders that we've talked to.
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  The last thing we've asked folks is
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  we've asked them, "What are you doing
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  for fun?"
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  So if they're if they're not working,
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  what are they doing for fun? That answer
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  has been in so many different ways.
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  But there are some things that we've
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  heard over and over again. We hear the
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  word family.
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  Being with family, having an opportunity
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  to to spend time with others to
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  recharge, um to work on themselves, uh
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  to be forever learners. I think that's
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  something we've heard so many different
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  times where folks have said that they
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  will forever be learning on their
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  journey, whether that's reading, being
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  part of mastermind groups, uh being part
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  of community opportunities where they
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  get a chance to be with other leaders.
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  Uh but having an opportunity to continue
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  to learn, that's definitely something
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  that we've we've definitely heard.
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  You know, these these stories that
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  they've told us
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  have been their genesis stories. They
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  told us
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  where they're from, uh how they got to
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  school,
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  whether they thought they were going to
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  end up being a teacher and a coach and
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  shifting to becoming an accountant, for
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  example. Uh we've heard folks talk about
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  uh conversations that they thought they
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  were going to be in the Air Force and be
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  a pilot
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  and end up uh being a medical doctor and
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  now they're a CPO.
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  But the journeys have been just terrific
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  to hear. And again, our thoughts around
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  bringing these stories to life is to
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  build community.
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  And that community is something that
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  when you learn somebody's story, you
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  learn their journey, you put a human
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  element to that. That human element
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  allows you to understand the person
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  behind the brand. As you can see from
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  the studio, there's a lot of brands in
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  here that people know the name of. You
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  drive by these offices, you see some of
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  their trucks, you maybe use some of
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  their services, work with them. And when
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  you hear the story of the leaders and
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  their why that they wake up and do
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  things and how they take care of their
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  people and how they care for the
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  community, you really put something
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  behind that brand other than just their
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  product. You put a person. And
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  ultimately, that's what we're trying to
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  do here.
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  You know, the Elevate Podcast powered by
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  Braden has been a wonderful opportunity
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  to be able to share those stories and
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  man, we are looking forward to sharing
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  more of those stories in the future.
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  And I can tell you that from everybody
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  here at Braden, we thank all of them.
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  Just like we did kind of starting this
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  off, we thank everybody that's been in
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  here. We appreciate you. We appreciate
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  you allowing us the honor to share your
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  story and we're just getting started.
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  We're doing it here in Indianapolis.
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  We've done some on location and some
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  actually remote up in Chicago. We're
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  branching out and so we're going to go
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  outside the state of Indiana yet again
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  cuz Cincinnati, here we come. We're
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  going to be having conversations with
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  folks in Cincinnati here very soon. We
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  have a few lined up. We're looking
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  forward to getting those started. So,
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  you'll see us in your city there. So, if
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  you haven't seen the show, I encourage
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  you to take a look at it. It's not about
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  us. It's completely about those folks
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  that are sitting in our chair or if
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  we're sitting with them
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  in front of the their actual screens or
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  where we happen to be at their office.
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  But pay attention. There's a lot of
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  great wisdom that can be learned from
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  these leaders. You learn more about
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  them, their business, and their brand.
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  And uh, and by the way, you know, we've
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  had folks on the show that have been,
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  uh, have been here in our office, that
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  we've been out in front of their
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  locations. We actually had a chance to
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  film out at the Indianapolis Speedway
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  Museum in front of a couple of the
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  winning cars in the first ever Indy 500
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  winning car. I don't know about you, the
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  story was great, individual was amazing,
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  but that location is just beautiful. We
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  also happen to have a chance to be
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  downtown with the governor and have a
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  chance to share his backstory about who
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  he is, about his family and his
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  business, and we thank him for that
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  time.
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  All the others, I could go through all
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  of the folks that we've had on from very
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  early when the studio looked completely
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  different until now where we sit here,
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  where we actually need to add some more
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  shelves cuz we continue to have just a
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  lot more things, uh, here in the studio.
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  And I will give a little bit of a
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  special thanks. Uh, if you see these
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  helmets and hats and all these different
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  pieces that are branded by others, that
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  all started as a happy happy accident
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  cuz Jeff Hagerman decided to bring us in
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  a a Hagerman pillow and a Hagerman
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  helmet. So, thank you, Jeff. I
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  appreciate you doing that cuz it kind of
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  started all of this off. And the book
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  idea, the book idea was something that
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  we had fairly early on as a way to be
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  able to, you know, thank people for
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  coming in and giving them an opportunity
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  to share some of their thoughts and
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  maybe a book that shaped their lives.
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  And as you can see by our library, we're
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  building out an awesome library here at
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  the studio.
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  So, I'm going to close out just the kind
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  of the way that I started. 50th episode,
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  we're just getting started. These
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  episodes are going to continue forward
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  and again, like I said, Indianapolis,
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  thank you. Chicago, thank you. There's
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  more episodes coming out there in those
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  spotlights. And Ohio, we're coming your
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  way. Looking forward to seeing some
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  folks in Cincinnati. And stay If you
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  haven't paid attention to the episodes,
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  get out there, watch somebody that you
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  know, learn more about them. And I
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  appreciate you. Thank you, everybody for
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  your time.
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  Thank you for listening to the Elevate
• 9:38
  podcast powered by Breeden.
• 9:41
  Subscribe to stay informed on all things
• 9:43
  Breeden and be the first to hear new
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  conversations with the leaders who are
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  driving change and elevating
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  organizations across our community.