Latest / Project Candor: Ordinary People. Unexpected Stories / No Map. No Degree. Got There. | Grit Isn't Grinding Harder with Andrew Brummer | Ship's Log #45

Transcript

No Map. No Degree. Got There. | Grit Isn't Grinding Harder with Andrew Brummer | Ship's Log #45 · Project Candor: Ordinary People. Unexpected Stories

• 0:00
  Andrew Brummer: Really close friend of mine and CEO of the company told me that, "Hey, if we don't find investor money, we're probably gonna have to shut the company down." I got really scared very quickly.
• 0:09
  Andrew Brummer: At that stage, 53, 54, no degree
• 0:31
  Jeanne Andersen: Welcome to Project Candor, where ordinary people share unexpected stories.
• 0:35
  Jeanne Andersen: I'm your host, Jeanne Andersen, and I'm glad you're here.
• 0:38
  Jeanne Andersen: Every person who sits across from me in this conversation has a story worth hearing, not because they set out to be remarkable, because they have real life, which has a way of making us so.
• 0:49
  Jeanne Andersen: Let's get into it.
• 0:51
  Jeanne Andersen: Today's guest lives by a simple principle: plant seeds that will grow into trees he will never sit under.
• 0:57
  Jeanne Andersen: Andrew Brummer is a first generation South African immigrant who built everything through demonstrated capability, no institutional credential, no safety net, just disciplined thinking, honest service, and a refusal to perform certainty where it doesn't exist.
• 1:15
  Jeanne Andersen: In 2024, after nearly a decade invested in a single organization, he reached an inflection point.
• 1:21
  Jeanne Andersen: He chose not to react.
• 1:22
  Jeanne Andersen: He chose to respond.
• 1:24
  Jeanne Andersen: He… What followed wasn't a recovery.
• 1:26
  Jeanne Andersen: It was the most purposeful stretch of his professional life.
• 1:30
  Jeanne Andersen: Today he serves as COO at Industry Technologies, co-founder at Verithai, and CEO of My Story Told.
• 1:38
  Jeanne Andersen: He mentors founders, coaches executives, has worked across four continents, and is the author of two books.
• 1:45
  Jeanne Andersen: Know as the Business Polygraph… Known as the Business Polygraph, he helps leaders hear what their organizations are already telling them before small things become big problems.
• 1:56
  Jeanne Andersen: Andrew, hello and welcome to Project Candor.
• 1:59
  Jeanne Andersen: I'm so glad you're here.
• 1:59
  Andrew Brummer: Thank you so much.
• 1:59
  Andrew Brummer: I got a Schultz in that introduction, but I appreciate you.
• 2:02
  Andrew Brummer: Thank you for having me here.
• 2:06
  Jeanne Andersen: Well, um, what we do first here is we get started and get to know you a little bit by asking you some questions, and then we'll transition to our two truths and a lie towards the end of the show and see even more in-depth personal information about you.
• 2:22
  Jeanne Andersen: So are you ready to go?
• 2:23
  Andrew Brummer: Ready to go.
• 2:25
  Jeanne Andersen: Okay.
• 2:26
  Jeanne Andersen: So your mother's principle that life won't come to you, you have to go seek it, seems to have been woven into everything you've built.
• 2:34
  Jeanne Andersen: What did that look like growing up in South Africa, and when did the first understanding that you were going to have to build your own map?
• 2:44
  Andrew Brummer: Gosh.
• 2:45
  Andrew Brummer: So that's a deep question, so that's-- That one's not been thrown at me before.
• 2:48
  Andrew Brummer: Um, so- … I, when I was born, I had a, um, a, uh, um, a medical anomaly that needed to be dealt with, and I was different from all my friends, my families, everything.
• 3:02
  Andrew Brummer: So… And that forced me at a very young age, very, very young age, when my mom said to me, she taught me, she just every day she drummed it into me and said, "People around you, you, you're never gonna be able to change what you look like.
• 3:15
  Andrew Brummer: You're never gonna be able to change what you are.
• 3:17
  Andrew Brummer: Um, but you can, you can decide how what other people are saying affects you and how that influences what you are tomorrow.
• 3:25
  Andrew Brummer: And you get to decide every day if you're going to allow the words that were thrown at you yesterday to influence what you are today." Um, so at a very young age, that was drilled into me, um, through love, care, and compassion, just to help me realize there were some realities around me that were never gonna change, and I could allow them to influence me, um, or I could take charge of my life and define that trajectory, define that path.
• 3:47
  Andrew Brummer: And that path definition started at a very young age.
• 3:50
  Andrew Brummer: It was very rough.
• 3:51
  Andrew Brummer: A lot of, lot of ch- trials and challenges through it, um, as most people have had some really deep challenges when they were younger.
• 3:59
  Andrew Brummer: Um, and it forced me to live in a different way.
• 4:03
  Andrew Brummer: It forced me to be very aware of people, very situationally aware, risk aware, safety aware, people aware, agendas, um, verbal violence, physical vi- physical violence.
• 4:14
  Andrew Brummer: Just, it taught me just to be super aware and to decide just every day, it didn't matter what happened yesterday, today was a brand new day.
• 4:20
  Andrew Brummer: Today you lived it and you loved it, and you, you looked at the morning sunrise and you looked at and it was beautiful every day, and you just decide, "What am I gonna do?" And let's get going.
• 4:30
  Jeanne Andersen: Yeah.
• 4:31
  Jeanne Andersen: That's amazing.
• 4:32
  Jeanne Andersen: I like your mom already.
• 4:34
  Jeanne Andersen: She sounds wonderful.
• 4:35
  Jeanne Andersen: And what did you say to me when we first got on the call this morning?
• 4:40
  Jeanne Andersen: You remember?
• 4:41
  Andrew Brummer: Yes, another day in paradise.
• 4:42
  Andrew Brummer: Living life-
• 4:42
  Jeanne Andersen: Yes.
• 4:44
  Jeanne Andersen: … Andrew Brummer: it's all a state You know?
• 4:46
  Jeanne Andersen: You're, you're in places and you gotta decide where you're at and, and, and it is what you make of it.
• 4:51
  Jeanne Andersen: Right.
• 4:51
  Jeanne Andersen: Except for when you told me where you live, so then I was like, "Oh, I thought you were down here in Florida with me."
• 4:57
  Andrew Brummer: It's a beautiful day here in Atlanta.
• 5:00
  Andrew Brummer: Mm. There's no breeze.
• 5:01
  Andrew Brummer: Up north, apparently the pollen is running crazy, but it's fine today.
• 5:04
  Andrew Brummer: It's a beautiful day today.
• 5:05
  Jeanne Andersen: Oh, right.
• 5:06
  Jeanne Andersen: The pollen.
• 5:07
  Jeanne Andersen: Ugh.
• 5:07
  Jeanne Andersen: The Tree City is what I call it, the Tree City.
• 5:10
  Andrew Brummer: Oh, gosh, the allergy city.
• 5:12
  Andrew Brummer: My gosh.
• 5:14
  Jeanne Andersen: Well, you know, it's so funny when you say that you had to build your own map.
• 5:18
  Jeanne Andersen: I've always had, um, a quote that I do is that I wasn't born to follow a map, I was born to draw it my own, and that's, I kinda go along with that too.
• 5:27
  Jeanne Andersen: Yep.
• 5:27
  Jeanne Andersen: I, I think your mom is so right about, you know, you have to learn to live with yourself because my parents also told me the one person you can never get away from is yourself.
• 5:38
  Jeanne Andersen: Yep.
• 5:38
  Jeanne Andersen: So you better love yourself.
• 5:41
  Andrew Brummer: Yeah, you gotta love yourself.
• 5:42
  Andrew Brummer: You get to look in the mirror every morning.
• 5:44
  Andrew Brummer: It's, it's my interview open, when I interview people, it's my opening question.
• 5:48
  Andrew Brummer: Like when I wake up every morning, I get to see this pretty face.
• 5:51
  Andrew Brummer: Yay.
• 5:51
  Andrew Brummer: I get to reflect on who I am and what I've done and achieved in life.
• 5:55
  Andrew Brummer: When, when you wake up, what is your spouse or your partner, what do you see in the mirror?
• 5:59
  Andrew Brummer: What, what reflects back at you?
• 6:01
  Andrew Brummer: There's no, there's no wrong
• 6:02
  Jeanne Andersen: answer.
• 6:03
  Jeanne Andersen: I have to admit, I have to admit a tired face usually, but what were you gonna say?
• 6:07
  Andrew Brummer: There's no wrong answer.
• 6:08
  Andrew Brummer: It's all about- Yeah … kinda hitting a pause button and saying, "What is your frame?
• 6:12
  Andrew Brummer: What's your state of mind?
• 6:13
  Andrew Brummer: Where are you at?
• 6:13
  Andrew Brummer: How do you, how do you view life?
• 6:15
  Andrew Brummer: Are you kinda trying to play catch up the whole time, or are you busy driving what happens to you today?"
• 6:20
  Jeanne Andersen: Yeah, exactly.
• 6:22
  Jeanne Andersen: That's fantastic.
• 6:23
  Jeanne Andersen: I like it.
• 6:24
  Jeanne Andersen: So, uh, you got a good, um, state of mind from the, the very early years.
• 6:30
  Jeanne Andersen: I mean, that's, uh, with your mom.
• 6:32
  Jeanne Andersen: Yep.
• 6:32
  Jeanne Andersen: So in 2024, after nearly a decade invested in a single organization, something shifted.
• 6:39
  Jeanne Andersen: You describe choosing to respond rather than react, showing, slowing down just enough to think clearly before moving.
• 6:46
  Jeanne Andersen: So what was actually happening in that moment, and what made the difference between reacting and responding?
• 6:54
  Andrew Brummer: Um, so we can, we all get stuff thrown at us, and that was a pivot moment in March of '24 where a really close friend of mine and CEO of
• 7:02
  the company told me that: "Hey, you know, if we don't find investor money, we're probably gonna have to shut the company down." I got really scared very quickly.
• 7:10
  the company told me that: Um, at that stage, 53, um, 54, no degree.
• 7:15
  the company told me that: I had always served people, and I'd always helped other people be successful, but I did not look after myself.
• 7:21
  the company told me that: Relationships, brand.
• 7:23
  the company told me that: I just, I just, just didn't.
• 7:24
  the company told me that: I was comfortable in doing, and I loved doing what I did.
• 7:27
  the company told me that: So that was tough.
• 7:28
  the company told me that: That was really tough.
• 7:29
  the company told me that: So I could have allowed myself… I could have reacted and allowed myself to be the consequence of that moment.
• 7:36
  the company told me that: Um, and I could have then, as a result of allowing myself to be the consequence of that moment, pled the victim.
• 7:41
  the company told me that: I could have played the victim- Hmm … allowed myself to be the victim.
• 7:45
  the company told me that: And just as a way of life, again, courtesy of my mom, I just choose not to live like that.
• 7:50
  the company told me that: I choose to say, I am faced with something that's really tough.
• 7:53
  the company told me that: I need to allow myself to experience the anger, the hurt, the emotion, the love, the hate.
• 7:58
  the company told me that: Just allow all of that energy to exude through me.
• 8:02
  the company told me that: Um, and I just, I have a, I have a gift, and not everyone can do the w- do it the way I do.
• 8:06
  the company told me that: We all have our own ways in which we do it.
• 8:08
  the company told me that: Um, you know, I went to sleep that night, woke up the next morning and got cracking.
• 8:13
  the company told me that: I got figuring out what do I do?
• 8:15
  the company told me that: How do I sort this problem out?
• 8:16
  the company told me that: Two days later, I had a plan in place and I was act- actioning and I was volunteering.
• 8:21
  the company told me that: Um, and I chose to act.
• 8:23
  the company told me that: I chose to do something about it versus sit and wait for, I don't know, some pixel dust to be sprinkled on me for
• 8:31
  Jeanne Andersen: something- … to come
• 8:31
  Andrew Brummer: out.
• 8:31
  Andrew Brummer: You know, I- Hmm … I, I really, I, I, it's, it's a decision to move forward.
• 8:37
  Andrew Brummer: It's a decision to take ownership of what you've got and know that only you're gonna solve the challenges you're facing.
• 8:43
  Jeanne Andersen: Wow.
• 8:44
  Andrew Brummer: Well, that was good.
• 8:44
  Andrew Brummer: And I've been able to do that really quickly with a lot of things.
• 8:46
  Andrew Brummer: I can-- When I get into sticky situations, I kinda deal with it, allow the despair and the, the hopelessness to, to allow myself.
• 8:54
  Andrew Brummer: I give myself the grace of going through all of that.
• 8:56
  Andrew Brummer: I'm very kind with myself.
• 8:57
  Andrew Brummer: It's, it's incredibly intense 'cause I do it in very short periods of time, um, very small windows, but it is dramatically intense, and then I'm through it, and then I allow myself to experience it.
• 9:07
  Andrew Brummer: I am very graceful with myself in those windows.
• 9:10
  Andrew Brummer: Um, and then I hold myself accountable to action.
• 9:15
  Jeanne Andersen: Wonderful.
• 9:15
  Jeanne Andersen: So what was that company you were with that was… Well, what were you doing?
• 9:20
  Andrew Brummer: I was the COO.
• 9:21
  Andrew Brummer: Um, the company was a health and wellness tech provider, wearable tech provider, and I was the COO.
• 9:27
  Jeanne Andersen: Wearable tech?
• 9:28
  Jeanne Andersen: Mm-hmm.
• 9:29
  Jeanne Andersen: Oh, interesting, 'cause I, I, I was in a, a group at IBM that did a lot of, uh, emerging technology, and some of it was wearable medical tech.
• 9:39
  Jeanne Andersen: Um, what was… What were you guys manufacturing?
• 9:43
  Andrew Brummer: Um, it was more in, um, uh, health and wellness, where we were using the wearable tech to pick up that you were going to have, for example, cardiac arrest or you were s- had sepsis or your, your physi- there was something physiologically wrong with you.
• 9:57
  Andrew Brummer: Or we could predict what your age span, your lifespan was.
• 10:00
  Andrew Brummer: We could pick up what you were doing today and what impact it was having on your physiology for tomorrow.
• 10:05
  Andrew Brummer: So fantastic solution set.
• 10:06
  Andrew Brummer: Just a really, really good solution set.
• 10:08
  Andrew Brummer: But in, in, in a crowded market, in an investor down cycle in'23, the investor down cycle hit.
• 10:15
  Andrew Brummer: In '20, 2020, there was a great up cycle of investment money.
• 10:20
  Andrew Brummer: In '23- Mm-hmm … it's just, it's collapsed.
• 10:22
  Andrew Brummer: Um, and it has not yet recovered.
• 10:23
  Andrew Brummer: It's still sitting in a very, ve- very low investment yield window, um, which made it really tough for a lot of startups.
• 10:31
  Jeanne Andersen: Well, I think there… I, I do know, um, there are devices now for diabetes, um, that you can wear.
• 10:39
  Jeanne Andersen: Um- Yep … I see, you know, friends wearing them.
• 10:42
  Jeanne Andersen: They've explained them to me, where the, you know, checks what your sugar levels are and then beeps.
• 10:48
  Jeanne Andersen: But I, I don't know about the other stuff you're talking about.
• 10:50
  Jeanne Andersen: That, and I saw some Apple device stuff, but it, it, you know, you were moving into sort of like the Star Trek tricorder.
• 10:57
  Jeanne Andersen: I'm waiting for that.
• 10:58
  Jeanne Andersen: Like, go to the doctor, shh.
• 11:01
  Jeanne Andersen: Okay.
• 11:01
  Jeanne Andersen: Yeah.
• 11:01
  Jeanne Andersen: Everything's… Well
• 11:03
  Andrew Brummer: put.
• 11:04
  Andrew Brummer: The, the really cool thing about the tech is you're able to pick up- The, the age old problem is how do you take identical twins, I mean absolute identical twins, and one ends up with COPD and dies at 55 years old, and the other lives to 85 years old.
• 11:21
  Andrew Brummer: Why?
• 11:22
  Jeanne Andersen: Right.
• 11:23
  Andrew Brummer: That's, that's lifestyle.
• 11:24
  Andrew Brummer: And when you can catch human behavior and you can catch cause and effect, and you can catch that on a persistent long-term basis, that changes everything.
• 11:32
  Andrew Brummer: 'Cause you c- you can now understand what you're eating, what you're doing, when you're not sleeping, when you're drinking.
• 11:37
  Andrew Brummer: You can understand all of those, those causal effects, and the technology now allows you to see in the transient moments of what you're doing to your physiology.
• 11:47
  Andrew Brummer: You can actually see the physiological effects of not sleeping, of drinking too much, of eating too much, of not exercising, and of the complete opposite.
• 11:54
  Andrew Brummer: You can see it immediately.
• 11:56
  Andrew Brummer: So now you… The technology is no longer at a point where you have to go to the doctor to kinda get your general health and wellness.
• 12:02
  Andrew Brummer: It's at a point that it can get very granular.
• 12:04
  Andrew Brummer: Now there's a lot of tech out there that says it does it.
• 12:06
  Andrew Brummer: Um, very little of it out there actually does it.
• 12:10
  Jeanne Andersen: Yeah.
• 12:10
  Jeanne Andersen: I was looking at the new, new application on the Apple Watch, and I, I can't see that it would be uh, giving me much.
• 12:19
  Jeanne Andersen: But I mean, it's a start in the right direction, but I, I think, yeah.
• 12:22
  Jeanne Andersen: Yeah.
• 12:23
  Jeanne Andersen: That it would be great if, if you guys had had funding and could move that forward.
• 12:27
  Jeanne Andersen: Are you still- Yeah … doing that work?
• 12:29
  Andrew Brummer: Uh, no, I'm no longer, um, engaged with the company.
• 12:32
  Andrew Brummer: The, the company continues, but in October of 25… four, October of'24, I s- I, uh Yeah, absolutely
• 12:43
  Jeanne Andersen: You struck out on your own.
• 12:45
  Andrew Brummer: I, I exited out of the company completely.
• 12:49
  Jeanne Andersen: Okay.
• 12:50
  Jeanne Andersen: Well, it's an interesting concept, so- Mm… we'll just move to the next question.
• 12:54
  Jeanne Andersen: Uh, you talked openly about sacrificing personal brand, finances, and advancement to serve the people around you.
• 13:01
  Jeanne Andersen: At some point, there's a cost to that kind of generosity.
• 13:04
  Jeanne Andersen: When did you feel that cost, and what did you ask yourself to reckon about how you've been operating?
• 13:13
  Andrew Brummer: So I've felt that cost through most of my life.
• 13:15
  Andrew Brummer: Um, at a career cost perspective, I've seen people progress around me and get to notoriety and have the big equity IPO kind of financial event or career events.
• 13:26
  Andrew Brummer: Um, and I've been comfortable- Mm… 'cause I enjoyed doing what I was doing.
• 13:29
  Andrew Brummer: I enjoy being that servant.
• 13:30
  Andrew Brummer: I enjoyed, I, I really enjoy helping people and helping find challenges.
• 13:34
  Andrew Brummer: Um, there's a kind of a clock realization when you get to the point, you realize, well, geez, I'm through my 50s now, and you have very few years now to get yourself ready for retirement.
• 13:44
  Andrew Brummer: Um, and you-- So it's more of a i-if, if it wasn't for the age clock where you've got to look in the mirror and you have to start saying to yourself, "What are you gonna do for retirement?" I probably would've carried on doing it the way I was doing it, 'cause I was having fun.
• 13:57
  Andrew Brummer: I, I enjoyed it.
• 13:58
  Andrew Brummer: Um, but I did have the wake-up call, and that has, that, that's got me to, to a shakeup, and now moving things forward really nicely and very aggressively.
• 14:06
  Andrew Brummer: So, and as you said out through the intro, um, I've grown more in the last two years in my career, my growth, my value, the people, the impact I can have.
• 14:16
  Andrew Brummer: I'm a very broad generalist.
• 14:18
  Andrew Brummer: I'm a very, very… I've got very deep business operations exposure, business, um, investor, sales, numbers, go-to-markets.
• 14:26
  Andrew Brummer: So I'm a, I, I, and I've done development.
• 14:28
  Andrew Brummer: I've done all of the things.
• 14:30
  Andrew Brummer: You know, I've done a hell of a lot in, in companies.
• 14:32
  Andrew Brummer: So I'm at a really good inflection point of being able to be very, very use-useful for startups, founders, small companies, um, executives that are going through pivots and that sort of stuff.
• 14:42
  Andrew Brummer: And AI is my digital partner.
• 14:44
  Andrew Brummer: It's my, it's my thinking partner, and it, I use it to maximize me in every possible way I can.
• 14:50
  Jeanne Andersen: Oh, yeah, I, I love my AI tools.
• 14:55
  Jeanne Andersen: But they're like my friends now because, uh, podcaster is a lonely kind of endeavor.
• 15:02
  Jeanne Andersen: So I've named them all, even though they have their own names.
• 15:05
  Jeanne Andersen: Oh, I love it.
• 15:07
  Jeanne Andersen: I love it.
• 15:08
  Jeanne Andersen: Well, you're, you're just, um… You bring up a lot of, of very interesting things.
• 15:13
  Jeanne Andersen: Um, when you say you help other, uh, founders and things, do you-- Is that through a, a separate business that you've started, or just in a coaching role, or how do you-
• 15:26
  Andrew Brummer: So multiple find these people?
• 15:28
  Andrew Brummer: Multiple.
• 15:28
  Andrew Brummer: I first got involved in it through PushFar and ADP List.
• 15:33
  Andrew Brummer: They're websites that you can go to to make yourself available to coach and mentor other people.
• 15:38
  Andrew Brummer: That then got me into the startup community, um, and I then- Okay … got into, inside of the Atlanta area, Tie Atlanta and Access Foundations.
• 15:47
  Andrew Brummer: Following that, I got involved in Europe, Lift, the CBE program, so I got involved in a whole bunch of startups and then participated in a lot of the incubators where I was working, would go to and just listen to startups and then just try and help anyone that I could.
• 16:00
  Andrew Brummer: And that then is where I learned, in helping people, that there was no intent or possibility of people paying me or giving me anything or even rewarding me outside of just saying, "Andrew, thanks for your time." Um, I learned a hell of a lot about what I am very, very good at, where my skills exceed, and where my value proposition is, and how I can help and how I can draw people out.
• 16:23
  Andrew Brummer: Um, and it just all coincided with who I am as a human being, just serving and pleasing and looking after and helping other people, and it helped me really focus my mantra.
• 16:34
  Jeanne Andersen: Oh, that sounds wonderful.
• 16:35
  Jeanne Andersen: I, I know a couple organizations in Atlanta.
• 16:38
  Jeanne Andersen: I'll have to send you an email about it.
• 16:40
  Andrew Brummer: Oh, I'd love it.
• 16:40
  Andrew Brummer: Yeah, absolutely.
• 16:41
  Jeanne Andersen: Um, so we'll move on to the next question, even though you bring up a whole lot in my mind, but, uh, I better focus.
• 16:49
  Jeanne Andersen: Uh, you described yourself as a natural introvert who learned to show up fully for strangers from Iraq to Botswana, India to Venezuela.
• 16:59
  Jeanne Andersen: What did you have to understand about yourself before that became possible?
• 17:06
  Andrew Brummer: Just burn my fingers.
• 17:07
  Andrew Brummer: Just get out there and start doing.
• 17:09
  Andrew Brummer: I, I think as soon as-- What's fascinating about helping other people is it changes the whole lens in which you view your life experiences.
• 17:20
  Andrew Brummer: It, it changes the whole dynamics around it.
• 17:22
  Andrew Brummer: It, it moves the goalpost, move-- It changes the, the rules of the game.
• 17:27
  Andrew Brummer: And when that becomes self-apparent to oneself, where one is actually seeing what one is doing for other people, I think it's, it, it was, it was a natural causal effect that took place.
• 17:36
  Andrew Brummer: I can't say there was any one moment that it, that it started happening.
• 17:40
  Andrew Brummer: I just found that in-- What, what was fascinating is it doesn't matter whether you are in the country Georgia, Iraq, Brazil, Venezuela- Mm-hmm Botswana, Nigeria, India, Australia.
• 17:52
  Andrew Brummer: What's fascinating is we're all striving for the same thing: purpose, identity, value, and being able to do something bigger and greater.
• 18:00
  Andrew Brummer: We're all striving for it, no matter where you are.
• 18:02
  Andrew Brummer: How we do it culturally in, in different countries, that's, that's amazing.
• 18:06
  Andrew Brummer: It's just, it's incredible how we can have such a common purpose-driven life towards being purposeful, being valued, being relevant, being impactful.
• 18:17
  Andrew Brummer: But how we culturally execute on that is fundamentally different between countries.
• 18:22
  Andrew Brummer: So it's, it's fascinating to see that we're all after the same outcome, but how it, um, presents itself, how we live it is completely different.
• 18:32
  Jeanne Andersen: How did you end up with that variety of places?
• 18:34
  Jeanne Andersen: Just, well, and you mentioned even more when you're in your answer.
• 18:37
  Jeanne Andersen: So how do you, how do you connect across all of those wild countries?
• 18:41
  Andrew Brummer: Website.
• 18:41
  Andrew Brummer: So two great websites I stumbled across, um, pushfar, um, .org- Mm-hmm … and ADP-- or push-- and ADP List.
• 18:49
  Andrew Brummer: And for those in America, it's not the ADP that you're thinking of.
• 18:52
  Andrew Brummer: It's ADP List.
• 18:53
  Andrew Brummer: It's actually a mentoring website.
• 18:55
  Andrew Brummer: And you can go on there- Mm-hmm put your profile up there and start support-- start volunteering.
• 18:59
  Andrew Brummer: And you make yourself available, and people from around the globe will reach out to you and say, "I'm looking for a job.
• 19:04
  Andrew Brummer: I wanna go study.
• 19:05
  Andrew Brummer: I wanna open my company.
• 19:07
  Andrew Brummer: I'm trying to figure out how to deal in a, uh…" You know, in Botswana I was dealing with a lady, she was in a, in an engineering plant, a power man- power in-- a power plant.
• 19:17
  Andrew Brummer: And she was-- had males all the way around her and she didn't know how to deal with male ego.
• 19:21
  Andrew Brummer: Um, and walk-- And, and she reached out.
• 19:24
  Andrew Brummer: Uh, and, uh, you got these people that really want to learn.
• 19:27
  Andrew Brummer: They want to do something different.
• 19:29
  Andrew Brummer: They could never afford what we're, what, what we would charge in the US.
• 19:33
  Andrew Brummer: Um, they could never afford the access to it.
• 19:36
  Andrew Brummer: And those two platforms just put me around the globe.
• 19:39
  Jeanne Andersen: Oh, wow.
• 19:40
  Jeanne Andersen: I think that's fantastic.
• 19:41
  Jeanne Andersen: It's fantastic.
• 19:42
  Jeanne Andersen: I, I'm gonna have to check those sites out.
• 19:44
  Jeanne Andersen: Mm-hmm.
• 19:44
  Andrew Brummer: And I'd recommend anyone, if you are trying to figure out kind of what your value prop is, bring AI on and everything that's ahead of us as, as a, as a hu-human race, as hu- as a, as humanity, what's ahead of us.
• 19:56
  Andrew Brummer: Get involved in volunteering.
• 19:58
  Andrew Brummer: Get-- Start sharing your knowledge, your wisdom, your insights, your life lessons.
• 20:02
  Andrew Brummer: There are people out there that can do with your, with your kind words.
• 20:06
  Jeanne Andersen: Oh, wow.
• 20:07
  Jeanne Andersen: I, I really appreciate that information because I've been looking for that kind of avenue, but it seemed overwhelming, um- Yeah to find the people that I could help or mentor.
• 20:17
  Jeanne Andersen: I mean, the US is just, everybody's so busy, rat race- Yep … running around.
• 20:23
  Jeanne Andersen: And
• 20:23
  Andrew Brummer: the world is.
• 20:24
  Andrew Brummer: You know, I-- Coaching across all of the globe, you just realize everybody's in a rat race.
• 20:30
  Andrew Brummer: Everybody's running as fast as their brain will allow them to run.
• 20:33
  Andrew Brummer: So everybody's trying.
• 20:35
  Andrew Brummer: And the key, the, the question is, do you have the cycles, the energy, and the time?
• 20:39
  Andrew Brummer: Are you-- Is there, is it now the time for you to kind of find out what your fiber is?
• 20:43
  Andrew Brummer: What are you really made of?
• 20:44
  Andrew Brummer: What are you?
• 20:45
  Andrew Brummer: What's your- W- a-as we progress as a, as a society, as we face the next five, 10 years with AI ahead of us, where do you s-step in?
• 20:54
  Andrew Brummer: Are you a consequence of what happens to us, or are you the person that helps people cross the bridge-ges that are ahead of us?
• 21:03
  Jeanne Andersen: Oh, nice.
• 21:04
  Jeanne Andersen: I, uh, there's that word again you used, cycles.
• 21:07
  Jeanne Andersen: I wonder how many people out there… I'm not gonna even say more, but I wonder how many people know what it means to have enough cycles.
• 21:16
  Andrew Brummer: Giving my age away.
• 21:18
  Jeanne Andersen: Me too.
• 21:20
  Jeanne Andersen: So, uh, I'm gonna move on to another question.
• 21:23
  Jeanne Andersen: My story told came out of watching a pattern repeat, people with genuinely valuable experience but no process to make it permanent.
• 21:32
  Jeanne Andersen: Where did that recognition come from, and what does it mean to you that the stories people carry deserve to outlast them?
• 21:39
  Andrew Brummer: So, um, when I wrote this book, "You Decide," um, I used AI to help me write it.
• 21:44
  Andrew Brummer: And when I wrote it, it was a big no-no.
• 21:47
  Andrew Brummer: No, everyone is… And still today, a lot of people are like, "Don't use AI, don't use AI." And the, the reason people said, "Don't use AI," is 'cause of AI slop.
• 21:54
  Andrew Brummer: Um, you just get people that don't think, they don't curate, they don't drive, they don't use AI as a thought partner.
• 22:00
  Andrew Brummer: They're just using AI to create stuff.
• 22:03
  Andrew Brummer: And that turns out to be AI, um, slop.
• 22:06
  Andrew Brummer: What I did is I wrote this book and that, and then I met a business advisor and he said to me, "Can, can you systemize your process that you used to write that book?" I thought, yeah, I think I can.
• 22:17
  Andrew Brummer: And I didn't realize what I was putting together.
• 22:20
  Andrew Brummer: Um, what I ended up putting together for those-- So for those who love writing, what I'm about to run through is not in any way meant to affront to that, change that, or diminish that, or even end that life cycle.
• 22:32
  Andrew Brummer: There are a lot of other stories out there where the people don't have the time, the money, the knowledge, the inclination or the energy or the time left in their life to write the book that they're after.
• 22:42
  Andrew Brummer: A lot of people don't know how.
• 22:44
  Andrew Brummer: They don't know.
• 22:45
  Andrew Brummer: And if you say to them, "Just go on a course," they, they will back out of it and error on not writing a story.
• 22:50
  Andrew Brummer: Give you some examples of stories I'm busy working on right now.
• 22:53
  Andrew Brummer: So I've learned how to leverage AI, and My Story Told does this.
• 22:56
  Andrew Brummer: Um, leverage AI to help me in a very tightly governed, non-hallucinatory manner write your stories.
• 23:03
  Andrew Brummer: I'm working with a 84-year-old lady.
• 23:07
  Andrew Brummer: She has journaled all her life from 14, 15 years old.
• 23:09
  Andrew Brummer: She's journaled all her life.
• 23:11
  Andrew Brummer: Um, she wants to take that journal and write a family story for how her family came to be for her children, her grandchildren, and her great-grandchildren, so that they have a journey of life.
• 23:22
  Andrew Brummer: They have an understanding of how they are, why they are, where they come from, their history.
• 23:26
  Andrew Brummer: What better way for me to take the knowledge, the life that has already been earned, the life that has already been lived, to digitize that and then convert that into a story.
• 23:36
  Andrew Brummer: So it isn't just a run of facts, but turn it into a story that tells a… That has a story arc in it, that tells the journey of her, her life with her children, the love, the hate, the hurt, the pain, the kids, the rebellion, the fighting, the celebrations, the just all of that and putting that.
• 23:53
  Andrew Brummer: I mean, what way, what better way to help somebody tell their story?
• 23:57
  Andrew Brummer: And if she doesn't tell her story, her story will die with her.
• 23:59
  Andrew Brummer: Right.
• 24:00
  Andrew Brummer: And she's never going to write a book.
• 24:02
  Andrew Brummer: She's never gonna have the money or the time, the energy, the inclination to go write that detailed book.
• 24:06
  Andrew Brummer: So if I can use the technology to help her write a book, and I've written books for people where they've picked up the book and they're like just in tears, and they're like, "How did you get this right?
• 24:16
  Andrew Brummer: How did you get this to be s- to be me?
• 24:18
  Andrew Brummer: How did… This is me.
• 24:19
  Andrew Brummer: Th- this is, this is me.
• 24:21
  Andrew Brummer: How did you do this?" That's nice.
• 24:23
  Andrew Brummer: Um, I've got people writing finance books.
• 24:26
  Andrew Brummer: Um, I've got a guy who's writing a finance books, giving me all his collateral, and inside of him giving me all his stuff, and we're busy organizing and everything.
• 24:33
  Andrew Brummer: There are three books to be written inside there.
• 24:34
  Andrew Brummer: So he's gonna go from an author to a multi-author, multi-book author.
• 24:38
  Andrew Brummer: I'm working with another lady who's been doing grief and depression counseling, um, for 15, 20 years of her life, and she wants to take that method that she knows that works.
• 24:48
  Andrew Brummer: She's 72 years old.
• 24:49
  Andrew Brummer: She wants to pass that on to other people.
• 24:51
  Andrew Brummer: What better way for me to take and use the technology to help tell her story that it can be, it can live past her dying, it can live in infamy.
• 24:59
  Andrew Brummer: So I say to people, I say to them Pick the person who was the closest to you that died the most recently.
• 25:08
  Jeanne Andersen: Mm.
• 25:08
  Andrew Brummer: What were they known for?
• 25:10
  Andrew Brummer: What are the stories of their life?
• 25:13
  Andrew Brummer: And if you don't wanna get that complex, when did you interact with them, and what, what do you remember about them interacting with you that made them memorable to you?
• 25:21
  Andrew Brummer: And if it's hazy for everyone listening to this, this, this podcast now, in three months' time it'll be hazier.
• 25:29
  Andrew Brummer: And to your generational kids and their kids, it's just a photograph in a, in an album that has no context to it.
• 25:37
  Andrew Brummer: So if we now have- Right … a way to help people leave their stories behind, to leave the path that they've trod, right?
• 25:43
  Andrew Brummer: We always… You, you say when you die, well, you're worried about you.
• 25:46
  Andrew Brummer: We're all working towards our legacy, but the story of you is more important than your legacy.
• 25:50
  Andrew Brummer: The story of the life you lived, that, that lives beyond you.
• 25:55
  Andrew Brummer: And if we now have a way to do that for people who would never traditionally write their book, we are now able to capture thousands of stories of people's lives.
• 26:04
  Andrew Brummer: It, it changes everything.
• 26:06
  Andrew Brummer: And I stumbled across it, got it working, and it's fascinating.
• 26:10
  Andrew Brummer: I'm humbled by the stories I get exposed to.
• 26:11
  Andrew Brummer: I'm humbled by the people I work with.
• 26:13
  Andrew Brummer: It is, it is absolute privilege to get exposed to, to the people, the stories, the energy, the love, the hurt, the tears.
• 26:22
  Andrew Brummer: It's fascinating being involved in that.
• 26:24
  Jeanne Andersen: Oh, wow.
• 26:25
  Jeanne Andersen: I think that is a great, great opportunity and a business for you to fill a hole or a gap- Yeah where, you know, people pass away and then their family goes, "Well, I don't know anything about my great-grandmother." I mean, ancestry's a big thing.
• 26:41
  Jeanne Andersen: Yeah.
• 26:41
  Jeanne Andersen: But the, when the people pass away, it, it used to be that… And, and this is, this is not telling my age, 'cause I don't remember this, but- … um, people used to record their family ancestry in their family Bible, right?
• 26:53
  Jeanne Andersen: And- Yep … that got thrown away, um, generations before me, but everybody, you know, could see who, um, who was your great-great-great-great grandfather.
• 27:03
  Jeanne Andersen: And it w- there was no doubt about it, 'cause it was documented.
• 27:07
  Jeanne Andersen: But now we're all on Ancestry trying to search and find, um, you know, what's my DNA makeup and, and since I know that, then w- who, what's my line going backwards to- Awesome do I go to England or do I go to- Awesome … Australia?
• 27:22
  Jeanne Andersen: Yeah.
• 27:22
  Andrew Brummer: And the beautiful part of it now is you don't need to sit behind a computer and type.
• 27:29
  Andrew Brummer: We've already- Right … got our content.
• 27:31
  Andrew Brummer: You've got your podcasts, you've got your papers, you've got your studies you've written, you've got your articles you've written, you've got your emails you've sent.
• 27:38
  Andrew Brummer: You've got all of this stuff already, and I've just found a way to take that, glue that together, and help you tell your story arc. Um, it's fascinating.
• 27:46
  Andrew Brummer: I mean, I've got this, this lady, 72 years old.
• 27:49
  Andrew Brummer: She's not, she, she's, she's not typing and creating content.
• 27:53
  Andrew Brummer: We're just consolidating what she already has to help her write probably six or seven books.
• 28:00
  Jeanne Andersen: Six or seven books?
• 28:02
  Jeanne Andersen: Wow Yeah.
• 28:03
  Andrew Brummer: Yeah, easy.
• 28:03
  Andrew Brummer: Plus course content, plus an instructor's guide.
• 28:05
  Andrew Brummer: I mean, it's just fascinating.
• 28:08
  Andrew Brummer: It, it is really is fascinating.
• 28:10
  Andrew Brummer: So for anyone who's got any recordings, any books, any journals, handwritten journals that you've been made, as long as we can recog- recognize the handwriting, um, anything that you've got can be turned into your story.
• 28:22
  Jeanne Andersen: Oh, nice.
• 28:23
  Jeanne Andersen: Oh yeah, that sounds really exciting.
• 28:26
  Jeanne Andersen: So, um, and you have a website for that and everything, um-
• 28:29
  Andrew Brummer: Yeah, mystorytold.ai.
• 28:32
  Jeanne Andersen: Okay Um, so, um, one, uh, last question I think.
• 28:39
  Jeanne Andersen: You talk about planting seeds that will grow into trees you'll never sit under.
• 28:43
  Jeanne Andersen: For someone in the middle of a hard stretch right now questioning whether the sacrifice is worth it, whether the service matters, what do you know that they might not be able to see yet?
• 28:54
  Andrew Brummer: Oh, I just got goosebumps as I think of this.
• 28:56
  Andrew Brummer: You just have no idea the veracity of the gifts that will be given to you through serving and helping.
• 29:03
  Andrew Brummer: Mm-hmm.
• 29:03
  Andrew Brummer: What comes back, it will take time, and it'll come in its own measure, and it'll come in its own quantity.
• 29:09
  Andrew Brummer: In the two years that I've been giving and giving and giving and giving, the rewards that I've received, the life, the lessons, the people, the friends, the love, the, the opportunities, um, I'm now working with seven companies to help them.
• 29:21
  Andrew Brummer: I'm a, I'm an interim, uh, operator.
• 29:25
  Andrew Brummer: Um, um, I have the privilege of working with seven AI companies now and helping them- … figure out how they build themselves, how they move themselves forward.
• 29:34
  Andrew Brummer: Um, I multi-thread quickly.
• 29:36
  Andrew Brummer: I multi-thread easily.
• 29:37
  Andrew Brummer: I, um, I, I wi- I bolt myself into things really easily.
• 29:41
  Andrew Brummer: I, I'm an operator, so I do.
• 29:43
  Andrew Brummer: I'm not just a COO.
• 29:44
  Andrew Brummer: I actually do the work.
• 29:45
  Andrew Brummer: I roll the sleeves up.
• 29:45
  Andrew Brummer: I'm, I'm an operator.
• 29:47
  Andrew Brummer: The… Just the blessings, the gifts, the lessons, the friends, they're immeasurable.
• 29:54
  Andrew Brummer: Uh, the, I mean, they are immeasurable.
• 29:56
  Andrew Brummer: In this, in the book, you decide I have got a life journey of everything that I've done, the people that I've met, and everything that has taken place for me.
• 30:06
  Andrew Brummer: And this now is old, I need to update it.
• 30:08
  Andrew Brummer: Um, it is a life journey.
• 30:10
  Andrew Brummer: On page 56, there's a life journey there with all the people- Mm … I've met, the things I've done, the people that have impacted my life, the lessons I've learned.
• 30:18
  Andrew Brummer: And it's fascinating when you do something like this and you can, you can literally jot the decisions, the people, the acts of kindness you do, and the causal consequence and what comes out of that at the end of the day.
• 30:32
  Andrew Brummer: It's, it's fascinating.
• 30:34
  Andrew Brummer: Uh- Oh, that's so nice … as tough as the last two years have been, and it's been really hard, um, knowing what I've learned out of it, I would go through it again in a hot minute, and I would've done it earlier in my life.
• 30:45
  Jeanne Andersen: Oh, nice.
• 30:46
  Jeanne Andersen: Well, I, um, I know that that's gonna be valuable for a lot of different people, but I don't even know when you show that list, I don't even know if I can remember all the people I've met and all the people that I've had an impact in my life.
• 30:59
  Jeanne Andersen: I should have had a journal, but I don't.
• 31:01
  Andrew Brummer: I, I will say I'm privileged 'cause this-- remember, this is now two years.
• 31:04
  Andrew Brummer: So the reason I have this is it's two-year life cycle.
• 31:07
  Andrew Brummer: Those-- That, that list there is published, that's probably about 12 or 15 months into that transitional window, the pivot window.
• 31:17
  Andrew Brummer: So they were very fresh in my mind, um, of where it-- So it was a very condensed window.
• 31:21
  Andrew Brummer: And remember, those are people that I did not know prior to March of 2020.
• 31:25
  Andrew Brummer: Oh,
• 31:25
  Jeanne Andersen: wow.
• 31:27
  Andrew Brummer: So these are people that have impacted my life more in the last 12 to 24 months than nearly anybody in my entire life.
• 31:37
  Andrew Brummer: And these people I didn't… It's cr- it's really important.
• 31:40
  Andrew Brummer: These people I did not know, and they had no reason to talk with me.
• 31:45
  Andrew Brummer: They had no reason.
• 31:46
  Andrew Brummer: I was a, I was invisible.
• 31:47
  Andrew Brummer: I was a ghost.
• 31:48
  Andrew Brummer: I was invisible.
• 31:49
  Andrew Brummer: They had no reason to engage with me, and just through serving, through giving, through engaging, through reaching out, through paying an interest in people, not selling myself, not asking pe- for people for dramatic versions of help or anything like that.
• 32:01
  Andrew Brummer: Mm-hmm.
• 32:02
  Andrew Brummer: Just giving, serving, giving, serving, giving, serving, giving, serving.
• 32:05
  Andrew Brummer: It's fascin- just as fascinating.
• 32:08
  Andrew Brummer: It has been an incredible experience.
• 32:11
  Jeanne Andersen: That sounds wonderful.
• 32:14
  Jeanne Andersen: Mm, okay, so you have been such a exciting guest on the show, and you've got so much great information.
• 32:20
  Jeanne Andersen: I know this is gonna be a wonderful episode, but now we have to transition to the signature game we play on Project Candor, so it's called Two Truths and a Lie.
• 32:30
  Jeanne Andersen: Mm. For those listening in, I'll give you the rules.
• 32:33
  Jeanne Andersen: Um, the guest, Andrew, has provided us with three headlines.
• 32:38
  Jeanne Andersen: Two of them are true, one of them is a lie, a twisted truth, or just an exaggeration, but, um, we don't know which one it is.
• 32:46
  Jeanne Andersen: So I'm gonna read them out.
• 32:48
  Jeanne Andersen: You guys can play along.
• 32:49
  Jeanne Andersen: I'm gonna guess which one I think is the lie, but then we're gonna let Andrew talk us through each of those stories and not reveal the lie until the very end.
• 32:57
  Jeanne Andersen: So, uh, here we go.
• 32:58
  Jeanne Andersen: I'm gonna share my screen so everyone can see.
• 33:02
  Andrew Brummer: This episode is sponsored by Rebel 180, the home of brave pivots and fresh starts.
• 33:08
  Andrew Brummer: Rebel 180 is all about helping you rediscover what's
• 33:11
  Jeanne Andersen: possible when you stop settling and start listening to that little tug inside that says, "Life can be different." Whether you're navigating a career shift, dreaming about a new direction, or standing at the crossroads wondering if it's time for your own 180 degree turn, Rebel 180 is a reminder you don't need permission to change your story.
• 33:33
  Jeanne Andersen: And now, as we open the door to our second sponsor, we're stepping into the world of tech.
• 33:38
  Jeanne Andersen: Simple SocketPrint, the lightweight, blazing fast label print solution designed for those who need reliability without the bloat.
• 33:46
  Jeanne Andersen: With version 1.5, you get instant printing in milliseconds, fully maintained print sequence, and automatic base 64 decoding, all without needing print driver installs.
• 33:57
  Jeanne Andersen: If you're running SQL Server 2016 or newer, Simple SocketPrint 1.5 drops right in and gets to work.
• 34:04
  Jeanne Andersen: Keep your workflow simple, keep your label printing fast with Simple SocketPrint.
• 34:09
  Jeanne Andersen: Thank you to our sponsors.
• 34:12
  Jeanne Andersen: So here's the headlines.
• 34:13
  Jeanne Andersen: I'll read them out.
• 34:14
  Jeanne Andersen: Number one, Andrew's first shark encounter wasn't as safe as it sounds.
• 34:19
  Jeanne Andersen: Blacktip reef shark.
• 34:21
  Jeanne Andersen: That doesn't sound… Any shark thing doesn't sound safe.
• 34:24
  Jeanne Andersen: Uh, during a family trip, mom's last travel holiday, everyone got COVID and were forced to off-board in Stockholm.
• 34:33
  Jeanne Andersen: And then number three, Andrew summited Ma- Mount Kenya in 1999.
• 34:40
  Jeanne Andersen: All right, I think… Excuse me, I have a cough, allergies.
• 34:45
  Jeanne Andersen: Um, I think the one that is a lie might be the summit in Mount Kenya, but I don't know for sure.
• 34:53
  Jeanne Andersen: Don't tell us.
• 34:54
  Jeanne Andersen: So just walk us through each of those stories.
• 34:58
  Andrew Brummer: So story number one, um, is, uh, I was, uh, scuba diving, um, in a lesson and we were in the Bahamas, busy scuba diving, and we were down on the, on the floor probably about 60 foot down, 50 foot down.
• 35:11
  Andrew Brummer: It was quite deep.
• 35:12
  Andrew Brummer: Um, and, uh, we were in between the reefs and the, and, and the, and the, the, the, the coral formations and everything like that.
• 35:21
  Andrew Brummer: And I had ha- had a 20, 22-year-old girl in front of me.
• 35:24
  Andrew Brummer: She was looking at me and off of her shoulder I saw two black, black, um, um, tiger sharks swim around.
• 35:32
  Andrew Brummer: So I looked at her and I gave her the shark sign and she turned around and the sharks are coming directly at us and, uh, and, um, she decided she was gonna bolt up so I grabbed her leg and I pulled her back down and the sharks veered off to the, off to the right.
• 35:47
  Andrew Brummer: Um, so that was- Oh,
• 35:48
  Jeanne Andersen: wow… Andrew Brummer: quite, quite Okay.
• 35:50
  Jeanne Andersen: So I didn't know there was a shark sign when you scuba dive.
• 35:54
  Jeanne Andersen: Yeah, so, um- You have to scuba dive with partners, right?
• 35:56
  Andrew Brummer: Yeah, yeah.
• 35:57
  Andrew Brummer: But I, but pr- yeah, I mean, I… That was my first and last scuba dive.
• 36:00
  Andrew Brummer: Those sharks kinda scared the living daylights out of me.
• 36:05
  Jeanne Andersen: Yeah.
• 36:06
  Jeanne Andersen: I don't know.
• 36:06
  Jeanne Andersen: Uh, yeah, w- I don't like to swim in the ocean because of sharks, stingrays, and jellyfish.
• 36:14
  Jeanne Andersen: Uh, I'm just… Yeah, but I don't camp either.
• 36:17
  Jeanne Andersen: My camping is at the Hilton or something.
• 36:20
  Jeanne Andersen: I love it.
• 36:21
  Jeanne Andersen: That's good.
• 36:22
  Jeanne Andersen: I know.
• 36:23
  Jeanne Andersen: I told, I told my husband the other day, "What happened to me?
• 36:26
  Jeanne Andersen: I grew up in a farm area.
• 36:27
  Jeanne Andersen: Why did I get so chicken about everything?" But I am now.
• 36:31
  Jeanne Andersen: Uh, but that sounds horrible.
• 36:35
  Jeanne Andersen: So what about number two?
• 36:37
  Andrew Brummer: So number two, um, um, this was in the tail end of COVID, so '23 timeframe around there.
• 36:44
  Andrew Brummer: And, uh, um, uh, my mom, um, was in, um, Ireland and we decided to do a family holiday.
• 36:54
  Andrew Brummer: It was gonna be her last travel holiday, 'cause as you, as you get older, travel insurances and those don't cover you and you absolutely need that as you're traveling- Mm'cause you just, you just never know.
• 37:03
  Andrew Brummer: So it became- Yeah … really difficult so we decided to do a cruise through the Baltics.
• 37:07
  Andrew Brummer: Um, and, uh, we got on at Copenhagen and, uh, that was great.
• 37:12
  Andrew Brummer: It was… We did a tour around there, got to see things and got… And everybody was super careful going in and we're all doing the mask thing and, and it was good and great.
• 37:21
  Andrew Brummer: You know, we did our, all our isolations and we did everything we could do to protect ourselves.
• 37:27
  Andrew Brummer: And then we're on the ship, and then, uh, my sister, um, came down with, uh, um… She looks at me and I could see she was feverish.
• 37:35
  Andrew Brummer: And she looked at me and we kinda looked at one another, and we're sitting at one of the game nights, and she looked at me and she's like And we kinda knew without saying, we're kinda like, "Oh, dear. Oh, dear." And, uh, we left it that night just to see if it was just, uh, just food or anything like that or s- um, and then the next morning she was not in a good place.
• 37:52
  Andrew Brummer: Um, and, uh, we did the test and my sister was, uh, positive for COVID, so they isolated her.
• 37:58
  Jeanne Andersen: Mm-hmm.
• 37:58
  Andrew Brummer: Um, and we tried to track down when she got it, and what ended up happening is, um, she ordered a table or a piece of furniture, and it got delivered, and it was too heavy for her to carry into the house alone, so the person that delivered carried it into the house, and that person is the person that infected her.
• 38:16
  Andrew Brummer: Um, anyway, long story short, my mom's on the boat and my mom comes down with it as well, and she gets ill And one thing the ships don't want is anyone passing on their ships.
• 38:25
  Andrew Brummer: So we got to Stockholm and, uh, and they off-boarded us, and that was crazy'cause we now went into Stockholm.
• 38:33
  Andrew Brummer: For those who have been there, it's a very expensive city.
• 38:35
  Andrew Brummer: And I'm like, "What the hell do I do with my mom?" Now I'm from the US, my sister stays with my mom in Ireland, and they wouldn't off-board her 'cause she was infected and they weren't allowed to off-board her.
• 38:44
  Andrew Brummer: But my mom they had to off-board.
• 38:46
  Andrew Brummer: And then they drove my mom away and off she went into hospital and I was like, "What the hell do I do now?" Oh, no.
• 38:53
  Andrew Brummer: So that was quite an ex- e- an experience and sadly that was… But graciously, I got to spend a lot of time with my mom because she was bedridden and it was, we were stuck in there, and back then you couldn't travel, right?
• 39:04
  Andrew Brummer: You had to do your 11 days testing and everything.
• 39:07
  Andrew Brummer: So we… Travel insurance and local insurances and everything, and EU insurances covered everything, so we were fine and we stayed in a hotel, and that was fantastic.
• 39:17
  Andrew Brummer: My mom loved it.
• 39:17
  Andrew Brummer: She goes, "It's better than the ship," because I got to s- she got to spend every day with me.
• 39:21
  Andrew Brummer: So she
• 39:22
  Jeanne Andersen: loved it.
• 39:22
  Jeanne Andersen: Oh, that's wonderful.
• 39:23
  Andrew Brummer: Yeah.
• 39:23
  Jeanne Andersen: Well, my husband is Swedish, born and raised, and but he's a Danish citizen, so I- Oh … go figure.
• 39:30
  Jeanne Andersen: It's his dad's, you know, um, ancestry, so he had to take his dad's-
• 39:35
  Andrew Brummer: Hmm
• 39:35
  Jeanne Andersen: um, citizenship.
• 39:37
  Jeanne Andersen: But anyway, Stockholm is not a bad place.
• 39:39
  Jeanne Andersen: It might be- No, it's beautiful… expensive, but- Beautiful, yeah… it's a great place to get stuck.
• 39:42
  Andrew Brummer: Yeah, beautiful.
• 39:43
  Jeanne Andersen: Mm. Yeah.
• 39:43
  Jeanne Andersen: Sweden
• 39:44
  Andrew Brummer: was amazing.
• 39:45
  Andrew Brummer: People friendly, just, just beautiful.
• 39:47
  Jeanne Andersen: They did, they deal with COVID pretty well in Sweden.
• 39:49
  Jeanne Andersen: They had some of the best, um, processes and-
• 39:53
  Andrew Brummer: Yep
• 39:53
  Jeanne Andersen: procedures, so that was a good place to go.
• 39:56
  Jeanne Andersen: My, uh, niece is a doctor in, um, Sweden as well.
• 40:00
  Jeanne Andersen: Not in Stockholm, but- Okay … anyway, I know they do well over there.
• 40:05
  Jeanne Andersen: So what about this Mount Kenya journey in 1999?
• 40:08
  Andrew Brummer: So, um, I have always been an active outdoor person.
• 40:12
  Andrew Brummer: I've done the Camel Trophy, I've done hiking, I've done mountain climbing, I've done stunt work.
• 40:17
  Andrew Brummer: I've, I've, uh, doubled for Bob Odoni Junior.
• 40:21
  Andrew Brummer: Um, I've jumped- What?
• 40:22
  Andrew Brummer: … off buildings.
• 40:23
  Andrew Brummer: Yeah, so fantastic.
• 40:24
  Andrew Brummer: And part of that journey was youth work and mountain climbing.
• 40:28
  Andrew Brummer: Um, I ran missionary camps and all that sort of stuff for the youth.
• 40:32
  Andrew Brummer: And we eventually got into, um, climbing and then we were like,"Okay, we need to go do a mountain." So we said, "All right, let's get this together." So in South Africa we have the Drakensberg Cliff Peak, um, quite a difficult if you're not used to it.
• 40:45
  Andrew Brummer: Um, it's quite, quite the interesting, challenging, and we're, we chose the hardest paths to get up there so that we were pushing the envelope of the group that were with us to make sure everybody could, could get up and look after themselves.
• 40:55
  Andrew Brummer: We figured out who the weak, the, um, weak, um, links in the chain were- Um, made sure we got training, tested all the gear and everything, and then we went and climbed and, uh, and we went and did, did the, you know, f- flying up to the region in a plane.
• 41:12
  Andrew Brummer: My first time in a, in a, in an airplane where there's a bolt on the wing.
• 41:16
  Andrew Brummer: I can… The whole flight, I could just see that bolt wriggling itself.
• 41:21
  Andrew Brummer: Like, so said, "Please plane, stay together, stay together, stay together," 'cause, you know.
• 41:25
  Jeanne Andersen: Oh, wow.
• 41:25
  Andrew Brummer: Anyway, now you know what you know, you know that bolt is irrelevant.
• 41:27
  Andrew Brummer: Um, and um, so it was great meeting the local culture and going up there.
• 41:34
  Andrew Brummer: We, um, we had, um, guides and sh- um, Sherpas, ca- bag carriers and that with us to make sure that, um, things were being done correctly and that we were okay.
• 41:44
  Andrew Brummer: Um, fascinating me- meeting the local culture and how local small little villagers and everything come together.
• 41:50
  Andrew Brummer: Um, and there were parts of the mountain where you, y- you kind of, you're on all fours.
• 41:55
  Andrew Brummer: There's a concept called pole pole, so slowly, slowly, which just means you, you go as fast as the slowest person.
• 42:01
  Andrew Brummer: Mm. And for anyone hiking, we know this.
• 42:03
  Andrew Brummer: Um, anyone doing anything like that, we know this.
• 42:04
  Andrew Brummer: You go as fast as the slowest person and if that slowest person is going too slow you have to extract them out of the group and get them down to safety.
• 42:11
  Andrew Brummer: Um, and there was a portion of it where it was like 3:00 in the morning.
• 42:16
  Andrew Brummer: It was pitch dark and we're going up these mountains and we're going, and we're going, and we're going and we're on all fours trying to get through and trying to get things.
• 42:24
  Andrew Brummer: Altitude sickness and all sorts of stuff messing around with you so your brain is not there.
• 42:28
  Andrew Brummer: And eventually the, the Sherpa looks at you and says, "You can stand up now 'cause you're on level ground." So, um- Your brain is just not there.
• 42:36
  Andrew Brummer: Your brain is just not there.
• 42:38
  Andrew Brummer: And then, uh, as you come up the summit there's a false summit so you think you've made the summit and you get there and it's a false summit and then you have to go up the actual summit.
• 42:47
  Andrew Brummer: Uh, it's another piece but beautiful.
• 42:49
  Andrew Brummer: I mean, ice sculptures, colors of blue you've never seen in your life before.
• 42:53
  Andrew Brummer: Just fascinating.
• 42:54
  Andrew Brummer: Um, and uh, summited.
• 42:56
  Andrew Brummer: Um, fantastic.
• 42:57
  Andrew Brummer: It was beautiful experience.
• 42:59
  Andrew Brummer: Um, yeah.
• 43:00
  Andrew Brummer: It was a wonderful experience- Oh, wonderful … being able to get, get there and, uh, and the journey and it was my first journal I did and it was first where you could measure the, the altitude and the barometer and everything like that so it was fascinating.
• 43:11
  Andrew Brummer: I've got all of the stuff I did for the, for what the, what the, what the experience was about.
• 43:17
  Jeanne Andersen: Wow.
• 43:17
  Jeanne Andersen: Yeah, that sounds exciting, except I'm just thinking, yeah, I can do it by drone.
• 43:23
  Jeanne Andersen: That's fine.
• 43:25
  Andrew Brummer: Yeah.
• 43:26
  Jeanne Andersen: Um, well, okay, so these are great at a… I, I picked three, but that sounded like you knew a whole lot about that one.
• 43:33
  Jeanne Andersen: So which one's supposed to be the lie?
• 43:35
  Andrew Brummer: Which one is the lie?
• 43:37
  Jeanne Andersen: Yes.
• 43:37
  Andrew Brummer: So the mountain was Mount Kilimanjaro, not Mount Kenya.
• 43:41
  Jeanne Andersen: That was all the lie was?
• 43:43
  Jeanne Andersen: Yeah.
• 43:43
  Jeanne Andersen: And you did all of that stuff?
• 43:44
  Jeanne Andersen: Yeah.
• 43:44
  Jeanne Andersen: Oh my gosh.
• 43:45
  Jeanne Andersen: That's exciting.
• 43:48
  Jeanne Andersen: Kilimanjaro, is it higher or lower than Kenya, Mount Kenya?
• 43:52
  Andrew Brummer: It's, it's about the same height.
• 43:53
  Andrew Brummer: I, I don't know exactly.
• 43:54
  Andrew Brummer: I think it's a little bit higher, but the, the, the Kenya's the technical.
• 43:58
  Andrew Brummer: It's a technically dif- difficult one.
• 44:00
  Andrew Brummer: It's actually a climb, whereas Kilimanjaro is more of a, more of a progressive hike.
• 44:05
  Andrew Brummer: So anyone- Oh … can hike Kilimanjaro.
• 44:07
  Andrew Brummer: Um, it's not a climb.
• 44:08
  Andrew Brummer: There are some difficult areas, but you're dealing more with your s- your endurance than you are technical difficulty.
• 44:16
  Andrew Brummer: We chose not to do Mount Kenya because there were people in our group that myself and the, and the guy that was pulling it together, we did not want to take accountability for their lives if, if, 'cause they were not coping through the, the difficult pieces in, uh, in Cleft Peak and in South Africa.
• 44:33
  Andrew Brummer: We, we chose not to.
• 44:35
  Andrew Brummer: We just looked at one another and said, "This is just too risky, you know, somebody's gonna die." Oh.
• 44:38
  Andrew Brummer: So we chose not to do Mount Kenya.
• 44:40
  Andrew Brummer: It's just more-- It's, it's a technical climb, whereas- Okay … Kilimanjaro is a hike
• 44:45
  Jeanne Andersen: Oh, okay.
• 44:46
  Jeanne Andersen: Well, I know only about Kilimanjaro from, um, Toto, the song Africa.
• 44:52
  Andrew Brummer: Oh, it's a lovely mo- mountain.
• 44:53
  Andrew Brummer: The people, the culture, everything is fascinating.
• 44:55
  Andrew Brummer: It's just such a… It was a great experience.
• 44:57
  Andrew Brummer: Great, great, great experience.
• 44:59
  Jeanne Andersen: Oh, wonderful.
• 45:01
  Jeanne Andersen: Um, well, it's been so fun having you on, and I want people to know how to get in touch with you, so I'm gonna slide down to here.
• 45:07
  Jeanne Andersen: And one thing is, and you already t- we already talked about your quote a little bit, "Plant seeds wherever you can that will grow trees that you will never sit under." Yeah.
• 45:15
  Jeanne Andersen: And I think that's a lovely quote from you.
• 45:18
  Andrew Brummer: Yeah.
• 45:19
  Andrew Brummer: And the easiest way to get hold of me outside all the, all the things, all the URLs here, just go to andrewbrummer.com.
• 45:26
  Jeanne Andersen: Oh, okay.
• 45:29
  Jeanne Andersen: And that was one that's not even on here.
• 45:31
  Jeanne Andersen: Yeah,
• 45:31
  Andrew Brummer: my apologies.
• 45:32
  Andrew Brummer: I didn't say it.
• 45:34
  Jeanne Andersen: My apologies.
• 45:34
  Jeanne Andersen: Oh, that's okay.
• 45:35
  Jeanne Andersen: Um, well, I really, um, you had a call to action too that you want, if you wanna transform your leadership approach or scale your organization, to contact you.
• 45:45
  Jeanne Andersen: Um, so I, I appreciate you being on the show.
• 45:49
  Jeanne Andersen: This has been fantastic.
• 45:50
  Jeanne Andersen: A great conversation with you.
• 45:52
  Jeanne Andersen: Yeah, thank you.
• 45:52
  Jeanne Andersen: And- It's been wonderful … yeah, I would love to have you on again sometime as you get going with My Story Told and other things- Yeah … you're doing.
• 45:59
  Jeanne Andersen: And thanks for the, um, other, uh, organ- the volunteer links that you gave or the mentoring links.
• 46:06
  Jeanne Andersen: That's wonderful.
• 46:07
  Jeanne Andersen: Absolutely.
• 46:07
  Jeanne Andersen: I'll try to put them in the show notes too if I can.
• 46:09
  Jeanne Andersen: On,
• 46:10
  Andrew Brummer: on the andrewbrummer.com, when you go there, it'll go to the arjunan.com website.
• 46:14
  Andrew Brummer: On there I'm, I've try and… It's not completely up to date, I'm busy rebuilding it right now, but my goal is I share anything that I've got, all the websites, all the URLs, places to go to, things to do, if you're pivoting, if you wanna get involved, if you're looking for startups, if you're looking to get involved with founders, if you're trying to volunteer or you're trying to pivot, kind of where to go if you're a generalist- Okay a specialist.
• 46:37
  Andrew Brummer: I'm just trying to make it as informative for people as possible.
• 46:40
  Jeanne Andersen: Okay.
• 46:41
  Jeanne Andersen: That sounds wonderful.
• 46:42
  Jeanne Andersen: Um, so anyway, for those listening, I hope you've enjoyed this episode, and please stay tuned, uh, for next week when we have another guest and a wonderful episode as well.
• 46:53
  Jeanne Andersen: But thank you, Andrew, again.
• 46:55
  Jeanne Andersen: For all the listeners, I, uh, this is from your Admiral of the Unexpected, Jeanne Andersen.
• 47:00
  Jeanne Andersen: I wish you all smooth sailing.
• 47:02
  Jeanne Andersen: Thank you.
• 47:02
  Jeanne Andersen: Bye for now.
• 47:08
  Jeanne Andersen: Thanks for joining me on Project Candor, where the doors are open, the stories are unexpected, and the treasure is always real.
• 47:15
  Jeanne Andersen: If today's episode made you laugh or think, follow the show and share it with your crew.
• 47:20
  Jeanne Andersen: Otherwise, I might just make you swab the deck.
• 47:24
  Jeanne Andersen: I'm Jeannie Andersen, your admiral of the unexpected.
• 47:28
  Jeanne Andersen: See you on the next voyage.