Latest / Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria Burgess / Servant Leadership | Episode #371
Transcript
- 0:21Hello, and welcome to today's show, Legacy Living, Make Your Life Count.
- 0:28I'm your host, Doctor Gloria Gloria Burgess, international leadership expert and trusted
- 0:37advisor. Welcome to Legacy Living, Make Your Life Count. I'm so delighted
- 0:46that you join me today. I have a very special guest with us today.
- 0:51Her name is Mary Bess Johnson. I hope you will be inspired by
- 0:56our conversation. Mary Bess is joining us today from her home in beautiful upstate
- 1:03South Carolina, where she lives with her husband, Chris. Mary Bess is
- 1:10an amazing person and most importantly, she is an inspiring woman of God.
- 1:18I can't wait for her to share her remarkable journey and story with you.
- 1:23In her own words, Mary Bess is on a journey, a journey of
- 1:30self growth. In twenty sixteen, she gave up retirement to join the John
- 1:38Maxwell team. At that time, her singular thought was all about helping others
- 1:44grow and fulfilling God's purpose for her own life. Now, Mary Bess has
- 1:49been helping individuals and organizations improve for decades, and she is passionate about encouraging
- 1:59and helping new team members on the John Maxwell team. There, she serves
- 2:05as a peer teaching partner and team leader on the President's Advisory Council. She
- 2:12says, this is the perfect way to live out my heart's desire to serve
- 2:16others. Mary Best not only enjoys serving on the John Maxwell team, she
- 2:23also enjoys being an entrepreneur, serving her clients, serving as a community volunteer,
- 2:30and offering humorous wisdom to her grandchildren, all seven of them. Today's
- 2:38topic is living a life of significance. Now that's a topic that is near
- 2:45and dear to my heart and I can't think of a better person, a
- 2:50better leader, a better human being to address this topic than Mary Bess.
- 2:57I met Mary Best several years ago when I was attending the International Maxwell Certification
- 3:04Conference in Orlando, Florida. When I met Mary Best, I just knew
- 3:08there was something very special about her. And when I had an opportunity to
- 3:14have a conversation with her, she spoke so passionately about her life, about
- 3:21her purpose. I mean, she was just glowing. So I can't wait
- 3:25to host this incredible, amazing and lovely human being, my friend, colleague
- 3:32and mentor, Mary Bess Johnson. Now, before I bring her on,
- 3:38I just want to take a moment to connect the dots between today's topic on
- 3:43living a life of significance and legacy living. Now, there are many ways
- 3:49that living a life of significance connects to legacy living, which you'll hear more
- 3:54about later. For now, just let me say that legacy living is a
- 3:59way of being, being, a way of living and moving through the world
- 4:02so that we make the conscious choice to be the difference we want to see
- 4:10in the world. We make that conscious choice right here and right now,
- 4:15not in some distant future way out there. Right. We make that conscious
- 4:20choice day in and day out, three sixty five, twenty four seven.
- 4:27Now, I'll say more about that later. Now, let me introduce you
- 4:32to my friend and colleague and mentor, Mary Bess. Hello, Mary Bess,
- 4:41I want to welcome you to my show and thank you so much for
- 4:45agreeing to be a guest. Could you just please say your name and where
- 4:48you're from for us. Yes, my name is Mary Bess Johnson and I
- 4:56live in Pendleton, South Carolina. It's in upstate Carolina. All right,
- 5:01excellent, Thank you and Mary Vess. I know that you have just a
- 5:06lot to share with us today, but I want to begin by asking you
- 5:11what does it mean to live in God's will for your life? For me,
- 5:19it means that I that I want to seek God's will for every move
- 5:29that I make and everything that I do, and knowing that I am just
- 5:34living to be the person that He intended me to be for one thing and
- 5:43to always Uh, it's not approval that I seek, No, no,
- 5:48it's not. It's just just just to be just to walk with the Lord
- 5:56and to be in his will. And because his will is perfect and his
- 6:01timing is perfect, and in as long as I am staying in that place,
- 6:10then it keeps the stress out and the strife and and everything that can
- 6:17that can you know, come from that that place of indecision or not knowing.
- 6:25There's so I find so much peace in knowing the Lord and having a
- 6:30personal relationship with Jesus. There's first of all, there's so much peace in
- 6:33that. And then because I want to live in God's will and being God's
- 6:41will, then it's just it's kind of like simple. I think sometimes we
- 6:46complicate it, but for me sometimes it's just like a simple thing. It's
- 6:50just like, hey, mayor Bess, you love the Lord, he loves
- 6:54you. Just walk with him. Yeah, and Mary bes it is simple.
- 7:01It's very simple because we're strong Christians, were very firm in our faith,
- 7:08and you know, sometimes people who are new to the faith, they
- 7:11really don't have a clue about what we're talking about. Yes, so can
- 7:15you just say a little bit more about what God's perfect timing is and being
- 7:20the person that God intended you to be? You know, Glory, I
- 7:25really appreciate that that you mentioned that, because I can remember many years ago
- 7:32if you had said those same words to me, I did wouldn't have a
- 7:35clue as to what you meant, not really, So until I really had
- 7:42started this personal relationship with Jesus, not just knowing about God, not just
- 7:48going to church, not all of that routine like I grew up doing.
- 7:57But when when it really got down to that real relationship and I realized that
- 8:05that God was just such a such a friend to me and that he had
- 8:09my best interests. Of course, you know I was. I'm created in
- 8:13his image. And even that's hard for some folks to understand, especially those
- 8:22who who maybe are new believers, and they're saying, how in the world
- 8:26can I be created in God's image? Well, you know what, because
- 8:30scripture tells us that, and that's how that's that's another part of the simplicity
- 8:37of it. But but for me, when when I have that love relationship
- 8:48that I feel with the Lord, I I just want it's like, well,
- 8:56let's see, I know, it's like parent child relationship. Maybe when
- 9:01the child and wants to please the parent. No, the child loves a
- 9:11parent. The child doesn't even have to think about whether they please the parent
- 9:16or not. I don't have to think about whether I please God or not.
- 9:22I love him, He loves me, and so staying close to him,
- 9:30I'm just so comfortable in knowing that, and then in staying in his
- 9:35will. Typically for me, if I'm getting out of God's will, oh
- 9:41I know it. I mean I'm going to start feeling really uncomfortable. And
- 9:46you know that's just that that Holy Spirit in me speaking to me. Yes.
- 9:52So you know, when you're in God's will because you're walking in joy,
- 9:56you're walking in peace, and when you get out of it, out
- 9:58of his well, you get something inside of you. Yeah, we're beside
- 10:05you. However that shows up for you, the Holy Spirit talking to you.
- 10:09Yeah, Yeah, very uncomfortable. It's just that it's that intuitive,
- 10:15that conviction that that I just know now that has developed over the years too.
- 10:24I mean that was not an instant thing with me, but I think
- 10:28just staying staying in God's word and even you know, music, any kind
- 10:39of praise, any kind of Christian music, from the old hymns that I've
- 10:43been singing all my life to contemporary Christian music, it's all. It all
- 10:50has saturated me through the years with God's word and the goodness and his girl
- 11:01Amen hallelujah. You know, I often think about where would we be without
- 11:07the Lord, and where would we be without his grace and mercy, And
- 11:11so knowing that you are walking with the Lord and listening and you know that
- 11:18He's ordering your steps is so significant. And we have been in the same
- 11:24organization, the John Maxwell Team, for a number of years. That's how
- 11:28we met. And I'm wondering, Mary Bess, if you could just share
- 11:31a little bit about what living a life of significance means to you. Well,
- 11:37first of all, I've got to tell the listening audience that Gloria was
- 11:41my table host when I attended my very first John Maxwell Team International Certification event,
- 11:50and that was in August of twenty sixteen, and so I met her
- 11:54that day and just absolutely loved her from day one. But the really wonderful
- 12:03thing that has been such a lesson to me is that we were doing our
- 12:09five minute table talk, and my five minutes went over. And so when
- 12:16the buzzer goes off, those of you are listening. When the buzzer goes
- 12:20off, you stop talking. Okay, So I stopped talking, And when
- 12:26everybody around the table finished with their table talk, the first thing Gloria said
- 12:33to me was, now, Mary, Bess, would you like to finish
- 12:37and tell us that last little piece of your story. Oh that meant so
- 12:46much to me, so very much, And that's just been that's a huge
- 12:52lesson to me, and listening and knowing that even with a time frame like
- 13:05that, at a time constraint, that we still have important things that we
- 13:09want to say, and for some of us, it just takes us longer
- 13:13to saying, oh, my goodness, but living a life of significance,
- 13:20oh yes, hey, I have as long as I can remember my whole
- 13:26life. Just wanted to just feel like I was making a difference and changing
- 13:30the world and this and that, and I kind of used to think of
- 13:33it in such broader terms until I joined the John Maxwell team in twenty sixteen.
- 13:39I came out of retirement. I had had a long, successful Mary
- 13:43Kay Cosmetics career and I had been retired for a number of years and started
- 13:50feeling that nudge. And what the nudge was was God saying, all right,
- 13:56all right, when I'm not done with you yet, you know,
- 13:58it doesn't matter. I'm hired. I've got more I want you to do.
- 14:05And you know, Gloria, that's that is humbling for me to say
- 14:09that. That is not an ego or an eye thing like, oh,
- 14:13I've got so much I could know. No, no, no, not.
- 14:16That is a very humbling thing to know that you have been used in
- 14:20some way or another in the past, that God has used you to influence
- 14:26others. And so when you know that there's still room for that, oh
- 14:31my goodness just stirred within me and I just knew something was like, oh,
- 14:37got to get back out there. So that's when I joined the team.
- 14:41And for me, living a life of significance is not about me.
- 14:50Although I am on the disc personality disc I'm an I personality and a d
- 14:56SO. But it's not about me. It's about the other person. And
- 15:05everywhere I go, I just want to add value to other people. I
- 15:09just want to smile, I want to put a joke. I want to
- 15:13do something that makes that person feel better, makes that person feel important.
- 15:22And it's not that I have to do big, huge things at all.
- 15:28But I know that, I know that, I know that one little ripple
- 15:33can just create an ocean of wave and change. Yes, and that if
- 15:43just one person is influenced by something that I have said or helped them with,
- 15:50oh that's that's that's wonderful. So it's it's just living living life to
- 16:00it's fullest. It doesn't matter my age. Does it matter that you know
- 16:07I'm old disturbed? Not really, No, you're not, But you know
- 16:15it, really that does not matter. All all ages. Children can live
- 16:22a life of significance. Children can have a positive influence. Yes, yes,
- 16:30I really believe that too, very best. And I know that you
- 16:33have added so much value to me personally and so much value to the people
- 16:37in your community. And I'm sure folks that I'm not even aware of.
- 16:42And so I wonder if you could tell us a little bit about your own
- 16:48journey with your self growth maybe with the John Maxwell team or beyond, and
- 16:52talk a little bit about your career journey as well. Yeah, the the
- 17:00self growth, really intentional self growth started gosh, you know, in the
- 17:07seventies, eighties, and I guess well, really probably more into the eighties
- 17:15when I read Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. That was one
- 17:22of the first things that really got got me going on self growth and thinking
- 17:29into other areas like that. I tell you, I've always kind of been
- 17:33been a deep thinker. I remember even as a as a teenager, you
- 17:40know, really just getting to thinking about all sorts of things that some people
- 17:45didn't have a clue to what I was talking about, but I could really
- 17:48get into some some thoughts. And I still I still am very much a
- 17:53deep thinker. I'm also very curious. So when when I was in my
- 18:00Mary Kay career, is when John Maxwell first came in alone he was doing
- 18:07leadership training for us with Mary Kay. Is when he was still at his
- 18:14church in San Diego, when he was still pastoring there back in the nineties,
- 18:19and I became very interested in everything he said. I joined the Tape
- 18:26of the Month club, you know, and I've got a blucket load of
- 18:33cassette tapes, but just really, really really loved him, and I used
- 18:38his leadership lessons every month that my sale I've had a sales meeting every single
- 18:45week for the Mary Kay Consultants, and once a month we had leadership night,
- 18:52and so I would have a leadership lesson. And mind you now,
- 18:55this is back in the late nineties, two thousand and I would present that
- 19:04leadership lesson in the my team would would participate in it. And then the
- 19:14actual John Maxwell team was started ten years ago in twenty eleven. So back
- 19:21in the day when I was following John, I didn't you know, there
- 19:26was no such thing as being certified. But I remember thinking it's so funny.
- 19:32You know, here I am in South Carolina. He's on the West
- 19:36coast in San Diego. And I can distinctly remember thinking, oh, I
- 19:42would love to work with John Maxwell, wow or for him, or you
- 19:48know. Then I said, but Mary Bess, you know he's on the
- 19:52West coast and you live in South Carolina and you're you're not you know,
- 19:56you're not twenty five and just charting off on a new job. So but
- 20:03that seed was planted Gloria. Absolutely, And so then the years went by,
- 20:10and in twenty sixteen I looked more into joining the team and so that
- 20:17that's when I decided to become certified and absolutely have just adored it. Well,
- 20:22it seems like you have been around a lot longer than four years,
- 20:27five years, four and a half years, whatever that is, five yeah,
- 20:30five in May. Yeah, yeah, I mean it seems like you
- 20:34are just one of the founding people and you know, no really yeah,
- 20:38yeah, you you add such value, like I said, not only to
- 20:41me, but to so many other people on the team, Mary Bess,
- 20:47you are just a giver. Well, thank you. And you know,
- 20:51it's funny when you say that, because I really hadn't thought about it.
- 20:55But it could be that because John Maxwell and his teachings and books, readings,
- 21:03everything have been such a big part of my life that when I transitioned
- 21:11into the being a team member, that I just brought a lot of that
- 21:15with me. I mean, because really, even when you think about I've
- 21:19talked to Mark Cole about it before, and you know, he's been with
- 21:22John for twenty years something and he remembers those days that he and John would
- 21:32go to the Mary Kay training, so he was going with him then,
- 21:34so he remembers all of that. I don't know, maybe if that didn't,
- 21:40I just felt so at home, so very much at home. Yeah,
- 21:48yeah, well, you know, I remember when I joined, I'm
- 21:52one of the founding partners that you know, and it just felt like I
- 21:56found my people like mind at people but totally different than me, and I
- 22:04brought a lot of things along from my early exposure to John Maxwell as well.
- 22:10So maybe that's it. I don't know, yeah, but I but
- 22:15I so appreciate you saying that, you know, I I'll always be one
- 22:21who will, you know, raise my hand and say, you know,
- 22:23send me, I'll go, I'll do or whatever. I'd love to help.
- 22:27But I always want my humility. I want to be humble about it.
- 22:33Always that I have the confidence to raise my hand and say send me,
- 22:37I'll go. I'll try, And I do want to, but I
- 22:41do want to do it in a humble way. So I certainly wouldn't want
- 22:45to be you know, I wouldn't want it to be perceived as oh,
- 22:49you know, you're just busting in and trying to be part of the No.
- 22:53I just I'm just feeling home. Well, thank you for saying that,
- 22:57though, Oh, yes, You're so welcome. So Mary Best,
- 23:02I know that sometimes many people start the year with a particular word that influences
- 23:07them, that guides them, that grounds them in whatever way. And I'm
- 23:11wondering, do you have a word for your year? Oh, I'm so
- 23:17glad you asked. Actually, I chose this word for twenty twenty. And
- 23:26it was towards the end of twenty nineteen that I was thinking on it.
- 23:30And I think I was on a call with Mark Cole one day actually,
- 23:34and he was talking about it too. So I really, for the last
- 23:40two or three years, I've had this sense of urgency about wanting to really
- 23:48really want to live a life of significance and to just do whatever I could.
- 23:53I'm sure that age has something to do with it, for Heaven's sake,
- 23:57you know, but never the less, I've had that sense of urgency.
- 24:03So I was. I was sitting there the day thinking through it that
- 24:06that day and I wrote down the word now, hm. And you know,
- 24:15commonly, like with with Nike or whoever it is, you know,
- 24:18do it now, But it it wasn't quite that for me, and I
- 24:22kept looking at it or had written it out in ow and I looked at
- 24:26it and I went, oh, my goodness, not over with m hmm
- 24:34mercy. Yeah, And I I felt this confirmation and this peace of that
- 24:48is exactly what I had been feeling. It's not over with, and it
- 25:02had That word has motivated me. So so it's my word for this year
- 25:06too as well. So what it really means to me is exactly what it
- 25:11says here. Here we go back to simplicity. I just love to see
- 25:18things simply and to not complicate things. And so now to me that means
- 25:22not over with. It's it's not over with. That's basically right it.
- 25:30And so you say, what's not over with? Well, the fact that
- 25:34I want to live a life of significance that's not over with, m or
- 25:41whatever I'm wanting to achieve. Uh, it's not over with. So really
- 25:48I can apply that to to anything. It gives. It gives me a
- 25:53sense of like another moment, another chance, And it could be literally that
- 26:02I you know, I died a night and so but even still I want
- 26:06to live up until I take my last breath with that feeling of it's not
- 26:11over with, and it's you know, it's it's not a driven thing at
- 26:18all. It's not like I strive for this. It's just it's just how
- 26:26I feel. But I had not quite been able to put my my finger
- 26:33on what all what all I've been chewing on for the last two or three
- 26:37years. But but you know, the Lord just gave me that word.
- 26:41And then when I when I looked not over with, I went, that
- 26:45is exactly That's exactly how I feel. So I just believe that we all
- 26:52can have that attitude, whether we choose to or not. It helps me.
- 27:00Yes, And so you you talked about significance, you talked about the
- 27:03urgency to live your life, and you also talked about humility. And I'm
- 27:10wondering, so not over with to me says that God has his hand on
- 27:15you, that he has more for you. And in my way of thinking,
- 27:21you know, it's not your business to know what that is. You
- 27:25know, just just pay attention and walk and walk. Yes, He'll He'll
- 27:30keep ordering yourself. Right. I often think of it with with your your
- 27:36John, your sweet husband, as a as a maestro conductor. I just
- 27:42every time I think about God ordering my steps, I see him well,
- 27:48even sometimes in the black tux orchestrating our steps. Yes, oh my,
- 27:57I'll never think of God the same way. I know. I know,
- 28:00what can you imagine? Oh gosh, but I do, I really do.
- 28:08I couldn't tell you how many times I thought, you know, when
- 28:11I think about God orchestrating our steps, and I think about your John.
- 28:15So I really do believe that. Of course, as the years go by,
- 28:22I can look back now and see, Oh my goodness, how things
- 28:26unfolded. You know, it's turned into this, and then this happened,
- 28:30and this happened, and that. An encouragement from me on that to listeners
- 28:37would be just to trust and like Gloria just said, take that one foot
- 28:44in front of the other and keep stepping forward. As you step forward,
- 28:52when you take enough steps, you're going to be able to look back and
- 28:56see how things are unfolding. Absolutely, And I know when I'm in the
- 29:03middle of something it sometimes doesn't make sense, but when I look back,
- 29:06it looks like a straight line. Oh yeah, yes, exactly. So
- 29:11Mary Bes, can you talk to us a little bit about you know,
- 29:15I just know, just a teemy little bit of the kinds of things that
- 29:18you're doing in your community and how you're helping women, and can you just
- 29:23talk to us a little bit about that as well? As I see you
- 29:27as a very I'm going to say creative and generative person. If you could
- 29:33talk to us a little bit about your creativity, your interests, and again
- 29:37how that's flowing out of you and into the community as well. Oh my
- 29:41goodness. Well, I've always been very, as I said earlier, very
- 29:45curious. I love to learn new things. I love to try new things.
- 29:52I am pretty much a risk taker with something. So you know,
- 29:57when I was sixty nine years old, I did a tandem jump skydive and
- 30:03I loved it and that was so and I wouldn't Yeah, I would not
- 30:07mind doing it again at all. But so I'm interested in things like that.
- 30:14I am very creative. I'm creative as far as stitching and anything like
- 30:19that, or I'm resourceful. I can think of odd ways to fix something
- 30:27maybe you know, to make it do or whatever. And as far as
- 30:34in the community here, I will know one thing that I did that's interesting
- 30:38to me that I have been involved in the past. I am not right
- 30:42here in this community. We've moved here four years ago, but for a
- 30:47number of years where I lived before, I was involved in a quilt program
- 30:52at our church, Prayers for squares for squares for prayer. I can't remember
- 30:57which way, but we we would make quilts and just lap quilts and give
- 31:04those two folks who were really going through a hard time. And so that
- 31:11program was very meaningful to me. And because I did know how to sew
- 31:18and stitch and all that, I could do that kind of thing. But
- 31:21even when I when I don't know, I'll take a stab at it to
- 31:26learn. You know, I'm always want to say, hey, I don't
- 31:30know, but I'll find out, or I don't know how to do that,
- 31:32but I'll figure it out. Anybody taking a tandem jump at sixty nine
- 31:36is willing to learn. I'm just saying, you think I know, it
- 31:42isn't the truth. To me, that just seems like you know, okay,
- 31:47well everybody does that, but I guess not really, it's not everybody.
- 31:52Oh my goodness. So I'm always just I look for ways of doing
- 31:59something really in a fun way to I do. I love to laugh and
- 32:04I love to have fun. As far as what I'm doing here in the
- 32:07community with women, for one thing is I'm involved with a really beautiful nonprofit
- 32:16organization here who offers a hand up and not a handout. And so their
- 32:27clients who come to them have the opportunity to take classes at their center,
- 32:34which are all volunteers. So they can take classes in money management, anger
- 32:39management, diet, nutrition, parenting, basic skills, real anything, just
- 32:49anything. And when they take the course, the class and show up and
- 32:54do it, they can earn dream dollars and then they can take those dream
- 33:01dollars and they go to one of the resell stores you know, it'd be
- 33:07like habitats resell that sort of situation, and they can purchase goods because most
- 33:15of these people are very very low income. And also one thing that was
- 33:21really so much fun at Christmas, they have this huge Santa Shop program.
- 33:25So all year long businesses all of the area donate Christmas s gipts, brand
- 33:31new toys and things for the Santa Shop. It's really a very large amount
- 33:38of stuff, and so the people can go shop in the Santa Shop when
- 33:46they earn the dream dollars. They got to earn them, yeah, not
- 33:51cool, and then what they do is they provide them ways to earn.
- 33:57So I've been doing classes ZIM classes with them now since about October, and
- 34:07we still have one going right now. But I love to do that,
- 34:10and you know, it's just it's volunteer, absolutely volunteer. Now I do
- 34:15have a financial relationship with them too, because I've done a lot of their
- 34:20leadership training and within their staff. It's a pretty large organization, but that
- 34:28that's how I serve here. I'm involved in our church, love that,
- 34:34and in the community here. I'm a board member of the Pendleton Historical Society
- 34:40Foundation. It's been around a lot of history here where I live, and
- 34:46I'm excited about to get it. Involved with a program at Colemson University which
- 34:52is right here at Professor Thomas. Ronda Thomas has started a number of years
- 35:00back, slowly but surely she's making headway on it, and it's called the
- 35:06name of the program is called my Name. She has learned when she came
- 35:14to Clemson to be a professor that many back in the late eighteen hundreds,
- 35:21most of the people who built Clemson University were African Americans who were the children
- 35:28of slaves or they were in prison and they were allowed to help build and
- 35:35so many many of them have been when they died, they were buried here
- 35:40and she has been discovering their grave sites. So she absolutely has a full
- 35:50blown program going down. It actually is hiring someone to head it up.
- 35:55And I am on the tap to a volunteer in the program. So that's
- 36:02something else is really near and dear to my heart right here in the back
- 36:07door. Yes. And then my husband, Oh my goodness, oh I
- 36:13love, Oh my goodness, my husband. Yeah. And we have seven
- 36:16grandchildren with three daughters and seven grandchildren. Mm hmm. Mercy, Well,
- 36:22you know you I want to be like you when I grew up. I
- 36:27mean you are so involved and so engaged and you find places you know,
- 36:32not only that's a right fit for you, I mean God places you there,
- 36:37but you also find a way to pour just to pour blessings into into
- 36:44so many people. And you know, the people that we impact, like
- 36:47right in front of us, they're gonna share and they're gonna share and they're
- 36:51gonna share it and it just keeps on rippling out. So I mean,
- 36:53your your footprint, your fingerprint, your impress is just remarkable, very best.
- 37:01You know, glory. One time, many many years ago, I
- 37:07heard in a message one day the person said something like I don't want I
- 37:14don't want to stand before God when I die. I don't want to stand
- 37:17before God and hear the words, oh, welcome home, my child,
- 37:27good and faithful servant. Oh, but I had so much more I wanted
- 37:30you to do. Yeah, and you know that's almost got of like negative
- 37:39motivation, but not really, not really, because that hit home with me.
- 37:47Yeah, I do have We do have responsibility on this earth. Yes,
- 37:55we do, not only responsibility for ourselves and our families, but to
- 38:04serve others. Yes. So I have a question for you. I know
- 38:09you've talked a lot about the work that you have done on your intentional growth
- 38:13and your career with Mary Kay. Were you ever a teacher in your life
- 38:17but beyond like teaching your kids, which is a huge responsibility. Yeah.
- 38:22I mean, that's interesting that you asked me that. And it's really strange
- 38:28because yesterday I was thinking something made me think about I remember years ago when
- 38:38people would say to me, now, are you a school teacher? And
- 38:44I would say no, because I was in the corporate I was working in
- 38:46the corporate world when I'm joined Mary Kay in nineteen ninety one. I mean,
- 38:52yeah, I was doing that and had been in that area for many,
- 38:58many years, and really just joined mary Kay to and relieve some stress
- 39:07on my job and just have some fun and make a little extra money.
- 39:10Hey, that was fun. And so that was back in nineteen ninety one,
- 39:15and I quit my job a year and a half later to pursue Mary
- 39:19Kay full time. So it did turn into a full time career for me.
- 39:22But that's funny that you ask about teaching. I don't know what it
- 39:24is, but I do like I do like to teach. I mean,
- 39:32yeah, I mean, and that's that's one of the things I like about
- 39:38training in leadership. Yeah, is the teaching part of it? Well,
- 39:44you're very good at it, And so maybe the trick is not thinking about
- 39:47yourself as a teacher. Yeah, no, No, that's weird. I
- 39:55love teachers. I think they have the most wonderful job on the pl and
- 40:00we don't give them nearly enough, no credit and respect. So I just
- 40:06think the world of teachers very best. We are just about at the end
- 40:08of our conversation this day, which is a shame, because I would love
- 40:13to just keep listening to you and learning from you. Is there anything that
- 40:16you wished I would have asked you that I haven't asked you m not that
- 40:23I can think of right now, not at all. As far as things
- 40:28that are coming up. My plate is full with family and my business and
- 40:36my volunteer time and then Global Youth Initiative. It's and you know your listeners
- 40:44might not, but you know that I absolutely love your book. Pass it
- 40:51on. And that's another thing. You know that that book means so much
- 40:57to me. There's there's just it just strikes my heart. It just hits
- 41:06my heart. And I think because I grew up in the South in that
- 41:12era, and I knew then when I was a little girl, I knew
- 41:17it was wrong, but I didn't know why. But I just knew it
- 41:22was wrong. When I'm in the department store when the water fountains were in
- 41:30two different places, I just didn't get it, and I just knew in
- 41:36my heart that it was it was, it was wrong. And so your
- 41:42book has just it's meant so much to me. I'll tell you what,
- 41:45Laurie. It's given me an opportunity to express what I just expressed to you
- 41:52to someone that I don't know, to be able to share the book with
- 41:59them, read the story to them, and then to be able to to
- 42:06just share how much it means to me and how import it I think it
- 42:12is. So I think, yeah, that's that's one thing before we haven't
- 42:19talked about. And I know that's about you and your bullet, but still
- 42:22it's it's our story. Yes, it is our story. It is Mary
- 42:29Bess. I'm really glad you brought it up. I did not want to
- 42:30bring it up because this is about you, and you know, I also
- 42:35just want to thank you because you have been such a powerful ambassador for this
- 42:42book and and you know, not only about the book, it's really about
- 42:46I'm hoping, you know, somebody listening will hear that it's our story.
- 42:52Is it is not my story? It is our story? Right, yes?
- 42:57And sometime we keep saying this, but sometimes you know, and maybe
- 43:02this podcast is a vehicle for it. I don't know we can talk about
- 43:07it, but I would love to just have a deeper conversation with you about
- 43:09the our story. Piece of it is our story, yes, and this
- 43:15is a story that our nation and I'm going to say the world is involved
- 43:17in right now, right now in a way that we really have not been
- 43:23together in this conversation before. You know what I mean, and it's so
- 43:29important. So thanks for all that you do and all that you are,
- 43:32and thank you again for bringing it up. I appreciate it. Oh yeah,
- 43:37I'm glad that I did bring it up. It's interesting that I don't
- 43:42know that I've articulated it that way before even in my mind. Just stand
- 43:47by what I said about our story. But I'm just telling you, Gloria,
- 43:52I can just I'm five years old and I'm in the department store in
- 43:59Anderson South, and I'm looking up at that the two water fountains, one
- 44:04that says white and one that says colored, and I'm going, no,
- 44:08what, No, my neighbor. I play with my neighbor. Yes,
- 44:15she's a beautiful little brown skinned girl. I live out in the country.
- 44:21And so it is our story. Yeah it is. Yeah, yeah,
- 44:28all right, my friend. Well, thank you again. Thank you if
- 44:31you are and do, and thank you for just pouring life and you know,
- 44:37giving life giving words. You know, they're like oxygen for people,
- 44:40and we need we need that oxygen. I'm so I'm so grateful and I'm
- 44:45so humble to have been invited to just chat with you. Of course,
- 44:50you and I could talk till the cows came in. I know we could
- 44:59Mmm. So uplifting, so inspiring, so many pearls of wisdom. I
- 45:07feel so blessed to know Mary Best Johnson. Clearly she is a leader's leader.
- 45:14She makes a difference in her own life and in the lives of so
- 45:19many others, in her own family and throughout the world, in her work
- 45:23as a leader, as a certified John Maxwell coach, as a grandmother,
- 45:28and as a community servant. To learn more about Marybest and her work,
- 45:35you can go to her website, and that's www dot Marybest Johnson dot com.
- 45:43Www dot Marybest, m A R Y B E. S. S.
- 45:49Johnson, j O h N S O N dot com. Now,
- 45:54if you are just joining us, I'm doctor Gloria and this is Legacy Living.
- 46:01Make your Life Count. We just heard from my very special guest,
- 46:07Mary Bes Johnson, entrepreneur, JMT coach and inspiring community servant. If you
- 46:16want to make your life count, if you want to be the change,
- 46:21be the difference in your own life and in the lives of others, be
- 46:25sure to listen to this episode again and again. And hey, be sure
- 46:31to tell somebody you can find me right here on iTunes, Alexa, SoundCloud,
- 46:38Amazon Music, iHeart tune in, Amazonaudiblespreaker, dot Com, Talk Network
- 46:45Radio, and so many other places. I just love it. The list
- 46:49just keeps growing. Be sure to tune in again next week. Before I
- 46:53close today, I just want to give a shout out to all the men,
- 46:59women and children, all the young people around the world, because you
- 47:04know what, we are the ones, Yes, we are. We are
- 47:08the ones we have been waiting for. Now. What do I mean by
- 47:14that, Well, what I mean is, don't wait. Don't wait for
- 47:19somebody else to step up and make things happen, because guess what, they
- 47:22might not step up. In fact, they might not even know you're there
- 47:28waiting for them to do something for you. But you can be the one.
- 47:32In fact, can I just tell you something, You are the one.
- 47:37You are the one who can make a difference in your own life so
- 47:43that you make a difference in the lives of others. Now, remember,
- 47:50how you live is how you lead. How you live is how you do
- 47:54everything. Now, if you happen to miss any part of this week episode
- 48:00or last week's, you can simply download the recording and listen to it at
- 48:06your convenience. You can even listen to it on the go. Check us
- 48:10out at www dot talknetwork Radio dot com, Forward Slash Hosts, Forward Slash
- 48:21Legacy Living. Now that's a mouthful. I'm gonna say it again. Www
- 48:27Dot Talknetwork Radio dot com, Forward Slash Hosts, Forward Slash Legacy Living.
- 48:37You can learn more about my work and Legacy Living. Make your life count
- 48:42by visiting the Gloria Burgess website. And as I've mentioned before, if you
- 48:47love to be inspired, you can actually subscribe to my inspirations right on my
- 48:52website. Just scroll down a little bit look on the right sidebar until you
- 48:58see the place to add at your email address to subscribe to my weekly inspirations.
- 49:04It's that simple. Each week you get a lovely photograph and a short
- 49:08quotation that inspires you. Or you can find me on LinkedIn or on Facebook.
- 49:15And on Facebook you can find me right here Facebook dot com, Forward
- 49:20slash Doctor Gloria Burgess, pH d. Okay dr for doctor Doctor Gloria Burgess,
- 49:29PhD. You can also find me on the TEDx site and listen to
- 49:34one of my ted talks. Just type in my name to find me there.
- 49:39Pretty simple. Right before I close today, thank you, for tuning
- 49:45in, for allowing me to share a bit about my journey with what legacy
- 49:50living is all about, not just living and learning, but living and learning
- 49:54and serving so that you make a difference in your own life and in the
- 50:00lives of others. It's about being on purpose every single day. Three sixty
- 50:07five twenty four to seven. Legacy living is a powerful way to make your
- 50:14life count. Thank you, Thank you again for joining me for today's show.
- 50:21I'm your host, doctor Gloria Gloria Burgess, and this is Legacy Living.
- 50:29Make your life count. Please join me again next time for another episode
- 50:36of Legacy Living. Make your life count now. Remember, don't just count
- 50:44the days in your life. Make the days in your life count. That's
- 50:50what legacy living is all about. Have a fantastic day and remember now,
- 50:55make the days in your life count. God bless you. That's our show
- 51:15today. I'm your host, doctor Gloria Gloria Burgess. I hope you'll join
- 51:22me again next time. Until then, don't just count the days in your
- 51:27life. Make the days in your life count. That's what legacy living is
- 51:34all about. Here's to you have a fantastic day and be sure to make
- 51:38it a yes kind of day. Remember to celebrate the music of your life.
- 51:47Make the days in your life count