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The Ripple Effect w/ Michael Staenberg · Something Extra

0:02
Lisa Nichols: Chromosomes.
0:03
Lisa Nichols: Little strands of nucleic acids and proteins are the fundamental genetic instructions
0:08
Lisa Nichols: that tell us who we are at birth.
0:10
Lisa Nichols: Most people are born with forty six chromosomes, but each year in the United
0:14
Lisa Nichols: States, about six thousand people are born with an extra chromosome, making them a
0:18
Lisa Nichols: person with Down syndrome.
0:20
Lisa Nichols: If you've ever encountered someone with Down syndrome, you know that they are some
0:24
Lisa Nichols: of the kindest, most joyful people you will ever meet.
0:27
Lisa Nichols: They truly have something extra.
0:30
Lisa Nichols: My name is Lisa Nichols, and for thirty years, I have been both the
0:34
Lisa Nichols: CEO of Technology Partners and the mother to Ali.
0:38
Lisa Nichols: Ali has something extra in every sense of the word.
0:41
Lisa Nichols: I have been blessed to be by her side as she impacts everyone she
0:45
Lisa Nichols: meets.
0:46
Lisa Nichols: Through these two important roles as CEO and mother to Ally, I have
0:50
Lisa Nichols: witnessed countless life lessons that have fundamentally changed the way I look at the
0:54
Lisa Nichols: world.
0:55
Lisa Nichols: While you may not have an extra chromosome, every leader has something extra that
0:59
Lisa Nichols: defines who you are.
1:00
Lisa Nichols: Join me as I explore the something extra in leaders from all walks of
1:04
Lisa Nichols: life and discover how that difference in each of them has made a difference
1:08
Lisa Nichols: in their companies, their families, their communities, and in themselves.
1:12
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Lisa Nichols: listen and leave us a five star rating.
1:19
Lisa Nichols: Before we get started, I'm excited to share that my book Something Extra launches
1:23
Lisa Nichols: on September thirtieth, and you can pre order it today.
1:27
Lisa Nichols: It is rooted in the remarkable spirit of our daughter, Ally, and the heartfelt
1:31
Lisa Nichols: conversations we've had on the podcast.
1:33
Lisa Nichols: You'll find wisdom and practical tools to ignite the leader within you and uncover
1:38
Lisa Nichols: your own something extra.
1:39
Lisa Nichols: Visit something extra book dot com to order your copy today.
1:43
Lisa Nichols: Today, we're fortunate to be joined by Michael Staenberg.
1:46
Lisa Nichols: Michael is the founder and owner of the Statenberg Group.
1:49
Lisa Nichols: Well, Michael Staenberg, welcome to the Something Extra podcast.
1:53
Lisa Nichols: I am so delighted that we can make this happen today.
1:57
Michael Staenberg: Well, thank you.
1:58
Michael Staenberg: I'm excited about it too.
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Michael Staenberg: You know, always having something extra always makes it a better day.
2:04
Lisa Nichols: I agree with that.
2:05
Lisa Nichols: Yes.
2:06
Lisa Nichols: And we're gonna you've got lots of Something extras, and we're going to really
2:09
Lisa Nichols: dig into a lot of those.
2:10
Lisa Nichols: But I'd love for you to take me back to growing up because I
2:13
Lisa Nichols: know that you grew up in Omaha,
2:17
Lisa Nichols: Nebraska, same town as Warren Buffett.
2:20
Lisa Nichols: You and I, you'd asked me about the books on behind me, and I
2:23
Lisa Nichols: said, no.
2:23
Lisa Nichols: They're real books.
2:24
Lisa Nichols: And I just remember, Michael, uncle Warren, I
2:28
Lisa Nichols: think he spends eighty percent of his day reading.
2:31
Michael Staenberg: No.
2:32
Michael Staenberg: You know, it's interesting.
2:33
Michael Staenberg: You know, I, I knew Warren Buffett.
2:36
Michael Staenberg: I delivered his newspaper.
2:37
Michael Staenberg: I did grow up in Omaha, and I knew his nephew, Tom Rogers,
2:41
Michael Staenberg: well.
2:42
Michael Staenberg: I know his kids, but not as well as I knew Tom Rogers, who
2:45
Michael Staenberg: is his nephew.
2:47
Michael Staenberg: And I remember always
2:49
Michael Staenberg: going over or being by there, and and Warren was never downstairs.
2:53
Michael Staenberg: He went up to the third floor.
2:55
Michael Staenberg: He lives in the same house probably sixty years now and was always reading.
3:00
Michael Staenberg: That's what he did.
3:00
Michael Staenberg: You know, he was always by himself and, you know, Susie Buffett,
3:05
Michael Staenberg: his wife, raised the kids, and, you know, that's just who Warren Buffett was
3:09
Michael Staenberg: and, one of the nicest people.
3:12
Michael Staenberg: And I remember, you know, at Christmas, he would give us you know, we'd
3:16
Michael Staenberg: go over and he'd give you a dollar.
3:18
Michael Staenberg: He He always said, what are you gonna do with that dollar?
3:19
Michael Staenberg: Well, I was a a kind of a husky young man.
3:23
Michael Staenberg: And I said, well, Warren, I'm gonna go mister Buffet, I'm gonna go up
3:26
Michael Staenberg: to the Chris's drugstore and buy as much candy as I can.
3:31
Michael Staenberg: And he always used to say, well, you should save your money.
3:33
Michael Staenberg: I said, I'll make I'll make plenty of money.
3:36
Michael Staenberg: I said, well, I'm you know, I was hungry.
3:38
Michael Staenberg: I was you know?
3:38
Michael Staenberg: And, I don't know.
3:40
Michael Staenberg: Several years ago, I had the pleasure of, being in an FBO and
3:44
Michael Staenberg: saw Warren Buffett, and he looked at me and said, well, mister Staenberg, you've
3:48
Michael Staenberg: exceeded what I thought.
3:50
Michael Staenberg: Congratulations.
3:51
Lisa Nichols: Oh, that is so spiritual.
3:54
Michael Staenberg: Yeah.
3:54
Michael Staenberg: You know, it was really kinda nice, and he's a very nice guy.
3:57
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, he's done great.
3:59
Michael Staenberg: He's, you know, he you know, I did read a lot of his books,
4:02
Michael Staenberg: and a lot of my friends are his investors.
4:05
Michael Staenberg: And one of my best friends is, an attorney that does work for him.
4:09
Michael Staenberg: And I remember him saying, stay in your lane.
4:12
Michael Staenberg: Just stay in your lane.
4:15
Michael Staenberg: You know, do what you're good at.
4:16
Michael Staenberg: And, it's it's true, and I've always tried to do that.
4:19
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, so I've been fortunate to take advice from people.
4:24
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, growing up in Omaha was a great place.
4:26
Michael Staenberg: So a statistic that's interesting, when I grew up in Omaha, there
4:30
Michael Staenberg: was two hundred and fifty thousand people.
4:33
Michael Staenberg: Today, when I go back, there's a million.
4:35
Michael Staenberg: They all came from the farms.
4:36
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, Omaha has a lot of corporate citizens.
4:39
Michael Staenberg: It's it's a great city.
4:40
Michael Staenberg: It really is.
4:41
Michael Staenberg: I was just there, celebrating the hundredth anniversary of the JCC
4:45
Michael Staenberg: that I helped rebuild, and I drove around.
4:48
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, it's just it's just a great place.
4:51
Michael Staenberg: And, it was fun to look at what Omaha has turned out to be.
4:55
Michael Staenberg: But I I gotta tell you, the Midwest
4:58
Michael Staenberg: education of growing up going to Westside High School And, it
5:02
Michael Staenberg: just just people were nice.
5:04
Michael Staenberg: People took an interest in you, and, I couldn't had a better childhood.
5:09
Lisa Nichols: Oh my goodness.
5:10
Lisa Nichols: I love that.
5:11
Lisa Nichols: I feel the same way.
5:12
Lisa Nichols: I grew up in Paducah, Kentucky, and I was just there this weekend for
5:16
Lisa Nichols: my husband's forty fifth high school reunion, Michael.
5:19
Lisa Nichols: And the people, it's just salt of the earth.
5:22
Lisa Nichols: And people want to help, and they know their neighbors, and they
5:26
Lisa Nichols: are doing life with each other.
5:28
Lisa Nichols: I mean, I I could not agree more.
5:30
Lisa Nichols: I'm so grateful for the childhood that I had and the values.
5:34
Michael Staenberg: Oh, absolutely.
5:35
Michael Staenberg: It's values.
5:35
Michael Staenberg: But, you know, you don't know this, but the second Walmart built in Paducah,
5:39
Michael Staenberg: I built.
5:41
Lisa Nichols: Is that right?
5:42
Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
5:43
Michael Staenberg: The first it was the first supercenter built in Paducah.
5:45
Michael Staenberg: So I have been to Paducah.
5:47
Michael Staenberg: It's, what, about two hours from here, Centerville?
5:50
Lisa Nichols: It's more like three, three and a half, depending on how often you come.
5:54
Michael Staenberg: Well, it depends on where you leave from.
5:57
Michael Staenberg: And, True.
5:58
Michael Staenberg: And I used to make that drive all the time.
6:00
Michael Staenberg: I think I built that Walmart in nineteen ninety three, ninety
6:04
Michael Staenberg: four.
6:05
Michael Staenberg: I remember driving down there a lot.
6:09
Lisa Nichols: Well, it's very busy. A lot of people go to that Walmart.
6:13
Micahel Staenberg: I'm sure it is.
6:15
Lisa Nichols: I know people that work at that Walmart.
6:17
Lisa Nichols: Okay.
6:18
Lisa Nichols: Good.
6:18
Lisa Nichols: Thank you.
6:19
Lisa Nichols: I mean, I I've already said this, offline to you,
6:24
Lisa Nichols: Michael, but thank you so much.
6:25
Lisa Nichols: I mean, wherever you plant yourself, you bloom, and you make the community
6:30
Lisa Nichols: better.
6:30
Lisa Nichols: And I know for us in the Saint Louis region, you've done so
6:34
Lisa Nichols: much and so much in Denver.
6:36
Lisa Nichols: Wherever you land,
6:39
Lisa Nichols: Michael, you make the community better, and I got so much I wanna talk
6:42
Lisa Nichols: about there.
6:43
Michael Staenberg: Go ahead.
6:44
Michael Staenberg: You're you're you're you're you're in charge.
6:45
Michael Staenberg: I'm just answering the questions.
6:48
Lisa Nichols: Well, thank you.
6:49
Lisa Nichols: I was gonna ask you about that question that that uncle Warren said go
6:53
Lisa Nichols: invest it, and you went and bought candy, but I think you did okay.
6:57
Lisa Nichols: Let let me ask you this.
6:58
Lisa Nichols: I know that your mom and dad were huge influences in
7:02
Lisa Nichols: your life.
7:03
Lisa Nichols: Huge influences, Michael.
7:05
Lisa Nichols: Can you tell our listeners the story about the red athletic jacket?
7:10
Michael Staenberg: The red coat.
7:11
Michael Staenberg: The red coat.
7:11
Michael Staenberg: The red coat.
7:12
Lisa Nichols: The red coat.
7:13
Lisa Nichols: Tell the story.
7:14
Michael Staenberg: Well, I'd be happy to.
7:15
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, actually, tomorrow will be the,
7:20
Michael Staenberg: fifty eighth anniversary of my dad's passing when I was thirteen.
7:24
Michael Staenberg: He passed away when, we were watching Walt Disney at six fifteen.
7:28
Michael Staenberg: He had a heart attack and just didn't move out of the chair, which,
7:32
Michael Staenberg: you know, was a major impact.
7:34
Michael Staenberg: But my dad was really impactful to my life.
7:37
Michael Staenberg: So growing up in, Omaha, there was no professional
7:41
Michael Staenberg: sports teams, but we had a professional sports team, the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
7:46
Michael Staenberg: You know, as everybody, you know, I always kid, the the n stands for
7:50
Michael Staenberg: knowledge.
7:51
Michael Staenberg: No.
7:52
Michael Staenberg: You know?
7:52
Michael Staenberg: Yeah.
7:53
Michael Staenberg: Yeah.
7:53
Michael Staenberg: Okay.
7:54
Michael Staenberg: So when I grew up in nineteen sixty two, I think Bob
7:58
Michael Staenberg: Devaney became the coach, and the Huskers took off.
8:01
Michael Staenberg: They were, like, ranked every year.
8:04
Michael Staenberg: They were like Bill Belichick and the Patriots.
8:06
Michael Staenberg: So okay.
8:07
Michael Staenberg: So you gotta think about this.
8:08
Michael Staenberg: So I'm a kid, ten years old, and all I wanted to do was
8:12
Michael Staenberg: have a red coat, you know, to celebrate, you know, go big red.
8:16
Michael Staenberg: You know, of course, I'm not gonna go to the games.
8:17
Michael Staenberg: How am I gonna go to the games?
8:19
Michael Staenberg: You know, they're on Saturday.
8:20
Michael Staenberg: We have no money.
8:21
Michael Staenberg: You know?
8:22
Michael Staenberg: So I wanted this red coat.
8:25
Michael Staenberg: And so I told my dad I wanted a red coat.
8:27
Michael Staenberg: And my dad says, okay.
8:28
Michael Staenberg: And I'm I'm gonna use a number, for ten dollars.
8:31
Michael Staenberg: It's easier to divide and add.
8:33
Michael Staenberg: And the coat was ten dollars.
8:36
Michael Staenberg: This is back in this is back in nineteen sixty four.
8:40
Michael Staenberg: So probably the coat was two dollars or whatever.
8:42
Michael Staenberg: But I said to my dad, I'd like a coat.
8:45
Michael Staenberg: And he says, you know what?
8:46
Michael Staenberg: He had a sixplex, and if you come to my office, there's a picture
8:49
Michael Staenberg: of it and with him in front.
8:52
Michael Staenberg: And, I said, okay.
8:54
Michael Staenberg: He said, I'll pay you twenty I remember this, twenty five cents an hour.
8:57
Michael Staenberg: So I worked and got, you know, forty hours or and I had that
9:02
Michael Staenberg: you know, had ten dollars, and I'm ready to get this coat and, you
9:05
Michael Staenberg: know, being Jewish and Shabbos and Friday night, you don't do business on Saturday.
9:10
Michael Staenberg: So my dad comes home and he says, you ready to settle up?
9:13
Michael Staenberg: And we called him, sir.
9:14
Michael Staenberg: Yes, sir.
9:15
Michael Staenberg: That yes, sir.
9:16
Michael Staenberg: We'd like to settle up.
9:17
Michael Staenberg: And he so he takes five one dollar bills and puts in a pile,
9:22
Michael Staenberg: three one dollar bills and puts in the pile, and two in a pile.
9:26
Michael Staenberg: And I'm looking at him and this he says, what pile would you like?
9:29
Michael Staenberg: I said, sir, you pick.
9:30
Michael Staenberg: He said, well, the five dollars are yours.
9:33
Michael Staenberg: Now here I am, this little ten year old kinda husky kid.
9:36
Michael Staenberg: I'm like, this isn't gonna go well.
9:38
Michael Staenberg: I mean, here I am.
9:40
Michael Staenberg: I know what this coat is gonna cost, and I need this coat because
9:44
Michael Staenberg: I was planning on going to buy it on, Monday.
9:47
Michael Staenberg: You know?
9:47
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, you couldn't you know, Sunday, you know, with the blue laws
9:50
Michael Staenberg: back then.
9:52
Michael Staenberg: So he says, the three dollars, thank you for being such a great partner.
9:57
Michael Staenberg: And I looked at him, and he says, yeah.
9:59
Michael Staenberg: The roof over your head, the food on the table, I'll drive you.
10:02
Michael Staenberg: You're a great you're a great partner, so thank you.
10:05
Michael Staenberg: And he says, what do you think the Torah teaches you about giving?
10:09
Michael Staenberg: I said, well, ten percent.
10:11
Michael Staenberg: He says, we're not a ten percent family.
10:13
Michael Staenberg: We're a twenty percent family.
10:14
Michael Staenberg: Now we have no money, but, you know, he instilled this in my life
10:19
Michael Staenberg: that we needed to do better than what expectations were.
10:23
Michael Staenberg: So, of course, I got up crying, ran upstairs with these bunk beds.
10:27
Michael Staenberg: I slipped underneath the bunk beds.
10:29
Michael Staenberg: You couldn't pick these bunk beds up there.
10:30
Michael Staenberg: They must have weighed five thousand pounds.
10:33
Lisa Nichols: So They were well built.
10:35
Michael Staenberg: Oh my god.
10:36
Michael Staenberg: Of wood.
10:36
Michael Staenberg: And my so I I missed I missed dinner, and he says, well, so
10:39
Michael Staenberg: what are we doing now?
10:40
Michael Staenberg: He says, you got a choice.
10:43
Michael Staenberg: You can stay here and I'll be very upset, or take the two dollars
10:47
Michael Staenberg: that you earned and give it to the rabbi for the tzedakah box, and
10:51
Michael Staenberg: I'll I'll see you in five minutes.
10:53
Michael Staenberg: Well, I was smart enough to figure out that maybe I should get up.
10:57
Michael Staenberg: So this this was repeated again a month later, and I did get
11:01
Michael Staenberg: the red coat.
11:03
Michael Staenberg: But he did teach me the value of risk recognizing and
11:07
Michael Staenberg: respecting, you know, what what we're here for.
11:10
Michael Staenberg: You know?
11:10
Michael Staenberg: We're partners.
11:11
Michael Staenberg: You know?
11:11
Michael Staenberg: It wasn't just a free ride because I was his kid and the fact
11:15
Michael Staenberg: that you need to give to charity.
11:17
Michael Staenberg: And he they're always you know, back then, they'd always talk about the people
11:20
Michael Staenberg: in Africa.
11:20
Michael Staenberg: That I remember that.
11:21
Michael Staenberg: You have to finish your plate.
11:23
Michael Staenberg: Kids in Africa don't have any food.
11:24
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, they they they were very subtle.
11:26
Michael Staenberg: My mom also embraced things like that in a different way.
11:30
Michael Staenberg: She always would never tell you anything.
11:33
Michael Staenberg: She would make a suggestion.
11:36
Michael Staenberg: kinda say it's up to you, but this is what I suggest.
11:39
Michael Staenberg: What's a different way of, thinking about things?
11:42
Michael Staenberg: And if you come to my office and on my one of my walls,
11:46
Michael Staenberg: I have probably three thousand pieces of art here.
11:50
Michael Staenberg: I have a red jacket that is the, copy.
11:54
Michael Staenberg: It's not the original one, but it's exactly what I worked for.
11:58
Michael Staenberg: I found it through, you know, how you go online and you look through,
12:00
Michael Staenberg: you know, before.
12:02
Michael Staenberg: So I I got that coat, and, it was an impact.
12:05
Michael Staenberg: And as I said, you know, unfortunately, my dad passed away when I was
12:09
Michael Staenberg: thirteen, but he was a great role model.
12:12
Michael Staenberg: Mhmm.
12:12
Michael Staenberg: Probably the reason I work as hard as I do because I remember watching
12:16
Michael Staenberg: him.
12:17
Lisa Nichols: Right.
12:18
Michael Staenberg: You know?
12:18
Michael Staenberg: And everybody loved this guy.
12:20
Michael Staenberg: Now I can't say everybody loves me, but that's okay.
12:23
Michael Staenberg: That's alright.
12:24
Michael Staenberg: You know?
12:24
Michael Staenberg: But,
12:26
Michael Staenberg: he was such a you know, even today, all all his friends
12:30
Michael Staenberg: are there's still five or six of them left in their nineties, and,
12:35
Michael Staenberg: it's crazy.
12:37
Michael Staenberg: And
12:39
Michael Staenberg: it's just interesting when you talk about them.
12:41
Michael Staenberg: They just said your dad was a wonderful person.
12:43
Michael Staenberg: Smart, smart, smart.
12:45
Michael Staenberg: You know, I'm not the smart, smart.
12:47
Michael Staenberg: My siblings are a lot smarter.
12:49
Michael Staenberg: He met my mom at the University of Texas.
12:51
Michael Staenberg: He was a full professor at eighteen or nineteen or twenty, and she was
12:55
Michael Staenberg: a student in economics.
12:56
Michael Staenberg: And, of course, I had to follow the steps and majored in economics.
12:59
Michael Staenberg: So
13:00
Lisa Nichols: Yes.
13:01
Michael Staenberg: That's that's the right story.
13:03
Michael Staenberg: You know, it's a it's a story that I'm proud to tell, and I
13:06
Michael Staenberg: think about it.
13:07
Michael Staenberg: I have when you walk in my office, I had James Michael Smith, an
13:10
Michael Staenberg: artist, make a red coat, and it's behind my desk.
13:13
Michael Staenberg: So when I walk in, I see the red coat.
13:15
Michael Staenberg: Across the way, there's a, African mask because
13:19
Michael Staenberg: I remember the African, you know, the kids.
13:21
Michael Staenberg: The kids.
13:22
Michael Staenberg: My mom had six mask when she passed away, so I figured I'd add
13:25
Michael Staenberg: to the collection.
13:27
Lisa Nichols: Oh, I I just love that story so much, and I love that
13:31
Lisa Nichols: you have those replicas now, Michael, because I think about
13:36
Lisa Nichols: sometimes I mean, you know, if you think about the Torah
13:40
Lisa Nichols: or the Bible, you know, God would say, like, set up these stones
13:44
Lisa Nichols: or set up this altar kind of as an Ebenezer
13:47
Michael Staenberg: Right.
13:48
Lisa Nichols: Of remembrance because I think he knew we're very forgetful people.
13:53
Michael Staenberg: Yeah.
13:53
Michael Staenberg: Yeah.
13:53
Michael Staenberg: Well, we're we're we're forgetful, but, hopefully, people remember things.
13:57
Michael Staenberg: And
13:58
Lisa Nichols: Yes.
13:58
Michael Staenberg: It's not always about money.
14:00
Michael Staenberg: It really isn't.
14:01
Lisa Nichols: No.
14:01
Lisa Nichols: It's not.
14:01
Michael Staenberg: You know, I always tell everybody everybody has twenty four hours in a day.
14:05
Michael Staenberg: Figure out what you wanna do with everybody.
14:06
Michael Staenberg: Nobody gets more.
14:08
Michael Staenberg: Nobody gets any less.
14:09
Michael Staenberg: And everybody has a talent to do something.
14:12
Lisa Nichols: I agree.
14:13
Lisa Nichols: Everybody has a something extra, Michael.
14:15
Michael Staenberg: And everybody wants something
14:17
Lisa Nichols: extra.
14:18
Lisa Nichols: So and I wanna talk about that because I wanna talk about the pond.
14:22
Lisa Nichols: I wanna talk about when you're inducted, but I got a couple more questions
14:25
Lisa Nichols: for you here.
14:26
Michael Staenberg: Go ahead.
14:27
Lisa Nichols: When your dad passed away, you went to work bagging
14:31
Lisa Nichols: groceries, whatever you could do to help your mom out.
14:35
Lisa Nichols: Right?
14:35
Michael Staenberg: Right.
14:35
Michael Staenberg: I get it.
14:36
Michael Staenberg: It was it was tough.
14:37
Michael Staenberg: I mean, there was nobody there, but, you know, thankfully, there was a gentleman
14:41
Michael Staenberg: named Jerry Freeman.
14:42
Michael Staenberg: Melvin was his name.
14:43
Michael Staenberg: I don't know how he got to Jerry.
14:45
Michael Staenberg: But, you know, my friend Bob Freeman's dad, and he he was really nice,
14:49
Michael Staenberg: and he gave me a lot of lessons.
14:51
Michael Staenberg: He made trials included.
14:52
Michael Staenberg: It was hard.
14:53
Michael Staenberg: You know?
14:54
Michael Staenberg: It was really hard, you know you know, and all my friends had money,
14:58
Michael Staenberg: and I had no money.
14:59
Michael Staenberg: All I remember was, you know, wanting never to have to cut grass or
15:04
Michael Staenberg: shovel snow.
15:04
Michael Staenberg: That was that was my goal, you know, to have enough money not to
15:08
Michael Staenberg: do that.
15:08
Michael Staenberg: And then I worked as a brick tender one summer.
15:11
Michael Staenberg: It was a tornado that went through Omaha.
15:14
Michael Staenberg: I realized I did not wanna be a brick tender the rest of my
15:17
Michael Staenberg: life.
15:17
Michael Staenberg: So I I figured education might be a better way of doing it.
15:20
Lisa Nichols: That's a better way of doing it.
15:21
Lisa Nichols: Well, yes.
15:22
Lisa Nichols: And you are a brick tender to put yourself through school.
15:24
Lisa Nichols: Right?
15:25
Lisa Nichols: I mean, you put yourself through school in Arizona State.
15:28
Michael Staenberg: Right.
15:28
Michael Staenberg: And I, you know, I'll I'll never forget that summer.
15:31
Michael Staenberg: I mean, I had, like, five or six thousand dollars of cash.
15:35
Michael Staenberg: They paid me the, you know, forty hours and that, do you wanna work
15:38
Michael Staenberg: overtime?
15:38
Michael Staenberg: I said, sure.
15:39
Michael Staenberg: They paid me double to work overtime and they paid in cash.
15:42
Michael Staenberg: And I remember my mom saying, where'd you get all this cash?
15:46
Michael Staenberg: Why don't you put it in the bank?
15:47
Michael Staenberg: I said, no.
15:47
Michael Staenberg: Then I'd have to you know, don't call the IRS, but I probably would've
15:51
Michael Staenberg: had to pay a little taxes on it and Mhmm.
15:53
Michael Staenberg: Put it underneath the, the bed and, you know, took address.
15:57
Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
15:57
Lisa Nichols: Really.
15:57
Lisa Nichols: I did.
15:58
Michael Staenberg: I took cash with me down to school.
16:00
Michael Staenberg: Mhmm.
16:01
Michael Staenberg: Mhmm.
16:02
Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
16:03
Lisa Nichols: Well, I know my husband, Greg, he talks about when he was eleven years
16:06
Lisa Nichols: old, he started washing cars and just anything he could do, mowing
16:10
Lisa Nichols: lawns, mowing lawns, doing whatever he could do, you know, to earn money.
16:15
Lisa Nichols: But, yeah, I know you went to Arizona State University,
16:19
Lisa Nichols: and you studied finance and economics.
16:21
Lisa Nichols: You know, your dad didn't your wasn't your dad in some commercial real estate?
16:26
Michael Staenberg: He he was.
16:26
Michael Staenberg: Not commercial so much.
16:28
Michael Staenberg: It's, he was building the first garden level apartments.
16:32
Lisa Nichols: Okay.
16:32
Michael Staenberg: Mhmm.
16:33
Michael Staenberg: Unfortunately, he passed away, and we lost those because of
16:37
Michael Staenberg: the, situation.
16:39
Michael Staenberg: Mhmm.
16:39
Michael Staenberg: The first one to come up with garden level apartments in the Midwest.
16:43
Michael Staenberg: He was from Newark and he studied things, and he had this idea.
16:47
Michael Staenberg: They were called Pacific Gardens.
16:49
Michael Staenberg: And the reason it was called Pacific Gardens was because it was on Pacific
16:53
Michael Staenberg: Street.
16:53
Michael Staenberg: And he he thought it'd be a garden and and they're still there today
16:56
Michael Staenberg: and they're still rented.
16:57
Michael Staenberg: And, he built a,
17:00
Michael Staenberg: in front of the apartments, not mixed use, but in front, he built,
17:04
Michael Staenberg: some retail.
17:06
Michael Staenberg: And, nobody had done that before.
17:08
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, the the the, bar that when I
17:12
Michael Staenberg: was sixteen, they'd let me into called the Interlude's still there.
17:15
Michael Staenberg: And Joe's Joe's Barbershop is a different barbershop now.
17:19
Michael Staenberg: It's still there.
17:20
Michael Staenberg: And my dad, got the franchise for Baskin Robbins
17:25
Michael Staenberg: back in nineteen sixty four, sixty five.
17:27
Michael Staenberg: I mean, nobody had Baskin Robbins.
17:29
Michael Staenberg: And I remember getting a gallon of ice cream every month, one flavor.
17:34
Michael Staenberg: I always used to say, well, there's thirty one flavors.
17:36
Michael Staenberg: What's the problem here?
17:37
Michael Staenberg: You know?
17:37
Michael Staenberg: I mean but, you know, so,
17:41
Michael Staenberg: yeah.
17:42
Michael Staenberg: So that was
17:42
Lisa Nichols: You had some real estate in your blood then.
17:44
Michael Staenberg: I did.
17:45
Lisa Nichols: Isn't that amazing, though, Michael?
17:47
Lisa Nichols: Because I think about that, and I think about
17:50
Lisa Nichols: and and we'll talk about downtown Chesterfield, but I think, you know, you
17:54
Lisa Nichols: have a vision of doing that.
17:55
Lisa Nichols: I mean, we we had an office in Dallas for a while, and they
17:58
Lisa Nichols: had VertuVian there, there.
18:00
Lisa Nichols: Vertruvian, and it was apartments on top, retail on bottom,
18:04
Lisa Nichols: kind of like a all inclusive living space.
18:07
Lisa Nichols: It was really just a really amazing concept for but for your
18:11
Lisa Nichols: dad to have that thought
18:13
Michael Staenberg: Nineteen nineteen sixty four.
18:15
Michael Staenberg: That's, what is that?
18:16
Michael Staenberg: How many years is that?
18:18
Michael Staenberg: Sixty years sixty years ago?
18:20
Lisa Nichols: Sixty years ago.
18:21
Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
18:21
Lisa Nichols: It was
18:22
Michael Staenberg: really, really ahead of his time.
18:23
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, as I said, he was very, very smart.
18:27
Michael Staenberg: Mhmm.
18:27
Michael Staenberg: He left for, like, eighteen, nineteen, twenty at University of Texas.
18:31
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, I mean and my siblings are really smart.
18:35
Michael Staenberg: Doesn't mean they're successful.
18:36
Michael Staenberg: I don't mean that in a bad way, but, you know, my dad was
18:39
Michael Staenberg: able to take his abilities and make, you know, something out of it.
18:43
Michael Staenberg: And his brothers were really smart, my dads, my uncles, but they they weren't
18:47
Michael Staenberg: that successful.
18:48
Michael Staenberg: You know, you gotta stop you wanna have that gene of drive and wanting
18:52
Michael Staenberg: to succeed and willing to fail.
18:53
Michael Staenberg: You have to will be willing to fail to succeed.
18:56
Lisa Nichols: Mhmm.
18:57
Lisa Nichols: That's a good that's good wisdom right there.
19:00
Lisa Nichols: Right?
19:01
Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
19:01
Lisa Nichols: And, I mean, you've never seen a successful person that did not fail somewhere,
19:05
Lisa Nichols: Michael.
19:06
Lisa Nichols: I mean, you you know, it's like, I failed when
19:08
Michael Staenberg: I didn't get that red coat.
19:09
Michael Staenberg: I did fail.
19:10
Michael Staenberg: I thought I had that red coat and, you know, I wanted I wanted
19:13
Michael Staenberg: to make sure I got that red coat.
19:15
Michael Staenberg: So What it is.
19:17
Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
19:18
Lisa Nichols: So you you learned so much from your dad, obviously.
19:21
Lisa Nichols: So after college, I mean, you had offers from companies like Gulf Oil,
19:26
Lisa Nichols: May Company, but you chose real estate, and it's probably because you grew
19:30
Lisa Nichols: up seeing your dad do some of these things.
19:32
Lisa Nichols: Right?
19:32
Lisa Nichols: But I I wanna hear this story.
19:36
Lisa Nichols: The first year in real estate,
19:38
Michael Staenberg: Michael It was a tough it was a tough year.
19:40
Michael Staenberg: It was How
19:41
Lisa Nichols: much money did you make the first year in real estate, Michael?
19:44
Michael Staenberg: Forty two hundred and ninety dollars, and I was and I was waiting
19:48
Michael Staenberg: tables because I had no money.
19:50
Michael Staenberg: And, it was tough.
19:51
Michael Staenberg: It was really hard.
19:52
Michael Staenberg: And, my friend John Rubinstein invited me to stay with his parents,
19:56
Michael Staenberg: and so I didn't have any rent and board.
19:58
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, it was just hard because Mhmm.
20:01
Michael Staenberg: You know, I wasn't very mature.
20:03
Michael Staenberg: You know, we all mature at a different time.
20:05
Michael Staenberg: You know, I watch my grandkids.
20:06
Michael Staenberg: They all walk at a different time.
20:08
Michael Staenberg: They all talk at a different time.
20:09
Michael Staenberg: And Sure.
20:10
Michael Staenberg: And I just couldn't shut up.
20:12
Michael Staenberg: And there's a guy named Gray Turner that came into my office one day
20:15
Michael Staenberg: and said, look.
20:17
Michael Staenberg: I think you're probably the smartest kid I've met.
20:20
Michael Staenberg: You're hard work, but just shut up.
20:24
Michael Staenberg: Just shut up.
20:26
Michael Staenberg: Go to a meeting and don't say anything.
20:28
Michael Staenberg: And he also said to me, if you don't know the answer, just
20:32
Michael Staenberg: say I don't know.
20:33
Michael Staenberg: Now you you watch a lot of people, they they they maneuver
20:37
Michael Staenberg: around that.
20:38
Michael Staenberg: They kinda say, well, I am maybe this.
20:40
Michael Staenberg: Well, forget Google.
20:42
Michael Staenberg: We didn't have any Google back then.
20:44
Michael Staenberg: Mhmm.
20:44
Michael Staenberg: Everybody would make stuff up, and he just says, just
20:48
Michael Staenberg: say I don't know.
20:50
Michael Staenberg: And that was a hard lesson for me because, you know, I did pretty well
20:53
Michael Staenberg: in college.
20:54
Michael Staenberg: You know, I think I got two c's, English one zero one, English one
20:57
Michael Staenberg: zero two, but the rest days.
21:00
Michael Staenberg: and I I hate to write, but I like to read, but I hate
21:03
Michael Staenberg: to write.
21:03
Michael Staenberg: And I can give a speech, but I just don't like to write.
21:06
Lisa Nichols: Dude, that's all I do right.
21:07
Lisa Nichols: But it's so true, though, Michael.
21:09
Lisa Nichols: I've got a friend, Jeff Henderson, that was the CMO for the Atlanta Braves,
21:12
Lisa Nichols: and then he worked for he worked for Chick fil A for a long
21:15
Lisa Nichols: time.
21:16
Lisa Nichols: And I'll never forget him saying, like, humility, you know, is one of,
21:20
Lisa Nichols: in his mind, one of the greatest traits of a good leader.
21:24
Lisa Nichols: And he said, get used practice saying I don't know.
21:28
Lisa Nichols: Right.
21:28
Lisa Nichols: And but, you know, I always
21:29
Michael Staenberg: I have a different way of saying humility.
21:32
Lisa Nichols: Okay.
21:32
Lisa Nichols: Let me hear it.
21:33
Michael Staenberg: Check your ego at the door.
21:35
Michael Staenberg: Yes.
21:36
Michael Staenberg: You gotta check your ego at the door.
21:37
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, it's not about, you know, it's not about me.
21:41
Michael Staenberg: Mhmm.
21:42
Michael Staenberg: And it's not about we.
21:44
Michael Staenberg: It's about us.
21:45
Michael Staenberg: And I always tell everybody that it's about us.
21:47
Michael Staenberg: There's no there's no I in team except two and idiots.
21:51
Lisa Nichols: You know?
21:52
Lisa Nichols: People that but if
21:53
Michael Staenberg: you're Kobe Bryant, he'll tell you, well, the e in team is about me.
21:57
Michael Staenberg: Well, it's not about me.
21:58
Michael Staenberg: You know?
21:58
Michael Staenberg: People If you really believe that, then you're not gonna be you know, there's
22:02
Michael Staenberg: certain people that can pull that off a Michael Jordan, a Barry Bonds,
22:06
Michael Staenberg: you know, people.
22:07
Michael Staenberg: But, you know, in today's world, you know, I'm watching the world
22:11
Michael Staenberg: change, and you gotta be about us.
22:13
Michael Staenberg: It's kinda we, not we, but us, you know, have the team
22:17
Michael Staenberg: effort.
22:19
Lisa Nichols: I could not agree.
22:20
Lisa Nichols: I know that I could do nothing right by myself, Michael.
22:24
Lisa Nichols: I know we talked about this in the beginning where Warren Buffett said
22:29
Lisa Nichols: how did he say, stay in your lane?
22:31
Michael Staenberg: Stay in your lane.
22:32
Lisa Nichols: Stay in your lane.
22:32
Lisa Nichols: Right?
22:33
Lisa Nichols: I've got my lane.
22:34
Lisa Nichols: I know the things that God has gifted me, strengths.
22:38
Michael Staenberg: Right.
22:38
Michael Staenberg: Right.
22:39
Lisa Nichols: But, there's a lot of things I am not that good at, and
22:43
Lisa Nichols: you need to have the humility to say, hey.
22:46
Lisa Nichols: That's not my thing, and, you know, I'm gonna empower you
22:50
Lisa Nichols: to do that because that's your thing.
22:52
Lisa Nichols: Right?
22:55
Michael Staenberg: The other thing I learned about that is what, someone else told me.
22:59
Michael Staenberg: He says, you know, a man that can't change his mind well, not a
23:02
Michael Staenberg: not a man.
23:03
Michael Staenberg: A person.
23:03
Michael Staenberg: Let's let's back that up.
23:05
Michael Staenberg: A person that can't change their mind has no mind.
23:09
Michael Staenberg: So when people come in, I'm always willing to listen, But don't,
23:14
Michael Staenberg: you know, throw something out and not have a solution.
23:17
Michael Staenberg: Mhmm.
23:17
Michael Staenberg: That's really one one of the my biggest pet peeves is you come in
23:22
Michael Staenberg: and, well, that doesn't look good.
23:23
Michael Staenberg: Well, okay.
23:24
Michael Staenberg: What what do you suggest that we do differently to make it look good?
23:29
Lisa Nichols: That's good.
23:30
Lisa Nichols: That's good.
23:30
Lisa Nichols: That's that's good wisdom there too.
23:33
Lisa Nichols: Well, let me ask you this.
23:35
Lisa Nichols: So in let's kind of fast forward a little bit.
23:38
Lisa Nichols: Nineteen ninety one
23:39
Michael Staenberg: Sure.
23:40
Lisa Nichols: Cofounded THF.
23:41
Lisa Nichols: Go there all the time.
23:43
Lisa Nichols: THF Realty, THF Boulevard,
23:48
Lisa Nichols: with Stan Kroenke.
23:49
Michael Staenberg: Right.
23:50
Lisa Nichols: What was the vision behind that partnership?
23:52
Lisa Nichols: And then I would love for you to tell our listeners if they don't
23:55
Lisa Nichols: know what did t what does THF stand for and
23:59
Lisa Nichols: how did that play out in some...
24:03
Michael Staenberg: That's, THF stood for to have fun.
24:05
Michael Staenberg: So I was working for Leo Eisenberg and, unfortunately, you
24:10
Michael Staenberg: know, the organization was fizzling out for a variety of reasons and,
24:14
Michael Staenberg: you know, it was sad.
24:15
Michael Staenberg: So I met Stan Kroenke in nineteen eighty
24:19
Michael Staenberg: two, eighty three because of a, a contact called, McDonald's,
24:24
Michael Staenberg: little McDonald's.
24:25
Michael Staenberg: So I got their business in nineteen seventy eight.
24:27
Michael Staenberg: I met Sam Walton because of it.
24:30
Michael Staenberg: I had called the gentleman named h Webb Leslie, just like Robin Williams.
24:34
Michael Staenberg: He looked like Robin Williams.
24:35
Michael Staenberg: He acted like Robin Williams.
24:38
Michael Staenberg: And, I was in Kansas City, and I called him up.
24:40
Michael Staenberg: And, he was in Saint Louis, and he said,
24:44
Michael Staenberg: I said, you know, I'd like to do your deals.
24:46
Michael Staenberg: And I said, great.
24:47
Michael Staenberg: I'd love to do your deals too.
24:49
Michael Staenberg: And, he says, so let me ask you one question.
24:53
Michael Staenberg: And this goes back to what I say.
24:54
Michael Staenberg: If you don't know something, you don't you don't you tell the whole story.
24:57
Michael Staenberg: He says, how many restaurant deals have you ever done?
25:00
Michael Staenberg: I said, none.
25:01
Michael Staenberg: And he says, well, come on down.
25:03
Michael Staenberg: St.
25:03
Michael Staenberg: Louis, let's have lunch.
25:05
Michael Staenberg: So I went down, met him, and we're talking.
25:08
Michael Staenberg: Of course, we went to McDonald's.
25:10
Michael Staenberg: It was at two seventy in Manchester,
25:13
Michael Staenberg: safety federal building at that point.
25:16
Michael Staenberg: And,
25:17
Michael Staenberg: he and I told him I was from Omaha, and he says, well, I
25:19
Michael Staenberg: got an opportunity for you.
25:21
Michael Staenberg: Red Oak, Iowa, which is about an hour from Omaha.
25:24
Michael Staenberg: I went over there and found a site and became the
25:28
Michael Staenberg: exclusive broker for McDonald's, which is crazy.
25:32
Michael Staenberg: So I went down to Clinton, Missouri, and Stan and his partner at
25:36
Michael Staenberg: the time, Raul, had a shopping center.
25:38
Michael Staenberg: And, I tried to put a McDonald's on one of their paths.
25:42
Michael Staenberg: And, unfortunately,
25:45
Michael Staenberg: he said to me, well, we're not interested in selling.
25:47
Michael Staenberg: And I said, well, McDonald's is only interested in buying.
25:50
Michael Staenberg: And I said, there's, you know, four homes across the street.
25:52
Michael Staenberg: And he says, well, you'll never get those rezoned.
25:54
Michael Staenberg: I went down there, got them rezoned, took took a picture, drove the picture
25:59
Michael Staenberg: because I have the saying, you can't put a pencil through the phone, drove
26:02
Michael Staenberg: it to Columbia, and I said, what's the next challenge, Stan?
26:05
Michael Staenberg: So fast and so fast forward, it's nineteen eighty eight, eighty nine,
26:10
Michael Staenberg: and, you know, Eisenberg's imploding, and, you know, I'm just I don't know what
26:13
Michael Staenberg: to do.
26:13
Michael Staenberg: So I went I called him up, and I said, you know, I drove
26:16
Michael Staenberg: down.
26:17
Michael Staenberg: I said, you know, I'd love to be your partner.
26:18
Michael Staenberg: I'm, you know, looking for someone who can do some stuff with me.
26:22
Michael Staenberg: And he looked at me and said, well, you can come work for me.
26:24
Michael Staenberg: And I said, no.
26:24
Michael Staenberg: Thanks.
26:25
Michael Staenberg: So about a about six weeks later, he calls and says, I'm gonna be
26:28
Michael Staenberg: in Saint Louis, and I'll never forget that I met him at, Plaza Front
26:32
Michael Staenberg: not Plaza, not Plaza, Frontenac Hilton, had breakfast, and he
26:36
Michael Staenberg: says, okay.
26:37
Michael Staenberg: I'm a try a deal with you.
26:40
Michael Staenberg: Great.
26:41
Michael Staenberg: And it was a deal with, Wetterall in in Catanning, Pennsylvania.
26:45
Michael Staenberg: And, I the good news was that,
26:50
Michael Staenberg: I needed to come up with some money and Stan says, you know, I'll
26:52
Michael Staenberg: put it in and, you know, we we we agreed on a partnership.
26:56
Michael Staenberg: And, about a week later, Weddell called and said, guess what?
27:01
Michael Staenberg: We'll put all the money up.
27:03
Michael Staenberg: So I called Stan.
27:04
Michael Staenberg: I said, you know, I went down there.
27:05
Michael Staenberg: I said, Stan, I got good news and better news.
27:07
Michael Staenberg: The good news is I don't need your money, but the better news is
27:12
Michael Staenberg: I respect that you're there.
27:13
Michael Staenberg: Let's keep the partnership the same way.
27:15
Michael Staenberg: And that's that started a relationship for until two thousand
27:20
Michael Staenberg: twelve.
27:21
Michael Staenberg: And, he had a change in how he thought about things, and, you know,
27:24
Michael Staenberg: things don't work forever.
27:26
Michael Staenberg: And as I tell people, if I saw him, I'd say, hey, Stan.
27:29
Michael Staenberg: Thank you.
27:30
Michael Staenberg: I wouldn't know who I am.
27:31
Michael Staenberg: I I learned a lot.
27:32
Michael Staenberg: I hope he learned a lot and no hard feelings.
27:35
Michael Staenberg: Mhmm.
27:35
Michael Staenberg: No hard feelings.
27:36
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, people say, well, how could they how do you feel?
27:39
Michael Staenberg: I said, you know, I don't think he treated St.
27:41
Michael Staenberg: Louis the best moving the Rams, but that's his you know, he owned the
27:44
Michael Staenberg: team.
27:45
Lisa Nichols: Right.
27:45
Michael Staenberg: I didn't have anything to do with the team.
27:47
Lisa Nichols: Right.
27:48
Michael Staenberg: So, you know, And so I don't think I would have done it that
27:50
Michael Staenberg: way, but, you know, I mean, that's just how I thought about it.
27:54
Michael Staenberg: So that's how I met Stan, and I was in business with him for
27:57
Michael Staenberg: twenty three, twenty four years.
27:59
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, sometimes things don't end the the way you want.
28:02
Michael Staenberg: But I have all the respect for him, and I only wish him well.
28:06
Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
28:06
Lisa Nichols: And I know he's got the respect for you too.
28:09
Lisa Nichols: There's so much baked in to what you just told me.
28:12
Lisa Nichols: The first thing that I think about, Michael, when you got that initial call,
28:17
Lisa Nichols: if you had not said yes to coming in meeting you know,
28:21
Lisa Nichols: maybe that whole domino thing would not have happened.
28:25
Lisa Nichols: So you gotta protect your yes, but but taking
28:29
Lisa Nichols: risk.
28:30
Lisa Nichols: Right?
28:32
Lisa Nichols: No risk, no reward.
28:34
Lisa Nichols: There's cautious problems.
28:35
Michael Staenberg: I've had this happen.
28:36
Michael Staenberg: I've had this happen time and time again, and you know what?
28:39
Michael Staenberg: You know, sometimes it hasn't worked out.
28:42
Michael Staenberg: Most of the time it has, but as I said, I'm willing to fail to succeed.
28:47
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, you know, I if I hadn't met Webb Blesley, who knows
28:50
Michael Staenberg: where I'd be today?
28:51
Lisa Nichols: Right.
28:52
Michael Staenberg: You know?
28:52
Michael Staenberg: Who if I hadn't met, Norman Leese, who knows where I'd be?
28:55
Michael Staenberg: Or Willie Thiesen or the Pearl Vision people or the Payless
29:00
Michael Staenberg: Shoe people.
29:00
Michael Staenberg: I mean, I was always out there hustling.
29:03
Michael Staenberg: Because, you know, everybody was you know, I have the saying, I work every
29:06
Michael Staenberg: day that ends in y.
29:08
Michael Staenberg: And so yeah.
29:10
Michael Staenberg: I do.
29:11
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, I I like it.
29:13
Michael Staenberg: I really do.
29:13
Michael Staenberg: And, you know Right.
29:14
Michael Staenberg: This isn't just, oh, I I'm there from, eight thirty to five thirty on
29:18
Michael Staenberg: Monday through Friday.
29:19
Michael Staenberg: Well, you never know what might happen.
29:21
Michael Staenberg: You know?
29:21
Michael Staenberg: Yesterday, I did something and, you know, might might show, be something I'm
29:25
Michael Staenberg: proud of in a little bit.
29:26
Michael Staenberg: So
29:27
Lisa Nichols: Absolutely.
29:28
Lisa Nichols: Take those take those risks.
29:30
Lisa Nichols: Take those to take those meetings when they come your way, and you just
29:34
Lisa Nichols: never know.
29:35
Lisa Nichols: Well, we do need to take a quick break, and we'll be right back
29:37
Lisa Nichols: with Michael Staenberg on the Something Extra podcast.
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30:09
Lisa Nichols: Welcome back, everyone, to the Something Extra podcast with mister Michael
30:13
Lisa Nichols: Staenberg.
30:14
Lisa Nichols: We've been having so much fun so much fun.
30:17
Lisa Nichols: So, Michael, I know that you and Carol in twenty
30:21
Lisa Nichols: twelve formed the Staenberg Group.
30:24
Lisa Nichols: What is TSG's philosophy, and what does it mean in practice?
30:29
Michael Staenberg: You know, our philosophy is to be, good partners.
30:32
Michael Staenberg: You know, live locally, give locally, be part of the community where you are.
30:36
Michael Staenberg: I always had that, feeling.
30:39
Michael Staenberg: You know, it's important because, you know, it's nice to make money.
30:42
Michael Staenberg: I like making money, but I also think it's important something bigger
30:46
Michael Staenberg: than just making money, what you do with the money and how you can
30:50
Michael Staenberg: enhance the community you live in.
30:53
Michael Staenberg: And, I could live anywhere in the United States.
30:56
Michael Staenberg: I choose to live in Saint Louis and, you know, it's a region in,
31:00
Michael Staenberg: twenty I guess, twenty years ago, twenty five years ago.
31:04
Michael Staenberg: Somehow, someone asked me to join the regional business council, Kathy Osborne.
31:08
Michael Staenberg: Yes.
31:09
Michael Staenberg: And she changed my life again.
31:10
Michael Staenberg: You know?
31:11
Michael Staenberg: Another opportunity to to be part of the region.
31:14
Michael Staenberg: Mhmm.
31:15
Michael Staenberg: Really, I like that, and that's what TSG is about.
31:17
Michael Staenberg: You know, it's great to have these shopping centers, and, yes, I have two
31:21
Michael Staenberg: million square feet in, you know, Chesterfield,
31:25
Michael Staenberg: and I built a factory.
31:27
Michael Staenberg: But how do we, you know, help people?
31:29
Michael Staenberg: You know, like a little unknown fact is that we give away a hundred
31:32
Michael Staenberg: thousand dollars a year to, nonprofits.
31:35
Michael Staenberg: I call them the orphan nonprofits from the factory.
31:38
Michael Staenberg: Every concert we, you know, have people, we donate money, you know, so we
31:42
Michael Staenberg: can make a difference.
31:44
Michael Staenberg: I don't have to do that.
31:45
Michael Staenberg: I don't know any concert venue in America that does this.
31:49
Michael Staenberg: At all.
31:50
Lisa Nichols: So The Factory g ives away a hundred thousand a year?
31:53
Lisa Nichols: I did not realize that.
31:54
Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
31:54
Lisa Nichols: The F actory for those of you because we have people all over the world
31:58
Lisa Nichols: that listen, Michael.
31:59
Lisa Nichols: For those of you who do not live in Saint Louis, the F actory is
32:03
Lisa Nichols: such a cool concert venue.
32:06
Lisa Nichols: Beautiful, beautiful in Chesterfield.
32:08
Lisa Nichols: I love that venue.
32:10
Michael Staenberg: I do too.
32:11
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, I'm proud of it.
32:13
Michael Staenberg: Again, you know, as I said, I can't write, but I can certainly figure
32:16
Michael Staenberg: things out.
32:17
Michael Staenberg: And I, you know, I feel like I'm an artist.
32:19
Michael Staenberg: I can be the artist and the framer.
32:20
Michael Staenberg: I like being the artist.
32:22
Michael Staenberg: But, you know, I built this from scratch and then people, you know, looked
32:24
Michael Staenberg: at me like I was absolutely crazy when I did this.
32:27
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, I think it's important to give back.
32:29
Michael Staenberg: I think it's important to enhance people's lives.
32:33
Michael Staenberg: You know, I was watching Jimmy Valvino's, speech the other day.
32:37
Michael Staenberg: You know, it's, you know, it's, I think, the twentieth anniversary.
32:39
Michael Staenberg: Maybe it's even the fortieth when he passed away.
32:42
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, he said he wakes up and does three things in the
32:45
Michael Staenberg: morning.
32:46
Michael Staenberg: You know?
32:47
Michael Staenberg: Those aren't the three things I would do, but you know what?
32:49
Michael Staenberg: Pick three things that make a difference.
32:52
Michael Staenberg: But you know what?
32:52
Michael Staenberg: That's really what I try to do, and that's one of the things about
32:55
Michael Staenberg: TSG.
32:56
Michael Staenberg: How do how do we make it a better place?
32:58
Michael Staenberg: How do we enhance you know, if it's Firestone, Colorado, we give money up
33:02
Michael Staenberg: there.
33:02
Michael Staenberg: How do we do things?
33:03
Michael Staenberg: You know?
33:04
Michael Staenberg: I mean, I don't wanna hear that moda or that, CDOT doesn't maintain something.
33:08
Michael Staenberg: We'll just go out and clean it up.
33:10
Michael Staenberg: Mhmm.
33:11
Michael Staenberg: Someone to do that and put art and, you know, art invokes emotion, things
33:15
Michael Staenberg: like that.
33:18
Lisa Nichols: That is so good.
33:19
Lisa Nichols: That is so good.
33:20
Lisa Nichols: And I'm my brain is going nonstop here because
33:24
Lisa Nichols: I'm I'm thinking about and and let me just let me just skip
33:29
Lisa Nichols: to this because,
33:31
Lisa Nichols: you know, let's talk about giving giving because you guys do.
33:35
Lisa Nichols: I mean, you guys have donated over a hundred million dollars.
33:37
Lisa Nichols: I know the factory's given a hundred thousand away a year, but you and
33:41
Lisa Nichols: Carol and your foundation has given away a lot of money,
33:46
Lisa Nichols: Michael.
33:47
Lisa Nichols: You've got a book called The Gift of Giving, which lays out your
33:51
Lisa Nichols: philosophy.
33:52
Lisa Nichols: Right?
33:52
Lisa Nichols: And I think, truly, I think your dad instilled that in you at
33:56
Lisa Nichols: a very young age.
33:57
Lisa Nichols: Right?
33:58
Lisa Nichols: That you're not there for yourself.
33:59
Lisa Nichols: You're there to make a difference in the world.
34:02
Lisa Nichols: What do you hope readers take away from your book?
34:06
Michael Staenberg: One well, first of all, not to correct you, we've given away a couple
34:10
Michael Staenberg: hundred million now.
34:11
Lisa Nichols: Wow.
34:12
Michael Staenberg: But more importantly, you know, the savings, when I do you know, I'm
34:16
Michael Staenberg: good at development.
34:17
Michael Staenberg: So a lot of these nonprofits, I'll go in and do the development,
34:21
Michael Staenberg: and I've saved these nonprofits three or four hundred million dollars.
34:25
Michael Staenberg: You know?
34:25
Michael Staenberg: They would have to go raise.
34:27
Michael Staenberg: And then I've raised, you know, three hundred million because if I step up
34:31
Michael Staenberg: and they see my name on it, they say, well, we should give.
34:35
Michael Staenberg: You know, there was a, a mentor of mine by the name of Tommy
34:39
Michael Staenberg: Green, and he said one day, well, stop giving anonymously.
34:42
Michael Staenberg: Put your name on it so people can see.
34:44
Michael Staenberg: And that's really what's important to me, and that's what I'm trying to get
34:47
Michael Staenberg: people to you know, I call it the converging ripple theory.
34:51
Michael Staenberg: Mhmm.
34:51
Michael Staenberg: I'm in art, so I built this piece of art that's forty foot
34:55
Michael Staenberg: by forty foot in Omaha on a blank wall, and it moves in the
34:59
Michael Staenberg: wind.
35:00
Michael Staenberg: It's, road signs that, Boris Bailey did, and he said
35:04
Michael Staenberg: to me, well, what do you think we should call it?
35:06
Michael Staenberg: I said, converging ripples.
35:08
Michael Staenberg: And he looked at me, said, what do you mean?
35:09
Michael Staenberg: I said, well, it's like a still pond.
35:12
Michael Staenberg: You know, you you can take a little pebble and throw it in, it
35:15
Michael Staenberg: creates a ripple. Get a b oulder and throw it in, it creates a ripple.
35:19
Michael Staenberg: It doesn't matter how big the ripple is.
35:21
Michael Staenberg: It's the fact that you do a ripple and you and you make a
35:25
Michael Staenberg: difference.
35:25
Michael Staenberg: And that's all I ask.
35:26
Michael Staenberg: So that's what I'm I'm trying to encourage people to make a difference and
35:30
Michael Staenberg: help people's lives.
35:31
Michael Staenberg: You know, giving a million dollars, I've given many times, but it's the five
35:35
Michael Staenberg: thousand dollar donation that makes a difference in someone's life or organization's
35:40
Michael Staenberg: life.
35:40
Michael Staenberg: I remember starting It's Our Region with the Regional Business Council,
35:45
Michael Staenberg: and we give away a hundred thousand dollars a year, but no donation can
35:49
Michael Staenberg: be bigger than five thousand.
35:50
Michael Staenberg: And we pick I don't call them orphan, charities, but there was a
35:54
Michael Staenberg: food pantry in, North Saint Louis.
35:58
Michael Staenberg: We gave them five thousand dollars to buy a cooler.
36:02
Michael Staenberg: It added an extra thousand people a year.
36:06
Michael Staenberg: Think about that.
36:07
Michael Staenberg: Amazing.
36:08
Michael Staenberg: People that were benefited because of a five thousand dollar
36:12
Michael Staenberg: donation, and it's not one year.
36:15
Michael Staenberg: So and I think the people who are part of that saw that, and
36:18
Michael Staenberg: I think it enhanced what they wanted to do.
36:22
Michael Staenberg: So it's not always you gotta give you know, you read about this guy
36:25
Michael Staenberg: giving a hundred million or two hundred.
36:27
Michael Staenberg: You know, there's a lot of people.
36:29
Michael Staenberg: But I really believe when I give money, I wanna make a difference, not
36:32
Michael Staenberg: just giving it.
36:33
Michael Staenberg: I give my time Yes.
36:35
Michael Staenberg: And my talent to make a difference.
36:37
Michael Staenberg: Mhmm.
36:38
Michael Staenberg: And I also am proud that, you know, there's been, you know, probably two
36:42
Michael Staenberg: or three thousand pieces of art I've given away to nonprofits to make them
36:46
Michael Staenberg: feel better.
36:47
Michael Staenberg: Instead, you know, it's paint, art, lights, you know, things that people
36:51
Michael Staenberg: can't explain why they wanna do it, and I hope that enhances what they
36:55
Michael Staenberg: wanna do and feel like they wanna do it.
36:58
Lisa Nichols: Mhmm.
36:58
Lisa Nichols: Brings people joy.
37:01
Lisa Nichols: You know, that when you were talking about the pond, I was gonna
37:05
Lisa Nichols: ask you this, because I know that,
37:10
Lisa Nichols: Arizona State University made you the alumnus of the year,
37:14
Lisa Nichols: and I can't remember which year this was, but you said everyone in this
37:17
Lisa Nichols: room, you had a speech, an acceptance speech, Michael.
37:20
Lisa Nichols: You said everyone in this room is part of a pond.
37:24
Lisa Nichols: That pond always needs to be moving.
37:28
Lisa Nichols: Everyone can make a ripple.
37:30
Lisa Nichols: And, I started thinking about that, and I love that metaphorically,
37:35
Lisa Nichols: Michael.
37:36
Lisa Nichols: Because what what happens when a pawn does not move?
37:40
Michael Staenberg: It's still and nothing happens and
37:42
Lisa Nichols: It becomes stagnant.
37:43
Lisa Nichols: Right?
37:44
Michael Staenberg: Right.
37:44
Michael Staenberg: It it's lifeless.
37:45
Michael Staenberg: You know?
37:45
Michael Staenberg: You want you want moving.
37:47
Michael Staenberg: You want things moving and, you
37:48
Lisa Nichols: know,
37:49
Michael Staenberg: and, you know, I mean, it's important.
37:51
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, I think about these things, and I try to think about
37:54
Michael Staenberg: how you can continue to do that.
37:56
Michael Staenberg: I come up, you know, with sayings all the time and thoughts all the
37:59
Michael Staenberg: time and, you know, I just I think it's important.
38:02
Michael Staenberg: You know?
38:02
Michael Staenberg: I just think there's certain things that encourages people.
38:06
Michael Staenberg: You know?
38:07
Michael Staenberg: I mean, the other day, this is kind of a crazy story.
38:09
Michael Staenberg: I'm sitting at Starbucks, and the guy is yelling at the barista because his
38:13
Michael Staenberg: coffee's cold.
38:15
Michael Staenberg: So I walked up into him and said, sir, you must be having a
38:18
Michael Staenberg: bad day.
38:19
Michael Staenberg: I'm here to buy you a fresh cup of coffee, and in the counter
38:22
Michael Staenberg: there, buy anything you want.
38:23
Michael Staenberg: You wanna you want one of each things?
38:25
Michael Staenberg: Go ahead.
38:26
Michael Staenberg: And he didn't know what to say.
38:28
Michael Staenberg: I said, yes.
38:28
Michael Staenberg: Seriously.
38:29
Michael Staenberg: Go ahead.
38:30
Michael Staenberg: You know?
38:30
Michael Staenberg: But be thoughtful of people.
38:33
Michael Staenberg: Try to be thoughtful.
38:34
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, and and I think he walked away a little, and I
38:37
Michael Staenberg: see him at Starbucks once in a while because I go to the one
38:40
Michael Staenberg: downtown Clayton, and he always says, thank you for making a difference in my
38:44
Michael Staenberg: life.
38:45
Michael Staenberg: Yes.
38:45
Michael Staenberg: And those are the things that didn't cost me much.
38:47
Michael Staenberg: I mean, I bought him a a croissant and a cup of coffee.
38:50
Michael Staenberg: Okay.
38:51
Michael Staenberg: Mhmm.
38:51
Michael Staenberg: But I'm happy with that.
38:53
Lisa Nichols: Every day, we can do that.
38:55
Lisa Nichols: You know, you were talking about the gentleman who was saying he started his
38:58
Lisa Nichols: day with three things.
39:00
Lisa Nichols: I've got a friend that's in real estate in Denver, Jonathan or
39:04
Lisa Nichols: Phoenix.
39:05
Lisa Nichols: Jonathan Keiser is his name.
39:07
Lisa Nichols: Keiser Development, I think, is the name of his company.
39:10
Lisa Nichols: And he told me one time, Michael, he said, I every morning,
39:15
Lisa Nichols: I think about three people that I can make a difference in their life.
39:19
Lisa Nichols: It's the power of the three.
39:21
Lisa Nichols: Right?
39:21
Lisa Nichols: And he said, it may not be be given them a lot, but okay.
39:25
Lisa Nichols: I think of three people.
39:26
Lisa Nichols: I was like, okay.
39:27
Lisa Nichols: I'm gonna send that person encouraging text or
39:31
Lisa Nichols: give that person a phone you know, phone call, or maybe it is
39:36
Lisa Nichols: helping them with their rent that month or whatever the case may be.
39:39
Lisa Nichols: But I thought, wow.
39:40
Lisa Nichols: That is just that's a really it's a it's a system.
39:44
Michael Staenberg: Right.
39:44
Lisa Nichols: That, something that we can all do.
39:47
Lisa Nichols: And I just I wanna reiterate to our listeners, and you've heard
39:51
Lisa Nichols: Michael say this, it does not have to be a hundred million dollars.
39:55
Lisa Nichols: It's our time.
39:55
Lisa Nichols: We've all been given time, talent, and treasure.
39:59
Lisa Nichols: And any one of those combination or any one of those or a combination
40:03
Lisa Nichols: of all three, we can all make a difference.
40:06
Lisa Nichols: And so I love that metaphor of the pond.
40:10
Michael Staenberg: I do too.
40:11
Lisa Nichols: That'll be something that I will remember.
40:15
Lisa Nichols: So goodness gracious.
40:16
Lisa Nichols: There's so much to you.
40:17
Lisa Nichols: I want you to talk about downtown Chesterfield.
40:20
Lisa Nichols: What's downtown Chesterfield going to look like?
40:22
Lisa Nichols: We've had this Chesterfield mall here for as long as we've been in Saint
40:26
Lisa Nichols: Louis.
40:26
Lisa Nichols: You know, we're from Paducah, but moved here forty one years ago with McDonnell
40:30
Lisa Nichols: Douglas.
40:31
Lisa Nichols: And it's been here.
40:32
Lisa Nichols: But, Michael, I have to tell you a really funny story.
40:35
Lisa Nichols: This is a funny story.
40:37
Lisa Nichols: So I loved that mall so much when we moved here because you know
40:41
Lisa Nichols: Paducah, Kentucky.
40:43
Lisa Nichols: I mean, beautiful town.
40:44
Lisa Nichols: I love Little Rivertown.
40:45
Lisa Nichols: It was an awesome place to go.
40:47
Lisa Nichols: But we didn't have huge malls like that.
40:49
Lisa Nichols: Right?
40:49
Lisa Nichols: And I love Chesterfield Mall.
40:51
Lisa Nichols: And I remember being there on a weekend, and some with my husband,
40:55
Lisa Nichols: Greg, and somebody came up to me and said, hey.
40:58
Lisa Nichols: Do you have today off?
41:00
Lisa Nichols: They thought I worked there.
41:03
Lisa Nichols: Uh-huh.
41:03
Lisa Nichols: Because I went to that and Greg's like, how often are you here, by
41:07
Lisa Nichols: the way?
41:08
Lisa Nichols: But, tell us about what's going on in downtown Chesterfield.
41:11
Michael Staenberg: Well, downtown is a culmination of started in nineteen ninety
41:16
Michael Staenberg: three when I started Chesterfield Commons in the flood.
41:19
Michael Staenberg: And, we built a center that's two miles long and about one
41:24
Michael Staenberg: point eight million square feet excluding the out parcels.
41:26
Michael Staenberg: And it's interesting because the mall never thought it would affect it.
41:30
Michael Staenberg: You know, the arrogance of the mall people, you know, we're the mall.
41:33
Michael Staenberg: And, in fact, Tim Lowe, who's worked for me, with me for sixteen, seventeen
41:38
Michael Staenberg: years used to work at the mall and redeveloped it.
41:41
Michael Staenberg: Oh, they're not gonna bother us.
41:42
Michael Staenberg: They're not gonna bother us.
41:43
Michael Staenberg: And so, you know, eventually, it started to, you know, hurt them all.
41:47
Lisa Nichols: Yes.
41:47
Michael Staenberg: And then I then I got involved with the Taubmans because of a,
41:52
Michael Staenberg: I honored my word on something,
41:54
Michael Staenberg: bought that, and figured, okay.
41:58
Michael Staenberg: I built an entertainment long before entertainment districts were there.
42:01
Michael Staenberg: That's why I called it the district.
42:03
Michael Staenberg: Entertainment, I you know, that limited, but it's called the district.
42:06
Michael Staenberg: And And so, you know, I and then I said to myself about
42:10
Michael Staenberg: seven, eight years ago, I heard the mall was gonna be foreclosed on.
42:14
Michael Staenberg: So I said, Tim, if you own one of the department stores, you have
42:18
Michael Staenberg: a seat at the table and they can't do anything.
42:20
Michael Staenberg: I'd rather compete with myself.
42:22
Michael Staenberg: So I bought the Sears store, and then I had and then I bought
42:26
Michael Staenberg: the mall, then I bought Macy's, but I didn't wanna build a mixed use.
42:30
Michael Staenberg: I did not wanna have a typical where you take the parking lot, you
42:34
Michael Staenberg: throw some apartments on, you put some retail, And I wanted you know, Chesterfield
42:38
Michael Staenberg: doesn't have a downtown.
42:40
Lisa Nichols: Right.
42:41
Michael Staenberg: And I said, so, you know, I live in Clayton.
42:43
Michael Staenberg: I like living in Clayton.
42:44
Michael Staenberg: You know, people don't like this, but I'm not moving to Chesterfield.
42:47
Michael Staenberg: I'm okay.
42:49
Michael Staenberg: But but Chesterfield's become the third the third leg of the stool here.
42:53
Michael Staenberg: Mhmm.
42:53
Michael Staenberg: Downtown Clayton and Chesterfield's booming.
42:56
Michael Staenberg: You know, you have good restaurants, Andy Gun's.
42:59
Michael Staenberg: You know?
43:00
Michael Staenberg: There's a lot of things.
43:01
Michael Staenberg: They have, you know, over four hundred baseball teams come, two
43:05
Michael Staenberg: hundred soccer teams.
43:06
Michael Staenberg: It's become a regional, and it's good for St.
43:09
Michael Staenberg: Louis.
43:09
Michael Staenberg: You you know, one of the people say, well, you're hurting downtown in Clayton.
43:13
Michael Staenberg: No.
43:13
Michael Staenberg: I'm enhancing it.
43:14
Michael Staenberg: I want people to wanna come to St.
43:16
Michael Staenberg: Louis, bring their businesses, be part of the community because
43:20
Michael Staenberg: people want nice things.
43:22
Michael Staenberg: Forget, you know, saying downtown has safety issues.
43:24
Michael Staenberg: No.
43:25
Michael Staenberg: It's not about safety.
43:26
Michael Staenberg: It's about bringing people to the region.
43:28
Michael Staenberg: Mhmm.
43:28
Michael Staenberg: That's really what I'm trying to do.
43:30
Michael Staenberg: So it's truly gonna be a downtown.
43:32
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, right in the middle of it, I put a three and
43:34
Michael Staenberg: a half acre park.
43:35
Michael Staenberg: Nobody does that.
43:36
Michael Staenberg: Nobody thinks about that stuff.
43:38
Michael Staenberg: And, again, it's not about the money, but it is about
43:42
Michael Staenberg: serving the customer.
43:44
Michael Staenberg: And, when I built when I built the factory,
43:47
Michael Staenberg: I thought about who the customer is.
43:50
Michael Staenberg: And everybody's gonna say the ticket buyers.
43:52
Michael Staenberg: No.
43:52
Michael Staenberg: That's not the customer.
43:53
Michael Staenberg: The customer is the artist.
43:55
Michael Staenberg: That's who the customer is because if they wanna play there, the other the
43:59
Michael Staenberg: the people will, you know, come.
44:01
Michael Staenberg: So we're fortunate because we have I get this every every concert.
44:05
Michael Staenberg: We love this place.
44:06
Michael Staenberg: We wanna come back here.
44:07
Michael Staenberg: Even if they're not pay you know, even though it might not be five
44:11
Michael Staenberg: thousand seats
44:12
Lisa Nichols: Sure.
44:13
Michael Staenberg: It's a little smaller.
44:14
Michael Staenberg: They don't make as much money, but they like the experience.
44:17
Michael Staenberg: And they want the experience of downtown to be different.
44:21
Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
44:21
Lisa Nichols: It's definitely yeah.
44:23
Michael Staenberg: And so, you know, within twenty two minutes of drive time, there's a million
44:27
Michael Staenberg: people that can get to the to the downtown.
44:29
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, we want people to come, hang out, enjoy it.
44:33
Michael Staenberg: There's gonna be, you know, bike pass.
44:34
Michael Staenberg: There's a y.
44:35
Michael Staenberg: There's a JCC.
44:36
Michael Staenberg: There's a library.
44:37
Michael Staenberg: There's an amphitheater.
44:38
Michael Staenberg: There's a water park.
44:40
Michael Staenberg: There's two lakes that you can walk around.
44:41
Michael Staenberg: So we're really trying to make it different than
44:45
Michael Staenberg: just, quote, a mixed use.
44:48
Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
44:48
Lisa Nichols: It's gonna be great.
44:49
Lisa Nichols: It's gonna be great, as you said, for our whole region because the more
44:53
Lisa Nichols: people that wanna come, that's good for everybody.
44:56
Lisa Nichols: It really is, Michael.
44:57
Lisa Nichols: Well, we can't wait.
44:59
Lisa Nichols: I, and I'm probably gonna butcher this, so please give me grace.
45:03
Lisa Nichols: But, you know, there's a couple of Jewish teachings that I would love for
45:07
Lisa Nichols: you to explain to our listeners.
45:10
Lisa Nichols: And it's Zedekan.
45:14
Lisa Nichols: Is that right?
45:15
Lisa Nichols: Zedekan and Tikum Alam?
45:18
Michael Staenberg: Tikum Alam.
45:19
Michael Staenberg: Yes.
45:20
Lisa Nichols: Is that right?
45:21
Michael Staenberg: Right.
45:21
Michael Staenberg: Yes.
45:22
Michael Staenberg: Okay.
45:22
Michael Staenberg: Well, basically, to repair the world.
45:25
Michael Staenberg: To repair the world.
45:27
Michael Staenberg: To repair the world and to make, you know, you know you know,
45:31
Michael Staenberg: and we're here to enhance people.
45:33
Michael Staenberg: It's not always about ourselves.
45:34
Michael Staenberg: Sure.
45:35
Michael Staenberg: We have to take care of ourselves, but it's about how to make, you
45:39
Michael Staenberg: know, the world a better place.
45:40
Michael Staenberg: You know, save one life, you save you save the whole, everybody's
45:44
Michael Staenberg: lives.
45:45
Michael Staenberg: You know?
45:45
Michael Staenberg: You know?
45:46
Michael Staenberg: And everybody counts and, you know, we're not, you know, today and to to
45:49
Michael Staenberg: this world, everybody hits a button and says, oh, we talked to ten thousand
45:53
Michael Staenberg: people or, oh, we did this.
45:55
Michael Staenberg: Do one thing at a time.
45:56
Michael Staenberg: You know, be kind.
45:57
Michael Staenberg: Be be thoughtful.
45:59
Michael Staenberg: Try to you know?
46:00
Michael Staenberg: And and the biggest thing I tell everybody is, you know, and we don't
46:03
Michael Staenberg: do it enough, is just say thank you.
46:05
Michael Staenberg: I don't need anything.
46:06
Michael Staenberg: Just say thank you.
46:08
Lisa Nichols: That's so good.
46:09
Lisa Nichols: That is so good.
46:11
Lisa Nichols: Well, I tell you, if our listeners don't take anything else away, which I
46:15
Lisa Nichols: know they're gonna take tons of wisdom away, but repair the world.
46:19
Lisa Nichols: We can all do something to repair the world.
46:21
Lisa Nichols: It's not it's not about us.
46:23
Lisa Nichols: And what a what a, just kind of an empty life
46:27
Lisa Nichols: too.
46:27
Lisa Nichols: Right, Michael?
46:28
Lisa Nichols: If you get to the end of your life and you really didn't give
46:32
Lisa Nichols: back at all and try to repair the world and make the world a
46:35
Lisa Nichols: better place for other people, I think.
46:37
Lisa Nichols: So,
46:38
Lisa Nichols: let me ask you this question.
46:40
Lisa Nichols: We got two more questions for you, and then I wanna talk about something
46:43
Lisa Nichols: extra.
46:44
Lisa Nichols: What are your nonnegotiables in your daily life?
46:47
Lisa Nichols: Because you told me before there was a gentleman that starts his day with
46:50
Lisa Nichols: three things.
46:51
Lisa Nichols: Are there habits and practices that keep Michael Staenberg grounded?
46:55
Michael Staenberg: Yeah.
46:55
Michael Staenberg: Well, you know, I like to get up early.
46:57
Michael Staenberg: That's number one.
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Lisa Nichols: What's early?
46:59
Lisa Nichols: What's early?
47:00
Michael Staenberg: Oh, I used to get up at four twenty.
47:02
Michael Staenberg: You know?
47:02
Michael Staenberg: Now I get up at, five.
47:05
Lisa Nichols: Okay.
47:05
Michael Staenberg: You know?
47:06
Michael Staenberg: And I like to, you know, I like to wake up, and I like
47:09
Michael Staenberg: to think about what I'm gonna accomplish.
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Michael Staenberg: Second, I do some exercise.
47:14
Michael Staenberg: And third, I have a list to try to, organize my day so I
47:18
Michael Staenberg: can be efficient.
47:20
Michael Staenberg: That's really what I think about now.
47:21
Michael Staenberg: And then I also started several years ago breathing.
47:24
Michael Staenberg: I like to have ten minutes of just breathing.
47:27
Lisa Nichols: Do breath work?
47:28
Lisa Nichols: That's awesome.
47:29
Michael Staenberg: You know, I really like that.
47:30
Michael Staenberg: And the days I don't breathe, I'm in a hurry, I have I'm disappointed.
47:34
Michael Staenberg: And I work out six days a week.
47:35
Michael Staenberg: I everybody needs one day off.
47:37
Michael Staenberg: Mhmm.
47:38
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, but I I do that.
47:40
Michael Staenberg: And that way, I can be more present for things and try to, you
47:44
Michael Staenberg: know, really and and I say to myself, what am I gonna do today
47:47
Michael Staenberg: that's gonna make a difference?
47:48
Michael Staenberg: What do and not you know, I'm you know, it's easy to be
47:53
Michael Staenberg: negative.
47:53
Michael Staenberg: Let's try to have a little positivity in there.
47:56
Lisa Nichols: Amen to that.
47:57
Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
47:57
Lisa Nichols: If you want to be negative, you can find things to be negative about,
48:00
Lisa Nichols: but it's a choice.
48:01
Lisa Nichols: It's a daily choice, Michael.
48:03
Lisa Nichols: It is a daily choice to be positive.
48:06
Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
48:06
Lisa Nichols: I know you're a big cyclist.
48:09
Lisa Nichols: We won't talk about that, but but I know that you've, raised a lot
48:12
Lisa Nichols: of money through your cycling and that sort of thing.
48:15
Lisa Nichols: But what what excites you the most right
48:19
Lisa Nichols: now about the Staenberg Group and what what your is on
48:23
Lisa Nichols: the horizon besides downtown Chesterfield and, you know, who
48:27
Lisa Nichols: you're gonna meet today.
48:28
Lisa Nichols: You guys something like that.
48:30
Lisa Nichols: I get
48:30
Michael Staenberg: up every morning thinking how we can do better as a team, how we
48:34
Michael Staenberg: and us can, you know, make a difference.
48:36
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, just just, you know, I don't have to we don't have
48:39
Michael Staenberg: to slay the dragons.
48:40
Michael Staenberg: You know, this isn't about you know, we we develop things to be partners
48:44
Michael Staenberg: with cities and things like that.
48:45
Michael Staenberg: How do we become better better with what we do?
48:48
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, I, at one time at THF, I had a couple hundred
48:52
Michael Staenberg: people that work for me.
48:53
Michael Staenberg: I didn't like myself.
48:54
Michael Staenberg: Today, there's thirty three people.
48:56
Michael Staenberg: I know their names.
48:57
Michael Staenberg: I know their kids.
48:58
Michael Staenberg: I know their birthdays.
49:00
Michael Staenberg: I know their, wives, girlfriends, or whatever.
49:03
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, it's just it's nice.
49:05
Michael Staenberg: It's just nice to be able to walk in and walk around and sit
49:09
Michael Staenberg: down and, you know, say hello.
49:10
Michael Staenberg: You know?
49:11
Lisa Nichols: It's a family.
49:12
Michael Staenberg: It is.
49:12
Lisa Nichols: It's a family.
49:13
Lisa Nichols: We call yes.
49:13
Lisa Nichols: We call our technology it's our technology partners family, and we feel the same
49:18
Lisa Nichols: way.
49:18
Lisa Nichols: So, Michael, this is called something extra.
49:21
Michael Staenberg: Okay.
49:21
Lisa Nichols: What do you believe is the something extra that every leader needs?
49:26
Michael Staenberg: I think the something extra for every leader
49:30
Michael Staenberg: is to be able to put yourself in someone else's shoes
49:34
Michael Staenberg: and understand where they're coming from.
49:36
Michael Staenberg: If they're having a bad day, say, okay.
49:39
Michael Staenberg: Do this.
49:40
Michael Staenberg: But, you know, nobody's perfect.
49:41
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, if you wanna be a good leader, you just have to
49:43
Michael Staenberg: say, what can I do to make their day better?
49:47
Michael Staenberg: And you have to you know, nobody can walk in your shoes.
49:50
Michael Staenberg: You can't walk in someone else's, but how do you really think about the
49:54
Michael Staenberg: other person and making sure you empower the person to be in the
49:58
Michael Staenberg: right seat?
49:59
Michael Staenberg: Just because you're good at leasing doesn't mean you're a good developer.
50:03
Michael Staenberg: And, well, really, I mean that.
50:05
Michael Staenberg: Or if you're good at property management, you should become the the head of
50:09
Michael Staenberg: property management.
50:10
Michael Staenberg: You have to understand how to put people in positions to succeed.
50:15
Michael Staenberg: That's really what I I'm thinking about.
50:18
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, I wear my emotions on my sleeve.
50:21
Michael Staenberg: I tell people do not take this personally.
50:23
Michael Staenberg: I'm very direct and I think most leaders can't be direct.
50:27
Michael Staenberg: In today's world, I mean, people look you look at people wrong and they,
50:31
Michael Staenberg: you know, they oh, that's wrong.
50:33
Michael Staenberg: Okay.
50:33
Michael Staenberg: Well, I didn't look at I've you know, it's just who I am.
50:36
Michael Staenberg: Mhmm.
50:36
Michael Staenberg: And everybody's worried about words or this or that and
50:40
Michael Staenberg: just be thoughtful.
50:42
Michael Staenberg: Just I mean, come on.
50:44
Michael Staenberg: This isn't unless someone does something egregious, I mean, I mean,
50:48
Michael Staenberg: everybody's so sensitive.
50:49
Michael Staenberg: Let's let's become less sensitive.
50:52
Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
50:52
Lisa Nichols: That's so good.
50:54
Lisa Nichols: Well, Michael, thank you so much.
50:56
Lisa Nichols: I just know that people our listeners are gonna love hearing your story and
51:00
Lisa Nichols: learning from you.
51:01
Lisa Nichols: I love all your metaphors.
51:02
Lisa Nichols: I love all of your sayings.
51:04
Lisa Nichols: I know that they're all gonna stick with me.
51:07
Lisa Nichols: I I remember the red jacket.
51:09
Lisa Nichols: I'm gonna remember that story, and I'm gonna remember the pond.
51:13
Lisa Nichols: And, yeah, I hope our listeners do as well.
51:15
Lisa Nichols: But thank you again.
51:16
Lisa Nichols: I know you're super busy, so I appreciate you making the time to be
51:20
Lisa Nichols: able to do today.
51:21
Michael Staenberg: Always glad to do it.
51:22
Michael Staenberg: And, you know, I'm, as I tell everybody, I'm not perfect.
51:26
Michael Staenberg: I'm really not.
51:27
Michael Staenberg: But, hopefully, somebody will take one thing away that will make
51:31
Michael Staenberg: a difference.
51:32
Michael Staenberg: Mhmm.
51:32
Michael Staenberg: I've had a lot of great mentors that have said to me things that
51:35
Michael Staenberg: I've taken away.
51:36
Lisa Nichols: Absolutely.
51:37
Lisa Nichols: And you got
51:37
Michael Staenberg: and you gotta you gotta wanna listen.
51:39
Michael Staenberg: You know, a lot of people say they wanna listen, but you have to
51:42
Michael Staenberg: want to.
51:43
Lisa Nichols: Mhmm.
51:44
Lisa Nichols: Could not agree more.
51:45
Lisa Nichols: Well, thank you so much, and have a great rest of the day, my
51:47
Lisa Nichols: friend.
51:48
Michael Staenberg: Thank you.
51:49
Michael Staenberg: Talk to you soon.
51:50
Announcer: Thank you for listening to today's show.
51:52
Announcer: Something Extra with Lisa Nichols is a Technology Partners production.
51:56
Announcer: Copyright Technology Partners Inc, two thousand and nineteen.
51:59
Announcer: For show notes or to reach Lisa, visit tpi dot co
52:04
Announcer: slash podcast.
52:05
Announcer: Don't forget to leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever
52:09
Announcer: you listen.