Latest / Quarterback DadCast | Intentional Fatherhood & Leadership at Home / Bishoy Tadros -From Childhood Cancer to Raising Resilient Kids: A Dad’s Powerful Journey

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Bishoy Tadros -From Childhood Cancer to Raising Resilient Kids: A Dad’s Powerful Journey · Quarterback DadCast | Intentional Fatherhood & Leadership at Home

0:03
SPEAKER_00: I'm Ryan.
0:04
SPEAKER_01: And I'm Ryder.
0:05
SPEAKER_01: And this is my dad's job.
0:12
SPEAKER_01: Hey everybody, it's KCK with the quarterback podcast.
0:15
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Steas and Stephens.
0:17
SPEAKER_01: Can't wait for the Steason.
0:18
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of great guests ahead.
0:20
SPEAKER_01: If we do this podcast, it's really simple.
0:22
SPEAKER_01: It's a podcast where we are dad, we learn about how they're raised, we learn about the life left that were pointed out.
0:28
SPEAKER_01: We learn about the values that are pointed out.
0:30
SPEAKER_01: And really we learn about how we can work hard to become a better quarterback leader of our fault.
0:35
SPEAKER_01: So let's sit back, relax, and let's get to today's episode of Quarterback Doccats.
0:40
SPEAKER_01: Hi everybody, it's KCJ Cox with the Quarterback Docats Weird Season 7, as you know.
0:45
SPEAKER_01: And uh I want to give love to my to my guy, Steve Gardy, for making this guest possible.
0:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh we are gonna talk to the one and only uh Bashoy Dadros, who is uh he's got a freaking lot of funny talking like beating leukemia, having brain surgery, he's a top performer in finance and software, he's an Iron Man, he's an author, podcast hostile forty, he's a girl dad times two, he's a ram.
1:06
SPEAKER_01: So that's not why we're having on and play.
1:08
SPEAKER_01: We're having Pachoy on to learn about Beshoy the Dad and how he's working hard to become that ultimate quarterback or leader of this household.
1:14
SPEAKER_01: So without further ado, and Mr.
1:16
SPEAKER_01: Tatters, welcome to the quarterback dad cast.
1:18
SPEAKER_01: Casey, thank you for having me.
1:20
SPEAKER_01: You bet, dude.
1:20
SPEAKER_01: How about that research with that?
1:22
SPEAKER_01: I knew you were a Ram.
1:23
SPEAKER_02: A Ram?
1:24
SPEAKER_02: Oh wow.
1:24
SPEAKER_02: I you know, when you when you said Ram, it took me a second to process it.
1:27
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, wait, what what I'm what is he talking about?
1:29
SPEAKER_02: And then I realized, wow, Fordham, you put it together.
1:32
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
1:33
SPEAKER_02: I, you know, it's been it was so long ago, I forgot.
1:35
SPEAKER_02: I I went for my MBA.
1:37
SPEAKER_02: So I was I was definitely I was in and out during that period.
1:42
SPEAKER_01: I I have this weird fetish with like mascots.
1:46
SPEAKER_01: And not fetish, that made that sound like like bad.
1:48
SPEAKER_01: I'd mean it like that way, but like, no offense, honey, if you're listening.
1:52
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's I just love the randomness of mascots.
1:54
SPEAKER_01: And then when you surprise people, like, how the hell do you know that?
1:56
SPEAKER_01: So anyway, I digress.
2:04
SPEAKER_02: And most people don't even know what a fryer is.
2:06
SPEAKER_02: And and to be honest, like I don't I don't even know if it's worth really explaining.
2:11
SPEAKER_02: But uh I went to a big Friday night like school, like for high school.
2:15
SPEAKER_02: Um and so, like, you know, they take over pretty much the entire county when when the games were going on.
2:20
SPEAKER_02: And and so um I I tell in break barriers, I write about how I wanted to make that football team so badly.
2:29
SPEAKER_02: And I don't mean to jump into things really quick, but I think it'll be relevant for this podcast.
2:33
SPEAKER_02: So uh, as you had mentioned, I had leukemia as a child, and it pretty much took over the majority of my childhood between the ages of three and 13, undergoing chemo radiation, brain surgery when I was 13.
2:44
SPEAKER_02: So for those 10 years, nothing was really going right.
2:48
SPEAKER_02: And all of a sudden now I'm entering high school and you know, the lights are on, this big school getting a lot of attention for different reasons, particularly in the world of sports and athletics.
2:58
SPEAKER_02: And like every other kid and every other boy out there, I just wanted to play sports and I wanted to fit in.
3:03
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but I knew on the back of my, you know, experience as a child, and you know, you grow up quick going through something like that.
3:09
SPEAKER_02: I realized that in order to succeed, I would have to fail.
3:13
SPEAKER_02: And so what that meant was, you know, understanding that not everybody was gonna want to be my friend, I was gonna have to deal with rejection and going to this the sports piece of it.
3:23
SPEAKER_02: I tried out for this team three times, and this team doesn't cut anybody.
3:26
SPEAKER_02: Like it's it's a big football team that doesn't make cuts, but I got cut three times from this team.
3:31
SPEAKER_02: And then I finally made it my senior year.
3:35
SPEAKER_02: And, you know, looking back on it, what I realized was all I wanted was to be part of a locker room.
3:42
SPEAKER_02: I didn't, you know, football wasn't my sport.
3:44
SPEAKER_02: I don't know that I would, you know, ever call myself a football player, but I just wanted to be a part of something.
3:49
SPEAKER_02: And so it's funny how you know you kick things off and we're talking about mascots, and that made me think for a second.
3:54
SPEAKER_02: And uh it it drew back, you know, that that memory of how I came to identify with a bigger group.
4:01
SPEAKER_01: Love it, man.
4:02
SPEAKER_01: Well, go friars.
4:03
SPEAKER_01: Shout out and appreciate the story.
4:05
SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm gonna roll wind your choice, because one way we always start out each episode is with gratitude.
4:10
SPEAKER_01: So I want to know what are you most grateful for as a dad today?
4:12
SPEAKER_02: I mean, simply put, it's the daily lessons that my children give me.
4:16
SPEAKER_02: I mean, children are a mirror reflection of you.
4:19
SPEAKER_02: And um there's been nothing more gratifying than having my children show me the ways that I can improve as a human on a daily basis.
4:32
SPEAKER_02: Um, and so, you know, I think that while that might sound obvious to a lot of people, it's definitely the thing that's top of mind for me.
4:39
SPEAKER_02: It's it's it's the fact that every single day my children give me uh not only purpose, but they give me uh the motivation to be better.
4:49
SPEAKER_01: Love it, ma'am.
4:50
SPEAKER_01: Well, I think um I'm a big believer of um daily reminders and habits and common sense because it's not common and talking about things that are so basic because most people don't talk about them, which I think was what separates people in life, I'm convinced.
5:04
SPEAKER_01: Um, but say, man, what I'm grateful for is so last night I'm I'm three days now into my 50s, four days into my fifties.
5:12
SPEAKER_02: Happy birthday.
5:13
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
5:13
SPEAKER_01: And uh so I was I was traveling last week.
5:16
SPEAKER_01: We're recording in March, everybody, when this episode will come out in a few weeks, but and I spoke on my 50th birthday, which was not uh not I not didn't have that in the cards, but just kind of worked out that way.
5:25
SPEAKER_01: And anyway, so we had a delayed celebration last night.
5:28
SPEAKER_01: We opened up a few gifts, and uh my wife as a joke um opened she one of the gifts she got me.
5:35
SPEAKER_01: Well, first I'm grateful that my my daughter made me a handwritten card that drew it.
5:40
SPEAKER_01: And my dad my daughter's right now going through a torn ACL, and so she's getting a lot of grit and resilience lessons in life right now.
5:46
SPEAKER_01: And and one of the things that she uh she wrote was she goes, Dad, I love you, happy birthday, you'll be rebounding for me in no time.
5:55
SPEAKER_01: And it damn near frickin' brought me to tears again because that was like my my time with her.
5:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah um, so that was awesome.
6:01
SPEAKER_01: But then what's funny is then we had like tears of laughter after that because my wife thought it'd be funny.
6:08
SPEAKER_01: She wrapped up, you know, like when you're like it's hot outside and those like shades you put in your windshield, so it's not like yeah, whatever those things are.
6:15
SPEAKER_01: My wife like wrapped that up and she saw it at Costco, was like, oh that's kind of practical.
6:20
SPEAKER_01: And but and I opened it up and I was trying to not be like insensitive, but I was like, what the flying F is this?
6:26
SPEAKER_01: Like, why would you get this for me for my 50th birthday?
6:28
SPEAKER_01: And she was a joke, it was a joke, but I like didn't mean to like like be like unthankful, but I was just like, What the s and they like were in tears, like literally tears, laughing at me.
6:39
SPEAKER_01: And then I started laughing, and then we all were just like laughing out of control, and it was just like such a cool moment of like gratitude.
6:45
SPEAKER_01: It's like this is what it's about.
6:46
SPEAKER_01: Because my and we had then I FaceTime my son, and because he's in college, and I I joked to him, I'm like, Hey, were you part of this shit show, bud?
6:53
SPEAKER_02: No, I mean you're right, those are the moments, and and you you realize it when you're living them that you know, these these small little experiences that at one point in your life, you know, you would have overlooked now are everything.
7:08
SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
7:09
SPEAKER_01: So true, man.
7:10
SPEAKER_01: All right.
7:11
SPEAKER_01: Well, bring me inside the the the huddle.
7:12
SPEAKER_01: You're you're playing quarterback.
7:14
SPEAKER_01: Tell me who's on the the the the squad inside your your home.
7:18
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
7:18
SPEAKER_02: Uh well, we got my wife.
7:20
SPEAKER_02: Um, she's 5'2.
7:23
SPEAKER_02: Um, and then I got my two daughters, Elena, who is almost four, Emma, who is 18 months old right now.
7:30
SPEAKER_02: And we got Jovi, my pup.
7:32
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
7:33
SPEAKER_02: What type of dog is Jovi?
7:34
SPEAKER_02: A mini golden doodle.
7:36
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
7:37
SPEAKER_01: I have a uh Irish setter, golden retriever, Irish Setter mix.
7:41
SPEAKER_01: She's two and a half, Harley.
7:42
SPEAKER_01: And then I have a about a six-month-old golden retriever that's straight Hell's Angel.
7:46
SPEAKER_01: So she'll probably be sprinting in here a couple of times and hope she's not gonna be a complete maniac for us.
7:50
SPEAKER_02: It's been fun, fun, funny watching Jovi's role evolve over the years.
7:55
SPEAKER_02: So I uh she's seven years old now.
7:57
SPEAKER_02: And when I got her, I was single.
8:00
SPEAKER_02: So when when I first got Jovi, her role was Wingwoman.
8:02
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and then she quickly evolved into Christine's favorite.
8:06
SPEAKER_02: And now uh poor Jovi, she's she's third in line now for feeding.
8:12
SPEAKER_01: So I know that one.
8:15
SPEAKER_01: I know that one all too well.
8:17
SPEAKER_01: Um, and so tell me what uh what what is what is your wife like to do?
8:21
SPEAKER_01: What are your what are your kids like to do with the I mean maybe your four-year-old probably your young one's too young, but like what's what's what do they got going on?
8:26
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so my wife is a psychologist.
8:30
SPEAKER_02: Um and backstory I'd me and her.
8:33
SPEAKER_02: We've known each other since childhood, uh, but we weren't, you know, it was it it's a long history where our families knew each other, but we didn't really have much of a romantic history uh until later on.
8:46
SPEAKER_02: And we actually dated and broke up three times uh and got back together during COVID.
8:51
SPEAKER_02: We were uh we were a COVID reunion, as many people were.
8:55
SPEAKER_02: Um and um, you know, she's the best.
9:00
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I I think it it it's it's it is very true how foundational friendship can be to a long-term relationship.
9:09
SPEAKER_02: Um and it's that it's that foundation of friendship that's kind of enabled us to navigate the ups and downs of being married.
9:18
SPEAKER_02: But as you know, I mean kids come and they're they're they there's no instruction manual.
9:24
SPEAKER_02: Um no.
9:24
SPEAKER_02: And and both of us are independent in different ways.
9:29
SPEAKER_02: Um, and so um having to come together to figure out how to um you know build this life together, we definitely don't have it all figured out, and we continue to kind of put the pieces together.
9:44
SPEAKER_02: Um, and so Elena was born in 2022.
9:49
SPEAKER_02: Um at that point, uh we were living in in the city in New York.
9:54
SPEAKER_02: Um and um it's funny, like I I wanted I originally wanted a boy.
10:01
SPEAKER_02: I I thought I wanted a boy, and and now I only want girls, and I'm glad that I I have two girls.
10:08
SPEAKER_02: Uh being a girl dad is is awesome.
10:11
SPEAKER_02: Um agree.
10:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and um it's it it's I I mean I can I can rattle off a bunch of interest that Elena has, but I'm starting to see more and more uh just how much like our both our kids enjoy being around us right now, and I'm really trying to soak that in because as I've heard many times, and as you could probably tell me, I'm sure that's eventually gonna run out.
10:40
SPEAKER_02: At some point, you know, they're not gonna want to always just be around me and and Christine.
10:45
SPEAKER_02: Um, and so um, you know, I I think that right now we're in this really beautiful phase where both kids um seem to be locked into like just the day-to-day here.
10:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's um the all the cliches are true.
11:01
SPEAKER_01: Time goes, you know, time goes by so fast, days are long, so years are short.
11:05
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, or the years are long, days are short, whatever, whatever that phrase is.
11:09
SPEAKER_01: And um it's I mean, I have a 20-year-old almost, and my daughter's graduating.
11:15
SPEAKER_01: And I I remember when my kids were your age, like literally yesterday, Bashoy.
11:19
SPEAKER_01: I can see it, I can um, and that phase when you become kind of a tool and you're like, no, I'm the same dude.
11:26
SPEAKER_01: Like I'm still the fun dad that like I made you laugh, and like, but then you kind of enter this like phase of like maybe they want mom more.
11:32
SPEAKER_01: And it's so hard not to let your ego get punched.
11:35
SPEAKER_01: And just yeah, I remember going to my wife, like, I'm like the douchebag now, like they don't want to, but like luckily my sons, he's always wanted to be around me.
11:42
SPEAKER_01: But like maybe six months my daughter was like this, like just quiet and when she went through kind of puberty, and but now we're back to like but yeah, it's it's a journey, man.
11:52
SPEAKER_01: It's uh it's a journey, but yeah, it's cool that you're embracing the the the time because it does go by fast.
11:57
SPEAKER_01: And and I love your mindset of gratitude that you know they're you're learning from your kids because they they do, they teach us, and yeah.
12:03
SPEAKER_01: Um so well, bring me back to what was life like growing up for you.
12:07
SPEAKER_01: I'd love to learn more about how mom and dad shaped you.
12:10
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
12:11
SPEAKER_02: Um, so I was born in Egypt and I was diagnosed when I was three, and that was actually the reason that my parents immigrated.
12:18
SPEAKER_02: So uh they left everything that they knew.
12:21
SPEAKER_02: My dad was probably around 28 at the time.
12:24
SPEAKER_02: My mom was probably closer to 23 at the time, 23, 24.
12:29
SPEAKER_02: Um, and so, you know, it's crazy.
12:31
SPEAKER_02: Like I could you I I'm I'm 38 right now, and I couldn't imagine making a fraction of that decision uh that they made at that point in their lives.
12:40
SPEAKER_02: So they left everything.
12:42
SPEAKER_02: Um, and and they probably left with the intent of of going back.
12:45
SPEAKER_02: I don't think they realized at the time uh perhaps how long it was gonna take, and um, they didn't know what the outcome was gonna become.
12:52
SPEAKER_02: Um, so they left.
12:54
SPEAKER_02: We moved to California, the city of hope, for a year where I began treatment, and then after that moved out to Long Island where uh I finished the rest of my treatment.
13:04
SPEAKER_02: And um my parents were incredible.
13:07
SPEAKER_02: Obviously, you know, they made the ultimate sacrifice to get us here.
13:11
SPEAKER_02: Um, and then they had to deal with assimilation and settling down and figuring it out and you know, not ever making me and my sister feel like, you know, we didn't have enough or that, you know, we couldn't accomplish any of the things that we wanted to accomplish.
13:25
SPEAKER_02: But, you know, we were kids and we didn't really know what it was that they were up against and you know what kept them up at night.
13:31
SPEAKER_02: Um but as I reflect on it, you know, there were three main tenors that I came about that I I feel like they instilled in us.
13:40
SPEAKER_02: And it was the idea of number one, patience, the idea that you don't always get the results you want when you want them.
13:46
SPEAKER_02: And that was clear, you know, just going through my medical journey.
13:49
SPEAKER_02: You're not always gonna hear what you want to hear.
13:51
SPEAKER_02: But my parents had a way of, you know, delivering it to a child where over time I became okay with, okay, like I'm not gonna get the results I want now, but I might get them if I keep, you know, pushing toward them.
14:06
SPEAKER_02: And then perspective, the idea that essentially you've been dealt this hand because you were built to play it.
14:12
SPEAKER_02: You know, that was something that my parents really instilled in me, you know, in a long time uh as a child, a long time ago.
14:19
SPEAKER_02: Um, and you know, they instilled it to a point where, you know, I've I've lived my whole life under the pre the preface of anytime something hard comes my way, it's because I've was I was built to deal with it.
14:32
SPEAKER_02: Um, and lastly, the idea of, you know, seeking out purpose, putting yourself in difficult positions to really uncover what it is that you're capable of.
14:42
SPEAKER_02: And, you know, going back to the prognosis and and and everything that I had to deal with.
14:47
SPEAKER_02: And it, I when I when I talk about this, I really don't just talk about the medical aspect of it because on the surface, the medical aspect is what a lot of people see and what they think like must have been the real pain point.
14:58
SPEAKER_02: But for a a six, eight, 10, 12, 13-year-old boy, like, yeah, like the medical stuff really sucked and it was painful.
15:05
SPEAKER_02: And I could talk about that.
15:06
SPEAKER_02: But what really, really sucked is the fact that you just didn't, you didn't fit in.
15:09
SPEAKER_02: Like nothing, nothing was working.
15:11
SPEAKER_02: No one wanted to be your friend.
15:13
SPEAKER_02: You were getting cut from sports teams left and right, you looked different, you felt different.
15:18
SPEAKER_02: Um, and um no matter where you put the puzzle piece, it just wasn't fitting.
15:24
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, that was the message that my parents indirectly always, you know, instilled upon me was the fact that life's not gonna be easy, but if you power through and you put yourself in these difficult positions, you're gonna build strength over time.
15:40
SPEAKER_02: And I think it was that strength that I had built over time that essentially, you know, grounded my resiliency for anything life threw at me, you know, from that point forward.
15:50
SPEAKER_01: Tell me, where do you think that came from for your parents?
15:53
SPEAKER_02: Uh, my parents are, you know, they're both pretty devout Christians.
15:57
SPEAKER_02: They go to church regularly.
15:59
SPEAKER_02: Um, my dad is actually uh a priest.
16:02
SPEAKER_02: Um, he's a Coptic Orthodox priest.
16:03
SPEAKER_02: And for the knowledge of the audience, just some background.
16:07
SPEAKER_02: Um, very similar to Greek Orthodoxy, but Coptic essentially means Egyptian.
16:12
SPEAKER_02: And um in the Orthodox Church, priests get married from a theology perspective, very similar to Catholicism in terms of you know what you believe and and and you know what the the church teaches, um it it's it's part of uh the Eastern sect.
16:27
SPEAKER_02: And so um, you know, I I want to call out though that while you know they are active churchgoers, it wasn't about the it was never the pushing of religion because the the the the funny thing was my parents never told me to go to church.
16:45
SPEAKER_02: You know, they were never those parents that pushed anything on me, despite the fact that my dad was a priest um and he was a figurehead for a community.
16:53
SPEAKER_02: Uh it was more so that they lived the values that they believed.
16:58
SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I I think it goes to one of the key lessons of parenting that I've talked about several times on on my show, is that kids don't do as you say, they do as you do.
17:10
SPEAKER_02: And that was something that I think I learned from my parents, or it was at least amplified now that I'm a father.
17:18
SPEAKER_02: And when I look back at how my parents raised me, you know, and I think about some of the values that are important to me.
17:26
SPEAKER_02: They were never important to me because my parents said, hey, like you need, you need to prioritize these values.
17:32
SPEAKER_02: They are important to me because I saw them prioritizing those values.
17:35
SPEAKER_02: And I saw how by prioritizing those values, they live the kind of life that, you know, I would aspire to, or they impacted people in positive ways, or they ended up raising, you know, well-rounded children.
17:47
SPEAKER_02: Um, and and so in the back of my mind, I'm thinking, okay, like if I do as they did, maybe I could see similar results.
17:55
SPEAKER_02: Can you think of a story of how they did that?
17:59
SPEAKER_02: Um man, so many stories.
18:02
SPEAKER_02: I mean, the thing about growing up, do you remember the show Seventh Evan?
18:06
SPEAKER_02: That that was kind of like my house.
18:08
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
18:09
SPEAKER_02: You know, my phone phones in my house would ring off the hook.
18:12
SPEAKER_02: I mean, congregants have no boundaries.
18:15
SPEAKER_02: So uh the phones in my house would be ringing off the hook at all hours at all times.
18:20
SPEAKER_02: Uh, because it it's essentially like a a therapist who doesn't charge.
18:24
SPEAKER_02: So it's like, hey, like if you can get free therapy all the time, you know, on you know, 24-7 on the diet, especially in your most dire need, like you're gonna take advantage of it.
18:34
SPEAKER_02: So whether it's, you know, uh someone going through a divorce, someone, you know, really sick, someone going through a tragedy, whatever it may be, it went through my household.
18:46
SPEAKER_02: And, you know, one of the things that I I noticed about my dad was that his response was always the same.
18:53
SPEAKER_02: It was always level-headed, it was always back to center.
18:57
SPEAKER_02: You know, it was never, he was never gonna meet the person panicking where they were.
19:03
SPEAKER_02: He was always gonna bring them back to center.
19:06
SPEAKER_02: Um, and so I I know that's kind of a general answer.
19:09
SPEAKER_02: It's because it all went through my household.
19:11
SPEAKER_02: Like it, and and that was another part of my childhood again, is the fact that, you know, you know, I I was never obviously given information that I wasn't supposed to be given, but you you're just around it, you know.
19:23
SPEAKER_02: And as a child, you're just observant and you're kind of listening and you're kind of like, oh, like that sounds serious.
19:29
SPEAKER_01: Um I think that's such a a good call out for us dads.
19:33
SPEAKER_01: I mean, one of the my gaps, I mean, that I've that my dad, unfortunately, was not patient.
19:37
SPEAKER_01: Rest in peace, Pops.
19:38
SPEAKER_01: Alright, call you out up there in heaven.
19:40
SPEAKER_01: Uh I, as a very competitive guy, sometimes my patience gets the best of me.
19:44
SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm sometimes I want to fix things, but sometimes I I have, but I think um having this show for now seven years and teaching curiosity to the corporate America, like it's slowed me down.
19:56
SPEAKER_01: And so uh, and I'm far from perfect, and and I'm gonna try to hopefully be the best level-headed, uh patient guy at 90.
20:05
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
20:05
SPEAKER_01: Uh, so it's like we're you're never you we're all flawed.
20:08
SPEAKER_01: Then it's one thing I always tell people we have that in common.
20:10
SPEAKER_01: But do you think your dad it was uh maybe his gift, or do you think is he something he worked on often?
20:16
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I um I if you ask him, I'm sure he'll tell you that he continues to work on it.
20:21
SPEAKER_02: But if you ask anyone around him, you'll they'll say it's it's his gift.
20:25
SPEAKER_02: So it depends on like who you ask.
20:28
SPEAKER_02: Um prior to uh priesthood, he was a he was a doctor, he was a physician, uh urologist.
20:35
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but he always was very involved in service, and and I think for him it was something that you know was always going to be uh his his his journey.
20:44
SPEAKER_02: Um and so um yeah, I mean he's in a he's a man of few words.
20:53
SPEAKER_02: And I and it's funny, like I we could talk about this for a long, long time, but I I it's a funny thing, it's a funny job, right?
21:01
SPEAKER_02: Because he's been doing it now for almost 40 years.
21:04
SPEAKER_02: And imagine getting in front of people and you speak in front of people.
21:07
SPEAKER_02: Imagine getting in front of people every week, a couple days a week for 40 years, selling them something that they want, you know they want, they know they want, but no one wants to pay the price for this thing that everybody wants.
21:23
SPEAKER_02: And the price is actually free, but it's like, you know, it's like selling the idea of of salvation, selling the idea of you know, uh eternal life.
21:33
SPEAKER_02: That's essentially what all people in that kind of capacity do, right?
21:37
SPEAKER_02: Every single week for 40 years, you're repeating the same message in different ways, and you're doing it in a way, you know, where you're you're you have to relate, you have to get creative.
21:47
SPEAKER_02: And at the same time, like I said, everyone in the audience wants what you're selling, but not a lot of people are actually gonna pay the non monetary price for it.
21:58
SPEAKER_02: So it's an interesting, you know.
22:00
SPEAKER_02: I again as someone who works in sales, it it it's an interesting thing to reflect on.
22:04
SPEAKER_02: You know, I think about uh uh going in front of clients now and positioning the products that I position and and and then relating into like what he's been doing for for that long.
22:15
SPEAKER_02: Um, and how despite the fact that the actual conversion rate and what he's doing, I mean, again, I'm not who knows who's actually we're not actually measuring the conversion rate, but from a 30,000 foot view, you know, it's interesting to kind of look at it and say, you have to be patient to keep showing up every day for that long.
22:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
22:38
SPEAKER_01: I'd say I love that your dad um being a pre-she could, I mean, the the stereotype would be like, oh, I'm sure it must have been like tough.
22:44
SPEAKER_01: You just threw it down your throat, but he didn't.
22:46
SPEAKER_03: No.
22:47
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
22:48
SPEAKER_01: And um, like I'm if sometimes I've interviewed a lot, a lot, like 350 people or so, and they're like, Oh man, you go to you, you're sounds like a really spiritual guy, Christian guy.
22:57
SPEAKER_01: You must go to church every week.
22:58
SPEAKER_01: I go, I don't go to church.
23:00
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
23:00
SPEAKER_01: I do, I look at a scripture in the morning.
23:03
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I have no idea what it means.
23:05
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
23:05
SPEAKER_01: Uh I do gratitude work every day.
23:08
SPEAKER_01: And I but I'm sure I don't go to church because I'm not a big fan of like organized religion.
23:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
23:12
SPEAKER_01: My own personal opinion.
23:13
SPEAKER_01: Same.
23:14
SPEAKER_01: Um, but I love spirituality and I love the word serendipity.
23:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
23:18
SPEAKER_01: And I love finding meaning in every person I meet with.
23:20
SPEAKER_01: Same.
23:21
SPEAKER_01: Um, and that just like fills my tank big time.
23:24
SPEAKER_02: I'm the same exact way.
23:25
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I I right there with you.
23:27
SPEAKER_02: And and that was also something that he instilled in me as well, in terms of like, hey, like, when all is said and done, no one's gonna pull out an attendance chart and say, hey, like, this is how many Sundays you showed up.
23:41
SPEAKER_02: But when all is said and done, it's possible that someone's gonna be saying, Hey, did you help this person when they needed help?
23:49
SPEAKER_02: You know, did you go out of your way for that person when they needed you?
23:53
SPEAKER_02: Did you put yourself behind this other person?
23:56
SPEAKER_02: Did you make the sacrifice?
23:59
SPEAKER_02: You know, were you willing to bear the pain?
24:01
SPEAKER_02: Were you able to, you know, carry your cross when it was handed to you?
24:05
SPEAKER_02: Like those those are the things that matter.
24:07
SPEAKER_02: No one is going to, again, you know, count your attendance and and and count, you know, uh, you know, how many prayers you put up.
24:16
SPEAKER_02: It's more around, you know, what have you done for the people who needed you and what have you done to kind of put yourself on the back of the line?
24:25
SPEAKER_02: And and that was a that was you know what he taught me again by action.
24:28
SPEAKER_02: It wasn't by it wasn't by words, it was by action.
24:33
SPEAKER_01: So good.
24:34
SPEAKER_01: Um, I want to go back to your leukemia journey, real quick.
24:37
SPEAKER_01: I can't imagine, like you said, I was when you said your parents, I mean, I'm in Egypt, I'm gonna move.
24:42
SPEAKER_01: Like, hey, how do you figure out uh hi, United States?
24:46
SPEAKER_01: Um, this is Mr.
24:47
SPEAKER_01: Uh Tedros.
24:48
SPEAKER_01: Are we gonna come to have United States fix our son?
24:51
SPEAKER_01: Like, I mean, I'm joking, but like where do you even start?
24:54
SPEAKER_01: And how do he how did they figure out California?
24:57
SPEAKER_02: So 1990 was when I had my diagnosis.
24:59
SPEAKER_02: And so it was, and my dad, like I said, was a physician before he he was ordained in 1988, but he was a physician, sorry, 1986, he was ordained because I was born in 87.
25:09
SPEAKER_02: He um he was a physician before that.
25:11
SPEAKER_02: So he was pretty in tune with the healthcare system over there, and so he he understood where the limitations lie.
25:17
SPEAKER_02: And um and to kind of like the to be a priest in a Coptic Orthodox church in Egypt is like being a mayor because it's it's a it's a much different kind of like uh outlay than it is here.
25:35
SPEAKER_02: Like religions matter over there, and there's really only two, right?
25:39
SPEAKER_02: You're either Muslim or you're Coptic Orthodox Christian.
25:42
SPEAKER_02: And the and and the the priests are are figureheads in their communities and their their congregants are in the thousands, like for each church.
25:50
SPEAKER_02: You're not talking about like a small, like, you know, and and so um it's it's it's a much different kind of situation over there.
26:00
SPEAKER_02: Um, and so he was able to kind of assess pretty quickly based on what he knew and based on the resources, because of the fact that he was kind of like this figurehead, he had access to, you know, the the the most prominent physicians around him.
26:13
SPEAKER_02: And I think everyone was kind of in agreement around like, hey, like if if if we want to give him a chance, it's probably not gonna be here.
26:20
SPEAKER_02: And he's a forward thinker, he's progressive, he's not gonna the kind of person who's gonna be stubborn and you know, he he and he put his family first.
26:28
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I think he uh did it almost at the risk of like, okay, if I move to America, like how am I gonna be able to continue doing this?
26:35
SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, and and so um, and and over the last, I mean, that was 1990, so 36 years ago, but over the last 40, 50 years, like there's just been a wave of immigrants coming in from all different countries.
26:48
SPEAKER_02: And so he had access to people here uh that he was able to reach out to.
26:53
SPEAKER_02: And the, you know, it's a joke amongst a lot of you know cultural communities, but in a lot of cultural communities, you're either a doctor, a lawyer, or an engineer, right?
27:02
SPEAKER_02: And so, especially like if you're coming straight from those countries.
27:06
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and so the good thing was that there were a lot of doctors that moved here that he was able to kind of reach out to and kind of leverage for uh making that move.
27:14
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
27:15
SPEAKER_01: That's I mean, it's such cool and what a what a great success story.
27:18
SPEAKER_01: And um good on your mom and dad for having the the courage to say, eff it, we're gonna do it.
27:24
SPEAKER_01: And then good on you for just having being having the perspective to just be able to realize that you were built for this.
27:31
SPEAKER_01: And I mean, love what a great mindset you can teach people.
27:34
SPEAKER_01: And if if if you take anybody take anything out of this episode, everybody, like imagine if we teach our kids that story versus oh my god, I can't believe the coach did this to you, you're screwed, we let's transfer versus no, you're built for this.
27:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, run towards the advice versus away from it, and let's build some resilience in our families, in our communities, and versus you know, just running from stuff.
27:55
SPEAKER_01: I just I love that you you guys are teaching that.
27:58
SPEAKER_02: There's also like an important piece of it, like uh, and I think this is a good takeaway for you know people who are early on in their marriages.
28:07
SPEAKER_02: My uh my mom was younger, she was 23, 24, and she was very attached to uh, you know, her her parents.
28:15
SPEAKER_02: My my dad was a little bit more independent.
28:17
SPEAKER_02: He was the youngest of of four.
28:19
SPEAKER_02: He was the youngest of four, and she was the oldest of two.
28:23
SPEAKER_02: And so for her, it it was a lot more traumatic.
28:26
SPEAKER_02: Imagine, and and like I didn't call this out.
28:28
SPEAKER_02: Like she had one son who was, you know, diagnosed with cancer, and you know, she had no medical background, so she didn't understand the severity of it, she just knew it was severe.
28:37
SPEAKER_02: She was also seven or eight months pregnant when she moved with my sister, and she was leaving everything that she knew.
28:43
SPEAKER_02: So I think it was a little bit more traumatic for her, whereas for my dad, it was a little bit more like this is the right decision, like we have to do this.
28:52
SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, you're married, I'm married.
28:55
SPEAKER_02: You know, I always put myself kind of in that in that situation of like if if if it's so clear to me that like this is the right option, but then my wife is battling like all these things on her own, some of which I can understand, some of which will be more difficult for me to understand.
29:09
SPEAKER_02: Like, how do you reconcile that?
29:11
SPEAKER_02: And how do you how do you assure them that like you know this is the way to go?
29:17
SPEAKER_02: And and so like I get my mom credit too, because you know, she trusted him.
29:23
SPEAKER_02: And and then, you know, I I think now looking, even though I'm sure there were years where she had trouble with it, now looking back, you know, I'm I'm sure she's grateful for it.
29:32
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that I mean, you look at America and the divorce rate, it's high.
29:36
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that story could scream, oh, they're not gonna make it.
29:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
29:40
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
29:41
SPEAKER_01: Well, how do you why do you think they did?
29:44
SPEAKER_02: Um, I mean, I think it comes back to faith.
29:46
SPEAKER_02: I again, faith over religion.
29:48
SPEAKER_02: I want to be clear about that.
29:49
SPEAKER_02: It's not like, hey, like the church says we can't divorce, but I think it is about faith.
29:53
SPEAKER_02: I think it's more around like the idea that it's not in our hands, right?
30:00
SPEAKER_02: Let go and let God.
30:01
SPEAKER_02: Like it's not, it's not in our hands.
30:03
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and there's a reason that we're here.
30:05
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and what happens, you know, is meant to be.
30:09
SPEAKER_02: You know, and it's funny, sometimes you get into these podcasts, you don't know what directions they're gonna get in.
30:14
SPEAKER_02: But I think it's worth calling out, like, because of the way that I was raised, and I think about this a lot, and I've never spoken about this on a podcast, but because of the way that you know my dad has led by example and and and kind of raised me.
30:29
SPEAKER_00: Hey, quarterback dadcats listeners, Dan Morey here, co-founder of Staffing Dashboard.
30:34
SPEAKER_00: And before I get into the software, I want to give a quick shout out to Casey Jacobs.
30:39
SPEAKER_00: I recently hired Casey to keynote the Staffing Sales Summit because his message about winning relationships instead of just chasing deals is essential for our industry now more than ever.
30:52
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30:56
SPEAKER_00: Leaders and producers walked away thinking differently about how they build trust with clients and how they grow those accounts.
31:03
SPEAKER_00: And if you haven't checked it out yet, his book, Win the Relationship, Not the Deal, is a great resource that teaches from that philosophy.
31:12
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31:16
SPEAKER_00: Can you confidently answer whether you are on track to hit your revenue target this year?
31:22
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31:24
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31:33
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31:36
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31:46
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31:51
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31:55
SPEAKER_00: One of our customers noticed a red KPI tile around average weekly value of headcount.
32:00
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32:05
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32:11
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32:22
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32:29
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32:35
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32:38
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32:40
SPEAKER_02: He's made the darkest moments feel okay.
32:43
SPEAKER_02: Like the idea of death and morbidity, like I it he's made it more and more okay over the course of my lifetime.
32:51
SPEAKER_02: Um, and it's because he's made peace with the fact that like at the end of the day, like, you know, there's a grander plan.
33:00
SPEAKER_02: And as as hard as this may be right now, and as difficult as this may be right now, you know, it's not it's not up to us.
33:07
SPEAKER_02: Um and so and then it it's something that I struggle with sometimes.
33:12
SPEAKER_02: Like, why am I so okay with the idea of of this really dark and tragic situation?
33:18
SPEAKER_02: And then I think about it and it's like because you know, it it's not it's not my situation to control.
33:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
33:25
SPEAKER_01: It's a good mindset, man.
33:27
SPEAKER_01: It's like um you know, letting go, like I like you said, let go, let God, like, but having control.
33:33
SPEAKER_01: And I think sometimes it's like you know, competitive a personalities, you want control.
33:38
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
33:38
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
33:39
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes it's it's hard to do that.
33:41
SPEAKER_01: Um okay, so patience, perspective, seeking purpose.
33:46
SPEAKER_01: Um, as you're raising your girls, you and your wife raising your girls, are there other values that are important to you other than those three your parents instilled in you?
33:55
SPEAKER_02: Um of course there are.
33:58
SPEAKER_02: I'm trying to think about you know where the focus is.
34:01
SPEAKER_02: I think selflessness is obviously important.
34:04
SPEAKER_02: I think that it's becoming more and more difficult um in the type of environment that we live in, um, to put our put our daughters in a position where um, you know, they're they're forced to think about how other people feel and how, you know, uh teaching them how to be empathetic.
34:26
SPEAKER_02: Um and another call out like for immigrant communities in particular, that that second generation is usually better off than that first generation.
34:36
SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, and and that's the way our parents designed it, right?
34:39
SPEAKER_02: They came here and they wanted to build a life so that by the time we were adults, like we'd live a better life than they live.
34:45
SPEAKER_02: And so when we were growing up, we we essentially were forced to feel the feelings of like not having at times, whether it was financial or whatever it may have been.
34:57
SPEAKER_02: And now we're in a situation where my wife and I are both raised here, we're both, you know, doing well in our careers, you know.
35:05
SPEAKER_02: Uh it's different because we can provide more for our kids.
35:08
SPEAKER_02: So now I'm in a constant struggle of okay, how do I how do I teach my kids to navigate the struggle?
35:15
SPEAKER_02: Because the struggle is what really built the strength that allowed me to become who I am today.
35:22
SPEAKER_01: Uh, that speaks to me, man.
35:24
SPEAKER_01: Um, I tell you, my first plane ride was like I think I was eight.
35:28
SPEAKER_01: Um, my first like legit vacation was like in high school.
35:32
SPEAKER_01: You know, we used to camp and ride our bikes as with a kid without helmets.
35:36
SPEAKER_01: That was what we did.
35:37
SPEAKER_01: You know, and I loved it.
35:39
SPEAKER_01: And uh my kids, they've been on more plane rides than most.
35:43
SPEAKER_01: I mean, and I was a corporate guy for 20-something years and we'd get upgraded a lot.
35:48
SPEAKER_01: I wasn't flying first class as a kid, and so I my biggest worry was like, I don't want my kids to know this is normal.
35:53
SPEAKER_01: I want them.
35:53
SPEAKER_01: And so, like when they go through tough times, I'm excited.
35:56
SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, like some what there's been times my wife and I have upgraded and we put the kids in the back.
36:01
SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, we can afford it, you can't.
36:04
SPEAKER_01: And uh, not to be an a-hole about it, but I wanted to teach you know those things.
36:08
SPEAKER_01: And do you ever have you have you taken your girls back to Egypt, Ever?
36:12
SPEAKER_02: No, I mean they're still young, but I I do want to take them with the grandparents at some point, just so they see.
36:17
SPEAKER_02: And because I know my par my grandparents or my parents, their grandparents, could give them access to real poverty to really show them.
36:25
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
36:25
SPEAKER_02: Because it's one of those things where even myself, like I I remember I didn't go that many times.
36:33
SPEAKER_02: Like I've only been my entire life, besides when I was born, I was three when I left, four or five times since then.
36:39
SPEAKER_02: Um, but I'll never forget, you know, the the one or two times like my dad took me into like, you know, the real, real poor neighborhoods over there, just to kind of like show you.
36:51
SPEAKER_02: Like it's nothing like you see here in America.
36:54
SPEAKER_02: I mean, like, you know, like homeless here, homelessness here in America is bad, don't get me wrong.
36:58
SPEAKER_02: But it's nothing.
36:59
SPEAKER_02: You like you haven't we haven't seen anything here.
37:02
SPEAKER_02: You go over there and it's like real, real, real poverty.
37:06
SPEAKER_02: It's it's like poverty you can't even imagine.
37:08
SPEAKER_01: Uh we just got back from Cancun.
37:11
SPEAKER_01: Um uh a client of mine uh I went with them for and spoke at one of their events, and uh we're going to the air going to the airport.
37:20
SPEAKER_01: I mean, going back to the airport on this road, and I'm I literally was like, oh my God, I said I can't, I wish I could take, wish my kids were here to see this, like homes put together, barely standing up, yeah.
37:32
SPEAKER_01: Uh clothesline, uh dirty clothes, being hung.
37:37
SPEAKER_01: Uh I mean, just like we're so grateful.
37:39
SPEAKER_01: And that's what like when things get tough, it's easy to kind of forget about that.
37:42
SPEAKER_01: But I think it's good to you just even talk about dates kind of grounding me, like, man, life they say first rule problems.
37:49
SPEAKER_01: That's a that's that's a phrase for meaning, you know.
37:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, it it's true.
37:53
SPEAKER_02: It's true.
37:53
SPEAKER_02: I mean, um, and all it takes is those one or two experiences, especially during you know, those developmental ages, you're gonna remember for the rest of your life.
38:02
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I I do.
38:03
SPEAKER_02: And um it it makes my it makes my decision making a lot easier now, you know, several years later, maybe decades later, since kind of being exposed to it around like how easy of a decision it is to like give things away or to help people in need.
38:20
SPEAKER_02: It's like it's like you don't need 99.9% of the stuff that you have.
38:25
SPEAKER_01: No.
38:25
SPEAKER_01: You know?
38:26
SPEAKER_01: So true.
38:27
SPEAKER_01: So true.
38:28
SPEAKER_01: Um, tell me how uh Beshoi decides, you know what, I'm gonna go out and do a few Ironmans and I'm gonna run like a thousand marathons.
38:36
SPEAKER_01: Just why not?
38:37
SPEAKER_01: I got nothing else to do.
38:38
SPEAKER_02: Uh so there's never really in the cards.
38:41
SPEAKER_02: Um like I gave, you know, to kick off this podcast, I gave you the story about how I just want to be part of a you know a locker room.
38:47
SPEAKER_02: I just wanted to be one of the boys.
38:48
SPEAKER_02: I just wanted to fit in.
38:50
SPEAKER_02: That was really the calling when it came from a sports perspective.
38:52
SPEAKER_02: I did like playing basketball as a child, but I due to you know treatment and and how that slowed me down, I was never really able to excel to a level, you know, that I wanted to.
39:02
SPEAKER_02: I got cut from all the teams.
39:04
SPEAKER_02: I got I remember being very close one year to making my high school team.
39:07
SPEAKER_02: That was like, but that was a thrill, like being, you know, one of the last cuts uh for my varsity team.
39:13
SPEAKER_02: Um and I never lost that ambition to be an athlete.
39:18
SPEAKER_02: Like it never left me.
39:21
SPEAKER_02: Um and when I go back to those tenors of patience, perspective, and purpose, like those three really never left me along with that ambition.
39:30
SPEAKER_02: And I really truly in my heart of hearts believed that I was going to do something one day.
39:35
SPEAKER_02: I just didn't know what it was gonna be and how it was gonna happen.
39:39
SPEAKER_02: So um I graduated college in 2009 in the heart of the financial crisis.
39:43
SPEAKER_02: And like every other kid from the tri-state area, I wanted to work on Wall Street because everybody's dad worked, you know, in a at a big bank when I was growing up.
39:52
SPEAKER_02: And this was pre-financial crisis.
39:54
SPEAKER_02: And of course, I graduated right in the heart of the financial crisis.
39:57
SPEAKER_02: So no one's hiring.
39:58
SPEAKER_02: I graduated unemployed, started out my career as a recruiter placing public accountants.
40:04
SPEAKER_02: I had an accounting degree.
40:06
SPEAKER_02: About a year later, I came across an accounting firm that was looking for a junior accountant.
40:10
SPEAKER_02: It's like, hey, I have a guy, and it was me.
40:13
SPEAKER_02: And um, that's when I actually started my MBA at Fordham.
40:16
SPEAKER_02: And I did that simultaneously on purpose, was because I didn't want to get siloed into a career I didn't want.
40:22
SPEAKER_02: I had zero desire desire to be a CPA or work at an accounting firm.
40:25
SPEAKER_02: But it was just, you know, a really hard time in terms of employment.
40:29
SPEAKER_02: So I'm doing my MBA full-time while working at a CPA firm full-time.
40:33
SPEAKER_02: I'm like 22, 23.
40:35
SPEAKER_02: I moved to the city, I'm making like$30,000 or like$35,000 at the time, making nothing.
40:41
SPEAKER_02: Um, and I'm just kind of scrapping by.
40:44
SPEAKER_02: Um, a year later, uh, I had um been out for a friend's birthday.
40:49
SPEAKER_02: And I tell this story sometimes because, you know, I talk to a lot of young kids about uh how to navigate their careers and get that first job out of college.
40:58
SPEAKER_02: So I'm at this birthday party in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, like 24 years old.
41:02
SPEAKER_02: One too many drinks that night.
41:04
SPEAKER_02: And um I uh was talking to a friend of a friend and he was asking me about my job, and I was telling him how much I hated it and I wanted to go into banking.
41:14
SPEAKER_02: And he's like, hey man, send me, send me your resume.
41:18
SPEAKER_02: And I didn't even really know what he did, and I didn't think much of it.
41:23
SPEAKER_02: I woke up the next Sunday and I was pretty hungover and I was reading my my text messages and he's like, Hey man, I never got your resume.
41:29
SPEAKER_02: And I thought that was so weird.
41:30
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, I'm 24, he's maybe 25.
41:33
SPEAKER_02: How much could this kid really do for me?
41:35
SPEAKER_02: And you know, especially and why did he text me after the night we just had?
41:38
SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, I I couldn't put two and two together.
41:41
SPEAKER_02: It turned out he worked at JP Morgan and he had a really good relationship with his boss who sat right next to him.
41:48
SPEAKER_02: He essentially handed him my resume and he was like, hey, this is a good guy.
41:51
SPEAKER_02: Like, give him give him a shot.
41:52
SPEAKER_02: Like, see if you'll give him a shot, which never happens.
41:54
SPEAKER_02: This was in the investment bank at JP Morgan.
41:57
SPEAKER_02: And um, you know, people think I got my job at JP Morgan because I, you know, did my MBA and I got recruited formally and I went through this whole process.
42:07
SPEAKER_02: And the real reason was because, you know, apparently I came off as a good guy.
42:12
SPEAKER_02: I am a good guy, but I mean, like that that actually wasn't my brightest moment that night.
42:17
SPEAKER_02: But uh, you know, I I made this person feel comfortable enough where he he felt like he could bet on me and he and he gave the hiring manager my resume.
42:25
SPEAKER_02: So he gave my resume.
42:27
SPEAKER_02: Um, I was far from qualified from this job, but they ended up hiring me.
42:31
SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I'll never forget my first day walking into 383 Madison, the old Bear Stearns building, and that feeling of, you know, I I finally made it.
42:39
SPEAKER_02: Like three years after college, I finally made it.
42:41
SPEAKER_02: I'm in I'm in the world of investment banking.
42:43
SPEAKER_02: This is where I want to be.
42:45
SPEAKER_02: And little did I know, and you'll hear the story from several people who've worked on Wall Street.
42:50
SPEAKER_02: It only took me a year, two years later, where I realized that as good as this looks on the outside, there's very little fulfillment on the inside.
42:59
SPEAKER_02: You know, I wasn't really getting much out of it.
43:03
SPEAKER_02: And so um I was starting to really revisit the person that I wanted to be in some of the things that were important to me.
43:10
SPEAKER_02: I wanted to give back.
43:12
SPEAKER_02: So I started, you know, mentoring people.
43:14
SPEAKER_02: And I also revisited that, I didn't, I revisited that suppressed ambition of being an athlete.
43:20
SPEAKER_02: I kept putting it away because I kept putting my career first.
43:23
SPEAKER_02: So I started um, I started exploring my options in the city for different workout classes.
43:30
SPEAKER_02: Um, I found this one community of people who were really invested in in a spin studio that a friend of mine opened up.
43:36
SPEAKER_02: So I started going.
43:38
SPEAKER_02: And it was a competitive class.
43:40
SPEAKER_02: Like there were scores on the board, and and you could see how you were doing to relative to everybody else.
43:45
SPEAKER_02: And so one of the things I really liked about this community was you were kind of in a dark room.
43:50
SPEAKER_02: So no one could really see you.
43:52
SPEAKER_02: And, you know, it allowed you to kind of ease into things if if you were not uh that confident at the time.
44:00
SPEAKER_02: And I started to see myself performing well against some of these people on the screen.
44:04
SPEAKER_02: And I realized after a little while that, you know, some of these people played like D1 sports.
44:09
SPEAKER_02: Some of some of them were actually, there were some NFL players in there, you know.
44:12
SPEAKER_02: And I didn't know it at the time.
44:14
SPEAKER_02: That's the thing about New York.
44:15
SPEAKER_02: You never know who you're in the room with.
44:17
SPEAKER_02: And I kind of told myself, all right, I'm gonna keep showing up.
44:21
SPEAKER_02: I'm not really gonna say anything.
44:22
SPEAKER_02: I'm just gonna continue to soak it in from these people, like just surround myself by these people because I feel like one way or another, they're having a good influence on me.
44:31
SPEAKER_02: And I did that for a couple of years.
44:34
SPEAKER_02: And over that period, started talking a little bit, started to learn about some of the events that they were partaking in, signed up for a couple smaller races.
44:43
SPEAKER_02: I remember running my first half marathon and how terrified I was, you know, of running beyond 10 miles at the time.
44:50
SPEAKER_02: Um, and you know, I I talk about those last three miles at that first half marathon.
44:56
SPEAKER_02: And um they got me into the triathlon circuit to the point where they got me to sign up for an Iron Man 70.3 back in 2017.
45:05
SPEAKER_02: And and um, you know, for the audience out there, it's a 1.2 mile swim, a 56-mile bike ride, and a 13-mile run.
45:14
SPEAKER_02: I had never done anything like that in my entire life.
45:16
SPEAKER_02: In fact, it was it was to the point where the people around me were starting to get concerned about me because they didn't understand who I was evolving into and I didn't really know it either.
45:25
SPEAKER_02: They, you know, my friends were concerned.
45:26
SPEAKER_02: I wasn't going out, I wasn't drinking, I was training two or three times a day.
45:30
SPEAKER_02: I didn't really have a reason for it.
45:32
SPEAKER_02: When people kept asking me why are you doing this, I didn't have an answer.
45:35
SPEAKER_02: I couldn't explain why I was doing it, but I felt like I needed to keep showing up.
45:41
SPEAKER_02: So um I got to race day, June of 2017, and it was 90 degrees outside.
45:47
SPEAKER_02: And um, for anyone who's listening who knows anything about bikes, it was the same week as the New York City bike tour.
45:53
SPEAKER_02: The place I rented my bike from sent me a hybrid instead of a road bike.
45:57
SPEAKER_02: And so for anyone who understands what that means, it's like ordering a convertible and getting a beat up minivan.
46:02
SPEAKER_02: So I'm like pounding away at this thing in 90 degree heat.
46:06
SPEAKER_02: And around mile 40, I completely broke down.
46:09
SPEAKER_02: Salt all over my skin, completely dehydrated.
46:12
SPEAKER_02: Everyone had flown past me.
46:14
SPEAKER_02: And I finally found myself in this moment.
46:17
SPEAKER_02: It was a really, really dark moment where I asked myself the same question everybody was asking me.
46:22
SPEAKER_02: Why are you doing this?
46:24
SPEAKER_02: You paid a lot of money to be here.
46:28
SPEAKER_02: You signed up, you gave things up for the last six months, everyone questioned you.
46:32
SPEAKER_02: Why are you here?
46:34
SPEAKER_02: My body went into fight or flight mode.
46:36
SPEAKER_02: Again, 40 miles into this race in the middle of nowhere, 90 degrees outside.
46:41
SPEAKER_02: I had two choices either figure this out or call my parents and call it a day.
46:47
SPEAKER_02: But I could not live with myself if I chose option number two.
46:50
SPEAKER_02: And when you're in fight or flight, you your mind goes to, how have I navigated the most difficult situations in my life prior to this?
46:58
SPEAKER_02: And that immediately took me to childhood, which I hadn't, which again, I was suppressing.
47:01
SPEAKER_02: I was almost turning 30 now, and I hadn't thought about my childhood in near nearly two decades.
47:06
SPEAKER_02: And all of a sudden I remembered in childhood my parents celebrated small wins.
47:10
SPEAKER_02: Like it just kind of, again, your mind is like, how do I get myself out of here?
47:13
SPEAKER_02: And so I thought to myself, okay, I have 30 miles to go, but instead of looking at this 30 as 30 miles, I'm gonna look at it as one mile 30 times.
47:21
SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna celebrate every mile because I can I can handle one mile.
47:26
SPEAKER_02: And so that's what I did.
47:27
SPEAKER_02: And then I I got through that finish line, and everyone who saw me was terrified because it took me forever to run that race.
47:35
SPEAKER_02: But I was jacked up.
47:36
SPEAKER_02: I said to myself, oh my God, like I can do anything.
47:40
SPEAKER_02: Like I didn't realize what I was capable of until I crossed that finish line.
47:45
SPEAKER_02: So now I'm absolutely like I feel like I unlocked something and I didn't know what to do with it.
47:51
SPEAKER_02: Everyone around me was terrified.
47:53
SPEAKER_02: They probably want me to like to rest and to rest my body and to recover.
47:56
SPEAKER_02: But all I kept thinking was, I gotta do stuff.
47:59
SPEAKER_02: Like, I don't know what I'm gonna do, but I gotta do stuff and I gotta do stuff right away because I I didn't know I could do this.
48:04
SPEAKER_02: So I got back to New York and I decided I'm gonna run a marathon, and I decided to run my first marathon in New York.
48:10
SPEAKER_02: And so um, in order to run, I had to raise money for charity to get my entry into the race.
48:15
SPEAKER_02: So I decided to publicly share my story for the very first time.
48:19
SPEAKER_02: Never spoke about it.
48:20
SPEAKER_02: People closest to me didn't even know about it.
48:22
SPEAKER_02: And I titled it, The Comeback is always greater than the setback.
48:27
SPEAKER_02: And I hesitated at first, but then I had a mentor who encouraged me to share it.
48:33
SPEAKER_02: My fundraising goal was just$3,000.
48:35
SPEAKER_02: He told me to make it$100,000.
48:38
SPEAKER_02: And we ended up raising, you know, we ended up over time raising well over that$100,000.
48:42
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
48:43
SPEAKER_02: And the story ended up getting, you know, a lot of attention.
48:46
SPEAKER_02: But most importantly was the fact that I got messages from cancer patients, from caretakers, people who were navigating, you know, similar experiences, and they started reaching out to me.
48:56
SPEAKER_02: And so while all that was happening, I was still trying to figure out am I an athlete?
49:01
SPEAKER_02: Am I a runner?
49:01
SPEAKER_02: I actually didn't, I didn't, I didn't believe it.
49:04
SPEAKER_02: Like I couldn't, I couldn't, I couldn't reconcile what I thought they were like one-time things.
49:09
SPEAKER_02: Like I didn't actually think that I was a runner or that I was an Iron Man or whatever it was.
49:13
SPEAKER_02: I just thought like these were just experiences.
49:15
SPEAKER_02: They were, you know, silent experiences.
49:18
SPEAKER_02: So I just I kept running and I didn't really know what I was doing.
49:22
SPEAKER_02: I kept signing up for races and I just kept telling myself, like, this will kind of keep me in shape.
49:27
SPEAKER_02: And uh three or four years in, I had, you know, run New York a couple times and I got into Chicago and then I was invited to run Boston through a charity.
49:40
SPEAKER_02: And I started to realize that I was knocking off world major marathons.
49:44
SPEAKER_02: And the world majors are kind of broken down like the Olympics by countries.
49:49
SPEAKER_02: And it dawned on me, like, hey, like I was, I was, I mean, I'm an American citizen, but I was born in Egypt, so I have an American Egyptian passport.
49:56
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, let me look at, you know, how many Egyptians have done this?
49:59
SPEAKER_02: And there was, there was really not many.
50:01
SPEAKER_02: And I realized that if I kept going at this, I could become the first Egyptian to finish all seven world majors.
50:09
SPEAKER_02: And that's what and this last August, I became the first Egyptian to finish all seven world major marathons.
50:15
SPEAKER_02: Wow, congrats, man.
50:16
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
50:17
SPEAKER_02: And and like it didn't, it like it didn't dawn on me, but that's kind of what propelled me.
50:21
SPEAKER_02: And it wasn't until that, like, now I've run 14 marathons, but it wasn't until like the fifth or sixth marathon where I finally felt comfortable someone saying, calling me a runner.
50:30
SPEAKER_02: Like before that, I'd be like, I'm not a runner, I'm just a guy who ran a couple of marathons.
50:33
SPEAKER_02: But now, like, you know, it was after that kind of fifth or sixth marathon where I was like, okay, like I'm gonna lock in, I'm gonna take this sport seriously, I'm gonna see what I can do about it, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna make that little boy proud.
50:44
SPEAKER_02: And so yeah, that's where we are today.
50:48
SPEAKER_01: That is inspiring, man.
50:50
SPEAKER_01: And uh, someone's gonna do these things, everybody at home, why not you?
50:54
SPEAKER_01: And um, Beshoi is is live and proof that the power of the mind uh can take us anywhere we want to go.
51:00
SPEAKER_01: And self-limiting beliefs is what stops us.
51:03
SPEAKER_01: Um, I I teach uh people not to use words like need to, should do, want to, have to, can't.
51:08
SPEAKER_01: Those are anxiety-based language that produces zero results instead of just either you will or you won't.
51:12
SPEAKER_01: It's a really try to simplify it.
51:14
SPEAKER_01: But um how can people, I know we got to get going here to keep you on time.
51:18
SPEAKER_01: Tell me how can people find your books?
51:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, how can they learn about your podcast?
51:22
SPEAKER_01: How can they learn more about you as just an amazing human being?
51:25
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so the podcast is named Mile 40, and the name came from that mile 40 moment during that Iron Man.
51:30
SPEAKER_02: Uh, so you can find that on all major podcast platforms.
51:33
SPEAKER_02: Uh, the books can be found on Amazon.
51:35
SPEAKER_02: If you purchase them from my website, BeshoyTadros.com, I'll sign them myself and send them out.
51:41
SPEAKER_02: And uh yeah, and then you can find me on all socials.
51:44
SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
51:45
SPEAKER_01: It's now time to go in what I call the lightning round, Beshoy.
51:48
SPEAKER_01: Let's do it.
51:49
SPEAKER_01: Ask you random questions.
51:50
SPEAKER_01: I try to get a giggle out of you.
51:51
SPEAKER_01: Uh, your job is to answer these questions as quickly as you can.
51:53
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna show you the negative hits of taking too many hits in college, not bong hits, but football hits.
51:58
SPEAKER_01: Are you ready?
51:59
SPEAKER_02: Yep, let's do it.
52:00
SPEAKER_01: Okay, uh, you are known, true or false, you are known as the prefontaine of Egypt.
52:05
SPEAKER_02: The prefontaine of Egypt?
52:07
unknown: Yeah.
52:09
SPEAKER_02: What does that even mean?
52:10
SPEAKER_01: Pre-fontaine is like the guy from Nike, the uh the organ the best like runner forever.
52:16
SPEAKER_02: I'd like to think so.
52:17
SPEAKER_01: There we go.
52:18
SPEAKER_01: We got a giggle out of both of us.
52:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
52:20
SPEAKER_01: Um, if I was to come to your house for dinner tonight, what would we have?
52:24
SPEAKER_02: Well uh my wife loves kava.
52:26
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
52:27
SPEAKER_02: So we'd be buying you kava.
52:29
SPEAKER_01: Okay, sounds good.
52:30
SPEAKER_01: Uh tell me, what would be the one genre of music that might surprise your colleagues you listen to?
52:36
SPEAKER_02: Uh every now and then I'll pop on the Celine Dion Pandora station.
52:42
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
52:43
SPEAKER_02: Go.
52:44
SPEAKER_01: That's Cova Choi.
52:46
SPEAKER_01: You got some vocals in there.
52:47
SPEAKER_01: I know you let it ring in the car.
52:50
SPEAKER_02: Every now and then.
52:51
SPEAKER_02: I mean, you wanted something that would surprise everybody, and it is on my Pandora list, and it depends on the kind of mood I'm in.
52:56
SPEAKER_02: So every now and then it'll come on.
52:57
SPEAKER_01: I'm your lady?
52:58
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
53:01
SPEAKER_01: Uh tell me the last book you read.
53:04
SPEAKER_02: Oh, the last book that I read.
53:06
SPEAKER_02: What was the last book that I read?
53:07
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I'm reading um uh Principles by Ray Dalio right now.
53:13
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
53:15
SPEAKER_01: Um if you were to go on vacation right now, just you and Christine, sorry, kids, you're staying home.
53:18
SPEAKER_01: Where are you taking her?
53:20
SPEAKER_02: Oof.
53:21
SPEAKER_02: Um where am I taking Christine?
53:23
SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm actually taking her to St.
53:25
SPEAKER_02: Lucia on Friday.
53:26
SPEAKER_02: So it just so happens to be the case that we are going on Friday without the kids.
53:30
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but I don't want that to be the cop-out answer.
53:32
SPEAKER_02: I'd love to take her.
53:34
SPEAKER_02: Um, I'd love to take her to Europe.
53:36
SPEAKER_02: You know, you know, I'd love to take her to France.
53:38
SPEAKER_02: Never, never been myself, but I want to take her.
53:41
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I've been to Europe but never to France.
53:42
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
53:43
SPEAKER_01: I love Paris is fantastic.
53:45
SPEAKER_01: It's I I really enjoyed spending time there.
53:47
SPEAKER_01: Um, if there was to be a book written about your life, tell me the title.
53:50
SPEAKER_01: Well, there was a book, and I wrote it, and it's called Break Barriers.
53:53
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
53:54
SPEAKER_01: So now Break Barriers is going to um, we're gonna make a movie out of it.
53:59
SPEAKER_01: The Oscars were last night.
54:00
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna win an Oscar.
54:01
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
54:01
SPEAKER_01: Um, but it's but the movie's gonna win Oscar, but it's not you.
54:04
SPEAKER_01: You are now the casting director, Bashoy.
54:06
SPEAKER_01: I need to know who's gonna star you in this talent, uh, this critically acclaimed hit new movie.
54:09
SPEAKER_02: It's funny because this is actually a real thing that's happening.
54:12
SPEAKER_02: Uh, Rami Malik uh would be the the actor.
54:15
SPEAKER_02: And it it's funny because after we wrote the book, my editor and I were talking about turning it into a screenplay and we've been working on it.
54:20
SPEAKER_02: Um, it's a long process, but we've we've had Rami targeted as as the main character.
54:26
SPEAKER_02: There we go.
54:27
SPEAKER_02: Last question.
54:28
SPEAKER_01: Tell me two words that would describe your wife.
54:30
SPEAKER_02: Ooh, two words that describe my wife.
54:33
SPEAKER_02: Um beautiful.
54:36
SPEAKER_01: And perfect.
54:39
SPEAKER_01: There we go.
54:40
SPEAKER_01: Lightning rounds complete.
54:41
SPEAKER_01: We both giggled.
54:42
SPEAKER_01: Your story is unbelievable.
54:44
SPEAKER_01: I'm so grateful Steve Gertie has has have our paths crossed.
54:47
SPEAKER_01: I know this is not the last we're gonna talk.
54:49
SPEAKER_01: Uh, when I go to come to New York, I'm gonna find you.
54:51
SPEAKER_01: I want to meet you in person, shake your hand, man, because I think your story is people gotta hear more about you.
54:56
SPEAKER_01: And um, I'll make sure people you all all your uh links are linked in the show notes so people can find you and uh get your book and listen to your podcast.
55:03
SPEAKER_01: Um everybody, if you've not taken time to leave us a review, please go ahead and do that and please share this episode with somebody that could be inspired by the choice story because I'm I have a full page of notes, full page of notes, and I'm definitely inspired by your story, ma'am.
55:15
SPEAKER_01: But appreciate you and grateful for your time today.
55:18
SPEAKER_02: Casey, thank you, man.
55:19
SPEAKER_02: You're really good at what you do.
55:20
SPEAKER_02: This is a great conversation, and I appreciate you having me on.