Latest / I Don't Know You / How Living in an Unresolved Tension Shaped Russ Cline's Fatherhood
Transcript
- 0:04SPEAKER_00: Hey, I'm Matt.
- 0:06SPEAKER_00: I'm a Jesus follower,
- 0:07SPEAKER_00: husband,
- 0:08SPEAKER_00: father,
- 0:08SPEAKER_00: son,
- 0:09and friend who is deeply curious about people's creativity and
- 0:13how we unleash our
- 0:14SPEAKER_00: unique talents onto a world that needs them.
- 0:17SPEAKER_00: Today, I'm joined by one of my mentors
- 0:19SPEAKER_00: and bosses, Russ Klein.
- 0:21SPEAKER_00: He's a pastor,
- 0:22SPEAKER_00: family man,
- 0:22and entrepreneur who has started multiple global organizations
- 0:26and currently leads
- 0:27SPEAKER_00: the Barnabas Group,
- 0:28a place where business leaders share their time and talents
- 0:31with Jesus-led
- 0:32SPEAKER_00: nonprofits.
- 0:33SPEAKER_00: We talk about one of the biggest questions in my life right now,
- 0:36SPEAKER_00: how to manage the tension of building a sustainable,
- 0:39SPEAKER_00: fruitful career and how to be a great present parent.
- 0:42SPEAKER_01: Those things seem to be at odds in my life at times.
- 0:46SPEAKER_01: Enjoy.
- 0:46like we were just saying you and I can talk about anything
- 0:50forever and so I think
- 0:56SPEAKER_00: the main thing that I kind of wanted to talk about
- 0:59today is around like leadership specifically with like career
- 1:04and then fatherhood
- 1:05and like that being kind of the theme for it and I've been
- 1:12messing around with this
- 1:13format at the beginning of these conversations where we share
- 1:18like I share a quote
- 1:19and then we go into kind of that being the umbrella or the
- 1:23theme for it and I was
- 1:25SPEAKER_00: trying to think of like what sums up
- 1:29kind of what I want to talk about and was looking through the
- 1:32newsletter that you
- 1:33SPEAKER_00: have every week,
- 1:34SPEAKER_00: which if you're not listening to that newsletter,
- 1:36SPEAKER_00: you should.
- 1:38Yeah,
- 1:39your daily Tuesday or your weekly Tuesday time with Russ
- 1:43newsletter.
- 1:44SPEAKER_00: That's what it's called, right?
- 1:45SPEAKER_01: Tuesday at 2.
- 1:46SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's so good.
- 1:48SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a weekly appointment.
- 1:50SPEAKER_01: Just a simple leadership.
- 1:52SPEAKER_00: And you've been doing that for like a long time.
- 1:54SPEAKER_00: A long time.
- 1:54SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't know how long, but probably 10 years.
- 1:58but the I think it was a quote from a couple weeks ago that
- 2:03kind of hit on this
- 2:04idea and maybe as we have this conversation kind of a theme for
- 2:09it was from this
- 2:12guy what's his name oh Tim let's see Tim Roth Tom Rath Tom Rath
- 2:25there we go close
- 2:28but the the quote that the format that you have that I really
- 2:33like a lot is you you
- 2:34have these quotes and then you kind of go a little deeper and
- 2:38then a little deeper
- 2:38and a little deep and it's like such a nice way it's so
- 2:41accessible as like a email
- 2:44because it's like oh I have two minutes I can read a little
- 2:46deeper and then oh I
- 2:48have 10 minutes I can go to the deepest level or whatever and
- 2:51then the juiciest
- 2:52part is always like what you've been up to at the very end it's
- 2:55like oh he's
- 2:56SPEAKER_01: watching
- 2:57whatever Netflix show now I can talk to him that's the
- 2:59important stuff mm-hmm but
- 3:02what he said in and what you were talking about in your
- 3:07newsletter if you spend
- 3:08your life trying to be good at everything you'll never be great
- 3:12at anything and you
- 3:14SPEAKER_00: kind of applied that to your strengths and leadership and
- 3:19SPEAKER_00: and the focus that you have within those areas.
- 3:21But I kind of want to push it in a different direction and
- 3:25think about it a little
- 3:26SPEAKER_00: bit more in a different way.
- 3:30SPEAKER_00: And kind of as we start,
- 3:31SPEAKER_00: I want to ask as you look back,
- 3:34what did you choose to be great at and what did you kind of
- 3:38allow to be good
- 3:39SPEAKER_00: enough?
- 3:42SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
- 3:43SPEAKER_01: when I saw that quote,
- 3:44SPEAKER_01: Tom Rath is one of my favorite authors,
- 3:46SPEAKER_01: and I followed his work for a long time.
- 3:49SPEAKER_01: And he's written a lot on strength,
- 3:51but he's also written a lot about health and he's been on a
- 3:54personal health
- 3:55SPEAKER_01: journey.
- 3:55SPEAKER_01: So I've learned a lot from him along that way.
- 3:57SPEAKER_01: But when he's talking about,
- 3:59SPEAKER_01: you know,
- 3:59SPEAKER_01: if you don't,
- 4:00SPEAKER_01: if you try to be great at everything,
- 4:01SPEAKER_01: you'll never be great at anything.
- 4:02SPEAKER_01: I
- 4:04I spent a career doing a lot of different things and I learned
- 4:09early on what what
- 4:11I'm naturally good at and I've also learned early on what I'm
- 4:16not good at and for a
- 4:17long time I tried to you know Ralph talks about this a lot and
- 4:21Marcus Buckingham
- 4:22talked about a lot the idea that when you focus on your your
- 4:26weaknesses it actually
- 4:28SPEAKER_01: pulls your strengths down
- 4:30SPEAKER_01: and you become mediocre at everything.
- 4:32SPEAKER_01: And I did that for a long time.
- 4:34Tried to bring my weaknesses up instead of really focusing on
- 4:38my strengths.
- 4:39And finally,
- 4:39I don't know when it was,
- 4:40but I just realized this is how God made me.
- 4:43SPEAKER_01: This is who I am.
- 4:44SPEAKER_01: I got to lean into that.
- 4:46SPEAKER_01: But the hardest part of that was admitting where I was weakest.
- 4:50SPEAKER_01: And once you get past,
- 4:51SPEAKER_01: once you can get over your ego,
- 4:53SPEAKER_01: once you can admit that,
- 4:54SPEAKER_01: you know,
- 4:55SPEAKER_01: the reality is we all have weaknesses.
- 4:56SPEAKER_01: We all aren't great.
- 4:57I mean,
- 4:57I know some people that are great at a lot of things,
- 5:00but all of us have weaknesses.
- 5:02And the earliest,
- 5:03the earlier I can identify those,
- 5:04the better I'm going to be.
- 5:05Because what that means is I didn't find people to help me with
- 5:08those weaknesses.
- 5:10But I think for me as a young leader,
- 5:13it was really figuring out what am I good at?
- 5:16SPEAKER_01: What can I do well that maybe some other people can?
- 5:18SPEAKER_01: How do I bring my best self to the table or to a team?
- 5:22SPEAKER_01: And how do I live out those strengths?
- 5:24SPEAKER_01: And so I learned early on that I don't want to be mediocre.
- 5:28I need to lean in what I'm good at and then not be afraid of
- 5:31the things I'm not good at.
- 5:33SPEAKER_00: What did you choose to be great at?
- 5:37SPEAKER_01: I think if we're talking about leadership, I'm a dreamer.
- 5:41SPEAKER_01: I'm a visionary.
- 5:42SPEAKER_01: I love to build things.
- 5:43SPEAKER_01: I love to create things.
- 5:46SPEAKER_01: I love to see organizations flourish.
- 5:49SPEAKER_01: I love to learn and grow.
- 5:50SPEAKER_01: I like that aspect of it.
- 5:54SPEAKER_01: I'm not a good maintainer.
- 5:56SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the details don't do well with me.
- 5:59SPEAKER_01: I'm more in the entrepreneur category.
- 6:02SPEAKER_01: I love to spot opportunities and go after them,
- 6:04SPEAKER_01: but I'm not good at living there for a long time.
- 6:07SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I often need to find fresh new things to do.
- 6:10But I also realize that that's a weakness because sometimes I
- 6:13don't finish things.
- 6:14SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking about what's next.
- 6:15SPEAKER_01: And so that's kind of been my career,
- 6:18SPEAKER_01: whether it be in the church or in business or in nonprofit.
- 6:22SPEAKER_01: That's kind of where I land.
- 6:25SPEAKER_01: And I enjoy that.
- 6:26SPEAKER_01: But I also find that I could speak into people that are
- 6:29SPEAKER_01: that are trying to figure that out for themselves.
- 6:31So helping people identify what their strengths are and what
- 6:34their maybe weaknesses are.
- 6:36SPEAKER_01: I love helping people identify that.
- 6:38SPEAKER_01: And it's not me pointing it out.
- 6:40SPEAKER_01: It's helping us discover that.
- 6:42SPEAKER_01: Because I had to discover that too.
- 6:44SPEAKER_01: I mean, some things are easy to see.
- 6:47SPEAKER_01: Some things you have to dig through.
- 6:49SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
- 6:49you have to kind of like work through the experience of trying
- 6:53different things and
- 6:54SPEAKER_00: failing.
- 6:55SPEAKER_01: And I have plenty of failure to learn from.
- 6:57SPEAKER_00: Well, I think everybody does.
- 6:59SPEAKER_00: That's something we all have in common as human beings.
- 7:04But I'm so curious kind of like the going back to kind of your
- 7:09upbringing and stuff.
- 7:10SPEAKER_00: I'm so curious, like you grew up internationally.
- 7:13in Ecuador as like a missionary kid you spent your education
- 7:17there and kind of like
- 7:18early career like you you went back and forth there basically
- 7:22and I'm so curious
- 7:23about like how did that kind of shape you living like growing
- 7:28up in another country
- 7:29and having like a different culture to be a part of yeah and
- 7:36how did that like help
- 7:37SPEAKER_00: you view the world I guess yeah
- 7:40SPEAKER_01: I actually moved to Latin America when I was 11.
- 7:44SPEAKER_01: We had traveled as a family through Central and South America.
- 7:46SPEAKER_01: So I was exposed to it.
- 7:48SPEAKER_01: But in Mexico, I mean, as a two-year-old, I was in Mexico.
- 7:51SPEAKER_01: So I was exposed to the world in Latin America.
- 7:55Moved to Ecuador when I was 11 years old and had an incredible
- 7:58experience junior
- 7:59SPEAKER_01: high in high school.
- 8:01SPEAKER_01: I saw the world,
- 8:02SPEAKER_01: understood that,
- 8:03SPEAKER_01: you know,
- 8:04SPEAKER_01: everything wasn't US centric,
- 8:06SPEAKER_01: understood there's another way of life.
- 8:07SPEAKER_01: It was a different pace, different posture.
- 8:09SPEAKER_01: We were in a very international community.
- 8:12SPEAKER_01: So it was people from all over the world, not just North America.
- 8:15SPEAKER_01: So I had friends from many different countries.
- 8:18SPEAKER_01: So again, it changed that whole posture.
- 8:22when I came back to university I you know there's a couple
- 8:26things I said I want to
- 8:27be a global citizen I want that to be a part of my life
- 8:31whatever I do I want that
- 8:32to be part of my life because it was so rich and valuable and I
- 8:35actually had a hard
- 8:36time back in North America because I felt like man you're we're
- 8:38missing out on so
- 8:39much here I love being back in North America but again
- 8:42comparing the two I felt
- 8:43like there's just this richness again I never wanted to go back
- 8:47I never wanted to
- 8:48SPEAKER_01: move back overseas I wanted
- 8:50SPEAKER_01: I wanted global to be a part of our life, not to be our life.
- 8:54SPEAKER_01: Yet, God had another plan.
- 8:58SPEAKER_01: 12 years after coming back to college,
- 9:00SPEAKER_01: I moved my family and we went back to Ecuador to start a new work,
- 9:05SPEAKER_01: to do something different.
- 9:06SPEAKER_01: But again, it was my desire to, I want my kids to understand the world.
- 9:11SPEAKER_01: I want them to have friends with different cultures.
- 9:14SPEAKER_01: I want them to see that the world is so big and so broad and so diverse.
- 9:19And Southern California,
- 9:21it's a great view,
- 9:22but man,
- 9:23there's so much more to it.
- 9:24SPEAKER_01: So we traveled with our kids.
- 9:25SPEAKER_01: We exposed them to as much as we could.
- 9:28and that made us who we are and again I'm much less critical
- 9:32now than I used to be
- 9:33I used to be very critical on both sides I mean there are
- 9:36things in Ecuador that
- 9:37were just really difficult as there are things in North America
- 9:41that are difficult
- 9:42there is no perfect place and perfect culture but what I found
- 9:46is an appreciation
- 9:47for both and then as I began working I began getting exposed to
- 9:51other places so I
- 9:52remember one time I had an opportunity to go to Asia and I just
- 9:55said man I
- 9:56I've never been there I don't really have a lot of interest in
- 10:00that I barely know
- 10:02Latin America I want to learn more there and then I had an
- 10:05opportunity to go to the
- 10:06Philippines and it just changed my life and I oh my word it
- 10:09opened up this whole
- 10:10other world and deep friendships and relationships and work and
- 10:14all that and same
- 10:15thing happened in Africa I had an opportunity to go to Southern
- 10:18Africa and again I
- 10:20SPEAKER_01: knew people from there but I was like man I
- 10:23SPEAKER_01: There's so much to learn in Latin America and North America.
- 10:26SPEAKER_01: How do I have this?
- 10:27SPEAKER_01: I went and I just opened up all these other site.
- 10:30SPEAKER_01: I try to become a global citizen.
- 10:32SPEAKER_01: You know, Europe, spent time in Eastern and Western Europe.
- 10:35SPEAKER_01: And again, I want to continue to learn.
- 10:37SPEAKER_01: There's still a lot of places on the planet that I haven't been.
- 10:40SPEAKER_01: I still want to learn.
- 10:41SPEAKER_01: I still want to understand what that is.
- 10:44But I'm richer because of those relationships,
- 10:48of those places,
- 10:49the culture,
- 10:50the diversity.
- 10:51SPEAKER_01: That's made me better.
- 10:52Is there a place that's top of your list that you really want
- 10:55to make it out to?
- 10:57SPEAKER_01: Oh, you mean travel?
- 10:58SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 10:59SPEAKER_01: Or go back to?
- 11:00SPEAKER_00: travel to that you've never been?
- 11:01SPEAKER_01: Well, Gina and I have, my wife and I, we have a list.
- 11:05And there are some places we want to go and some places we want
- 11:08to go back to.
- 11:09SPEAKER_01: So probably top of our list, Spain.
- 11:11SPEAKER_01: We've never spent time in Spain.
- 11:13SPEAKER_01: And that's something we're intrigued by.
- 11:15SPEAKER_01: We should do that together.
- 11:17SPEAKER_01: We should.
- 11:18SPEAKER_01: We've done...
- 11:20SPEAKER_01: Central and Southern Italy.
- 11:21SPEAKER_01: We've never done Northern Italy and that's on our list.
- 11:24SPEAKER_01: Croatia is on our list.
- 11:27SPEAKER_01: But again, there are countries in Latin America.
- 11:29SPEAKER_01: There are places in Africa.
- 11:30SPEAKER_01: I mean, there are places around the world we'd go to.
- 11:33SPEAKER_01: We will go anywhere.
- 11:35SPEAKER_01: But we have a list.
- 11:36SPEAKER_01: We have some goals.
- 11:36SPEAKER_01: We have an anniversary coming up next year.
- 11:38SPEAKER_01: We're talking now about what that could be because it'll be an epic trip.
- 11:43SPEAKER_01: Probably someplace new that we both can explore together.
- 11:47SPEAKER_00: That's what we want.
- 11:48SPEAKER_00: Well, if you want some
- 11:50SPEAKER_00: other people on that epic trip.
- 11:52SPEAKER_01: Probably not on my anniversary trip, but anyway.
- 11:54SPEAKER_00: Spain.
- 11:56SPEAKER_00: Oh man,
- 11:58there's so much there because I feel like I've gotten just a
- 12:02tiny taste of that
- 12:03SPEAKER_00: idea of the global citizen and like getting outside of the,
- 12:07SPEAKER_00: I mean,
- 12:08SPEAKER_00: growing up in Orange County,
- 12:09having that OC bubble and like understanding just how small you
- 12:14are in the grand
- 12:15SPEAKER_00: scheme of the world when you go to these different places and
- 12:19Comparatively I have not been to that many places but yeah the
- 12:23few places that I
- 12:24have been to I think just you realize how similar we are in so
- 12:28many ways and how
- 12:29diverse we are and the beauty in that and how you like how do
- 12:34you bring your own
- 12:35SPEAKER_00: like
- 12:37SPEAKER_00: uniqueness to a world that is so diverse and similar in the same way.
- 12:43SPEAKER_00: But I'm curious,
- 12:45kind of like going a little bit backwards to like your
- 12:49upbringing in Ecuador
- 12:51SPEAKER_00: specifically,
- 12:51SPEAKER_00: was there a time
- 12:53that like a moment when you kind of realize like oh like and
- 12:56maybe it maybe it
- 12:57wasn't this term leadership but was there like an affinity
- 13:01towards that leadership
- 13:03idea of like oh I think I'm really good at this is there was
- 13:07there like a moment
- 13:08that you were like oh like this is something I want to chase
- 13:11and kind of go act
- 13:13SPEAKER_00: like that vision wonder entrepreneur ship deal I I think
- 13:20SPEAKER_01: I mean, everyone has different opportunities for leadership.
- 13:22I had many opportunities to be a leader,
- 13:25whether it be in a youth group or in our school.
- 13:30SPEAKER_01: You know, my parents are both leaders.
- 13:32SPEAKER_01: And so I always had opportunities to lead.
- 13:36My junior year of high school,
- 13:38I had a school mentor who I ran for student body president.
- 13:43SPEAKER_01: And I had a mentor who just said, Russ, you can do this.
- 13:45SPEAKER_01: Step out of your, you know, more of a formal leadership role.
- 13:49SPEAKER_01: and he just said, you can do this.
- 13:51His name was Randy and he just kind of believed in me and
- 13:54pushed me a little bit.
- 13:55And I stepped into it and then he walked with me and I really
- 13:57liked the formal leadership role.
- 13:59That's probably I've been captain of a basketball team and I've
- 14:03had different
- 14:03SPEAKER_01: roles,
- 14:04SPEAKER_01: but that was a that was a really formal.
- 14:06SPEAKER_01: I was elected to an office.
- 14:08SPEAKER_01: I had a leadership position.
- 14:10SPEAKER_01: What does that look like in a little school, international school?
- 14:14SPEAKER_01: Again,
- 14:15SPEAKER_01: It was a role that defined me.
- 14:17SPEAKER_00: Someone seeing that in you.
- 14:19SPEAKER_01: Someone seeing it and calling me out.
- 14:20I think my parents just said,
- 14:23oh,
- 14:23Russ,
- 14:23you're going to naturally do that.
- 14:26SPEAKER_01: I played in band and I did sports and all that.
- 14:30SPEAKER_01: But this guy said, I'm going to push you.
- 14:33Interesting enough,
- 14:34when I was in university,
- 14:35I had another mentor who did the exact same thing.
- 14:39SPEAKER_01: and it was around student government.
- 14:41SPEAKER_01: And he challenged me to run for student office.
- 14:43SPEAKER_01: And I ran for student body president of my college and was elected.
- 14:47SPEAKER_01: And he said the same thing.
- 14:48SPEAKER_01: He says, Russ, you're a leader.
- 14:50SPEAKER_01: I was working in a ministry on campus.
- 14:53SPEAKER_01: Actually, Gina and I were involved together and having a great time.
- 14:57SPEAKER_01: He just really challenged me.
- 14:58SPEAKER_01: I'm going to push you out of your comfort zone.
- 15:01SPEAKER_01: This is a government role on campus and I'm going to walk with you.
- 15:04SPEAKER_01: And he mentored me.
- 15:05His name was Guy and he mentored me through that year and I
- 15:08learned a ton.
- 15:09But I really learned and I could push myself and do some things
- 15:13that might be uncomfortable.
- 15:15SPEAKER_01: and learn and be exposed in some new ways, fail at some things.
- 15:19SPEAKER_01: But both of those experiences,
- 15:21SPEAKER_01: more in the formal realm of leadership,
- 15:23SPEAKER_01: I think really shaped me a little bit.
- 15:25That's fascinating because I feel like that's giving me clarity
- 15:30and context as to
- 15:31SPEAKER_00: our relationship.
- 15:33SPEAKER_00: As my boss, basically, with the work that we're doing with Barnabas, that
- 15:41gives me insight into like how you mentor me and and lead me in
- 15:47in like that Randy
- 15:48guy way of just like yeah I think you can like do better in
- 15:51this I think yeah I'm
- 15:53gonna challenge you in this way and I've often wondered like
- 15:57what is that that like
- 15:59because it's hard to be challenged in in the ways that I think
- 16:03you call me up in
- 16:04SPEAKER_00: that sometimes and it's like oh
- 16:06SPEAKER_00: Now I have a little more context for that.
- 16:11SPEAKER_01: What's funny is I don't go back to Randy and Guy a lot,
- 16:17SPEAKER_01: but just talking about them,
- 16:18SPEAKER_01: I learned a lot from them.
- 16:20SPEAKER_01: And a lot of it was they pushed me,
- 16:22SPEAKER_01: they challenged me,
- 16:24SPEAKER_01: they did call me out,
- 16:25SPEAKER_01: and they gave me some expectations.
- 16:28SPEAKER_01: And again, it was the first time that I was forced to step into that.
- 16:32SPEAKER_01: And again, whether I succeed or not was up to me.
- 16:36SPEAKER_01: And they gave me the space to do that.
- 16:39SPEAKER_01: That's interesting.
- 16:41Yeah I'm just kind of putting that together now hearing that
- 16:45and I think like that
- 16:46has been because I've learned so much through the leadership
- 16:51that you've the way
- 16:53that you've led me as like an employee for lack of a better way
- 16:57of saying that but
- 16:59SPEAKER_00: then also as a mentor and a mentee where it's like oh I get I get the the
- 17:03SPEAKER_00: challenger piece and then like
- 17:06the challenger and freedom to fail where it's like yeah I'm
- 17:10here to support but
- 17:11also like you have your own agency and like figure this out and
- 17:16I'll be here if you
- 17:17need help but like you can figure this out and I believe in you
- 17:21and I know that you
- 17:22SPEAKER_00: can
- 17:24and I think like there's not a lot of people in my life that
- 17:26have it's almost
- 17:28always gone the other way which I'm super grateful for but the
- 17:31more supportive way
- 17:32around like literally supporting and being the scaffolding
- 17:37rather than like well
- 17:38actually maybe it's time to like do bouldering without like a
- 17:42harness and a safety
- 17:44SPEAKER_00: rope or whatever but there's a big crash pad underneath you
- 17:48and if you fall 15 feet like yeah you're not gonna die but
- 17:52you're gonna learn some
- 17:53SPEAKER_00: stuff and you're not gonna want to do that again.
- 17:55There was a woman in college her name was Carolyn and she was a
- 17:58mentor as well and
- 17:59I worked for her and we were running some projects in Mexico
- 18:05and she had hired me
- 18:07to stay on for the summer and basically she wanted me to go do
- 18:12some strategic
- 18:13SPEAKER_01: partnership building in Baja Mexico for the summer and
- 18:18you know she hired me I was like stretching what a great job so
- 18:21I walked into her
- 18:21and I said all right what do I do she says I have no idea she
- 18:28says here's your
- 18:30budget here's a vehicle go she said you figure it out I never
- 18:37had anyone that gave
- 18:39SPEAKER_01: me that kind of freedom but also that that belief and that trust yeah
- 18:43and I looked at that and went oh this is going to be incredible
- 18:46and I had an
- 18:47incredible summer and again there were some guidelines and some
- 18:50responsibilities
- 18:51but she gave me a ton of freedom I ate a lot of tacos that
- 18:55summer I lived with a
- 18:56Mexican family it was great and I did things that no one else
- 19:00in that role had done
- 19:01before but she gave me the freedom and said you figured that
- 19:05out and there was a
- 19:06purpose for what I was doing but you go figure it out and she
- 19:09goes I was 20 years
- 19:10SPEAKER_01: old
- 19:12I mean,
- 19:13you don't give someone a car and some cash and say,
- 19:15go to Mexico and do what you want.
- 19:18SPEAKER_01: But because she did, I took it really seriously.
- 19:21SPEAKER_00: Well, it wasn't without expectation, I would imagine.
- 19:24Where it was like,
- 19:25no,
- 19:25I'm giving you this responsibility because I trust you enough
- 19:28to do this.
- 19:29SPEAKER_00: But I'm expecting you to be successful on some level in this.
- 19:33SPEAKER_00: That's fascinating.
- 19:34SPEAKER_01: And I felt like I could ask her for help.
- 19:37SPEAKER_01: The funny thing is I wanted to prove to her I could do it.
- 19:39SPEAKER_01: So the expectations were self-imposed.
- 19:42SPEAKER_01: And I worked hard that summer.
- 19:44SPEAKER_01: But again, it was freeing.
- 19:46SPEAKER_01: It was great.
- 19:47SPEAKER_01: It was challenging.
- 19:49SPEAKER_01: That's where I learned.
- 19:50I love that independent opportunity to show my stuff and to
- 19:56say,
- 19:56I can do this.
- 19:57SPEAKER_00: And that challenge, I love that.
- 20:00well one of the challenges that you built years and years ago
- 20:05around I mean when
- 20:06you went back to Ecuador and I don't know how long were you in
- 20:11Ecuador before
- 20:12leaders started or did you start that as you kind of got there
- 20:17oh I moved my family
- 20:18SPEAKER_01: to Ecuador in 1994 okay and later with y'all began in 2007 yeah okay
- 20:24um but i'm curious kind of fast forwarding to that that first
- 20:28kind of summit that
- 20:29you did with leader um what was kind of the dream in that room
- 20:36with those leaders
- 20:37that were there because it's like 30 something leaders yeah
- 20:39that you started that
- 20:40with we had we had begun an organization called youth world
- 20:43that was uh training
- 20:45youth workers in latin america and that that's what we did in
- 20:481994 and we built an
- 20:49SPEAKER_01: organization and built a team and
- 20:51and we're having the time of our life really focused on youth
- 20:55ministry and young
- 20:56SPEAKER_01: people and helping the church and missions community.
- 21:01SPEAKER_01: I mean, just really everything around youth ministry.
- 21:03SPEAKER_01: And somewhere along the way,
- 21:05I went from training and coaching and helping leaders to
- 21:09running an organization.
- 21:11SPEAKER_01: And
- 21:12SPEAKER_01: and that was hard for me because it was,
- 21:13SPEAKER_01: you know,
- 21:14SPEAKER_01: administration,
- 21:15SPEAKER_01: it was conflict,
- 21:16SPEAKER_01: it was finance,
- 21:18SPEAKER_01: it was infrastructure.
- 21:19SPEAKER_01: And again, I enjoyed that to a degree, but that's not my strength.
- 21:23SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was all the stuff that you just said was not.
- 21:27SPEAKER_01: I could do it for a period of time, but I'd kind of hit the time.
- 21:29SPEAKER_01: At the same time,
- 21:30SPEAKER_01: I also realized that as we worked with leaders,
- 21:34SPEAKER_01: you know,
- 21:34originally it was talking about youth culture and youth
- 21:37ministry and all that.
- 21:38SPEAKER_01: The conversation changed to leadership.
- 21:41SPEAKER_01: and they were asking different questions.
- 21:42SPEAKER_01: They were asking questions like, how do you run an organization?
- 21:44SPEAKER_01: How do you create vision?
- 21:46SPEAKER_01: How do you manage your family?
- 21:48SPEAKER_01: And they were asking bigger questions.
- 21:50And as I saw that shift,
- 21:51I was like,
- 21:52I want to help answer those questions.
- 21:54SPEAKER_01: So I realized that someone else can come and run the youth role.
- 21:58And I brought in a guy,
- 21:59a good friend of mine,
- 22:00who was a pastor and a shepherd and a leader and
- 22:03and he came in and really brought stability to youth world and
- 22:06helped us continue to grow.
- 22:08SPEAKER_01: And I then pivoted and said,
- 22:10SPEAKER_01: I'm going to find some leaders that need some help that I can leverage.
- 22:16SPEAKER_01: They're all running other organizations.
- 22:18SPEAKER_01: I'm going to pour into them and help them be more successful.
- 22:21And so Leader Mundial was born in 2007 and that first community
- 22:24was 13 global
- 22:25SPEAKER_01: leaders that we brought from seven or eight different countries.
- 22:28We brought them in and then we matched them with a coach from
- 22:31North America
- 22:33and we built a community and it really became a learning
- 22:35coaching community and the
- 22:36idea was let's learn and grow together let's all learn from our
- 22:39strengths let's
- 22:39SPEAKER_01: learn from our weaknesses let's grow together and then let's apply it
- 22:44in each of these countries,
- 22:45in each of these cultural contexts,
- 22:47let's apply it differently.
- 22:49SPEAKER_01: But that truly, you know, I use the term global citizen.
- 22:52SPEAKER_01: Really what I'm talking about is talking about kingdom.
- 22:54I'm talking about people that cared about God's kingdom
- 22:57wherever they were.
- 22:58SPEAKER_01: Let's come to the table and let's help each other make a bigger impact.
- 23:01SPEAKER_01: And that began this 20 year journey of building these communities,
- 23:05SPEAKER_01: helping leaders grow and develop.
- 23:07SPEAKER_01: And I built that community not because I'm an expert.
- 23:10SPEAKER_01: I built it because I wanted a seat at the table
- 23:12SPEAKER_01: and I wanted to learn with them.
- 23:14SPEAKER_01: I wanted to contribute.
- 23:16SPEAKER_01: I wanted to be a part of that conversation.
- 23:18SPEAKER_01: And again, it's been an incredible ride.
- 23:21SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 23:21SPEAKER_00: Well,
- 23:22SPEAKER_00: I'm so curious,
- 23:23SPEAKER_00: like,
- 23:24what is something over the last 20 years of being a part of
- 23:28this community and
- 23:29SPEAKER_00: helping foster it that's happened that you didn't necessarily expect?
- 23:37SPEAKER_01: I think...
- 23:39SPEAKER_01: There's so many things I could talk for a long time on that topic.
- 23:44SPEAKER_01: A couple of key things I learned was one, we built this community.
- 23:47SPEAKER_01: The idea was we have global leaders that need help and we have business
- 23:51SPEAKER_01: professionals that have skills.
- 23:53SPEAKER_01: And so when you create that model,
- 23:57the idea is the coaches are coming in to give the help and the
- 24:00leaders are going to
- 24:01SPEAKER_01: receive it.
- 24:02SPEAKER_01: That was the original model.
- 24:04SPEAKER_01: What we learned really quick was that
- 24:08SPEAKER_01: Not only did the leaders need help, but the coaches needed help.
- 24:12And so what we learned really quickly was that we're learning
- 24:15community and we're
- 24:16SPEAKER_01: all learning from each other.
- 24:17SPEAKER_01: There is no one that has all the answers.
- 24:19SPEAKER_01: I can stand up and teach.
- 24:21SPEAKER_01: I'm not teaching because I know it all.
- 24:22I'm teaching because I'm willing to share what I don't know and
- 24:25what I'm learning.
- 24:26SPEAKER_01: And so the idea that we're all learning together and even in any coaching
- 24:30SPEAKER_01: conversation I have,
- 24:31SPEAKER_01: Matt,
- 24:32SPEAKER_01: you and I,
- 24:33SPEAKER_01: I would say we have a coaching relationship.
- 24:36SPEAKER_01: You kind of work with me, but I'm also mentoring you a little bit.
- 24:39SPEAKER_01: I'm investing in you, but I'm also learning from you.
- 24:43SPEAKER_01: And so whether you know it or not, you're contributing to my development.
- 24:48SPEAKER_01: I'm learning things.
- 24:49SPEAKER_01: I mean,
- 24:49SPEAKER_01: often you'll say something and I'll write it down because I'm like,
- 24:52SPEAKER_01: oh,
- 24:52SPEAKER_01: and it's not just the tech stuff.
- 24:55I'm learning from you and I love that posture and I think we
- 24:58get in trouble when we
- 24:59SPEAKER_01: think that we know it all and so I often say to people that want to coach
- 25:03especially nonprofit leaders I said come in and have a
- 25:06conversation but be open
- 25:08because your life is going to be changed and what I've seen
- 25:11over the years
- 25:12SPEAKER_01: is I've seen leaders.
- 25:13SPEAKER_01: I've seen leaders change.
- 25:14SPEAKER_01: I've seen their ministries, their organizations completely transformed.
- 25:19SPEAKER_01: I've also seen these coaches.
- 25:21SPEAKER_01: I've seen their businesses.
- 25:22SPEAKER_01: I've seen their families.
- 25:24SPEAKER_01: I've seen their communities.
- 25:25I've seen them completely transformed by these leaders lives
- 25:30and this community.
- 25:31SPEAKER_01: I was just at a gathering this week and it was so evident the impact
- 25:36SPEAKER_01: that this community had on this guy's life.
- 25:39SPEAKER_01: It was so evident.
- 25:40SPEAKER_01: And so that was an aha.
- 25:42SPEAKER_01: I didn't think that would happen.
- 25:44But when it happened,
- 25:45I went,
- 25:45that's what I want to do the rest of my life.
- 25:47SPEAKER_01: I want to create space for people to grow and learn together.
- 25:50SPEAKER_01: There's so much value in that because I need that.
- 25:53SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 25:54SPEAKER_00: Well, I feel like as I get older, that becomes so much of the
- 26:00kind of imperative that I have in life is like what do how do I
- 26:03create the things
- 26:04that I want to like live into and I mean even the opportunity
- 26:09of of growing and
- 26:10building the emerging leaders group with Barnabas is like
- 26:14that's so much of what I
- 26:15SPEAKER_00: crave and I that's so funny that you're talking about it as this mutually
- 26:21beneficial where it is like yeah even being a part of the
- 26:26summit like a couple
- 26:27years ago with leader and seeing like it wasn't just you or
- 26:31your dad going up there
- 26:32it was like all of the people that are a part of that community
- 26:36contributing and
- 26:38SPEAKER_00: helping learn from each other whether they were on the business aisle
- 26:43SPEAKER_00: or the ministry aisle or whatever.
- 26:45SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't differentiate between those two aisles.
- 26:50SPEAKER_01: And what we found is business is ministry and ministry is business.
- 26:54And once you get rid of those labels,
- 26:56you actually truly can learn from each other.
- 26:59SPEAKER_00: That's so good.
- 27:02Okay so you've spent a lot of your life ministry and career
- 27:06kind of helping leaders
- 27:08be better and grow and you've grown from them kind of around
- 27:13the world but I'm
- 27:15SPEAKER_00: curious like what do you think leaders get wrong most of the time?
- 27:23SPEAKER_01: That's a loaded question.
- 27:25SPEAKER_00: I know it's a large question interpret that how you will.
- 27:28SPEAKER_01: What do leaders get wrong?
- 27:29SPEAKER_01: I think
- 27:33SPEAKER_01: I think one is we don't understand our potential.
- 27:39SPEAKER_01: We underestimate what we actually can do.
- 27:41SPEAKER_01: And so we settle for mediocrity.
- 27:44SPEAKER_01: And I've seen that in my own life at times.
- 27:48SPEAKER_01: We're afraid.
- 27:49SPEAKER_01: And so we hold back.
- 27:51And so helping people understand the potential and the
- 27:53opportunity and what they're
- 27:54SPEAKER_01: actually capable of,
- 27:56SPEAKER_01: I think leaders get caught in that.
- 27:58SPEAKER_01: I had a mentor tell me way back,
- 28:03SPEAKER_01: guy named Jim and he said, leaders quit for two reasons.
- 28:07SPEAKER_01: One is they quit because they don't know what to do.
- 28:10SPEAKER_01: And two, they quit because they burn out.
- 28:12SPEAKER_01: And I found that to be true in every community I'm involved in.
- 28:16SPEAKER_01: And I found that true in my own life.
- 28:17SPEAKER_01: The idea that as leaders, we have to keep learning is essential.
- 28:21SPEAKER_01: The world's changing.
- 28:23SPEAKER_01: We have to keep learning.
- 28:24SPEAKER_01: I love to learn.
- 28:26SPEAKER_01: I love to read.
- 28:27SPEAKER_01: I love to learn things that are so far outside my scope.
- 28:31SPEAKER_01: I'm just intrigued by that.
- 28:32SPEAKER_01: I don't need to be expert at that, but I want to learn.
- 28:34SPEAKER_01: But the other thing is then learning parameters.
- 28:36SPEAKER_01: How do you live a healthy life?
- 28:38SPEAKER_01: How do you live in balance?
- 28:39SPEAKER_01: How do you find rhythm?
- 28:41SPEAKER_01: How do you make sure that you avoid that burnout?
- 28:42SPEAKER_01: Because when you burn out, you lose everything.
- 28:45SPEAKER_01: And so really trying to find a way to live in a healthy way,
- 28:48SPEAKER_01: I think those have been the two things that have helped me.
- 28:51SPEAKER_01: I am constantly battling for rhythm.
- 28:55I spent my life trying to find that and there are times that I
- 28:58failed miserably and
- 28:59there are times that I found this really sweet spot of health
- 29:02and I'm constantly
- 29:03trying to seek that but the other side of that I also want to
- 29:06keep pushing myself
- 29:07and challenging myself I'm 62 years old I have not done it all
- 29:11I have not learned
- 29:12all there is to know I still I still want to grow and I still
- 29:15want to develop and
- 29:16there's things that I want to do that I'm not able to do yet
- 29:19and I'm not done and
- 29:21SPEAKER_01: so that idea of just a constant pursuit
- 29:24SPEAKER_01: People, when they're afraid or when they settle,
- 29:28SPEAKER_01: they miss out on so much.
- 29:29And so trying to ignite people and cast vision and challenge
- 29:33them and encourage
- 29:34SPEAKER_01: them that there's so much more.
- 29:35SPEAKER_01: And I think that's what God means when he talks about abundant life.
- 29:39SPEAKER_01: I mean, Jesus calls us to that.
- 29:40He says,
- 29:41I have created you for so much and many of us just miss it
- 29:45because we settle.
- 29:46SPEAKER_01: And boy,
- 29:47my pursuit is I want that life that he created me for and I'm
- 29:51not gonna stop until
- 29:52SPEAKER_01: I've achieved that.
- 29:53SPEAKER_01: Well, there's no way to achieve that.
- 29:55SPEAKER_01: that life is life eternal.
- 29:57SPEAKER_01: So I'm pursuing that my whole life.
- 30:00SPEAKER_01: And boy, I don't want to miss anything that he has for me.
- 30:02SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 30:03SPEAKER_00: What's something that most people think is a strength,
- 30:06SPEAKER_00: but is actually like a liability in leadership?
- 30:13SPEAKER_01: Wow.
- 30:13SPEAKER_01: I wish you'd have given me these questions ahead of time.
- 30:17SPEAKER_00: That's a great question.
- 30:20SPEAKER_01: I think the first thing that came to my mind is the word confidence.
- 30:25SPEAKER_01: I think confidence is a strength.
- 30:26SPEAKER_01: Being confident in your own abilities,
- 30:27SPEAKER_01: confidence in your leadership,
- 30:30SPEAKER_01: confidence in your strength,
- 30:32SPEAKER_01: that's a really important thing.
- 30:35SPEAKER_01: However, confidence quickly leads to ego and pride.
- 30:39SPEAKER_01: And again,
- 30:39SPEAKER_01: in my own life,
- 30:40there have been times that I'm so full of myself that I'm
- 30:44blinded by myself.
- 30:46And so there's a real balance between I'm a confident leader,
- 30:50I know what I'm able to do,
- 30:52also know what I'm not able to do or I know where I'm most
- 30:57vulnerable or where my
- 30:58SPEAKER_01: weaknesses are.
- 30:59SPEAKER_01: Understanding that and then holding it lightly.
- 31:01SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 31:01SPEAKER_01: And I get in trouble when I think I can do it all.
- 31:04SPEAKER_01: And understanding that
- 31:07we're all vulnerable to that so yeah just the I don't know so
- 31:11much of life is
- 31:11managing managing tensions and balance the balancing acts and
- 31:16that's kind of like
- 31:17so much of what I want to talk to you about where it's like man
- 31:20I look at your life
- 31:22SPEAKER_00: and I'm inspired and encouraged and
- 31:25I don't know I look up to the way that you've made decisions
- 31:29about family and
- 31:30career and stuff in many ways but I think like yeah oftentimes
- 31:36our like greatest
- 31:36SPEAKER_00: strengths can be our our weaknesses too on some level
- 31:42yeah so I mean there's there's a lot of different pieces of you
- 31:45as a person but
- 31:47they're kind of holistically knit together but one of one of
- 31:51the other pieces of
- 31:52who you are is that you you help people kind of plan their
- 31:56lives out as well in
- 31:59like the leadership way but then you're also like a certified
- 32:03life coach and all
- 32:03the stuff that comes along with that and I'm curious like is
- 32:07there a question that
- 32:08SPEAKER_00: tends to like crack open
- 32:13understanding or awareness or bigger discussion when you're
- 32:18going through something
- 32:19SPEAKER_00: like that with someone.
- 32:21Yeah,
- 32:22I think years ago,
- 32:24the word convergence was just a word that kept coming to my
- 32:29mind.
- 32:29SPEAKER_01: The convergence, the idea that things all happen for a reason.
- 32:34SPEAKER_01: They come together.
- 32:34SPEAKER_01: There's a point.
- 32:36SPEAKER_01: I had a couple moments in my life of true convergence.
- 32:39SPEAKER_01: One was
- 32:40SPEAKER_01: You know, moving to Ecuador in 1994, you know, I love Latin America.
- 32:45SPEAKER_01: I love I studied business.
- 32:47SPEAKER_01: I love the Lord of Ministry.
- 32:48SPEAKER_01: I love the youth ministry.
- 32:50SPEAKER_01: The convergence was that's what I got to do.
- 32:53And I showed up in Ecuador like I get I get to build an
- 32:56organization in a place I
- 32:58SPEAKER_01: love in a language I love with people I love.
- 33:01SPEAKER_01: That's convergence.
- 33:02SPEAKER_01: And the fact that I'd spent some time there as a kid.
- 33:05the fact that I'd been a youth pastor for 10 years,
- 33:07all those things convergence.
- 33:09So when I'm working with a leader,
- 33:10I use a thing called the Patterson life plan process.
- 33:14SPEAKER_01: And there's two questions.
- 33:15SPEAKER_01: The first question,
- 33:16SPEAKER_01: and Matt,
- 33:16SPEAKER_01: you've been through this process,
- 33:17SPEAKER_01: but the first question is how did I end up here?
- 33:21SPEAKER_01: And that's a question of perspective.
- 33:23SPEAKER_01: And you look at your life and what led you here
- 33:27SPEAKER_01: But then the other question is, where do I want to go?
- 33:30SPEAKER_01: And the idea that your past plays into your future.
- 33:33SPEAKER_01: And I love when people, you know, we actually put that on the wall.
- 33:37SPEAKER_01: And when you look at your life and you realize,
- 33:39SPEAKER_01: wow,
- 33:39this thing that I experienced when I was 10 actually is
- 33:44something that I'm using
- 33:45SPEAKER_01: today in my job.
- 33:48SPEAKER_01: That's convergence.
- 33:49SPEAKER_01: And so the light comes on when people make that connection.
- 33:52And again,
- 33:53I don't think,
- 33:53I think God has us all,
- 33:55all of our stories are unique.
- 33:56SPEAKER_01: God has us all on this unique journey.
- 33:59SPEAKER_01: But when I did my life plan and to get certified,
- 34:01SPEAKER_01: I had to do one and I did it because I had to do it.
- 34:05SPEAKER_01: I didn't expect anything to come out of it.
- 34:08and there were some ahas in there that answered some questions
- 34:11that I've been
- 34:11SPEAKER_01: asking,
- 34:12SPEAKER_01: some things that bubbled up of,
- 34:14SPEAKER_01: oh my word,
- 34:15SPEAKER_01: I never thought about this thing that happened to me when I was a kid,
- 34:19SPEAKER_01: how that fleshed out as an adult and it changed my perspective.
- 34:23SPEAKER_01: And again, so the question was, what keeps coming up?
- 34:27SPEAKER_01: That convergence question of how our story,
- 34:31SPEAKER_01: our past and our future,
- 34:33SPEAKER_01: how they collide and how we actually are part of one big story
- 34:37SPEAKER_01: But there's a purpose and a plan to that.
- 34:40SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 34:42SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 34:42SPEAKER_00: All of these,
- 34:43SPEAKER_00: I have like my questions that I want to get to,
- 34:45but all of these could be the three hour conversation that we
- 34:48have where I think
- 34:50SPEAKER_00: that's like so much of the,
- 34:51SPEAKER_00: I feel like I'm on the precipice and selfishly,
- 34:55I wanted to have this conversation to get advice in this season
- 35:00that I'm in of
- 35:01SPEAKER_00: like,
- 35:02SPEAKER_00: is this a convergence of like,
- 35:04SPEAKER_00: oh,
- 35:05I'm intentionally making the decision to push my life in a
- 35:09direction of those
- 35:10SPEAKER_00: things that I feel God calling me towards,
- 35:14SPEAKER_00: but also that align with my affinities and my skill set.
- 35:19And then areas that I want to be challenged in more too and
- 35:22continue to learn and grow.
- 35:25And I think that's like one of the biggest questions that I
- 35:27want to work through in
- 35:28SPEAKER_00: this conversation is the tension of like,
- 35:32so many people in my life now and I feel like the world talks
- 35:37about this idea of
- 35:38like now is the time to grow and really like lean into career
- 35:43and grow wealth and
- 35:46compound like build the foundation to compound that in the
- 35:50future and really be
- 35:53like a hustler and live into career and stuff and then like
- 35:57there's this other
- 35:58tension in me that's like oh well but I'm starting a family and
- 36:02I want to be
- 36:02present with them and how do I like do marriage well and how do
- 36:07I do fatherhood
- 36:08well and like be a part of a church community and be present in
- 36:12that but then also
- 36:13like make a crap ton of money so that I can like live in and
- 36:18part of these tensions
- 36:19SPEAKER_00: I think are because of where we live and where we live
- 36:23want to live and stuff but I'm so curious like within all of
- 36:28that kind of looking
- 36:31at your own like your own experience as a young father like is
- 36:37there things you
- 36:38would have changed about the like that tension in your life at
- 36:43that time of being
- 36:44like a young dad because how old were the kids when you were in
- 36:48Ecuador building
- 36:49SPEAKER_00: like youth world and
- 36:50SPEAKER_01: When we moved back to our kids were five and two.
- 36:53SPEAKER_01: And then our third daughter was born a couple years later.
- 36:59SPEAKER_00: That's a lot.
- 36:59SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 37:00SPEAKER_01: Well, here's the deal.
- 37:01SPEAKER_01: As an old dad, I mean, perspective is horrible.
- 37:07SPEAKER_01: There are a hundred things I would do differently.
- 37:09SPEAKER_01: And regrets.
- 37:11SPEAKER_01: I did spend time building ministry, building organization, traveling.
- 37:17SPEAKER_01: But I also...
- 37:18SPEAKER_01: spent time with my family.
- 37:19SPEAKER_01: So I there was always that there's always that tension.
- 37:23And it's it's really it's really interesting to look back now
- 37:26and ask those questions.
- 37:29SPEAKER_01: You know, what would I change?
- 37:30There's there's a lot of things I would change things that as I
- 37:33look back now,
- 37:34SPEAKER_01: I don't know why they seem so important at the time,
- 37:36SPEAKER_01: but they they were looking back is like,
- 37:39SPEAKER_01: oh,
- 37:39SPEAKER_01: that was a mistake.
- 37:40SPEAKER_01: However, I also made some really good decisions around family.
- 37:44SPEAKER_01: And I guess I'd come back to the question of how do you define wealth?
- 37:47SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 37:48SPEAKER_01: I feel like I'm very wealthy.
- 37:49SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 37:50Unfortunately,
- 37:51that's not necessarily financially,
- 37:53but wealth is family and relationships.
- 37:56SPEAKER_01: And we're in a season of,
- 37:59SPEAKER_01: you know,
- 37:59being with our kids and their spouses and grandkids and a
- 38:02couple of new grandkids
- 38:03SPEAKER_01: and parents and extended family.
- 38:05SPEAKER_01: Oh, my word.
- 38:07While I did make mistakes,
- 38:09which we all do,
- 38:10I also,
- 38:11man,
- 38:12I'm the wealthiest guy you can find.
- 38:14SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 38:14SPEAKER_01: I'm blessed.
- 38:15SPEAKER_01: And
- 38:16SPEAKER_01: The fact that we have deep relationships with our kids,
- 38:20SPEAKER_01: we're building trust and bonds with our grandkids.
- 38:23SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, I wouldn't trade that for anything.
- 38:27SPEAKER_01: Is financial wealth important?
- 38:29SPEAKER_01: Stability?
- 38:30SPEAKER_01: Career?
- 38:30SPEAKER_01: Yes, it is.
- 38:32SPEAKER_01: Is family priorities important?
- 38:34SPEAKER_01: Sure it is.
- 38:35SPEAKER_01: And so that tension is something you have to live with.
- 38:37SPEAKER_01: And so I would just say you can't sell out to one or the other.
- 38:41SPEAKER_01: You have to live in the tension.
- 38:42SPEAKER_01: And that tension will not go away.
- 38:44SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you this, the tension never goes away.
- 38:47SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 38:48SPEAKER_01: So you have to learn how to navigate that.
- 38:50SPEAKER_01: And Jane and I,
- 38:51SPEAKER_01: I mean,
- 38:51we spent a lot of time trying to figure out what works for us
- 38:55in this season.
- 38:56SPEAKER_01: And again, we made mistakes.
- 38:57SPEAKER_01: I made mistakes about,
- 38:59SPEAKER_01: you know,
- 39:00SPEAKER_01: time away,
- 39:00SPEAKER_01: travel,
- 39:01SPEAKER_01: conquering new territory,
- 39:03SPEAKER_01: being on the road again,
- 39:05SPEAKER_01: that at the time felt like they were important.
- 39:06SPEAKER_01: Looking back, why were they so important?
- 39:08SPEAKER_01: I regret some of them.
- 39:10SPEAKER_01: But I also I never missed one of my kids birthdays.
- 39:12SPEAKER_01: And so
- 39:13you know I didn't miss a tournament we we really worked hard to
- 39:18prioritize our
- 39:18family and had some incredible family time so again it's that
- 39:21it's a constant
- 39:22tension the dance yeah and again I would do things differently
- 39:25looking back but I
- 39:26can't and my advice is to you is understand the tension that's
- 39:30the first thing is
- 39:31it's always going to be there and pursue both with everything
- 39:34you've got and so but
- 39:36you don't sacrifice one for the other yeah I know people that
- 39:40made the conscious
- 39:40SPEAKER_01: decision to
- 39:42SPEAKER_01: And again,
- 39:42SPEAKER_01: in some of the worlds that we live and work in,
- 39:45SPEAKER_01: people that say,
- 39:46SPEAKER_01: oh,
- 39:46SPEAKER_01: I'm going to serve God when I retire,
- 39:49SPEAKER_01: when I'm done.
- 39:49SPEAKER_01: I'm going to spend time with my family when I'm done working.
- 39:54SPEAKER_01: And they keep putting it off and they never get to it.
- 39:58SPEAKER_01: And I don't want to live that way.
- 39:59SPEAKER_01: And so I've had the blessing of being able to do both.
- 40:02SPEAKER_01: And again, God has provided in incredible ways.
- 40:06SPEAKER_01: But I'm very wealthy in the sense of relationships and
- 40:11SPEAKER_01: quality of life and family.
- 40:14SPEAKER_01: I mean, oh my gosh, so blessed.
- 40:16SPEAKER_01: And so live in the tension and understand it's always going to be there.
- 40:20SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 40:21SPEAKER_00: And so like,
- 40:22SPEAKER_00: what is,
- 40:24SPEAKER_00: and again,
- 40:24SPEAKER_00: you don't need to answer this if you don't want to,
- 40:26SPEAKER_00: but what is one of those things you wish you did differently
- 40:31um sort of in that season of young fatherhood while you were
- 40:35hustling to to build
- 40:37the thing that that you're like I wish I had done that
- 40:40differently I yeah because
- 40:46it's a for me it's a really hard question to ask because you
- 40:49wouldn't be the person
- 40:50that you are now if you had done something different like you
- 40:54might still be
- 40:56you might never have gone to Ecuador or you might never and so
- 40:59I think that's part
- 41:00of the challenge in asking that question for me where it's sort
- 41:04of like well what
- 41:04SPEAKER_00: happened happened and so like
- 41:07i've made the most of the situation i'm in now or whatever well
- 41:10and some of that
- 41:10goes back to when we were we were newly married um there are a
- 41:14couple decisions
- 41:15that we made that were significant one is i i always wanted a
- 41:19job that that gave me
- 41:21some flexibility and the idea was i i want to be a present dad
- 41:25husband um i'm going
- 41:26to coach my kids baseball teams i gotta have flexibility and so
- 41:30i i wouldn't
- 41:31SPEAKER_01: consider a job that didn't have that two
- 41:33I didn't want to commute and so the idea of spending time on a
- 41:36freeway was time
- 41:38that I wasn't willing to give up and so we made that conscious
- 41:40which means we lived
- 41:41in some strange places but I wouldn't I knew that that was
- 41:46valuable time and I saw
- 41:47other people I had a friend we were young in our marriage who
- 41:53had a 90-minute
- 41:54SPEAKER_01: commute every day one way
- 41:56SPEAKER_01: and I just said, I'm never gonna, I wouldn't do that for the money.
- 41:58SPEAKER_01: And I just made that, now for them, it worked.
- 42:01SPEAKER_01: But for me, I knew that I couldn't sacrifice that time.
- 42:05SPEAKER_01: Gina and I made decisions about career,
- 42:07SPEAKER_01: about her work,
- 42:08SPEAKER_01: about my work,
- 42:09SPEAKER_01: about family,
- 42:10SPEAKER_01: about how we're gonna manage that on one income,
- 42:13SPEAKER_01: on dual income.
- 42:14SPEAKER_01: And then when you go on the mission field,
- 42:16SPEAKER_01: it all changes,
- 42:17but we made some really clear decisions about what we would and
- 42:20wouldn't do that
- 42:21SPEAKER_01: kind of guided us.
- 42:22SPEAKER_01: That doesn't mean we did it all right.
- 42:24SPEAKER_01: I think the one thing for me came around travel.
- 42:29SPEAKER_01: And as we were trying to grow our influence globally,
- 42:34SPEAKER_01: it meant that I needed to spend more time on the road.
- 42:36And time away,
- 42:38I think looking back,
- 42:39I realized the load that was for Gina.
- 42:42SPEAKER_01: And I did miss stuff with my kids.
- 42:45SPEAKER_01: Now, when I was home, I was very present.
- 42:47SPEAKER_01: And again, was able to schedule that.
- 42:48SPEAKER_01: But looking back, I wish I wouldn't have done that.
- 42:51and I continued that for a long time and we also reap the
- 42:55benefits our families
- 42:57traveled around the world and we had some great vacations and
- 43:00we got a lot of
- 43:00airplane miles and that was awesome so there's benefits to it
- 43:05but as I look back
- 43:06that was the one thing at the time I thought it was really
- 43:09important and it wasn't
- 43:11SPEAKER_01: there was some ego and some pride there
- 43:14of you know my identity was what can I go conquer and and again
- 43:18that was where I
- 43:19kind of lost that vision again I fortunately I figured that out
- 43:21yeah but um I would
- 43:23change that okay so you I feel like you answered this a little
- 43:27bit but I'll I'll
- 43:28phrase it a different way um like 30 year old Russ is sitting
- 43:33across from you like
- 43:34SPEAKER_00: what would you tell him
- 43:37SPEAKER_00: now.
- 43:38And from what I understand you saying,
- 43:40part of that is like live in the tension.
- 43:42SPEAKER_00: Is there anything else?
- 43:44SPEAKER_01: Live in the tension.
- 43:48SPEAKER_01: Seek some really wise counsel.
- 43:49SPEAKER_01: Get some help.
- 43:50SPEAKER_01: Don't be afraid to ask for help.
- 43:53And then prioritize your family and make sure that you're not
- 43:59sacrificing family for career.
- 44:02And again,
- 44:03there are seasons and there's time that's going to pull and
- 44:06push.
- 44:07But acknowledging those seasons and understanding what works
- 44:11and what doesn't work.
- 44:14SPEAKER_00: So good.
- 44:15SPEAKER_00: Well, I will spend the rest of my life answering those questions.
- 44:18SPEAKER_00: Good luck with that.
- 44:20That's what I'm so curious about with these conversations is
- 44:22like having them as
- 44:23SPEAKER_00: little time capsules to look back in 10,
- 44:25SPEAKER_00: 15 years.
- 44:28be able to see oh well yeah that really stands the test of time
- 44:31or man that idea
- 44:32that I had is really off or whatever it is I also had I when I
- 44:38say seek counsel I
- 44:40had some people speak into my life early about that tension
- 44:44yeah and it really
- 44:44helped me yeah and they spoke wisdom and gave me some really
- 44:48good stuff that that I
- 44:50used and it really made a difference yeah and so find people
- 44:54like that that you
- 44:55SPEAKER_01: trust
- 44:57yeah yeah and and lean into that and and I'm glad I did and
- 45:01those people still walk
- 45:02with me yeah and that was really important that's been such a
- 45:05huge blessing I think
- 45:07I have like understood that lesson from an early age because I
- 45:12just talk about
- 45:13wealth like I think I've been blessed to have that wealth of
- 45:18counselors around like
- 45:20whether it's you or my other like one of my other mentors Jason
- 45:23or my dad or
- 45:26and I think because of my personality and wiring not being
- 45:29afraid to like ask for
- 45:31that from people where yeah if there's a question I have for a
- 45:36specific type of
- 45:37person or expertise or whatever like I'm not afraid to go like
- 45:41cold email someone
- 45:42SPEAKER_00: or whatever that looks like
- 45:44and within reason I think the other the bad side of that is
- 45:49like getting too many
- 45:50cooks in the kitchen and too much advice about stuff and not
- 45:54being like yeah so
- 45:56having a few counselors that are better trusted and working
- 46:00through that advice is
- 46:01advice it doesn't mean it's it's all valuable to you but at
- 46:06least you hear it and
- 46:07SPEAKER_01: again
- 46:08SPEAKER_01: When you can hear a lot of advice or a lot of input,
- 46:11SPEAKER_01: I mean,
- 46:11SPEAKER_01: that's where you're going to make your best decisions.
- 46:13SPEAKER_01: And learning from people.
- 46:14And I often,
- 46:15I remember early on,
- 46:16I would ask people,
- 46:16you know,
- 46:17what do you struggle with?
- 46:18SPEAKER_01: What mistakes have you made?
- 46:20SPEAKER_01: I learn from people's mistakes and then try to avoid those same mistakes.
- 46:24SPEAKER_01: That's where we learn.
- 46:25SPEAKER_01: Well,
- 46:25that's part of the beauty of being the youngest and having two
- 46:29older brothers that
- 46:31SPEAKER_00: showed me many of the mistakes that they made.
- 46:34SPEAKER_00: I still made
- 46:35lots of the same and lots of different mistakes than them but
- 46:39at least getting to
- 46:40observe how they made mistakes and and learn from them in some
- 46:43way yeah so we've
- 46:46kind of talked about like leader we've talked about like some
- 46:52of the life planning
- 46:53stuff that you do I kind of want to get into Barnabas a little
- 46:56bit where you where
- 46:59SPEAKER_00: you're still serving like ministry
- 47:00and then business leaders and again we talked about that like
- 47:04everybody is in
- 47:05ministry if you're following Jesus it might look more explicit
- 47:10or more implicit
- 47:11depending on the type of role that you have and the type of
- 47:14situation you're in
- 47:17but I'm curious for leaders in non-profit ministries
- 47:21specifically with Barnabas
- 47:23SPEAKER_00: kind of connecting the faith and business piece what do you see in that
- 47:28intersection that like a lot of people miss from a from a
- 47:33non-profit perspective or
- 47:35from a yeah like how first of all I'm curious how you interpret
- 47:40that question and
- 47:42SPEAKER_00: then yeah from like a
- 47:44let's go with that with from the ministry I mean the first
- 47:47again whether this
- 47:47answers your question or not what I heard was you know what
- 47:51what what do people
- 47:52miss I the foundation of the Barnabas group is relationship
- 47:58yeah and what many
- 48:00SPEAKER_01: nonprofit leaders or leaders or business leaders they focus on growth
- 48:07SPEAKER_01: and building.
- 48:09SPEAKER_01: And when you do that, you tend to sacrifice relationship.
- 48:11SPEAKER_01: So a nonprofit leader,
- 48:12SPEAKER_01: if they're working on raising money,
- 48:15SPEAKER_01: often they'll pursue the dollar instead of the relationship.
- 48:18SPEAKER_01: And the beauty of Barnabas is we're selling relationship.
- 48:23And what I say over and over to nonprofit leaders is build a
- 48:26relationship.
- 48:28SPEAKER_01: The funding may come, it may not come, but build a relationship.
- 48:32SPEAKER_01: That's the value.
- 48:36SPEAKER_01: Bob Shank is one of the co-founders of Barnabas.
- 48:38He said,
- 48:39you know,
- 48:39a lot of people look at donors as a as a personal checkbook.
- 48:43SPEAKER_01: And if that's what you want, that's all you're going to get.
- 48:45SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 48:46SPEAKER_01: And it's so true.
- 48:47There are times that I've I've gone to raise money and I've
- 48:50gotten a check.
- 48:51and that's it and I've missed the opportunity for a
- 48:54relationship and I could have
- 48:56gotten so much more out of that relationship from their
- 48:59knowledge expertise but I
- 49:01was content with a check because that was my biggest need and
- 49:04so in our community
- 49:05and what I say to non-profits all the time is build a
- 49:08relationship don't go for the
- 49:10quick check go for the relationship because you'll get so much
- 49:15value from a
- 49:17SPEAKER_01: relationship that will help you
- 49:21Yeah that's fascinating to just kind of see from the ministry
- 49:25side because the
- 49:26metrics are and I think like the way probably more so in our
- 49:31like capitalistic
- 49:33mindset of like here's this need that I have how do you meet
- 49:39the need very
- 49:39SPEAKER_00: explicitly
- 49:41without kind of the relationship is like a byproduct of the
- 49:46donation or whatever it
- 49:47is but it I mean it definitely goes both ways to where it's
- 49:50like for Barnabas it's
- 49:54like how do business leaders share their their time and their
- 49:57talent with these
- 49:59ministries and not view it as like well I'm here to solve
- 50:03problems for them that's
- 50:04SPEAKER_00: a piece of it I think but even the relationship piece of like
- 50:08it goes both ways where like there's this mutual encouragement
- 50:13and mutual growth
- 50:14and to your point that learning that happens both ways where I
- 50:19didn't know anything
- 50:20about Kathy's house or whatever and then oh you hear John talk
- 50:23about what he's
- 50:24doing and you're like oh my gosh like that crazy that's crazy
- 50:28and how do I get
- 50:28involved in that and how do I start building relationship with
- 50:31him and all that
- 50:32kind of stuff where it's like there's these other crazy
- 50:36byproducts that happen
- 50:38SPEAKER_00: if we're kind of keeping relationship focused in that way.
- 50:41I think too it goes the other way too so if I'm a non-profit
- 50:45and there's a donor
- 50:47that makes a gift my choice is I can just accept that gift or I
- 50:52can pursue a
- 50:53relationship I mean some of my closest friends are people that
- 50:56began as donors and
- 50:58then became friends and again that value of relationship it's
- 51:01so important so it's
- 51:02not a it's a both and it's a how do you value that and model it
- 51:08and live it and
- 51:09SPEAKER_01: it's so important
- 51:10Just what you're telling me about life in general is that
- 51:12everything's gray and
- 51:16everything's in the middle and you're just constantly tensions
- 51:20that you're
- 51:21balancing and it's like man I like the black and white
- 51:25absolutes you know So I used
- 51:27SPEAKER_00: to teach about balance
- 51:29and I actually stole this illustration from Francis Chan and he
- 51:34talks about our
- 51:35pursuit of balance and used a broom and tried to balance it and
- 51:39talk about how do
- 51:39you find that balance and I had all the lessons on balance and
- 51:43I was talking with a
- 51:43friend of mine one time and we both came to the realization
- 51:47that God hasn't called
- 51:49SPEAKER_01: us to balance.
- 51:51SPEAKER_01: And often when God shows up, it's when we're out of balance.
- 51:54SPEAKER_01: And so the idea is how do we manage the extreme?
- 51:58SPEAKER_01: And life is a bunch of extremes.
- 52:00I mean,
- 52:01we are constantly moving from this emotion to this emotion,
- 52:05from this pace to this pace.
- 52:07SPEAKER_01: We are constantly and finding balance is elusive.
- 52:11SPEAKER_01: And if we're trying to stay in the middle where it's safe,
- 52:13SPEAKER_01: we're missing what God has for us on the extreme.
- 52:17SPEAKER_01: I want to find balance, but I don't want to stay there.
- 52:20SPEAKER_01: I want to continually come back to that.
- 52:21And that's the learning process is like finding the edges and
- 52:27then recentering on
- 52:29SPEAKER_00: the new insights from the learning.
- 52:32SPEAKER_01: Because you can't live at the extreme for a long period of time.
- 52:34SPEAKER_01: You can't live there.
- 52:35SPEAKER_01: You can be there, but if you stay there, you're in trouble.
- 52:39SPEAKER_01: But the idea is how can I embrace that
- 52:42how can God help me sustain and grow in that but then how do I
- 52:45come back to okay I
- 52:46made it through that what's the next thing he's got for me yeah
- 52:51that's where he
- 52:52wants us to live that's where he shows up if everything's
- 52:54balanced I don't need God
- 52:57SPEAKER_00: yeah
- 52:58SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's boring.
- 53:00SPEAKER_01: It's boring.
- 53:01SPEAKER_01: Life is not boring.
- 53:02The adventure of life demands the swaying between the opposite
- 53:09extremes on some way.
- 53:10SPEAKER_00: Interesting.
- 53:11SPEAKER_00: Man.
- 53:11And there's been times in my life that I've lived in that
- 53:13extreme too long.
- 53:14SPEAKER_01: And that's what leads to burnout and all that stuff.
- 53:18SPEAKER_01: And that's not healthy.
- 53:19SPEAKER_00: Yeah, whatever it is.
- 53:20SPEAKER_01: Understanding what that looks like, what it feels like.
- 53:23SPEAKER_01: I've learned.
- 53:24SPEAKER_01: I know when I'm
- 53:25I'm in trouble and and learning what that's like and avoiding
- 53:28that or working away from that.
- 53:31SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 53:32SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 53:33SPEAKER_00: Well,
- 53:33SPEAKER_00: as we as we close,
- 53:35I'm curious around the idea of calling and sort of like how you
- 53:43like how's your
- 53:44SPEAKER_00: sense of calling through ministry and career?
- 53:47Do you think that's something that like you construct or
- 53:51discover or is it both?
- 53:55I think it's both I think I mean there's been times in my life
- 54:00that I have felt
- 54:00100% called by God yeah like like physically called clarity of
- 54:08this is what you're
- 54:09supposed to do like going to Ecuador yeah there's been other
- 54:12times that it's been I
- 54:14SPEAKER_01: felt God said do what I created you to do go
- 54:18SPEAKER_01: without a lot of parameters.
- 54:19SPEAKER_01: And I feel empowered in that too.
- 54:21SPEAKER_01: So that's where I'm like,
- 54:22SPEAKER_01: okay,
- 54:23SPEAKER_01: I'm going to pursue this because I think this is what God made me like.
- 54:26And that's like the discernment of knowing who he is enough to
- 54:30like live into that.
- 54:31SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
- 54:33SPEAKER_01: My prayer my entire life, probably since, probably in college.
- 54:40My prayer has been,
- 54:41Lord,
- 54:41close the door that you don't want me to walk through.
- 54:43SPEAKER_01: Because I'm dumb.
- 54:45SPEAKER_01: I'm going to push the doors open.
- 54:47SPEAKER_01: Make it so clear where you want me that I don't make a mistake.
- 54:52And I can tell you about a lot of closed doors over time that
- 54:55I've closed or He's closed.
- 54:57SPEAKER_01: And my prayer is, man, make it so evident.
- 54:59SPEAKER_01: Because I'm going to want to do a lot.
- 55:01SPEAKER_01: I'm going to want to do a lot of different things.
- 55:03SPEAKER_01: And I'm going to go after those things.
- 55:04SPEAKER_01: And He's allowed me to do that or He's
- 55:07dragged me into them but boy if you don't want me doing
- 55:10something shut that door or
- 55:12make it so evident through other people through my wife in my
- 55:18heart make it so
- 55:19clear that I know I'm not supposed to do that make it clear I
- 55:23think that's the
- 55:24kindred spirit that I feel where it's like man I'm just so
- 55:27excited by so many
- 55:28things I want to do so many things it's like no you gotta where
- 55:32are the constraints
- 55:33SPEAKER_00: where's the sandbox that you play in dang
- 55:37Well I could talk another five hours about it but I'm curious
- 55:41um every I need to
- 55:43stop saying I'm curious you know I have these little sayings
- 55:45that I say literally
- 55:46every question um every episode um I I ask the previous guest
- 55:54what a question is
- 55:55they have for the next guest and so um the previous guest uh
- 56:00Katie who who runs
- 56:02SPEAKER_00: that um kind of brief non-profit um
- 56:06SPEAKER_00: Her question to you is what brings you joy?
- 56:12SPEAKER_00: What brings you the most joy?
- 56:15SPEAKER_01: Wow, that's a great question.
- 56:22SPEAKER_01: Yesterday I was at an art show for my almost four-year-old grandson.
- 56:30SPEAKER_01: I was there with a couple of my kids, my granddaughter, my wife,
- 56:37SPEAKER_01: and there's a moment of just pure joy.
- 56:40SPEAKER_01: Laughter, kicking a ball, family brings joy.
- 56:45And I've had a couple of those moments the last couple of weeks
- 56:48with family that
- 56:50SPEAKER_01: I'm so grateful,
- 56:51SPEAKER_01: so thankful.
- 56:53SPEAKER_01: Gina and I are blessed and that brings me a lot of joy.
- 56:58But the other day I had a board meeting and I shared with our
- 57:00board,
- 57:01this is with Barnabas.
- 57:04SPEAKER_01: I get joy when I see people
- 57:08understand what God created them for and walk into that and
- 57:12I've had some stories
- 57:13come up the last couple weeks of people that had some
- 57:16incredible things happen in
- 57:18their life and they're like wow God allowed me to use my gifts
- 57:22or my strengths or
- 57:23my skills and to see that joy come through them oh I love I
- 57:28love watching it
- 57:29whether I'm a part of it or not I love seeing that come on
- 57:32because I know what that
- 57:33SPEAKER_01: feels like yeah that brings me joy well you talk about
- 57:36like even the name Barnabas is like the encourager where it's
- 57:40like oh is that a way
- 57:41that you are wired to encourage people and then like I don't
- 57:45know that's the beauty
- 57:47of encouragement is that you oftentimes get encouraged through
- 57:50I used to think that
- 57:52I you know if I was going to really experience joy had to be
- 57:54something that I did
- 57:56and what I'm learning is boy there's people around me I can
- 58:00experience joy through
- 58:00SPEAKER_01: them
- 58:01SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 58:01SPEAKER_01: So whether that be a leader,
- 58:03SPEAKER_01: a nonprofit leader,
- 58:04SPEAKER_01: a business person in Barnabas or a four year old grandson,
- 58:08SPEAKER_01: I can get great joy through seeing them
- 58:13SPEAKER_01: use their gifts and their skills and what God has created them to do.
- 58:17SPEAKER_01: And I love that.
- 58:18SPEAKER_01: It's not about me.
- 58:21SPEAKER_01: I love that God allows us to experience that.
- 58:24SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 58:24SPEAKER_00: I mean,
- 58:25SPEAKER_00: I feel like that's such a,
- 58:26SPEAKER_00: I resonate with that idea,
- 58:28SPEAKER_00: even just with seeing my daughter do things that are,
- 58:32SPEAKER_00: I mean,
- 58:32SPEAKER_00: that's a,
- 58:33it's been such a cool journey to see like the father's heart
- 58:37for me in like the
- 58:39father's heart that I have for my daughter where it's like oh I
- 58:44can relate to God
- 58:46the Father more because of like my relationship that he's
- 58:50blessed me with with my
- 58:51daughter where it's like I just get so much excitement when
- 58:54she's like listening
- 58:56and obeying and like we're doing something fun together or
- 58:58whatever it is yeah
- 59:00SPEAKER_00: what's a question that you have for our next guest
- 59:03SPEAKER_01: So I have to ask it now?
- 59:04SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 59:08SPEAKER_01: Here's a question.
- 59:12SPEAKER_01: What's a lesson you learned from one of your greatest failures?
- 59:15SPEAKER_01: Okay.
- 59:16SPEAKER_01: Sweet.
- 59:17SPEAKER_01: I gotta ask that because I've learned a lot from failure.
- 59:20SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 59:20Well,
- 59:20I would argue you probably learned more from failure than from
- 59:23success.
- 59:24SPEAKER_01: You bet.
- 59:24SPEAKER_01: And sometimes I think acknowledging that is an opportunity to learn more.
- 59:29SPEAKER_00: Have you found in your experience that most people
- 59:33SPEAKER_00: are quick to acknowledge that or like slow to acknowledge that idea?
- 59:40SPEAKER_01: I think both.
- 59:42SPEAKER_01: I think it depends on the person.
- 59:43SPEAKER_01: Some people run from it, avoid it, ignore it.
- 59:45SPEAKER_01: Some people embrace it.
- 59:46SPEAKER_00: It catches up to them anyway.
- 59:47SPEAKER_00: And some people take some time.
- 59:49SPEAKER_01: I mean,
- 59:49I look back at things that happened 30 years ago and I'm still
- 59:52learning from
- 59:52SPEAKER_01: mistakes I made.
- 59:54SPEAKER_01: But the idea is just embracing that.
- 59:56SPEAKER_01: And I think the fear of I don't want to fail.
- 59:59SPEAKER_01: Once you get past that,
- 1:00:00SPEAKER_01: It's okay to fail.
- 1:00:01SPEAKER_00: What do you learn from that?
- 1:00:02SPEAKER_01: How does that help you?
- 1:00:04SPEAKER_01: How does that propel you forward?
- 1:00:05SPEAKER_00: Jake asked a similar question.
- 1:00:08SPEAKER_00: Kindred spirits there too.
- 1:00:09SPEAKER_01: There we go.
- 1:00:10SPEAKER_01: Thanks Matt.
- 1:00:12SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
- 1:00:13SPEAKER_00: Thanks for taking the time.