Podcasts about air force bases

Hey there friends and weirdos! This week Nile brings two tales of bizarre UFO sightings in Spain. What in the world was "in the air," so to speak, in 1976 around the Canary Islands? What happened that same year at a an Air Force Base in Badajoz? With hundreds of witnesses watching strange lights in the sky for over forty minutes, you'd think we'd have some answers, but alas, not even declassified Spanish government documents can tell us much. We discuss all this and more!

We made it to 400 episodes and celebrated in style. Kat D. Williams joined us to talk about her new book “All The Way: The Life of Baseball Trailblazer Maybelle Blair.” Kat is a terrific storyteller and took us along for the ride of childhood Maybelle demanding a girls' team in elementary school, adult Blair playing professional baseball *and* softball, planning and executing the transporting (by ground) of a fighter jet through the streets of LA to the Air Force Base, escaping the raiding of a gay bar, inspiring legions of girls and women to play ball, and coming out publicly at age 95. We hope you enjoy listening to this conversation as much as we enjoyed participating in it. Maybelle Blair is life goals, and Kat left us inspired to build runways. Find All the Way at your independent book store or online at Bookshop.org. Find Kat Williams on instagram at @tellagirlshecan and keep up with all the great things happening at and with the International Women's Baseball Center.We learn the answer to “What's it like to have a beer with Maybelle.” Fight the man, send your game balls to Meredith, get boosted, and find us on Bluesky @ncibpodcast, on Facebook @nocryinginbball, Instagram @nocryinginbball and on the Interweb at nocryinginbball.com. Please take a moment to subscribe to the show, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to NCiB. Become a supporter at Patreon to help us keep doing what we do. We now have episode transcripts available!  They are available for free at our Patreon site. Say goodnight, Pottymouth. 

Patrick is joined by former Air Force captain Robert Salas who reveals new details about the infamous Malmstrom Air Force base UFO incident from 1967. He also reveals details about his alien abduction experience from 1985.

On Today's Episode – Mark and Matt dive into the day's topics including how Gavin Newsome paid for his own statue in City Hall among other things.We hop right over to returning guest Retired Colonel Rob Maness (Bio Below). We continue the chat about how the Left is trying to normalize EVERYTHING, and use our tax dollars to do it. Tune in for all the fun@robmaness - X@colrobmanesshttps://www.robmaness.com/Retired Colonel Rob Maness has a lifelong record of dedicated service to the nation. As a 17-year-old high school senior, he decided to enlist in the United States Air Force and serve in uniform as the country faced multiple crises around the world.Having worked his way up from the enlisted ranks to full colonel, he retired from active duty in 2011, ending his military service of more than 32 years. Following military retirement Rob returned to Louisiana to work as an executive in a Fortune 500 energy corporation. He is currently founder and the owner of Iron Liberty Group and resides in Gulfport, Mississippi.Rob has proven his competence at the local, state, and federal levels of government with his demonstrated leadership and effectiveness as a steward of our citizen's tax dollars. He has broad experience working at the Louisiana State Legislature, in the national budget process, national emergency response decision-making, law enforcement, successful community relations with governments at all levels, and working directly with citizens to meet today's challenges. He has provided direct, executive oversight to local schools in coordination with elected school boards, working to make them secure and more effective to meet the needs of America's military children. His leadership and combat experiences give him a unique perspective when considering how national action impacts our American families.During his military service, Colonel Maness led numerous combat operations, including as a bomber squadron commander in Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Colonel Maness served as an enlisted bomb disposal technician in three assignments countering terrorism before being commissioned and selected for flight training. As a Joint Chiefs of Staff operations officer he was on duty in the National Military Command Center located within the Pentagon during the September 11, 2001 attack. In the ensuing months, he directly assisted the United States national security team with creating, synchronizing, and executing the campaign plan for the global war on terrorism. Colonel Maness authored the first theater nuclear war plan and designed decision-making tools for the Presidential nuclear decision handbook strengthening U.S. extended strategic deterrence policy in European and Pacific regions. Colonel Maness served as the Vice Commander of America's largest Airborne Intelligence Wing conducting strategic and battlefield intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations against America's enemies. He went on to command Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, NM, the sixth largest U.S. Air Force Base encompassing 53,000 acres and 22,000 employees, housing our nation's most critical assets.After running for the U.S. Senate on this America First Platform, Rob founded GatorPAC and its Veterans Leadership Fund, a Federal political action committee. The PAC educates grass roots political activists on the most effective ways to influence their elected officials, get a candidate elected, or to fight for a cause. It advocates for policies that protect your liberty, fight for limited government, and ensure prosperity. He has also served as a board member at Military Veterans Advocacy, Inc., a veteran's advocacy group fighting for veteran toxic exposure benefits, committed to preventing veteran suicides, and ensuring military families have equal access to benefits. He has served as a non-voting board member of the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce and Hispano Chamber of Commerce in his role as Commander of Kirtland AFB. As president of his local chapter of the Military Officers Association of America, he led a team that created an annual scholarship fund for graduating high school students. Rob is a Life Member of the NRA, Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, and the Military Officers Association of America.He is also a member of the Louisiana Military Order of Foreign Wars and the Society of the Sons of the Revolution. Active in the community, Rob served as an elected member of the Republican Party Executive Committee representing St. Tammany Parish Council District 1 for two terms and served on the board of the only Republican Men's Club in Louisiana. He Currently serves on the Harrison County and Gulfport Mississippi GOP Executive committees.Rob graduated Cum Laude at the University of Tampa and holds master's degrees from Harvard University's Kennedy School, the Air Command and Staff College, and the US College of Naval Warfare.His military awards and combat decorations include the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star and Air Medal.Rob is married to the former Candy Smith. They have five children, including three sons serving in the military (one former US Navy, one former US Army guardsman, one active US Air Force), and five grandchildren. They are members of the Baptist Church.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On Today's Episode – Mark and Matt dive into the day's topics including how Gavin Newsome paid for his own statue in City Hall among other things. We hop right over to returning guest Retired Colonel Rob Maness (Bio Below).  We continue the chat about how the Left is trying to normalize EVERYTHING, and use our tax dollars to do it.  Tune in for all the fun @robmaness - X @colrobmaness https://www.robmaness.com/   Retired Colonel Rob Maness has a lifelong record of dedicated service to the nation. As a 17-year-old high school senior, he decided to enlist in the United States Air Force and serve in uniform as the country faced multiple crises around the world. Having worked his way up from the enlisted ranks to full colonel, he retired from active duty in 2011, ending his military service of more than 32 years. Following military retirement Rob returned to Louisiana to work as an executive in a Fortune 500 energy corporation. He is currently founder and the owner of Iron Liberty Group and resides in Gulfport, Mississippi. Rob has proven his competence at the local, state, and federal levels of government with his demonstrated leadership and effectiveness as a steward of our citizen's tax dollars. He has broad experience working at the Louisiana State Legislature, in the national budget process, national emergency response decision-making, law enforcement, successful community relations with governments at all levels, and working directly with citizens to meet today's challenges. He has provided direct, executive oversight to local schools in coordination with elected school boards, working to make them secure and more effective to meet the needs of America's military children. His leadership and combat experiences give him a unique perspective when considering how national action impacts our American families. During his military service, Colonel Maness led numerous combat operations, including as a bomber squadron commander in Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Colonel Maness served as an enlisted bomb disposal technician in three assignments countering terrorism before being commissioned and selected for flight training. As a Joint Chiefs of Staff operations officer he was on duty in the National Military Command Center located within the Pentagon during the September 11, 2001 attack. In the ensuing months, he directly assisted the United States national security team with creating, synchronizing, and executing the campaign plan for the global war on terrorism. Colonel Maness authored the first theater nuclear war plan and designed decision-making tools for the Presidential nuclear decision handbook strengthening U.S. extended strategic deterrence policy in European and Pacific regions. Colonel Maness served as the Vice Commander of America's largest Airborne Intelligence Wing conducting strategic and battlefield intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations against America's enemies. He went on to command Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, NM, the sixth largest U.S. Air Force Base encompassing 53,000 acres and 22,000 employees, housing our nation's most critical assets. After running for the U.S. Senate on this America First Platform, Rob founded GatorPAC and its Veterans Leadership Fund, a Federal political action committee. The PAC educates grass roots political activists on the most effective ways to influence their elected officials, get a candidate elected, or to fight for a cause. It advocates for policies that protect your liberty, fight for limited government, and ensure prosperity. He has also served as a board member at Military Veterans Advocacy, Inc., a veteran's advocacy group fighting for veteran toxic exposure benefits, committed to preventing veteran suicides, and ensuring military families have...

Big Attack on Air Force Base in Cox Bazaar, Bangladesh | RAW Activity से घबराया Yunus | Analysis

Charles Hall claims to have witnessed and interacted with a race of extraterrestrials he described as 'tall whites' while serving at Nellis Airforce Base as a duty weather observer from 1965-67. In his three volume memoirs, Millennial Hospitality, (2002) he describes his experiences as fiction yet in a series of interviews, he claims that the experiences were real and that the US Air Force were indeed hosting extraterrestrials they had reached agreements with during the 1950's if not earlier. The tall whites are humanoid in appearance (depicted in image on right). What follows is a set of recommended interviews and articles regarding Charles Hall and the tall white extraterrestrials that he met while serving at Nellis Air Force base.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-x-zone-radio-tv-show--1078348/support.

NAF Keeps Mum As Soldiers Ambush, Attack Policemen To Free Suspect In Deltahttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/naf-keeps-mum-as-soldiers-ambush-attack-policemen-to-free-suspect-in-delta/13/02/2025/#Nigeria Police Force #Delta #Hasan #Jedddo #NAF #Police ©February 13th, 2025 ®February 13, 2025 1:38 pm Nigerian Air Force, NAF under the leadership of the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar has kept mum since on Tuesday or refused to be accountable to the public over apparent act of aiding and abetting criminality after its soldiers were seen in now viral video to have laid ambush at the Air Force Military checkpoint in front of Air Force Base where the suspected criminal gang of soldiers have higher numerical strength at Jeddo in Okpe local government area of Delta State and attacked men of the Nigeria Police Force Quick Response Squad of the Delta State command, allegedly demanded the suspected criminal in the police vehicle  to be set free, and resistance from the police operatives led to an act of apparent criminal intimidation as the soldiers manhandled the police operatives, attempted to forcefully abduct the police operatives with their service riffles in their hands into the Air Force Base as seen in a video footage recorded by one of the eyewitnesses. #OsazuwaAkonedo

Did a UFO hover over an atomic weapons storage area at Malmstrom in 1958, 9 years before the infamous incident involving the shutdown of nuclear missiles in their silos? Links to obtain Graeme Rendall's books can be found here: https://www.reivercountrybooks.com/Book Ryan on CAMEO at: https://bit.ly/3kwz3DOPatreon: http://www.patreon.com/somewhereskiesByMeACoffee: http://www.buymeacoffee.com/UFxzyzHOaQPayPal: Sprague51@hotmail.comDiscord: https://discord.gg/NTkmuwyB4FBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ryansprague.bsky.socialTwitter: https://twitter.com/SomewhereSkiesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/somewhereskiespod/Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/Sprague51/Order Ryan's new book: https://a.co/d/4KNQnM4Order Ryan's older book: https://amzn.to/3PmydYCStore: http://tee.pub/lic/ULZAy7IY12URead Ryan's articles at: https://medium.com/@ryan-sprague51Opening Theme Song by SeptembryoCopyright © 2025 Ryan Sprague. All rights reservedSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/somewhere-in-the-skies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On episode 393, Ryan presents an exclusive audio documentary based on a relatively unknown UFO event that occurred in New Zealand in 1959. Eileen Moreland went out to milk the cows one morning in the South Island town of Blenheim. She returned home about eighty minutes later with an extraordinary story. "You may think I am mad,” she told police, “but I saw a flying saucer." After reporting the incident to the police, the local Air Force Base got involved and began to privately investigate the report. What they uncovered, and the events that followed, would both haunt the Air Force investigators and the Moreland family for many years to come.Special thanks to our voiceover talents: Jim Rees, Megan Mazzoccone, and Steve Mazzoccone.Book Ryan on CAMEO at: https://bit.ly/3kwz3DOPatreon: http://www.patreon.com/somewhereskiesByMeACoffee: http://www.buymeacoffee.com/UFxzyzHOaQPayPal: Sprague51@hotmail.comDiscord: https://discord.gg/NTkmuwyB4FBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ryansprague.bsky.socialTwitter: https://twitter.com/SomewhereSkiesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/somewhereskiespod/Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/Sprague51/Order Ryan's new book: https://a.co/d/4KNQnM4Order Ryan's older book: https://amzn.to/3PmydYCStore: http://tee.pub/lic/ULZAy7IY12URead Ryan's articles at: https://medium.com/@ryan-sprague51Opening Theme Song, "Ephemeral Reign" by Per KiilstofteProduced by LIONSGATECopyright © 2024 Ryan Sprague. All rights reservedSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/somewhere-in-the-skies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Protest Against Arming Israel at Travis Air Force Base https://www.thereporter.com/2025/01/23/protestors-demonstrate-outside-of-travis-air-force-base/ #peoplearerevolting twitter.com/peoplerevolting Peoplearerevolting.com movingtrainradio.com

An innocent child was charged with the murder of his classmate - becoming Canada's youngest death row inmate. It wasn't until The Innocence Project became involved that Steven Truscott finally had his conviction overturned almost 5 decades later. Professor Gail Anderson is Canada's first-ever full-time forensic entomologist and has been working in the field for nearly 35 years. Her work is dedicated to the study of insects, and what they can reveal about miscarriages of justice.  In this discussion with host Kathryn Fox, Gail details her involvement in exonerating Steven Truscott, as well as Kirstin Blaise Lobato, who spent 16 years in prison for a crime she didn't commit. This episode contains references to sexual violence against women and children. If you or someone you know needs help, dial 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732). The number for Lifeline is 13 11 14.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Long Blue Leadership, Co-Hosts Naviere Walkewicz and Wyatt Hornsby reflect on the leadership lessons shared by accomplished graduates of the U.S. Air Force Academy over the first two seasons.   SUMMARY The hosts highlight key moments and insights from various guests, emphasizing the importance of personal connections, resilience, and the role of mentorship in leadership. They discuss the unique experiences of leaders like Coach Troy Calhoun, Brigadier General Gavin P. Marks, Nicole Malachowski, Madison Marsh, Lieutenant General BJ Schwedo, and Carl Falk, showcasing how their journeys can inspire others in their leadership paths.   SHARE THIS EPISODE LINKEDIN  |  FACEBOOK   TAKEAWAYS  - Leadership is deeply personal and requires understanding your people.  - The importance of resilience and the ability to bounce back from setbacks.  - Mentorship plays a crucial role in developing future leaders.  - Building relationships is essential in leadership roles.  - Knowing your craft enhances credibility and effectiveness as a leader.  - Leadership is about doing good and positively impacting others' lives.  - Embracing vulnerability can lead to personal and professional growth.  - It's important to risk failure in pursuit of big dreams.  - Support from family and mentors can shape one's career trajectory.  - Leaders should encourage others to pursue their passions and dreams.   CHAPTERS 00:00 Celebrating Leadership Lessons from the Air Force Academy 02:11 Highlighting Coach Troy Calhoun's Leadership Philosophy 08:09 Insights from Brigadier General Gavin P. Marks 12:59 Nicole Malachowski: Overcoming Setbacks and Embracing Dreams 19:09 Madison Marsh: A Journey of Resilience and Purpose 23:27 Lessons from Lieutenant General BJ Schwedo on Future Conflict 28:23 Karl Falk: The Importance of Support and Grit in Leadership   ABOUT THE HOSTS BIOS LT. COL. (RET.) NAVIERE WALKEWICZ '99 Senior Vice President, Engagement With over two decades in leadership roles, my current focus at the Association of Graduates - U.S. Air Force Academy is fostering a robust network of 50,000+ alumni. This commitment involves igniting a culture of engagement and inclusivity, underpinned by a strong foundation in support of our Air Force Academy. - BIO COPY CREDIT:  LINKEDIN.COM MR. WYATT HORNSBY Senior Vice President, Marketing & Communications | Executive Editor & Writer Wyatt Hornsby is passionate about developing marketing and communications talent and cohesive, high-performance teams. He is senior vice president of marketing and communications at the Air Force Academy Foundation and the Association of Graduates. He leads the work of the foundation and alumni association marketing and communications division, while also coordinating with various Air Force Academy offices, including Public Affairs and Strategic Communications. - BIO COPY CREDIT:  LINKEDIN.COM   ALL PAST LBL EPISODES  |  ALL LBLPN PRODUCTIONS AVAILABLE ON ALL MAJOR PODCAST PLATFORMS   CONNECT WITH THE LONG BLUE LEADERSHIP PODCAST NETWORK TEAM Send your feedback or nominate a guest at: socialmedia@usafa.org TED ROBERTSON:  Ted.Robertson@USAFA.org  Multimedia and Podcast Specialist | LBL Podcast Network Producer and Editor RYAN HALL:  Ryan.Hall@USAFA.org  Assistant Director of Multimedia Production | LBL Podcast Network Director BRYAN GROSSMAN:  Bryan.Grossman@USAFA.org Senior Director of Strategic Communications and Publications | LBL Podcast Network Copy Editor WYATT HORNSBY:  Wyatt.Hornsby@USAFA.org  Senior Vice President, Marketing & Communications | Executive Editor & Writer | LBL Podcast Network Executive Producer   FULL TRANSCRIPT SPEAKERS Co-Hosts:  Lt. Col. (Ret.) Naviere Walkewicz '99  |  Mr. Wyatt Hornsby Guests:  Coach Troy Calhoun '89; Brig. Gen. Gavin P. Marks '96; Col. (Ret.) Nicole Malachowski '96;  2nd Lt. Madison Marsh '23; Gen. BJ Schwedo '87; Mr. Karl Falk '98, Mr. Ted Robertson    Naviere Walkewicz 00:20 Welcome to our Long Blue Leadership retrospective. We're celebrating our first two seasons and the countless leadership lessons shared by some of the most accomplished United States Air Force Academy graduates.   Wyatt Hornsby 00:31 Naviere, seasons 1 and 2 have showcased amazing leadership stories and takeaways. From the very start, Long Blue Leadership has given listeners an inside look at real experiences, insights and advice from seasoned leaders, as well as those just beginning their leadership journeys. These deep dives have explored how leaders not only face challenges head-on but also find ways to inspire and empower those around them.   Naviere Walkewicz 00:58 Yes, what really sets this podcast apart is the mix of our guests' perspectives on leadership. These discussions have touched on teamwork, perseverance, humility, excellence and service before self.   Wyatt Hornsby 01:12 In this edition of Long Blue Leadership, we're sharing a few of our favorite moments. Not easy, because there are so many. Plus, we'll give you a preview of Season 3, which launches soon.   Naviere Walkewicz 01:23 And so, without further ado, Wyatt, let's get into our Long Blue Leadership podcast.   Wyatt Hornsby Let's do it, Naviere.   Naviere Walkewicz Some of our favorite moments. This was not easy to do at all.   Wyatt Hornsby 01:33 Indeed, it was not easy. Two seasons — and Naviere, while we're at it, I just want to congratulate you; awesome job on hosting Long Blue Leadership, and also a little plug for our friend Doug Lindsay as well for doing a great job as host.   Naviere Walkewicz 01:46 It's been an amazing journey, and I think the biggest thing for me has been just being able to share some of the stories of our graduates. So, like we said, picking just a few of them was really hard, but it's been just a beautiful transformation of where we started and where we're going in Season 3.   Wyatt Hornsby 02:01 It's been wonderful storytelling, and I hope that our listeners have been able to take away some great actionable insights for their own leadership journeys, whether they're Academy graduates or others seeking to develop as leaders.   Naviere Walkewicz 02:13 I know I personally took some things away from all of these conversations. I think some of them we'll highlight today.   Wyatt Hornsby 02:18 Wonderful. Let's do it. Looking forward to it.   Naviere Walkewicz 02:21 So, I think you might have the first one you wanted to highlight.   Wyatt Hornsby 02:24 So Naviere, as we said, I mean, it's so difficult to find our favorites. I mean, there are just so many across seasons 1 and 2. But I'm going to tell you, I was so struck by Coach Troy Calhoun, Class of '89. That conversation was absolutely awesome. And a couple of things stood out to me, and we'll listen to a clip from our conversation with Coach Calhoun, but a couple things that stood out to me was, I think a lot of people, when they think about Coach Calhoun and him coming on to do a conversation, they're probably going to expect him to talk about the Xs and Os and strategy and how the Falcons are looking for the season. But in this case, what Coach Calhoun did was he came in and he talked about his own leadership journey all the way from the beginning growing up in Oregon. And I just think that throughout the conversation, we learned a lot about him as a person, his family, his formative experiences. And really what I took away from it additionally, was the unique importance of athletics at the Academy, and how Coach Calhoun and his program, like all sports at USAFA, are developing leaders of character for our Air Force and Space Force. Just an awesome conversation.   Naviere Walkewicz 03:37 It was an awesome conversation. I think it really talks about — one of the things that stood out, I think, in the clip that you picked up is really about how he views leadership and taking care of people. Let's give it a listen.   Wyatt Hornsby Indeed.   Troy Calhoun 03:49 You need to be doing something that you love, that you're passionate about. And the other part is, again, just the involvement that you have with your people. And, you know, to get in there, literally, where you're hip to hip and shoulder to shoulder. And I think sometimes, whether you're in a leadership role or maybe you have a certain rank, you think, “Well, I can't do that in order to maintain my distance professionally.” And I wholeheartedly disagree. I think you have to be able to operate from different perspectives as a leader. I think, clearly, you can still articulate and live the standards that are a part of your operation or your unit or your football program. But again, it's about people.   Naviere Walkewicz 04:46 Well said. It really is.   Wyatt Hornsby 04:47 Well said. Earlier in the conversation too, he had a point where he talked about three things, his philosophy of leadership. You talked to him about his philosophy of leadership. He talked about, as he said in that clip, being right there alongside your people. He talked about knowing your craft incredibly well — not just strategy, but also tactics. And as he mentioned in that clip really well, getting to know your people as humans and what makes them tick. It's easy to, listening to that conversation, it's easy to see why Coach Calhoun has been here for such a long time and been so successful as head football coach.   Naviere Walkewicz 05:25 I think one of the lines I remember him sharing about when we talked about leadership was — I think I asked him, like, “It seems like it's really personal,” and he says, “Absolutely, leadership is personal.” It's about being… understanding who, you know, what's going on in their lives, because if you can understand what they're going through, then you can help them through some challenges and move them to, you know, whatever everyone else is working through together. And so, I really appreciated that he talks about getting to know his people on a personal level, and he challenges all of his coaches to do the same. I think there was a point where he even shared that if he knew some of the team members better than the coaches did, then that was a problem, right? And so, I think he wanted to make sure that being a good leader is knowing who your people are and what they need.   Wyatt Hornsby 06:07 That's right. It's just so instructive and inspiring to those of us who are developing as leaders. And I mean, it goes without saying, college football is changing. It's changing a lot. But I think for Coach Calhoun, he just talks about, as you said, that importance of relationships. And amid all those in college sports, staying focused on the relationship aspect, getting to know his players and his coaches, and remaining hyper-focused on that mission, developing leaders of character for the Air Force and Space Force.   Naviere Walkewicz 06:38 What was something that you took from that personally, that, you know, maybe has evolved the way that you lead or are thinking about leadership?   Wyatt Hornsby 06:46 You know, I'm developing as a leader every day. I've had some tremendous mentors in my life, but I really — I enjoyed what he talked about, about knowing your craft. I think that's really important, because I think it helps you build credibility with those that you lead. Of course, you can't know everything about everything that you lead, but knowing your craft, understanding not just the strategies and the tactics, and I think that helps you build credibility with your team and provide the right leadership to set the vision and the priorities for your team.   Naviere Walkewicz 07:21 I love that. I think what I took from that conversation was really about being humble. I mean, to be where he at is in his career, and I just felt across the table someone who was so humble in every day, learning from everyone around him and trying to really kind of give back in that way. That's something I always want to try and strive to do.   Wyatt Hornsby 07:41 I agree completely. And by the way, he talked about his younger sister, a 10-time all-American, which is pretty incredible. She's also an Academy graduate. And I think if I recall, he said that he looks up to his younger sister. So, I took that away, too. Just a humble, humble leader.   Naviere Walkewicz 07:59 I love that. Well, I'd like to go into one of my favorite moments, and it was with Brig. Gen. Gavin P. Marks, Class of '96, the commandant of the Air Force Academy currently. And this one was special for me, Wyatt, for multiple reasons. I have two cadets, as you know, that are going through the Air Force Academy under his leadership, but he was also my basic cadet commander. So, when I was at the Academy as a four-degree, he was leading us through Basic Cadet Training. And a funny story I'll share with you: When I was later in my career as a civilian working at Offutt Air Force Base. He was the wing commander at office Air Force Base, and I was working at STRATCOM, Strategic Command. I turned around a corner, and I immediately go, “Huh, Gavin P. Marks!” and he started laughing, and he goes, “What year are you?” And I said, “'99,” and he said, “It's good that you still remember my middle initial.” But it stuck out to me and then the funny thing after that, I said, “I never knew you had so many teeth,” because he would scare us. But the reason why this podcast was so special was because I think it brought me to a new level of understanding that — in remembering that we're all human right, and so we all have things that we go through. And so, to hear him from his humble days, talking about his mom, I really just enjoyed his perspective on, you know, his career, which wasn't necessarily a trajectory that he was planning. He certainly had some goals of he would love to have been the commandant at the Academy, but it certainly, you know — it kind of moved in a way that we'll talk about in this clip. And so, I'm interested to hear your thoughts on that conversation before we jump into the clip.   Wyatt Hornsby 09:35 He has extraordinary presence — Gen. Marks does. And it came through not just in the podcast conversation. We had a reunion, several reunions, where he provided a senior leader briefing, and you can just feel that presence and that commitment and that dedication to the USAFA mission. And I'm really excited to hear this clip and then also share another thought on something from the conversation that really stuck out to me as well.   Naviere Walkewicz 10:00 All right. Well, let's roll the clip.   Brig. Gen. Marks 10:03 But as you command at higher levels, while the impact — and I probably should have said it this way: The impact that you would have on so many individual airmen's lives lessons, the impact that you can have on an individual airman's life magnifies based on rank. It is significant also, and I always — one of the things that I tell people all the time is, it's an oversimplification, but the only reason to have rank is to do good, is to do good things, to make things happen in a positive way that affect positively mission and benefit airmen's lives. That's it. That's all. And if rank becomes something different than that for you, you're in the wrong business, or we've given it to the wrong person. If I'm being honest with you.   Naviere Walkewicz 10:55 What did you think about when you heard that?   Wyatt Hornsby 10:56 I am glad that he is the commandant of cadets at the United States Air Force Academy. And I think that I would go so far as to say that what he said there probably reflects how many Air Force — probably all — Air Force Academy graduates feel about leadership, that it's an opportunity to do good for other people, to improve lives, to move people forward, to elevate performance, to lift others. So, super powerful.   Naviere Walkewicz 11:24 I think what was also really great about our conversation was how he talked about the importance of family. And I think when you — sometimes when you think about a leader that's made it to such levels in their career, you think, “Well, it's career above everything else.” But he actually talked about how there are a couple of times when he might have retired had he not had the support from his wife and from his family. And I thought that was really insightful as well, where he really consulted them on some of his biggest decisions.   Wyatt Hornsby 11:52 That's right, perhaps his closest and most valued partners in life.   Naviere Walkewicz 11:56 Yes, I think that's something that our listeners can really value. I know I took that to heart as well, because while it is important, and obviously our professional lives are such a huge part of our lives, our lives are much more holistic than that, right? I think having your networks of support and leadership are really important.   Wyatt Hornsby 12:14 I agree. And Naviere, while we're talking about Gen. Marks too, I gotta put in a plug, and I know we're not gonna listen to this clip, but he told an awesome story about a $20 bill and the Honor Code.   Naviere Walkewicz Yes.   Wyatt Hornsby And as I recall, he really talked about how that was one of the experiences that made him see this United States Air Force Academy — it's a unique and different kind of place.   Naviere Walkewicz 12:38 Absolutely, and so if you missed that, it's a great time for you to go back to longblueleadership.org and listen to that clip in its full entirety.   Wyatt Hornsby 12:48 That's right. Let's talk about Nicole Malachowski, Class of 1996. This conversation — it was a recent conversation that you had with her — really stood out to me on a couple of different levels. Even as a child, she set her sights on what she wanted to do in life, which was to become a fighter pilot. She was focused on that, and at the height of her career, she had a very difficult setback that she spoke I thought very openly and vulnerably about. I just really appreciated that. But in this clip that we're going to play, Naviere, and I'd love to hear your reaction before our good friend, producer Ted rolls it, I would love to just hear your thoughts about this clip and just really important advice that a mentor provided to her at a key moment.   Naviere Walkewicz 13:33 I think you teed it up perfectly. I would say, from sitting across the table, what I felt when I heard that was just a sense of pride in remembering that we all bring something to the table, and empowerment in not being afraid to go forward with it. So, let's give it a listen.   Nicole Malachowski 13:51 I remember thinking, “Thank God I didn't put myself out there. Thank God, Nicole,” you know… now I'm a 30-year-old captain, so I'm still a young person. “Thank God you didn't risk failure. Who are you to think you could be a Thunderbird? Silly girl.” Right? And in that moment, the weirdest thing happened, and I tell this story on stage sometimes. The door opened to the Officer's Club, and in walked the wing commander, Brig. Gen. Mark Matthews. And in that moment, over walks my squadron commander, a wonderful man by the name of Dan DeBree. His call sign was “Trash.” Get it? Trash, debris. Trash walks over, super excited, very supportive of my application, and he's like, “Hey, general, did you know Nicole's applying to be a Thunderbird?” Man, I mean, you could have slowed down time. I was like, “Ix-nay on the underbird-tay,” like, “This is terrible.” Neither of these guys knew that I had removed my application, and Dan's standing there all proud. He's my squadron commander, supporting me — a great man, again. And Mark Matthews looks down at me, Gen. Matthews, and he goes, “That's great. How's your application going?” And I'm like — I looked at him, and here's what happened. I said, “You know, so it's hard to be a Thunderbird, but I probably won't get picked. They haven't had a woman, so I don't want to waste anybody's time.”   Naviere Walkewicz Oh, you said everything.   Nicole Malachowski I said it. I said all of it, and this is kind of an embarrassing story to tell, but I'm just, this is the truth, right? This is the vulnerable truth of how this happened. And he looked down at me, and I will never forget this, and I hope folks listening who have big dreams and gnarly goals remember this. He looked down at me and he said, “Nicole.” Actually, he said, “Fifi.” My call sign. “Fifi, nobody wants to lead a scripted life.” And he walked away and left me in extraordinarily uncomfortable silence. And those words, “…nobody wants to lead a scripted life…” have become my life's mantra. Every time I get the knot in my stomach that says that dream is too big or that idea is too innovative, don't rock the boat. I remember what he said, because those words, like, they lifted the weight of the world off my shoulders, told me it was OK to dream big. It was OK to buck the status quo. It was OK to be different. He was telling me it's OK to risk failure in pursuit of personal, professional growth. And it's not so much I think he's telling you and me to write ourselves into the script. What he was saying was, don't ever write yourself out of the script, and as leaders and teammates, don't you ever write anybody else or their wild ideas out of the script either.   Wyatt Hornsby 16:08 That is so powerful. I mean, I know that I have that inner critic, that voice that sometimes tells me, “Write yourself out of the script. You're not good enough. You're not going to make it. Why did you do that?” And probably a lot of us do. Naviere, what do you think?   Naviere Walkewicz 16:24 Oh, definitely. I mean, even up to that, she had had that voice in her head, and she shared, right before that clip, she finally got the courage to go into the group commander's office to submit that package. And, you know, the person working at the desk said, “Well, he really only has one, you know, one slot to give so we don't want to waste it on you.” And I think those very specific words make that inner voice, that inner critic, even louder and just kudos to the wing commander for really kind of right setting, I think a perspective that has clearly shaped her life.   Wyatt Hornsby 16:59 I agree completely. And we just talked about Gen. Marks and how he talked about doing good for others as a leader. And I think that's what we saw here with Gen. Matthews and the story that Nicole shared.   Naviere Walkewicz 17:11 Yes. There were so many amazing moments in her session with me, in her podcast, and so another one that I wanted to call out, because I think many may not know until they listen to her full story, but she actually battled a pretty critical, life-changing disease, and, frankly, she talked about resilience and how resilience is important, but really for her, it was about resurgence. I thought that was pretty powerful in that podcast as well. Did that kind of speak to you in any way?   Wyatt Hornsby 17:42 It really did. And I actually think it kind of goes back to “no one wants to lead a scripted life.” I don't think Nicole definitely had that in the script, her health challenge. But it came, and she spoke very honestly about it, about how difficult it was. She had some really, really difficult days, and she found a way forward. She wrote that new script for what she was going to do with the rest of her life. So, that moment really stuck out to me too. Super powerful conversation, and I got the sense too as I was listening to Nicole — and you did such a great job with that conversation — was that she knows who she is. You can tell that she has thought deeply about who she is as a person, as a leader, and she wants to go out and engage with and inspire other audiences and other leaders. So, really came out beautifully in this conversation.   Naviere Walkewicz 18:34 That was, in fact, I think one of her giving nuggets to others that were listening was really take the time to know who you are and know what you believe in, what you stand for, and then the rest kind of fills in the blanks.   Wyatt Hornsby Well said.   Naviere Walkewicz Well, the next one that I want to speak about is 2nd Lt. Madison Marsh, Class of '23 and Miss America.   Wyatt Hornsby Miss America.   Naviere Walkewicz Miss America. Can we just say that? But what was so great about this particular podcast was, yes, she is Miss America, but we spent so much time getting to know her. And really, I think the depth of who Madison Marsh is, it really kind of blew my mind.   Wyatt Hornsby 19:11 Yes. And similar to Nicole Malachowski — Madison Marsh, she had something really difficult happen to her that she's going to go into in the clip that we talked about, and no one should have to go through what Madison did, but she found a way forward. And I think just her story is remarkably inspiring.   Naviere Walkewicz 19:33 I actually don't want to give it away. I think we should just roll the clip.   Wyatt Hornsby 19:35 Let's do it.   Madison Marsh 19:36 I basically printed out all of my essays that I knew that people had to submit in the past for the Academy. I did resumes. I came with my GPA, everything, and I walked right up to my congressman and I handed it to him, and I said, “I want to go to the Air Force Academy, and I want to be your nominee.” And I'm sure he was like, who's…   Naviere Walkewicz …I love every bit of this…   Madison Marsh So, I was very firm early on, and so we were able to start an incredible relationship with one another. And so, because I did that — I think that was maybe my junior year, early on in my junior year — when it came time my senior year, he fought for me all of the time to get my application in front of people, because I was his principal nominee, and we had a very, very special moment. So, he called me on Oct. 31 and told me that I had gotten early acceptance to the Academy, and so I got to tell my mom, and the next morning she passed away. So having an experience like that is — that's why the Academy and Congressman Womack are so special to me, because that was my dream for years, and my mom got to know before she passed away. And it's just everything happens at the right timing, and you never know until afterwards. And so, now I get to be here; now I get to wear the uniform. And even though she hasn't gotten to see it, she got to know about it. And it just because of those first instances where I marched up to him and I said, like, I want to be here. I got to have experiences like that. And now I get to have wonderful experiences of now serving post-Academy life.   Naviere Walkewicz 21:04 I mean, I think that clip still gives me feelings of in that moment where she shared that because I had known that her mom had passed away. But I think what was so powerful about her sharing that story was in the bit of, you know, believing in yourself, going full for something, and then having someone believe in you and champion you to the point where, when you actually get there, and having her mom spend that with her before she passed. I just — that moment was something really special.   Wyatt Hornsby 21:34 It really is powerful. It must have been an honor and a privilege to have been able to share that moment with Lt. Marsh.   Naviere Walkewicz 21:41 It really was, and I think her whole conversation — what really inspired me, first, the fact that she actually started a foundation in her mom's name, the Whitney Marsh Foundation, but also more so that it actually shaped how she was as a cadet. She talked about, when she had the opportunity to champion others, so, you know, as she progressed in her cadet years, she wanted to make sure that other cadets had someone that they could talk to, so that she would be a voice for them, that she would hear them, and she would see them. And I think that was really powerful, because sometimes she was saying how she had felt lost and how she didn't have that support. And so, she turned it around and made sure that she was that person for someone else.   Wyatt Hornsby 22:19 Another example, Naviere, of someone who uses leadership opportunities to do good for others.   Naviere Walkewicz 22:25 Absolutely. And I thought, what was also fascinating, as such a young officer, she also — to Nicole Malachowski's point — took some time to know herself because she had been groomed, or maybe not groomed is not the right word, but she had, since early times of wanting to go to the Academy, had thought, I'm going to be a pilot and had been working towards her hours and her private pilot's license to get to the point where she could go to pilot training and become a pilot. And said, “Maybe this, this isn't my trajectory,” and looking into policy and so I think to the point of knowing who you are and knowing what you know you're really passionate about. Also, to what Coach Troy Calhoun said, they all kind of weave together. I thought that was really powerful.   Wyatt Hornsby 23:06 Agree. I thought it was very powerful too. And I'm really excited — I'm sure you are too, and a lot of graduates — just to see what she does with her life. I think that she's going to do some great work, and I think we're going to continue to hear about the amazing work that Madison Marsh is pushing forward, whether it's with cancer research and treatments or some other very, very important, worthy cause.   Naviere Walkewicz 23:29 Absolutely. No doubt about that.   Wyatt Hornsby 23:32 All right. Naviere, this next one, this was early Season 1, and our friend Dr. Doug Lindsay hosted this conversation. Doug is Class of 1992. It really stood out to me, and it was a conversation with Lt. Gen. (Ret.) B.J. Shwedo, Class of '87. Remarkable conversation with the director of the USAFA Institute for Future Conflict about the role that graduates are going to continue to play in our nation's security.   Naviere Walkewicz 23:59 I agree. Gen. Shwedo is such a dynamic speaker, and every time I have a chance to hear from him, I learn something new. But maybe for the sake of our listeners, in case they haven't heard that one yet, can you talk about what the IFC is?   Wyatt Hornsby 24:10 The IFC is the Institute for Future Conflict. So, it stood up a couple of years ago at the United States Air Force Academy. And really the goal is to inculcate across the Academy — and I'm not going to do this justice the way Gen. Shwedo can — but to inculcate across the Academy a focus on preparing cadets for what they will be facing amid Great Power Competition and for them to be able to bring that holistic thinking and that multi-domain thinking to how to fight and win the nation's wars if they are called upon.   Naviere Walkewicz 24:45 It's pretty incredible, some of the things that our cadets are exposed to. I remember when I was a cadet, I couldn't imagine have been briefed by some of our combatant commanders and having top-secret clearance levels to understand, really, what the adversary looks like and what we're up against. But they're looking at it across all different domains, and it's preparing our soon-to-be graduates for what's up for them right after.   Wyatt Hornsby 25:11 That's right. And one thing I'll mention before we roll the clip: Like you Naviere, I've heard Gen. Shwedo talk. In fact, we've been in probably many of the same talks, and graduates respond so well to what he shares, and I think it just instills even more confidence in the mission and the priorities of the Air Force Academy. So, without further ado, what do you say we roll that clip?   Naviere Walkewicz Let's roll the clip.   Gen. Shwedo 25:34 What we got to do is make them aware of the environment we're dumping them in. And case in point, I have one cadet he raises his hand like, you know, “Hypersonic missiles — I don't understand what's the big deal about that.” And I go, “OK, well, first of all, yes, they're fast, but as you remember from Physics 110, a ballistic missile trajectory is all mathematics. That's how the Patriot works. Hypersonic missiles can maneuver. So, all your math is now dead,” and go, “Oh, by the way, when you look down the range and you see all those antennas, NORAD, for the most part, was looking up to the north, because the quickest way to get an ICBM to the United States was over the top. You can actually take a hypersonic missile, put it in a low-Earth orbit, and that attack will come out of Antarctica.” Same cadet immediately raises his hand and goes, “So the maneuvering, is that RF, command guy?” and he's immediately trying to get into it. And I'm like, “I love you, man.” Because honestly, when you start making them aware of the threats, they immediately start thinking countermeasures. So, from the leadership standpoint, they understand that piece.   Naviere Walkewicz 26:44 Yes, I think that is huge. And it really talks about understanding what you're up against. I think what I really loved about what Gen. Shwedo said, was having the awareness allowed for them to start thinking about countermeasures. And I think that really does translate to leadership. When you have awareness of things, you can make better decisions. You can think about how you take care of your people better. It just actually translates across so many levels of leadership. What do you think?   Wyatt Hornsby 27:09 I agree completely, and I think too, just spending time with cadets — you would know better than I Naviere, you have two up on the Hill right now — but so curious, so curious. And they're here for a reason. They had choices in where they could have pursued what they wanted to do after high school, and they chose the United States Air Force Academy because they want to serve our country and, if called upon, fight and win those nation's wars. And so, just kudos to the work not only Gen. Shwedo is doing, but the cadets too, who are just so curious and so responsive to that awareness and really thinking deeply and preparing themselves for what the world is confronting the United States and our allies with.   Naviere Walkewicz 27:53 Absolutely. I think, what I really appreciate about Gen. Shwedo as well is he's another graduate that's giving back to our Academy, right? He's facilitating all of these lessons. He's helping to really promote how we can do this better. But it goes to show how our graduates are really involved with our Air Force Academy.   Wyatt Hornsby 28:12 A lifetime of service. I think that's what Gen. Shwedo would say. He came back because he wanted to continue to serve.   Naviere Walkewicz 28:18 Yes, absolutely. Well, the last moment that we'll talk about — and again, this was so hard, because there were so many good ones — comes from Karl Falk, Class of '98 the CEO of Botdoc. And this one was special for me, not only because we were at the Academy together, but I didn't know him then, and I know him now as a parent of also a cadet at the Academy. And his story was so, so incredible. Because when you think of a CEO of anything, you think, “Wow, this person's so accomplished. They've done all of these things.” And, you know, they must be doing great, and he is, but it started from humble beginnings. And when you take the time to listen to his podcast, it will really kind of help you see that you can start from anywhere and achieve anything, just as he did. This particular clip I have picked for us to listen to, though, is about kind of having people in your corner, and when people recognize in you, maybe before you do, how they can champion you. Let's give it a listen.   Karl Falk 29:20 You know, being in Texas, there's more spotlight on football, and I had some very good coaches. My head football coach in high school, Coach Bubba Fife — everyone in Katie knows Bubba Fife — and even to this day, he's still involved in the in the school district. But he was a big advocate for me, with coaches that came by, and there's some stuff I didn't find out until out until later in life where, you know, back then, it wasn't common for the school to provide shoes and, you know, some guys had their own pads and stuff like that. And I remember my mom years later telling me that actually Coach Fife came to her with money and said, “This is, uh — get him some shoes.” Sorry. That got to me a little bit more than I thought it was gonna be. So, I guess what I can say is, there's been a lot of people, I'm where I'm today because of a lot of people throughout my entire life, and I have a lot to be grateful for. But I was very fortunate to have those coaches in my life because — there was actually a time, this is actually a crazy story. There was a time where — so, I was the big, fat tuba player too. So, I kind of did everything because I enjoyed it, but there was a point where I kind of had to make a decision, because I was actually the guy that was playing football, and then, you know, marching band and football, and that's really tough to do. And I had made up in my mind that I was going to quit football, and because, you know, I didn't have a dad around, and my mom wasn't really into sports, like, I am and my kids are now. And I made up my mind, so I went to talk to one of the coaches, Coach Schubert, and, and I told him, I said, “I'm gonna quit football and, you know, I'm gonna be in the band.” And, and he looks at me, he goes, “No!”   Naviere Walkewicz 31:22 Right there. Sometimes the best answer you can get from a boss or a mentor or anybody is, “no.” What do you think, Wyatt?   Wyatt Hornsby 31:29 And by the way, Naviere, I'm trying to figure out the logistics. How do you play football and participate in the band? I played football in high school. I just don't know how you do that.   Naviere Walkewicz 31:40 You probably didn't change your clothes. You probably wore your uniform, though.   Wyatt Hornsby 31:43 Oh my gosh, like, I don't even know how you do that. But no, this was an extraordinary conversation. And you know, one of the things I like about the conversations that you've led and hosted, Naviere, is really going back to the beginning. And my takeaway from that conversation with Karl and that clip that we just played: He's never forgotten where he came from. As you said, he's become very successful in life. He's done well for himself, but he's never forgotten where he came from and who helped him along the way. Sometimes, Naviere, it just takes a pair of shoes.   Naviere Walkewicz 32:19 Oh gosh, that conversation was like I was getting to know someone all over again, because I got to know him as a parent of a fellow cadet. Him and his sons, Alec and Arden, were cadets there at the Prep School, now in the Class of '27, but seeing him through his own eyes, it just opened up a whole new experience for me. And I think one of the things I appreciated about his conversation as well was he talked about some of the tough times in getting to be successful. And while, yes, he had those people in his corner that helped him get there, there were times when — I think he even said, you know, “I didn't pay myself, like we might have missed a meal so that my folks could eat,” when he was still building his business. And I think it talks about the grit and kind of hard work and perseverance it takes to become successful. So, while he never forgot where he came from, he also talked about kind of the path to get there, and just the resilience and all of that in that. And I thought that was a really powerful story he shared.   Wyatt Hornsby 33:13 Agree, and I would suspect that grit and that perseverance, those were formed early in life, but then also really developed when he was here at the Academy. What do you think?   Naviere Walkewicz 33:26 Agree. And I think, and we talked about the lifetime of service that our graduates live. His company has actually given back to the Class of '27 through various ways. And so, I think it really does kind of show how, you know, you never forget where you come from, and then when you can, you give in ways that are meaningful. I think that's really powerful too.   Wyatt Hornsby 33:44 That's right. Well, Naviere, that was an awesome conversation. I just so enjoyed revisiting those conversations, and again, just mad congratulations to you, and thanks to you and Doug for just doing such a great job. I mean, this was tough, choosing the conversations that we just talked about, because there are just so many great ones, so many great ones. And I hope that our listeners will go back and listen to those conversations from seasons 1 and 2. But while they're at it, also tell others about Long Blue Leadership. Help spread the word, because these conversations are really impactful.   Naviere Walkewicz 34:20 Absolutely, and we can really use feedback coming directly to us at socialmedia@usafa.org. That's a way they can directly let us know what they enjoyed, what we can do better and what they can look forward to in Season 3.   Wyatt Hornsby 34:32 That's right. I mean, the podcast space, it's competitive, and there are a lot of great podcast shows out there, and so we know we just have to continue to raise that bar and elevate what we're doing. So, our listener feedback is so important and just continuous improvement and excellence in all we do.   Naviere Walkewicz 34:49 Absolutely. Well, thanks. Wyatt. Well, before we share what's coming up in Season 3, we'd like to take a moment and thank you for listening to Long Blue Leadership. The podcast publishes Tuesdays in both video and audio and is available on all your favorite podcast platforms. Watch or listen to all episodes of Long Blue Leadership at longblueleadership.org.   Wyatt Hornsby 35:11 Naviere, this was a real pleasure. I really enjoyed talking about these awesome episodes from seasons 1 and 2. And while we're at it, let's also thank our good friend Ted, who's done just remarkable work in helping to produce this show. And our listeners may not get to hear much from Ted, but he is behind the scenes doing awesome work on the show.   Naviere Walkewicz 35:32 He really is. Ted makes us look great, and when you say congratulations to me, it's only because Ted has been right alongside me all this way, and Doug, and anyone else that's been part of this podcast. It really has been us working with Ted.   Wyatt Hornsby 35:46 So, Ted, I'm going to put you on the spot. Share with us a little bit about maybe a couple of your takeaways from seasons 1 and 2, and what this process, what this experience has been like for you.   Ted Robertson 35:59 I can think about the first day I walked in the door, had my first eyes on the studio, and I'm thinking, “We're gonna have some fun here. We're gonna touch some lives, and we're gonna do some great things.” And it's been a real privilege to be a part of the communications team. And I talk a lot about the people that I work with, but Naviere, you've become a partner, and together, along with everybody else on the team, we're looking forward to bringing some more of these moments to our listeners and just sharing what leadership is all about. And we want to make it global. So, Season 3 coming and lots of great things to come in Season 3. I hope that sort of answers your question. The highlights for me are working with all of you.   Naviere Walkewicz 36:50 Aww, thanks, Ted. And speaking of what Ted was talking about, Season 3 is coming up. Should we share some of the amazing guests we're gonna have on the podcast?   Wyatt Hornsby 36:59 I think we should, Naviere, I mean, I am like you. I am so excited about Season 3. We've got some amazing names and Naviere. One of our guests is going to be Dr. Heather Wilson, Class of '82, 24th secretary of the Air Force. And she's also currently the president of the University of Texas, El Paso. So cannot wait to have the secretary — I don't know whether to call her Secretary Wilson or Dr. Wilson.   Naviere Walkewicz 37:23 I'm sure I'm going to find out, because I'm so excited to have that conversation with her as well.   Wyatt Hornsby 37:27 Likewise, and Naviere, I think also, we have a classmate who we're going to be talking to?   Naviere Walkewicz 37:31 Oh, we have a couple of classmates, actually. So, one of them, Joel Neeb goes by call-sign “Thor,” — Class of '99, Gold Will Shine — who has been a tremendously successful fighter pilot. He's authored some books, a former CEO, but he dealt with some very specific, I think, health challenges that shaped a new trajectory for him. And I'm not going to give it away. I think that's what they'll learn about in the podcast.   Wyatt Hornsby 37:56 I've had a couple of opportunities to spend time with Thor, and I'm excited about this one too. I think it's going to be an awesome conversation.   Naviere Walkewicz 38:03 Yes. And his is one where it really is about family too. I think we're going to hear some of that. And then my other classmate is with the FBI, so Mark McCulloch, Class of '99, and I think you've actually done a story on him recently on your team.   Wyatt Hornsby 38:17 I think we did a story on him in Checkpoints a couple of years ago, written by Jeff Holmquist. Yeah, I can't wait for this one too.   Naviere Walkewicz 38:26 It's amazing what Class of '99 is doing, but there's others. Who else shall we highlight today, Wyatt?   Naviere Walkewicz 38:43 We also have some young alumni, current board directors that will be speaking to. One of them is a Young Alumni Excellence Award winner, Emma Przybyslawski, Class of 2010.   Wyatt Hornsby 38:51 Can't wait to hear that one. And Emma — so she recently, as you said, received the Young Alumni Excellence Award. And I thought I knew Emma, and I learned a few things about her in our profile of her. So, that's going to be an awesome conversation.   Naviere Walkewicz 39:06 Can't wait to speak with her. And then Joe Bledsoe, class president for the Class of 2011, but also working with Gen. Shwedo right now.   Wyatt Hornsby 39:13 That's right. He's a fellow up in the Institute for Future Conflict. And again, just a remarkable graduate, a fighter pilot, really looking forward to that conversation. end of year. One other that I'm really excited about, Matt Kuta, Class of 2005 co-founder of Voyager Space and a former fighter pilot, really looking forward to that conversation as well.   Naviere Walkewicz 39:36 We have so many amazing grads to share stories with, and we could go down the list, but I think that's a good one just to, you know, whet the appetite. What do you think?   Wyatt Hornsby 39:44 I agree completely. I'm just excited about Season 3 and we'll get this going.   Naviere Walkewicz 39:49 Absolutely. Wyatt, this has been a blast. Thank you so much for joining me today.   Wyatt Hornsby 39:53 And thank you for inviting me, Naviere. This was a lot of fun.   Naviere Walkewicz 39:57 Absolutely, and we thank you for joining us as well. We can't wait to share our third season of Long Blue Leadershipbeginning this February. You can expect more compelling stories from outstanding USAFA graduates, each sharing unique perspectives and practical advice on overcoming challenges and inspiring others. With a mix of thought-provoking conversations and real-life experiences, Season 3 promises to engage, inspire and empower both seasoned and aspiring leaders alike. Visit longblueleadership.org for more episodes and to subscribe. Also, nominate a guest or send us your feedback at socialmedia@usafa.org, and finally, Long Blue Leadership is available on all of your favorite podcast apps. We can't wait to see you there.   KEYWORDS leadership lessons, season highlights, guest perspectives, teamwork, perseverance, humility, service, season three preview, Gavin Marks, Commandant of Cadets, Nicole Malachowski, Thunderbird pilot, tick born illness, Lyme Disease, Coach Calhoun, Falcons Football, Madison Marsh, Miss America, Karl Falk, Bot Doc, B.J. Schwedo, Institute for Future Conflict, leadership journey, character development, personal growth, mentorship, resilience, future conflict       The Long Blue Line Podcast Network is presented by the U.S. Air Force Academy Association and Foundation  

Reports of mysterious drones have raised concern across the country this week, including at an air force base in Utah, where residents reported seeing unidentified lights in the night sky over the weekend. Officials from the Hill Air Force Base near Salt Lake City said in a statement on Monday that the reports don't pose a threat to public safety, but authorities are investigating the drones in question. - Show Notes - • Utah residents reported on social media what they believe were drones flying near the Hill Air Base in Davis County earlier this week https://www.reddit.com/r/Utah/comments/1hf90sy/did_anyone_else_see_these_lights_tonight/

Concerns over unexplained drone activity extended to Utah Monday with new sightings reported from West Haven down to Mapleton. Sightings near Hill Air Force Base prompted a statement from Air Force officials, confirming the presence of "unmanned aerial systems" in the area. Officials said they are working to track the aerial systems, and will continue to safeguard the base and its operations. Brandon Amacher, instructor in the UVU Center for National Security Studies joins Debbie with his insight into the entire governmental response.  

United Airlines plans to incorporate airtags into luggage tracking Granite School District data breach update   Thinking ahead: end of the year tax planning  What can we do to reform healthcare?  Salt Lake City unveiled a $18.4 million redesign plan for Pioneer Park. 

Krystal and Saagar discuss Air Force base closes over drones, CEOs panic over slain healthcare exec, Biden pardons crooked judge, Pelosi hospitalized after fall. To become a Breaking Points Premium Member and watch/listen to the show AD FREE, uncut and 1 hour early visit: www.breakingpoints.com Merch Store: https://shop.breakingpoints.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

 A UFO Landing at Holloman Air Force BasePlease support Charles Lear by picking up his books from Amazon or your local bookstore. Follow Our Other ShowsFollow UFO WitnessesFollow Crime Watch WeeklyFollow Paranormal FearsFollow Seven: Disturbing Chronicle StoriesJoin our Patreon for ad-free listening and more bonus content.Follow us on Instagram @mysteriousradioFollow us on TikTok mysteriousradioTikTok Follow us on Twitter @mysteriousradio Follow us on Pinterest pinterest.com/mysteriousradio Like us on Facebook Facebook.com/mysteriousradio]

Welcome to an exciting episode of 'Drones, Code, and People,' live from The Hive in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Join us as we explore the forefront of drone technology with insights from Johnny Ryan of The Hive and Tom Sawyer from Grand Sky. Discover the collaborative efforts and innovations occurring in this unique tech ecosystem, where UAS tech accelerators and drone-related companies are leading the charge for advancing U.S. Technologies. Be captivated by the fascinating stories of how downtown Grand Forks is becoming a hub for drone companies, hosting tenants from across the country, while serving as a local headquarters. We delve into the journey of Tom Sawyer, from his roots near Philadelphia and Texas to his significant role in the growth and development of Grand Sky and its collaborative initiatives. Learn about Grand Sky's vision, their substantial investment in real estate and infrastructure at the Air Force Base, and the exciting projects underway. Also, hear about the challenges and triumphs of working closely with the military, the significance of American-made drones, and the ripple effects on local and national economies. This episode will open your eyes to how Grand Forks is earning a significant spot on the global aviation map, transforming into a key player in aerospace innovation. Dare to dream about the future of drone technology right here in North Dakota!

Charles Hoffman, a spokesperson for the Air Force Global Strike Command, says the wing will allow the Air Force to improve nuclear communications, command and control. The 95th Wing is expected to add around 70 personnel to the base and be fully operational by January.

Full episode here!https://www.spreaker.com/episode/walter-bosley-lookout-mountain-air-force-base--62801776Get access to every Raised by Giants episode! Podcasthttps://spreaker.page.link/Q1qN1M4A9Ve8QqaX8Forbidden Knowledge Network https://forbiddenknowledge.news/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/forbidden-knowledge-news--3589233/support.

This week we cover a listener submitted story, the haunted Memphis, TN bar, Earnestine and Hazel's. It is the most haunted bar in Tennessee! We also cover the Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, the most haunted active military base in the US! Email us your stories!!! or if you want to sponsor us ;)  Email - ⁠⁠⁠mysteriesmythslegends@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠  ESTY: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.etsy.com/shop/LuxieandLuna?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=826447453⁠⁠⁠  We post pictures of our stories every week on instagram!!!! FOLLOW US ON SOCIALS:  Tiktok: @myths_podcast  Instagram: @myths_podcast  Twitter: @myths_podcast  Taylor's Instagram: @teeelive  Taylor's Twitter: @teeelive  Savannah's Instagram: @kavannahaha  Savannah's Twitter: @sanna_sunshine  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mysteriesmythsandlegends/support

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:   First, a potential diplomatic breakthrough in the Middle East, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signals Jerusalem's support for a U.S.-backed ceasefire with Hezbollah. Then, we turn to the U.K., where swarms of unidentified drones were spotted flying over three British airbases that house United States Air Force operations. We'll discuss the mysterious sightings, and who may be behind the activity. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President's Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief  Blackout Coffee: https://www.blackoutcoffee.com/PDB Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lookout Mountain Air Force Base with Air Force Special Agent Walter Bosley.A Clockwork Shining on Amazon Prime Video: https://watch.amazon.com/detail?gti=amzn1.dv.gti.40307b30-a310-48b1-9efd-667fdf012954&territory=US&ref_=share_ios_movie&r=webRaised By Giants LInkTree:https://linktr.ee/raisedbygiantspodContribute to Raised By Giants on PayPal here:https://www.paypal.me/raisedbygiantsContribute on Buy A Coffee here:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/raisedbygiQ

The extraterrestrial comedy podcast where we probe many, many events at Nellis Air Force Base including a video that has left Greybeard's mind blown. There have been UFO's and swarms of UFO's seen in this area but are they extraterrestrial in origin? Or are they military? All that and more, or possibly less, in this episode.      Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/butitwasaliens   Store: https://butitwasaliens.co.uk/shop/     Probe us: Email: butitwasaliens@gmail.com Instagram/Threads @ ButItWasAliens Twitter @ ButItWasAliens Facebook: @ ButItWasAliens - join Extraterrestrial Towers     Music:  Music created via Garageband. Additional music via: https://freepd.com and via Purple Planet at www.purpleplanet.com - thank you most kindly good people.     Source: The Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mWzhW390KQ&t=1s 

UFO'S have been recorded in the skies near Grissom Air Force Base. While the debunkers cry flares radar reported shows a twenty mile wide object with a 150 mile vapor trail. To complete the picture people on the ground have recorded multiple UFO's overhead. Listen in to learn more.

Hospitals are often considered gateways to the afterlife, and the Clark Air Base Hospital in Angeles City, Pampanga, is no exception. With a reputation backed by hundreds of chilling ghost stories, this abandoned hospital is sure to send shivers down your spine. Ghost Hunters International has even declared it “one of the most haunted places in the world,” known for its numerous documented ghost sightings—from violent, disembodied voices to eerie shadows that lurk in the corners, waiting to be seen.Screams are often heard, as are dancing orbs of light. Voices in the empty building are also often heard, and there have been countless reports of apparitions seen walking or floating through the building, most bearing the scars of battle.And in this episode of the True Hauntings Podcast we are going to the Philippines to explore the very haunted Clark Air Base which has such a frightening reputation that the National Geographic Channel created a docuseries about it. It's called – I WOULDN'T GO IN THERE and features Urban explorer Robert Joe - or RJ as he tracks down true and often untold stories hidden behind Asia's most notoriously haunted sites. As always -We hope you enjoy this episode - please leave a review and jump on over to our True Hauntings Fans Facebook page and tell us.LOVE OUR WORK?Consider supporting our work by buying us a "cup of coffee" https://www.buymeacoffee.com/anneandrenataORbecome a Grand Poobah Patreon supporter, and join our inner circle of craziness!https://www.patreon.com/anneandrenataJoin us on our Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/TrueHauntingsPodcastP.S. If you want more Anne and Renata - catch our PODCAST - Diary of a Ghost Hunter on all the best streaming platforms to find out what our life as female ghost hunters is really like (no Bullsh*t).Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel as we are wanting to get more views and engagement and check out our travel videos Frightfully Good Misadventures - we re adding new episodes of some of our latest adventures every week.Also Follow Anne and Renata:Facebook: @AnneAndRenataInstagram: @AnneAndRenataYouTube: @AnneAndRenataTikTok: @AnneAndRenata#anneandrenata #ghosts #hauntings #paranormalpodcast #frightfullygood #FrightfullyGood #HauntedHolidays #diaryofaghosthunter #poltergeist #ghostbusters #hauntedphillipines #hauntedairbases #hauntedusairbase #clarkairbase #paranormalentities #ghostsofclarkairbase #urbanexploration #exploringclarkairbasephillipines Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join Meg Hixson as she discusses a gourmet supper club she and her husband joined while stationed at an Air Force Base in Texas. She began her journey learning the art of hospitality from her family and church ladies as they passed on the Swedish culture and a love for trying new things. Taking this creativity to the Air Force, Meg was able to bloom where she was planted and jumped straight into hospitality for her new neighbors and friends. She dives into the rich history of this unique supper club, which has thrived for decades thanks to the dedication of its members to culinary excellence. Meg shares two exceptional menus inspired by California flavors and the festive spirit of the Kentucky Derby. Discover the best rice to buy, essential kitchen equipment, the benefits of a beverage station, and why lighting is important for creating a delightful atmosphere. Meg reveals her favorite tools of the trade and a resource for learning more about big hospitality. We're so glad you're here!  Visit www.comeoverfordinner.com for recipes, product links, and more!

Listen to 84 Future Now Once again we have Gabriel Cianfrani in studio with us to comment on this week’s stories.  We think you’ll enjoy her presence, especially her personal birthing stories.  We also have the Larry and Mary AI’s commenting on a breaking story about a massive asteroid that contributed to life on Earth 3 billion years ago.  This is also the week of UFO/UAP Disclosure via the New Paradigm Institute, where we discuss the latest incursion of 20 foot orbs into the air space of Air Force bases, where you might think they would have some security from these purportably alien craft. Space Junk Orbiting the Earth..Mark Garlick/Getty Images There is also some progress in the development of laser beam defence systems, such as Iron Beam protecting Israel, which could obsolete ballistic missiiles in warfare. And then there is the mystery of a major communications satellite that has mysteriously broken up into 20 pieces.  We also discuss the latest in de-extinction experiments and the evoution of natural childbirth, based on personal experiences by Gabriel. We had a lot of fun toay, which I think you’ll enjoy! Al, Gabs and Sun in the Aptosian Studio

The News You Missed 10-18-2024 …What's the Deal with the Drones over Langley Air Force Base

Patrick discusses UFO seen hovering near Langley Air Force Base.

A mass shooting and a B-52 bomber crash occur within five days of each other. Come visit us on YouTube and see the video, maps, diagrams and much more on this episode as well as many others. www.youtube.com/@jamesr.howell 

“S” is for Shaw Air Force Base. Established in 1941 on the outskirts of Sumter to train pilots for World War II, Shaw Air Force Base later evolved into a home for U.S. Air Force tactical units.

10/9/2024 PODCAST Episodes #1630- #1632 GUESTS: Phill Kline, Mike Lindell, Jenny Beth Martin, Rep. Morgan Griffith, Timothy Head, Sid Miller, Sheriff David Clarke + YOUR CALLS! at 1-888-480-JOHN (5646) and GETTR Live! @jfradioshow #GodzillaOfTruth #TruckingTheTruth   Want more of today's show? Episode #1630 FEMA Follies: The Jokes On Us Episode #1631 Morgan Griffith Lauds Glenn Youngkin‘s Disaster Relief Leadership in SW VA Episode #1632 Biden Insanity; CCP Retired Military Officer Buys up 140,000 Texas Farmland by Air Force Base   https://johnfredericksradio.libsyn.com/

10/9/2024 PODCAST Episodes #1630- #1632 GUESTS: Phill Kline, Mike Lindell, Jenny Beth Martin, Rep. Morgan Griffith, Timothy Head, Sid Miller, Sheriff David Clarke + YOUR CALLS! at 1-888-480-JOHN (5646) and GETTR Live! @jfradioshow #GodzillaOfTruth #TruckingTheTruth   Want more of today's show? Episode #1630 FEMA Follies: The Jokes On Us Episode #1631 Morgan Griffith Lauds Glenn Youngkin‘s Disaster Relief Leadership in SW VA Episode #1632 Biden Insanity; CCP Retired Military Officer Buys up 140,000 Texas Farmland by Air Force Base   https://johnfredericksradio.libsyn.com/

10/9/2024 PODCAST Episodes #1630- #1632 GUESTS: Phill Kline, Mike Lindell, Jenny Beth Martin, Rep. Morgan Griffith, Timothy Head, Sid Miller, Sheriff David Clarke + YOUR CALLS! at 1-888-480-JOHN (5646) and GETTR Live! @jfradioshow #GodzillaOfTruth #TruckingTheTruth   Want more of today's show? Episode #1630 FEMA Follies: The Jokes On Us Episode #1631 Morgan Griffith Lauds Glenn Youngkin‘s Disaster Relief Leadership in SW VA Episode #1632 Biden Insanity; CCP Retired Military Officer Buys up 140,000 Texas Farmland by Air Force Base   https://johnfredericksradio.libsyn.com/

Utah Jazz forward Cody Williams addressed the media at the team's scrimmage on Hill Air Force Base.

Iran launched over 180 missiles at Israel Tuesday after months of setbacks in West Asia. However, with Hezbollah weakened, Israeli PM Netanyahu may now have leeway for larger retaliation.  

While a cadet at the Air Force Academy, Jason Kim '99 experienced the “pedestal effect” and learned the importance of curiosity, compassion, trust and mutual respect.   SUMMARY Jason Kim, a USFA class of '99 and CEO of Firefly Aerospace, discussed his leadership journey and experiences. He emphasized the importance of curiosity, compassion, and mutual respect in leadership. Jason shared his upbringing in Richardson, Texas, and his parents' influence. He recounted his time at the Air Force Academy, highlighting the humbling experience of being among top cadets and the value of building trust. Jason detailed his career path, including roles at Boeing, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman, and his MBA from UCLA. He stressed the importance of giving back to the Air Force Academy and the Space Force.   OUR FAVORITE QUOTES "I think just being curious and being an active listener and asking questions and listening to other people, sometimes people want to vent, or sometimes people want to just be heard or have a voice, or some, most of the time, people just have good ideas." "And so I would just say, just be curious, what did I miss? Did you miss something? Did we both miss something? If you get all those great ideas and you share it amongst different people from different backgrounds and walks of life, you don't miss as much, you know, and you're just bet off better off, you'll have a better solution." "Building that trust, you know, with your your your teams, that's extremely empowering and motivating when you trust someone else, and they trust you, and you can go much, much further when you build that trust up." "We got this drilled into us, and we didn't even know at the time how important it was. But you know, building that trust, you know, with your your your teams, that's extremely empowering and motivating when you trust someone else, and they trust you, and you can go much, much further when you build that trust up." "And then the last thing I would say is, I think we were one of the first classes that had non commissioned officers alongside with AOCs that were there to teach us about mutual respect, about mutual respect between officers and non commissioned officers. And I think that went a long ways for for all of us, because, you know, once we went to the real Air Force, you know, we were going to lead a lot of officers and NCOs, and getting that kind of exposure early on was helpful, but also learning about mutual respect, that's something that is extremely important in any work setting that you're in."     SHARE THIS EPISODE FACEBOOK  |  LINKEDIN      CHAPTERS 00:00:  Introduction and Background 02:24:  Welcome to Long Leu Leadership 07:42:  Early Inspirations and Motivations 10:56:  Discovering the Air Force Academy 16:00:  Memorable Experiences at the Academy 23:26:  Leadership Lessons Learned 26:32:  Leadership: Curiosity, Compassion, and Mutual Respect 28:14:  Startup Journey: Taking Risks and Minimizing Regrets 30:07:  Leadership Lessons: MBA and Personal Growth 32:05:  Startup Experience: Joining and Growing a Company 36:18:  Family and Risk-Taking: Lessons from Parents 39:36:  Hidden Talent: Drawing and Painting 45:36:  Giving Back: Involvement with the Air Force Academy Foundation 51:30:  Impact of the Air Force Academy: Building Resilience and Confidence   TAKEAWAYS Growing up in Texas with immigrant parents instilled a strong work ethic and a desire to give back to the country in Jason Kim. Inspired by the space shuttle program and the Gulf War, Jason decided to pursue a career in the military. At the Air Force Academy, Jason experienced the pedestal effect and learned the importance of curiosity, compassion, trust, and mutual respect in leadership. Jason's academic and extracurricular experiences at the Academy helped shape his leadership skills and provided him with lifelong friendships. His parents and role models like Colonel Ellison Onizuka influenced his decision to join the Air Force and give back to the country. Curiosity, compassion, and mutual respect are essential qualities in leadership. Taking risks and minimizing regrets can lead to personal and professional growth. Giving back and supporting future generations is important. The Air Force Academy provides valuable experiences and lifelong friendships. Learning multiple languages and exploring different cultures can broaden perspectives. The Academy's challenging environment builds resilience and confidence.   ABOUT JASON KIM '99 Mr. Jason Kim '99 is a member of the Air Force Academy Foundation Board of Directors. He is also CEO for Firefly Aerospace. Jason's career includes his work in the satellite and national security space for Boeing Raytheon and Northrop Grumman. While in the Air Force, he served as a program manager for the Space Superiority Systems program and Reconnaissance Systems Program offices. He has served on the boards of the National Defense industrial Association and space enterprise consortium formation Committee. He began his Air Force career as a cadet, having graduated with a degree in electrical engineering, followed by a master's in electrical engineering from AFET and then an MBA from the University of California, Anderson School of Management.    CONNECT WITH JASON LinkedIn     ABOUT LONG BLUE LEADERSHIP Long Blue Leadership drops every two weeks on Tuesdays and is available on Apple Podcasts, TuneIn + Alexa, Spotify and all your favorite podcast platforms. Search @AirForceGrads on your favorite social channels for Long Blue Leadership news and updates!          SPEAKERS Guest:  Mr. Jason Kim '99  |  Lt. Col. (Ret.) Naviere Walkewicz '99   Naviere Walkewicz  00:01 Our guest today is Mr. Jason Kim USAFA class of '99 and a member of the Air Force Academy Foundation Board of Directors. Jason's career includes his work in the satellite and national security space for Boeing, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman. While in the Air Force, he served as a program manager for the Space Superiority Systems and Reconnaissance Systems program offices. He has served on the boards of the National Defense Industrial Association and Space Enterprise Consortium Formation Committee. He began his Air Force career as a cadet, having graduated with a degree in electrical engineering, followed by a master's in electrical engineering from AFET and then an MBA from the University of California Anderson School of Management. We'll discuss Jason's life before, during and after the Academy, and we'll ask him to share a unique talent. We'll end with his advice for those striving to become leaders and those already in leadership positions, endeavoring toward excellence. Jason, welcome to Long Blue Leadership, my friend, my classmate. Thank you for being here today.   Jason Kim  01:04 Thank you for having me, and thanks for using my call sign.   Naviere Walkewicz  01:09 You're welcome. I know we want it to catch on so everyone knows now. Well, as we do in this, this is such a wonderful opportunity for our listeners to get to know you, and we like to go back and so for us, we're talking, you know, closer to 30 something years ago, right, when you were young. Jason, tell us about what life was like before the Academy was even in your in your line of sight.   Jason Kim  01:31 So, I grew up in Richardson, Texas. It's a suburb north of Dallas, and if you've been to Dallas, it's a metropolitan city, and but it's a little bit country as well. And so yes, I grew up with cowboy boots. I grew up with a belt buckle, you know, driving a pickup truck, all those kinds of things. But I'd listen to all kinds of music. So, judging by my call sign, you know, rap music, R&B, but also some country as well. And my parents were first-generation immigrants from South Korea, and so I really saw how hard they worked, you know, learning a different language, buying a house, doing all that in their late 30s and 40s and raising three children. I'm the youngest of three boys, and so I'm very, you know, grateful for what my parents did for us three boys. My dad was an electrician on oil rigs and was in the oil and gas industry, and that's why we ended up in Texas. And I'd see him travel away for a month at a time, and then come back home for a month to places like Venezuela and United Arab Emirates and Gulf of Mexico and all kinds of places. And so, you know, I heard stories of travel and just everything he was doing. So, we'll get to this later, but he was definitely an inspiration early on for me, and he always, you know, was very grateful for being a naturalized citizen and allowing our family to grow up in the U.S. and get an education. And so, he always kind of inspired me to give back to the country, and always do good things for the community as well. And so that's where I kind of got those roots. And, you know, also being the youngest of three boys, my older brothers were seven and nine years older than me and so you can imagine I was the little kid that they would bring along to school or, you know, meeting with friends. And so, I learned the good things from them and emulated the good things, but then the bad things, the mistakes that they made, I tried to avoid that. So, I kind of got it easy watching them. And so, I owe a lot to them coaching me and mentoring me as I grew up, and then being in Texas, of course, what did I play sports in, I played football. And I would say that a lot of the leadership skills that I got early on came from football, and a lot of the work ethic came from football — the teammates, the collaboration, the strategy. Texas football is pretty legit, and so I got to watch tape, I got to lift weights, practice. All those things that Tom Brady says in his Hall of Fame speech I resonate with now, I didn't end up like Tom Brady, but I resonate with what he said, all those early mornings, waking up, you know, training, all the hard work. It really taught me a lot of good lessons. And, you know, I still kind of  have a lot of that work ethic because of, you know, playing football, and a lot of the team and collaboration came from collaborating with 10 other football players trying to score a touchdown, or keep others from scoring a touchdown. And also, a big reason why I'm a big college football fan, so I'm really happy to see your son play for the Falcons, and I'm going to be rooting for him and the rest of the Falcons, as well as my other alma mater, UCLA, so I'll be at those games as well.   Naviere Walkewicz  05:55 That is awesome. I mean, I'm almost developing a visual of young Jason and his two older brothers and his mom and dad. And what a story. I mean, I think about, you know, just first off, the confidence, resilience and grit of your parents, right? And then you're seeing this, and you're growing up in a household. So, what, as the youngest? I mean, I think, like you said, you were able to kind of see what to avoid, what pitfalls to avoid, and how to kind of navigate that. Well, when did the military kind of come into the picture? Was that something that your older brothers participated in through school? How were you introduced into that side of the world?   Jason Kim  06:32 Yeah so, I would say it kind of goes along with some inspirational people in my life. You know, growing up in Texas, the Space Shuttle program was a big deal. And I think you and I were 8 years old when the space shuttle Challenger event happened, and one of the astronauts that was a hero among all the astronauts on that mission was Col. Ellison Onizuka, and he made a career in the Air Force. He was a test pilot, graduated with his Ph.D., I believe, and became an astronaut, and really gave his life in many ways, to for science and for the Air Force. And so, seeing someone like that that also kind of looked like me was a good role model for me at an early age. And so that kind of got me interested in the Air Force and the Shuttle program. And then, you know, I think you and I remember when we're young, 1991 before we went to the Academy, you know, the Gulf War, and we saw on TV for this first time, all this shock and awe and Gen. Schwarzkopf and Colin Powell, and all the strategy that was used. The technology. You know, you heard about the second offset strategy with those F-117 Nighthawks, and all the flares that you would see that night. And it really just made an impression on me. It got me kind of excited about the military and all the technology that's involved. And also, you know, kind of got me into thinking about being a pilot someday. And again, you know, my dad always saying, “Hey, give back, Jason. You know, this country has given a lot to our family. Give back.” I kind of got that motivation to go into the military. And then, you know, I think we also had family friends that had some people that went to the academies, whether it's the Naval Academy or others, and got to learn a little bit from them what was it like to go to the Academy? And these were really good role models as well. So, I got with my liaison officer, which was a really great liaison officer, got me involved with what I needed to do to get more information. And went to the summer scientific seminar and spent a week on the campus and got to learn what it was like to be a cadet, somewhat. Yeah, it was actually fun. But, you know, meeting people, meeting the upperclassmen, and they were all super nice at the time. And I also, it turns out, I met my future roommate there, and we were, yeah, we met at the summer scientific seminar. And so, lo and behold, when I go into basic cadet training, I see him there. I'm like, “Oh my gosh, you were there at the same time as me!” So it was a really great experience, and that kind of solidified it for me that I wanted to go the Air Force Academy.   Naviere Walkewicz  09:56 So, I mean, you had some great role models to kind of facilitate some of that interest. There was a lot of things happening in the country that, you know, we both were, were very familiar with, and it created some feelings of pride and wanting to give back. Were you always thinking about the Air Force Academy because of those motivations, or were you thinking other service academies as well?   Jason Kim  10:16 I think I had my heart set on the Air Force Academy. You know, I don't know if I said before, but you know, my parents had me late, later in life, and so since I was the baby of the family, by the time I got to the age of going to college, my parents were retirement age, and I was not going to put them through what they did for my older brothers, which was room, tuition, board, and all that stuff that they had to work hard to pay for. I wanted to get a scholarship somehow. And this was a way to give back to the country, get a scholarship, get a great education. Plus, you know, I applied to all the service academies. But, you know, you'll, you'll hear this later, but I wasn't the best swimmer, so I wasn't going to go to the Naval Academy. West Point was foreign to me. I just didn't know enough about the Army, and I wanted to be a pilot. So, I thought, “Hey, the Air Force Academy is the best way to do that.”   Naviere Walkewicz  11:17 Awesome. So, you had a great ALO (pronounced AY-low and is an Academy Liaison Officer) you know, you kind of went through the process, which, in itself, is quite a process, as we remember. And so how did you find out? When did you find out you received an appointment to the Air Force Academy?   Jason Kim  11:31 That was, oh, that was, you know, I've had a lot of great moments in my life, so it's, that's reaching far back. I just remember that I was super happy. You know, it was Congressman Sam Johnson of the 3rd District of Texas that, you know, gave me the nomination. He was actually an Air Force pilot and a Vietnam POW. He since passed away. But, you know, getting a nomination from a legend like that was very much an honor. You know, I also got a senatorial nomination to go to the Naval Academy, but not knowing any better, as the 18-year-old, or whatever I was, 17-year-old, I was like, “Sorry, Senator, I'm going to the Air Force Academy. Thank you very much. I'm not going to the Naval Academy.” So I was very set on going to the Air Force Academy. I was very, very happy, because it was hard to get in. I mean, one of the challenges I had as a fairly big football player in high school was the, you know, the test that you have to physical fitness tests you have to take to get into the Air Force Academy. So, you had to do all the pull ups and the runs and all that stuff. And I had to cut weight, and it really took me waking up every morning, just going through the routine of practicing all those things, and eventually got enough confidence to pass the physical fitness test and all the other things you got to go through. So, it was very rewarding to get to the point where I got in.   Naviere Walkewicz  13:15 That is awesome. And I can see that drive, I mean, just from your family instilled in you to get to be like you said, confident, ready to go. That's no surprise at all. So, talk about at the Academy, we know a little about your roommate. You met him in summer scientific seminar. What was your Academy experience like?   Jason Kim  13:35 I remember Day 1 because there are two funny things that happened. One, somehow I got lucky, and I got paired up with a NCO, enlisted person, who I wish I remembered his name. He didn't end up staying after Basic Cadet Training, so I lost touch. But what he did for me was amazing, because he already knew the drill. He was like, “Jason, you don't know how to wear BDUs, but this is how you do it. This is how you put the blouses on.” How did I luck out? I had somebody that knew what to do and was teaching me how to do it from Day 1. So very, very much grateful to that individual. I wish I could have kept in touch with him. The second funny thing is, we all had name badges. And you know, my name badge, for some reason, it said Jun Kim. And I was like, OK, that's my last name, and it's June, I think. So it makes sense. And then everybody, all the upperclassmen, were like, “Is your name Jun Kim?” I was like, “Yes, yes, sir. My name is Kim,” and I thought it was the month. But it turns out they accidentally switched my nametag with another Cadet named Jun Kim. Yeah, and so he was wearing my Jason Kim, and so, on Day 1, you know, it was very confusing, and that got me into a lot of trouble. They're like, “Do you know…,” all the things you could think of, I was getting all those kinds of comments. And so, it was quite the memorable experience. It's like, it's hard enough being a new doolie and trying to figure it out. But then when you have those kinds of incidents, it's like, it makes it even more confusing, but it was memorable.   Naviere Walkewicz  15:33 Oh, that's awesome. I can, literally picture this.   Jason Kim  15:37 That was Day 1, and then, you know, life as a cadet. They warn you of this. They warn you of the pedestal effect, where you're in high school, you're top of your game, and top of your class and you varsity letter and all that stuff. But when you get to the Academy, oh, boy, was I humbled. I mean, there were people that were smarter than me, more athletic than me, you know, better in every way. And so, I just felt very average. And in retrospect, there's nothing wrong with that, right? But just being around 1,500 cadets, you know they just were the best of the best from wherever they were. It was very, very humbling, but also rewarding, because I got to meet people from different states. I'd go on spring break to California for the first time, because I'd make friends with people that were from Northern California or Los Angeles. So, I got to meet a lot of lifelong friends that have been my support group for my entire life, you know. And every time I get together with my friends from the Academy, it's just like it was old times. It just, it's hard to explain, but you know what I'm talking about, and…   Naviere Walkewicz  17:02 I do. It just feels like time didn't pass.   Jason Kim  17:05 That's right. Some of us, like yourself, look like you do from those days. Some of us aged a little bit differently, like myself, but yeah, it was a great experience. Now, if you remember our year — our year was the first year that had the increased level of the internet and so that got a lot of people in trouble. Because, you know, “What's this internet? What do you do with it?” What we got in trouble for in my class was we played a lot of online games, you know, in first-person kind of games. So, I remember there was a game called Quake, and it was a lot of us just playing together in our in our dorm rooms and spending a little bit too much time on that. And then I remember other video games, like Goldeneye on Nintendo, and it just sucked so much time out of our days that, in retrospect, it's like, “What were we doing?” So, I guess you could say we were kind of old-school video gamers back in the day.   Naviere Walkewicz  18:20 It's funny. I was just going to ask you, we knew that you were getting into electrical engineering. What else were you doing? So, it sounds like it wasn't football, but it was Nintendo.   Jason Kim  18:30 I really loved sports. So, I loved taking all the intramural sports and the classes like golf and tennis, and I got into rugby for a little bit, for a minute, which I really enjoyed, but it's not a very forgiving sport, so that didn't last that long. But, you know, I think just the camaraderie you get playing sports like that was fun, and I think from the academic side, you know, I did go into electrical engineering, so I did all the nerdy stuff. That's probably why we didn't cross paths. Also, you probably weren't at the robotics competitions that we were doing, because that's really nerdy. But we got into doing little Roomba robot construction before Roombas existed, and we created our own Pac Man, you know, handheld games from scratch using a box of parts and processors. And my senior design project was pretty interesting. My classmate and I decided to make a digital karaoke machine. You know, using everything we learned from electrical engineering and apply it to something fun. I just remember us just trying to make the most of it with our friends and our classmates, and trying to make it fun, because it could be a lot. I took a lot of semester credit hours my freshman year. I just remember something like 22-plus credit hours. It was just a lot, and you really needed a way to recharge. And so those were some of the ways. But of course, the skiing was amazing. You know, being so close in proximity to all the ski resorts, like Breckenridge and Copper Mountain and Vail — all those great places. So those were always fun things to do. I had my first bowl of pho in Denver.   Naviere Walkewicz  20:49 In Denver?   Jason Kim  20:52 I remember that vividly. I went to one of my first concerts, Smashing Pumpkins at the Nuggets center. And then I got to go to Red Rocks. So, there was a lot of cultural things that I got to be a part of, too.   Naviere Walkewicz  21:09 I love that. So some of the things that you expressed, and I think this is great for our listeners, because, you know, sometimes some of some of our guests have been very, I don't say tunnel vision, but there's very, like, one track they've been really dedicated to, like one aspect. You know, obviously we have to do military, academic and, you know, physical fitness, athleticism, but there's kind of one track that they really hone in on. It seems like you really kind of experienced a lot, and through all of that, I might ask, what were some of the leadership lessons you picked up and learning about yourself, because you kind of talked about that pedestal effect, right? You were really kind of high coming from high school, and then you came to the Academy, and you kind of had to rediscover yourself in a different way. And it looked like you did that. What did you learn?   Jason Kim  21:53 Yeah, so some of the leadership things that I would say, that I got exposed to — and it made me kind of think about it and much later in life, kind of reinforce it — was just to be curious. A lot of times as leaders, you can jump to conclusions but I think one technique that is very helpful, no matter what industry you're in, is just be curious. You know, when you have employees, you could hold folks accountable but be curious about it. Ask the right questions. “Is everything OK? Do you have enough support? Do you have the tools, training to do what you need to? How's your family life?” That kind of stuff. So, I think you could be very curious and compassionate and graceful in terms of leadership, and that's partly learning from good leaders, but also bad leaders that didn't do that. So, I think you got to see both sides as a cadet, and you always want to pick the good leaders and emulate the good behaviors and leave out the bad. So that's one thing I would say. You know, we got this drilled into us, and we didn't even know at the time how important it was. But building that trust with your teams — that's extremely empowering and motivating when you trust someone else, and they trust you, and you can go much, much further when you build that trust up. And then the last thing I would say is, I think we were one of the first classes that had noncommissioned officers alongside with AOCs (Air Officer Commanding) that were there to teach us about mutual respect, about mutual respect between officers and noncommissioned officers. And I think that went a long ways for all of us, because once we went to the real Air Force, we were going to lead a lot of officers and NCOs and getting that kind of exposure early on was helpful. But also learning about mutual respect — that's something that is extremely important in any work setting that you're in. So those are kind of three examples of leadership, things that I would say I remember from the Academy that are also still important today.   Naviere Walkewicz  24:35 I think that's wonderful. Maybe you'll even share an example where you saw either curiosity, compassion or mutual respect really play a role in your professional or personal life after the Academy, but before we get there, I remember you talking about wanting to maybe get into space, right? The astronaut program, be a pilot. How did that all shape out? Because you were an electrical engineer, and then what?   Jason Kim  24:58 So, I really wanted to be a pilot. And for some reason, I really liked the C-17, the Globemaster. And I think it's because it was a fly-by-wire kind of system. It was a stick, but it was like more of a commercial airline-kind of transport plane. So, it was a blend of — fighter pilots use sticks but it was still kind of an air mobility command-kind of system. But, you know, unfortunately, my eyesight, my color deficiency, just didn't allow me to go into that track. So, I really just leaned on and doubled down on my electrical engineering background and got to go to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as my first assignment. And there I was an engineer-slash-project-manager working on uncrewed aerial vehicles before they became popular. So, things like the Global Hawk and the Predator, UAVs, those were things that I was getting exposed to, and I got to put payloads on. If you remember, in the 1999 timeframe, there were Hellfire missiles put on the Predator. I was there when that was happening. And so, it was just very, very amazing to see all that happen before my eyes. I got to work on the U2 and put payloads on the U2 and other very important missions. And I think that exposed me to the real Air Force. Even though I wasn't flying, I got exposed to assets that actually went into the theater and were very valuable. And then from there, I got assigned to L.A. Air Force Base, and finally got to live out my dream of living in Los Angeles, and was assigned to the Space Superiority Material Wing, and that's where we were acquiring satellites and ground systems to help protect our freedom in space. And so, I learned a lot about space there and ground systems. And, you know, after several years working there, I decided I wanted to go into industry. And so, I did two things. I went to a large aerospace company and became a program manager there. You know, now, in charge of designing and building these satellites. So I went part time to UCLA to get my fully employed MBA, just knowing that I wasn't going to know everything about industry. I wasn't going to know everything about how to be part of a company, and so I wanted to kind of learn more about that side of the industry by getting an MBA. Unbeknownst to me, the MBA wasn't just about company operations and finances, it was actually about leadership. And so, I got a lot of leadership lessons from my MBA program as well. So, it gave me a lot of confidence. And what I mean by that is confidence in just going with your gut, taking risks, getting into high-risk, high-reward situations. And it's because I learned about, the company financials, the underpinnings of a company. I learned about entrepreneurism, what it what it's like to start up a company or operate a company or go through different case studies of how to turn around a company. I learned a lot about accounting and how important and valuable that is. But then most of all, I learned a lot from my classmates. And there were people from the Hollywood industry or investment banking or the medical industry. So, it was really great to learn from my classmates. It got me to conference level where I was like, “Hey, what am I doing at this company? I want to take a risk and go to a startup company.” And I did. I took that leap of faith, and that's where our first, you know, joined Millennium Space Systems, which was a small startup company when it was 20 people. But it was something that I guess I go back to the Air Force Academy where, you know, there's that quote in the Eagle and Fledgling statue that says, “Man's flight through life is sustained by the power of his knowledge.” That kind of always stuck with me and it's one of those things where, when you join a startup company, and you help grow it, and eventually we sold the company to Boeing, you learn so much. I mean, I had five different hats, you know, and I had to learn about finance, program management, business development, engineering, integration and test, all that stuff, mission operations — you learn all those things by doing, and no one will ever be able to take that knowledge away. You just, you just get it for life.   Naviere Walkewicz  30:34 Wow, there's, there's so much that, I mean, you covered such a span, because I'm imagining, you know, maybe I don't want to call — maybe “gift” is not the right word, but not being able to be a pilot might have been something that opened up obviously these opportunities for you in ways that you could not have even foreseen. So, I actually wanted to go back to that really quick and just ask, how did you, how did you kind of re-change your thoughts or shape your mindset to, “OK, well, it's not that. So, what's next?” And how did you handle that? Because I think some of our listeners find themselves in situations where, “Well, if I do all these things, then it will lead to this.” But sometimes there are things outside of your control that even if you do all the things, you can't get there.   Jason Kim  31:20 Well, I think, first of all, I'll always be a fan of pilots and aviators and all these fighters and bombers and transport airplanes — I definitely bleed blue still to this day. So, I definitely appreciate all of our classmates that have sacrificed so much to fly in the Air Force and defend us. That's kind of my mindset is, “What can I do to still contribute to the mission to national security?” And so as long as that was kind of my guide-star, I was fine, because I knew that I was contributing to the mission in some way, whether it be acquiring platforms and putting payloads on those platforms to go support our classmates, or today, you know, designing and building systems and operating systems that end up helping national security. It's really the mindset of, “What can I do to help and make a difference, to help defend our country?” So that's how my mindset shifted, because it takes all of us to contribute what we each contribute to make these missions work. And so that's kind of where my head was at.   Naviere Walkewicz  32:50 I think that's fantastic advice. And there's this theme that's been woven since you talked about your parents, and I think it's this, you know, looking forward and investing in yourself and educating yourself. And so along this path, you've done those things. You're also a family man. When did that kind of come to fruition and how does your family feel about when you joining startups and taking risks and doing some of these things?   Jason Kim  33:16 It goes back to my dad. He gave me a lot of great advice when he was still around, and one of the advice was just sharing his regrets. You know, a lot of people thought he was my grandfather because he had me so late. Really,there's something to be said about that. He was very wise. He had a lot of experience in life, and he had global experience and had seen so many different hardships and overcome them. And he would always say, “Hey, I wish I would have taken, you know, that risk and left my company and joined my other co-workers to go start up that other company.” That actually happened. He had co-workers that ended up starting up a different old drilling company in Texas, and he thought it was too much risk at the time. He regrets that, because obviously those people that went over at the time they did, they did well for themselves. So he would tell me stories like that, and really all that wisdom he would just try to share with me from a young age. And it's hard to admit, but at some point in your, all of our lives, we start to realize how right our parents were sometimes, and so, you know, a lot of the risk taking that I'm doing, that I have done, stems from advice that my dad gave me. It's like, “Hey, go for it. Take the risks. Don't have those regrets.” And so, I think I have lived my life in that manner — just minimize the regrets and take some risk and take calculated risk and really be confident with yourself and double down on yourself. So, yeah, absolutely.   Naviere Walkewicz  35:12 I love that. And your family obviously doubles down on — yeah.   Jason Kim  35:16 I mean, I had kids late in life. I really enjoy spending time with my kids. That's how I recharge. You know, I've got a son that's turning 9 this month, and a daughter that turned 6 a couple months ago, and just watching them grow up and be curious and learn and ask questions and try different things out. You know, we try not to push things on our kids, and I'm the same way. I'm not trying to push anything on my kids, but I do want to give them a lot of opportunities that I wish I had, and just expose them to those opportunities, because you just never know which one takes off and which one really resonates with them. And so that's kind of my mindset right now is, “How can I give my son and daughter as many opportunities as possible so that they could figure it out on their own what they want to do,” right?   Naviere Walkewicz  36:09 Well, even the words that you used, you kind of talked about some of those lessons that you took away as a cadet, and you are seeing it in your children, with the way that they ask questions and the way that they explore. So, I think you have kind of taken those and pass it into your legacy line. I do want to ask a question, because we always find it fascinating when we learn more about our guests. So, do you have a hidden talent that you might share with our listeners?     Jason Kim  36:35 I do. I wish I could say it's something that is so fascinating. But really, it's just some something that I could — I could draw and paint really well, and it was something that I just noticed when I was very young. You know, I learned from my older brothers, and they were pretty good at it, too, but I learned at an earlier age than them, and so I've always been able to sketch and draw realistic pictures. When I was younger, drawing Lamborghinis. Because I always wanteda Lamborghini Countach. They don't make those cars in the price points that I would like, so I don't have one today. But I was always drawing things. And, you know, recently, I started painting as well, and it was crazy. I had never done oil painting before, and when I had my first child, my son, whatever got into me, I just picked up a brush and painted a picture of him, and it actually looks like him. And we did a side by side, like picture of him smiling, and the painting of him smiling. It definitely captures his essence, because I never got training or anything. And so, I would say that's my hidden talent. It was even hidden for me. And, you know, it's just amazing — just go for it. Just go do it. And that's one of the things that I would recommend to people that are wanting to go the Air Force Academy is just get out of your comfort zone and do as many things as you can early on, even before going to the Academy. You know, learn different languages. Just learn as much as you can. Learn lifetime sports. Take lessons of swimming or golf or tennis — all those kind of things. Just do as much as you can, because you'll get busy when you're at the Air Force Academy and you'll have less time to do all the things you want to do. But even when you're in industry and you're working, you don't have as much time to go do that kind of stuff. And you may not think you have a lot of time during junior high or high school, but you do, and you should take advantage of just learning as much as you can, and you'll appreciate it later in life when you go travel to Paris or travel to different places like Thailand or, you know, Japan. You know, if you learn those languages, you can explore those places even more in a way that you know is more enriching, and that gets me to that's what I want to do more of, is travel, travel globally with my family. I think that's something that I want to expose my kids to. And a lot of times you grow up in the United States and you start thinking, “Hey, there's only one way to think about stuff.” But when you travel — and I got to travel for work to Paris a couple years — it opened my eyes. It opened my eyes to a different world and how other people think and dress and go about their daily lives. I've also gotten to London recently for work, and that was eye opening as well, and been to Southeast Asia as well. So, it's just fascinating to go to this these different places and learn the cultures and talk the languages and meet the people. It's very enriching.   Naviere Walkewicz So how many languages do you speak?   Jason Kim So, I grew up learning Korean so I can speak a little bit of Korean. I obviously took Spanish because I grew up in Texas, and that Spanish is a very valuable language in Texas, even in California. And because I took Spanish, you know, when I get to the Air Force Academy, what do they do? They said, “Hey, we don't want you to take Spanish. We want you to be the handful of people that takes Arabic.” So, I got the privilege to take Arabic. I got volunteered into it, and it was very, very difficult for me, because I just had no background in it. I struggled with it. But the silver lining is that I learned about a new culture, and I learned about how to write right to left and, you know, just a new language and new foods that go along with it, too. So I really appreciated that. In hindsight, at the time I didn't think it was that easy, but in hindsight, I wish I would have done more and kept the fluency in it, because learning a different language means you can talk to a different group of people, and you can learn more or teach each other new things. So, it just opens a lot of doors.   Naviere Walkewicz  42:02 So, the experiences you've had, both from the Academy and the languages and throughout your career, both professionally as well. It's personally, what's something that you've taken back from those experiences that you might share with a listener that maybe hasn't had that kind of exposure, that they can bring to the leadership table. And how do you use that at yours?   Jason Kim  42:20 I think it just goes back to what it touched on before, is just the curiosity. Just always be curious. You know, I think Ted Lasso had it right. Just be curious, right? If you had just asked questions about, “Hey, did you throw darts when you were younger?” Oh, if you would have known that you would have known that Ted lasso was really good at darts. I think just being curious and being an active listener and asking questions and listening to other people, sometimes people want to vent, or sometimes people want to just be heard or have a voice, or, most of the time, people just have good ideas. And you know, it's all about, “Hey, did I miss something? Did you miss something? Did we both miss something?” If you get all those great ideas and you share it amongst different people from different backgrounds and walks of life, you don't miss as much and you're just better off, you'll have a better solution. And in my industry, you have a better design, you have a better result, performance result. And so, I would just say, just be curious.   Naviere Walkewicz  43:29 What did your road back to the Academy look like? You know, now you're part of a board of (USAFA) Foundation directors, and so you talked about learning from your dad and your mom, always about giving back. So, I have to think that's probably been part of was in the back of your mind. But how did that all come together?   Jason Kim  43:44 You know, I had no road map to do the job that I'm in right now. I never anticipated doing this job, and I also didn't anticipate being on the board of directors for the Air Force Academy Foundation. But I had folks reach out from, you know, the Air Force Academy Foundation, and ask me, “Hey, do you know what we do? You're a big football fan. Are you aware there's a Falcon Stadium renovation?” And I was like, “No, tell me more.” And with that first visit, I actually donated right away, I was like, “I'm on board. Sign me up. I want to donate to this because I believe in it.” You know, Falcon Stadium was where we graduated, right? It's such a memorable place. We saw a lot of football games there. And so, it means so much. So, I was all about donating to that cause. And then I would say that the second time around, when the same person came back and said, just to check up on me — he had mentioned, “Hey, there's this foundation, and they're looking for someone that has a space background, and you have a space background. So, are you interested in potentially coming to a board meeting?” When I went and attended the board meeting as a guest, I just stared around the room, and I was just in awe, because there was Paul Kaminski, who's, to me, is one of my role models in terms of all that he's done for the country and continues to do for the country. And he was on the academic committee. And so, of course, I wanted to join the academic committee. I saw Gen. Eberhardt. I saw Gen. Born, and there were just so many amazing people, Paul Madera, that I was just in awe. And, you know, from that respect, I was like, “Sign me up. I want to be a part of this.” And I saw them and how much they cared about the Academy and the cadets and making sure that the Academy kind of stayed relevant and was giving the cadets the best education that they can to compete with the Stanfords and MITs and the Harvards, I really saw a good cause, and then the fact that they were interested in my space background. I said, “Yeah, I definitely want to be part of whatever I could do to contribute to the Air Force Academy, to graduate not only people that are going to go to the Air Force, but also to the Space Force.” And so that's something I hope to contribute to is maybe someday a future space education center at the Air Force Academy, so that the cadets could get a great education and be future leaders in the Space Force as well.   Naviere Walkewicz  46:53 Well, it certainly makes a difference. And I think I remember seeing you at that first board meeting that you participated in. I was so excited to see you. That was like, oh, '99s in the house. So that was wonderful. Yes, well, I have two questions left. The first one is, really, I want to just ask you, because we've covered so much, and you've given such wonderful, I think, advice and just perspective. But is there anything that I didn't ask you that you had wanted to, you know, talk about today?   Jason Kim  47:20 You know, I think at the end of the day, going through the Air Force Academy is extremely challenging, but after you graduate, and after you go through life experiences, all the hardships, the challenges, what I've realized is going through the Academy kind of helped me overcome what I had to overcome in my adult life and in my industry life. We didn't like it at the time but breaking you down and then building you back up and making you get up back again every time you fall down, gives you life lessons and a confidence in yourself that you can kind of do anything that you put your mind to. I really believe that the Air Force Academy kind of helped me overcome a lot of different hardships in my life. You don't really realize that going through it, but later in life, I appreciate the fact that I went there and getting through there actually gave me the confidence that I could get back up and be OK and keep growing and continuously learn and get better and improve. So that's kind of something that I could attribute to the Air Force Academy.   Naviere Walkewicz  48:49 Oh, that is awesome. And, I mean, and it's obviously taken you to new heights. Leading a corporation is no small feat. So,  one of the things we really like to do is make sure we kind of hear the takeaways, from you to our listeners. So, it's really kind of a message to them. But before we do that and get your final thoughts, I just wanted to offer a note of thanks to our listeners for being here on the Long Blue Leadership. The podcast drops every two weeks on Tuesdays and is available on all your favorite podcast apps. Be sure to send us your thoughts and comments at socialmedia@usafa.org, and listen to past episodes at longblueleadership.org  So, Jason, I want to come back to you now, because I hope that gave you a little bit of time to think about what is the message you'd like to share to our listeners. And our listeners are far and wide. We have those aspiring to go to the Academy, we have family members of cadets, and we have graduates all alike. What would you like to share when you think about kind of your experiences in the realm of leadership?   Jason Kim  49:48 To them, I think the Air Force Academy is a great place to graduate from. It's really hard to get through. So, be really proud of your sons and daughters that are going through it and persevering, and it really is a great experience for them. For those that are prospective students: You're going to get to do things that you never could do anywhere else. You know, jump out of planes fly gliders, eventually go into the Air Force or Space Force. And then for graduates, we've made so many lifelong friends, and we've made so many memories. It's something we can all do is give back, whether it's — go march back from Jacks Valley, or go to the reunion this year for our 25th reunion for the class of '99, or go to some football games. The Foundation has plenty of great, noble causes to donate to, because it's all about that Long Blue Line. We want the next set of cadets to get an even better experience in education than we did. We want to keep it going.   Naviere Walkewicz  51:12 It is always a pleasure to not only hear your voice, but today, I got to see you as well. That just brings me such joy, and I can't wait until our reunion, just in a couple of months as well. Thank you so much for your time today, Jason, it's been amazing. Lil' Kim, thank you. Bye.   KEYWORDS Jason Kim, Firefly Aerospace, Air Force Academy, immigrant parents, work ethic, space shuttle program, Gulf War, military career, pedestal effect, curiosity, compassion, trust, mutual respect, leadership, CEO, curiosity, compassion, mutual respect, electrical engineering, startup, satellites, taking risks, giving back     The Long Blue Line Podcast Network is presented by the U.S. Air Force Academy Association and Foundation      

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ITS LOUD, NO S ITS LOUD YOU PURCASED A HOUSE ON, NEAR, AROUND A MILITARY AIR BASE.

(Sep 5, 2024) Two green groups from Lake George are ready to move on after a years-long fight over an herbicide; officials in Plattsburgh say the infrastructure left behind by the former Air Force Base there is failing. They want the federal government to do something about it; and, St. Lawrence Valley artists are helping us hang on to summer in a community art show in Potsdam.

(Sep 5, 2024) Officials in Plattsburgh say the infrastructure left behind by the former Air Force Base there is failing. They want the federal government to do something about it. Also: Green groups that have been fighting the use of an herbicide in Lake George for years say they're ready to move on.

Over the lifetime of Unstoppable Mindset, I have met many of our guests on LinkedIn. My guest this time, Wallace Pond, is by far one of the most fascinating and engaging people I have had the honor to talk with. Dr. Pond was born into a military family based at the time in Alabama. I do tease him about his not having an Alabama accent and he acknowledges that living on a military base is largely why he does not naturally possess a Southern way of speech. Dr. Pond has lived, worked, and studied in North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. He has served as a teacher, a professor and within the corporate world he has held a number of positions including several within the C Suite arena. We get to explore his life journey including learning of a mental health crisis that led him to a career change a few years ago. During my time with Wallace, we talk about many subjects including God and religion, Leadership and what makes a good and real leader. Wallace talks about diversity and how we are focusing so much on tribal issues within our culture that we are losing the art of conversation. Dr. Pond will tell us about his project, the Transformation Collaborative which is an effort to promote real change in how we can become better versions of ourselves. I leave it to Wallace to explain. At the end of our podcast episode Wallace and I agreed to record a second episode in the near future. I'd love your thoughts about what you hear on this episode. Any questions you want me to ask Dr. Pond next time? Please pass them on. About the Guest: Dr. Pond, founder, IdeaPathway, LLC, the Transformation Collaborative™, and Life Worth Living, LLC, has been a missiondriven educator and leader for over 30 years. For the last 20 years, Wallace has been a senior leader in higher education, holding both campus and system level positions overseeing single and large, multi-campus and online institutions of higher education in the US and internationally. He has served as chancellor, president, COO, CEO, CAO (Chief Academic Officer), and board member, bringing exceptional value as a strategic-servant leader through extensive experience and acumen in strategic planning, transformational change, change management, crisis management/turn around, organizational design and development, P&L, human capital development, innovation, new programs, and deep operational expertise among other areas of impact. He has recently added psychotherapy to his practice and provides counseling services as an LPCC under supervision. You can see his counselor profile here. His many thought leadership articles are available at www.WallacekPond.com. Wallace began his career as a high school teacher and adjunct professor and spent six years in the elementary and secondary classroom working primarily with at-risk youth. He was also a public-school administrator and spent another six years as a full-time professor and administrator in the not-for-profit higher education sector, working in both on campus and online education, bringing education to underserved students. Additionally, Wallace has over 15-years of executive, private sector experience, creating a unique and powerful combination of mission-driven and business focused leadership and insights. Ways to connect with Wallace: www.wallacekpond.com www.transformationcollaborative.net https://www.linkedin.com/in/wallace-pond-47b05512/ https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Real-World-Executive-Turbulent/dp/B08C49FQ6Q/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1UIJFVM71G3RZ&keywords=leadership+in+the+real+world&qid=1704824712&s=books&sprefix=leadership+in+the+real+worl%2Cstripbooks%2C159&sr=1-1 About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Well, hi and welcome to unstoppable mindset. Welcome wherever you happen to be. I really am glad you're here with us. I'm Mike hingson, your host today. Our guest is Wallace Pond, a man of many talents. He's been very much involved in helping people and transforming he's got bachelor's, master's and PhDs all, well, I won't say all over the place, but, but he has a number of degrees. Yeah, we, we won't give them all away. I'll let you do that. And he's also now even becoming involved in more things relating to psychotherapy. So I'll have to have him talk to my cat and see if we can do something. Yeah, never, never sure that works. Is, does it? Wallace, but anyway, welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're glad you're here.   Wallace Pond ** 02:08 Well, thank you so much, Mike. It's just a pleasure to be to be on the show with you. I appreciate what you got to be previously, and really appreciate also kind of the work that you do and what you've accomplished, and I think you have a really healthy and helpful perspective on a number of things, in particular diversity, but I think need to be that more people need to hear so I appreciate the opportunity to be with you well. Thank   Michael Hingson ** 02:37 you. I appreciate that, and would love to work with you any way that we can. Why don't we start on your podcast episode by you telling us kind of maybe a little bit about the early Wallace growing up and all that sort of stuff.   Wallace Pond ** 02:51 Yeah. So I was born in the deep south in the early 1960s very different time. My father was in the Air Force, so even though we were in Alabama, I was born into a desegregated military environment. This the in Montgomery, Alabama, the city was not desegregated. There were still separate bathrooms and water fountains for, quote, colored people, yeah, but on the Air Force Base, it was at least as desegregated as as the military could be at that time. But my folks and my family, both from Idaho, of all places, when my son was born there, about 30 years ago. He was the fifth generation from Idaho. My folks went back to Idaho when I was about, Gosh, nine years old.   Michael Hingson ** 03:49 So was it the military, though that influenced you not to have an Alabama accent?   Wallace Pond ** 03:54 Yeah. Probably parent, parents and military both. Okay, yeah, yeah. So my little sister and I, we were in Alabama and Georgia, Maryland before we went back to Idaho. But yeah, we sort of never got that southern accent, although given an opportunity, I can slip into it, and I certainly recognize it, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 04:17 well, and I love to use the words y'all and all y'all. And I know the difference between the two, which a lot of people don't, but it's   Wallace Pond ** 04:25 a third. There's a third, which is the plural possessive, all, y'all. Oh, all, y'all, that's right, yeah, yeah, which, which, not everybody, which, you don't hear all the time. But no, you're in the South. Yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 04:37 I love language. Anyway, so you were saying so, yeah.   Wallace Pond ** 04:44 So moved out to Idaho, back to Idaho. That's where my folks were from. And kind of feel like I, you know, some really formative years, nine to probably 18 or so in Idaho, and just had. You know, the the great pleasure over both when I was a child, living with my parents, and then also once I was independent, out of the home. Probably lived in. I could, I could, you know, calculate it, but lived in probably a dozen states, half a dozen countries. Uh, visited 39 or 40 countries. So just one of those people, you know, some folks, one model is to kind of grow up somewhere and be from there, and that's, you know, kind of how you identify. And then there's other folks, like I who just, you know, it's a very different perspective, and it's, you know, a lot of moves, a lot of different experiences, I think my wife and I, we've been married 34 years, and we stopped moving quite so much in the last, oh, probably 15 but I think we've moved 11 times. And in fact, the last kind of big adventure was we spent a couple years over the United Arab Emirates. I was a CEO running a company over there, as well as a college president, at the same time doing both in Abu Dhabi, and that kind of a long arc where I am now. But there was through that. There was there was kind of like K 12 experience, university experience, corporate experience, so pretty kind of broad based, you know, personal and professional background. As you said, I more recently got into into the field of psychotherapy as an actual therapist. That was kind of an interesting career shift, but, but really timely and probably one of the most congruent decisions I've ever made in my life, in terms of, you know, making a life decision that turned out to align with what I wanted to be true and what was making sense for me at The time. So kind of a long arc, but here we are. Here   Michael Hingson ** 07:03 we are. Where did you? Where did you go to college? Yeah, so   Wallace Pond ** 07:07 initially, University of Utah, okay, and I, and I pursued a degree in Spanish and Hispanic literature, which also kind of was not purposeful, it wasn't part of a plan, but it really had a significant impact on some of the things I did in my life, and certainly some of the cultural experiences I had as a student, I lived in Spain and Mexico as well, and then as a professional and as an adult, I also lived in Puerto Rico for three years. So Spanish and Spanish culture kind of a big part, at least earlier in my career, up through probably, I think I was, I left Puerto Rico in 2013 after three years there. So that was, that was kind of the undergraduate. And then, as you mentioned, I have, I have multiple I have three different graduate degrees, two two masters and a PhD in the one at Boston University that was back in the 90s, and then a PhD in education. And then I went back to school for the fourth time, about, Gosh, three or four years ago, when I decided I wanted to go into the helping professions again and be a counselor, and so that was a master's in clinical mental health. And I've been practicing. I've been seeing clients for about three years. I've been I've been seeing clients post grad, in both private practice and in a community health setting. Now for geez, I graduated in July of last year, so I probably, oh, maybe little over 1200 1300 hours of counseling at this point. So that's the educational story. Well,   Michael Hingson ** 09:05 I have to ask, since we talked about language and you spend some time at Boston University, yeah, and so on, did you ever learn to talk Bostonian?   Wallace Pond ** 09:16 So kind of like my experience in the south, you can do it, yeah, I can slip into it. I actually kind of enjoy it. I yeah, I do too, you know. But no, it's not something that I that I ever, ever adopted for myself.   Michael Hingson ** 09:33 I lived in Windsor mass for three years, so I spent some time in the Boston area,   Wallace Pond ** 09:40 great town, you know, Boston. I did a lot of that work, actually overseas, in an overseas program in Germany, of all places. So it's kind of a long, winding road. I've   Michael Hingson ** 09:52 heard that one of my favorite restaurants in Boston closed around or just before the time of the pandemic, Durkin park at uh. And near Fennell Hall, yeah, Quincy Market, I heard that Durgan closed, yeah?   Wallace Pond ** 10:06 And, well, and that was not unique to them. I mean, yeah, the pandemic was pretty rough on restaurants, and a substantial number all over the country didn't, didn't make it through that? Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 10:20 yeah. It's kind of sad. Long before the pandemic, the Carnegie Deli in New York closed, which was one of my favorites, and I knew the owner, but I think, yeah, and I don't even think they can, I don't even think they mail order anymore. I   Wallace Pond ** 10:36 don't know, but I do. I do remember, I do. I'm have some experience with the Carnegie Deli, because that's where I was introduced to pastrami. No better place, yes. And I didn't know I was a pastrami fan until then,   Michael Hingson ** 10:55 and the sandwiches were so small, yeah?   Wallace Pond ** 10:56 Well, right, yeah, it was a workout, like doing curls, lifting the sandwich. Yeah, I unfortunately, one of the things that happened being introduced to pastrami at the Carnegie Deli was I became kind of a pastrami snob. And so you know that my first introduction was as good as it gets. So yeah, it's hard for me to for pastrami to match up since then. Oh, gosh, that was a while ago.   Michael Hingson ** 11:23 Oh, it is. It's really hard. I'm still spoiled by the first Caesar salad I ever had. When my wife and I got married, we spent part of our time in Palm Springs, and then we went and spent the rest of our honeymoon in Phoenix and went to a hotel and stayed at a hotel called the point Tapatio, which had a restaurant up on top of the mountain. On one side, you could see Phoenix. On the other side, you could see Scottsdale. And we ordered Caesar salads that they made at tableside. And back then, in 1982 it included the rig and everything else. And it's still the best Caesar salad I ever had.   Wallace Pond ** 11:57 Yeah. Well, most people alive today are young with, oh, I would say most people born since maybe 819, 80 or so. Have you know, there used to be raw egg and a lot of stuff. Yeah, I don't know if you remember Orange Julius. Oh, yes, yeah, they used to get a raw egg. Was one of the ingredients you could get beat up in a in a smoothie. Yeah, those days are, sure. Guy, oh,   Michael Hingson ** 12:23 the days. Well, Steven, so, so what did you I was going to say, what did you do after college? But that's really kind of hard, because there's a lot of, a lot of after colleges for you. But you said Spanish wasn't really part of the plan, but yet, that's what you you did for an undergraduate degree? How come? Yeah,   Wallace Pond ** 12:43 so this is kind of a funny thing to even admit, but a lot of me back up a step. So my father, he had some kind of intuition, some kind of insight. He really believed it would be helpful for me, maybe really in terms of life experience, maybe in terms of just a skill set to be bilingual. And even back in high school, he started like, I'd come home and he put like, a pamphlet on my bed about, you know, Spanish language, or Spanish class or something like that, you know. And when I got to the University of Utah, I thought, you know, a little bit based upon his, you know, you know, suggestions and support. I i took a few Spanish I remember taking, you know, Spanish 101, then I kind of like that Spanish 102, I was a communications major at the time, and to be honest, I still don't know what that means, Mike, but I was a communications major, and at that time, it was the single largest major on campus, and you could not get courses you sent. You could not register for communications courses, and there were people who were being forced to spend an extra year or more at the U just to get the courses they needed to graduate. And in the meantime, I had said, Well, I'll get a minor. And I thought, well, if I'm gonna get a minor, I probably need to be able to speak it. So I decided to do a study abroad in Spain. Went to school at the University of Seville, four days a week, four hours a day, immersed in Spanish and subjects being taught in Spanish. And by the time I got back, I had, I had earned so many credits in Spanish that there was a pretty quick path to a degree in Spanish and and I didn't have to worry about the problem of not getting courses in in communication, communications, yeah, yeah. So when I got back to the and I also got a bunch more credit by passing some tests, some clap tests, and ended up, you know, with a degree. Did another study in Mexico, ended up with a degree in Spanish. Mentioned Hispanic literature. It just it was the path of least resistance, and something that I really enjoyed. So that's how that happened. I mean, there truly was no plan.   Michael Hingson ** 15:12 Well, things work out, though may not have been part of the plan, but it certainly sounds like it worked out well for you, and it helped integrate into everything that followed, which is always a good thing. It absolutely did. Yeah, I know when I went to UC Irvine starting in the fall of 1968 I entered the year that they had their first graduating class. So the first graduation was for seniors. Was 69 but they also had graduate school, they had medical some medical schools and so on. And very quickly, the school had become known for science, and a lot of people wanted to go off and become doctors. So the year that I entered 1600 people enrolled in organic well or enrolled in biology, and they all wanted to go off and be doctors and all that. And the biosci people said, Okay, well, before you can really be serious about a bio sci major, you're going to have to take a year of organic chemistry   Wallace Pond ** 16:24 that that that that weeded a few folks out, didn't it? From the   Michael Hingson ** 16:29 beginning of my freshman year to the end of my sophomore year, the number of students in biology dropped from 1600 freshmen to 200 sophomores.   Wallace Pond ** 16:38 Yeah, yeah. That's a, I think, a typical experience with I took organic chemistry much later in life. It's another kind of part of my minding journey. But I took an entire pre med curriculum after I finished my PhD, just for pure Self edification. And you know, I was always troubled by the fact that I got through three degrees without really having a good science Corps. And so while I was working as a professor at a college, I ended up taking, well, all but one course of a pre med curriculum. And I remember exec, I remember organic chemistry, and I remember just kind of that, that moment, that realization, where you cannot fake this, no you will put in the time, or you will not get out. Well, I did that. I   Michael Hingson ** 17:29 got my master's degree, my bachelor's and master's in physics, so I did not take organic chemistry. But I know everybody was complaining about memorizing all the reactions and all that and and, you know, I respect it, but I'm glad I didn't have to take it.   Wallace Pond ** 17:44 Yeah, I enjoyed it, but it was also something that, you know, it, like I said, it's not something you can fake, no, it's a completely different animal than than inorganic chemistry. Fascinating, really fascinating, actually, yeah, but definitely requires some mental effort.   Michael Hingson ** 18:06 I enjoyed hearing people talk about it, and enjoyed listening to all of that, but it was different than what I enjoyed doing. And I loved physics, and was especially always interested in the philosophy of physics, the history and philosophy, and of course, one of the big debates about physics is, is it really a quantum and does God throw dice, or is it, is it in reality that there is really determinism and and that's a question that physics still hasn't answered yet. Some people think it has, but it hasn't yet well,   Wallace Pond ** 18:38 and the answer to that question has huge implications for psychology and free will, sure   Michael Hingson ** 18:42 it does all of that. Sure it does, sure, and I am sure that eventually it will all get realized. And you know, my belief is that there are basic laws of the universe and that there are laws that we have to obey to to really progress, but it's our choice. And I, and I am absolutely a firm believer in the fact that there is such a thing as free will and choice.   Wallace Pond ** 19:09 Yeah, and I, I it may be, it may be that we at some point come to some kind of melding of the two, whereby there is some level of free choice or agency, but that that's highly influenced by underlying physics principles of some sort. Correct? Exactly? Yeah, yeah. Ray Kurzweil, the   Michael Hingson ** 19:35 futurist and inventor and a man I worked for for a few years when he was developing the Kurzweil Reading Machine created a doc, or there is a documentary about him. And at the end, he said, you know, everybody keeps wondering if there is a God, and he said, there isn't yet, because we haven't invented it. And I do not buy into Ray's I don't buy into Ray's argument that I don't think that works. Yeah. Yeah, but it is interesting and but you're right, it all really does come down to in psychology, a question of free will, a question of so many different things, and I and eventually will understand it   Wallace Pond ** 20:13 well. And there's an in there other related concepts, you know, for example, the notion of growth mindset, which is a really interesting concept, Carol Dweck, out of Stanford, was the one who kind of popularized this. But the idea that growth mindset, as opposed to fixed mindset, suggests that our futures are malleable, that that our ability to to learn, to grow to achieve objectives is at some significant level determined by whether or not we believe that we can grow and change and progress through new talents and perspectives, etc, versus the extent to which we believe it's more fixed, and that those limits are kind of innate, and there's a there's a potential physics element to that as well. Having said that, I do believe in mostly it's just observation that it absolutely is possible to to grow dramatically, intellectually, spiritually, academically, I'm Trying to some other examples might be things like emotionally, that we are, you know, capable. That's why we have neocortical functions, right, as human rights, right, even separate from other mammals, we have parts of our brain that do stuff, right, you know, that are that are pretty amazing, and that allow for pretty intense evolution. And I don't mean evolution in the historical sense, although that has its own place. I mean as individuals, right? You know, the ability to kind of evolve in the context of our environment. So it we probably won't have a final answer any of that before you and I are gone. But it is a, it is a topic that I find fascinating. Oh,   Michael Hingson ** 22:30 I do too, and, and, of course, the the other part of the question is, you say we may not have an answer before we're gone. Will we really be gone or whatever? So there's, there's that too, right?   Wallace Pond ** 22:45 Yeah, yeah. And I, you know, as part of my own mental health journey, you know, I'm a counselor, but I'm also, you know, in our field, we have this, this, this concept of wounded healer. And, you know, I didn't, you know, just randomly pop up one day in, you know, going from being a corporate executive or a university president to being a psychotherapist, I had my own journey as well mental health journey, and I put myself certainly in that category of of wounded healer. But when we think about, you know, the human experience, right? And as we think about the kinds of things that, just either by chance or by purpose, end up being part of that journey, for me, being exposed to Buddh principles and Buddhist thoughts, Buddhist ideas was really critical in my own healing and the whole notion of impermanence and afterlife. The Buddh take on that, I think, is really compelling. And this idea that there is an afterlife in the sense that we are all comprised of elements and molecules and atoms that will continue on in multiple forms, and that we're comprised of atoms and molecules that have been around, you know, that belonged, that were part of someone in the Roman Empire and part of someone in Greek times, and part of someone on the Savannah, or some animal on the savannah millions of years ago. And although it may not be sort of a Christian notion of an integrated afterlife as some version of yourself, right? I find that the Buddhist perspective really compelling. This idea that you know, the energy, the mass, the mole, the atoms that comprise us do continue on. And there may, in fact, be some integrated version of. That, who knows, you know, my father passed away a few years ago, and and one of the ways that I have, one of the ways that I have grieved that, and one of the ways I have dealt with that loss, is I frequently talk to him, and every you know, and every now and then I'll ask him, you know, you know, I'll tell him, gosh, I wish he could let me know what happened like. So what is it? You know, where are you? Are you know, do you have consciousness? And you know, maybe some way, sometime he'll answer. But for me, right now, a big part of of of that healing in that, in that grieving has been to maintain that relationship with Him through conversation.   Michael Hingson ** 25:45 And should I believe absolutely, I think there's a lot to be said for for the merits of what you were just describing. And the issue, I think, is that, if we also go back to what really is God, you've got the Christians who have tried to shape God in the sense in their image, more than the other way around, and others have done that too, but, but the reality is what really is God, and I think God is the underlying principle for all of us, and I think that we're all part of that God. And so when your father died, or my wife passed away in the end of 2022 there they are still there. I love to tell people that I am absolutely certain that Karen monitors me, and if I misbehave, I'm going to hear about it. So I have to behave, otherwise, I'm going to be in serious trouble.   Wallace Pond ** 26:45 Yeah, you know, there's an interesting I just, I'm just about to finish an absolutely profound book by an author, physician, philosopher. His name is Gabor Mate. He was a survivor of the Holocaust. He was a child of an infant. Actually, the book is called The Myth of normal, absolutely seminal, fabulous, fabulous book, just in general, but also resonates with me on my own mental health journey and as a counselor. But he makes reference in the book to to the actress as Ashley Judd and and a quote of hers, a phrase of hers, which is, I want to, I don't want to mess up the the quote. It is, surrendering to a god you don't believe in the idea that you know, you don't have to believe in a deity in any sort of, you know, codified religious, you know, institutional way to still surrender to, to, to a sense of, of, of a higher power, yeah. And I just, I, you know, I just really appreciated that quote from Ashley Judd, and I think it's really applicable, this idea that we don't have to be dogmatic. We don't have to be it's, you know, an ethical, institutional approach to surrender to a god we don't believe in. You know, that that we can surrender to something bigger, something beyond our own physical existence   Michael Hingson ** 28:24 well and in the Buddha oriented world, it is also, isn't even a matter of surrendering. It's a matter of believing you're a part of and being willing to progress and grow. And oh, I can't resist telling one of my favorite jokes, and I've not done it on here before, I used to listen to Hal Holbrook doing Mark Twain tonight. Oh, okay, we did a great imitation of Mark Twain. And I don't know if it was actually Mark Twain that said it, but I attribute it to Mark Twain. But I heard Hal Holbrook say it. He said, You know, when we die, we're going to go to heaven, and when we go to heaven, assuming we go to heaven, we're going to probably be up on a cloud, and we're going to have harp music in the background, and we're going to study, and the more we study, the more we progress, and the more we progress, the more we study. And we're just going to be up there. We're going to study and study and study and progress and progress and progress. And if that isn't hell, I don't know   Wallace Pond ** 29:15 what is that that sounds like a Mark Twain. It   Michael Hingson ** 29:17 does sound like a Mark Twain, and I would suspect that it really came from him somewhere. Oh, gosh, but, but, you know, the the reality is that I think we impose way too many limitations on God and our relationship with God, and it's and it doesn't help us to do it. And I, you know, I hear what Ashley Judd is saying, but again, I think it's not so much a surrender as it is recognizing you're a part of   Wallace Pond ** 29:48 Yeah. That makes sense to me too. Michael, so what   Michael Hingson ** 29:50 did you do when you graduated from college? Initially, I will, I'll tell you the first time, what did what kind of our career path did you go on to?   Wallace Pond ** 29:58 Yeah? So in me. Immediately, I just went to work as a as a school teacher in a in a school for at risk youth in Salt Lake City. I taught Spanish, but I also taught English and introductory algebra and earth science. And, you know, a very common kind of thing in in small schools, you're a generalist, unlike, you know, in large districts, where you kind of, you just teach English all day or whatever.   Michael Hingson ** 30:33 Yeah, I grew up in my teachers were generalists,   Wallace Pond ** 30:36 yeah, yeah. And we also had an intense Outdoor Program in that school. So it was really interesting. We did, you know, we did, you know, snow camping, and we did survival, you know, hikes in southern Utah, you know, just what you could carry on your back. And, you know, through the desert for days, in addition to the, you know, the school work, or the classroom work, which itself was also not very traditional. So, you know, for example, we the classes were a mix of ages. You know, I taught classes with, you know, 1213, year olds and 17 year olds in the same class. It was just, it was dependent upon, you know, academic inclination, desire to be in a big, you know, particular course, you know, in that school was actually pre K, 12, so, you know, just some amazing, amazing experiences for me and for the and for the students, you know, 30 plus years later, whatever it was, 3435 years later, I still remember, you know, I have this, this image, and it's just such a poignant, touching image, particularly when we think about at risk youth and at Risk teenagers, I think we don't always have a very charitable view of kids that don't fit in, and adolescents and teens, you know, that that oftentimes are considered to be, you know, kind of unrefined or self centered or whatever. And I had this image. I still see it. We the this, the school had had a downstairs and an upstairs. And I remember one of my students, he was 18 years old. And, you know, this is back in, gosh, the 80s, and he, would, you know, black leather. You know studs on the leather. You know Jack boots. You know wallet on a chain. You know the kids about, you know, six two and about 190 pounds, the kind of kid that would scare the hell out a lot of people just looking at him, you know, but I had this mental image of of him walking down the stairs, and he's holding the hand of a four year old, helping the four year old down the stairs. I even get a little emotional thinking about it, 35 years later, you know the kind of kid that is so misunderstood, the kind of kid that you know has struggled so much to fit in, the kind of kid who you know is just constantly been battling between, you know, authenticity and acceptance. And here he is, you know, going down the stairs, holding the hand of a four year old preschooler to help him get down the stairs. And I just can't imagine a more poignant vision, yeah, and, and that was a, you know, those kinds of things were common experiences for me in those first couple of years teaching in that environment after my undergraduate work, I   Michael Hingson ** 34:01 spent a number of years living in and around well, I lived in New Jersey and worked in New York, but even before living there, company I worked for allowed me to travel to sell because we were being so successful, we couldn't just do it all from the phone in Southern California. So I stayed at a hotel, oftentimes in the middle of New York, near Times Square. And when I went out at night, there were people, are you? Do you remember the old the guardian angels?   Wallace Pond ** 34:34 Oh yeah. So   Michael Hingson ** 34:36 this guy would come up to me and he said, I'm with the guardian angels. He said, I just want to walk with you, just to make sure you stay safe. And safe. And I said, you know, you don't really need to. I'm really good. We said, we're going to anyway. And when what I've always realized, though, and he was good company, he was great. But what I also realized is that, in general, if you treat people well and. So if you don't act like a jerk, then they're going to, most likely treat you well as as well. And yeah, I never did have a problem with anyone in New York. I had a couple people who would come up to me and say, Does your dog bite? Because I always had my guide dog right, right? And I never knew why they asked. And so my response was, Well, you know, he's not trained to do that, but I wouldn't want to be the person to try to find out. And actually, the reason I use that answer was right. My first guide dog was a golden retriever, and one day we were at UC Irvine on campus, and some students would bring their dogs to college, and then then just let them roam. And a bunch of them organized a pack, and they actually came after me and my guy dog, Squire, who was this wonderful, loving golden retriever, right? And so we were walking, and these dogs were coming up on us from the rear, and Squire jerked away from me. I still had his leash, but he jerked away. So I lost grip on the harness. He turned around and crouched down and growled at these dogs. I've never heard him do that. Oh, wow. And they all just stopped and backed up and somebody else was watching. And he told me later, they just walked away with their tails between their legs, wow. Yeah, and you know, so, like I said, it's all about love, but I think it goes both ways. That with a dog, I wouldn't want to be the person to try to find out whether if they attacked me, my dog would bite. But I think also it's just as true with people. I'm not quite as sure today with all the drug stuff going on, but you know, the reality is, I think for the most part, people really are going to treat you well if you treat them well. Yeah,   Wallace Pond ** 36:47 I don't, I don't challenge that. Michael, I but what I would say is, I think one of the, one of the genuine sort of societal problems, manifestations, let's call it, of the kind of polarization and tribalism that's becoming more and more common. Yeah, is, you know, the deeper that people turn into their own tribe, right? You know, the the more that people insulate themselves from other people that you know don't share their views or their background or their culture. I think one of the real, potentially profound dangers of this tribalized tribalism, and whether it's, whether it's in social media or, you know, where we congregate, you know, face to face, and the deep polarization, not just you know you're wrong, but you're wrong and you're bad, is, is, I think, one of the things that we're really in danger of through that tribalism and isolation is that I think we are broadly use, losing the capacity to navigate conversations, relationships, conflict, agreed with, with people that aren't Like us, right? And I think that's potentially dangerous.   Michael Hingson ** 38:22 I think it's absolutely dangerous, because   Wallace Pond ** 38:25 that skill, that ability to survive to in the face of someone who has very different beliefs, and to get through that without unhealthy conflict, to get through that without casting, you know, aspersions, to get through that without personal attacks, I think is is critical to kind of a functioning society, because we are always going to have diverse perspectives, diverse religions, diverse cultures, diverse political perspectives. That's always going to be true. So the extent to which we are able to navigate that in a productive way is really critical, and I fear that we are because we turn towards what we know with tribalism that we're just losing the opportunity to engage other people who may be quite different than we are, and do that successfully, whereas The you know, turning inward to the tribe actually exacerbates? Well,   Michael Hingson ** 39:44 yeah, there's a lot of truth to that. I guess I'm a little bit of an oddity, even in, I think, among some blind people in that having never seen to me, somebody with a. Skin color is simply a concept, and the it doesn't matter to me about about color, and I work very hard to make sure that I continue with that kind of attitude, because it doesn't really matter to me what a person's skin color is and have never seen it. Haven't ever seen different skin colors. And frankly, I know I can say with certainty I don't care. Now, not everybody necessarily knows me well enough to believe that, but it is still true, because having never seen it. You know intellectually, I know what red is, I know what blue is. I know what Black is. I know what white is, and we can talk about it in terms of wavelength of light too. But you know it's it's still not something that becomes an issue for me. And it amazes me when I hear people talking about and demonstrating prejudice about different skin colors and so on, because it's just not something that really is an issue for me, and I'm always amazed by it. Yeah,   Wallace Pond ** 41:08 it's interesting point you make. I mean, just engaging the life, just engaging life in general, in the absence of visual stimuli, you obviously are have honed very finely other senses. But this idea, you know, and in our culture, in in Western and particularly American culture, it is profoundly visual,   Michael Hingson ** 41:36 yeah, oh, it is, Oh, absolutely, you know. And look, I know blind people who are very prejudiced, and maybe some of them never saw but they've learned it. Fortunately, I'm blessed that I refuse to learn that concept.   Wallace Pond ** 41:50 That's interesting thought, isn't it? You know, I know that we have learned to be incredibly judgmental based upon visual stimuli, right? Is someone short? Are they tall? Do they have acne? You know, are they overweight? What clothes are they wearing? You know, they have the right shoes. And you may be able to determine some of that through other senses at some point, but you would never initially engage someone based upon that perspective, because you wouldn't have it. Mm, hmm. So a very interesting thought, you know, and I,   Michael Hingson ** 42:33 I know my wife and and I also believe my wife was, although she was cited, never really had that kind of prejudice, because she grew up with around people of different skin colors and different races and so on. But we would be talking about sometimes political debates, and she would say, well, so and so knows about that, because he's black. And I would sit there and go, huh? Because I if there was, you know, I couldn't tell that they were black, you know. And it amazed me, and it didn't change my opinion at all. Now, the fact that he was a politician, that's a different prejudice, but that's another story, right? But, but, you know, they're fun to pick on, but, but, you know, the bottom line is that that we've really got to get somehow over some of these things. And I agree with you that the art of conversation, the ability to converse, the ability to really interact with other people, is being lost because of so many things, and that is so unfortunate. Yeah,   Wallace Pond ** 43:38 and I don't want to be Pollyannaish, I mean, or oversimplified a situation. I mean, like I said, I was born in Montgomery, Alabama in the 1960s and there was no need for social media, for people to make judgments, to isolate, you know, to to, I mean, it was legislated. It was it was policy. I mentioned, you know, the colored water fountains and bathrooms. So this is not new. It's, you know, that kind of thing was, has existed in many, many contexts. I think, I think what's qualitatively different today a couple things. One is the existence that the medium, you know, mass media and social media, have a kind of power that I that didn't exist before a platform and an anonymity. You know, you can, you can say things and do things today that wouldn't have been acceptable because you would have been accountable, yeah, in the past, right? It was attached to you individually. So I think that's, that's one change. I think another change is whether we call it, you know, civility, or whether we call it norms, you know, I'm. I'm, you know, I'll be 60 next year. So, you know, I've been around for a little while, but not that long, compared to some people, but in terms of norms, just in the last call it 510, years, maybe even less than 10. I've been just stunned, frankly, by the things that it's now kind of okay to say and do. Yeah, you know that that we just sort of blown through the guard rails? You know that I think, used to kind of exist. It wasn't that you couldn't think it. It wasn't that it didn't exist. It was that there were some sort of norms about what it was sort of okay or acceptable to say or do, kind of in a in a civil society. And I think we've really blown through those guardrails. Social media has helped that politics.   Michael Hingson ** 45:54 What's one example of that?   Wallace Pond ** 45:59 Yeah, so something that comes to mind is, you know, people flaming other people online and social media, right? Personal attacks, yeah, particularly when people are vulnerable. You know, if you're face to face, or if you're in a, you know, a group that's co located with other people if you are on the phone, even, right? It was much, much harder, yeah, to launch those sort of personal, corrosive attacks on people than it is now. You know, I think in politics, you know, there are politicians now who say things, oh yeah, that you couldn't say and survive as a politician,   Michael Hingson ** 46:51 and still shouldn't, but do, yeah,   Wallace Pond ** 46:55 even 10 years ago, let alone 2030 Yeah, it's not that politicians didn't think it, or weren't capable, you know, of it. It's just, you know, I think of like criticism of families, of of war heroes, yeah, you know. Or just weird stuff, like, when did that become? Okay? Yeah?   Michael Hingson ** 47:18 Oh, I hear you. And social media has certainly not helped the process. No,   Wallace Pond ** 47:24 I think what it's done is it's anonymized, least in your mind, if not literally,   Michael Hingson ** 47:30 yeah, which is so scary. I hope we grow up and learn, but you know, we'll see. So what you taught for a while, then what did you go do?   Wallace Pond ** 47:43 Yeah, so again, I never really had a plan. And I know for some people, plans are helpful, important. They provide security. I truly, Michael, never had a quote plan for anything that happened in my life. You know, I've done everything from Teach bilingual kindergarten to run large corporations domestically and internationally, and I've just never had a plan. I've taken advantage of opportunities, and I've kind of pursued things that felt exciting or right, but I I've never really had a plan. So, you know, after my initial teaching experience, I ended up marrying someone who said, Look, I'm going to go work in Germany. I have a job over there. And if you want to come, you can come. If you're not, I'm leaving. So we ended up getting married and going over there together, and we're over there for a few years working for the Department of Defense and Education roles. And then came back to the US, did some more K 12 work, then went full time into higher education, as a as a professor, teaching people to be teachers, as well as Spanish and linguistics. Then moved into the corporate world for a while, came back into higher education, did some senior roles, including President, CEO at a few different institutions of higher education, some in the US, some abroad, and been in the C suite several times in corporate settings, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Executive Officer, the last kind of formal thing I did, working for someone else and or working for a board, I guess I would say, was in the Middle East, United Arab Emirates, and fascinating, wonderful experience. Just so glad I did it. Yeah, for. A cultural perspective, from a growth perspective, the hardest job ever done as a CEO. Never experienced quite that combination of challenges as a CEO, but just a fabulous experience in my wife and younger daughter, who's now off away at college. They lived there in the winter and were able to escape in the summer. I was not, you know, 120 degrees in 85% humidity. Yeah, yeah. Winter's stunning, beautiful, but summer is really hard, yeah. And they would come back to the mountains, you know, Colorado in the summer. But, and something's really interesting to happen when I came back from that. You know, this is kind of interesting. It helps explain, sort of, how did I go from that to working as a psychotherapist, and I still do consulting work and support organizations with transformational change and leadership and things like that. But So how does one go from the CEO of a of a company in Abu Dhabi and the president of a college system to going back to school for the fourth time and becoming a mental health counselor? And the short version to that is when I got back from the UAE, I asked myself a very different question for the first time than I would have in the past. So in the past, the question would have been something to the effect of, you know, what's the next job? And I was in a position to have some time off and kind of decompress. And I didn't ask that question. I asked a very, very different question, which was, what do I want to be true in my life? And I had some support with a counselor for that question, and kind of how I kind of fleshed the answer out and and when I was when I had come up with the answer of what I want to be true in my life, it became very clear that I could not do what I'd always been doing and achieve what I wanted to be true in my life, Those didn't align anymore, and so I had to think very differently about what I was going to do going forward. And that was not so ironically, the same time, but I began to really, really experience some pretty intense mental health challenges, which I had never experienced before. I mean, I had never even really experienced anxiety before like that. I I was my experience was so different for so long, 50 plus years. But when it changed, it point. It changed pretty rapidly and pretty dramatically, and I found myself in a situation where mental health and mental health challenges were now, were kind of Central, and I really had to figure some stuff out. And so that happened at the same time I was kind of pursuing that question of what I want to be different in my life, or two in my life. And what came out of that, in addition to my own kind of healing journey, was this idea that one of the ways that I could achieve, one of the things that I wanted to be true in my life, was to be in the helping professions and to and to leverage my own mental health journey to help others, to be, as I mentioned earlier on, the call A wounded healer, which, by the way, is the case for a lot of counselors. A lot of therapists are wounded healers. And so that's how I kind of got to the place of going back to school and being a counselor, and how that decision had kind of the most congruence, the most alignment of probably any life decision I've ever made, personal or professional, in terms of a decision that supported what I wanted to be true. And that started, gosh, a little over three years ago, is when I went back to school, and now, as I mentioned, I've been seeing clients for, gosh, since December 21 still as a student. And then now I have a private practice. I also work for a community health operation and agency, and I made that choice because I want I didn't want to be in a situation where a client was that could ever I don't want to be in a situation where someone couldn't see me because they couldn't pay and so that's what community health is. It is a. Um, it is a very different environment than private practice. I do both. It is people, you know, court mandated, lot of alcohol and drug substance abuse issues, domestic violence, really, really intense challenges. And I love the work. Sometimes it's overwhelming, but it allows me to really contribute in the ways I've wanted to contribute to people who really desperately need it and may not have the means to pursue that otherwise.   Michael Hingson ** 55:37 Well, you certainly set your your mind and your goals on a on a lofty, although I don't think an impossible task, but given everything that you've done, it's probably reasonable to say you're going to, going to do a pretty good job of helping to to accomplish some of that, or at least make the world better because of it. And you know that's that's hard to argue with. I'm really impressed, and look forward to seeing how the progress goes. Tell me about the transformation collaborative you founded that you also have a couple of LLCs that you've created along the way. Yeah. So the transformation   Wallace Pond ** 56:16 collaborative that was also in that same period of time where I had asked that question, what do I want to be true in my life, versus just what's the next job? And it was a really interesting process. It was about nine months, 12 months, kind of a rotating group of people just kind of brainstorming, noodling on, you know, if we were going to build a consultancy from scratch based on what we know as professionals, based upon our experience, you know, engaging with consultants as as consumers of consultancy, what would it look like? And we came up with it was kind of two, it turned out, you know, through that process, the sort of two driving elements came out of that. One was, we probably have to reinvent the consultancy itself. Because one of the things that kept coming up in the in that brainstorming conversation stuff, was that, you know, the traditional, particularly, you know, the big consultancies, that traditional model is just woefully inadequate. Much of the time. It's overpriced, you know, it's it's superficial, it's on the outside. I won't go into details about all the things that are broken with it, but, but basically, you know what happens is an agency, you know, has a couple of meetings, you know, they put together a report, they throw it over the wall, they have a celebration dinner, they go on to the next client. You know, there's no sense of accountability. There's no role in execution. I'm not talking ever, just broadly. That's yeah, so we the first thing we decide is, you know, what, if we're going to do this, we're not going to do it that way. In fact, we refer to ourselves as embedded partners. We don't call ourselves consultants. Our goal is to, really, you know, to play a role in getting the client from A to B, you know, including actually providing labor, bandwidth, accountability, execution. So that's the first thing that was very different, and also different in terms of how we operate. I told you previously, before we were on the air, you know, we don't have non disclosure agreements with our partners. We don't have, you know, non competes. It's very different. We don't skim out the top, we don't take commissions, but none of that stuff. You know, it's a very different model. The second thing that we determined as part of that process was, you know, if we're going to bring, really bring value, and we're going to be doing what we want to do, you know, we want congruence between what we're doing what we want to do? It really can't be about incremental stuff. It can't be transactional. It can't be, you know, help with a computer program, or, you know, help with a compliance issue. There are lots of folks that do that, lots of agencies that do that. They do it really well, but if we were going to be embedded partners, and if we were going to be doing what we wanted to do, it had to be transformational. It had to be supporting organizations to reinvent themselves for the world they're in, not the one they were founded in. And so those two things came out of that process, and that's what the transformation collaborative. Transformation collaborative is. There's two main things we do. One is supporting organizations through some version of reinvention, transformation, innovation, and the other is leadership. You know, we. We take, we are pretty kind of harsh in our assessment of what we view as leadership deficiencies, even leadership crisis in many organizations today. And so we've developed a model for kind of the competencies and traits that we believe are required for leaders to be effective today, and more importantly, we've developed a program to support that, and we don't call it leadership development, because we feel like that's also not what this is. That's a buzzword. It's a buzzword, and I think it's also a little bit even tainted, because so much leadership development is about the wrong stuff. We refer to it as leadership discovery. And the way the program operates is we support leaders in discovering themselves, as people, as leaders, as identifying elements of of that skill set and traits that they can gravitate towards and really develop or not develop, but can really leverage. Let's use that word to be more effective. And you know, just give you just a really quick example. You know, where of the mind that leadership is rarely, rarely anymore about technical skills. It's rarely about, you know, a leader's own labor, all the stuff that's been traditional leadership stuff is just price of entry. Now, you know, if you aren't, you know, skilled with PNL, if you, you know, can't work well with a board, if you don't have basic management skills, then that's a very different problem. And you know, we see kind of the primary role of leaders today, in addition to facilitating change and transformation, is human capital. The idea being that everything else is a commodity financing, technology, you name it. That's all has a very short shelf life, shelf life, but as a leader, if you can develop powerful, powerful human capital in your organization, that's not a commodity, that's a deep competitive advantage, and it's about ensuring that Your organization is successful, because you make other people successful, yeah, not because you are an individual rock star with your technical skills or business savvy   Michael Hingson ** 1:02:48 interesting. One of the things that I used to do when I managed and led sales teams and people in companies is I always would say to them, you know, I hired you because I know you can do the job, but at least you sold me on the fact that you can do the job. Some people did a better job of selling and didn't necessarily be as successful as I would have liked, but that's okay, but, but my job isn't to boss you around. My job is to work with you to figure out how I can add value to make you more successful. And the people who got that and who were willing to work on that with me were successful, and we figured out what each other's skills were, and sometimes I taught them things that they didn't know. And went both ways, but we worked together and they were more successful. It's all about collaboration. Yeah,   Wallace Pond ** 1:03:41 it's collaboration. And, you know, in a big element, and the collaboration is part of that, in our view, in our view, just at the transmission collaborative, a big chunk of that human capital piece. It's not just, it's not just leveraging labor. In fact, the last thing, right, that's the last thing it is. What it's about is in you know, in fact, we, we like eschew terms like employees, labor, workforce, workers, because we feel like that commoditizes The people who can potentially bring value in the organization. Yeah, it's our belief that if leaders can engage the people in their organization as human beings, if they see the workforce as humanity, and that's and that's, you know, as simple as that is, you will not hear leadership development organizations say that. We'll say it that way, no. But if leaders can see people in their organization as humanity and can address. As such, and can see them as human beings who don't stop being human at the office door. It's not easy. It's hard to put on a spreadsheet. It's a long term proposition, but if an organization truly wants to be sustainable, if they truly want to outgrow or grow at a rate greater than the competition, it is not going to come from commodities like their next technology or even their access to capital. It's going to be do they have, do they have people in the organization that are fully engaged, that are committed to the organization because they feel valued and taken care of. That's, you know, again, it sounds very simple. That's not language you typically hear in a conversation like this, no,   Michael Hingson ** 1:05:59 and it's not necessarily easy to make happen, but if you do it and you learn how to do it, the more you do it, the easier it becomes. You know, I have heard many people say that they really love their job to the point where it's not a job anymore. It says it's a labor of love. It is what they love to do. And I think as a leader, part of my responsibility is to help people explore that opportunity with whatever they're doing, and the ones who truly discover that they love what they do will will do the very kinds of things that you're talking about.   Wallace Pond ** 1:06:41 Yeah, and you know, one of the things that kind of is frustrating to us, if not even confusing to us at the transformation collaborative, is the extent to which, I mean, again, sometimes we take kind of a harsh position, but the extent to which people should kind of know better are, are, you know, either just doing the wrong thing or clueless, yeah, you know. And one of the big organizations, one of the big consultancies that we still have a lot of faith in, is Gallup, and that's because they're, you know, they have such massive data sets, and they really get it in terms of the people piece. They really, really get it in terms of, you know, the human piece. And, you know, employee engagement detachment continues to decline, you know, from four years ago, they continue. The data is just in for 2023 you know, and they continue to feel lower levels of satisfaction and less connection to mission and purpose. And as a result, they are more and more disengaged. And that's just profoundly expensive to organizations, yeah, to have these huge payrolls of people that are disengaged and and they don't get it. And yeah, get it, yeah, and the data is there, right? And the and folks are are communicating what's not working for them. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 1:08:23 it's pretty straightforward, but people are listening Exactly,   Wallace Pond ** 1:08:26 yeah, and you know, people, they don't feel like they have authority in what's expected. Their managers are not giving them good feedback and coaching. You know, they might be managing time and resources, but they're not developing their people. No one asks anyone's opinion about contributing to goal setting or improvement or innovation. They don't feel like the organization gives a rat's ass about their well being, you know, their sense of purpose being part of a team, I said in a recent LinkedIn post just a few days ago. You know, this is not rocket science. I put it all caps, which I almost never do. This is not rocket science. And yet, there are so many leaders that just seem baffled by what's going on. And kind of, one of our goals at the at the transmission collaborative with our leadership Discovery Program, is to really, really get leaders over that hump, you know, and help them develop a completely different perspective. Now, you said it's not easy to do, and that's true, but it's not just because it's an it's a new approach, new skill set, right, new way of thinking, not just because, you know, organizational structures and compensation and culture doesn't necessarily support it, but it's also really hard because. Is, even if you're that kind of leader, that behavior is not traditionally rewarded for you as a leader, right? Like it, you know, it doesn't fit well into the you know, performance, you know, reports to the board and you know, on the fourth slide of the PowerPoint, it's, you know, it doesn't fit well into short term results. And so to do that as a leader, takes a tremendous amount of courage, and it's a really big risk, because you will be speaking a language that many people around you do not speak, that people you report to do not speak, and that has not been traditionally rewarded. So it's, it's, you're right. It is very hard to do for multiple reasons.   Michael Hingson ** 1:10:52 I hear you, you know what? We have been going almost 70 minutes, and I'm going to have to end because, because we have been going almost 70 minutes, yeah, but I think we should do another one of these.   Wallace Pond ** 1:11:06 I'd love to. In fact, I know that a whole bunch of the questions we kind of talked about before, I know we didn't even get   Michael Hingson ** 1:11:13 to, even get to so I would like to, yeah, I'm   Wallace Pond ** 1:11:16 totally fine. I love that. You know, these are the kinds of conversations I really, really enjoy Michael. I, you know, I don't think we do enough. You know, one of the things that I talked about, what I want to be true in my life, and what have I changed, and whatever, I dedicate a lot of time now to engagement, interactions, connections that I can't monetize, that, you know, that aren't about deliverables, that don't connect to some performance goal, but just are nourishing. Yeah, you know, just, and that's worth a lot, yeah? And I feel that's kind of what today's been. So I really appreciate that opportunity.   Michael Hingson ** 1:12:01 Well, if people want to reach out to you, maybe talk with you further, or consult or are use your your efforts and so on. How do they do that?   Wallace Pond ** 1:12:11 Yeah, so there's a couple ways to do that. If they want to go poke around on the transformation collaborative website, website, then they'll see a lot of stuff about, you know, research. We've done things, we've published trends, services. We provide both with transformation and leadership, discovery.

Did you know that Maine could be the basis of it's own X-Files episode? In part one of our examination of some of the mysteries of Loring Air Force Base, B digs into the weird happenings of October 1975 when an unidentified aircraft penetrated the weapons storage area of the base - famously home to a metric ton of nuclear weapons. Was it related to Russian surveillance in a Cold War espionage bid or a true case of a close encounter of the third kind?  Sources: The Mysterious Cold War Case Of Unidentified Aircraft Descending On Loring Air Force Base by Brett Tingley for The War Zone Suit Seeks to Lift Secrecy Veil from Agency's UFO Documents by Ward Sinclair for the Washington Post (November 3, 1981) My Loring UFO story 1975 by Michael Wallace on YouTube Clear Intent: The Government Coverup of the UFO Experience by Barry Greenwood and Lawrence Fawcett Three Sightings of UFO Reported by The Lewiston Daily Sun (October 28th, 1975) You can reach out to us via email at homegrownhorrorpod@gmail.com - send us stories, questions, Maine movie recommendations, or just say hi! Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/homegrownhorrorpod/⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hghpod/support

Look for the show notes at AnokaCountyHistory.org

After calculating just how fast Molly can run, the Problem Solvers are summoned to Hawaii in 1969, just after the first Moon Landing.  There, they are brought to an Air Force Base to help unscramble a top secret satellite that is needed to track the Astronaut's return to Earth.  If Max & Molly can't undo the Troublemaking Trolls' satellite sabotage, the hero lunar Astronauts might not make it back home safely.  Want more podcasts for the whole family? Grown-ups, subscribe to Starglow+ here Learn more about Starglow Media here Follow Starglow on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube

In January 2023, a U.S. military pilot reported an encounter with a group of unusual objects flying in a diamond formation over the Gulf of Mexico near Eglin Air Force Base. The incident, which eventually came to the attention of Florida Representative Matt Gaetz, became a matter of public record after Gaetz discussed it during a Congressional hearing in the summer of 2023.  Now, the DoD's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office has released its official report on the incident, claiming the case has now been resolved. However, there are several problems with AARO's analysis, and this week on The Micah Hanks Program, we dive into all of the issues that present rationale for why there may be unresolved questions about this alleged UAP incident.  Have you had a UFO/UAP sighting? Please consider reporting your sighting to the UAP Sightings Reporting System, a public resource for information about sightings of aerial phenomena. The story doesn't end here... become an X Subscriber and get access to even more weekly content and monthly specials. Want to advertise/sponsor The Micah Hanks Program? We have partnered with the AdvertiseCast to handle our advertising/sponsorship requests. If you would like to advertise with The Micah Hanks Program, all you have to do is click the link below to get started: AdvertiseCast: Advertise with The Micah Hanks Program Show Notes Below are links to stories and other content featured in this episode: NEWS: US to test ground beef in states with bird-flu outbreaks in dairy cows  Contact with Non-Human Intelligence of the Aquatic Kind: Will Extraterrestrials be Next?A Stunning New AI Has Supposedly Achieved Sentience EGLIN UAP INCIDENT: AARO's official Tweet about the Eglin UAP Incident Matt Gaetz responds    Matt Gaetz Details Shocking UAP Evidence That 'I And I Alone Have Observed'  Congressman Provides Account of Military UAP Image That He Says Matches No “Human Capability” UAP Incident Over the Gulf of Mexico Confirmed in Newly Declassified Files and Images  AARO Has Only “Moderate Confidence” in Findings From Latest UAP Investigation. It's Easy to See Why. BECOME AN X SUBSCRIBER AND GET EVEN MORE GREAT PODCASTS AND MONTHLY SPECIALS FROM MICAH HANKS. Sign up today and get access to the entire back catalog of The Micah Hanks Program, as well as “classic” episodes of The Gralien Report Podcast, weekly “additional editions” of the subscriber-only X Podcast, the monthly Enigmas specials, and much more. Like us on Facebook Follow @MicahHanks on Twitter Keep up with Micah and his work at micahhanks.com.

On March 16, 1967, a strange object was seen hovering above an Air Force Base in Montana. 60 seconds later, an entire fleet of nuclear missiles were knocked offline. What happened next was rollercoaster of secret investigations, government shutdowns and classified reports. But this incident wouldn't stay secret for long... after all, this wasn't the first time an object had appeared at Malmstrom Air Force Base...Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTubeJoin our Secret Society Facebook CommunitySupport us on Patreon.com/ThisParanormalLife to get access to weekly bonus episodes!Buy Official TPL Merch! - thisparanormallife.com/storeIntro music by www.purple-planet.comEdited by Philip Shacklady Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.