Podcasts about cal state

 Could good grades guarantee you a spot in college? California State University (Cal State) has initiated a pilot program in Riverside County, automatically admitting high school seniors with strong GPAs to one of 10 campuses, provided they maintain their grades, complete required courses, and submit an admissions form. This effort has already resulted in approximately 10,600 students being admitted, surpassing last year's 9,800, and aligns Cal State with a national trend of automatic admissions for eligible students.

Sonoma State University announced a contentious proposal this spring to cut $24 million dollars by eliminating six academic departments entirely, and another two dozen degree programs, in addition to cutting all NCAA Division II sports, among other measures. A geology student shares what's at stake for the field and for students and faculty who are mourning the possible loss of a "home away from home." Guests: Jackson Kaiser, Geology student, Sonoma State University Amy DiPierro, Reporter, EdSource Read more from EdSource: Scenes of loss – and resilience – at a Cal State campus facing drastic cuts Education Beat is a weekly podcast, hosted by EdSource's Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald. Subscribe at Apple, Spotify, SoundCloud.

Dr. Claudia Hampton was the first Black woman to serve on the California State University Board of Trustees and was a key force in the fight for affirmative action in the CSU system. Hampton gained the trust of her predominantly male, white fellow board members by employing “sly civility.” In this podcast, AGB Executive Vice President Mary Papazian, former President of San Jose State University, speaks with Dr. Donna Nicol, who is the Associate Dean for Personnel and Curriculum in the College of Liberal Arts at California State University Long Beach and the author of Black Woman On Board, which chronicles Dr. Hampton's tenure on the CSU board and her lasting influence on the Cal State system.

Is quality simply a matter of two categories: good and bad? But then how do you get to "better"? In this episode, Bill Bellows and Andrew Stotz discuss categories and continuum thinking. TRANSCRIPT 0:00:02.4 Andrew Stotz: My name is Andrew Stotz and I'll be your host as we dive deeper into the teachings of Dr. W Edwards Deming. Today I'm continuing my discussion with Bill Bellows who has spent 31 years helping people apply Dr. Deming's ideas to become aware of how their thinking is holding them back from their biggest opportunities. And today is episode six, Category Thinking and Continuum Thinking. Bill, take it away.   0:00:27.9 Bill Bellows: Welcome Andrew great to see you again. All right, so in podcast five, I went back and it was just posted by The Deming Institute. And I just wanna clarify again on the topic of acceptability and desirability. Where we're going tonight is looking at acceptability and desirability in a little bit more detail, a little bit differently, but those are still the prevailing themes. And again, I just wanna reinforce that none of this is to imply that desirability is better than acceptability. What's important is to be aware of when I'm using acceptability thinking. And when I'm using desirability thinking and use the one that makes the most sense in that situation. We were talking earlier about companies whose products we enjoy using and we're loyal to them. And I mentioned that my wife and I have developed a loyalty to Toyota products.   0:01:40.4 BB: Going back to 1989 was our first Toyota product. And I knew I wanted a pickup truck. 'Cause I was borrowing a pickup truck from a number of friends and I thought, I really like a pickup truck. There's a lot you can do with a pickup truck. So, I knew I wanted a pickup truck. And I knew from having worked in my father's gas station, I had reason to believe I wanted a Japanese pickup truck and not an American pickup truck. So, I then it was a question of is it a Mazda, Toyota.   0:02:11.1 AS: Nissan.   0:02:13.2 BB: Sorry Nissan. And I looked at all of them and yeah I just all I knew is I was gonna be one of those. And I think the major reason I went with... My wife and I went with a Toyota... I don't think the prices were that different. But it just had a, it was the styling was a little bit better. But I did not... That's why I bought it.   0:02:46.5 AS: The loyalty wasn't built yet.   0:02:49.0 BB: No I knew to stay away... I knew I had seen plenty of examples of... Well, I had traded in my first car that my father, my parents got me when I was in college was a 1975 Chevy Nova. Four door Chevy Nova. And the reason four doors is important is a... If it was a two door, the door would be longer. But it was a four door. By the time I gave that car to a friend, the engine was running beautifully but the body was falling apart. And, so, by the time I sold it to get the pickup truck, in order to get out of it, I'd have to throw my shoulder into the driver's door. Why? Because the door droop was so great that when you close the door, I mean the door drooped and this is not a four door, this is a two door. So, imagine if it was a two door the door would be even heavier. So, on a four door, the door drooped. And, so, when you closed it, you'd had to lift it and then close it in order to get out you had to... Oh, it's just my wife couldn't drive. It was just a nuisance.   0:04:17.6 AS: And, that in '75 was just about when the Japanese were really starting to go after the US car makers. And but I want to tell you just a quick one. I can't remember if I've told you, but I used to have a 1963 Lincoln Continental here in beautiful Bangkok. And I owned it for 10 years. And then eventually I sold it. But what a beautiful car. And people always ask me the same thing and they said, isn't it hard to take care of? And I said, you gotta remember back in those days, cars were simple.   0:04:49.1 BB: Yeah, yeah. So, the... So, with... So, the experience of 14 years or so, with the '75 Chevy Nova. And the door was like the straw that broke the camel's back. It just done with this, all right. So, we're gonna buy Japanese, bought a Toyota. That was the first one. And I think I've mentioned in the first podcast I mentioned that we had a 1998 Toyota Sienna, which is their first, it was their Toyota third attempt at a minivan. The first one I think was underpowered, the second one... And we knew we wanted a minivan. It was time, the kids were getting a little bit bigger. It was time for minivan. And just as we were ready to go buy it, they had a... I think a competitor came out with dual sliding doors. Dual sliding doors. And, so, instead of Toyota coming out with a one sliding door, they stepped back. I think Chrysler came out with two sliding doors. And they figured we can't come to market with one sliding door. They've got two sliding doors. So, then we waited another year and they finally came out and given all of our delight with the Toyota pickup truck, boom, that's what we wanted. And then the transmission failed, six months later with 10,000 miles in the car.   0:06:18.5 BB: And I have a photo of that. Not only did the transmission fail at 10,000 miles, but it failed on Christmas morning on our way to see friends about an hour away. And this guy, people were going to see, he knew I loved Toyota. And when he drove to pick us up, we transferred everything from that to his Ford F-150. He says to me... So, then we had to have the car towed on a flatbed to his house and the next day to the dealership, what a nuisance headache. But when he showed up, he looks at me knowing that I like Toyota. And he says, how's this data point change your theory about Toyota?   0:07:06.5 AS: I thought he was gonna say, if it was me, I would've said pop in the back.   0:07:12.6 BB: And I was like, yeah, that really hurts. Well when I shared that story with students at Northwestern's Business School, the Kellogg Business School, their advice and these are students that had worked in all different industries from Coke to banking, and a number of 'em have worked in the auto industry. And their advice was, I said, Professor Bellows never buy anyone's first model year, even Toyota. Now I have a friend who he and his wife bought the same model year Toyota Sienna. They did not have a problem.  Oe did. When I met at a Deming conference, a guy who worked in Georgetown, Kentucky which is where the Sienna was made. And, so, I met him at a conference and when he said he worked for Toyota, I said, oh, my wife and I buy nothing but Toyotas. He says, oh. And I said, we have a first model...   0:08:08.6 BB: Year Sienna. And everything was good. And then I'm thinking, I'm gonna ask the guy a question. And I looked straight in his eyes. We were pretty close together. And I'm about to ask him a question. I'm looking straight in his eyes and I said, we got a Toyota Sienna. He says, how do you like it? And I looked right at him and I said, the transmission failed at 10,000 miles. And he rolled his eyes. And I said, so, you know about this. It wasn't a look of shock. It was, yeah, all right. So, I said, all right, all right. Your expression just told me that you know something about this. I said, what's up? He says, we tried. This is so cool. He says, we tried to save a few pennies on a bearing.   0:09:00.8 BB: I said, you did but what you did cost me more than you saved. So, yeah you guys saved a few pennies on a bearing and cost my wife weeks of aggravation to have it towed from where it happened to the place we were going because it Christmas Day, it broke. Everything's shut down on Christmas days. You can't have it right? And, so, we had it towed, had to get a rental car. Then they're complaining about, we had... Who authorized this rental car? We only pay... It was just headache after headache. But we still buy Toyota Andrew. We still buy Toyota. Why? Because I'm afraid to buy from anybody else. Well, part of the reason I wanted to share that with our audience is I buy Toyota products based on value. And I believe that the best value we get in transportation, personal transportation is the money we spend buying a Toyota most often brand new. We've also bought some used, got great use out of them, never had a problem, anything like what I just shared with you. And that's having owned five or six different Toyotas. I mean, right now in our family we have three of them.   0:10:16.7 AS: I think I need to correct you.   0:10:19.1 BB: Go ahead.   0:10:19.9 AS: You buy Toyotas on value and values.   0:10:25.7 BB: Yes!   0:10:28.2 AS: You're aligned with their values and therefore you're willing to look beyond the mistakes and problems that it comes with every product, every service, every company, because you're aligned with their values.   0:10:42.2 BB: Well, what's funny is when we bought the Sienna and we're talking with 'em, doing the driving and signed agree to buy it, that's the color we want. We want these seats, blah, blah, blah. And then you go talk to the closer and the closer's a guy, the gal at the dealership that wants to add on the undercoating and the this and the this and the this and the this. And he wanted to sell us at a premium price, this extended warranty and I dunno what it costs, but I said, I've done a whole lot of research. And he says to me it's so funny. He says, when these things break down, a circuit board breaks and that'll cost you this and this and this, and, so, I'm gonna sign you up for the insurance policy, the extra coverage. And I said, no, and he is going on and on. And I said, look it, I've done a lot of research into how they're made and I said, and the values of that organization. So, I said, the reason we buy Toyota is that I have an understanding, a pretty damn good understanding of how they manage the product, the pieces and how it all comes together. And he's pushing back at me. Finally, I said, I teach university courses on how Toyota operates and their quality system.   0:12:14.8 BB: So, we didn't get the extra coverage. Now it was still covered under warranty, so, it was kind of laughable that. But anyways, the reason I bring that up is that...   0:12:27.3 AS: Before you do that, I want to just say for the listeners and viewers out there, what is the messaging from a corporate strategy perspective? And that is have values that you stand for. Communicate those to the market, stay loyal to them and the customers who align with those values will stick with you through the hard times that you're gonna definitely have. There's a quote by Alexander Hamilton says, "those who stand for nothing, fall for everything." If you do not stand for a clear set of values that the market can perceive, then people are gonna fall away from you as soon as times get tough.   0:13:07.2 BB: Oh yeah. And I...I, I. It's about that and that's why I've read lots about Toyota. How they operate written by people outside of Toyota trying to explain it, people inside of Toyota and their explanations. But part of the reason I bring this up is my fascination, my interest in Dr. Deming's philosophy, is a great deal to do with his system is based on an incredible appreciation of the difference between acceptability and desirability. All other quality management systems, whether it's the quality management within Lean is acceptability based, good parts and bad parts, Operational Excellence, Six Sigma Quality. In fact, there's a quote at the end of chapter 10 in "The New Economics". And chapter 10 was the original last chapter until the third edition came out. In which case there's chapter 11 written in large part by Kelly Allen, a good friend.   0:14:15.1 BB: And when chapter 10 was the end I thought it was pretty cool that at the very end of chapter 10. The last few pages of chapter 10 of “The New Economics” are about Dr. Taguchi's loss function. And this is what turned me on to Dr. Taguchi, was finding “The New Economics" in a brick and mortar bookstore. I knew from ASQ Quality Progress that this was coming out. So, I remember when it came out, this was before Amazon, going to the bookstore. Going through it and saying what does this guy think about Taguchi? Because Taguchi was my, the one I really idolized. And I opened it up and I turned to chapter 10 and it's all about the loss function, the problem and I thought this is way cool. So, the closing quote... The closing... The last sentence in chapter 10 which again was the original last chapter until third edition came out, is the following "Conformance to specifications," that's acceptability, "zero defects," that's acceptability. "Six Sigma quality," which is acceptability "and all other specification-based nostrums all miss the point, ,stated by Donald J. Wheeler."   0:15:42.6 BB: So, then I looked up, but what is a nostrum? And Dr. Deming not Dr. Deming a nostrum is defined as “quack medicine.”  So, "Conformance to specifications, zero defect, Six Sigma quality, and all other specification-based nostrums all miss the point." And, so, I wrote an article about this, gosh, 20 years ago. I said, what's the point? And my explanation, the point is, all of them are about managing parts in isolation. Looking at things in isolation. Again that's acceptability. And as I said earlier, I'm not saying acceptability is bad, I'm just saying acceptability is not desirability. And the other thing I wanna add is, why do I... My wife and I love Toyota products. I've got reason to believe through a lot of research and talking, sharing the ideas that we talk about in these podcasts with people within Toyota. And they have a desirability focus that nobody else... That I'm not aware of anybody else has.   0:16:54.9 BB: And, that's having presented around the world doing classes, at Kellogg Business School, at university. Yeah, the Kellogg Business School Northwestern University. I teach online classes at Cal State Northridge, Southern Utah University. I've lectured at many universities. And I never had anyone come to me working in industry saying, Bill, what you're talking about, we practice where I work. No. And, so, for those that are pursuing the Toyota Production System stuff. My response is, I don't buy Toyota products because they use the Toyota Production System. Now, that may help with getting the car to market faster. But I don't believe the Toyota Production System is why people buy Toyota products. I believe Toyota's quality management system... At least I buy Toyotas because I believe their quality management system, inspired by Dr. Taguchi, inspired by Dr. Deming, is providing something that nobody else has in many industries. All right. So, I wanted to get that out.   0:18:06.7 AS: So, are you saying Toyota Production System is more of a tool that is in their toolbox of quality management system?   0:18:18.4 BB: Um, the Toyota Production System is classic Industrial Engineering.   0:18:26.8 AS: Right.   0:18:27.0 BB: It's how to...   0:18:28.3 AS: It's a natural.   0:18:30.5 BB: How to improve flow, how to improve throughput by minimizing number of steps, by minimizing inventory. It's highly credited to Taiichi Ohno, who was mentored by the founder of the Toyota Motor Company. And it's all about, they don't have a lot of money. So, we need minimal inventory, minimum steps. So, it's like... So, the Toyota Production System is an efficiency based system based on, we don't have a lot of money, we're not gonna buy a lot of inventory. But the quality aspect of the Toyota Production System everywhere, everything I've written, everything I've read by people describing the Toyota Production System it's all explained by acceptability. So, that they may be moving things closer together so people don't walk so far.   0:19:27.8 BB: But what I'm looking at with Dr. Deming's work inspired by Dr. Taguchi is what is it about the quality system that causes those parts to come together so well and the products to perform so well? So, it's not just having the parts when I reach out, the part is there, but those parts integrate better. I've mentioned in the first podcast series that Toyota had 100% snap-fit pickup truck in 1969 at a time when Ford was banging things together using rubber mallets to get the parts together. They took apart and assembled a Toyota pickup truck twice 'cause they didn't believe the results the first time the parts went together without mallets. That's what I'm talking about, that within that system, the ability for the parts to come together to work together cannot be explained by an acceptability based system. And, so, having spoken with people and having the opportunity to share with people within Toyota the ideas we talk about inspired by Dr. Deming, I've learned that they do desirability in a way that nobody... I'm not aware of anyone else having done.   0:20:48.5 BB: All right, so, what I want to get into, add to the discussion tonight, relative to category thinking, is this idea of category thinking, continuum thinking. Category thinking quite simply is putting things in categories. So, in acceptability we have two categories, good or bad, or maybe three categories. It's good or it's scrap or it's rework. So, category thinking is generically putting things into categories. And so, we could look at category... Categories could be... There could be two categories, three categories.   0:21:27.1 BB: It's been a while since I've gone to see a movie, but I believe they still have a rating system of PG, PG-13, R, R-17, maybe X. Those are categories. Fruits and vegetables. Those are two high level categories. Within each of those categories, we have types of, we have apples and oranges, and within them we have types of apples. That's all category thinking. You go into a supermarket and every aisle... There's the cereal aisle. That's a category. There's the canned goods, those are categories. Religions - talk about categories. So, every religion you look at is its own category. And, then within those categories they have subcategories. How about music? How many categories in music are there Andrew?   0:22:18.9 AS: Well, it gets all messed up on my iTunes where I'm like, that's not heavy metal. That's rock.   0:22:28.6 BB: Yeah. And then there's types of rock. In the beginning it was rock and roll, and then there's types of rock and roll.   0:22:34.0 AS: Progressive rock.   0:22:34.0 BB: Progressive rock. And then we have people... So, what category would we put... I think somebody asked Lucinda Williams, we're going to see her in a few weeks. So, what category? Well, she doesn't fit a category. So, that's category thinking. Category thinking is putting things in categories. We could say, where did you go to college? That's a category. These are USC grads, those are Cal State grads. And, part of the point I want to make is that we use category thinking all the time. Putting people in categories is what we do. Such as you and our daughter are Cal State graduates.   0:23:17.6 BB: And, so, what degrees do they have? Those are categories. So, I don't know what we would do if we couldn't put things in the categories. So, I don't think category, putting people in category is not a bad thing. Now, when you start to associate values with the categories, now we're getting into racism or sexism and then, okay. But this idea that putting people in categories is a bad thing, I'd say category thinking is our simple way of organizing everything around us and these little file cabinets. Now added to that is when you put four or five things into a category, then what you're implying is that they're all the same. And that gets into acceptability.   0:24:12.8 BB: So, if this is a good part, that's a good part. That's a bad part. That's a good part. So, all the good parts go into the good part category. Then we say, oh, these are all good. Then we get into the sense of, and they're interchangeable. Well, maybe not. And that has to do with what I call continuum thinking. All right, so before we get to continuum thinking, Andrew, remember the question. What do you call the person who graduates last in their class of medical school?   0:24:43.3 AS: I don't remember that.   0:24:45.2 BB: Okay, so take a wild guess, Andrew, putting the pressure on, what do you call the person that graduates last in his or her class in medical school?   0:24:55.7 AS: Surgeon general.   0:24:56.9 BB: What's cool is that's a question I've been able to ask all around the world. Now, depending on where I go, I can't talk about baseball because they don't understand baseball. Or depending on where I go, I can't say soccer or I have to say football. Then if I say football, I have to say, well, I mean your football, not American football. But what's neat about this question, what do you call the person that graduates last in their class in medical school, that's "doctor." That's also acceptability thinking. From the first in class to the last in class, they all met requirements. Andrew, you know what that is? Acceptability. So, category thinking is a form... Acceptability is a form of category thinking. All right. Now I'm gonna give you three numbers and I'm going to ask you which two of the three are closest to being the same. You ready?   0:25:58.0 AS: Yep.   0:26:01.7 BB: 5.001, 5.999 and 6.001.   0:26:11.1 AS: 5.999 and 6.001.   0:26:17.6 BB: Are close to being the same?   0:26:18.8 AS: Yeah.   0:26:20.2 S3: That's what most people think. Okay. But...   0:26:25.7 AS: One's a six and one's a five. That's a problem.   0:26:29.5 BB: All right. And, so, again, the numbers were 5.001, 5.999 and 6.001. And the question is, which two of the three are close to being the same? And, what most people will say is 5.999 and 6.001, which infers that what does same mean?   0:26:48.5 AS: The integers?   0:26:49.1 BB: If you answered.   0:26:49.9 AS: I looked at the integers at the end rather than the whole number at the beginning.   0:26:56.7 BB: But is it safe to say you chose those numbers by saying they were closest together?   0:27:01.6 AS: Correct. Yes.   0:27:03.2 BB: So, in your case you're saying, if I plot those numbers from zero to infinity. Then those two are really close together. That's one definition of same is proximity. But, same could also be, they begin with five, in which case the first two are close to being the same. 'cause they both begin with five or they're both less than six. Or, I could say 5.001 and 6.001, because they both end in .001. So, it turns out there's three answers to the question. But the answer of the last two and proximity is what category is what continuum thinking is about. On a continuum these two are closest together. All right.   0:27:51.2 AS: And I have to tell you, we're gonna be running out of time, so we gotta wrap this up.   0:27:55.4 BB: All right. So, when I asked you the question, what do you call the person who graduates last in their class of medical school? And you said doctor, that's category thinking. If you used... Well actually the thing is, if I ask, what do you call the person who graduates last in their class at the United States, US Army's Military Academy, known as West Point, one answer is Second Lieutenant. 'cause they're all Second Lieutenants. But West Point uses continuum thinking to define the very last person in their class. So, it's the last person in class is not called second lieutenant. The last person in the class is called goat, as in the animal.   0:28:43.2 BB: And a very famous goat at West Point, who from my reading, was very proud to have graduated last because there's... I think Mike Pompeo, who was Secretary of State under president Trump, was first in his class at West Point, first in his class. A very famous, I wanna be the last person in my graduating class at West Point was George Custer. You've heard of him?   0:29:14.3 AS: Yep.   0:29:15.5 BB: And, he was deliberately lazy, so he wanted to be the very last person in his class. But that's, but the idea is that category thinking says they're all Second Lieutenants, they're all doctors. Continuum thinking is when you say this is the first, this is the second, this is the third. And when you come up, when you start to order them and say, the last one is goat, that's looking at things on a continuum, which is continuum thinking. Well, given that most quality systems, including Boeing's Advanced Quality System, are based on category thinking and category thinking, you have good parts and bad parts. When I ask a question as I brought up in the podcast five. I said I go to audiences and ask, how much time do you spend discussing parts which are good, that arrive on time? And the answer is none. And I say, well why is that? 'Cause in that system they're focusing on taking things from bad to good. And then what? Stopping at good.   0:30:20.0 BB: Well, part of the thing I wanna get across in this episode is the reason we're stuck in that model of stopping at good is because the quality system is based on category thinking of bad and good. And in a world of good and bad, there is no better. In a world of short and tall, there is no taller. And, so, continuum thinking allows us to go beyond that. And, so, going back to Dr. Deming's quote, conformance requirements, which is category thinking, zero defect, Six Sigma quality, those are all category based systems, which means it's good parts and bad parts. But then I come back to how does a system which is based on good parts and bad parts deliver such incredible reliability in the products? And, I believe it's because they're using continuum thinking. Not... And again not continuum thinking everywhere, but I think they have very judiciously figured out where to use continuum thinking and that is their differentiator. In my admiration for Dr. Deming's System of Profound Knowledge is, I've not come across any other type of management theory, which has that level of fidelity to explain that. And, in order to practice continuum thinking, implement it, you have to work together.   0:31:43.9 AS: And I'm gonna wrap this up by... One of the revelations that I come upon when I listen to what you're saying is. That's also what makes Deming's teachings sometimes hard to grasp, because there is no clear category and there is no clear beginning and end. There is no certification and therefore it's just hard for us who are used to being in categories to grasp. And that's my conclusion what I draw from everything you've just said.   0:32:16.6 BB: Well and let me add to that, really appreciate you saying that. Let me add to that,much of what I was doing at Rocketdyne... When I began to appreciate that the reason I was focusing on solving problems, solving problems and the problems we didn't solve were the problems where the customer, NASA said, we're gonna take this work and take it to the company down the street because you guys can't make it happen.  And, that scared the hell out of me that we're gonna lose this work to competitors because... And when I looked at it, was why are we stuck?  And I looked at Dr. Deming's work, the reason we're stuck is we're... 'cause our quality system is based on good parts and bad parts. We're waiting for trouble to happen. And, so, but still what I found is, and when I started to focus on... I went from being 100% Taguchi to more about Dr. Deming's work and trying to come up with everyday examples to make Dr. Deming's work more accessible.   0:33:16.9 BB: So, in Dr. Deming's work, you're not gonna find category thinking, continuum thinking. So many of the concepts we talk about in this series, in the prior series are... I refer to them as InThinking Concepts, just trying to make it easier for people to begin to absorb the brilliance of Dr. Deming's work. Because, I think absent that, when he says quality, what kind of quality is he talking about? Acceptability quality, desirability quality. So, I'm with you, I think the work is brilliant. I'm just hoping through our conversations and these podcasts that we can make his work far more accessible.   0:33:56.4 AS: Yep. Well, I think we're doing that. And Bill, on behalf of everyone at The Deming Institute and the audience, I wanna thank you again for this discussion. For listeners, remember to go to deming.org to continue your journey. Of course, if you wanna keep in touch with Bill, just find him on LinkedIn. This is your host Andrew Stotz. And I'm gonna leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Dr. Deming. "People are entitled to joy in work."

Guests: Shrey Modi, Software Engineer Intern, Teladoc HealthOn LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/shreymodi7/Rahul Vishwakarma, Blue Ridge Labs, Robin HoodOn LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulvishwakarma/________________________________Host: Saman FatimaOn ITSPmagazine | https://www.itspmagazine.com/itspmagazine-podcast-radio-hosts/saman-fatima________________________________This Episode's SponsorsAre you interested in sponsoring an ITSPmagazine Channel?

Welcome to the Aphasia Access, Aphasia Conversations Podcast. I'm Ellen Bernstein Ellis, Director Emeritus of the Aphasia Treatment Program at Cal State East Bay in the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, and a member of the Aphasia Access Podcast Working Group.  Aphasia Access strives to provide members with information, inspiration and ideas that support their aphasia care through a variety of educational materials and resources. Brief topic intro I'm today's host for an episode that will feature Dr Felicity Bright. We'll discuss her research looking at factors impacting wellbeing,  engagement and hope. Guest bio   Felicity Bright is a registered speech language therapist and associate professor in rehabilitation at Auckland University of Technology in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Her research examines cultures of care, and in particular, how the cultures and practices in rehabilitation respond to the needs and priorities of patients and those who support them. She has a particular interest in stroke and in the needs and experiences of those with communication impairment through her work, Felicity seeks to support practitioners services and rehabilitation organizations and to provide better person centered care. Listener Take-aways In today's episode you will: Explore how qualitative research promotes the nuanced study of meaningful clinical practice Consider cultural differences in well-being and what this might mean for how we work with people with aphasia and their support networks Reflect on the importance of having discussions with patients about hope and well-being Discuss how culture and organizations impact healthcare practice for individuals with aphasia Show notes edited for conciseness Ellen Bernstein-Ellis Felicity, welcome to our show. Thank you for agreeing to be our guest today. Felicity Bright  Thank you for having me. It's great to be here. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  Welcome Felicity. We're going to start today with  an icebreaker question. The one you selected for today is, “Do you have  a favorite book or movie about aphasia? Felicity Bright  It was hard to choose one. Actually, I was just looking at my bookshelf and I went back to myself as a fairly new speech and language therapist quite a few years ago now. One that was really transformative for my practice was Talking about Aphasia by Suzie Parr and Sally Bing.  It's a classic, but it was a beautifully written book that really opened my eyes to the experiences of people with aphasia beyond all the technical work that we'd learned in university and so on, but it brought to life the humanity of the people who have aphasia, and really helped me rethink why I do what I do, and what the real impacts of aphasia can be for people. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  Yes, that's a beautiful book that brings that all to the forefront. And I want you to say the title and author again, in case I spoke over you a moment ago, Felicity Bright The book is Talking about Aphasia and the authors are Susie Parr, Sally Bing and Sue Gilpin with Chris Ireland, Ellen Bernstein-Ellis We'll put that (i.e. citation)  into the reference list on our speaker notes. So thank you. And as we start today's interview, I was wondering if you'd like to share your path from clinician to researcher, because we've had several guests who have started in clinical work and then came to their doctoral work and research a little bit later. So,  I'd love it if you could share that with our listeners. Felicity Bright Sure. So I worked as a speech and language therapist in New Zealand. We are speech language therapists. I worked in a range of neurological settings, from acute stroke neurosurgery, did a little bit of ICU, did some rehab in inpatient services and in community, and really enjoyed that work, but I'd always had a long standing interest in research. I was a bit of a geek, you know, When I was in training, that was, that was me,  I was the geek. And so I'd always kind of expected at some point I would go down the research track. It was prompted after I had my first baby, and my work required me to either go back full time or to not work. And so at that point, I chose to not go back to work full time, and a research job came up at Auckland University of Technology, and I'd followed their work for a while. We don't do speech therapy here, it was rehabilitation research, and I was offered an opportunity to be a research officer doing interventions as part of a randomized control trial with people with traumatic brain injury. And so that kind of gave me the space to bring together some clinical work, but also some research work. It gave me the opportunity to do my Masters alongside this with my fees paid. So that was fantastic. And it really solidified for me that I was quite happy and enjoyed being in that kind of clinical research space. And so I've been in the university now for 15, nearly 16 years Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  Wow, that's a great story. So now you have a 15 year old, right? Felicity Bright I have a 16 year old who is now taller than I am. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis Well, thank you for sharing that.  I'm just really looking forward to a discussion around some, what I consider critical but hard to define and challenging to research topics. like engagement, wellbeing and hope.  I want to start by asking, how did you end up researching a topic like engagement or hope? You did say during our planning meeting that you research things that you're bad at, which made me laugh. So that sounds like some courageous and reflective exploration. So maybe talk a little more about that. Felicity Bright Yeah, I am a bit of a selfish researcher. I research the things that I find tricky and a little bit hard, because for me, I want to learn how can I do better at this? How can I help my students learn how to be better in these areas? How can I help clinicians not make the mistakes that  I've made. I guess trying to be a better clinician has been at the heart of a lot of the work that I do. And you know, when I was working full time in clinical practice, I had patients who would stick with me where I just felt I let them down. They had such a short window of rehabilitation access. They were living with stroke for the rest of their lives. They maybe had eight or 12 weeks of speech therapy. There were just times when I really felt I missed the mark for them, when they didn't get the best rehab they could have had. And it was when I was working in the university in this randomized control trial of goal setting interventions after traumatic brain injury that it started to help me reflect on some of the why I was maybe having some of the challenges I was having. So in this trial, which was quite prescribed because it's a randomized control trial, I was noticing that patients seem to be engaging with these interventions a lot more than the people who I worked with in clinical practice, and that kind of surprised me a little bit. I also noticed that-- we were using Mark Ylvisaker's approach to goal setting around what  is meaningful identity based goal setting--and people were identifying hopes and goals and dreams that would have left me panicking as a speech and language therapist. What do I do about this? But it made me realize, actually, I didn't need to panic about that, and there were ways to engage with people about their hopes and dreams that honored those hopes and dreams, that kept them alive. But also, I could see ways that  I could work with this. I could bring my speech therapy hat and help people. And so it highlighted to me that maybe the things that I had perceived to be difficult or issues, didn't need to be and there were ways to think about these things differently and ways to work differently to better support people. So working on this trial, and I did some quite structured reflection around that with some of my colleagues, writing in auto ethnography around this, gave me the opportunity to reflect on these areas, but also highlighted that there was the real opportunity to do more nuanced and more detailed research that would bring to life different ways that we could support people to hold hope, to engage in rehabilitation that is meaningful and that might be able to produce some quite tangible suggestions to support clinicians and to support the people with stroke who we work with. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  I just want to say that these intangible, some what we call intangible topics that you've tackled, you always seem to end with tangible suggestions, and that's what I have found so inspiring. And we're going to circle back to hope in a few more questions. But, I just want to say, not only has my clinical thinking been informed and inspired by your research topics, but I've also just learned so much from the variety of qualitative methodologies that you've used in your work. I was wondering if you could share how you developed your expertise in qualitative research, maybe even offer some tips to people wanting to develop their own skill set. And okay, maybe I'm being a little selfish interviewer. You just said selfish researcher, but I found this challenging, and I've been trying to dip my toe, or I've fallen in head first,  trying to develop my skill set around qualitative research. What's your advice?  Felicity Bright  I was really fortunate. I came into research, into a team that had qualitative expertise and that used a variety, but not a wide variety, of different qualitative approaches. And it was a team, and still is a team, that has really high standards for methodological rigor. So to us, it's really important to do research that is robust and rigorous and that anchors back to the underpinning theory and philosophy that underlies each of the approaches that we use. But I was also really lucky in my research that I had supervisors and bosses who really supported innovation, who didn't tell me, no, this is how we do things, who didn't expect me to come into a study and do it just as they had told me to do. But they created the space for me to explore when I was working as a clinical researcher, but also as a master's and as a PhD student. Really had no issues when I said I'm going to go to the library, and I would just sit in the library and read qualitative textbooks and come back with a completely hair brained idea, but that actually turned into something that was really interesting and meaningful. So the Voice Centered Relational Approach that I've used a number of times came from sitting in the library one afternoon and just reading Feminist Research Methodology books. And I think one of my tips would be read outside speech and language therapy. There's amazing work that is happening, not just in the health disciplines or education spaces, but I love reading health sociology journals. I get notifications of a number of different journal types that alert me to different work. One of my recent projects I used Applied Tensions Analysis, which I'd never heard of, but I had a notification come across for a paper about domestic violence settings and kind of how services work. That's not in my area of research or clinical expertise, but there was something within that abstract that made me go, oh, there's an idea there that is similar to the ideas that I'm trying to get at in my stroke research. And so reading widely, I use Twitter a lot as a way of, kind of coming up to date with different research. I use trial and error. I've tried things and got them terribly wrong. I tried Grounded Theory  for about a year for my Masters, and it was atrocious. But also I found that doing research with people with aphasia pushes you to be innovative. A lot of the methodologies as they are published don't necessarily quite fit with the types of interviews or the types of data that we have, and so for me, that's provided an opportunity to test and do things differently. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis I mean, that's an inspiring response and encouraging support. So thank you. During our planning discussion, you also referred me to the Life Thread model and the 2008 article by Ellis Hill, Payne and Ward. What a wonderful article. So thank you for that. I was particularly taken with its implications for clinical practice and how it might guide us in asking questions in a better way to help us understand the social realities of our clients, to prioritize that. To understand how important the social reality is for our clients. Could you please share with our listeners some of the core concepts of the Life Thread model and how it's informed your work? Because I do see the connection there. Felicity Bright  Yeah, I came across this, Carolyn Alice Hill, who developed it, I think, as part of her PhD, was a collaborator of one of my PhD supervisors, and so Cath put me onto it. But the Life Threads model is about identity. And Carolyn's work was in stroke, and she was kind of talking to how identity changes and develops over time. And the Life Threads model talks to how our lives and our identities are made up of many threads, and those threads, they can change over time. But when there's a traumatic event like a stroke, it can cause some threads to break or be frayed, and that can be really challenging. We know there's a lot of work around aphasia and identity construction and identity loss, that's come around. But also what we know is that stroke can also prompt people to think about what are the threads that they want to continue post stroke.  Maybe there are some threads, I found in my hope research, where people are saying,”I don't want to be that person anymore. That's not something that I value”, and for them, sometimes the stroke could be an opportunity to rethink what are the threads that I now want to bring into my life as I weave this new identity of somebody post stroke, but still continues threads that have come through from before the stroke. We know from the hope research that I was doing that it was often really hard for people to see these threads.  It kind of felt like there was a pre-stroke life and a post-stroke life, and that there was quite a disruption. Those threads were cut. And so for me, it prompted questions about how do our conversations as clinicians help people identify the threads that are important for them to thread through their life. What are the new threads that they want to pick up on? You know, some of the work I've done, and we will talk about this a bit later on, around life after stroke, has highlighted how actually a lot of the conversations that happen between clinicians focus around things like tasks and activities and doing things, but there isn't necessarily a lot of conversation about identity or about what is meaningful and what do people want to carry through, and how can clinicians support that? And I would say that if we can kind of tune into the threads that matter to people or that people want to matter in their lives, it gives us a chance to tailor therapy to be much more personalized, more meaningful and more engaging, and I would suggest, probably leads to better outcomes for people. What we know from quite a bit of the research, not just my research, but other work, is that people are often doing this identity work on their own, without support. And we know that it's really hard, because our identities are social and they're relational, and they occur through connection and through communication, all of these things that are disrupted by aphasia, often. And so I think the Life Threads model really prompts us to think how can we as clinicians, support people to engage in conversations about identity, and how can we overtly, really attend to supporting identity within the work that we do. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  Wow, that's beautiful. And yes, I think there's been, fortunately, a growing understanding of the importance of looking at the lack of support for this identity work with us with our clients, and I can really see how the Life Threads model has played an important role in your thinking and research. I recommend our readers to the article because it has some great examples of how to maybe flex the way you ask questions to help understand the narrative better. So I think it's, a marvelous article, I just want to take a moment and let our listeners know about the fabulous interview that you did with Michael Biel on the ANCDS podcast where you discussed engagement and ways you might incorporate Goal Attainment Scaling to help our clients establish meaningful goals.  I'll put the link to that, along with the citations to all of the work we're discussing today in our show notes. That also gives me a chance to say I don't have to cover everything today, because he did a really good job on those topics. But at the end of that podcast with Michael, you highlighted what was coming next, and that was your work on wellbeing. You've been exploring, and this is a quote by you, “what does it look like to explicitly attend to holistic, long term wellbeing?” Can you discuss some of the takeaways from your 2024 article, Psychosocial Well being After Stroke in Aotearoa, New Zealand, a Qualitative Meta-synthesis with your co authors, Ibell-Roberts and Wilson. Maybe we can just start by talking about the term psychosocial wellbeing. That's an important one to understand, but it can vary depending on one's cultural context.  Just to start with that, so yeah, good luck with all of that! Felicity Bright  It's a massive question, and it's funny, I started with the term psychosocial wellbeing, and I really intentionally used the language of psychosocial to kind of move away from thinking about just psychological wellbeing, which tended to be framed more from a mood perspective. And so I really wanted to be attending to some of the emotional, and the social, and the relational elements of wellbeing. But actually, I've now dropped the psychosocial because what we found is, when we talk to our people with stroke in the community, as part of our research, that term is completely meaningless to them, but the term wellbeing is something that resonates. Wellbeing is a really, firstly, a really nebulous term, but it's also really multifaceted. And I guess the place we've come to is, we view wellbeing as kind of quite unique to an individual, but it's deeply relational, and it's influenced through connection with people, with their cultures and with their communities, and all of those areas need attention. Now, in this piece of work that you referred to, Qualitative Metasynthesis, we were looking across the literature in Aotearoa, New Zealand, when we look at all the work that's been done, looking at life after stroke, and living life after stroke, what do people say about wellbeing and that highlighted that there were a number of features. Now, one thing I want to flag is that within New Zealand, we have an indigenous population, the  Māori population of New Zealand, who have been here for centuries before Pakeha came and colonized New Zealand. And one of the things that's been really important in our work is to really make sure that we are upholding the voices of Māori, who are often either not included in research, or are involved in research that is not particularly culturally safe, or where their perspectives are kind of subsumed within the wider perspectives of the dominant Pakeha, or European culture. And so one of the things we've been really lucky to do with this is to have my colleague BJ Wilson, who was leading the Māori stream, so she engaged with our  Māori data and literature uniquely. So we upheld that in its own right. That's context, because I'm going to talk to two different ways of thinking about wellbeing, one that was general from all of the literature and one that was specific to Māori . So when we look across all of the New Zealand literature, including the  Māori literature, we kind of saw there were probably four key areas that seemed to matter for wellbeing. Having strong connections with family, with old, pre stroke friends, but also with new friends, people who had also been through stroke and had some similar experiences. The sense of self that was connected, where people had a sense of being connected to who they were before the stroke, who they are now, and have an idea of who do I want to be in the future? And there was a sense of coherence, sense of thread that went between those identities. There was, when they experienced wellbeing,  a general sense of stability in the present. So things were okay now. It didn't mean that things were perfect. Some of the literature has suggested that people have to have positive emotions if they're going to have a sense of wellbeing. But actually, this qualitative meta synthesis, and the following qualitative work we've done has suggested, no, life is never 100% positive for any of us, but it's about having a balance of, yes, maybe there are some hard times, but also there are some good times as well.  That overall, there's an equilibrium of emotions, Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  Right the duality, like be able to hold the duality Felicity Bright  Absolutely and kind of be okay with it, recognize that each of them has a time and a place. People also, when there was a sense of wellbeing, had a vision for the future, kind of a sense of moving towards that. So, yes,  they were okay in the present, but they also had a sense that the present is not my future for the rest of my life. I can see a life that is meaningful and enjoyable, and I'm taking steps towards it. But when we looked at the literature from Māori, and this was the analysis led by my colleague, Bobby-Jo, it also came through ideas like whanaungatanga and ngā hono. So whanaungatanga talks to the notion of connections, and ngā hono talks to connections and kind of belonging as well. And that was a sense of connection to whānau. So that is to people's wider kinship networks, not just blood relations like a family would be, but to kinship networks who are meaningful to the person. Having a sense of connection and belonging in their community, but also to places of meaning. So not just people, but to places. We also notice an idea around ko ahau, so being connected to their identity as Māori, to their cultural identity, in a sense that their cultural identity was recognized and was valued and supported by those around them, including healthcare professionals. Ideas of mana and wairua. So mana talks to the inherent standing and value that an individual has. And we all know that in a healthcare context, actually, that can be diminished because you become a patient in the healthcare context. But actually, for wellbeing, having that mana recognized and valued and upheld was really critical. And when one's personhood is understood and respected, that also helped with the sense of wairua, I guess, the spiritual essence of the person. And finally, was the notion of rangatiratanga, which is about autonomy and control and the ability to make decisions for oneself.  We can see that while there were similarities between our  Māori and our non-Māori groups, there were also cultural differences. So for wellbeing, for Māori, had wider integrations with their sense of whānau, their family and kinship networks, and for their culture and wellbeing was unique for each whānau within the research. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  I'd like to take a moment and have you elaborate a little bit more on that concept of the relationship of whānau to wellbeing, and how the whānau may be impacted by the stroke and subsequent aphasia. So often our family and support network does not receive direct attention. And here, you're elevating it quite a bit, so maybe you could speak to that a bit more. This is really top of mind for me, because I just went to a think tank meeting and hearing the stories of the care providers saying, I'm not sure I mattered in this equation of my spouse's health care rehabilitation.It just really struck me to hear that. So please, let's talk a little bit more about those values. Felicity Bright  Yeah, absolutely, for all of the people in our wellbeing research and in the previous hope research and so on that I've done, kind of people's whānau, their family and their social connections were absolutely critical to their recovery. And what came through, when we were looking at Māori experiences, was particularly also the intergenerational aspect, like sometimes within stroke services, we might think about the partner a little bit, not always particularly well. And I'll talk to that in a minute. But actually, we could also hear within our  Māori whānau, kind of the impacts for generations above and generations below, like the disruption to relationships between grandparents and grandchildren, and how the grandparent who may have aphasia, would usually have a really critical role in passing on family knowledge, or passing on Matauranga, kind of Māori cultural knowledge. But actually, because of the way the stroke affected them, they couldn't do that and take that role on, and so that impacted not just on the relationship, but also kind of on the identity and how Māori culture could be passed on through a whānau unit. But we've also heard exactly what you talk about. Our services are focused around the person with stroke rather than their whānau, but our services are also really short term. And so what  we can see from the research is that the family and the whānau become the connectors and the supporters. They are the consistent people. They hold, usually, deep knowledge of the person that often the healthcare professional doesn't hold. And we're doing some work at the moment around communication access in stroke units.  And even in the context of really significant aphasia, we're hearing about how whānau, even though they don't know about aphasia, they don't know about communication strategies.  But because they know how to read the person, they know their non verbal communication, they are actually really powerful translators, and hold the expertise that, actually, we don't hold as Speech and Language Therapists.  But we also know that the whānau are key in helping people access supports outside the healthcare system, and they do a lot of that navigation work that they are left to do because the healthcare system doesn't do it very well. And like you say, that's really challenging when the whānau's well-being is impacted themselves, you know, but that isn't seen consistently, and it isn't acknowledged. They very quickly become the carer, rather than, this is this person's wife and they've been married for 45 years. Or this is this person's husband, and they've got three young children at home. What is this going to mean for their relationship as a couple, for their relationship as parents? And so the families are talking to us about the exhaustion and the grief and the shock and the loss.  The relief that the person is alive, but again, the duality, there is relief, but there is also distress from the way that the stroke is impacting. And so we would really be calling for much more focus on everybody's wellbeing in this context, because if the wellbeing of whānau is not there, that impacts also on the wellbeing of the person. And I think we need to be shifting how we think about who is our client, whose needs do we serve, and what is our role in supporting the social and relational context around the person Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  That's beautiful. You really highlighted that role, the role of the whānau. And you also identify, Felicity, some other key contributors to wellbeing, and then how those might really impact our clinical goal setting, and I know that's always such an important aspect of how we think as clinicians. You have to document because we're in a system, which we'll talk about. Maybe you can share some other factors that you identified. Felicity Bright  Yeah, so I would be encouraging people to think about what are all the things that seem to support people's long term wellbeing? And those are things, like the relationships they hold within their family, but also within their social networks and within their work networks and so on, Thinking about the different emotions that people might be experiencing. Thinking about hope and what supports people to hold hope, and what do people hope for. Think about the connections that matter to people, the connections to people.  The cultural things that matter for people's wellbeing.  The connections to community activities and roles and so on. And think about the things that matter and are meaningful for individuals that usually fall outside our traditional SMART goals that we use in New Zealand, you know? Is it smart, specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time bound? What is it? I would be saying our goal should be focusing on what makes a good life for this person. And I would be encouraging you, if you're a clinician, looking at the goals that you're setting for the person.  Where is the good life in those goals? Is that up front and center and documented on the page that everyone can see it? That's something I learned through my goal setting research. That was my first research job, the importance of taking people's words, putting their words on a page, and keeping the words where everybody could see it. So where are the things that support wellbeing and that constitute a good life in our goal setting? Where are they in the interventions that we're doing? And I would be really encouraging people to reflect on how they are making the links explicit between the therapeutic tasks and the things that really matter to people. Because we know from the engagement work that when people can see the link between what they're doing in therapy and what matters to them in life, it is much more likely to be engaging and is much more likely to support them to persist, even when it's difficult, because they can understand this is why I'm doing this thing. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  Right? Oh, that's beautiful. That really leads nicely into another 2024 article that you've put out focused on wellbeing.  And that's The physical wellbeing is our top priority: Healthcare professionals' challenges in supporting psychosocial wellbeing and stroke services. That article examines what seems to be a mismatch between knowing as clinicians that wellbeing is important, right, and being able to specifically address it within our clinical context. So, we say that we want to, and we know it's important, but the ability to get there, it's quite challenging. I was wondering if you could highlight some of your findings and key recommendations. And I think one of those actually addresses the graduate curriculum. I think that is really going back to the beginning, right? So, please share some of the wonderful work from that article. Felicity Bright So the context for this work is, this is part of a bigger program of research I'm doing around wellbeing after stroke. And this isn't specific to people with aphasia, but we do have people with aphasia in the research.  This research came from this issue-- we've got decades of literature that says that wellbeing is important. We've got a body of literature that says clinicians know wellbeing is important, but we are persistently not addressing wellbeing, and we've got decades of patient experience data that says this is an unmet need. So I was really interested in understanding, why have we got this persistent mismatch between what is known what matters and what is done, and so using an approach called institutional ethnography to try and get into the cultures and the structures that contribute to this, the rationale behind that is I didn't want to be creating solutions that were going to be completely unattainable in the healthcare context. And so I wanted to understand what's going on in the structure of the healthcare system, and how might we be able to work with that or push against that, to create different ways of thinking about how we work to deal with this persistent issue. So this project, this part of the research, we were looking at, why are clinicians not seeming to address wellbeing? And so we interviewed over 30 clinicians, I think, within this research for a whole range of healthcare disciplines. What came through really consistently was everybody wanted to support wellbeing. Everybody thought it was important, but there were a number of factors that made it difficult, and we traced as to why that was so. Firstly, we can look back to when the person first comes into the service. They come into the emergency department. There's often a code stroke that's called. It's a time of really busy early biomedical focus around investigating the stroke, doing assessments. The first couple of days are about intervening to prevent another stroke or to prevent complications. And dysphagia assessment is a classic in New Zealand. Dysphagia assessment is usually prioritized over communication assessment because it is seen to have particular risks and contribute to particular complications. And so we've got this really early biomedical focus as people come through the first few days. Then the focus shifts a little bit to assessments and treating impairment in function. And when we were interviewing clinicians, they were talking about wanting to give people the best chance of recovery, and that linked to ideas around neuroplasticity and the importance of early intervention for maximizing neuroplasticity and brain remodeling. There was a real focus on addressing the practicalities like toileting and dressing and what was needed to get people home. And there was a view often that emotions could wait. We need to do the practicalities first. We can do the other stuff later. This was a time of focusing on helping people survive, get through and get home, and it was in the context of really busy wards.  You know, sitting and watching nurses work, they are flat out. They are understaffed, and they have very limited time to be doing these aspects of work. But all of this contributes in this wider healthcare system that in New Zealand, and I suspect internationally, is short staffed, underfunded. We've got more demand than we've got beds. There is a really strong focus on getting people home. Now that's not inherently bad. A lot of our people that we speak to want to be home. Home is a more healing environment for many people than being in hospital. But when the focus is on getting people home, and that is usually about, is the person physically safe to be home, what can happen is other forms of work and other impacts of stroke can be devalued or be forgotten. And what we could see is people were doing work to support wellbeing within this, but it was kind of a particular form of wellbeing work. They would acknowledge a person's emotions, if they came up through interactions.  They would be responding to the emotional cues that people gave off that they were maybe feeling a bit uncertain or a bit upset. They talked about the importance of listening to the person, but that was often couched in a ‘I can listen for so long, but then I need to get on with my session', because the assessment, the treatment, the moving people forward wasn't important, and they would look to others to help. But the problem is, I would say this, this did a really good job of dealing with the tip of the iceberg, the emotions that were on the surface. But if we think back to what I've just said about what matters for wellbeing,  relationships, connection, sense of self, hope, those things are not addressed. What we saw was that wellbeing was other to the core work of any individual discipline. That didn't work for anybody. Didn't work for our patients that we spoke to. It didn't work for our clinicians as well, because we could also see the moral injury and the burnout that comes when you can't offer the services that you know people are wanting and needing. And when we think about what do we do about that? Well, yeah, it's tricky, and I don't have any great answers, but training and education is one thing. So when we think about wellbeing as seen as other to the core business of the disciplines, we need to look at, what is it that we're teaching our students? What are we saying is core work of speech therapy or of physiotherapy or of nursing. I've got the privilege of chairing the accreditation body for speech therapy in New Zealand, and we are rewriting our accreditation framework at the moment that essentially dictates what programs need to teach. We now have a requirement that programs are teaching about psychosocial wellbeing, and that programs are assessing students on how they're addressing psychosocial wellbeing. We need to look at how pathways for care develop, and where is wellbeing within policies, processes, structures, documentation, Basically, it's nowhere. But we also need to look structurally, and we can talk a little bit more about structures and organizations and cultures, because I think what this work reflects is a wider issue around the cultures and the organization of care that can make it really challenging for clinicians to work in the ways that they do. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  Oh my gosh, it's a beautiful, beautiful response. I think my favorite quote, and there were many in that article, but the one that said “people with stroke live with the impacts of a stroke system that is designed around biomedical short term care for a lifelong condition and deserve services that support them to thrive, not just survive.” I think it's what we need to bring back into the curriculum for our students to understand. And all of this ties into the importance of understanding how cultures and organizations, like you just said, of care, might impact the therapy we provide to our clients. Why do cultures and organizations of care matter? You're alluding to that. I think we've just started to reflect on that. Felicity Bright  Yeah, I've often felt there's a real risk with the research that I do that we could end up pointing the finger at clinicians of not doing things as well as they could or as well as they should. But actually, we need to understand why is this? Why does it make sense for clinicians to prioritize dysphagia over communication? Why does it make sense to prioritize getting people home, over spending the time on addressing their wider wellbeing? And I've been really lucky to work with Deb Hersh and Stacey Attrill, we did a piece of work that looked at this in the context of how speech therapists enacted therapeutic relationships. And we started by delving into why do people work in the way that they do? We started to see the cultural elements. So the needs, for instance,  your allegiances to colleagues, to be a good team player, to maintain your legitimacy. And particularly for speech therapists, who often have a slightly tenuous role in stroke teams. Physios and OTs are important, but speech therapists often have to kind of fight to kind of have their voices heard, and so that can lead to speechies behaving in particular ways. We can also see how cultures of safety impact on what people prioritize. So Abby Foster has done some beautiful work around the cultures of aphasia care and acute care, and highlighting that actually the priority for physical safety and managing dysphagia risk is privileged over the culture of or a need to think about what is the risk associated with communication and poor communication and people not having communication access. If we understand why people work as they do, and if we understand how the cultures and the structures work, then we can start to unpack them and think about what are the ways that we might be able to do things differently. You know, these cultural factors are very real, and none of them are inherently wrong, like it's not a bad thing that we're trying to prevent people getting aspiration pneumonia. That's really, really important, but we need to understand how these things shape practice and the unintended consequences that they might have for what is not valued and for what work isn't prioritized, and what outcomes don't actually seem to really matter in these contexts. And when we start to make these visible, then that opens up space to think about, how might we be able to do things differently, where we can maybe hold all of these things. And you know, in my work that I'm doing around wellbeing, that's the next phase of our work, is working with clinicians to think about, how might we be able to do things differently, so that it's not one or the other, it's not a dichotomy.  But how do we create space for all of these things to be viewed as important and to be prioritized? Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  You've started to dig into that already, because you have yet another 2024 article that you co-authored with Kayes, Soundy and Drown,  Limited conversations about constrained futures: exploring clinician conversations about life after stroke in inpatient settings. And that examines how clinicians talk about the future with their clients. It analyzes 300 hours of observation of clinical interactions, along with 76 interviews with people with aphasia and 37 clinicians. I just want to say that's an astounding undertaking. So, as I read it, it felt like almost an extension of your 2013 and  2020 articles looking at hope, because you connected how what we say can impact how our clients see their future possibilities. Can you share some of the themes you constructed from all of that amazing data collection? I mean, I'm sorry, I thought 15 interviews were a lot, so then I saw this, and I'm like, oh my goodness, amazing. Felicity Bright  It was a pretty massive piece of work, but it was a real privilege to be able to sit and just observe interactions. And I'm so grateful to our people with stroke, many of whom were like two or three days post stroke, and they had the stranger come along and sit there and observe them for 12 hours, but also to our clinicians, who were quite vulnerable in that process of having somebody observe and analyze what they were doing. But at the same time, I think that work is really valuable for looking at what is going on. What we could see is that the conversations that were being had tended to focus on quite a short term future, and we termed this theme constrained temporal horizons. When clinicians were talking about the future, the vast majority of those conversations were about the immediate future. For doctors and nurses--for nurses, it was often what needs to happen in this shift. For allied health and for doctors, it was what needs to happen before you discharge from our service into the next service. And for some allied health, it might be the first few days at home, but there was a view that talking about the longer term future beyond that should be done by other clinicians who might have more knowledge of what life could look like at that stage. We also found that the talk about quite a constrained future was in the context of actually very limited talk, in the first place. So when we think about communication access, for instance, we think, oh, people with aphasia aren't getting very good communication. Actually, lots of people with stroke are not getting very good communication. Again, thinking about cultural factors, but actually communication is not happening well in stroke units, or, I think within the wider healthcare system.  You know, we've got a very task focused, medically focused situation. And so the conversations that were happening were on topics that were led by healthcare professionals, on the topics that they felt mattered-- the tasks they needed to do, the body structures and impairments. The goals that were set were about what needs to happen before somebody gets home. There was little talk about emotions. There was little talk about how you're feeling about what's going on, or what it might be like for you or for your family when you go home. And so this talk about the emotions and so on and future possibilities was left to patients and to families to raise. And instead, the conversations tended to focus on what the healthcare professionals saw as essential topics for the episode of care. We certainly did see some conversations about the future. So I don't want to be disparaging, and I also want to acknowledge the very partial nature of research. I did not see every single interaction. I know that a lot of these quite personal conversations often happen in things like the shower, when the nurses or the OTS are helping the person shower.  That's one of the few private spaces on the ward. And so I want to acknowledge that my analysis is based on a limited data set, and it isn't based on all the conversations that happened, but certainly there was a trend towards limited conversations. We did see that clinicians would open some doors about the future. So they would talk about possible prognosis in the context of things like upper limb prognostic testing that is offered in some hospitals in New Zealand. We would see clinicians talk about what was meaningful to people, particularly in a context where the patient was struggling to engage, but often when the clinicians were talking about this wider future in this context, it was done to try and plant seeds about what the healthcare professional thought was realistic, and it was done to try and help the person engage in rehabilitation in the context of maybe struggling to engage at the best of times. So I think what we could see was that conversations were limited. They were limited conversations about short term, constrained futures that didn't necessarily set people up with hope for the future, with a sense of possibility, with a sense of even starting that process about what matters, to thinking about what matters to me, what do I want life to look like? Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  Wow, and that really just circles us back to that concept of hope. Your work in hope has just been so meaningful to me. I've been really honored to be the guest lecturer speaking about aphasia to our counseling course that's taught by Dr Shubha Kashinath at Cal State, East Bay. And I've included, from the beginning, your work on hope. I just feel it's critical to give our students ways to understand and think about this construct and the role they can have in offering some hope building clinical interactions. I'd like to close this interview by having you discuss some of your first work that I had the honor to read, and some of the hope affirming strategies that you suggest in your 2020 article. Because I just think that's really a gift. Felicity Bright  One of the things that really fascinated me in this work was how our people with aphasia in the research talked about how they look at their clinician and they are reading them to see, are you somebody who's going to give me hope or not? And if they didn't feel their clinician was going to support their hope or was going to help give them hope, or was going to disparage their hopes, they would shut down and they wouldn't share. And so I think, one of the things is to be reflecting on yourself.  What are the messages that you are giving about how you are a safe person to talk to, about whether you are somebody that they can engage in these risky conversations about? I think there's a couple of things as well. We need to recognize that just because somebody says they hope for something doesn't mean that they expect it to happen. We all have unrealistic hopes and expectations. You know,  psychologist colleagues talk to me about how actually having unrealistic hope is part of being psychologically adjusted, and why should that be different for people with stroke? Who are we to say that we hold the expertise. Now, that's not to say that there aren't challenges. So sometimes you might need to do a bit of a balance of, oh, is this something I need to engage in a conversation about? You know, an example is, if somebody is going to invest quite a bit of money in something that actually, there's no evidence to support and could potentially be problematic. There's a really good guideline I found from Christy Simpson, who's an ethicist, who talked about what are the positive effects that this hope has for people? What would be the impacts of taking it away, both positive, but also, what are the negative things that it would do? And so actually engaging in a bit of a risk analysis to think critically about what is holding this hope doing for somebody. Linked to that in the latest paper we did around recalibrating hope, it really highlighted to me the importance of trusting people to often recalibrate their own hopes. So I went back to my original participants from my 2013 research a couple of years later, and I looked at their experiences of hope over that time. And what we found was most of them recalibrated their hopes. They hoped for different things over that time, and they had done that as they engaged in different activities, as they tried things, as they considered their progress, as they rethought what mattered to them. And so that really highlighted, to me, the need to trust people, but it also highlighted the need to think about, how do we support a context that supports people to do that recalibration. Those who were more likely to recalibrate and hold both hope and realism together were people who had social networks, who were engaging in meaningful activities, and who had a sense of purpose and possibility. One of my participants didn't have that. They had lost their social connections. They had no activities in which they were engaging in what was meaningful, and their hope had shrunk. And so it talks to me again, those earlier conversations we've had about well being, thinking about what's meaningful, what supports wellbeing, that's exactly the same thing that supports hope. How are we supporting people's social wellbeing? How are we supporting their relational wellbeing? How are we helping them connect to what is meaningful and what is possible, not just to their impairments, and maybe what is not working so well. I think it's really important to be explicitly thinking about, what is it that helps people bring joy, have joy? What brings them peace in the present? And how can we help them have that sense that things are okay, even if they're not perfect, but also help them have that sense of looking to a future that's possible. Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  Okay, we only have a minute or two left, but I'm going to throw this last question out to you. Felicity, if you had to pick only one thing that we need to achieve urgently as a community of providers, of professionals, what would that one thing be? This is almost like your elevator pitch. You got 60 seconds here. So, so Felicity Bright  So my one thing, in a long, complex sentence, is that speech and language therapists need to reprioritize communication and supporting people to live well after stroke and aphasia, and they need to consider how we model to our colleagues and to our patients and families, and how we support cultures of care that value relationships and relational work, that value and support communication, and that value and support wellbeing.    Ellen Bernstein-Ellis  Oh my goodness, well said, Felicity. Thank you so much for the honor of having this interview today. I know it's going to be impactful to our listeners, and I want to thank our listeners as well. For references and resources mentioned in today's show,  please see our show notes. They're available on our website@www.aphasiaaccess.org and there you can also become a member of our organization, browse our growing library of materials and find out about the Aphasia Access Academy, and if you have an idea for a future podcast episode, email us at info@aphasia access.org.  For Aphasia Access Conversations,  I'm Ellen Bernstein-Ellis, and thanks again for your ongoing support of Aphasia Access. Thank you, Felicity. Felicity Bright  My pleasure. Thank you for having me.   References and Resources AUT Centre for Person Centred Research: https://cpcr.aut.ac.nz/our-research Biel, M. (Host). (2016). An interview with Felicity Bright: The patient's engagement and experience with you, the speech pathologist (No. 2) [audio podcast episode). ANCDS. SoundCloud.https://soundcloud.com/ancds/ep-2-an-interview-with-felicity-bright-the-patients-engagement-and-experience?utm_source=www.ancds.org&utm_campaign=wtshare&utm_medium=widget&utm_content=https%253A%252F%252Fsoundcloud.com%252Fancds%252Fep-2-an-interview-with-felicity-bright-the-patients-engagement-and-experience  Bright, F. A., Ibell‐Roberts, C., Featherstone, K., Signal, N., Wilson, B. J., Collier, A., & Fu, V. (2024). ‘Physical well‐being is our top priority': Healthcare professionals' challenges in supporting psychosocial well‐being in stroke services. Health Expectations, 27(2), e14016. Bright, F. A., Ibell-Roberts, C., & Wilson, B. J. (2024). Psychosocial well-being after stroke in Aotearoa New Zealand: a qualitative metasynthesis. Disability and Rehabilitation, 46(10), 2000-2013. Bright, F. A., Kayes, N. M., McCann, C. M., & McPherson, K. M. (2013). Hope in people with aphasia. Aphasiology, 27(1), 41-58. Bright, F. A., McCann, C. M., & Kayes, N. M. (2020). Recalibrating hope: A longitudinal study of the experiences of people with aphasia after stroke. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 34(2), 428-435. Bright, F. A., Kayes, N. M., Soundy, A., & Drown, J. (2024). Limited conversations about constrained futures: exploring clinicians' conversations about life after stroke in inpatient settings. Brain Impairment, 25(1). Ellis-Hill, C., Payne, S., & Ward, C. (2008). Using stroke to explore the life thread model: an alternative approach to understanding rehabilitation following an acquired disability. Disability and rehabilitation, 30(2), 150-159. Foster, A., O'Halloran, R., Rose, M., & Worrall, L. (2016). “Communication is taking a back seat”: speech pathologists' perceptions of aphasia management in acute hospital settings. Aphasiology, 30(5), 585-608. Parr, S., Byng, S., & Gilpin, S. (1997). Talking about aphasia: Living with loss of language after stroke. McGraw-Hill Education (UK). Simpson, C. (2004). When hope makes us vulnerable: A discussion of patient-healthcare provider interactions in the context of hope. Bioethics, 18(5), 428-447

Our guest is Yasemin Cenberoglu, who was the first designer to work on Microsoft's Copilot, all in secret, before the world was exposed to ChatGPT for the first time.Yasemin is a Principal Design Manager at Microsoft, leading the Copilot product for Teams Meetings, Calling, and Devices. She's the first designer to shape what Copilot is today. Previously, she served as the Director of Design at Digitalist. Yasemin is an advisory board member at IDEA School of Design at Capilano University. She studied in Germany and then at Cal State, in the Bay area.00:49 Yasmin's Background and Role 02:09 Design Differences: Europe vs North America 03:44 Service Design Methodologies 03:58 Co-Creating with OpenAI 04:38 Blueprints and Customer Journeys 05:27 Rapid Prototyping and Testing 06:20 Reconnecting with Yasmin 07:06 The Excitement of Innovation 10:04 Defining Value Drivers 11:50 Building High-Level Scenarios 12:49 Managing Feasibility and Vision 15:53 Lessons Learned from GenAI 21:05 Testing and User Feedback 22:51 Iterative Design and AI 31:52 Building Trust in AI 34:12 Service Design in AI 39:11 Deciding Between Co-Pilot, Agent, or Chatbot 43:41 Future of Assistive Software 47:27 Advice for Aspiring AI DesignersEpisode is hosted by:Arpy Dragffy Guerrero (Founder & Head of product strategy, PH1 Research) https://www.linkedin.com/in/adragffy/ Brittany Hobbs (VP Insights, Huge) https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanyhobbs/Thank you for listening to the Design of AI podcast. We interview leaders and practitioners at the forefront of AI. If you like this episode please remember to leave a rating and to follow us on your favorite podcast app.Take part in the conversations about AI https://www.linkedin.com/company/designofai/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit designofai.substack.com

It's the first day of classes at most Cal State universities, but the threat of budget cuts looms over the new start. About $1 million was supposed to go toward a Vietnam Memorial in Fountain Valley, but it's nowhere to be found. Brown pelicans are alright after a troubling spate of die-offs. Plus more.  Support The L.A. Report by donating at LAist.com/join and by visiting https://laist.com.Support the show: https://laist.com

As college students get ready to head back to campus, the Cal State and UC's have both issued policies that promise to enforce harder restrictions on protest demonstrations and encampments. This comes after the string of pro-Palestian protests that spread across the nation's colleges and universities last spring. Cal State issued their revamped protest policy on Thursday. Included among the restrictions were bans on encampments and overnight demonstrations. UC President Michael Drake put out a statement Monday addressing the UC's intent to heighten their protest restrictions and issue a full framework by October 1. Joining us on Air Talk this morning to discuss the protest restrictions is Amy DiPierro, higher education reporter for EdSource. If you have thoughts or questions, call 866-893-5722 or email atcomments@laist.com. 

Today on AirTalk, the city of Long Beach began clearing out unhoused encampments this week, joining a list of cities who say they'll ticket unhoused people for camping or sleeping in public. Also on the show, the latest on the Israel-Gaza war; New York Times contributing opinion writer Frank Bruni on his new book ‘The Age of Grievance;' Cal State and UC systems announce ban on encampments; we get the latest in baseball and the 2028 Olympic sports; and more. How Long Beach is addressing homelessness (00:17) The latest on the Israel-Gaza war (16:21) New book explores how grievance's shape narratives (36:56) Cal State, UC ban encampments (51:32) Triple Play: MLB & 2028 Olympics (1:08:32) Moon Zappa talks new book ‘Earth to Moon' (1:23:18)

This week, Sagi Eliyahu welcomes Dr. Ron Glickman, Author of “Lead for a Change” and Adjunct Professor at Cal State in Los Angeles. Dr. Glickman discusses his extensive experience in IT, the importance of understanding change dynamics, and provides insights from his book “Lead for a Change.”Key Takeaways:(01:00) The importance of being effective rather than just being right.(05:51) Starting with retail operations and transitioning to IT leadership roles.(10:42) Overview of the book “Lead for a Change,” which offers practical leadership lessons.(15:33) The concept and inspiration behind the title “Lead for a Change.”(20:24) The significance of aligning change initiatives with customer centricity and clear vision.(25:15) The necessity of setting clear expectations and understanding different roles in change management.(30:06) Techniques for managing and leading through transformational changes while balancing strategy and comfort levels.(34:57) Reflections on effective leadership and the importance of continuous learning.Resources Mentioned:Dr. Ron Glickman - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronglickman/Cal State - https://www.linkedin.com/school/california-state-university-los-angeles/“Lead for a Change” by Dr. Ron Glickman - https://www.amazon.com/Lead-Change-Strategies-Expectations-Breakthroughs/dp/1632996391This episode is brought to you by Tonkean.Tonkean is the operating system for business operations and is the enterprise standard for process orchestration. It provides businesses with the building blocks to orchestrate any process, with no code or change management required. Contact us at tonkean.com to learn how you can build complex business processes. Fast.#Operations #BusinessOperations

Bret Lott knows how to make a woman cry. Possibly a man, too, but I'm not sure. I know he's cried (sobbed, he admitted) when reading Leif Enger's book, Peace Like a River. I already liked Bret Lott but that made me like him even more.  Bret Lott, award-winning author of now 16 books (both fiction and non-fiction) didn't start out to become a writer and, in fact, met obstacles along the way. I'm glad he persevered; if you've read Jewel, one of Oprah's Book Club selections, then I'm sure you're glad as well. He wanted to ride a horse and be a Park Ranger. Grateful that didn't pan out.  Fun sidenote: Since I'm also from Southern California, it was a delight to find out that Bret used to work at Knott's Berry Farm at the candy apple booth and once-a-month he made waffles for Mr. Knott.    Bret is giving away a signed copy of his latest book out this month entitled: GATHER THE OLIVES, On Food and Hope and the Holy Land  - comment below or on social media to be entered! Born in Los Angeles in 1958, Lott grew up in Buena Park, CA and Phoenix, AZ before returning to California to live in Huntington Beach, CA. He met and married his wife of 40 years, Melanie Swank Lott, at First Baptist Church of Huntington Beach/Fountain Valley. A graduate of Cal State, Long Beach(1981), Lott headed to Massachusetts for graduate school at UMass Amhurst. He received his MFA in 1984 and landed his first teaching position at Ohio State Univ. In 1986, Lott joined the English Department at the College of Charleston, where he is now a tenured professor and director of the new MFA program and leads writers retreats to Italy. Find out more about his writing retreats here: https://bretlottwriting.com Be sure to comment below to be entered to win: Gather the Olives. Some gems: The difference between a good writer and a bad writer: the bad writer says, "Here I am, I have something to say." The good writer writes a good story and you're not aware he or she even exists. I write to try and understand things, why people do what they do and what happened to their lives. I shared a short story with a girl I liked. She wasn't impressed. I knew right then that I loved her.  Jewel was based on my grandmother's life. She had 6 kids and the 6th, my aunt, was Down Syndrome.  You're given what you're given in life; the writer's job and joy is to write the pages torn from that life and try to understand it better. The best art fills us with wonder and glory and mystery and beauty which are all manifestations of God.   

Pro-Palestinian protesters who entered and barricaded themselves in a building at California State University, Los Angeles, on Wednesday cleared out by early Thursday, a spokesperson for the school told CNN. Most protesters left the Student Services Building of their own accord around 1:15 a.m. local time and returned to an unauthorized encampment on campus. No arrests were made, university spokesperson Erik Frost Hollins said. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/darien-dunstan3/message

Pro Hamas protestors at Cal State, Los Angeles trashed a campus building they occupied. The college president is disappointed. Have any arrests been made? Will these thugs be kicked out of the college?...Spending per pupil has quadrupled since 1960? Are students dumber or smarter for all that money? We know the answer... Thanks for listening to the Daily Dennis Prager Podcast. To hear the entire three hours of my radio show as a podcast, commercial-free every single day, become a member of Pragertopia. You'll also get access to 15 years' worth of archives, as well as daily show prep. Subscribe today at Pragertopia dot com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Frank starts the show joined by WABC host Dominic Carter to talk about an AI candidate running for mayor in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He moves on to talk with John Mainelli, a former WABC Program Director, veteran radio consultant and former columnist for the New York Post. They discuss political correctness, the future of talk radio and the anniversary of the O.J. murders. Frank ends the hour breaking the news of protesters in Cal State breaking into an administration building. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Frank starts the show joined by WABC host Dominic Carter to talk about an AI candidate running for mayor in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He moves on to talk with John Mainelli, a former WABC Program Director, veteran radio consultant and former columnist for the New York Post. They discuss political correctness, the future of talk radio and the anniversary of the O.J. murders. Frank ends the hour breaking the news of protesters in Cal State breaking into an administration building. Frank starts the hour discussing the latest developments in competitive eating with a match coming up between Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi. He moves on to talk with Yvette Francis, a City College of New York professor and the designer of the new book Robin Hood's Barn: A Study of Ice Age Culture. They discuss how information was transmitted during the ice age and how those symbols endure. Frank starts the third hour talking about a Harvard study that discusses the existence of aliens on earth. He then talks to Noah Goldman, the founder and president of the International Sumo League as they discuss the viability of sumo wrestling as a popular sport in the United States. He moves on to speak with Keith Hartzell, former Ocean City, NJ Council President and author of the new book, Nothing but Gratitude: Reflections of my Life in Ocean City, Faith, Family and Friends. They discuss Ocean City and Keith's reflections on life. Frank wraps up the show talking about breaking up friendships. He is also joined by Noam Laden for News You Can Use and radio host Brian Kilmeade to discuss news of the day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The center joins 13 others across the Cal State system specifically for queer and trans students.

William Weese, Merriam Vineyards winemaker, is our guest with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country. Melissa Galliani, GM of Wine Country Radio is also in the studio. The last time William Weese was on CWC was this episode on March 15, 2023. Today he has brought a Cabernet Franc, a Merlot and a Chardonnay. The Merriam family started with one vineyard called Windacre in 1998 that produced Merlot. They built a winery and planted more vineyards in 2008 with Cabernet Franc and Malbec and Merlot, in their present location off East Side Road, directly below Shone Farm. Dan says the Merriam project has been under the radar but it has become one of the most beautiful wineries in Sonoma County. They have been certified organic in the vineyard for many years and and now also the winery, recently. Click the logo to visit Davis Bynum Wines. The Cabernet Franc is “spectacular” says Dan. In the Russian River AVA Pinot Noir is dominant but Cabernet Franc and Merlot deserve more attention. They are open daily from 10 to 5. Reservations are encouraged but not required. They have all kinds of tastings and tours. Click the logo to visit our sponsor Rodney Strong for info on the 2024 Summer Concert series. William Weese, Merriam Vineyards winemaker learned winemaking by working in New Zealand, France, Chile and Napa Valley, after some study at Cal State at Chico and at UC Davis. The Sonoma County Barrel Auction Dan Berger and William were at the Sonoma County Barrel Auction today where the variety of production in Sonoma County was on display. Dan notices that a lot of the buyers here are people who want a personal affiliation with the winery. It is also a great place to get to know other wineries and winemakers. There are people who know wine who appreciate special products. They pour the 2021 Cabernet Franc, one of their favorites that comes from a small block in the vineyard. It is a slow-ripening grape so they let it hang for a long time. It is smooth and silky. It has some of the personality of Cabernet Sauvignon, but more floral and less astringent. The winery and tasting room are located a few minutes outside of Healdsburg.

In todays' episode of the podcast (after recommendation from previous guest Grecco Burrato), I speak with Brazilian born, (now LA resident), JP Mourao. JP is a session guitarist, arranger, composer, producer and educator with credits that include Selena Gomez, Snoop Dog, Amanda Brecker, Macy Gray (among others) as well as a host of other artists and corporate institutions, including Coca Cola and Disney. He also currently serves as a professor at the famous Cal State institution , so we obviously talk a little bit about education and the like during this interview. Check out the full interview now, and as usual please remember to rate, review and/or follow, thank you. For more information on 'JP Mourao , please visit - www.jpmorao.com For more information on Travis, please visit www.travismarc.com For more information on the Musicians Mentor, please visit www.musicians-mentor.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/musiciansmentor/support

In our 113th episode, we engage in a conversation with Matthew Piepenburg, Author & Partner at Von Greyerz: Gold Switzerland. We delve into some of the current distortions in the illusionary economies portrayed by central banks around the world. Touching on the political chaos afflicting the West, and the impact of political games causing major fundamental shifts in the global currency and banking systems. Other topics include interest rates, central banking, the gold market, lack of trust in the US dollar, BRICS, petrodollar, political leadership, CPI, debt levels, the Federal Reserve, the war on inflation, 10-year bonds, illusionary economic metrics, market cycles, and preserving wealth.Matthew Piepenburg began his finance career as a transactional attorney before launching his first hedge fund during the NASDAQ bubble of 1999-2001. Thereafter, he began investing his own and other HNW family funds into alternative investment vehicles while operating as General Counsel, CIO, and later Managing Director of a single and multi-family office. Matthew worked closely as well with Morgan Stanley's hedge fund platform in building a multi-strat/multi-manager fund to better manage risk in a market backdrop of extreme central bank intervention/support. The conviction that precious metals provide the most reliable and longer-term protection against potential systemic risk led Matt to join VON GREYERZ as a Partner.Matthew Piepenburg's skills include monetary metals, asset allocation, risk management, and macroeconomic analysis. He has written numerous white papers on the long-term distortions of central bank policies here and abroad. He has guest lectured at numerous family office forums, law firms, and universities, including Georgetown, Brown, Harvard, and Cal State. Matthew Piepenburg is also a published author and regular contributor to The Good Men Project.He is the author of the Amazon No#1 Release, "Rigged to Fail," along with co-authoring "Gold Matters, Real Solutions for Surreal Risks," which offers an extensive examination of gold as a historically-confirmed wealth-preservation asset. He is fluent in French, German, and English; he is a graduate of Brown (BA), Harvard (MA), and the University of Michigan (JD). Sign up to our Monthly Macro Newsletter - @ https://newgenmindset.substack.com/ Socials: Nic Tartaglia - @nictartaglia Dan Kozel - @dan_kozel93 www.newgenmindset.com Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/newgen-mindset/id1509522820?i=1000556180979 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0HlKwTnrI4AT5cLNiATlbg?si=wAQwMUd2Q5C2QaiEsLK0zg Google podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8xNTYxYjQ1Yy9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw Go listen Share Follow . . . . . #goldswitzerland #goldvaults #swissalps #gold #goldbullion #bullion #goldprice #goldpricetoday #goldprice2024 #silver #silverbullion #silverprice #silverpriceanalysis #goldpriceanalysis #currency #macroeconomics #globalbanking #banks #banking Disclaimer**** None of the information taken within this episode should be considered investment advice and should only be viewed for information purposes only. NewGenMindset is not a broker, or a licensed provider of financial services. All claims made in this episode to any listener should not be viewed as offering personalized legal or investment counseling. Any investments made in any companies should be consulted with a licensed financial professional from here on. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/newgenmindset/message

Reversing pandemic-era admission policies, more universities, including MIT, Yale, Dartmouth and Brown, are again requiring that applicants submit SAT or ACT scores. Research has shown that high scores on the tests are a good predictor of college success, and proponents say that the tests are a more equitable metric than a student's GPA. In California, public colleges – including the UCs and Cal State schools – remain “test blind” and will not consider a student's scores, even if submitted. We'll look at arguments on both sides and get tips for prospective students who are navigating testing issues. Would you like to see the SAT and ACT come back in California? Do you think the tests helped or hurt your college application? Guests: Anna Esaki-Smith, author, “Make College Your Superpower: It's Not Where You Go, It's What You Know;" co-founder, Education Rethink; contributor, Forbes Jeff Selingo, author, "Who Gets In & Why: A Year Inside College Admissions," "There is Life After College" and "College (Un)Bound: The Future of Higher Education and What It Means for Students" Eddie Comeaux, professor and associate dean of graduate education, University of California Riverside

A lawsuit filed in Colorado this week to block the Kroger-Albertson's merger reveals anti-union collusion. Starbucks Workers United filed for union elections at 21 stores in one day. The UAW continued making major moves, doubling their organizing budget and launching an international support effort with Mexican autoworkers. IBEW faced mold so toxic whole building a new Ford battery plant they were hospitalized. One of the biggest new union wins we've seen in a long time came at Cal State this week, with 20,000 student assistants voting to join the SEIU. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

A Cal State professor says Kansas City Chiefs winning the Super Bowl is white supremacy and Taylor Swift fans are slightly racist.  Plus, Trump says he's getting more black supporters because of his legal battles. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Student assistants work part-time jobs across the system's 23 campuses, including CSU Monterey Bay. They're currently capped at 20 hours a week and had no paid sick leave before a California law that took effect in 2024.

Do you know that California has great universities that are not UC schools? Listen in when host ian fisher interviews College Coach colleague Gabbi Tobias about the California State University system, typically called the Cal States. Considering medical school but you've already graduated from college and didn't take any of the required classes? It's not too late! College Coach expert Lauren DiProspero, former admission officer at both Stanford and Columbia medical schools, will talk about options for taking those courses so you can still apply successfully! In addition, Chrissy Foran, College Coach finance expert, will be reviewing what to do when you don't receive enough financial aid.

Do you know that California has great universities that are not UC schools? Listen in when host ian fisher interviews College Coach colleague Gabbi Tobias about the California State University system, typically called the Cal States. Considering medical school but you've already graduated from college and didn't take any of the required classes? It's not too late! College Coach expert Lauren DiProspero, former admission officer at both Stanford and Columbia medical schools, will talk about options for taking those courses so you can still apply successfully! In addition, Chrissy Foran, College Coach finance expert, will be reviewing what to do when you don't receive enough financial aid.

Do you know that California has great universities that are not UC schools? Listen in when host ian fisher interviews College Coach colleague Gabbi Tobias about the California State University system, typically called the Cal States. Considering medical school but you've already graduated from college and didn't take any of the required classes? It's not too late! College Coach expert Lauren DiProspero, former admission officer at both Stanford and Columbia medical schools, will talk about options for taking those courses so you can still apply successfully! In addition, Chrissy Foran, College Coach finance expert, will be reviewing what to do when you don't receive enough financial aid.

The storm in Southern Calfornia isn't letting up, more rain is on the way today. Cal State University faculty have completed voting on a new contract with the administration. There's a bipartisan bill in Congress to expand the child tax credit. If it is approved, more than 2 million children in low-income families in California could benefit from more cash this tax season.   Support The L.A. Report by donating at LAist.com/join and by visiting https://laist.com. Support the show: https://laist.com

CSU Faculty will begin voting on a tentative agreement next week. CA March 5th primary voters need to make two key decisions for one ballot measure. Forecasters confirm a weather phenomenon in San Luis Obispo County.   Support The L.A. Report by donating at LAist.com/join and by visiting https://laist.com.  Support the show: https://laist.com

There are a lot of questions out there and we are here to answer them. Stay tune and learn about the ever changing college admissions world.

American institutions of higher education have long been the targets of critical books from the right, arguing they have betrayed their fundamental educational role. Now from the left comes a book that takes the author's own institution, the University of California, Berkeley, to task for what he says is its culpability in some of the cruelest chapters of U.S. history. UC Berkeley, popularly known as Cal, is famous worldwide as a hotbed of left-wing activism and academics. But Tony Platt, who has taught at Berkeley as well as Cal State, Sacramento, says that UC Berkeley hasn't owned up to its roots in "plunder, warfare, and the promotion of white supremacy." He takes it to task for involvement in the eugenics movement, hoarding of Indigenous remains, and its "complicity with the military-industrial complex and its incubation of unprecedented violence through the Manhattan Project."  In this era in which many institutions, educational and otherwise, are reckoning with their histories, join us as Dr. Tony Platt talks with Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of Cal's law school, about his call for the institution to deal honestly with its controversial past. MLF ORGANIZER: George Hammond A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Find out the details of the closures on the 110 freeway near downtown LA. Livestream watchers celebrated bald eagle couple Jackie and Shadow's first egg of the season. And the Cal State chancellor has drawn scrutiny from union employees for her $800,000 yearly salary. Support The L.A. Report by donating at LAist.com/join and by visiting https://laist.com.     Support the show: https://laist.com

The strike did what months of back-and-forth discussions couldn't -- improve faculty wages and working conditions.

Cal State faculty have called off a strike, after a tentative labor agreement was reached Monday night. Faculty had been scheduled to be off the job this entire week. The three Democrats vying to represent California in the U.S. Senate went after the only Republican on stage at Monday's debate -- and clashed over the war between Israel and Hamas.  Reporter: Marisa Lagos, KQED  Many in Half Moon Bay are gathering Tuesday to commemorate the first anniversary of the mass shooting that killed seven farmworkers in the community south of San Francisco. Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero A controversial school board president in the Riverside County community of Temecula will face a recall election this spring. A group opposed to his conservative agenda collected enough signatures to force a vote. Reporter: Madison Aument, KVCR

New Hampshire primary; IDF soldiers killed; SCOTUS razor wire decision; Cal State strike; MLK Jr.'s son dies; PGA champ misses out.

Cal State faculty union ends strike. Also, California launches a new homebuyer assistance program. Plus, analysis from the first CA Senate debate. Finally, a Mira Loma student is selected for the prestigious Regeneron Science Talent Search. Cal State Faculty Union Ends Strike Less than 24 hours after Cal State faculty began a weeklong strike across its 23 campuses, the California Faculty Association and California State University system reached a tentative agreement. EdSource Higher Education Reporter Ashley Smith returns to Insight to discuss the end of the historic systemwide strike for the CSU system.  CA Homebuying Assistance Program California ranks near the bottom of home ownership in America.  Now, the state is re-launching a program to make it easier for people to get a first-time homebuyer loan. The California Dream for All was so successful that it unintentionally left many of the people it was designed to help, unable to land an affordable loan. This Spring, the program will relaunch with a few tweaks to help get the money where it is meant to to go. Felicia Mello is a California Divide reporter for CalMatters and joins us with the new changes and how the updated rules might impact the chance of getting accepted into this coveted down payment assistance program. CalMatters is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, newsroom that partners with public media stations across the state. First Senate Debate Analysis POLITICO Senior Political Reporter Melanie Mason provides analysis after co-moderating the first debate for California Senate candidates that included Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff, Katie Porter and Barbara Lee and Republican Steve Garvey in Los Angeles Monday night. Mira Loma Student Selected in Prestigious Science Competition The Regeneron Science Talent Search is the nation's oldest and most prestigious math and science competition, recognizing 300 high school students  around the world every year for their original research. This year's STS cohort includes a local talent from Mira Loma High School, senior Hari Srikanth. He joins Insight to talk about his interest in research, and his project focused on helping people escape from a burning structure.

A visit with CEC's Laurie VanderPloeg.Joinng her are Jerry Goings , Program Director of Educational Leadership at Regis U after a long career in Public Ed....and Nat Handsuvadha Dept Chair of Liberal Studies at  at Cal State, Long Beach and president of the California Professors of Special Ed Association

Cal State faculty go on strike across 23 campuses, including Sac State. Also, a new auto exhibit celebrates women in lowriding. Finally,  Sacramento-based Latin backpacking food company will start selling at REI stores. Cal State Faculty Strike Back to school means back to the picket line for thousands of faculty at all of California State University system's 23 campuses, including Sacramento State. The planned, five-day strike is the first systemwide strike in CSU's history as the union representing 29,000 professors, lecturers, and other staff demands a 12% pay increase including other benefits. CapRadio's Mike Hagerty joins us with a live report on how the strike is impacting classes for students on the Sac State campus. We're also joined by EdSource Higher Education Reporter Ashley Smith for more context on the back-and-forth negotiations with CSU. Museum Spotlights Women in Lowriding A new exhibit at the California Automobile Museum is highlighting the connection between women and lowriding culture, and just held its grand opening ceremony this weekend. Titled Rucas y Carruchas: Ladies in Lowriders, the display features a variety of custom cars, artwork and more, and runs until April 2024 . Exhibits manager ShaVolla Rodriguez and her daughter Nayeli Rodriguez talk about how this exhibit came about, their own connections to lowriding and car culture, and how Rucas y Carruchas celebrates this group of drivers, builders, designers and owners. Latin Backpacking Food If you've been backpacking, you can appreciate when the time comes to plop down with a hot meal on the trail. Dehydrated pouches have come a long way, and a Sacramento kitchen is putting its own spin on backpacking comfort food with a Latin twist. Martha Y Díaz is the founder of the Latin backpacking food company Itacate, which will start selling at REI stores.

Cal State professors across the state are gearing up to strike tomorrow. Community events are being held today to commemorate the first anniversary of the Monterey Park shooting. And we hear from a Southern California photographer who set out to paddle a canoe around the Salton Sea. Support The L.A. Report by donating at LAist.com/join and by visiting https://laist.com.  Support the show: https://laist.com

Derek Healy was born in Ireland where he grew up, went to school and, as he would point out, learned a lot about life. After college he entered the world of finance by selling credit card serves for Bank Of America in Ireland. He honestly talks about his mindset and inner attitudes which, as you will hear, were not so good for some time. He later sold other financial products. After the world financial collapse, as he calls it, of 2008 he traveled around Europe for a bit until he finally decided to make a bold move in 2010. Derek moved to Australia where his brother was living. Again, he worked in finance. Now, he owns his own businesses and has started the hummingbird sales academy. He teaches not only sales, but he also teaches mental attitudes and he shows/leads his clients and students by example to develop better mindsets and life perceptions. Derek also is the creator of the S.T.O.I.C code, a transformative framework, empowering individuals and entrepreneurs, to achieve unparalleled success. You will get to learn all about both the academy and this innovative code by the time our time ends. By any standard, Derek is unstoppable, and he will tell you why this is so. My time with Derek flew by, for me, surprisingly fast. I hope you will treasure Derek's words and lessons as much as I. About the Guest: Derek Healy is a business development expert, investor, speaking and coach. Derek is an Irish Australian immigrant, who has travelled the world trying to find his purpose, He is the founder of the hummingbird sales academy and creator of the S.T.O.I.C code, a transformative framework, empowering individuals and entrepreneurs, to achieve unparalleled success. He is involved in many exciting start ups and is soon to be wed. Derek philosophy centres around core values of integrity, empathy, neuroscience, stoicism and a commitment to lifelong learning. His message if infused with inspiring stories, positivity, gratitude and overcoming adversity Ways to connect with Derek: Instagram: d_real_derekhealy Website: hummingbirdsalesacademy.com 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 also subscribe in your favorite podcast app. 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 ** 01:20 Well, hello, and welcome to another episode of unstoppable mindset. Today, we get to chat with Derek Healy. Derek has an interesting story to tell a wicked sense of humor. But if we were to really talk about there, he's a business development expert, investor, speaker and coach, my gosh, yeah. But you know, I don't know what he does in his spare time. We're really glad to have him though to be with us today. He's got I know a lot of interesting and relevant things to talk about. So we're gonna get to all of it. So let me just say, Derek, welcome to unstoppable mindset. How are you? **Derek Healy ** 01:57 I am wonderful, Michael. And thank you very much. What a warm introduction. And I really appreciate your time looking forward to having a conversation. Me **Michael Hingson ** 02:06 to will tell me a little bit about maybe the early. Derek, let's start out and get the early part out of the way so we can find out all your early secrets. Absolutely. **Derek Healy ** 02:15 Well, I'll try and keep this as clean as possible. I know that I want to keep this kid friendly. So I will. What Irish, Irish originally, I'm not you can I'm sure you can hear that in the accent. I've been over here in Australia for 1314 years. And as the locks are fading, it seems the accent is getting slightly, slightly stronger again. But started off in Ireland. Relative relatively simple Irish upbringing, surrounded by sport, surrounded by humor, surrounded by bad weather. And then obviously, a pint or two in between. And it brought me over to this wonderful land traveled all over the world. Of course, like most Irish, like most Irish, we invade many countries, but we do it with a sleeping bag and a lunchbox. **Michael Hingson ** 03:08 Did the bad weather get better when you had a pint? Say again? Say again? Did the bad weather get better when you had a pint? **Derek Healy ** 03:17 Well, I think I honestly think that's nearly Irish. The Irish are known for the weather, and they're known for their drink. And I think if it weren't disappeared, Ireland would disappear. They come hand in hand. It's a package deal. So yeah, it's a package deal. But one of my first football teams is down that down the country football teams. And our dressing room was in the back of a pub. It was the old storehouse of a pub. So that's how integrated alcohol and into the Irish community if you like, **Michael Hingson ** 03:51 understand, I've been to Ireland. I've only been once but I was there for about 12 days. As I recall, we were promoting my book vendor dog. And so I was invited over by the Irish guide dog school. And so we did a number of speeches that they had planned for us thoroughly enjoyed the time love the music, of course. Needless to say, as we talked about earlier on the way over on our flight, I was tuning around the various airplane music channels and I heard this Irish music and I was listening to it and heard it was a group called the Mary plough boys. And I learned about them they performed at the castle rockin we were in Dublin a bit and I was hoping to go hear them but unfortunately the one night we had available they weren't performing that that night so I didn't get to go hear them so I have to contend myself with my CDs. **Derek Healy ** 04:45 There you go. What I'm sure that it the door is not closed, the door is not closed, it will be open and they will present themselves soon enough I presume. One **Michael Hingson ** 04:55 way or another we will definitely work it out. So II. So you you were in Ireland, Ireland for a long time. When did you leave Ireland? I **Derek Healy ** 05:05 left Ireland. It. It must have been around it actually it was it was around the global financial crisis, the global financial crisis. And that hit everyone, as you know. And it's interesting. When I look back at it the similarities to now, if you like, from an economic standpoint, and especially in Australia, right now, there's a lot of how would you say, there's a lot of talk in the corridors about how bad things are. And if I think back in Ireland, I don't even think the global financial crisis was as bad for everyone. I think it was more. Everyone was saying it. So people would just get on board and say, yeah, things really are bad. Like, so **Michael Hingson ** 05:46 what mindset what year was that? **Derek Healy ** 05:48 That was 2008 to 2010. So we were we were in Ireland, and the usual stuff, a lot of employers would make their would use that, that opportunity to get rid of a lot of people called Cass. But then obviously, at the same time, a lot of those people would increase the crisis price of living. So things were different things were relatively hard on the surface for a lot of Irish people. But to be honest with you, that that year, that two years that are all that was happening, myself and my friends have never traveled as much we traveled all over Europe. Again, none of us were working. But we found a way to do it. So as you can sort of adjust to the way of life even though things are tough. You actually can do more, when you have less than when you have more than you're doing appreciate us. **Michael Hingson ** 06:36 Yeah. There. There are, of course, lots of hostels and other things around Europe that made it a little bit easier for people who didn't have a lot of money to be able to travel hostels, **Derek Healy ** 06:46 and we weren't quite one thing about the Irish, we're able to talk our way into trouble and out of it at the same time, there you go. So there was times that we were over there traveling Europe, we weren't going to stay, we had no money, myself and a friend of mine, we were nearly going to have to sleep at a train station in Romania somewhere. And then we found these two ladies. And they said right, you can come back with us. And they they let us stay with them for a while like it was it was just an adventure. It was beautiful. But all all all good things must come to an end. So I needed to get my foot down and start earning some money, build a bit of a life. And here Australia opened the opportunity for me. How did **Michael Hingson ** 07:24 that happen? So what brought you to Australia? What made that all happen? **Derek Healy ** 07:28 It's interesting. I've never really been in my younger years, I was never really a planner. Like I never looked at a book and said, I'm interested in going here, here, here, here here. I suppose if I if I take a back step, I think one of the worst things that you can have is almost talent. Because if you're talented, it doesn't push you to the next level, you sort of rest on your laurels a bit. And that was the same with all my travel adventures. I've traveled all over the world. And it was never worth planning. It was always worth let's see where this takes me. And with Australia was much the same. I had a brother out here. And he was doing quite well. That was all the invitation I needed. And I said I wasn't going out necessarily to be with him. But I said, Australia that will do. It was like Tron it was like throwing a dart at a dartboard. And I said, Australia, but I could have very well ended up in Arizona or Nevada, or even California and I could be having this live with you if the if the if the star is aligned differently. But I'm in Australia, **Michael Hingson ** 08:26 what were you doing before you encountered the world financial crisis in 2008? Well, **Derek Healy ** 08:34 funnily enough, I was in the financial industry. So I was with my first ever, how would you say a job out of college was with Bank of America, which was an amazing learning experience water company to work for, I have to say, I don't know what it's like now. But when I was there in Ireland, it was an amazing adventure. Sober was always corporate sales, whether it be property recruitment, or even the financial side of things. **Michael Hingson ** 09:04 Right. Right. **Derek Healy ** 09:05 So a good solid background in corporate selling, if you like, How long were you there? In Bank of America. It was my fault. That was my first. That was my first real job if you like, and it was I accom I had just left college. And through a number of bad decisions in college, I had my mind almost went snap and that was from drug or alcohol or just over enjoyment. So about three or four years of just over enjoying oneself. My mind had gone snap so I was suffering from a little bit of depression. And my mother, I remember my mother had promised the interview and I was driving across country. This is only about 20 years old. 1920 years old. I was driving across country 7am Ice called winter's morning in Ireland. And I pulled up I didn't even know what Bank of America was I pulled up to this complex housing nearly 1000 people. And it was quite intimidating. But look before it before I was about to leave the car I was there, I looked back at her looking for some sympathy, please don't make me come in here, I got the raise of an Irish mother's hand was like, Get get in there. So I went. So I went, I went in, had initial training with the guys. It was my first you're in this environment, you're coming from college and Bank of America is very corporate, you've got the suit, you've got the tie, you've got all of that. So I learned from that, even dressing up. It's like getting into it getting ready for a football game, you get in you get involved, you get ready. And it's like gore time. So even that was a beautiful learning experience. For me just even entering that building for the first time. What year was that? That would have been maybe 2004 2005 something. So **Michael Hingson ** 11:03 yeah, I understand exactly what you're saying it's a whole different environment, then we're, you know, we tend to be used to when we're students, and suddenly you're, you're thrown into this whole different thing that unfortunately, college doesn't help prepare you for necessarily. **Derek Healy ** 11:22 No, it doesn't. It doesn't, it doesn't. And it's it's folly. If you look at leadership's the beauty of mentorship or leadership is you're being mentored or you're being led by people that have done it before. And they can give you real life examples of what to look out for and what to expect. And perhaps the people in certain universities, they're training you for something that isn't real, if that makes sense in training you from from books or from other people's experiences, and they're not able to articulate it or paint the picture correctly. And that, that opens up a lot of uncertainty when people enter the working world. So yeah, it is quite a big culture shock. I'm yet to find someone actually, that can say that college or university prepared them for the real world, I'm yet to meet someone, I'm not sure if you can actually introduce me to someone that can that can attest that. Well, I **Michael Hingson ** 12:22 think something a little different. I think with light here, I went to the University of California at Irvine, which is a research institution, it was a it was a new campus at the time when I went there, but one of the things that generally, we were told was that the junior college or community colleges, and even the Cal State system, which were four year colleges tended to be much more teaching oriented, and I think tended to probably have more people who were a little bit closer to what you would find in a lot of industry and so on. And some of the people came from there, as opposed to most people at the universities, and it isn't a criticism, it's a different world. But most people from the universities are in a much more theoretical world, or maybe in a scientific environment experimental but still, you're right. They don't come from an environment where they think about teaching people to be prepared with for what comes outside of the university, and all those other kinds of things. **Derek Healy ** 13:40 And I think, again, I'm not sure of the university systems right now. But there's a lot of talk about, like safe places, if you like or even even censoring the way people talk or the way people debate. And I think debate is such a beautiful, beautiful thing. And in the years that I've worked 20 years in the corporate space, and I've trained and mentored hundreds of people. But the one thing I've learned with the people that are unsuccessful is the people that are unable to deal with adversity, and they're unable to bounce back from disappointment, or they're unwilling to push themselves into uncomfortable states situations and stay there. That's the difference between success and failure. I think and, unfortunately, what seems to me the trend is universities are sheltering people specifically from those areas of growth. **Michael Hingson ** 14:36 And even there's probably some merit to that. Yeah. **Derek Healy ** 14:40 Which is, so it'll be interesting to see. It's all a big experiment. It's all a big game. So we'll see in 1015 years, what the what the results are, **Michael Hingson ** 14:48 and whether anyone makes a real change. Or the other side of it is the universities do what they do and that's okay. For one one group of people, but still I hear what you We're saying that If college is really supposed to prepare us for life, then there are certainly other things that need to be brought into the curriculum somehow **Derek Healy ** 15:09 into it. That's so true. That's so true. But another thing actually did Jesus on the university side of things. In Ireland, we've got relatively free education system, which is an amazing that we are doing that because education is so so important. But the problem with that is it becomes it, whether it be an industry or not. The problem with that is, when you're unsure of what to do, you're nearly pushed towards University. So even when a lot of my friends were going to university, no one knew what they wanted to do, and very few are doing what they went to university for. But it seems like it's like the next logical step to go towards. And that's not always right, either. It's more following. I don't think university should be going where you don't know what you want to do, you should you should, you should need to have a vision you should need to have because as we know, if you make a decision, whether it be right or wrong, at least you've made a decision. So when you make a bad decision, you can recollect and then turn that into a good decision. And that's even a learning process. But if you're just literally going to university, because everyone else is I don't think that's necessarily your decision. And therefore I don't think the results can be achieved. **Michael Hingson ** 16:21 I think, I think there are too many people probably who, putting it in quotes, go to find themselves. And that's unfortunate if they really feel that they have to do that. They haven't been prepared or maybe haven't gotten what they need from their parents. And I will say there are some who do find themselves. But there are a lot of people who still come out with with a lot of challenges. And it's very unfortunate that it isn't just the academic knowledge, I would like to see people get from college university, but rather some of the other life knowledge that people could bring. And I wish there were more of that. I think you're right. **Derek Healy ** 17:03 I think so too. I think so. But the problem is, though, Michael, if you are lost, you might, you're going to find yourself. But sometimes someone might find you and then you are literally, they'll find you before you find yourself and then you just become their train of thoughts. We're all programmed at the end of the day, but we need to make sure the programming is correct. And it's in our best interest. **Michael Hingson ** 17:26 I know that when I went to university, I wanted to be a teacher, I always wanted to teach, I wanted to do something in the science world. But the other side of all of this discussion is that something happened along the way that caused me to need to shift well not need to but shift exactly what I was doing instead of going toward teaching and I had a secondary teaching credential. But I had been offered an opportunity to work to help make a new piece of technology available to blind people. And I was hired to coordinate a project for 18 months where literally, we put product around the country for people to use. So I was the person who would literally live out of suitcases in hotels for 18 months writing curriculum, writing procedures, teaching people to use the technology and eventually writing a final report. And I suppose you could say that as a result of that like writing training curriculum, I really did start to teach, although it was a little different than what I thought. And then it's and then I went to work for that same company. And after about eight months, I instead of doing the kind of work that I had been doing, was told that I had to be laid off because I wasn't a revenue producer, unless I was willing to go into sales. And what I what I learned, so you'll appreciate this. What I learned though, I took a Dale Carnegie sales course, and what I learned and still believe absolutely firmly today that the best real salespeople are teachers. You're teaching people about your product, you don't you, you can't force somebody to buy unless they really want to, and you might be able to break down their will. But that isn't the best way to sell. The best way to sell is to teach advice and counsel. And when you do that, it will reward you in so many ways. And I saw so many examples of that over time. So I ended up teaching anyway. **Derek Healy ** 19:30 That was Wow. Wow. And you hit the nail on the head the best. When I went into leadership first similar story it was it forced me I was always able to do bring in generate revenue. But when I had to teach people how to generate revenue, it made me a better revenue generator. Yep. Because you need to articulate in a different way you need to influence the people that you're surrounded by. It's a different cell if you like it But yeah, Michael, I hit the data, you are in sales. In the end, you are in sales. You so there you go. Well, **Michael Hingson ** 20:07 the other. The other side of it is that the more you teach people, and you leave it open for them to be able to ask questions and explore with you, the more you're forced to learn, because invariably, they're going to ask you questions you hadn't thought of Exactly. Which is so much fun. And I learned early on when I was getting my teaching credential, that when people ask you questions that you don't know the answer to, don't try to fake them out. Be honest, be honest answer. I don't know. And then go find the answer. I had that happen to me when I was teaching a freshman algebra class, and there was an eighth grader who was accelerated and he was in the class. And he asked the question, I don't even remember what it was. But it was a simple question. I just couldn't think of the answer. And I thought for a second, I said, you know, Marty, I don't know. But I'm gonna go find out and we will get the answer all up on the board tomorrow, and you're gonna write it on the blackboard? Well, when I came in, and he came in, he said, Mr. Hanson, I got the answer. I said, I do too. Let's compare notes. And we did. And he wrote it up on the board. And, and 10 years later, I met him at a fair, and his, now he wasn't an eighth grader anymore. He had this deep bass voice. And he said, Hey, Mr. Harrison, do you know me? And I said, No, I'm Marty, that guy with the question. 810 years ago, this just amazing. But isn't that amazing? It's such a lesson. **Derek Healy ** 21:42 Wow, that that's it's amazing. The things that make such a big difference is small things that, yeah, it's the small things, but it makes a big difference. **Michael Hingson ** 21:51 They make such a big difference. And after I did that, and told him, I didn't know my master teacher, who was also the football coach for the high school came up and Mr. Redmond said, you know, you told him Do you didn't know. And that was the best thing you could do. Because if you tried to blow smoke, they would have caught you. They would never have respect for you, you're gonna have their respect from now on. And you know, that was so true. And it's the only way to do it. **Derek Healy ** 22:17 Absolutely. But I think apart from the fact that you went on the journey with him to find the answer, and you, you didn't, as you said, try and blow smoke, but you're shown vulnerability. And by showing some sort of vulnerability, we can nearly make a connection to that. Even it was funny, I was in a meeting there recently with a another friend, a business partner of mine, if you like, and we bought at the meeting. And I came in, had the meeting. And in my opinion, everything was perfect. Like the appearance was perfect. The way I spoke, nothing was out a turn, every answer was given perfectly coherently, etc. And my friend, his body language was a little bit off, he was slightly slumped. He wasn't looking at the person I was looking dead in the eyes. He was when I observed what he was doing. It didn't look perfect. But before the end of the meeting, the two guys that were sitting across the room, the question came up like what what's your thoughts? The guys directed to my friend? And they said, I'm feeling exactly he's, it's like he's inside my mind. They totally resonated with him. And I had to assess it. At the end of it. I was there. I was perfect in that meeting. Why were they why did they resonate with my friend who wasn't perfect, and they resonated with it, that didn't resonate with me. And I assessed it was that the guys we were talking to Warren perfect. And the fact that I was trying to be perfect, it not annuity alienated them. And they connected on an emotional level with my friend because he wasn't trying to be perfect. Nothing about him was perfect, but they resonated better with them. So sometimes, when we try to be that perfect individual, it's almost create a suspicion to the counterpart. And Shawn vulnerability is more human. **Michael Hingson ** 24:08 And it shows you for what you really are not trying to be something that you're not necessarily at all. I when I speak. I love to speak in person when I can, I will speak virtually, but when I speak in person, I get to hear the audience. And I know there there are a lot of people who say, Well, you can't see the audience. I don't need see the audience. I can hear the audience. And one of the things that I have learned to do when I speak is to put different phrases or different things in sometimes a joke, sometimes just a comment, or sometimes a question that I want people to just somehow respond to. And I listened for the reactions and that has taught me over the years and now tells me how well I'm doing really connecting with the audience. And if I decide that I'm not really connecting, I will change something to connect, because I want to be with them. And I want them to be with me. I believe that as a speaker, I never talk to an audience, I talk with an audience. And it has to be that way, for the best speeches. And so I don't read speeches I customize. And sometimes I've had to do it as I go, I've got great stories about that. But the bottom line is that it's all about connecting. And when you can connect, it makes a whole huge difference. **Derek Healy ** 25:36 That's amazing. So you're putting out little feelers if you like, just get the energy from the audience. And you, you can almost gauge that what type of audience you are going to be speaking to just by the prompts that you put out, if you're like, oh, **Michael Hingson ** 25:51 absolutely can Yes, that's it. Now, having said that, they're all going to try to fool me from now on, but nevertheless, you know, **Derek Healy ** 26:00 the, I recently heard a story, something about I can't remember that term, but it's you may have even heard of us. It was many, about 100 years ago, there used to be a horse, and it was a job as a German trainer, and he had a horse. And he used to go around to fairs. And the whole thing was that he claimed that the horse could speak could understand language. So he used to bring the horse into the fair, and they'd be surrounded by people. And then he would, he would get the horse to spell out certain names, certain words. So he'd asked the question to the audience. And the question could be, what color is this apple, and then the horse would go over and eat spell out red apple, like going over to the thing, he was able to do multiplication tables, he was able to do division. He was it was world famous this horse. So then a couple of scientists came over and they were they're trying to find obviously, some holes in the story. And they wanted to see if it was, if the horse could actually do that. So they went to the guy, they got the guy out of the room, so that they thought that was it. They whispered to the horse, what they need, what they need, what they go to multiply seven by seven as an example. And all the stadium was there, the guy would whisper into his ear, and then the horse, walk over and do 49. But then, by the end of it, they were there. How could it be? So what they did is they got rid of the audience. And then the horse was no longer able to spell multiply or divide. And it turned out that the horse when that question was presented to the audience, and the horse would be going over to the number or the letter, the audience anticipation, the horse would feel the anticipation, the horse would anticipate, he would anticipate, and it was by the feeling that the audience was given that the horse was able to hone in on this. So Michael, you are that horse? So you are a bit better than that is that is what you're doing. You're and you're getting the full feeling from the audience. **Michael Hingson ** 28:05 Yeah, I hear a lot of information which makes which makes it amazing. That is amazing. So what was your first job with Bank of America? What did you start doing? **Derek Healy ** 28:16 Oh, my word. So we went in no **Michael Hingson ** 28:18 keeping besides being a closed model. **Derek Healy ** 28:20 Yeah. The keep in mind, when I got my first job in Bank of America, I was I was leaving college and I was suffering severely from depression severity from depression. Now, if anyone is whether it be yourself or anyone else that knows anything about depression, it doesn't just remove all of your confidence, but it literally shakes you to the core. It's it's a terrible affliction, or anyone. And my first job was actually working in Bank of America in the credit card division. So when I had just finished my train, and I walked into that sales floor, there was about 300 Absolute lunatics. There was I walked in there, the energy in that place. There was over on the left hand side when I walked in, there was two girls running down the full length of the corridor having an egg and spoon race for money. There was someone over the other side throwing darts at balloons that were filled with money like it was, this place was just insanity. It was it was craziness. And there was so much confidence in the place and that was my first job with those and I remember being brought straight to my cubicle. And just so I didn't have to make eye contact with anyone and speak to anyone over straight on the phone, making making cold calls cold call cold call and push that as pushed out as literally banging out 100 Maybe 150 calls a day and that's no joke. This is I hear you 15 years ago is a lot different than it is now in terms of outposts in terms of whatever on a dialer. But as I started as the skill started developing, and as the conversations I started having with these individually was every conversation every sale I made. It was like it was rebuilding a stone wall of confidence that I had knocked down through the years before. And it was an amazing just almost metamorphosis of someone that came in with the most own confidence on the shell, I probably looked okay. But internally, I was broken. But through that through dealing with that adversity, and through learning those new skills, it, it changed who I was, it changed who I was. And I still have those same skills today. But and learned a lot from that experience. But call center finance, called credit card, the hardest thing you could ever do in the situation I was in, and I loved every second of it, loved every second of it, **Michael Hingson ** 30:48 I worked my first job. Well wasn't my first job. But in late 1980s into 1990, I went to work for a company. And they're the ones that eventually asked me to go to New York to open an office because I was selling from the west coast to the financial markets, Wall Street. And we were doing it all by phone. So I think my record was about 120 calls a day. Normally, it wasn't that high because I spent time with customers explaining things about products. So for me, when I had 120 calls a day, I knew that in some senses, maybe I planted seeds, but wasn't as productive at getting sales as I was when I had fewer calls because fewer calls meant I was actually interacting more with customers, which is the way I looked at it. Our bosses wanted as many calls a day as possible. And that wasn't as practical as it should have been. But we over achieve goals. So it was okay. **Derek Healy ** 31:47 Yeah, and I think that, that that is a train of thought in sales is it's a numbers game. And to a certain extent that is true, but it's about the value you're having with the customers. That's where the true change can happen. Yeah, **Michael Hingson ** 32:02 a lot of people didn't have anywhere near the number of calls, even on a good day, if you will, from a sales standpoint. Because people tended to be way too distracted. spend too much time talking and, and not on the phone. And I love being on the phone. It was a lot of fun. Yep, exactly, **Derek Healy ** 32:21 exactly. I wonder. You say that's a lot of fun, you can easily convince yourself that it's a lot of fun. And that's that's the trick as well, you need to it's a lot of people avoid getting on the phone, because they're, I don't know, it's it's their mindset of I don't want to get on the phone. So I **Michael Hingson ** 32:39 don't want to talk to people, I'm afraid to talk to people, they might ask me something to show me up, which is of course getting back then to our whole discussion. From before, it's okay, if you get a question you don't know. And that happened to me a number of times, which also helped me learn a lot, technically. But when people ask questions, if I didn't know, I would just say, Look, you know, I am not sure. Let's finish this conversation and with other things that we have to do. Tell me when I can call you back, I'll have an answer. And I worked always to have an answer that was so important. And I do that today. **Derek Healy ** 33:16 I like yeah, it's important. **Michael Hingson ** 33:20 So how long would you do credit card stuff, **Derek Healy ** 33:24 did it for two years, you know, a year, give or take, give or take, give or take two years, which is it can be a long time. But I found while I was there. Obviously you've you've I went from severely depressed, a broken individual to be one of the top performing executives right across Europe for Bank of America in terms of the outputs and the close rate, revenue I was generating. So I was riding high. But I always wanted that success. But I didn't even know what what really was successful. What I found during that whole, I suppose year and a half, two years that I was doing that I was still displaying the same sort of habits that brought me Depression years before, the only difference was, now I had a lot more money to partake in certain things. So you've you've you've still got the same How would you put them internal behaviors that bring you back down. And even though used on a on a on a conscious or an intellectual level, you may want that success, so to speak. But on an emotional level, you begin and continue to display behaviors that just brings you straight back down. You're not so Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Exactly. And that's another thing I suppose in universities what they could teach you. They teach you skills, they teach you skills, but they don't teach you correct habits. And if a day to day and a life style in a lifetime, in a day to day, and even in an hour, your life is just made up of tiny little miniscule habits and thoughts. And people focus on the big things, I'm gonna have this house, or I'm gonna have this money, or I'm gonna have this life, but they take their eye off the ball on the tiny little miniscule things. And that's what makes all the difference. And I did that for two years. But again, all my tiny little decisions were combinated to poor outcomes. Whereas, and I think that's, that's something I learned, it took me a long time to implement certain changes that removed bad habits. Because again, talent sometimes is, is a man or a woman's biggest curse. And you can learn that no matter how bad things are, I can bounce back from us. And that nearly is one of your worst enemies. Whereas if you focus on just the small things you can control and the small habits, it allows for long lasting success. **Michael Hingson ** 36:01 So what did you do after credit cards, property, **Derek Healy ** 36:04 there's a bit of property. It was, this was pre GFC. So property was all the rage, and it was all where the revenue was. That was fun as well. That's when I first moved to the fine city of Dublin, Ireland. So I spent a number of years up there. And we were selling property in Spain. So it was all golf course, beautiful properties. I don't think many of them survived the global financial crisis. So there's a lot of green open land over there. I don't think many survived. But it's, yeah, it's funny. There's, there's always, if you want to go, if you want to make money, just just that money is raining everywhere. And if you want to make it, you just have to go and stand under where it's raining most. And at that time, it was property. But the rain eventually stops. So you need to know when to get out. So yeah, it was it was an interesting, great learning experience there as well. **Michael Hingson ** 37:08 Well, you have, but you have been doing work in the financial industry. And yeah, I'd love to hear more of the other things that you've done since but you've been in this business for almost 20 years. How? Let's say you've dealt with chinzy, you've done with millennials and Gen X and even baby boomers. What are the different groups? Like? How are how is how's all that evolved? And has it evolved in a good way from Boomers to Gen Zers? **Derek Healy ** 37:37 Yeah, wow. The like, in Australia now, when we first came to Australia, how we integrated so well, was our commitment to just and it wasn't even our commitment, how we generate, how we integrated so well, much like most immigrants, you just get stuck in, you just try and do your best. Sometimes it's just a poor food on your table. So you've got that mindset of pushing, pushing forward, that allows you immediately just one of the laws of the universe by pushing forward and doing your very best as much as you can, you're gonna get certain results from it. And we're, we were greeted with open arms by the Australians, what seems to happen with a lot of the younger generation that's coming through, they don't have that hunger to succeed, it's more of a they're entering a safe place. And it's, they're not prepared to step outside that safe place to to succeed. That's why I do I do believe travel does implement certain behaviors that can be so valuable to people. As long as you're not supported by your parents on your trip, you need to be there needs to be an opportunity for you to go very, very hungry. And that's going to be a lot of learning from that. So with that with a lot of the Gen z's. For the last 10 years, when I've been working in this industry in Australia, the feedback from the market is these people are a jellyfish generation, there's not as much they just no one just wants to get stuck in no one wants to do this. And I've heard that so often. But why doesn't someone do something about it then? Like why do we accept those certain things by people? Or why do we? Why? Yeah, why do we accept those certain behaviors from individuals? And a lot of times people will. People will do what they see. I think as leaders, we're leading Gen Z if you like, we need to be living a life that inspires those individuals that they want to follow. So if you've got a lot of people that aren't, you know, will say that jellyfish generation Gen Z's aren't, they don't want to make us well perhaps that we need to as leaders, we need to be living lives that they want to emulate. They want to follow because there is a lot of people that they just don't dare look, no one wants To do nothing, people want to be inspired, once they're inspired, they will push true. And I think what's lacking with Gen Z is inspiration, there is not enough people to inspire them to on a path that they want to follow, or they need to follow. So with Gen z's, I've worked a lot with them. It is challenging, because as I said, a lot of them don't want to step outside their comfort zone. And what I found to help them with that was for me to live from, from a leader and from a mentor, to live the best possible life I can with the best possible habits with the best possible mindset. And, and, but And of course, by leading from the front, and if you can do all of those things, no, you're not going to get 100% of the Gen Z's if you like. But what you are going to get, you're going to get the people that want to change, and you can't change people that don't want to change. But when you've got the opportunity to inspire certain individuals, you need to do it right. So do you think that **Michael Hingson ** 40:59 a lot of them feel more entitled, or they want to feel that they're entitled as opposed to have to earn? **Derek Healy ** 41:07 Well, there is that of course, like, yes, there's a certain level of entitlement that is a really entitlement, because again, a lot of times, they'll want to fool, okay, well, this is what it is to change yourself. Okay. So as an example, from a diet standpoint, it's not hard to have the perfect physique. To eat perfect to do things as close to perfect as you can. That's not hard. Conceptually, that's not hard. But to implement that, and to actually stand by your diet, to stand by your exercise routine, something as simple as this. It's a lot easier to not do that. The simple things are easy to do. But the simple things are easy not to do. That's the problem. And it's a lot easier to focus on external matters, as opposed to internal matters. And I think that's what it is, a lot of the Gen Z's if you like, it's easier to focus on things that are outside their control, and focus all their attention on that or even use that as a leverage than it is to focus on the simple things of the internal because that's, that's the easiest to do. And it's the easiest to not to do. And I think that's where the thing is, but I think that comes back to inspiration. When I've worked with individuals. They see the work ethic, they see the true desire to help these individuals. And that can inspire people. So I think as leaders, I think the Gen Z's yes, there might be entitled, but what about the leaders? What are the leaders do about that? **Michael Hingson ** 42:43 So course always the question, Well, what about the millennials and the Gen X's? **Derek Healy ** 42:49 The millennials, the Gen X's? Yeah. But again, they're the leaders that came before. They're the leaders that came before. And if I hear a lot of them, like I speak with them, I hope none of them are gonna listen to this after but I speak to them every day from a consultancy standpoint. And a lot of those individuals will complain about the people that are in their organization. But what are they doing about it? And exactly? What are they doing about it? How are you making a difference, you can ask, push people to change, you need to lead people to change. And I'll be speaking to these business owners, these millionaire business owners, they'll be able to shape their business will be rolling to a certain extent. But there'll be big holes in their business and in their own personal life. If that's the case, how are you meant to be inspired these individuals? So a lot of people even with from a business owner, they were looked at the Gen Z's or the or the Gen Y's or they looked at other individuals and say they are not doing what they're supposed to be doing. But that's deflecting from themselves. Are they truly doing what they are supposed to do to inspire? **Michael Hingson ** 43:53 Yeah, a lot of it has to absolutely do with inspiration, because people are going to relate to people they can look up to or that they can admire. And if leaders aren't doing that, then that's a problem. And one of the things that I've said many times is that bosses are not necessarily leaders and leaders are not necessarily bosses. One of the things that I did whenever I hired a salesperson, in our initial meetings after they joined, I would say, let me explain what are our roles here are, you're here to sell. I'm not here to tell you how to sell because I hired you assuming that assuming that you know how to sell. What you and I need to figure out is what I can best do to help you and add value to what you do to make you as successful as possible. And that's going to be different for every single person who I hire because they all have different talents and the people who got that leveraged me in many different ways and it worked out really well the people who didn't do Just plodding along as they usually do. And they didn't last very long. But the people who got it really put it to use. And we talked about, like what I thought I could add in a way of value to what they do in terms of being a sales guy, but also being technical and a physicist and being blind, I learned to listen very well, most of the time, my wife didn't always agree, but when, anyway, but but the bottom line is that the fact is, I would be able to add value to them. And they took great advantage of it, which I loved. Because they were more successful. That just we worked as a team, we created a team and it worked. **Derek Healy ** 45:44 That is it. We are very aligned with our concepts there. We are very, very, very aligned with our concepts. And yeah, I think, yeah, that too much of it's too much, too many people are being pushed from the back, as opposed to being led from the front. And you as a leader did the right thing there by finding how can I make you better, that's all I'm here to do is make you better. So that's beautiful. And look, **Michael Hingson ** 46:11 if we made mistakes along the way, admit it and fix it. There you go. But most of the time, it's easy. I think that's **Derek Healy ** 46:20 what a lot of times, that's an interesting one actually. Even getting back to school, like in school. I even remember for myself, you get asked a question. And sometimes you'd be afraid to try and answer the question because you could be wrong. So you nearly get this PTSD of being wrong. And perfection shouldn't. When you're afraid of being wrong, then you're afraid of making decisions. And if you're afraid of making decisions, you're going to welcome procrastination. making the wrong decision is in theory, it can be the right decision. Because once you make a wrong decision, it's easy to rectify your path and get on the right course. But you just need to make a decision, you need to make a choice. Yeah. So if you if you can harbor, that environment, where mistakes are good, as long as you rectify them very, very fast. Decisions are good. If you can, if you can harbor that type of environment. That's an environment where people are willing to learn. And that's that's where I've had success, I suppose in any of the any of the roles that I've been in. **Michael Hingson ** 47:31 Yeah. And I think it's important that we always learn. The best teachers are also good learners. **Derek Healy ** 47:38 Yes, yes. Some of the best, some of the mesh, which makes a **Michael Hingson ** 47:43 lot of sense. How do you measure your impact or the impact of what you do? **Derek Healy ** 47:49 The Well, look, if even if you just look at it from a from a sales standpoint, it's always numbers, you'll always just chase. KPIs are numbers, but it was funny. achieving certain numbers has never been, it's never been a hard thing. And you will achieve certain numbers, get achieve certain goals, but it gets to the stage where even those certain things there's not as much not adrenaline, but not enough dopamine that comes from achieving the goals. And I think when I assessed I assessed that a while back, why did I not feel? Okay, were after achieving this amazing goal, why do I not feel happy, it's just like you've achieved that now move on. And it wasn't till I started till I was mentored by actually, it was a former prisoner. And he introduced me to so much philosophy and learnings. And it wasn't about achieving these bigger goals or measuring certain success. We took a backer step, and we just focused on our internal so we, when I look at measuring success, I don't look at the bigger picture, I look at the smaller little things. So to build confidence. That's where success success is meant to give you give you confidence. But I like to do it the other way. I like to build confidence to gain success. So I'll start off by trying to be a measure of success and myself. Now what I mean by that is, I'll be up at 4am I'll be up at 4am I'll drink two liters of water. After two liters of water, I'll do a small bit of stretching and I'll read and I'll journal a small bit, then I'll go into a hard workout. Then I'll go in and I'll have a coffee after that. Then I'll go in and I'll try and inch out ensure that I've got no negative thoughts during that whole two hour process. So by the time that 630 comes or seven, I'll have achieved six to seven things that very very few people will have achieved. I will consider that success. I will consider and that will that success that I got by within two hours. Most people want to achieve in most people won't even achieve that simple thing in a week. By achieving that success, I'll consider that success. So I suppose if I, if I take it back, where I used to always go wrong, where a lot of people go wrong, they'll look at this big goal as a measure of success. And then when they don't achieve us, they feel inferior, or they feel whatever. Whereas I'll take it back. And I'll look at every moment of my day as an opportunity to be successful. And that pushes me forward, like a Concorde plane throughout the entire day. And then the bigger things don't matter, because I've achieved all the smaller things, and then just happened so that the bigger things present themselves, **Michael Hingson ** 50:46 and you've cleared your mind **Derek Healy ** 50:48 completely, completely. **Michael Hingson ** 50:50 So what is it you do today? What work do you do now? **Derek Healy ** 50:54 I do a number of different things. I'm involved in a number of different startups, Mike, well, one of the things that I've always I suppose nowadays, you'd call it ADHD, or you could call it something, but I love looking at shiny things. And I'm always over, over stimulated by opportunities. So I work with a number of different startups in the AI space. I coach people, I mentor people. And I'm one of the founding directors of the hummingbird sales Academy, which is a sales Academy specifically to instill confidence, values, and ambition in in individuals. So it's, it's sales, yes. And sales is something that we focus on and skills and communication that we focus on. But really, our sales Academy is focused on habits, and instilling mindset and habits and individual. And that's where we're getting success from our academy. **Michael Hingson ** 51:54 So is it a virtual academy? Or is it in person or? **Derek Healy ** 52:02 Right now? It's, it's, it's how would you call a blended learning if you like? So what we find is, obviously, if you go to a sales training or any sort, of course, immediately you come back from it, you're highly motivated. And this is the problem. Motivation can dip. So what we find is, even during our two day bootcamp, there's huge growth, huge motivation. There's people nearly doing push ups at the end of it, you don't I mean, just You're, you're ready for action, and that motivation can wane. Yeah, so we blend it in with with weekly coaching calls and conversations to go through things. We we have regular meetups. And of course, then there's the online training, and you need to follow the code for our coaching to work. It's all about mindset. So there is a lot of fitness that's blended in those diets that's blended in those, how would you put it, some people would look at it, and they'd say, Well, that doesn't sound too enjoyable. But the idea is you need to change your mindset and focus on things that aren't that enjoyable. Because once you focus on them, and you master them, and you trick your mind into thinking this isn't that enjoyable. But then you trick your mind into thinking, I love this. This is the best thing ever, exactly what I do on the phone, Michael, you totally enjoyed being on the phone. There's people that don't enjoy something as simple as that. But when you trick your mind, and you consistently do it in your mind tells you eventually that you love this. That's what our program is about. It's about looking at things that you that may not be enjoyable on paper. And it's doing them to a level that suddenly you begin to love the uncomfortable if you like. **Michael Hingson ** 53:43 And of course, a lot of the times that we don't enjoy something or we think it's not enjoyable. There's usually fear or something behind it, that we have to break through and recognize maybe it's not really what we thought. So **Derek Healy ** 53:56 well. There's two voices, there's two voices in our heads, the king and the queen. I could use other other terms, but we'll just use the king and the queen for the moment. And the king or the king wants to do was conquer. You know the king wants to do is conquer. He wants to go out there. He wants to eat only when he needs to eat. He wants to conquer. He wants to build he wants to grow. He wants to mentor. And then there's the Queen, and the Queen wants to relax. The Queen wants to lounge the Queen wants to enjoy the spoils of war, enjoy the spoils of the day. And every single morning, every single hour almost, you're encountered with the king and the queen. And you get to listen, who do you choose to listen to? And that's going to define your day. So when I'm up at 4am and it's pitch dark out and it's raining, and I'm doing pull ups, or I'm doing certain things that and I know there's very few people up. I'm listening to the king. But as soon as that alarm goes off at 4am and I I want to go back to sleep and live beside my beautiful lady. That's the Queen telling me to just sit back, relax, you, you've been working out, you've been doing it too hard, relax, have a little break. So you get to choose to listen to the two voices. So part of our academy is identifying those voices, and working on strategies on how to only listen to the person that's congruent with where you want to end up. **Michael Hingson ** 55:24 At any given time, at any given time, and get the two of them to communicate with each other, the King and Queen should be communicating. But you know, what do you do? That's **Derek Healy ** 55:32 it. And, and our idea was, I went on a couple of years ago, I went to Cambodia and I did a retreat, a silent retreat and meditations and all the rest of it. And it was one of the guys that I worked with. She had said, Derek, you're too Yang. You need to find your Yeah, your your find your Yang, man, your your your to Yang. So you're right, the king and the queen need to speak together. Maybe I don't listen enough. And that's that's also a detriment. So you're right. Maybe there needs to be the two of them need to speak together as well. **Michael Hingson ** 56:04 Yeah. Well, tell me what is you invented the STOIC code? Tell me about that. Yeah, 56:04 the STOIC code as I said, What am I one of my mentors, and even one of my mindset coaches to this day, he was an individual that spent over 10 years in the penitentiary system in America. And he, he identified he, he spoke so much on removing your future self, and purely focusing on your, your, your this very moment in time, and only focusing on this very moment in time. And when I, when I reflected on the success I've had and what pushed me back, I realized there was never really any framework, I had all the skills in the world. But there wasn't really a framework that I followed. Everything was pushing forward, but there wasn't enough. How would you say, the foundation I was building foundations, I was building beautiful, beautiful houses, beautiful lives, but on a foundation of sand. So the story, the story code, it's, it's a framework, it's a framework for communication, it's a framework for influence. And that influence is also on yourself. But it's essentially it's a, it's a it's a way to sell, it's a way to communicate, and it's a way to influence yourself. So the STOIC code, it's built on five principles of story tenacity, objective integrity, and community, our communication sorry. So we've all got a story to tell. And as humans, we only resonate with story. We don't resonate with facts, we don't resonate with features, we don't resonate with benefits, we resonate with story. So when we're communicating with our clients or with ourselves, we need to have a relevant story that is going to be able to have that metaphor that people can connect with. So in our framework, we work a lot on our own internal stories, and being able to identify our clients, external or internal stories that will help influence the communication channels, if you like, the tenacity and our framework is purely centered on unfortunately, it's it's hard work, it's welcoming, uncomfortable. Our objective in the story is understanding this, and this is where a lot of people fall down, they focus too much on the outcome, they will from a sales standpoint, they'll focus too much on closing the deal or reaching their commission or they focus too much on on getting the deal if you like and that certain behavior, that mindset is going to it's going to protect you from a position of weakness in my opinion. So the objective in our in our framework is you only focus on what you can achieve. Now you can focus on your activity, your mindset, your attitude, and you remove yourself from the end outcome of the of the deal if you like and it's fully even put in and then of course integrity goes without saying and the communication side of things is purely based on the communication standpoint your your body language or tone and everything every form of communication that's that's centered around influence. **Michael Hingson ** 59:28 Wow. And it's an incredible code and it makes perfect sense all the way around. Well, I have to ask one thing, there's a rumor about a wedding coming up. Hmm. **Derek Healy ** 59:41 I can't believe you got the invitation already. I only sent that out here the other day. You got it in the post. **Michael Hingson ** 59:49 I haven't gotten to it yet. But I heard a rumor from from a little hummingbird. **Derek Healy ** 59:53 Oh yeah. Yeah, I am. I am to be weird. This coming in this coming December I'm actually to be read. So yeah, it's it's going to be an exciting one. So we're doing it doing it in Malaysia. We're based in Australia here, but my partner is she's originally from Malaysia. So we'll do it on on home soil. In the olden days, perhaps we do a Home and Away leg. Boris? Well, I think I'll settle just for the home leg in Malaysia for this one. So, yeah, so it should be it should be an interest in an affair. It's my first wedding. And I can guarantee you, Michael, it'll be my last **Michael Hingson ** 1:00:36 one in my life. And it lasted 40 years, my wife passed away last November, which you're sad about. But I've got 40 years of marriage, and she's monitoring me from somewhere. So if I misbehave, I'm going to hear about it. **Derek Healy ** 1:00:49 And keep in mind, she is monitoring you. I've no doubt about it. There is no doubt about it. She's monitoring. Yes. So yeah. Well, **Michael Hingson ** 1:00:56 if people want to reach out to you learn more about the the hummingbird sales academy or just maybe seek your counsel and advice or just learn about you. How do they do that? 1:01:08 Absolutely. So you'll be able to get us at the hummingbirdsalesacademy.com Get us at the website, you'll get me on socials, we'll leave them in the links in description. Whether this be from a business standpoint and advice standpoint or just to connect, reach out, we can share a lot of value with each other. And I think connections making a human connection is so important. So anytime, if you're if you're listening to this, feel free to reach out and connect. Laughter. **Michael Hingson ** 1:01:37 Cool. Well, I appreciate it. I appreciate you. And I really appreciate the time that you have spent it's early in the day there. So it's what now about 10 o'clock in the morning. 1:01:49 It's just 10 o'clock. And I've it's been a pleasure sharing a coffee with you, Michael. I'm sorry. I couldn't put the kettle on for you here. My coffee with you. It's been a pleasure. Well, **Michael Hingson ** 1:01:59 I've enjoyed it very much. I hope that you've enjoyed it listening to us. To to Derek and we talk. We'd love to hear your comments. Please feel free to reach out to me Michaelhi at accessiBe A c c e s s i b e.com Or go to our podcast page www dot MichaelHingson m i  c h a el h i n g s o n.com/podcast. Love to hear your thoughts love to hear your opinions. I know that Derek would love it if you'd reach out to him. And wherever you're listening, please give us a five star rating. We value those very highly. And we hope that you'll be kind enough to give us a rating like that. And one last time. Derek, I really appreciate you being here. And this has been a lot of fun. **Derek Healy ** 1:02:44 Absolutely, Michael, absolute pleasure. Enjoy. Thank you again and speak to you very very soon. **Michael Hingson ** 1:02:54 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for Listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

The California State University system is the largest public university system in the nation. This week, faculty at four campuses — Cal Poly Pomona, San Francisco State, Cal State Los Angeles, and Sacramento State — launched a series of 1-day strikes. KQED's Juan Carlos Lara takes us to Tuesday's strike at SF State, where faculty and staff say they're fed up with working conditions, low pay, and looming job cuts. Episode transcript This episode was produced by Ericka Cruz Guevarra and Maria Esquinca, and hosted by Ericka Cruz Guevarra.

ICYMI: Later, with Mo'Kelly Presents – Thoughts on the most recent faculty members strike at Cal State L.A. AND Disneyland increasing security at its parking structures to help prevent suicide attempts…PLUS – A deeper look at Los Angeles City Councils weighing a rodeo ban - on KFI AM 640 – Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app

The one-day Cal State LA faculty strike is the third of four planned statewide this week. Sunset's bright purple Cafe Tropical, which shut down suddenly last week, was known for its excellent Cuban food and its role as a safe haven for those in recovery. From a zookeeper he met on Twitter to musician Phoebe Bridgers,Brandon Stosuy's latest book features 115 essays, poems, and stories on sadness and crying.

It's News Day Tuesday! Sam and Emma break down the biggest headlines of the day. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on Israel expanding their invasion to Southern Gaza, US funding for Israel and Ukraine, conditioning aid to Israel, the US' various showy legislative bills, Bob Menendez's gold bar problem, CalState labor action, and Georgia's institutionalized disenfranchisement, before parsing through the GOP's continued attempt to keep the “Biden Crime Family” story in the media, without adding any new (or relevant) information. Next, they parse through the appearance of Josh Paul, the State Department official who resigned over stifled dissent around US support for Israel, on CNN, and the unsurprising revelations about Palestinian treatment in IDF captivity. They also watch a plea from a UNICEF worker to acknowledge the humanity of Palestinian children, and Israel's horrors force even Jake Tapper to begin questioning their collective punishment. And in the Fun Half: Donald Trump appears with Moms for America, Ben Shapiro accidentally calls God an incrementalist after doing a moral relativism, and Lek from Massapequa gives his take on yesterday's interview. Jack from Colorado dives into the faux-intellectualism of the right wing, Oscar from DC discusses Univision-Trump collusion, and Ronald Raygun explores how he duped Dennis Prager. George Santos begins his reconciliation project with the American public, plus, your calls and IMs! Get COVID test kits from the U.S. Postal Service here!: https://special.usps.com/testkits Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the ESVN YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/esvnshow Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://am-quickie.ghost.io/ Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Get the free Majority Report App!: http://majority.fm/app Check out today's sponsors: Liquid IV: Grab your Liquid I.V. Hydration Multiplier Sugar-Free in bulk nationwide at Costco or you can get 20% off when you go to https://liquidiv.com and use code MAJORITYREP at checkout. Rhone: The Commuter Collection can get you through any work day and straight into whatever comes next. Head to https://rhone.com/MAJORITYREPORT and use promo code MAJORITYREPORT to save 20% off your entire order. Aura Frames: Give the perfect gift this holiday! Visit https://AuraFrames.com/MAJORITY today and get 30 dollars off their best-selling frames. These frames sell out quickly though, so get yours before they're gone! That's https://AuraFrames.com/MAJORITY.  Use promo code MAJORITY to get 30 dollars of their best-selling frame. Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattLech @BradKAlsop Check out Matt's show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Check out Matt Binder's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mattbinder Subscribe to Brandon's show The Discourse on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ExpandTheDiscourse Check out Ava Raiza's music here! https://avaraiza.bandcamp.com/ The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/

Dylan Smith, a talented high school baseball player from West High School in Twins, California, has a unique perspective on youth baseball, college recruitment, and emotional management in sports. His experiences, including receiving four college recruitment offers and winning back-to-back championships in his local pony league, have shaped his understanding of the importance of self-control, physical preparation, and composure in the sport. Dylan emphasizes the significance of managing oneself and controlling emotions, as scouts and fans take notice of composure on the field. He also highlights the importance of physical preparation for recruitment. Join Aaron and Jenn as they delve deeper into these topics with Dylan Smith on this episode of The S.L.I.D.E. Podcast. #youthbaseball #collegerecruitment #emotionalmanagement #sports #selfcontrol #physicalpreparation #composure #scouts #collegechoice #emotions #Theslidepodcastshow #CatchyouontheSlide Please email us for any questions or feedback. Help us grow!!! TheSlidePodcastShow@gmail.com Make sure to go leave us a review!!!! Website: www.theslidepodcastshow.com Https://linktr.ee/theslidepodcastshow Facebook: @theslidepodcast Instagram: @theslidepodcastshow TikTok: @theslidepodcastshow Twitter: @theslidepod LinkedIn: @theslidepodcastshow

ICYMI: Later, with Mo'Kelly Presents – A preview of the third GOP presidential primary debate, thoughts on Cal State workers calling for a strike AND fond memories of beloved Torrance landmark ‘Texas Loosey's' - on KFI AM 640 – Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app

Earlier this year Sonya Christian became the first woman chancellor of the California Community Colleges, the largest higher education system in the country serving 1.9 million students across 116 colleges. We'll talk to Christian about her plans to address declining enrollment, ease transfers from community college to the UC and Cal State systems and create more community college baccalaureate degree programs. And we'll hear from you: what did you gain from your community college education? What would you change about California's system? Guests: Sonya Christian, chancellor, California Community Colleges - Website URL: https://sonyachristianblog.com/

Brandon Marshall and Ashley Nicole Moss discuss how The Buffalo Bills Are About To Get Bigger … With Von Miller, then we sit down with Denver Broncos Veteran Cornerback Kareem Jackson, lastly we discuss how Marshawn Lynch only wanted to play football, no new friends!

California is moving to outlaw watering some grass that's purely decorative. What are the DWP restrictions? CSU trustees approve 6% annual tuition hike over the next 5 years. Scores of students saying they're struggling and can't afford to pay anymore. You should be worried about the data retailers are collecting about you. It's not what you think. From films to counseling, how California is spending $90MIL to fight hate.

Wayne Resnick and Amy King join Bill for Handel on the News. Attorney Ben Crump $500MIL lawsuit accuses Beverly Hills police of racial profiling in arrests. North Korea's Kim Jong Un crosses into Russia on armored train ahead of Putin meeting. FDA signs off on updated Coviid-19 vaccines that target circulating variants. Drew Barrymore announces talk show return amid strikes, says it will comply with WGA and SAG strike rules: “I own this choice.” CSU board to vote on proposed 6% annual tuition hikes Wednesday. US moves to advance prisoner swap deal with Iran and release $6 billion in frozen Iranian foods. Smucker's announces deal to acquire Hostess.