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Some ghost stories chill you. Others make you question reality itself. t begins with a listener who nearly died as a child—her body still, her mind floating toward a blinding white light. When she finally gasped for air six minutes later, something inside her changed forever. From that moment on, she saw things others couldn't: phantom footsteps, bathroom doors that opened themselves, and a haunting that may have begun the night her grandfather died in her bed. Then—Laura from Halifax recalls a summer day camp unlike any other. One quiet, pale boy sat talking to empty air… until she asked who he was speaking to. What followed—his sudden trance and whispered answers, “Eighteen… nineteen…”—left her paralyzed with fear. From out-of-body experiences to ghostly déjà vu, from possessed children to eternal road accidents—these aren't campfire tales. They're proof that sometimes, the line between life and death is only a heartbeat long. #RealGhostStories #HauntedHighway #GhostChild #PossessionStory #ParanormalPodcast #TrueGhostStory #CreepyEncounters #HauntedCanada #PhantomRider #AfterlifeProof #SupernaturalExperiences #GhostStoriesOnline Love real ghost stories? Don't just listen—join us on YouTube and be part of the largest community of real paranormal encounters anywhere. Subscribe now and never miss a chilling new story:
Eighteen-year-old Jesse Mack Butler pleaded no contest to a series of serious felony charges last week, including rape by instrumentation, sexual battery, and domestic assault and battery by strangulation, but will not spend one day in prison. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The people of Stillwater, Oklahoma, have had enough. Hundreds gathered outside the Payne County Courthouse demanding accountability after Judge Susan Worthington allowed a violent sexual predator to avoid prison. Eighteen-year-old Jesse Butler, charged with eleven felonies including rape, attempted rape, and strangulation, received no prison time under Oklahoma's Youthful Offender Law. Despite partial video evidence and one victim requiring neck surgery, Judge Worthington ruled that Butler qualified for rehabilitation instead of incarceration. The potential 78-year sentence vanished, replaced by a single year of supervision, therapy, and a curfew. The decision ignited outrage across the state. Tribal victim services, survivors, parents, and students rallied together on the courthouse steps, chanting for justice and calling for Judge Worthington's removal. State lawmakers labeled the ruling “unacceptable” and vowed to review how the system failed so catastrophically. In this episode of Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski, Tony breaks down the story that's shaken Stillwater to its core — how a judge's compassion turned into negligence, how leniency for violent predators endangers every community, and why the public's outrage might finally force real reform. We'll examine the judicial system that let this happen, the decades-long ties that bind small-town power networks, and the growing call to close legal loopholes that allow violent offenders to hide behind “youthful offender” status. This isn't about politics. It's about safety. Because when the system starts protecting predators instead of people, it's not justice anymore — it's failure in a robe. Watch the full breakdown and join the conversation in the comments.
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
The people of Stillwater, Oklahoma, have had enough. Hundreds gathered outside the Payne County Courthouse demanding accountability after Judge Susan Worthington allowed a violent sexual predator to avoid prison. Eighteen-year-old Jesse Butler, charged with eleven felonies including rape, attempted rape, and strangulation, received no prison time under Oklahoma's Youthful Offender Law. Despite partial video evidence and one victim requiring neck surgery, Judge Worthington ruled that Butler qualified for rehabilitation instead of incarceration. The potential 78-year sentence vanished, replaced by a single year of supervision, therapy, and a curfew. The decision ignited outrage across the state. Tribal victim services, survivors, parents, and students rallied together on the courthouse steps, chanting for justice and calling for Judge Worthington's removal. State lawmakers labeled the ruling “unacceptable” and vowed to review how the system failed so catastrophically. In this episode of Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski, Tony breaks down the story that's shaken Stillwater to its core — how a judge's compassion turned into negligence, how leniency for violent predators endangers every community, and why the public's outrage might finally force real reform. We'll examine the judicial system that let this happen, the decades-long ties that bind small-town power networks, and the growing call to close legal loopholes that allow violent offenders to hide behind “youthful offender” status. This isn't about politics. It's about safety. Because when the system starts protecting predators instead of people, it's not justice anymore — it's failure in a robe. Watch the full breakdown and join the conversation in the comments.
A family's day at Sydney's Luna Park ended in flames when a Ghost Train fire killed seven people—including six children—but the last photograph taken before the tragedy has sparked theories of something far more sinister than an accident.IN THIS EPISODE: Some of the most unsettling of urban legends can take place in some of the happiest places on earth. Ghostly children swinging in a playground, phantom-like warriors coming out at night in beautiful Hawaii, but there's one I never heard of until just this morning that I had to look up… it has to do with a boy, a theme park, and a man with horns, (Damien and the Horned Man) *** In 1944 Dorothy Forstein came home from shopping and was attacked by an intruder, beat within an inch of her life. Nothing was stolen, no fingerprints left, no clue as to how the person entered the house to begin with. Dorothy recovered from her injuries… but years later she found her grim fate wasn't done with her. (The Disappearance of Dorothy Forstein) *** SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence is continually scanning the heavens on the lookout for life elsewhere in the universe. But is it possible that somewhere on another planet out there, those beings are doing the same thing – and could actually be watching us? Scientists say that not only is it possible, but they suspect it could be over 1,000 extraterrestrial space stations are watching our every move! (Are We Being Watched By Alien Space Stations?) *** Eighteen-year-old Ellen Lucas was to be married on October 3rd – but the evening of October 2nd she went out with her fiance, never to be seen alive again. Did a horrible accident destroy the chances of this couple's happy life together? A random act of violence? Or was it something even more sinister? (The Bridgeport Tragedy) *** She seemed the perfect American, even born to a US military doctor, graduating from a prestigious American college, and working tirelessly, doing her part to serve her country as a military analyst. What would cause this seemingly patriotic citizen to become a spy for the enemy? (Havana Ana, The Cuban Spy)CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…00:00:00.000 = Show Open00:03:02.114 = Damien and The Horned Man00:07:26.527 = Disappearance of Dorothy Forstein00:17:00.668 = ***Are We Being Watched By Alien Space Stations?00:25:03.622 = The Bridgeport Tragedy00:31:43.824 = ***Havana Ana, The Cuban Spy00:43:16.706 = Show Close*** = Begins immediately after inserted ad breakSOURCES and RESOURCES:“Damien and the Horned Man” by Jacqueline Vesey-Wells for Medium.com: https://tinyurl.com/1cexmhwy“The Disappearance of Dorothy Forstein” by Brent Swancer for Mysterious Universe: https://tinyurl.com/4mvkogtk“Are We Being Watched By Alien Space Stations?” by Cynthia McKanzie for Message to Eagle: https://tinyurl.com/1w50oyvq, https://tinyurl.com/85aloaw4“The Bridgeport Tragedy” by Robert Wilhelm for Murder By Gaslight: https://tinyurl.com/3q58xd6f“Havana Ana, The Cuban Spy” by Kieran W for Mystery Confidential: https://tinyurl.com/573j4u6e=====(Over time links may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)= = = = ="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46= = = = =WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2025, Weird Darkness.=====Originally aired: February 01, 2021EPISODE PAGE (includes sources): https://weirddarkness.com/hornedmanABOUT WEIRD DARKNESS: Weird Darkness is a true crime and paranormal podcast narrated by professional award-winning voice actor, Darren Marlar. Seven days per week, Weird Darkness focuses on all thing strange and macabre such as haunted locations, unsolved mysteries, true ghost stories, supernatural manifestations, urban legends, unsolved or cold case murders, conspiracy theories, and more. On Thursdays, this scary stories podcast features horror fiction along with the occasional creepypasta. Weird Darkness has been named one of the “Best 20 Storytellers in Podcasting” by Podcast Business Journal. Listeners have described the show as a cross between “Coast to Coast” with Art Bell, “The Twilight Zone” with Rod Serling, “Unsolved Mysteries” with Robert Stack, and “In Search Of” with Leonard Nimoy.DISCLAIMER: Ads heard during the podcast that are not in my voice are placed by third party agencies outside of my control and should not imply an endorsement by Weird Darkness or myself. *** Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised.#WeirdDarkness #LunaParkFire #GhostTrainTragedy #SydneyUrbanLegend #TrueCrimeAustralia #HauntedAustralia #ParanormalStories #DarkHistory #UnsolvedMysteries #CreepyTales
Eleven felony charges. Two teenage victims. One nearly strangled to death. And somehow—no prison time. In this episode of Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski, defense attorney and former prosecutor Eric Faddis joins Tony, Stacy, and Todd to unpack how Stillwater, Oklahoma's justice system transformed one of the state's most brutal sexual-assault cases into a single year of “rehabilitation.” Eighteen-year-old Jesse Mack Butler was originally charged with rape, attempted rape, sexual battery, and assault and battery by strangulation after attacking two 16-year-old girls. Police recovered partial phone-video evidence of the assault; one victim required neck surgery after nearly dying. Because Butler was 17 at the time, his defense argued for Youthful Offender status. The court agreed. A potential 78-year sentence vanished, replaced with one year of supervision. Tony and Eric break down: How a no-contest plea erased accountability. Why prosecutors accepted leniency despite overwhelming evidence. The legal loopholes in Oklahoma's Youthful Offender statute. Whether empathy or privilege decided the outcome. From both sides of the courtroom—prosecutor and defense—Eric Faddis explains how mercy became protection, how the law failed its victims, and what reforms could stop it from happening again.
The people of Stillwater, Oklahoma, have had enough. Hundreds gathered outside the Payne County Courthouse demanding accountability after Judge Susan Worthington allowed a violent sexual predator to avoid prison. Eighteen-year-old Jesse Butler, charged with eleven felonies including rape, attempted rape, and strangulation, received no prison time under Oklahoma's Youthful Offender Law. Despite partial video evidence and one victim requiring neck surgery, Judge Worthington ruled that Butler qualified for rehabilitation instead of incarceration. The potential 78-year sentence vanished, replaced by a single year of supervision, therapy, and a curfew. The decision ignited outrage across the state. Tribal victim services, survivors, parents, and students rallied together on the courthouse steps, chanting for justice and calling for Judge Worthington's removal. State lawmakers labeled the ruling “unacceptable” and vowed to review how the system failed so catastrophically. In this episode of Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski, Tony breaks down the story that's shaken Stillwater to its core — how a judge's compassion turned into negligence, how leniency for violent predators endangers every community, and why the public's outrage might finally force real reform. We'll examine the judicial system that let this happen, the decades-long ties that bind small-town power networks, and the growing call to close legal loopholes that allow violent offenders to hide behind “youthful offender” status. This isn't about politics. It's about safety. Because when the system starts protecting predators instead of people, it's not justice anymore — it's failure in a robe. Watch the full breakdown and join the conversation in the comments.
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
The people of Stillwater, Oklahoma, have had enough. Hundreds gathered outside the Payne County Courthouse demanding accountability after Judge Susan Worthington allowed a violent sexual predator to avoid prison. Eighteen-year-old Jesse Butler, charged with eleven felonies including rape, attempted rape, and strangulation, received no prison time under Oklahoma's Youthful Offender Law. Despite partial video evidence and one victim requiring neck surgery, Judge Worthington ruled that Butler qualified for rehabilitation instead of incarceration. The potential 78-year sentence vanished, replaced by a single year of supervision, therapy, and a curfew. The decision ignited outrage across the state. Tribal victim services, survivors, parents, and students rallied together on the courthouse steps, chanting for justice and calling for Judge Worthington's removal. State lawmakers labeled the ruling “unacceptable” and vowed to review how the system failed so catastrophically. In this episode of Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski, Tony breaks down the story that's shaken Stillwater to its core — how a judge's compassion turned into negligence, how leniency for violent predators endangers every community, and why the public's outrage might finally force real reform. We'll examine the judicial system that let this happen, the decades-long ties that bind small-town power networks, and the growing call to close legal loopholes that allow violent offenders to hide behind “youthful offender” status. This isn't about politics. It's about safety. Because when the system starts protecting predators instead of people, it's not justice anymore — it's failure in a robe. Watch the full breakdown and join the conversation in the comments.
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
Eleven felony charges. Two teenage victims. One nearly strangled to death. And somehow—no prison time. In this episode of Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski, defense attorney and former prosecutor Eric Faddis joins Tony, Stacy, and Todd to unpack how Stillwater, Oklahoma's justice system transformed one of the state's most brutal sexual-assault cases into a single year of “rehabilitation.” Eighteen-year-old Jesse Mack Butler was originally charged with rape, attempted rape, sexual battery, and assault and battery by strangulation after attacking two 16-year-old girls. Police recovered partial phone-video evidence of the assault; one victim required neck surgery after nearly dying. Because Butler was 17 at the time, his defense argued for Youthful Offender status. The court agreed. A potential 78-year sentence vanished, replaced with one year of supervision. Tony and Eric break down: How a no-contest plea erased accountability. Why prosecutors accepted leniency despite overwhelming evidence. The legal loopholes in Oklahoma's Youthful Offender statute. Whether empathy or privilege decided the outcome. From both sides of the courtroom—prosecutor and defense—Eric Faddis explains how mercy became protection, how the law failed its victims, and what reforms could stop it from happening again.
Eleven felony charges. Two teenage victims. One nearly strangled to death. And somehow—no prison time. In this episode of Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski, defense attorney and former prosecutor Eric Faddis joins Tony, Stacy, and Todd to unpack how Stillwater, Oklahoma's justice system transformed one of the state's most brutal sexual-assault cases into a single year of “rehabilitation.” Eighteen-year-old Jesse Mack Butler was originally charged with rape, attempted rape, sexual battery, and assault and battery by strangulation after attacking two 16-year-old girls. Police recovered partial phone-video evidence of the assault; one victim required neck surgery after nearly dying. Because Butler was 17 at the time, his defense argued for Youthful Offender status. The court agreed. A potential 78-year sentence vanished, replaced with one year of supervision. Tony and Eric break down: How a no-contest plea erased accountability. Why prosecutors accepted leniency despite overwhelming evidence. The legal loopholes in Oklahoma's Youthful Offender statute. Whether empathy or privilege decided the outcome. From both sides of the courtroom—prosecutor and defense—Eric Faddis explains how mercy became protection, how the law failed its victims, and what reforms could stop it from happening again.
Durank, an officer in the armies of the Kingdom of Gunug, grapples with the shame and dishonor dealt by his first defeat. Berani Suburan, a minor nobleman of the remote Lautani province of Tujuhdanau, has his world turned upside down by the beginning of a global war which will take him far from home. Like their two nations, so long bound by treaty as well as by faith, the two men of different lands will find fate has destined them for the same field of battle. Music by Musicformed (Formerly Ares) Patreon
Eleven felony charges. Two teenage victims. One nearly strangled to death. And somehow — not a single day in prison. This episode of Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski exposes how Oklahoma's justice system transformed a violent felony case into a “rehabilitation” story. Eighteen-year-old Jesse Mack Butler, originally charged with rape, attempted rape, sexual battery, and strangulation, faced decades behind bars. But when the court reclassified him as a Youthful Offender, everything changed. We break down the timeline: ⚖️ February 2024 — Police file 11 felonies.
How does someone accused of extreme violence walk out of court without a day in prison? In this episode of Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski, we expose the loophole that turned outrage into disbelief across Oklahoma. Eighteen-year-old Jesse Mack Butler faced serious felony charges after two teenage girls were brutally attacked. Doctors said one almost didn't survive. But instead of decades behind bars, Butler walked free under a single year of supervision thanks to Oklahoma's Youthful Offender Act—a law designed to rehabilitate kids, not shield violent offenders. Tony digs deep into how this happened: ⚖️ How prosecutors and judges use the Youthful Offender statute.
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
How does someone accused of extreme violence walk out of court without a day in prison? In this episode of Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski, we expose the loophole that turned outrage into disbelief across Oklahoma. Eighteen-year-old Jesse Mack Butler faced serious felony charges after two teenage girls were brutally attacked. Doctors said one almost didn't survive. But instead of decades behind bars, Butler walked free under a single year of supervision thanks to Oklahoma's Youthful Offender Act—a law designed to rehabilitate kids, not shield violent offenders. Tony digs deep into how this happened: ⚖️ How prosecutors and judges use the Youthful Offender statute.
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
Eleven felony charges. Two teenage victims. One nearly strangled to death. And somehow — not a single day in prison. This episode of Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski exposes how Oklahoma's justice system transformed a violent felony case into a “rehabilitation” story. Eighteen-year-old Jesse Mack Butler, originally charged with rape, attempted rape, sexual battery, and strangulation, faced decades behind bars. But when the court reclassified him as a Youthful Offender, everything changed. We break down the timeline: ⚖️ February 2024 — Police file 11 felonies.
On this day in Tudor history, 6th November 1514, the streets of Paris glittered with banners, music, and colour. Eighteen-year-old Mary Tudor, sister of King Henry VIII, had been crowned Queen of France the day before… and now she was the radiant heart of a lavish royal procession. Imagine it: a fountain flowing with a lily and a rose, pageants of goddesses and virtues, and Mary herself portrayed as the Queen of Sheba — the bringer of peace to France's King Louis XII. Every display was rich with meaning: divine unity, peace between nations, and the promise of a new era. But behind the splendour lay a fragile truth. Mary's marriage to Louis would last only a few months before his death, yet for that one November day, she was the embodiment of beauty, hope, and Tudor diplomacy: the rose of England entwined with the lily of France. Join me, Claire Ridgway, as I explore the story of Mary Tudor's triumphal entry into Paris, a breathtaking moment where art, politics, and pageantry met in perfect harmony. #MaryTudor #TudorHistory #OnThisDay #HenryVIII #QueenOfFrance #TudorDynasty #AnneBoleynFiles
In this moving episode, we revisit a lesser-known but deeply powerful story from the Mahabharata — a story that shows the compassion hidden within divine destiny.As preparations for the Kurukshetra war began, elephants were used to clear the forest to create the battlefield. In this destruction, a mother bird and her two tiny chicks lost their home when their nest fell from a tree. Helpless and frightened, the mother bird flew to Krishna, who was surveying the battlefield with Arjuna. She pleaded for her children's lives.Krishna gently explained that fate cannot be altered — if they were destined to perish, they would. But the little bird, filled with pure devotion, surrendered the life of her children at Krishna's feet, trusting Him completely. Krishna remained silent, and the bird flew away with faith.On the eve of the great battle, Krishna did something unexpected: He asked Arjuna for his bow and arrow. Though Krishna had promised not to fight in the war, Arjuna handed it over. Krishna shot an arrow at an elephant — but instead of striking the animal, it hit only the bell on the elephant's neck, knocking it down. Arjuna thought it was a miss, and the moment passed.Eighteen days later, after the war ended, the battlefield was filled with the fallen — men, animals, and shattered weapons. Krishna asked Arjuna to lift a bell lying on the ground. When Arjuna picked it up, he discovered the mother bird and her four chicks alive beneath it. Krishna's single action — shooting down the bell — had formed a shield that protected the family throughout the entire war
Eleven felony charges. Two teenage victims. One nearly strangled to death. And somehow — not a single day in prison. This episode of Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski exposes how Oklahoma's justice system transformed a violent felony case into a “rehabilitation” story. Eighteen-year-old Jesse Mack Butler, originally charged with rape, attempted rape, sexual battery, and strangulation, faced decades behind bars. But when the court reclassified him as a Youthful Offender, everything changed. We break down the timeline: ⚖️ February 2024 — Police file 11 felonies.
Send us a textMost business owners want more leads NOW.But what if the real secret to growth isn't found in a lead form... it's found in the long game?In this Maven Monday, Brandon sits down with longtime friend and business owner of The Window Source of Atlanta, Tyler Smith, to unpack what happened when he stopped chasing today's customer and started building tomorrow's.Eighteen months later, his results speak for themselves. But the real story is how it feels to lead a business that's known, trusted, and growing faster than ever.It's not about luck. It's not about a new tactic.It's about what shifts when your brand starts working for you instead of the other way around.If you've ever wondered what faith in the process really looks like, this one's for you.For entrepreneurs wanting to grow without wasting money, join the Maven Marketing Mastermind → https://www.mavenmethodtraining.comOur Website: https://frankandmaven.com/Instagram: /frankandmavenmarketingTikTok: /frankandmavenLinkedIn: /frank-and-mavenHost: Brandon WelchExecutive Producer: Carter BreauxAudio/Video Producer: Nate the Camera GuyDo you have a marketing problem you'd like us to help solve? Send it to MavenMonday@FrankandMaven.com! Get a copy of our Best-Selling Book, The Maven Marketer Here: https://a.co/d/1clpm8a
The path to progressing as a leader isn't always linear. SUMMARY Col. (Ret.) Mike Ott shows how a childhood dream can evolve into a lifetime of impact—from commanding in uniform to leading innovation in healthcare and national defense. Hear more on Long Blue Leadership. Listen now! SHARE THIS PODCAST LINKEDIN | FACEBOOK MIKE'S LEADERSHIP TAKEAWAYS A leader worth his or her salt should be comfortable not being the smartest person in the room. Striving for a lack of hubris is essential in leadership. Setting a clear vision is a fundamental leadership skill. Moving people without authority is crucial for effective leadership. Resource management is key to achieving organizational goals. Acknowledging what you don't know is a strength in leadership. Effective leaders focus on guiding their teams rather than asserting dominance. Leadership is about influencing and inspiring others. A successful mission requires collaboration and shared vision. True leadership is about empowering others to succeed. CHAPTERS 00:00: Early Inspiration 06:32: Academy Years 13:17: Military Career Transition 21:33: Financial Services Journey 31:29: MOBE and Healthcare Innovation 40:12: Defense Innovation Unit 48:42: Philanthropy and Community Impact 58:11: Personal Growth and Leadership Lessons ABOUT MIKE OTT BIO Mike Ott is the Chief Executive Officer of MOBĒ, a U.S.-based company focused on whole-person health and care-management solutions. He became CEO in April 2022, taking the helm to lead the company through growth and operational excellence following a distinguished career in both the military and corporate sectors. A graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, Mike served as a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserves before shifting into financial services and healthcare leadership roles including private wealth management at U.S. Bank and executive positions with UnitedHealth Group/Optum. His leadership ethos emphasizes alignment, acceleration, and human potential, building cultures where teams can thrive and leveraging data-driven models to improve health outcomes. CONNECT WITH MIKE LinkedIn MOBE CONNECT WITH THE LONG BLUE LEADERSHIP PODCAST NETWORK TEAM Send your feedback or nominate a guest: socialmedia@usafa.org Ted Robertson | Producer: Ted.Robertson@USAFA.org Ryan Hall | Director: Ryan.Hall@USAFA.org Bryan Grossman | Copy Editor: Bryan.Grossman@USAFA.org Wyatt Hornsby | Executive Producer: Wyatt.Hornsby@USAFA.org ALL PAST LBL EPISODES | ALL LBLPN PRODUCTIONS AVAILABLE ON ALL MAJOR PODCAST PLATFORMS OUR SPEAKERS Guest, Col. (Ret.) Mike Ott '85 | Host, Lt. Col. (Ret.) Naviere Walkewicz '99 FULL TRANSCRIPT Naviere Walkewicz 0:00 A quick programming note before we begin this episode of Long Blue Leadership: This episode will be audio-only, so sit back and enjoy the listen. Welcome to Long Blue Leadership, the podcast where we share insights on leadership through the lives and experiences of Air Force Academy graduates. I'm Naviere Walkewicz, Class of '99. Today, on Long Blue Leadership, we welcome Col. (Ret.) Mike Ott, Class of 1985, a leader whose vision was sparked at just 9 years old during a family road trip past the Air Force Academy. That childhood dream carried him through a 24-year Air Force career, culminating in retirement as a colonel and into a life of leadership across business, innovation and philanthropy. Mike is the CEO of MOBE, a groundbreaking company that uses data analytics and a revolutionary pay-for-results model to improve health outcomes while reducing costs. He also serves as a senior adviser to the Defense Innovation Unit, supporting the secretary of defense in accelerating commercial innovation for national security. A member of the Forbes Councils, Mike shares his expertise with leaders around the world. A former Falcon Foundation trustee and longtime supporter of the Academy, Mike has given generously his time, talents and resources to strengthen the Long Blue Line. His story is one of innovation and service in uniform, in the marketplace and in his community. Mike, welcome to Long Blue Leadership. We're so glad to have you here. Mike Ott 1:29 Naviere, thanks a ton. I'm glad to be here. Naviere Walkewicz 1:31 Yes, yes. Well, we're really excited. I mean, you're here for your 40th reunion. Mike Ott 1:35 Yeah, it's crazy. Naviere Walkewicz1:37 You came right in, and we're so pleased that you would join us here first for this podcast. Mike Ott 1:39 Right on. Thanks for the time. Naviere Walkewicz 1:41 Absolutely. Well, let's jump right in, because not many people can say at 9 years old they know what they want to do when they grew up, but you did. Mike Ott 1:48 Yeah. I guess some people can say it; might not be true, but for me, it's true, good or bad. And goodness gracious, right? Here for my 40th reunion, do the math team, and as a 9-year-old, that was 1972, And a lot was going on in the world in 1972 whether it was political unrest, Vietnam and all of that, and the Academy was in the thick of it. And so we had gone — It was our first significant family vacation. My father was a Chicago policeman. We drove in the 1968 Buick LaSabre, almost straight through. Stopped, stayed at a Holiday Inn, destination Colorado, simply, just because nobody had ever seen the mountains before. That was why. And we my parents, mom, mom and dad took myself. I have two younger sisters, Pikes Peak, Academy, Garden of the Gods, Royal Gorge. And I remember noon meal formation, and the bell going off. Guys at the time — we hadn't had women as cadets at that point in time — running out in their flight suits as I recall lining up ready to go. And for me, it was the energy, right, the sense of, “Wow, this is something important.” I didn't know exactly how important it was, but I knew it was important, and I could envision even at that age, there was they were doing good, Naviere Walkewicz 3:21 Wow. Nine years old, your family went on vacation, and it just struck you as this is important and something that I want to do. So what did that conversation look like after that experience that you had as a 9-year-old and kind of manifest this in yourself? How did that go with your parents? Mike Ott 3:36 Well, I didn't say too much about it, as I was in grammar school, but as high school hit, you know, I let my folks know what my plans were, and I had mom and dad — my mother's still alive, my father passed about a year ago. Very, very good, hard-working, ethical people, but hadn't gone to college, and we had been told, “Look, you know, you need to get an education.” They couldn't. I wish they had. They were both very, very, very bright, and so I knew college was a plan. I also knew there wasn't a lot of money to pay for it. So I'm certain that that helped bake in a few things. But as I got into high school, I set my sights. I went to public high school in Chicago, and I remember freshman year walking into my counselor's office, and said, “I want to go to the Air Force Academy,” and he kind of laughed. Naviere Walkewicz 3:21 Really? Mike Ott 3:22 Well, we had 700 kids in my class, and maybe 40% went on to college, right? And the bulk of them went to community college or a state school. I can count on one hand the number of folks that went to an academy or an Ivy League school or something of that. So it was it was around exposure. It had nothing to do with intelligence. It was exposure and just what these communities were accustomed to. A lot of folks went into the trades and pieces like that. So my counselor's reaction wasn't one of shock or surprise insofar as that's impossible. It was, “We haven't had a lot of people make that commitment this early on, and I'm glad to help.” Naviere Walkewicz 5:18 Oh, I love that. Mike Ott 5:19 Which is wonderful, and what I had known at the time, Mr. Needham... Naviere Walkewicz 5:23 You Remember his name? Mike Ott 5:24 Yeah, he was in the Navy Reserves. He was an officer, so he got the joke. He got the joke and helped me work through what classes to take, how to push myself. I didn't need too much guidance there. I determined, “Well, I've got to distinguish myself.” And I like to lean in. I like a headwind, and I don't mind a little bit of an uphill battle, because once you get up there, you feel great. I owe an awful lot to him. And, not the superintendent, but the principal of our school was a gentleman named Sam Ozaki, and Sam was Japanese American interned during World War II as a young man, got to of service age and volunteered and became a lieutenant in the Army and served in World War II in Europe, right, not in Asia. So he saw something in me. He too became an advocate. He too became someone that sought to endorse, support or otherwise guide me. Once I made that claim that I was going to go to the Academy. Naviere Walkewicz 6:30 Wow. So you mentioned something that really stuck with me. You said, you know, you didn't mind kind of putting yourself out there and doing the hard things, because you knew when you got to the top it was going to feel really great. Was that something you saw from your father? Was that something, there are key leaders in your life that emulated that? Or is that just something that you always had in yourself? Mike Ott 6:51 I would say there's certainly an environmental element to it — how I was raised, what I was exposed to, and then juxtaposition as to what I observed with other family members or other parts of the community where things didn't work out very well, right? And, you know, I put two and two together. y father demonstrated, throughout his entire career what it means to have a great work ethic. As did mom and, you know, big, tough Chicago cop for 37 years. But the other thing that I learned was kindness, and you wouldn't expect to learn that from the big, tough Chicago cop, but I think it was environment, observing what didn't occur very often and how hard work, if I apply myself, can create outcomes that are going to be more fulfilling for me. Naviere Walkewicz 7:48 Wow, you talked about kindness. How did you see kindness show up in your journey as a cadet at the Air Force Academy? Or did you? Mike Ott 7:58 Yeah, gosh, so I remember, started in June of 1981, OK, and still connected with many of the guys and women that with whom I went to basic training and all that. The first moment of kindness that I experienced that it was a mutual expression, but one where I recognized, “Wow, every one of us is new here. None of us has a real clue.” We might have some idea because we had somebody had a sibling or a mother that was in the military or father that went to the academy at the time, but none of us really knew, right? We were knuckleheads, right? Eighteen years old. Maybe there were a couple of prior-enlisted folks. I don't recall much of that, but I having gone to a public high school in Chicago, where we had a variety of different ethnicities. I learned how to just understand people for who they are, meet them for who they are, and respect every individual. That's how I was raised, and that's how I exhibited myself, I sought to conduct myself in high school. So I get to the Academy, and you're assigned, you know, the first couple three nights, the first few weeks before you go to Jacks Valley, you're assigned. It was all a alphabetical, and my roommate was an African American fellow named Kevin Nixon. All right, my God, Kevin Nixon, and this guy, he was built. I mean, he was rock solid, right? And he had that 1000-yard stare, right? Very intimidating. And I'm this, like, 6-foot-tall, 148-pound runner, like, holy dork, right? And I'm assigned — we're roommates, and he just had a very stoicism, or a stoic nature about him. And I remember, it was our second night at the Academy, maybe first night, I don't quite recall, and we're in bed, and it's an hour after lights out, and I hear him crying, and like, well, what do you do? Like, we're in this together. It was that moment, like we're both alone, but we're not right. He needs to know that he's not alone. So I walked around and went over his bed, and I said, “Hey, man, I miss my mom and dad too. Let's talk. And we both cried, right? And I'll tell you what, he and I were pals forever. It was really quite beautiful. And what didn't happen is he accepted my outreach, right? And he came from a very difficult environment, one where I'm certain there was far more racial strife than I had experienced in Chicago. He came from Norfolk, Virginia, and he came from — his father worked in the shipyards and really, really tough, tough, tough background. He deserved to be the Academy. He was a great guy, very bright, and so we became friends, and I tried to be kind. He accepted that kindness and reciprocated in ways where he created a pretty beautiful friendship. Naviere Walkewicz 7:48 Oh, my goodness. Thank you for sharing that story. And you got me in the feels a little bit, because I remember those nights, even you know me having family members that went through the Academy. There's just something about when you're in it yourself, and in that moment, it's raw. Mike Ott 11:13 Raw is a good word. Naviere Walkewicz 11:15 Oh, thank you for that. So you're at the Academy and you end up doing 24 years. I don't mean to, like, mash all that into one sentence, but let's talk… Mike Ott 11:22 I didn't do very much. It was the same year repeated 24 times over. Like, not a very good learner, right? Not a very good learner. Naviere Walkewicz 11:30 Yeah, I was gonna ask, you know, in that journey, because, had you planned to do a career in the Air Force? Mike Ott 11:36 Well, I didn't know, right? I went in, eyes wide open, and my cumulative time in the Air Force is over 24 but it was only it was just shy of seven active duty, and then 22, 23, in the Reserves, right? I hadn't thought about the Reserves, but I had concluded, probably at the, oh, maybe three-year mark that I wanted to do other things. It had nothing to do with disdain, a sense of frustration or any indignation, having gone to the Academy, which I'm very, very proud of, and it meant an awful lot to who I am. But it was, “Wait, this is, this is my shot, and I'm going to go try other things.” I love ambiguity, I'm very curious. Have a growth mindset and have a perhaps paradoxical mix of being self-assured, but perhaps early on, a bit too, a bit too, what's the word I was thinking of? I wrote this down — a bit too measured, OK, in other words, risk taking. And there were a few instances where I realized, “Hey, man, dude, take some risk. What's the downside? And if it isn't you, who else?” So it was that mindset that helped me muscle through and determine that, coupled with the fact that the Air Force paid for me to go to graduate school, they had programs in Boston, and so I got an MBA, and I did that at night. I had a great commander who let me take classes during the day when I wasn't traveling. It was wonderful. It was there that I was exposed to elements of business and in financial services, which ultimately drew me into financial services when I separated from active duty. Naviere Walkewicz 13:17 Well, I love that, because first you talked about a commander that saw, “How can I help you be your best version of yourself?” And I think the other piece of financial service, because I had to dabble in that as well — the second word is service. And so you've never stopped serving in all the things that you've done. So you took that leap, that risk. Is that something that you felt developed while you're at the Academy, or it's just part of your ethos. Mike Ott 13:41 It developed. It matured. I learned how to apply it more meaningfully at the Academy after a couple, three moments, where I realized that I can talk a little bit about mentoring and then I can come back to that, but mentoring — I don't know, I don't recall having heard that term as a mechanism for helping someone develop. I'm sure we used it when I was a cadet at the Academy and out of the Academy, and having been gone through different programs and banking and different graduate programs, the term comes up an awful lot. You realize, wow, there's something there helping the next generation, but also the reciprocity of learning from that generation yourself. I didn't really understand the whole mentoring concept coming out of Chicago and getting here, and just thought things were very hierarchical, very, very command structure, and it was hit the standards or else. And that that's not a bad mindset, right? But it took me a little while to figure out that there's a goodness factor that comes with the values that we have at the Academy, and it's imbued in each one of you know, service excellence, all of those pieces. But for the most part, fellow cadets and airmen and women want to help others. I mean, it's in service. It's in our DNA. Man that blew right past me. I had no idea, and I remember at one point I was entering sophomore year, and I was asked to be a glider instructor. I'd done the soaring and jumping program over the summer, and like, “Hey, you know you're not too bad at glider. You want to be an instructor?” At the time, that was pretty big deal, yeah, glider instructors. Like, “Yeah, no, I'm not going to do that, you know? I've got to study. Like, look at my GPA.” That didn't really matter. “And I'm going to go up to Boulder and go chase women.” Like, I was going to meet women, right? So, like, but I didn't understand that, that that mechanism, that mentoring mechanism, isn't always bestowed upon a moment or a coupling of individuals. There are just good people out there that see goodness in others that want to help them through that. I had no clue, but that was a turning point for me. Naviere Walkewicz 15:56 Because you said no. Mike Ott 15:58 I said no, right? And it was like what, you know, a couple months later, I remember talking with somebody like, “Yep, swing and a miss,” right? But after that, it changed how I was going to apply this self-assuredness, not bravado, but willingness to try new things, but with a willingness to be less measured. Why not? Trust the system. Trust the environment that you're in, the environment that we're in, you were in, I was in, that we're representing right now, it is a trusted environment. I didn't know that. And there were a lot of environments when I was being raised, they weren't trusted environments. And so you have a sort of mental callous mindset in many ways, and that that vigilance, that sense of sentinel is a good protection piece, but it prevents, it prevents... It doesn't allow for the membrane to be permeated, right? And so that trust piece is a big deal. I broke through after that, and I figured it out, and it helped me, and it helped me connect a sense of self-assuredness to perhaps being less measured, more willing to take ambiguity. You can be self-assured but not have complete belief in yourself, OK? And it helped me believe in myself more. I still wish I'd have been glider instructor. What a knucklehead. My roommate wound up becoming one. Like, “You, son of a rat, you.” Naviere Walkewicz 17:29 So tell me, when did the next opportunity come up where you said yes, and what did that look like in your journey? Mike Ott 17:36 I was a lieutenant. I was a lieutenant, and I was looking for a new role. I was stationed at Hanscom Field, and I was working at one program office, and I bumped — I was the athletic officer for the base with some other folks, and one of the colonels was running a different program, and he had gotten to know me and understand how I operated, what I did, and he said, “Hey, Ott, I want you to come over to my program.” And I didn't know what the program was, but I trusted him, and I did it blindly. I remember his name, Col. Holy Cross. And really good guy. And yeah, I got the tap on the shoulder. Didn't blink. Didn't blink. So that was just finishing up second lieutenant. Naviere Walkewicz 18:26 What a lesson. I mean, something that stuck with you as a cadet, and not that it manifested in regret, but you realized that you missed that opportunity to grow and experience and so when it came around again, what a different… So would you say that as you progress, then you know, because at this point you're a lieutenant, you know, you took on this new role, what did you learn about yourself? And then how did that translate to the decision to move from active duty to the Reserve and into… Mike Ott 18:56 You'll note what I didn't do when I left active duty was stay in the defense, acquisition, defense engineering space. I made a hard left turn… Naviere Walkewicz 19:13 Intentionally. Mike Ott 19:14 Intentionally. And went into financial services. And that is a hard left turn away from whether it's military DOD, military industrial complex, working for one of the primes, or something like that. And my mindset was, “If I'm not the guy in the military making the decision, setting strategy and policy…” Like I was an O-3. Like, what kind of policy am I setting? Right? But my point was, if I'm not going to, if I may, if I decided to not stay in the military, I wasn't going to do anything that was related to the military, right, like, “Let's go to green pastures. Set myself apart. Find ways to compete…” Not against other people. I don't think I need to beat the hell out of somebody. I just need to make myself better every day. And that's the competition that I just love, and I love it it's greenfield unknown. And why not apply my skills in an area where they haven't been applied and I can learn? So as an active-duty person — to come back and answer your question — I had worked some great bosses, great bosses, and they would have career counseling discussions with me, and I was asked twice to go to SOS in-residence. I turned it down, you know, as I knew. And then the third time my boss came to me. He's like, “OK, what are you doing? Idiot. Like, what are you doing?” That was at Year 5. And I just said, “Hey, sir, I think I'm going to do something different.” Naviere Walkewicz 20:47 Didn't want to take the slot from somebody else. Mike Ott 20:49 That's right. Right. And so then it was five months, six months later, where I put in my papers. I had to do a little more time because of the grad school thing, which is great. And his commander, this was a two-star that I knew as well, interviewed me and like, one final, like, “What are you doing?” He's like, “You could have gone so far in the Air Force.” And I looked at the general — he was a super-good dude. I said, “What makes you think I'm not going to do well outside of the Air Force?” And he smiled. He's like, “Go get it.” So we stayed in touch. Great guy. So it had nothing to do with lack of fulfillment or lack of satisfaction. It had more to do with newness, curiosity, a challenge in a different vein. Naviere Walkewicz 21:30 So let's walk into that vein. You entered into this green pasture. What was that experience like? Because you've just been in something so structured. And I mean, would you say it was just structured in a different way? Mike Ott 21:48 No, not structured. The industry… So, I separated, tried an engineering job for about eight months. Hated it. I was, I was development engineer at Ford Motor Company, great firm. Love the organization, bored stiff, right? Just not what I wanted to do, and that's where I just quit. Moved back to Chicago, where I'm from, and started networking and found a role with an investment bank, ABN AMRO, which is a large Dutch investment bank that had begun to establish itself in the United States. So their headquarters in Chicago and I talked fast enough where somebody took a bet on me and was brought into the investment banking arm where I was on the capital markets team and institutional equities. So think of capital markets, and think of taking companies public and distributing those shares to large institutions, pensions funds, mutual funds, family offices. Naviere Walkewicz 22:48 So a lot of learning and excitement for you. Mike Ott 22:51 Super fun. And so the industry is very structured. How capital is established, capital flows, very regulated. We've got the SEC, we've got the FDIC, a lot of complex regulations and compliance matters. That's very, very, very structured. But there was a free-wheelingness in the marketplace. And if you've seen Wolf of Wall Street and things like that, some of that stuff happened. Crazy! And I realized that with my attitude, sense of placing trust in people before I really knew them, figuring that, “OK, what's the downside? I get nipped in the fan once, once or twice. But if I can thrust trust on somebody and create a relationship where they're surprised that I've trusted them, it's probably going to build something reciprocal. So learn how to do that.” And as a young fellow on the desk, wound up being given more responsibility because I was able to apply some of the basic tenets of leadership that you learned and I learned at the Academy. And face it, many of the men and women that work on Wall Street or financial services simply haven't gone to the Academy. It's just, it's the nature of numbers — and don't have that experience. They have other experiences. They have great leadership experiences, but they don't have this. And you and I may take it for granted because we were just four years of just living through it. It oozed in every moment, every breath, every interaction, every dialog, it was there.But we didn't know it was being poured in, sprinkled across as being showered. We were being showered in it. But I learned how to apply that in the relationships that I built, knowing that the relationships that I built and the reputation that I built would be lasting and impactful and would be appropriate investments for the future endeavors, because there's always a future, right? So it wasn't… again, lot of compliance, lot of regulations, but just the personalities. You know, I did it for the challenge, right? I did it because I was curious. I did it because I wanted to see if I could succeed at it. There were other folks that did it simply because it was for the money. And many, some of them made it. They might have sold their soul to get there. Some didn't make it. Maybe it wasn't the right pursuit for them in the first place. And if I go back to mentoring, which we talked about a little bit, and I help young men and women, cadets or maybe even recent grads, my guidance to them is, don't chase the money, chase the environment, right? And chase the environment that allows you to find your flow and contribute to that environment. The money will come. But I saw it — I've seen it with grads. I've seen it with many of the folks that didn't make it in these roles in financial services, because I thought, “Hey, this is where the money is.” It might be. But you have to go back to the basis of all this. How are you complected? What are your values? Do they align with the environment that you're in? And can you flow in a way where your strengths are going to allow success to happen and not sell your soul? Naviere Walkewicz 26:26 Yeah, you said two things that really stood out to me in that —the first one was, you know, trusting, just starting from a place of trust and respect, because the opportunity to build a relationship faster, and also there's that potential for future something. And then the second thing is the environment and making sure it aligns with your values. Is that how you got to MOBE? Mike Ott 26:50 Yeah, I would say how I got to MOBE, that certainly was a factor. Good question. Naviere Walkewicz 26:57 The environment, I feel, is very much aligned Mike Ott 27:00 Very much so and then… But there's an element of reputation and relationship that allowed me to get there. So now I'm lucky to be a part of this firm. We're 250 people. We will do $50 million of revenue. We're growing nicely. I've been in health care for four years. Now, we are we're more than just healthcare. I mean, it's deep data. We can get into some of that later, but I had this financial services background. I was drawn to MOBE, but I had established a set of relationships with people at different investment banks, with other families that had successfully built businesses and just had relationships. And I was asked to come on to the board because MOBE, at the time, great capabilities, but struggled with leadership during COVID. Lot of companies did. It's not an indictment as to the prior CEO, but he and the team struggled to get through COVID. So initially I was approached to come on to the board, and that was through the founders of the firm who had known me for 20 years and knew my reputation, because I'd done different things at the investment bank, I'd run businesses at US Bank, which is a large commercial bank within the country, and they needed someone that… They cared very little about health care experience, which is good for me, and it was more around a sense of leadership. They knew my values. They trusted me. So initially I was asked to come onto the board, and that evolved into, “No, let's just do a whole reset and bring you on as the CEO.” Well, let's go back to like, what makes me tick. I love ambiguity. I love a challenge. And this has been a bit of a turnaround in that great capabilities, but lost its way in COVID, because leadership lost its way. So there's a lot of resetting that needed to occur. Corpus of the firm, great technology, great capabilities, but business model adaptation, go to market mechanisms and, frankly, environment. Environment. But I was drawn to the environment because of the people that had founded the organization. The firm was incubated within a large pharmaceutical firm. This firm called Upsher-Smith, was a Minnesota firm, the largest private and generic pharmaceutical company in the country, and sold for an awful lot of money, had been built by this family, sold in 2017 and the assets that are MOBE, mostly data, claims, analysis capabilities stayed separate, and so they incubated that, had a little bit of a data sandbox, and then it matriculated to, “Hey, we've got a real business here.” But that family has a reputation, and the individuals that founded it, and then ultimately found MOBE have a reputation. So I was very comfortable with the ambiguity of maybe not knowing health care as much as the next guy or gal, but the environment I was going into was one where I knew this family and these investors lived to high ethical standards, and there's many stories as to how I know that, but I knew that, and that gave me a ton of comfort. And then it was, “We trust you make it happen. So I got lucky. Naviere Walkewicz 30:33 Well, you're, I think, just the way that you're wired and the fact that you come from a place of trust, obviously, you know, OK, I don't have the, you know, like the medical background, but there are a lot of experts here that I'm going to trust to bring that expertise to me. And I'm going to help create an environment that they can really thrive in. Mike Ott 30:47 I'm certain many of our fellow alum have been in this experience, had these experiences where a leader worth his or her salt should be comfortable not being the smartest gal or guy in the room. In fact, you should strive for that to be the case and have a sense of lack of hubris and proudly acknowledge what you don't know. But what I do know is how to set vision. What I do know is how to move people without authority. What I do know is how to resource. And that's what you do if you want to move a mission, whether it's in the military, small firm like us that's getting bigger, or, you know, a big organization. You can't know it all. Naviere Walkewicz 31:30 So something you just mentioned that I think a lot of our listeners would really like, would love a little bit to peel us back a little bit. You said, “I know how to set a vision. I know how to…” I think it was move… Mike Ott 31:45 Move people without authority and prioritize. Naviere Walkewicz 31:47 But can we talk a little bit about that? Because I think that is really a challenge that some of our you know younger leaders, or those early in their leadership roles struggle with. Maybe, can you talk a little bit about that? Mike Ott 32:01 For sure, I had some — again, I tried to do my best to apply all the moments I had at the Academy and the long list of just like, “What were you thinking?” But the kindness piece comes through and… Think as a civilian outside looking in. They look at the military. It's very, very, very structured, OK, but the best leaders the men and women for whom you and I have served underneath or supported, never once barked an order, OK? They expressed intent, right? And you and I and all the other men and women in uniform, if we were paying attention, right, sought to execute the mission and satisfaction of that intent and make our bosses' bosses' jobs easier. That's really simple. And many outsiders looking in, we get back to just leadership that are civilians. They think, “Oh my gosh, these men and women that are in the military, they just can't assimilate. They can't make it in the civilian world.” And they think, because we come from this very, very hierarchical organization, yes, it is very hierarchical — that's a command structure that's necessary for mission execution — but the human part, right? I think military men and women leaders are among the best leaders, because guess what? We're motivating men and women — maybe they get a pat on the back. You didn't get a ribbon, right? Nobody's getting a year-end bonus, nobody's getting a spot bonus, nobody's getting equity in the Air Force, and it's gonna go public, right? It's just not that. So the best men and women that I for whom I've worked with have been those that have been able to get me to buy in and move and step up, and want to demonstrate my skills in coordination with others, cross functionally in the organization to get stuff done. And I think if there's anything we can remind emerging graduates, you know, out of the Academy, is: Don't rely on rank ever. Don't rely on rank. I had a moment: I was a dorky second lieutenant engineer, and we were launching a new system. It was a joint system for Marines, Navy and Air Force, and I had to go from Boston to Langley quite often because it was a TAC-related system, Tactical Air Force-related system. And the I was the program manager, multi-million dollar program for an interesting radio concept. And we were putting it into F-15s, so in some ground-based situations. And there was this E-8, crusty E-8, smoked, Vietnam, all these things, and he was a comms dude, and one of the systems was glitching. It just wasn't working, right? And we were getting ready to take this thing over somewhere overseas. And he pulls alongside me, and it's rather insubordinate, but it was a test, right? He's looking at me, Academy guy, you know, second lieutenant. He was a master sergeant, and he's like, “Well, son, what are we going to do now?” In other words, like, “We're in a pickle. What are we going to do now?” But calling me son. Yeah, it's not appropriate, right? If I'd have been hierarchical and I'd relied on rank, I probably would have been justified to let him have it. Like, that's playing short ball, right? I just thought for a second, and I just put my arm around him. I said, “Gee, Dad, I was hoping you're gonna help me.” And mother rat, we figured it out, and after that, he was eating out of my hand. So it was a test, right? Don't be afraid to be tested but don't take the bait. Naviere Walkewicz 35:46 So many good just lessons in each of these examples. Can you share a time at MOBE when you've seen someone that has been on your team that has demonstrated that because of the environment you've created? Mike Ott 35:57 For sure. So I've been running the firm now for about three and a half years. Again, have adapted and enhanced our capabilities, changed the business model a bit, yet functioning in our approach to the marketplace remains the same. We help people get better, and we get paid based on the less spend they have in the system. Part of some of our principles at MOBE are pretty simple, like, eat, sleep, move, smile, all right. And then be thoughtful with your medication. We think that medicine is an aid, not a cure. Your body's self-healing and your mind controls your body. Naviere Walkewicz 36:32 Eat, sleep, move, smile. Love that. Mike Ott 36:35 So what's happening with MOBE, and what I've seen is the same is true with how I've altered our leadership team. I've got some amazing leaders — very, very, very accomplished. But there are some new leaders because others just didn't fit in. There wasn't the sense of communal trust that I expected. There was too much, know-it-all'ing going on, right? And I just won't have that. So the easiest way to diffuse that isn't about changing head count, but it's around exhibiting vulnerability in front of all these folks and saying, “Look, I don't know that, but my lead pharmacist here, my lead clinician here, helped me get through those things.” But I do have one leader right, who is our head of vice president of HR, a woman who grew up on a farm in southern Minnesota, who has come to myself and our president and shared that she feels liberated at MOBE because, though this firm is larger than one that she served as a director of HR, previously, she's never had to look — check her six, look right, look left and seek alignment to ensure she's harmonizing with people. Naviere Walkewicz 37:49 Can you imagine being in an environment like that? Mike Ott 38:51 It's terrible, it's toxic, and it's wrong. Leaders, within the organization, I think you're judged more by what you don't do and the actions that you don't take. You can establish trust, and you will fortify that trust when you share with the team as best you can, so long as it's nothing inappropriate, where you made a mistake, where we went wrong. What did we learn from that? Where are we going to pivot? How we're going to apply that learning to make it better, as opposed to finding blame, pointing the finger or not even acknowledging? That happens all the time, and that toxicity erodes. And regretfully, my VP of HR in prior roles experienced that, and I don't have time. Good teams shouldn't have time to rehearse the basic values of the firm. We don't have time the speed of business is like this [snaps]. So if I can build the team of men and women that trust one another, can stay in their lanes, but also recognize that they're responsible for helping run the business, and look over at the other lanes and help their fellow leaders make adjustments without the indictful comment or without sort of belittling or shaming. That's what good teams, do. You, and I did that in the Air Force, but it is not as common as you would think. Naviere Walkewicz 39:11 20 we've been talking about MOBE, and you know, the environment you're creating there, and just the way that you're working through innovation. Let's talk a little bit how you're involved with DIU, the Defense Innovation Unit. Mike Ott 39:21 Again, it's reputation in relationships. And it was probably 2010, I get a call from a fellow grad, '87 grad who was living in the Beltway, still in uniform. He was an O-5 I was an O-5. Just doing the Academy liaison work, helping good young men and women that wanted to go to the Academy get in. And that was super satisfying, thought that would be the end of my Reserve career and super fun. And this is right when the first Obama administration came in, and one of his edicts and his admin edicts was, we've got to find ways to embrace industry more, right? We can't rely on the primes, just the primes. So those were just some seeds, and along with a couple other grads, created what is now called Joint Reserve Directorate, which was spawned DIUX, which was DIU Experimental, is spawned from. So I was the owner for JRD, and DIUX as a reserve officer. And that's how we all made colonel is we were working for the chief technology officer of the Defense Department, the Hon. Zach Lemnios, wonderful fellow. Civilian, didn't have much military experience, but boy, the guy knew tech — semiconductors and areas like that. But this was the beginning of the United States recognizing that our R&D output, OK, in the aggregate, as a fund, as a percentage of GDP, whether it's coming out of the commercial marketplace or the military DoD complex, needs to be harnessed against the big fight that we have with China. We can see, you know, we've known about that for 30 years. So this is back 14 years ago. And the idea was, let's bring in men and women — there was a woman in our group too that started this area — and was like, “How do we create essential boundary span, boundary spanners, or dual-literacy people that are experiences in capital markets, finance, how capital is accumulated, innovation occurs, but then also how that applies into supporting the warfighter. So we were given a sandbox. We were given a blank slate. Naviere Walkewicz 41:37 It's your happy place. Mike Ott 41:38 Oh, super awesome. And began to build out relationships at Silicon Valley with commercial entities, and developed some concepts that are now being deployed with DIU and many other people came in and brought them all to life. But I was lucky enough after I retired from the Reserves as a colonel to be asked to come back as an adviser, because of that background and that experience, the genesis of the organization. So today I'm an unpaid SGE — special government employee — to help DIU look across a variety of different domains. And so I'm sure many of our listeners know it's key areas that we've got to harness the commercial marketplace. We know that if you go back into the '70s, ‘60s and ‘70s, and creation of the internet, GPS, precision munitions and all of that, the R&D dollars spent in the aggregate for the country, 95% came out of DOD is completely flip flopped today. Completely flipped. We happen to live in an open, free society. We hope to have capital markets and access a lot of that technology isn't burdened like it might be in China. And so that's the good and bad of this open society that we have. We've got to find ways. So we, the team does a lot of great work, and I just help them think about capital markets, money flows, threat finance. How you use financial markets to interdict, listen, see signals, but then also different technologies across cyberspace, autonomy, AI. Goodness gracious, I'm sure there's a few others. There's just so much. So I'm just an interloper that helps them think about that, and it's super fun that they think that I can be helpful. Naviere Walkewicz 43:29 Well, I think I was curious on how, because you love the ambiguity, and that's just something that fills your bucket — so while you're leading MOBE and you're creating something very stable, it sounds like DIU and being that kind of special employee, government employee, helps you to fill that need for your ambiguous side. Mike Ott 43:48 You're right. You're right. Naviere Walkewicz 43:49 Yeah, I thought that's really fascinating. Well, I think it's wonderful that you get to create that and you just said, the speed of business is this [snaps]. How do you find time in your life to balance what you also put your values around — your health — when you have such an important job and taking care of so many people? Mike Ott 44:06 I think we're all pretty disciplined at the Academy, right? I remain that way, and I'm very, very — I'm spring loaded to ‘no,' right? “Hey, do you want to go do this?” Yeah, I want to try do, I want to do a lot of things, but I'm spring loaded. So like, “Hey, you want to go out and stay, stay up late and have a drink?” “No,” right? “Do you want to do those things?” So I'm very, very regimented in that I get eight hours of sleep, right? And even somebody, even as a cadet, one of the nicknames my buddies gave me was Rip Van Ott, right? Because I'm like, “This is it.” I was a civil engineer. One of my roommates was an astro guy, and I think he pulled an all-nighter once a week. Naviere Walkewicz 45:46 Oh, my goodness, yeah. Mike Ott 45:50 Like, “Dude, what are you doing?” And it wasn't like he was straight As. I was clearly not straight As, but I'm like, “What are you doing? That's not helpful. Do the work ahead of time.” I think I maybe pulled three or four all-nighters my entire four years. Now, it's reflected in my GPA. I get that, but I finished the engineering degree. But sleep matters, right? And some things are just nonnegotiable, and that is, you know, exercise, sleep and be kind to yourself, right? Don't compare. If you're going to compare, compare yourself to yesterday, but don't look at somebody who is an F-15 pilot, and you're not. Like, I'm not. My roommate, my best man at my wedding, F-15 pilot, Test Pilot School, all these things, amazing, amazing, awesome, and super, really, really, happy and proud for him, but that's his mojo; that's his flow, right? If you're gonna do any comparison, compare yourself to the man or woman you were yesterday and “Am I better?”. Naviere Walkewicz 44:48 The power of “no” and having those nonnegotiables is really important. Mike Ott 45:53 Yeah, no, I'm not doing that. Naviere Walkewicz 45:56 I think sometimes we're wired for a “we can take on… we can take it on, we can take it on, we can take it on. We got this.” Mike Ott 46:03 For sure. Oh, my goodness. And I have that discussion with people on my team from time to time as well, and it's most often as it relates to an individual on the team that's struggling in his or her role, or whether it's by you know, if it's by omission and they're in the wrong role, that's one thing. If it's by commission, well, be a leader and execute and get that person out of there, right? That's wrong, but from time to time, it's by omission, and somebody is just not well placed. And I've seen managers, I can repatriate this person. I can get him or her there, and you have to stop for a second and tell that leader, “Yeah, I know you can. I'm certain that the only thing you were responsible for was to help that person fulfill the roles of the job that they're assigned. You could do it.” But guess what? You've got 90% of your team that needs care, nurturing and feeding. They're delivering in their function, neglect, there destroys careers, and it's going to destroy the business. So don't, don't get caught up in that. Yeah. Pack it on. Pack it on. Pack it on. You're right. When someone's in the crosshairs, I want to be in the crosshairs with you, Naviere, and Ted, and all the people that you and I affiliate with, but on the day-to-day, sustained basis, right to live, you know, to execute and be fulfilled, both in the mission, the work and stay fit, to fight and do it again. You can't. You can't. And a lot of a little bit of no goes a long way. Naviere Walkewicz 47:40 That is really good to hear. I think that's something that a lot of leaders really don't share. And I think that's really wonderful that you did. I'd like to take a little time and pivot into another area that you're heavily involved, philanthropy side. You know, you've been with the Falcon Foundation. Where did you find that intent inside of you? I mean, you always said the Academy's been part of you, but you found your way back in that space in other ways. Let's talk about that. Mike Ott 48:05 Sure. Thank you. I don't know. I felt that service is a part of me, right? And it is for all of us, whether you stay in the military or not. Part of my financial services jobs have been in wealth management. I was lucky enough to run that business for US Bank in one of my capacities, and here I am now in health care, health care of service. That aligns with wanting things to be better across any other angle. And the philanthropic, philanthropic side of things — I probably couldn't say that word when I was a cadet, but then, you know, I got out and we did different volunteer efforts. We were at Hanscom Field raising money for different organizations, and stayed with it, and always found ways to have fun with it. But recognized I couldn't… It was inefficient if I was going to be philanthropic around something that I didn't have a personal interest in. And as a senior executive at US Bank, we were all… It was tacit to the role you had roles in local foundations or community efforts. And I remember sitting down with my boss, the CFO of the bank, and then the CEO, and they'd asked me to go on to a board, and it had to do with a museum that I had no interest in, right? And I had a good enough relationship with these, with these guys, to say, “Look, I'm a good dude. I'm going to be helpful in supporting the bank. And if this is a have to, all right, I'll do it, but you got the wrong guy. Like, you want me to represent the bank passionately, you know, philanthropically, let me do this. And they're like, “OK, great.” So we pivoted, and I did other things. And the philanthropic piece of things is it's doing good. It's of service for people, entities, organizations, communities or moments that can use it. And I it's just very, very satisfying to me. So my wife and I are pretty involved that way, whether it's locally, with different organizations, lot of military support. The Academy, we're very fond of. It just kind of became a staple. Naviere Walkewicz 50:35 Did you find yourself also gravitating toward making better your community where you grew up? Mike Ott 50:41 Yeah, yeah, yeah. One of my dear friends that grew up in the same neighborhood, he wound up going to the Naval Academy, and so we're we've been friends for 50 years. Seventh grade. Naviere Walkewicz 50:53 Same counselor? Mike Ott50:54 Yeah, no. Different counselor, different high school. His parents had a little bit of money, and they, he wound up going to a Catholic school nearby. But great guy, and so he and I, he runs a business that serves the VA in Chicago, and I'm on the board, and we do an awful lot of work. And one of the schools we support is a school on the south side, largely African American students and helping them with different STEM projects. It's not going to hit above the fold of a newspaper, but I could give a rat, doesn't matter to me, seeing a difference, seeing these young men and women. One of them, one of these boys, it's eye watering, but he just found out that he was picked for, he's applying to the Naval Academy, and he just found out that he got a nomination. Naviere Walkewicz 51:44 Oh my goodness, I just got chills. Mike Ott 51:46 And so, yeah, yeah, right, right. But it's wonderful. And his parents had no idea anything like that even existed. So that's one that it's not terribly formal, but boy, it looks great when you see the smile on that kid and the impact on that individual, but then the impact it leaves on the community, because it's clear opportunity for people to aspire because they know this young man or this young woman, “I can do that too.” Naviere Walkewicz 52:22 Wow. So he got his nomination, and so he would start technically making class of 2030? Mike Ott 52:27 That's right. Naviere Walkewicz 52:28 Oh, how exciting. OK Well, that's a wonderful… Mike Ott 52:27 I hope, I hope, yeah, he's a great kid. Naviere Walkewicz 52:33 Oh, that is wonderful. So you talk about, you know that spirit of giving — how have you seen, I guess, in your journey, because it hasn't been linear. We talked about how you know progression is not linear. How have you grown throughout these different experiences? Because you kind of go into a very ambiguous area, and you bring yourself, and you grow in it and you make it better. But how have you grown? What does that look like for you? Mike Ott 53:02 After having done it several times, right, i.e. entering the fray of an ambiguous environment business situation, I developed a better system and understanding of what do I really need to do out of the gates? And I've grown that way and learn to not be too decisive too soon. Decisiveness is a great gift. It's really, really it's important. It lacks. It lacks because there are too many people, less so in the military, that want to be known for having made… don't want to be known for having made a bad decision, so they don't take that risk. Right, right, right. And so that creates just sort of the static friction, and you've just got to have faith and so, but I've learned how to balance just exactly when to be decisive. And the other thing that I know about me is I am drawn to ambiguity. I am drawn… Very, very curious. Love to learn, try new things, have a range of interests and not very good at any one thing, but that range helps me in critical thinking. So I've learned to, depending on the situation, right, listen, listen, and then go. It isn't a formula. It's a flow, but it's not a formula. And instinct matters when to be decisive. Nature of the people with whom you're working, nature of the mission, evolution, phase of the organization or the unit that you're in. Now is the time, right? So balancing fostering decisiveness is something that that's worth a separate discussion. Naviere Walkewicz 54:59 Right. Wow. So all of these things that you've experienced and the growth that you've had personally — do you think about is this? Is this important to you at all, the idea of, what is your legacy, or is that not? Mike Ott 55:13 We talked a little bit about this beforehand, and I thought I've got to come up with something pithy, right? And I really, I really don't. Naviere Walkewicz 55:18 Yeah, you don't. Mike Ott 55:19 I don't think of myself as that. I'm very proud of who I am and what I've done in the reputation that I have built. I don't need my name up in lights. I know the life that I'm living and the life that I hope to live for a lot longer. My legacy is just my family, my children, the mark that I've left in the organizations that I have been a part of. Naviere Walkewicz 55:58 And the communities that you've touched, like that gentleman going and getting his nomination. I'm sure. Mike Ott 56:04 Yeah, I don't… having been a senior leader, and even at MOBE, I'm interviewed by different newspapers and all that. Like I do it because I'm in this role, and it's important for MOBE, but I'm not that full of myself, where I got to be up in lights. So I just want to be known as a man that was trustworthy, fun, tried to meet people where they are really had flaws, and sought to overcome them with the few strengths that he had, and moved everything forward. Naviere Walkewicz 56:33 Those are the kind of leaders that people will run through fire for. That's amazing. I think that's a wonderful I mean that in itself, it's like a living legacy you do every day. How can I be better than I was yesterday? And that in itself, is a bit of your living and that's really cool. Well, one of the things we like to ask is, “What is something you're doing every day to be better as a leader?” And you've covered a lot, so I mean, you could probably go back to one of those things, but is there something that you could share with our listeners that you do personally every day, to be better? Mike Ott 57:05 Exercise and read every day, every day, and except Fridays. Fridays I take… that's like, I'll stretch or just kind of go for a walk. But every day I make it a moment, you know, 45 minutes to an hour, something and better for my head, good for my body, right? That's the process in the hierarchy of way I think about it. And then read. Gen. Mattis. And I supported Gen. Mattis as a lieutenant colonel before I wanted to and stuff at the Pentagon. And he I supported him as an innovation guy for JFCOM, where he was the commander. And even back then, he was always talking about reading is leading none of us as military leaders… And I can't hold the candle to the guy, but I learned an awful lot, and I love his mindset, and that none of us can live a life long enough to take In all the leadership lessons necessary to help us drive impact. So you better be reading about it all the time. And so I read probably an hour every night, every day. Naviere Walkewicz 58:14 What are you reading right now? Mike Ott 58:15 Oh, man, I left it on the plane! I was so bummed. Naviere Walkewicz 58:17 Oh, that's the worst. You're going to have to get another copy. Mike Ott 58:22 Before I came here, I ordered it from Barnes & Noble so to me at my house when I get home. Love history and reading a book by this wonderful British author named Anne Reid. And it's, I forget the title exactly, but it's how the allies at the end of World War I sought to influence Russia and overcome the Bolsheviks. They were called the interventionalists, and it was an alliance of 15 different countries, including the U.S., Britain, France, U.K., Japan, Australia, India, trying to thwart, you know, the Bolshevik Revolution — trying to thwart its being cemented. Fascinating, fascinating. So that's what I was reading until I left it on the plane today. Naviere Walkewicz 59:07 How do you choose what to read? Mike Ott 59:10 Listen, write, love history. Love to read Air Force stuff too. Just talk to friends, right? You know, they've learned how to read like me. So we get to talk and have fun with that. Naviere Walkewicz 59:22 That's great. Yeah, that's wonderful. Well, the last question I'd like to ask you, before I want to make sure you have an opportunity to cover anything we didn't, is what is something you would share with others that they can do to become better leaders? Maybe they start doing it now, so in the future, they're even stronger as a leader. Mike Ott 59:42 Two things I would say, and try to have these exist in the same breath in the same moment, is have the courage to make it try and make it better every day, all right, and be kind to yourself, be forgiving. Naviere Walkewicz 59:59 That's really powerful. Can you share an example? And I know I that's we could just leave it there, but being courageous and then being kind to yourself, they're almost on two opposite sides. Have you had, can you share an example where I guess you've done that right? You had to be you were courageous and making something better, and maybe it didn't go that way, so you have to be kind to yourself. Mike Ott 1:00:23 Yeah, happy to and I think any cadet will hear this story and go like, “Huh, wow, that's interesting.” And it also plays with the arc of progress isn't linear. I graduated in '85 went to flight school, got halfway through flight school, and there was a RIF, reduction in force. And our class, our flight class, I was flying jets, I was soloing. I was academically — super easy, flying average, right? You know, I like to joke that I've got the fine motor skills of a ham sandwich, right? You know, but, but I didn't finish flight school. And you think about this, here it is. I started in 1981 there were still vestiges of Vietnam. Everyone's going to be a fighter pilot. Kill, kill, kill. Blood makes the grass grow. All of that was there. And I remember when this happened, it was very frustrating for me. It was mostly the major root of frustration wasn't that I wasn't finishing flight school. It was the nature by which the determination that I wasn't finishing was made. And it was, it was a financial decision. We had too many guys and gals, and they were just finding, you know, average folks and then kicking them out. So our class graduated a lower percent than, I think, in that era, it was late '85, '86, maybe '87, but you can look at outflows, and it was interesting, they were making budget cuts. So there was a shaming part there, having gone to the Academy. Naviere Walkewicz 1:02:02 And knowing since 9 years old. Mike Ott 1:20:04 Right, right, right, and I knew I wanted to go the Academy. I'd like to fly, let's check it out and see if it's for me. I would much rather have been not for me, had I made the decision I don't want to do this or that I was just unsafe and didn't want to do it. The way it turned out is, and this is where I learned a little bit about politics as well. In my class, again, I was very average. Like, nobody's ever going to say, like, yeah, I was going to go fly the Space Shuttle. Like, no way, right? Very, very average, but doing just fine. And a lot of guys and gals wanted to go be navigators, and that's great. I looked in the regs, and I learned this as a cadet, and it's helped me in business, too. If there's a rule, there's a waiver. Like, let me understand the regs, and I asked to go to a board. Instead of just submitting a letter to appeal, I asked to go to a board. And so I went to a board of an O-5 five, couple of threes O-4 four, and ultimately shared the essence of why I shouldn't be terminated in the program. And son of a gun, they agreed, and I still have the letter. The letter says, “Recommend Lt. Ott for reinstatement.” Nobody in my class has that letter, nobody makes the appeal. And I'm like, I'm going downstream. I'm going downstream. And that's the Chicago in me, and that's the piece about… but also move forward, but forgive yourself, and I'll get to that. And so I, I was thrilled, My goodness, and the argument I had is, like, look, you're just not keeping me current. You put me in the sim, and then you're waiting too long to put me in the jet. The regs don't allow for that. And like, you're right. So I'm assigned to go back to the jet. My pals are thrilled. I'm going to stay in the same class. I don't have to wash back. And then I get a call from the DO's office — director of operations — and it was from some civilian person so the DO overrode the board's decision. Heartbreaking. Heartbreaking. Naviere Walkewicz 1:04:12 You were so high, you did all of your work. And then… Mike Ott 1:04:15 Yeah, and then heartbreaking and frustrating, and I guess the word is indignant: anger aroused through frustration. In that I figured it out. I knew exactly what's happening. I made the appeal and I won. And it wasn't I was expecting to be assigned to fly a fighter. It was like, “Just let me, let me express the merits of my capabilities. It's how the system is designed.” The son of a gun, I jumped in my car and I ran to base and I waited and reported in. He didn't really know who I was. That's because he didn't make a decision. It was just it was that decision, and that's how life comes at you. That's just how it is. It isn't linear. So how do you take that and then say, “Well, I'm going to be kind to myself and make something out of it.” And he went through, you know, a dissertation as to why, and I asked him if I could share my views, and it's pretty candid, and I just said, If my dad were something other than the Chicago policeman, and maybe if he was a senator or general officer, I wouldn't be sitting here. That lit him up, right? That lit him up. But I had to state my views. So I knew I was out of the program. Very, very frustrating. Could have had the mayor of Chicago call. Didn't do that, right? Like, OK, I understand where this is it. That was very frustrating and somewhat shaming. But where the forgiveness comes in and be kind to yourself, is that I ran into ground. I ran into ground and drove an outcome where I still… It's a moment of integrity. I drove an outcome like, there you go. But then what do you do? Forgive yourself, right? Because you didn't do anything wrong, OK? And you pivot. And I turned that into a moment where I started cold calling instructors at the Academy. Because, hey, now I owe the Air Force five years, Air Force is looking for, you know, things that I don't want to do. And thank goodness I had an engineering degree, and I cold called a guy at a base in Hanscom. And this is another tap on the shoulder. Naviere Walkewicz 1:06:24 That's how you got to Hanscom. Gotcha. Mike Ott 1:06:27 There was a friend who was Class of '83, a woman who was in my squadron, who was there. Great egg. And she's like, “Hey, I was at the O Club.” Called her. I said, “Hey, help me out. I got this engineering degree. I want to go to one of these bases. Called Lt. Col. Davis, right? I met him at the O Club. I called a guy, and he's like, “Yeah, let's do this.” Naviere Walkewicz 1:06:44 Wow, I love that.. Mike Ott 1:06:46 It was fantastic So it's a long winded way, but progress isn't linear. And progressing through that and not being a victim, right, recognizing the conditions and the environment that I could control and those that I can't. Anything that I could control, I took advantage of and I sought to influence as best possible. Ran into ground and I feel great about it, and it turns out to be a testament of one of my best successes. Naviere Walkewicz 1:07:17 Wow. Thank you for sharing
Eighteen-year-old Marshall Fry was charged with making terroristic threats and arrested Oct. 22 in Sarpy County. An affidavit from the Sarpy County Sheriff's Office stated that the Instagram account “marshall506861” posted the comment, “Finna shoot you guys up,” on a post from Scary Acres, a seasonal haunted house attraction. Michael Halbleib, Scary Acres' head of security and a former Omaha police officer, reported the comment to the Sheriff's Office on Oct. 6. Following the report, Investigative Sgt. Matt Barrall said the Sheriff's Office issued a search warrant for the account to Meta, which provided an ISP address, phone number and birthdate that linked the account to Fry. The sergeant said Fry's search history revealed alarming results.
Natalie and David talk about their dead grandmother with Monica in "The One in Massapequa" and talk about Ted's dead grandmother with Jeanette in "Weekend at Barney's."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
by Michael Moorcock
Once we were young. Now, we're old. Okay, older. Being older is good. Often, it's great! She was always gorgeous. I was always smitten. Madly in love. The love affair began on Wednesday night, July 2, 1975. During a church camp meeting in Oklahoma. I asked her out on a date following church services that night. She said yes. That orange car in the picture was our chariot. We drove around a bit. Talked a lot. Probably went to a Dairy Queen for soft drinks. I can't remember. Eventually, I kissed her. She kissed me back. And it was all so easy. The conversation. The being together. The kissing. But I'm ahead of myself. First, there was her reputation. And my respect for her. She was known for being determined to remain faithful to her convictions. We shared faith. The Faith. She was smart, dedicated, disciplined, and intentional. The oldest of six kids. It was evident. It was among the top reasons I asked her out. She was beautiful, but that was bonus content. ;) I hadn't been in love like this before. Ever. This was different, and I knew it from the very first date. Becoming a Christian was my best decision. Falling in love with her was my second best. She's only ever taken a backseat to God. Eighteen-year-old me would have denied ever being able to fall harder for her. But he'd have been wrong. Did I always behave like it? Nope. To my shame. But that was primarily due to my immaturity and selfishness. Two problems I've experienced and that I often see in the lives of other men, too. I'm not saying it's a uniquely male weakness, but I'm a guy and it was mine. She's not perfect. But she's pretty ideal for me. I'm not perfect. But I'm pretty ideal for her. It's our story. My story. But let's not make this entirely about me, or her, or us. Two ideas have been swirling in my head for as long as I can remember. One, my daily, if not hourly, fascination with her. True confession: I think of her every waking hour. And I always have. Sounds like an obsession, huh? Well, it likely is. But in a good way. It's why many times a day I approach her, seemingly out of the blue (I'm sure that's what she thinks), and hug her because I've been thinking of her a lot before I literally have to hug it out. I'm high-maintenance like that. Two, sadness that too many marriages fail because of selfishness and pride. Mostly, I think of my own selfishness and pride because I know those are ingredients for failure for each of us. Read your New Testament, and you'll see it more clearly — especially in yourself. This is about us - all of us. Yes, it's about those of us who are married. And it's about those of us who aren't. Because love, fascination, selfishness, and pride are both universal and individual. Masculinity seemed all but gone until we got a new President in America. The shift back toward things our country once cherished and away from the idiocy that overtook us starting in 2009 or so has given many of us hope that men can get back to being men and women can return to their glorified place of being women. Love, pride (not the selfish kind, but the honorable kind), commitment, honor, loyalty, and merit. Those were once givens in our society. They eroded in the past couple of decades because we allowed ourselves to be manipulated away from the things we knew to be true and correct. Now, we're seeing how bitter, hateful, and outraged the opponents to truth and right can be. But love and right are worth standing up for, and idiocy deserves to be fought vigorously. Without shame or embarrassment. I make no apologies for being a Christian. I make no apologies for being married to the same woman for almost 47 years. I make no apologies for confessing that we were both virgins when we married. I make no apologies that - because of my faith - I choose not to drink alcohol, gamble, or be promiscuous. I don't care that others have made fun of my stance against...
Eighteen-year-old Sarah Zuber was found dead in 2019 just 400 feet from her home in Rainier. The second season of OPB’s investigative podcast "Hush" focuses on her story and the ways that citizen sleuthing, declining local media, and a police department that can’t find answers led to serious rifts in rural Columbia County. We’ll listen to the first episode of the new season.
At sixteen, Maggie Roberts broke her back three weeks before the Olympic diving trials. Eight months later, at three in the morning, she made a decision that would define her life: she went for a run. "The pain of my injury was less than the pain of standing still."From that moment of choosing movement over stillness came a scholarship to the University of Hawaii, three degrees, three years as the WAC Athlete of the Year, and, ultimately, becoming CEO of Creative Factory at just twenty-five. Eighteen years later, she's never stopped moving forward.In this conversation, Maggie shares her five-point daily framework for maintaining momentum, how visualisation took her from world champion at nine to boardroom success, and why harmony resides on expectations. A powerful exploration of what truly matters versus what seems to matter, and the decision to keep moving forward, one step at a time. Notebook ready,Play on!
Audio, eng_t_rav_2025-10-29_lesson_bs-shamati-113-tfilat-shmone-esre_n1_p1. Lesson_part :: Lessons_series. Baal HaSulam. Shamati, 113. The Eighteen Prayer :: Daily_lesson 1
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Baal HaSulam. Shamati, 113. The Eighteen Prayer (22.12.2021)
Audio, eng_t_rav_2025-10-29_lesson_bs-shamati-113-tfilat-shmone-esre_n1_p1. Lesson_part :: Lessons_series. Baal HaSulam. Shamati, 113. The Eighteen Prayer :: Daily_lesson 1
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Bump and Stacy look back on the Dodgers eighteen inning World Series game three win over the Blue Jays from the perspective of a Mariners fan, they give you their thoughts on the Monday Night Football blowout and Vikings QB Carson Wentz’s injury in Headline Rewrites, they break down who the teams to beat are in the AFC and NFC, and they discuss some of the biggest names they Seahawks could go after ahead of the NFL Trade Deadline.
Audio, eng_t_norav_2025-10-28_lesson_bs-shamati-113-tfilat-shmone-esre_n2_p1. Lesson_part :: Daily_lesson 2
Audio, eng_t_rav_2025-10-28_lesson_bs-shamati-113-tfilat-shmone-esre_n1_p1. Lesson_part :: Daily_lesson 1
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Baal HaSulam. Shamati, 113. The Eighteen Prayer
Baal HaSulam. Shamati, 113. The Eighteen Prayer (22.12.2021)
Video, eng_t_rav_2025-10-28_lesson_bs-shamati-113-tfilat-shmone-esre_n1_p1. Lesson_part :: Daily_lesson 1
Audio, eng_t_rav_2025-10-28_lesson_bs-shamati-113-tfilat-shmone-esre_n1_p1. Lesson_part :: Daily_lesson 1
Audio, eng_t_norav_2025-10-28_lesson_bs-shamati-113-tfilat-shmone-esre_n2_p1. Lesson_part :: Daily_lesson 2
Video, eng_t_rav_2025-10-28_lesson_bs-shamati-113-tfilat-shmone-esre_n1_p1. Lesson_part :: Daily_lesson 1
Video, eng_t_norav_2025-10-28_lesson_bs-shamati-113-tfilat-shmone-esre_n2_p1. Lesson_part :: Daily_lesson 2
These stories, from Ukraine in 1982 and Vandenberg Air Force Base in 1964, have stunned military insiders and UFO researchers for decades.What happens when unidentified flying objects appear at the most secure nuclear sites on Earth? And what does it mean when those same objects seem to control or disable missiles with ease?In Ukraine, 1982, Soviet missile officers witnessed something that defied all logic. A huge, glowing disc-shaped object appeared over a nuclear missile base near the city of Bershad. Within minutes, control panels in the underground bunker lit up, the launch sequence had begun. The codes were entered automatically, and the countdown started. No one had touched the controls. The officers could only watch in horror as their nuclear weapons prepared to fire. Then, as suddenly as it began, the system shut down. The glowing craft rose silently into the night sky and disappeared. Moscow's official investigation listed the cause as “unknown interference.”Eighteen years earlier, a similar event took place on the other side of the world. At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, U.S. Air Force officers were tracking a test missile over the Pacific Ocean. During the flight, radar and cameras picked up a bright, disc-shaped UFO that approached the missile at incredible speed. The object circled the missile several times, fired flashes of light at it, and the warhead was instantly disabled. The missile dropped out of flight. The entire encounter was filmed, but the footage was confiscated and classified. The officers involved, including Lieutenant Robert Jacobs and Major Florenze Mansmann, later confirmed that what they saw was no illusion. They said it was intelligent, precise, and deliberate.Both incidents reveal a pattern that can't be ignored: UFOs and nuclear weapons seem to be connected. During the Cold War, similar reports came from bases across the United States and the Soviet Union, glowing discs hovering over missile silos, nuclear systems shutting down or activating on their own, and radar contacts showing unknown craft moving with impossible speed.In this episode, the host of the Alien UFO Podcast explores these two historic encounters, drawing on witness testimony, declassified information, and research by UFO investigators like Robert Hastings, who has spent decades studying the UFO–nuclear connection.Were these UFOs showing us that our weapons are not as secure as we think? Were they sending a warning, or protecting humanity from itself?Tune in to this episode of the Alien UFO Podcast to discover how these extraordinary events may prove that someone, or something, is keeping a close watch on Earth's most dangerous weapons. https://www.pastliveshypnosis.co.uk/https://www.patreon.com/alienufopodcastMy book 'Verified Near Death Exeriences' https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DXKRGDFP Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
An eighteen year old Honduran national is arrested in Tennessee and Dan checks in on Karine Jean-Pierre | aired on Tuesday on October 21st, 2025 on Nashville's Morning News with Dan MandisSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
At the age of nine, Laura was diagnosed with an eye disease and faced the difficult reality that she would become blind. She has since authored the memoir Harnessing Courage and founded Ubi Global, an organization that provides speaking and coaching to empower all people to overcome challenges and obstacles with grit and gratitude. She's also, in the opinion of this host, a true mensch*. (*Note: A mensch is “a woman who embodies traits of integrity, kindness, decency, and compassion.”)Please rate us on Apple and/or Spotify and subscribe for free at mikeyopp.com This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mikeyopp.substack.com/subscribe
Hello? Anybody out there? Oh, yeah, hey. It's been a minute. Soooooooo... where were we? Right. When last we left our crew, they had managed to make it on the Maggies II and III and blast off from Planet Bob. Just barely before Planet Bob sort of ... blasted. Now that word feels funny. Blasted. Question is, did the ships and their contents survive the explosion? Well, considering this episode is, what, 26 minutes long, I'm gonna go with "probably," or this is gonna be a hella awkward silence. If Nattertop and Phil, the spiders aboard Maggie II and III respectively, survived, they certainly have their work cut out for them. Assuming, of course, the spiders plan to heal the crew ... You've been listening to: Pete Barry as Bob Tim Sherburn as Colin Bonnie Brantley as Donna and Jessie David S Dear as Tiberius and Dr. Theo Bromae Eric Perry as Dr von Haber Zetzer, Howard, and Joe Kevin Hall as Greg Chrisi Talyn Saje as Julie Shannon Perry as Madeline and Olivia. Sarah Golding as Mrs Sheffield Sarah Rhea Warner as Pipistrelle Kyle Jones is Narrator Two, and Chris Nadolny Gourley is your Narrator. John Faley is our music director, and our artwork is by Lucas Elliott. Sarah Golding is our dialogue editor, and Mark Restuccia is our sound designer. Oz 9 is written by Shannon Perry. Oz 9 is a proud member of the Fable and Folly Network. Please check out our sibling shows at fableandfolly.com and support our sponsors. Until next time, Space Monkeys, don't forget to stop and smell a flower or two. But keep your fists up — you never know when those little bastards might go for your throat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In 1895, D.D. Palmer adjusted Harvey Lillard in Davenport,Iowa — restoring his hearing and launching the chiropractic movement. That one act ignited a legacy of natural healing, nervous system restoration, and self-empowered health. They Went to Jail for AdjustinEarly chiropractors were arrested and jailed for “practicing medicine without a license.” In the first30 years, over 12,000 chiropractors faced 15,000 rosecutions — not for harm, but for healing. They stood firm so natural health could stand free. Today there are ~70,000 chiropractors in the U.S., serving 35 million Americans eachyear. Eighteen chiropractic colleges, thousands of clinics, and a growing number of women doctors are shaping the future of functional, drug-free care.In the 1960s, the AMA's Committee on Quackery worked to eliminate chiropractic. Chiropractors fought back — and won. In Wilk v. AMA (1990), a federal court ruled the AMA guilty of illegal restraint of trade, protecting our right to practice and collaborate in modern health care. Chiropractic care is safe,evidence-based, and recommended by leading guidelines for back pain and mobility. Serious complications are extremely rare, and research shows no higher stroke risk than a primary-care visit. “If D.D. Palmer hadn't given that first adjustment, we might still be waiting for permission to heal ourselves.”STAY CONNECTED with Dr. Ruffin! Free resources: https://drruffin.com/https://www.instagram.com/drpaularuffin/ https://www.facebook.com/drpaularuffinCONNECT w Dr Peabody: https://www.cafeoflifefenton.com/meet-the-doctors/https://www.instagram.com/drericapeabody/https://www.facebook.com/erica.peabody Disclaimer: The contents of this videoare for informational purposes only and are not intended to be medical advice,diagnosis, or treatment, nor to replace medical care. The information presentedherein is accurate and conforms to the available scientific evidence to thebest of the author's knowledge as of the time of posting. Always seek theadvice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questionsregarding any medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice ordelay seeking it because of information contained in video content by Dr. PaulaRuffin DC and Dr. Erica Peabody DC!
The story of Mary Blair, the person who is often described as Walt Disney's favorite artist. Part Eighteen. Bandcamp Subscriptions: dhipodcast.bandcamp.com The new book - Making Mary Poppins (out Nov. 11): Amazon: amzn.to/4mhHUaU Independent Booksellers: shorturl.at/qTosR
June 6, 1978. Jericho, Vermont. Michael Reapp, the husband of 32-year old Grace Reapp, claims he returned home from work and discovered that Grace and their five-year old daughter, Gracie Reapp, had disappeared, though he alleges Grace left behind a note stating that they ran off voluntarily. Eighteen years later, Michael himself goes missing after police announce that Grace and Gracie's disappearances have been reclassified as a homicide investigation and a search is being performed of their former property. While Michael is eventually indicted on two counts of murders, he winds up dead before he can be arrested or stand trial, so no trace of Grace or Gracie is ever found. Was Michael Reapp actually responsible for killing his wife and daughter? On this week's episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore a convoluted missing persons case containing a number of surprising twists and turns. If you happen to have any information about this case, please contact the Vermont State Police at (802) 524-5993 Additional Reading: https://charleyproject.org/case/grace-marie-canto-reapp https://charleyproject.org/case/grace-noel-reapp https://www.newspapers.com/image/203304327/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/203304377/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/202452571/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/202452843/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/203304915/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/203304981/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/863479135/ https://www.capecodtimes.com/story/news/2001/06/07/clues-to-missing-woman-sought/51004169007/ https://www.rutlandherald.com/news/vt-police-say-man-wanted-in-1978-murders-is-dead/article_20bee1b7-8322-507f-a632-20ffaf6ebd3c.html https://www.hngn.com/articles/46885/20141023/hngn-true-crime-feature-where-are-brian-reapps-mother-and-sister-crime-contributor-jon-leiberman-reports-on-the-36-year-old-jericho-vt-double-murder-mystery.htm “The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content. The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote. All music is composed by Vince Nitro.
Join Ryan Wormeli, Derek Brown, and Tom Strachan as they highlight 11 potential breakout wide receivers that you should be targeting in your remaining 2025 fantasy football drafts! Timestamps: (May be off due to ads) Intro - 0:00:00 Ricky Pearsall - 0:01:05 Xavier Worthy - 0:05:21 DraftKings BestBall - 0:09:52 Jalen Coker - 0:11:15 Emeka Egbuka - 0:17:07 Jaylen Waddle - 0:22:29 Joshua Palmer - 0:25:21 Darnell Mooney - 0:29:14 FantasyPros Draft Kit - 0:31:20 Zay Flowers - 0:32:01 George Pickens - 0:39:56 DeVonta Smith - 0:44:40 Travis Hunter - 0:48:45 Helpful Links:
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